Bro, the forum goes from "posted 1 day ago" to "posted 6 days ago." Roll20, why do you suck so bad? Greetings servants of the Imperium! Warhammer 40k is gaining popularity, but 10,000 years prior saw the events that would define humanity for eternity, the Horus Heresy. New or non-Warhammer fans welcome, as this is meant as an introduction into the setting! Date and time for the one-shot is set: 7pm EST on Tuesday, August 5th. Deadline for character creation and joining our Discord server is one week before the game, the 29th. We are using the Powered by the Apocalypse system, as our focus is storytelling and dying fast, not doing percentages or rolling 50d6! This is my last free game before activating my paid program with Patreon! Be active. If I don't hear back from you within 24 hours, I will assume you're no longer interested. We have five players, so we don't NEED players per se; I just figured I'd offer just there's one or two people out there who really want to take part in the Horus Heresy. Only one Playbook is allowed per player, so if a Playbook is claimed, it's off the table. But there are so many Playbooks left to claim! HORUS HERESY PLAYBOOKS Arbites Arbitrator (space-cop) Astropath ( long-distance space-telepath ) Citizen (just a regular dude, like farmer or miner or something) Clade Vanus Assassin Infocyte (assassin that uses information to bring about death) Imperial Army Soldier (self-explanatory) Iterator (motivational speaker, to spread Imperial propaganda) Knight Bondsman (a low-ranking operator of a house-sized mech) Mechanicum Lexmechanic or Transmechanic (Lexmechanics study information, Transmechanics fix things) Navigator (use a magical third eye to navigate ships thru the warp) Navy Lieutenant ( self-explanatory. space-navy, not sea) Remembrancer (artist or journalist who records the events of the Great Crusade) Medicae Adept (medical specialist trained to heal and prolong life) Rogue Trader Heir (noble conquistador who really wants their Lord to die so they can take over) Sister of Silence Novice-Sister ( an anti-warp null Psyker who has not taken the vow of silence yet) Space Marine Scout (a super-soldier who has yet to be issued their power armor) Titan Moderatus (a second-in-command of a gigantic mech; think Pacific Rim) Unsanctioned Psyker (a wizard that is not sanctioned by the Edict of Nikaea) It has only been four years since the turn of millennium 31. 500 years ago, before the Emperor launched his Great Crusade to bring the lost colonies of humanity to compliance, before his Primarch Project was sabotaged, before Terra's Treaty with Mars, before even, some say, the fall of the Eldar... the human colony world of Ardeat suffered a near-global conflagration. This catastrophe was especially devastating because the planet was mostly covered in jungle, and its main resources were oil, coal, and propane. Ash and soot still hangs over the rocky, mountainous terrain, blocking out most of the sun's light, even after five centuries. The planet has cold weather, often with heavy icy rain. Ardeat's soil is black and dry, completely devoid of nutrients. The population of 3 million is forced to grow their food in greenhouses on farms within contained and isolated monoliths scattered all over the planet. The majority of Ardeat's residents are often coal miners, oil workers, or propane extractors, laboring ceaselessly in hazardous environments. The flames and dense smog of Mine 7 (colloquially known as "Fireden"), are rumored to be from the great blaze 500 years ago. Approximately ten years ago, circa 995.M30, the Imperium's 203rd Expeditionary Fleet commanded by Primarch Angron of the 12th Legiones Astartes arrived in system with their full armada of 95 Imperial Navy voidships, 32 Space Marine vessels, and nearly a dozen Mechanicum Arks holding 300 Titan war machines of the Legio Audax, which consisted exclusively of Warhound scouts. The Primarch Angron ordered a single message to be sent to the relatively small governments of Ardeat: " Do not surrender. I thirst for blood." The Ardeatians immediately surrendered, entering into compliance. Begrudgingly, Angron deployed a single company of Space Marines, a regiment of Imperial Army soldiers and Administratum staff, and 5 Titans onto the world to bring about their Full Compliance. And then he and his ships left, having not spent more than four hours in orbit. Over the decade, the Administratum's Iterators and Arbites personnel, in conjunction with the Army, worked diligently to rout out all religious and mystical influences, as per their mandate of Imperial Truth. The Imperial Army regiment and Arbitrators allowed the mutants of the world to continue to exist, so long as they served the Imperium. The regiment also wasted no time in claiming their Right to Settlement, which stated that any world that a single regiment was currently stationed on became their new homeworld. The Army conscripted all fighting-age colonists that were not miners or fuel extractors into a militia. The Imperium occupiers began to intermingle with the Ardeatians, but over the years, a natural status quo developed: the Imperium's protectors at the top, and the indigenous colonists at the bottom. The 4th Company, 4th Chapter (often called 4-4) of the 12th Legion, preferred to go by their original Legion name, the War Hounds. 4-4 greatly resisted the implantation of the neuro-surgical lobotomization archeotech known as the Butcher's Nails, devices that continuously amplify the violent tendencies of their wearer. Although the Army, Arbites, and Administratum implemented the new laws of the global provisional government, it was largely the presence of the 100 Space Marines that instilled the fear necessary to keep the 3 million Ardeatians compliant. When they came into villages and subterranean communities to "recruit" children for the Astartes reproduction process, there was very little resistance. And any resistance was easily put down, if not by the Space Marines, then by the accompanying Arbites or Army soldiers. Of the Legio Audax's 5 Titans posted on Ardeat, the Herald of Retribution is the lead scout Titan, with a crew of 6: three in the cockpit and three attending tech-adepts of the Martian Priesthood, the Mechanicum, in the enginarium compartment. Over the years, the role of the Titans has varied, depending on what is needed. Since day of Compliance, there has only been one xenos invasion, and the perpetrating Eldar pirates immediately fled upon seeing the Space Marines and Titans. More often than not, the Titans simply roam the wastes, hunting mutated beasts, or aiding the miners and oil drillers by using their god-slaying weapons platforms to explode quarries and rock formations. Two years ago, a portion of Coal Mine 7 collapsed due to a drilling into a methane pocket. The resulting explosion shook the mine, causing the roof collapse and killing several miners. Now, in 004.M31, reports of the Great Crusade coming to a close blend with unbelievable rumors of Imperial governor Vardus Praal of the Istvaan system in the neighboring sub-sector deciding to secede from Imperium compliance. Furthermore, the typical Imperial trade convoys that come and go around Ardeat have ceased altogether, lending to gossip that either the Imperium has forgotten about the colony, or the treachery of Istvaan has reached the small, unassuming resource planet. Will Angron and his World Eaters return to ensure Ardeat's Imperium compliance? Or will the native-born Ardeatians attempt a coup to retake their home from the occupiers? Or, perhaps even more unnerving, will Ardeat be the victim of the unforgiving void of the galaxy, completely ignored by the rest of humanity for eternity? The question is, whatever happens, what side will you be on?