2203 - This Week in Hobby
Worldbuilding for the Alabastrine Candle, Anniversary Warhams, and Hamsters
Worldbuilding for the Alabastrine Candle, Part 1
I knew a few things about the Order from the start. They would be a small force. In my mind, the 500pts limit that I set for a new crusade army would represent the entire order. The alabastrine candle would be a miracle of some kind. They would inherit the Order of the Sacred Rose, but be a custom Order for lore reasons.
I wanted to avoid, as best I could, anything that I term "warp shenanigans." Warhammer is full to the brim with warp shenanigans. They're not inherently bad, but the story I'm trying to tell is not about how weird the warp is.
Kaldor Draigo, chapter master of the Grey Knights, is lost in the warp. He shows up in battles across the galaxy, sometimes at the same time. Sometimes at opposite ends. It's awesome. The warp is a first class character in his stories and the shenanigans feel earned.
Imagine the same story from the opposite side. A lone unit of space marines, cut off from reinforcement, striving in vain. At the moment where they're about to suffer total defeat, Kaldor Draigo appears and saves the day. The story wasn't about him, it wasn't about the warp, he's a deus ex machina that solves an intractable problem. It doesn't feel earned.
Sometimes warp shenanigans are necessary. The Warhammer 40K sandbox is big, and lots of people are playing in it. From time to time they're going to step on each others toes. Some day I may need to retcon my own lore to fit, and that's fine. I don't want to start out with unearned warp shenanigans, for where will I have left to go later?
Setting the Stage
With that in mind, my first question: where does this happen?
At first I thought the sisters may have been abandoned, lost, or forgotten for some time. I needed a location where that could have happened. What about on the far side of the Great Rift? On the surface it seemed like the ideal candidate. The Cicatrix Maledictum left many worlds unable to contact Holy Terra. Yet, most of the current canon narrative takes place centered there. The bulk of the Imperial Navy is there. The risk of stepping on the lore's toes, or having my toes stepped on, was too high.
The Imperium of Man divides the galaxy into five Segmentums, like the directions on a compass. The Segmentum Pacificus, to the galactic West of Terra, is an ideal candidate. First, there's not a lot of official lore there. The Macharian Crusades happened there in 5th edition. The Sabbat Worlds Crusade as well. But most of the Segmentum is open space, both literally and rhetorically. Second, the Night of a Thousand Rebellions happened there.
The Night of a Thousand Rebellions is fluff from the 6th edition of 40K. A thousand planets were simultaneously overtaken by the forces of Chaos on a single night. That's an interesting idea to attach to. What if my Sisters were able to repel such a rebellion? Was the miracle of the candle somehow related?
I set out to create a timeline of events. The Order of the Sacred Rose was founded in the 38th millennium, M38 in Warhammer's notation. The night of a Thousand Rebellions happened late in M41. So far, so good. Except wait: the Night of a Thousand Rebellions took place in December, 40,999, and "now" is roughly 41,020.
For characters with lifespans that can last hundreds of years, the rebellion happened "yesterday." If the sisters had been lost or abandoned, how would the forces of Chaos know to attack? Those two ideas didn't feel like they went together anymore. So they weren't abandoned, they had always been small. This would need to be a galactic backwater. Tatooine. Notable only for how un-notable it was.
I named the planetary system Valria. The name rings of "valkyrie" and "valor." The convent would be on Valria IX, chosen because it sounds cool. Since it's supposed to be a nowhere, I decided Valria IX would be an agri-world. Populated enough to warrant a protective presence, but not so that it would be odd that the Order was small.
My second question: what is the Alabastrine Candle, and why does it exist? We'll explore that in the next installment. Subscribe now to make sure you don't miss out.
New Releases
Games Workshop
The new year sees two new anniversary models. They will be available the weekend of your local Warhammer store's anniversary. GW publishes this list of store anniversaries for reference.
Inquisitor Erasmus Cartavulnus can use standard Inquisitor or Warhammer Legends rules.
Gutrippa Boss Haggok doesn't have Warhammer Legends rules, but does have a pet vulture. So that's pretty cool.
The Fury of the Deep battlebox will be available for preorder from Saturday. Dwarven David Hasselhoff vs Soggy Kevin Spacey vie for the right, the honor, the privilege to live rent-free in your head.
TTRPGs
Disaster Hamsters 2 expands the DMs Guild best-selling adventure Disaster Hamsters. It offers talking animals, feywild shenanigans, a full campaign setting, and an adventure from levels 1-3.
The Tiny Tome of Dangerous Food offers a small selection of food you can fight for 5E for about $1 USD. It has a dragon bread. What more do I need to say?