Information Thread.

This is something Jim and I have been working on in order to work things out and provide us with a bit of information. It's a lot of information, and we'll be trying to distill it so that it makes as much sense as possible for you guys.

583.M41:

• Albus Gehn is born.

601.M41:

• Gehn is inducted into the service of Inquisitor Hothmiller, a noted and legendary Monodominant.

707.M41

• Inquisitor Hothmiller dies.

745.M41:

• Ultramarines retaliation against the Tau empire is cut short by invasion of Hive Fleet Behemoth.
• The First Tyrannic War. Hive Fleet Behemoth attacks the Ultramarines homeworld of Macragge. The aliens are defeated at great cost - the entire First Company is wiped out.

861.M41:

• The boy who would be Erasmus Valthor is born on Orengard.

867.M41:

• Dale Tymaara is born on the Cardinal World of Dimmamar, the son of a grain harvester and Cardinal of the Ecclesiarchy. As an illegitimate child, he is an embarassment, and his father has him placed in an Ecclesiarchy-sponsored creche.

871.M41:

• Inquisitor Lexicus Valthor comes to Orengard. His unexpected arrival results in a massacre between the two rival ethnicities upon the planet. Lexicus rescues an injured boy and names him Erasmus.

873.M41

• Dale is formally enrolled into the Schola Progenum in order that he might begin his education. During his education he is selected as Class Chaplain.

877.M41:

• Erasmus Valthor goes on his first expedition with Lexicus and meets his 'brother', Yad.

880.M41:

• The thirteen year-old Dale Tymaara requests an assignment to an investigative position, either within the Arbites or the Inquisition. His recruiters, however, disagree, and he enters Storm Trooper training. He spends a year protesting and requesting transfer, before giving up and accepting the inevitable.

882.M41:

• Yad is banished by Lexicus for what he deems to be an inexcusable failure in duty.

883.M41:

• Albus Gehn celebrates his 300th birthday. Lexicus Valthor attends, along with Erasmus.

888.M41:

• Dale Tymaara and the 281 Stormtrooper regiment are posted to Charybyd against an Ork invasion. Dale's battalion is massacred within two weeks. He fakes his own death, living his dog-tags on a corpse, and stows away on a merchant ship. Once he arrives on the hiveworld of XXXXX, he begins training to be an Enforcer.

889.M41:

• Raphael de la Ruecroix is born to the hive nobility of Tarkis XI.

893.M41:

• Drew McNeill is born on the world of Gundagai.

894.M41:

• Dale fails the exams to be an Enforcer, and sets up as a freelance investigator/bounty-hunter. He spends several years building up his reputation.

896.M41:

• Eramus is raised from the rank of Interrogator to Inquisitor. Lexicus Valthor is killed during an investigation and Erasmus goes into seclusion.

897.M41:

• The Planetary Governor of XXXXX approaches Dale to investigate a crime spree. Dale's investigations lead him to the alien creature known as 'Old Worm Face' - an an obsession that will last for over twenty years.

899.M41:

• Valthor returns to the folds of the Imperium and sets himself up using the resources and contacts left behind by Lexicus. He employs Bartholomew Kasey as part of his retinue and rescues Hershey from the clutches of a civilian uprising.

903.M41:

• Valthor fights a week-long running battle against the reptilian Ryssith on a Naval relay station. Afterwards he recruits Technician Syrien Ba into his retinue.

904.M41:

• Valthor survives an attempted assassination attempt by Reece Tando. After besting the assassin, he admits him to his retinue.

905.M41:

• Valthor investigates the planet of ET-94202, designated 'Kelvin' by the Imperial Navy. He is accompanied by Tenloran Guardsmen. Here he encounters the hideous force of the Ryssith and employs the ultimate sanction - Exterminatus. Shortly after the Kelvin Incident, Reece Tando flees Valthor's service as the sheer scale of the Galaxy becomes apparent to him.
  
• On Tarkis IX, The sixteen year-old Raphael sneaks from his family territory, making his way into the underhives with nothing but a stub gun he had taken from his father’s vast gun collection and a rapier. In the underhives, Raphael lives and thrives for four whole years. His family presumes that he has been killed.

906.M41:

• After seven years serving Valthor, Bartholomew Kasey is killed in a street robbery. Soon after, Syrien Ba leaves Valthor's retinue to settle down on Rusol.
• Valthor meets Xenarite Enginseer Lycon while accumulating information on the Eldar from Imperial archives. Recognising the Techpriest's motivations, Valthor offers him employment and security from persecution by the rest of the Adeptus Mechanicus, which Lycon accepts.

909.M41:

• Raphael returns to his family, only to be exiled by his father and thrown out. Furious, he breaks into the family estate, stealing the family's most prized positions, which he uses to fund his travel across several systems. He meets Valthor aboard a Merchant Ship. The Inquisitor is travelling in disguise in order to root out a Xenos-Worshipping cult in the Helicus system. Raphael and Valthor spend three years together.

911.M41:

• McNeill enlists in the Imperial Guard. He is inducted into the Fifth Gundagai Bushrangers, and undergoes training in Gundagai's tropical forests. It is here that he learns his skills as a scout. The fifth depart from Gundagai and head for their first warzone.

912.M41:

• With the threat from the Helicus system over, Raphael leaves Valthor with the promise of his eventual return.
  
• McNeill and the Fifth Gundagai reach the world of Mandalay, where they participate in the latter stages of the Fourth Mandalay Incursion.

913.M41:

• The Karstadt's World incident.

914.M41:

• With the Fourth Mandalay Incursion over, the Fifth Gundagai is disbanded after overwhelming casualties. The surviving Gundagai are folded into the 14th Mandalay Irregulars. During battlefield service, McNeill is seperated from his unit and picked up by soldiers of the 113th Hamek's Landing Rifles. From there, he volunteers to join a new, elite unit - the so-called 'SOU' or Special Operations Unit.

915.M41:

• Valthor and Lycon investigate a rimworld settlement whose population has been eradicated by a xenos-induced disease. They recover a number of sculptures from the settlement; Lycon spends two years disinfecting the sculptures to ensure they were safe before donating them to a museum on Rusol. Valthor's bodyguard Caspian is stricken by the disease and falls ill. Valthor races to Methrock Quay to search for a disease, but Caspian dies before reaching the outpost. Whilst investigating the virus on Methrock Quay, Valthor encounters Dale Tymaara, hunting down 'Old Worm Face'. Valthor learns of the alien's history and offers Dale a position in his retinue. Dale turns him down, preferring to go his own way.
  
• McNeill, serving with the SOU, reaches the world of Orvansyar. Here he participates in several operations designed to disrupt enemy Command and Control. In one operation, he eliminates an enemy commander and destroys his comamnd post; in another, his unit captures an enemy General and transports him back to Imperial lines. Eventually, the SOU is inducted into Inquisitorial service. The Inquisition charge them with infiltrating an Imperial Navy veseel and sabotaging it. The vessel had been infested by a Genestealer cult. The SOU rigs the vessel's engines to explode and escapes.

916.M41:

• Demonstrating his superb tracking skills, Dale Tymaara traces Valthor to Rusol and joins his retinue.
  
• The elite 'SOU' unit is broken up, and Inquisitrix Bordelux acquires McNeill for her retinue. McNeill was quiet and introverted - he was terrified of Bordelux, and could not work well with her. Sympathetic to his circumstances, the Inquisitrix began to look for a suitable Inquisitor who could employ McNeill and use him to his fullest.
• 918916.M41: The backwater planet of Drekal is attacked by an Eldar warhost, the start of a bloody war that lasts for three months.

917.M41:

• 233917.M41: The Imperial War-Machine reaches Drekal and pushes the Eldar back in a decisive action.
• 246917.M41: Valthor investigates the aftermath of Drekal, discovering an Eldar structure of some kind on the planet. He recruits Cyphron into his retinue.
• 728917.M41: "The Smiting of Avecito". Valthor cooperates with Inquisitrix Bordelux in the prosecution of a corrupt Rogue Trader dealing with the Tau Empire. Drew McNeill is the first retinue member into Avecito's apartments. When Valthor enters, he is impressed with McNeill’s expert handiwork -- three dead sentries. He 'acquires' McNeill from Bordelux.
• 784917.M41: Valthor attends a meeting with Inquisitor Cadieux of the Ordo Hereticus, where he is asked to investigate Tau involvement with political instability on the planet of Altara, in the Illyurian sub-sector.
• 787917.M41: Valthor leaves Rusol aboard the Imperial Navy light cruiser Audacity, bound for Altara.
• 806917.M41: Valthor arrives at Altara.

WORLDS IN THE 'VALTHOR CHRONICLES' CANON

• CHARYBYD: A vicious warzone; As part of the 281st Stormtrooper Regiment, Dale Tymaara fought against an Ork incursion on the planet.
  
• DIMMAMAR: A Cardinal world in the Segmentum Obscuras, birthplace of Dale Tymaara. Also home to a Schola Progenum. Contains the Holy City of Durana, famous for even greater zealotry then many other cities on the world.
  
• DREKAL: A small backwater planet. The population is at a post-industrial level, with a certain degree of technology. This could not, however, protect them from a massed Eldar attack that seemed determined to wipe all Humans from the planet. The relatively primitive PDF forces found themselves quickly overwhelmed and was forced to retreat. During the three month wait for off-world reinforcements, the civilians were forced to defend themselves, taking up arms and fighting a guerrila war. Valthor came to this world once the Eldar were forced off by the Eldar war-machine. Here he encountered a small Eldar shrine. It is unknown what action he took thereafter.
  
• GUNDAGAI: McNeill's homeworld. Gundagai is a small, isolated agriworld of grassy plains, which also includes areas of thick jungle, craggy mountains, warm, shallow seas, and coral islands. At the far edge of the Imperium in Segmentum Ultima, the world was settled by a (unusually) victorious founding of the 24th Praetorian, whose hive-dwelling recruits promptly lapsed into their cantankerous roots. Today, Gundagai is home to a third of a billion grox and 17 million humans. Rustling is a widely practiced hobby.
  
• HALDIBIA: Original homeworld of Nimelle Torres. Haldibia is a world barely out of feudalism, where armies still fight with cannons and muskets. Wars among the population are frequent, but most armies are comprised of paid mercenaries. Soldiers find themselves unemployed after each campaign and will often, if down in their luck in civilian society, become swords for hire. This benefit them enormously in a planet where people are as educated as they are proud. Insinuating in bad manners that someone's favourite playwright has sub-par skill might be enough to have a nasty meeting in one of Haldibia's dark, narrow streets, with a man in a cloak, a wide-brimmed hat, and quite impressive skill with sword and dagger...
  
• MANDALAY: McNeill and the 5th Gundagai Bushrangers fought on Mandalay as part of the Fourth Mandalay Incursion. After this campaign the Bushrangers were folded into the 14th Mandalay Irregulars, a combined unit of surviving veterans of the campaign, and shipped to other worlds as needed.
  
• METHROCK QUAY: Although the Imperium is vast, its power does not extend beyond the patrols of its warships and many fugitives from justice find refuge in the wilderness zones between Imperial worlds. The planetoid that would become Methrock Quay was first found by Evets Gnol, known to the Imperial authorities as a crafty, egotistical pirate. To Evets it seemed a perfect hideout. However, as word of his discovery began to leak out, more and more outlaws came to join him. The Quay now serves as an important, if dangerous, trading outpost, frequented by desperados and criminals. Its very existence is the stuff of legends, and its location is jealously guarded so that the Imperial Navy do not find the place and smash it to dust.
  
  There is no formal government; Evets serves as a 'prince of thieves', but generally everyone has to fend for themselves. The planetoid is pirate-infested, and all manner of traitors, malcontents and aliens gather in the drinking holes and slave markets. Rare goods are traded, services bought nad sold and there's always money to be made.
  
  The Quay is a no-go area for agents of the Imperium - the denizens care little for Imperial authorities, and Inquisitiors definitely die just like any other man. Valthor was first led to the Quay by Konrad Piwakowski, and has used the place over the years to follow up leads and cultivate sources. He encountered Dale Tymaara on the quay - the being known as 'Old Worm-Face' attempted once more to reanimate a flesh-construct there.
  
• ORENGARD: Orengard is a desolate, near-death world of grey deserts, harsh mountains and sparse, dead-looking vegitation. The human population is split between two similar-yet-violently-opposed ethnicities, the Moors and the Detos. Vicious and barbaric war has been waged across Orengard for longer than any records indicate. Valthor's home planet.

Beneath the estate of Omen Exodus sprawls a massive subterranean network of chambers and tunnels, dank and ancient-looking. Despite all surface appearances, and the vast array of defences throughout the estate, this network is the true defence of the identity of Erasmus Valthor.

The tunnels are arranged with the limitations of the human mind taken into account, and have a number of misleading turnings, junctions and armoured doors, some that lead in circles, others that lead to empty dead ends. Hidden technology projects holographic hallways and false walls, all intended to generate enough time for defenders to secure their position and/or escape.

The labyrinth is primarily a diversion, however, and the true purposes of the underground network lay deeper still within the ground.

Accessible directly from both Valthor's study and the observatory, and indirectly from a number of secreted passageways in the mansion and surrounding grounds, the 'cave', as Valthor has been known to refer to it, contains the true fruits of his labours. Alien artifacts and databanks fill antechambers to the huge, dome-shaped room, while the cave itself contains powerful relics and trophies of huge significance to the Inquisitor.

It is here that he keeps his full set of Astartes-type power armour, gleaming black and shining gold with a shielded version of the Second Book of Macharius tied securely to the chest plate, open at a page containing litanies praising a Golden Age of the Imperium. Other Inquisitorial markings litter the armour, but it is still immaculate (predominantly due to the fact that Erasmus Valthor has never worn it).

Other artifacts include a shattered and dead Eldar soulstone, which Valthor believes to have once been attached to a Wraithlord, and a number of books containing accounts of the Eldar and the Inquisition that many of a more puritanical nature would find borderline blasphemous and heretical.

Also stored within the cave are Valthor's own personal records. His complete history, findings and beliefs are written down in intricate detail within vast tomes, as well as those of his predecessor, Lexicus. Erasmus has allowed Tech-Priest Lycon, by far his most trusted companion, to convert some of the writings into datafiles for easier and more secure storage, but to date, only a fraction of the works of the Valthor line of Inquisitors has been translated from the private language of the line and stored within the vast databanks.

Venthis Sector


Venthis Sub-Sector

• Venthis System
  Venthis - Sector Capital, Naval HQ, Hive World.
  Governor Hethwaite
• Wexford System
  Wexford: A hereditary monarchy. The planet of Wexford has a strong martial tradition dating back millennia. Today, Wexford's Longhill Military Academy is among the most respected in the Eastern Fringes. While Wexford supplies a variety of Guard units for the Imperium (including Armored, Drop Troop, Cavalry and Artillery), it's the planet's Light Infantry units that are in the most demand.
• Rusol System
  Rusol: An ideallic world of culture, of beauty. The population is almost entirely made up of artists, thespians, musicians, people of beauty, of creation. Even manual labour is a glorious, aesthetic art form, with each Imperial city being a shining blue picture of glorious perfection, every building a piece of art, the most mundane, daily items flowing with grace and beauty. The one blight on Rusol's perfect surface is a band of territory around the northern tropic, simply referred to, if ever, as the shadowlands. Daily life on Rusol tries to ignore this territory, and the uncultured, violent barbarians that inhabit it, beyond Imperial rule, but every so often, the barbarians attack an Imperial city, and the devastation is so great that massed crusades are formed from people so disgusted by the disrespect and brutal slaughter, that they throw down their tools of creation, and pick up those of the art of war. Valthor has made his home on the planet of Rusol, where he masquerades as the Rogue Trader 'Omen Exodus', a local celebrity and patron of the arts.
• Tenlero System
  Tenlero - Dark Mining World.

PLACEHOLDER Sub-Sector

• Karstadt System
  Karstadt's World: A hiveworld and sub-sector capital. Valthor was responsible for the downfall of Planetary Governor Markus Loeven after the governor was found to have been faking a spate of Eldar attacks.
• Atrox System
  Atrox: The vast hives of Atrox specialize in the refinement and export of raw minerals.
• Quinset System
  Cel Banto: Industrialised World.

PLACEHOLDER Sub-Sector

• Tarkan System
  Tarkis XI: Raphael's homeworld. A hiveworld famous for supplying the Imperium with several parts for spacecraft engines and some of the highest quality alcohol in the Imperium. The Ruecroix family are prominent hive nobles and the owners of an extensive brewery. Regiments from Tarkis tend to be divided into Armour, Medium Infantry (The Tarkan Rifles) and Elite Infantry (The Tarkan Patricians).
• Phenero
  Phenero: Phenero is a dead world, devoid of atmosphere and life, yet had veins of materials that, while not valuable as such, made cheap materials for manufacturing in the nearby systems. It was established as a penal colony by an entrepreneurial trader looking to 'serve the Imperium' and now boasts a convict population of over 100,000. While many work in the mines, almost all the infrastructure is run by inmates, with their own small civilisation simply being overseen by arbites guards with direct access to controls that could wipe out the entire population. 'Twists' rarely last long amongst the pent-up inmates, as with those who don't quickly find their place in the system of life on Phenero. Many of the human conspirators who survived encounters with Valthor and didn't warrant death end up on Phenero, and the Inquisitor even has a number of sources within the colony, listening to the information coming in with the new inmates.
• Galach System
  Galach: Geographically similar to ancient Mars, most of the surface of Galach is covered by dusty, red rock with very little plant growth. However, unlike ancient Mars, there is a large, crystal clear sea of water that covers almost 1/4 of the planet's surface. The coastal areas around this sea are extremely fertile and allow comfortable living for the population. Galach is a mining world, producing ores for the forges of Villengard. The Imperial tithes are easily paid by the hardworking, dedicated population of Galach, and so they have a considerable amount of free time. In some cases this has produced fine art, glorious music or entertaining theatre. A lot of people, however, find great fascination in packing their bags and exploring the world's surface, and children are encouraged from a very young age to look into things that interest them. They are also taught to defend themselves from the dangers this inquisitive teaching often gets them into.
  
  Many Galach dream of a glorious life in the military, and often, after free schooling courtesy of the PDF, parents sponsor their children to go to one of the many military academies scattered about deep within the wastelands. At these academies, the training is intense as the youths spend five years learning everything from how to operate a lasgun to battle and war tactics, all the way to ancient battle songs. They are taught to maintain their humanity, and not to lose it, no matter what they face. The intensive training produces young soldiers with discipline, skill and presence of mind in battle only surpassed by the Cadians, and teachings paralleled by the famed Longhill military colleges.
• Helicus System
  Helicus Epsilon: The Capital of the Helicus system. Valthor and Raphael spent three years within the Helicus system rooting out a Xenos-worshipping cult. An Industrialised world.
• Villengard
  Villengard: Forgeworld

PLACEHOLDER Sub-Sector

• PLACEHOLDER System
• ET-94202 'Kelvin'
  Planetoid, Ryssith Nestworld, Destroyed by Valthor in 905.M41
• Lacertae System
  Lacertae is an unremarkable jungle world with a small population. It is, however, classed as a deathworld due to the enormous variety and number of reptiles that inhabit its surface. Many are carnivorous and prey on anything they can catch. The natives live among the creatures, using their meat for food, their hides for shelter, and the lizards themselves as beasts of burden. Regiments drawn from this world include various species of dinosaurian. They are used as Rough Rider mounts, beasts of burden, guard animals, and the largest Carnosaurs are used as shock units, battering into opposing units before a charge of armored monsters and men. Typically raised as light infantry, regiments from Lacertae are prized in difficult terrain for their hardiness and skill as scouts. The planet is officially a ward of the Black Templars, although the Astartes have not visited the planet for over a century.

Althenian Sector


Illyurian Sub-Sector

• Runalor System
  A dusty, hot desert world in the Eastern Fringes near Tau Space. The Tau claimed this world, but it was reclaimed and 'Humanised' by Imperial Forces under the command of General Judas Koenig. Those Humans that had lived on the planet under Tau occupation were indoctrinated with Imperial philosophies and inspected by the Inquisition.
• Altaran System
  Altara is the second planet of its system. It has a single, uninhabited moon known as Mitos. The atmosphere is oxygen-nitrogen, with a thick ozone layer that holds down surface temperatures and leaves the sky in a permanent layer of haziness. The climate is cool and extremely wet. The government, such as it is, takes its lead from a hereditary monarchy whose ruler is known as the Shaddath.
  
  Religion-wise, the populace believe in a God, whom the Ecclesiarchy have made into the Emperor. Traditionally the first-born daughter of the Shaddath will become the head priestess of the world at her maturity. Worship is a social thing, somewhat akin to our Christian organisation. They have Churches. Their belief system is quite fatalistic, attributing events to the "order" of things. All events follow the Emperor's plan. The Altarans believe that the Tau occupation was part of his plan to make Altara aware of the greater universe. That belief system might strike a chord with Valthor's amalathian attributes, since the Amalathians believe in keeping things "as the Emperor willed it." The Altaran word for 'God/Emperor' is 'Meshaad'. So "As Meshaad wills."
  
  Altara was taken back from the Tau in a concerted military campaign led by General Judas Koenig approximately twenty-five years ago. The fourteenth Tenlero Scouts are currently stationed on the planet to serve as peacekeepers and facilitators.
  
  The Imperium has taken full advantage of Altara since retaking it. The ocean floors have been strip-mined by Imperial concerns. Tens of thousands of Altarans have been forcibly conscripted and pressed into service as shock troops in the reclamation of a number of other worlds from the Tau. One of those worlds is the planet known to the Imperium as Runalor. Over Twenty Regiments of Infantry have been Raised under the orders of General Judas Koenig. These were used in Koenig's wars against other Tau-held planets in the sector - Partially to replace losses taken, partially because they were expendable, and partially because Koenig found it entirely ironic.
  
  The terms of the Imperial occupation have installed a number of Imperial facilities, but for the most part the original government have been allowed to rule as necessary. The terms of the Imperial occupation forbid Altarans from carrying projectile weaponry or lasweapons.
  
  Altarans have a custom known as the 'Call to Challenge', whereby any dispute may be resolved in hand-to-hand combat. The person challenged has the right to select the terms of the combat - first blood, death, submission - and the weapons to be used.

Dantea

Dantea is a world that has only been partially sucessfully terraformed for human habitation. Domed hives cluster like boils on the surface about the two initial landing points of the colony ships, centuries ago. The rest of the surface is littered with tall, needle-like irregular grey spires, constructed by a 'society' of arthropodic creatures. The insectoid conglomerate ranges from creatures the size of a domestic cat, to giant beetles that have been known to tear apart a Chimaera tank.

As is their divine duty, the human natives of Dantea have taken to fighting the arthropods by gun and by flame, holding back the creatures from encroaching on the cities, and slowly expanding the human territory. The local militia have taken to using flamers in great numbers to purge the titanic hives. The majority of armoured vehicles are classified as Hellhound variants on the Chimaera chassis, and given the toxic air outside the domes, all the footsoldiers wear flameproof airtight suits.

The arthropods have only been witnessed to kill in defence of their hives, however myths and rumours run rampant. Everyone knows a cousin of a friend, or a friend of a cousin who saw a bug attack and drag off an innocent for their sick, alien ways.

'The Ryssith are strong, reptillian, warlike creatures. Young Ryssith hatch from eggs and have the ability to regenerate limbs, as well as a greater propensity for climbing and using all four limbs as legs. Older Ryssith have been witnessed with missing limbs or prosthetic replacements, suggesting this ability is lost with maturity. Other physiological differences include the more upright, humanoid stance Ryssith adopt with age.

The Ryssith eye appears to be suited for recieving light further down the electromagnetic spectrum than humans. This would seem to make them far more adept in lighting conditions that would impair normal humans, both low levels and extreme brightness of visible light. Generally the colouration of the iris is a bold golden yellow, although minor variations are possible, further study is required.

Ryssith skin is very strong and durable, the main part of which is flexible, leather-like coating for their muscular structure. Thicker, heavier, stronger plates of growth appear over the head, back and shoulders, giving the Ryssith natural armour that can shield them from otherwise crippling damage. It would appear that, as with some reptiles, the Ryssith shed their skin on a number of occasions during their lifetime, presumably to accomodate for growth. There appears to be no set colouration of Ryssith skin. Personal experience has led me to witness specimins with grey skin and dark red growth plates as well as those with a sand-coloured skin with darker brown growth plates. Unconfirmed mentions of xenos matching the general descriptions of Ryssith have also made mention of aquatic blue, maroon and pale/white colourations. At present, I am attempting to confirm these reports.

There are two forms of organisation/social structure to the Ryssith. Nestworlds and Warbands. Nestworlds are planets inhabited by a 'queen' female, who lays eggs in batches, or spawnings. (See attatched file on ET-94202, designated 'Kelvin'). Warbands are tribes of males united by a male figurehead, usually a veteran warrior with decades, perhaps centuries of experience over many of the other members. Often many males from a spawning will leave their nestworld to join a single nearby warband, although the decision of allegiance is far more complex than a simple convenient affiliation, as explained by the hypothesis below.

A male Ryssith's opportunities for breeding with a 'queen' female relies on its prestige. It is possible that this race has evolved for the females to be attracted by the strongest example of a Ryssith, with great accomplishments and authority. Warbands take the vast majority of the life of a male Ryssith, and during that time they gain experience, earn prestige and try to prove themselves to be of strong genetic material. For one male in the warband to gain kudos is for the entire warband to garner respect and acknowledgement. While an elder Warleader may be a champion of the race, undefeated in battle, if the warband he leads has little by way of accomplisments or prestige itself, he will not be chosen. Equally, a warband that gains great respect for itself may in turn be weakened by a poor warleader.

Some Ryssith have been identified roaming independently, or in very small groups of three to six, often acting as bounty-hunters or guns-for-hire in more lawless areas of the sector. While this would seem to counter the notion that they rely on group prestige, it is entirely possible that, as with any society, there are dissidents, outcasts, nonconformists that opt for another method of living.

While they do posess significant signs of technology, much of the advanced equipment witnessed in the posession of Ryssith warriors is of other xenos manufacture. Attatched are files on artifacts personally recovered from Ryssith cadavers. In short, these include modified pulse rifles associated with Tau technology, photon rifles similar to those recovered from Kroot, monomolecular blades often associated with the highest quality blades of human manufacture, composite armour created from materials available outside of the Imperium as well as within, and numerous devices and trophy-like objects linked to a variety of races, as well as many currently unidentifiable.

As well as this 'borrowed' technology, the Ryssith also have a formiddable array of weaponry and equipment that is, as far as I can tell, entirely of their own design and manufacture. The most common examples are the flechette weapons used as personal firearms and the incredibly heavy, solid warblades. The precise appearance of these weapons varies (I would speculate that this is related to the home nestworld of the individual Ryssith concerned, although this is a lack of evidence to support this theory sufficiently). Generally, the flechette weapons are approaching the size and weight of an Imperial heavy bolter, consisting of two barrels, either over-and-under or side-by-side, a detatchable box/drum magazine, a body containing the firing mechanism (often very square in appearance) and a pistol grip designed for the Ryssith's six-fingered hand.

Samples of these 'native' weapons have been sent off for study by the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Ordo Xenos Venthis, however I have experts working on artifacts under my own supervision. Thus far, it appears that the flechette weapons operate by using a sudden, tremendous amount of kinetic energy to launch a sabot containing flat, arrowhead shaped shards of metal. These appear to follow a regular design, although experimentation has shown that sabots can be created containing a variety of other ammunition and still work very effectively in the weapon.

The warblades vary in overall shape considerably more than the flechette weapons, recovered examples being rectangular, elliptical, curved, serrated and axe-like, however all follow the same design premise whereby the warblade is never particularly sharp, and more damage is caused by the sheer, crushing weight of the weapon being brought to bear. The metal used is an iron composite, consisting of a very high mineral content. There are variations in the exact components of this mineral addition to the metal, however I believe these are simply down to locally-available materials at the time of the weapon's forging.

Ostensibly, and with considerably more study, I believe that it may be possible to discern an individual's nestworld of origin, and potentially the location of that nestworld through study of that individual's equipment and colouration.

The average Ryssith will stand anywhere between 1.5-2.1 metres tall, with a tough, scaly hide that serves to protect it from attack. Anatomically, the Ryssith is both heavier and stronger than a human, this is attributed to their denser bone and muscle mass as well as the difference in dimensions.

At this point in time, it is impossible to estimate the population of Ryssith within Venthis. Their part-nomadic, part-nesting, split society, vast spawnings and potentially long lifespans all make any numerical presumption worth little more than a guess. What can be asserted, however, is that the Ryssith are a threat to the peace and stability of Venthis, as well as a greater potential danger in the eyes of the Holy Imperium of Man.'

- Extracts from 'The Ryssith Race' , Index Xenologica Venthis, authored by Inquisitor Erasmus Valthor.

I think I asked the same thing when they were in their infancy. He said no, but they draw a significant influence from them. They seem to be a weird Predator/Trando/maybesomethingelse hybrid.

To reveal the origins of the Ryssith would be to shatter the magic of these terrifying alien beasts Mystery's far better, don't you think?

Not really it helps give insight into the original thought process, and encourage further discussion when you are on the same track.

It was worth a shot. At the very beginning the "reptilian Ryssith" were just an afterthought, a throwaway line. Essentially I pictured Trandoshans for 40K, but after M'star and I decided to develop them into a thought-out race, the influences have grown vastly. Trandos, Gorn (Star Trek), Predators etc. started off as influences, but since then they've grown quite exponentially, and the best way to explain them would probably be to say "what if dinosaurs had evolved like humans?"

The Ryssith have outgrown their original influences and are very much a race in their own right nowadays, and I really ought to get on and finish Valthor's report on them. That said, I have an essay on the Hebrew Bible to write this week, so we'll see.

Ridiculously late to the thread, but still: