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Fiction The Next Generation

Discussion in 'Fluff and Stories' started by Bowser, Mar 7, 2017.

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  1. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    The Next Generation


    “Captain’s log, star date 40504.41. Current location, in the Scabrous Sprawl on the Realm of Ghyran. It is the first day of the fourth season, the season the locals call “The Reaping.” We are currently engaged in a battle with a lesser enemy we encountered while searching for the “Great Enemy.” We had picked up one of the locals to…”

    “Abducted. You abducted me.” Called out the human, his green hood obscuring his face.

    The slann shifted his weight and kicked a leg over the arm of his floating throne.

    “Sigh. We ABDUCTED one of the locals to act as our guide in this mortal realm. Of course, we happened to pick a very rude one, who may be some sort of jester or party magician.”

    “I just healed your gaping wound. You were leaking starlight all over the place.” The offended wizard shouted.

    “I meant to do that, it takes away the “gifts” of the jolly ol’ saint. Besides, I helped by having my little friend her put a fate curse on you.” The slann pointed to a skink riding a similar chair to his own.

    “You cursed me? Why…” A large pile of bile and unspeakable horrors impacted in the vicinity, nearly splattering the wizard.

    “Alright that’s enough questions from you. Excuse me. You there, big dirty guy, Pack up your army and go home.” The slann waved his finger in the general direction of a large pile of moving filth.

    “My title is Great Unclean One. You may call me the Spawn…” The oozing mess wheezed out.

    “Yeah, great story. Anyways we have got bigger fish to fry so if you would just move along back to your own realm that would be great.” The bulbous toad creature said nonchalantly.

    “This is highly unorthodox. We should stick to the usual routine. We come in, cause a bit of havoc, you come and defend the guys we’re picking on, you know? Gritty battle stuff.” The unclean one hacked out, slightly hurt.

    “It’s been fun, I assure you, we can pick this up another time, we just have an appointment to get to. So…”

    “Aw. Come on. I brought some skaven, you guys love disemboweling skaven. Look at their stupid rat faces and tell me you don’t want to slaughter them.”

    “Listen, if it makes you feel better, I promise we can pick this up again next week. We will have skaven entrails scattered all across the realm, but right now, we have to go.”

    “But I was just about to give you guys a most foul plague wind. I ate nothing but beans and cabbage all morning.”

    The fat frog glared hard at the sentient sick. He then telekinetically picked up one of the skaven, and one of his skinks. The skink shrieked as it was torn in half by an unseen force. The starlight gushed onto the skaven. The skaven began to shriek as well as its festering wounds began to close and heal, the pox and diseases leaving its body. The skies darkened, thunder growled. A bastiladon floated above the head of the great unclean one.

    “Happy? Now get going, lest I rip this beast open over your head and heal you too.”

    “Uh. Oh. Oh no! Everyone pack up, we’re going home, make sure to clean up after yourselves. Leave it in better condition than you found it.” The putrid pile of puke stammered as he shifted his bulk to waddle at a fast pace. “B-but I assure you we will be back with a vengeance, you will face the wrath of Spawn...”

    “Yes, great, when I made first contact with your patron he had me assimilated. Here I sit before you cleaner than ever. Now boldly flee into the darkness.”

    “I shall have my vengeance.” The filthy one called out while slowly tromping away.

    “You see that hollowed out volcano shaped like a skull? That’s where we will find her.” The starseer pointed up and to the West.

    “Great observation number one. Where did she find a volcano on the Torc? Did she bring that from another realm? The deviant. Then this is it. The final battle. Good versus Evil. The ultimate showdown. Everyone huddle up! Our greatest and most fearsome enemy is close.” The mighty slann was now standing on his chair.

    “Damn it, I am a wizard, not an explorer. Where do you intend to go? I don’t see any skull volcanoes around.” The green clad mage asked.

    “Oh man you are the ugliest skink I ever dreamed up. Let me fix that, don’t know what I was thinking, terribly sorry.” The slann was taken aback by this hideous mammal like creature.

    “I am a man of this realm, not one of your dream monsters.”

    “Oh my, gave me quite the fright. Can you teleport?”

    “No, but if you are willing to teach me the spell I am sure I can…” The wizard was cut off by several skinks shoving him into a sack.

    “Right well, here’s the plan we will teleport to just outside the perimeter of the evil skull volcano base. Any questions?”

    “Yes sir, why not teleport directly into the skullcano base and get the drop on them?” Said the skink chief, who had been uncharacteristically quiet until this point.

    “What? Where’s the fun in that? These things have a process to them, first we get there, then we have a suspenseful battle getting to the lair, then maybe a plot twist, big reveal, and boom. Drama.” The slann replied somewhat sassily.

    The tubby toad waited a moment then pointed at a skink. “Wait, why didn’t you play a dramatic sting?” He said pointing an accusing finger at a skink musician.

    “Sorry sir, I am not quite sure what you are talking about.” Replied the frightened skink.

    “Like Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnnnn or something. What is the point of having a musician in these units. Oh right, they don’t get that anymore. I knew I should have brought some saurus. Here, now you know how to play it anyway. Make it so.”

    The skink played his newly acquired song, then moved onto an ominous track to accompany the certain danger.


    “The Great Green Torc. A flying grove in the sky, taken back from the forces of evil, but I see that we didn’t get rid of all the scum. Musicians, give us some epic fantasy battle music. Everyone else ready yourself for the great enemy. Warm up the engine and the solar beams, stoke the salamanders, Chief, make sure your skinks are ready to run away from a challenge. I want no mistakes, and make sure your thunder quakes.” The substantial slann barked his orders.

    “I can na’ run them any further captain.” Replied the skink chief.

    A deafening roar shook the treetops, followed by a second, even more bloodthirsty roar. War drums beat out in time with the battle music, accompanied by the sounds of soldiers marching at double time, just made it that much more epic. A volley of projectiles flew out from the trees from unseen foes. The wariest of the fighters scrambled under the bastiladons for protection.

    “Ha-ha! You have done nothing but strike the shadows.” The Chief laughed.

    The clouds opened up, and three creatures burst screaming forth, and into a swooping dive. The chief ducked down and rolled into a bush. Two hulking monsters were barreling towards the bastiladons. A mounted warrior leading the troops toward the battle followed by a great old figure on foot.

    “Oh? You want a little blood on your claws, do you? Fire up the lasers!” Shouted the slann.

    Bolts were spat, fire flowed forth, beams and death rays illuminated the battlefield. Clubs came crashing down as scared skinks scattered. Magic waxed and waned, binding and unbinding abound. Great gargantuans growled and gouged. The clouds wept as the forest began to burn. Trees toppled and smoke filled the air.

    “I can do more than just heal in this season you know. I can send out mortally wound enemies.” The mortal mage called out.

    “We can all feel that spell in the air, keep that stegadon stable. Stay out of danger mortal.” The slann called back.

    “But…” the man stammered before a hail of darts were planted in the shell of the stegadon he was healing.

    “Too late. You think I can’t see you in the trees? Time to harvest the pain.” The slann shouted as energy shot from his hands struck the target. A figure fell out of the tree and thudded to the ground before disappearing in a burst of light. “The rest of you had better make yourselves disappear.”

    “Wait. I don’t understand…” The mage managed to say before a massive lizard daemon riding on another daemon roared in his face.

    “Tell your master to show herself. Oh, and watch those fellows they spit.” The slann said to the mighty saurus.

    Streams of fire engulfed the saurus and cold one. The screams of pain echoed until they turned to starlight.

    “Wait, wait, those are your own people. Why are we fighting them?” The arcane human asked.

    A bolt of Azure lighting struck the ground beside the wizard. The magic energy swirling around him made him dizzy. The mage looked up to see another flying throne, carrying a second mighty frog creature. The second slann laughed an eerie, terrifying laugh.

    “To what do I owe the pleasure, business or to loot treasure?” She laughed again.

    “Oh enough of the theatrics already.” The Captain slann said.

    The clouds parted and the sun began to shine down on the Torc. Fires were stamped out by carnosaur and bastiladon alike.

    “Would one of you care to explain why… why any of this?” The Green cloaked wizard demanded.

    “I will let her be the Exposition Gecko this time.” The slann repositioned himself in his chair.

    “It’s a long story my little man, a story about the nearly extinct slann. A long ago battle in this very realm, with that very captain at the helm. Chaotic forces kept the battle raging, the slann was losing the war he was waging. A desperate attempt to save himself from the ultimate cost, one last gambit with the engine before the battle was lost. He attempted to summon to his aid another slann, it did not exactly go according to plan. For the first time in millennia or memory of old, a new slann was spawned, a new legend to be told.” She smiled down upon the man.

    “Right, well what’s the abbreviated story without rhymes?” asked the wizard.

    “Basically, she said that, we found a way to create new slann, finally hope for our people. A sixth spawning, and we had the power this whole time.” Said the Captain.

    “But why are we fighting them? Why is she the worst enemy?” The mage asked.

    “To train us in all they know, and where else could they find a worthy foe?” She answered.

    “Yes, our greatest hope of continued survival needs to be trained in battle and magic, and maybe they can teach us a thing or two. Speaking of, where did you get that hollowed out skull volcano? Did you convert it into a Temple Starship?” The great captain asked.

    “I fought a battle and sent many mortals to the grave, and retrofitted it with the schematics you gave.”

    “Kids these days I tell you. Instead of a nice traditional pyramid, you go with a super villains lair.”

    “To show my enemies that their demise is my passion, that and it is the current fashion.”

    ____________________________________________________________________________________

    “Star date 40504.42, after meeting up with the crew of the SSS Skullcano we are ready to depart the Great Green Torc, bound for other parts of this realm to continue our ongoing mission. We have enlisted the help of a new medical officer…”

    “Kidnapped. I have been kidnapped. Damn it, I am a wizard, not a space man. I would like to go home now. Please don’t make me board your ship.”

    “We have enlisted the help of a sassy new medical officer, who if he is good we will get him a Celestial Hurricanum…”

    “I’ll be good.”

    “These are the voyages of the Starship Consolation Prize…” The captain started before being interrupted by a large pile of filth smacked him directly in his belly. The Captain put on his finest war wig and shouted “SPAWN! SSPAAAAAAAAAWNNNNNN!”

    “We have a temple starship, and a friend with a skull temple starship, he is fighting on the ground, why don’t we just fly up and rain down some vengeance.” The wizard asked, excited about a vessel of his own.

    “Make it so.”
     
  2. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    Author Notes:
    The working title for this was “A New Hope” to see if I could rile up the Fanboys, I decided to change it to avoid that being the focus of any constructive criticism I might receive.

    The initial idea was; what if the engine of the gods when summoning a slann or Lord Kroak, it wasn’t summoning a living one, but creating a new slann or relic priest. It would explain all the pop up slann in AOS, as well as if you were to play against another person who was also using Kroak. This would basically save the race from extinction, create a few Relic Priests, which if they would take my theory of adding in new named scrolls for heroic models they could sell more and improve power creep for all armies. I doubt it would ever make canon, but interesting thoughts nonetheless.

    In my research I found that the original series just made up the star dates as they went, so it made sense for me to do that as well. Here is what I came up with.
    Star date 40504.41 is broken down like so:

    405=AOS

    04= Fourth Realm

    .41= 4th season as set out in “Great Green Torc” and 1st day of the season.


    Here is the breakdown of the game. Mind none of these are tournament armies, but they are legal armies that with some tweaking could work quite well.

    I think that the time of war is fairly obvious, it is the “Great Green Torc.” I enjoy playing that time of war, great spells, lots of great effects that can change the game. I did not add in a battle plan, but you could put in objectives very easily with the Temple starships, and even add bonuses to those terrain features. Here are the armies, I left out describing them mostly, but there are still hints as to what the two Seraphon armies consist of. I didn’t include most of the Nurgle one in the hints, other than the great unclean one brought some rats. Filthy, filthy rats.


    The Wrath of Spawn

    LEADERS

    Great Unclean One (240)

    Plague Priest with Warpstone-tipped Staff (80)

    Plague Furnace (220)

    UNITS

    30 x Plague Monks (210)

    - Foetid Blades

    - Icon of Pestilence

    - Doom Gongs

    - Pestilens Battleline

    30 x Plague Monks (210)

    - Foetid Blades

    - Icon of Pestilence

    - Doom Gongs

    - Pestilens Battleline

    20 x Plague Monks (140)

    - Foetid Blades

    - Icon of Pestilence

    - Doom Gongs

    - Pestilens Battleline

    15 x Plague Censer Bearers (180)

    - Pestilens Battleline

    WAR MACHINES

    Plagueclaw (180)

    Plagueclaw (180)

    Plagueclaw (180)

    BATTALIONS

    Congregation of Filth (60)

    Foulrain Congregation (100)

    WOUNDS: 148 TOTAL POINTS: 1980 / 2000


    SSS Consolation Prize

    LEADERS

    Slann Starmaster (260)

    Skink Starseer (160)

    Engine of the Gods (240)

    Skink Chief (60)

    - Golden Sickle

    Jade Battlemage (100)

    UNITS

    Skinks x 10 (80)

    - Boltspitters & Star Bucklers

    - Battleline

    Skinks x 10 (80)

    - Boltspitters & Star Bucklers

    - Battleline

    Skinks x 10 (80)

    - Boltspitters & Star Bucklers

    - Battleline

    Salamanders x 3 (180)

    Skink Handlers x 3 (40)

    MONSTERS

    Bastiladon (300)

    Bastiladon (300)

    BATTALIONS

    Thunderquake Starhost (120)

    WOUNDS: 88 TOTAL POINTS: 2000 / 2000


    SSS Skullcano

    LEADERS

    Saurus Oldblood on Carnosaur (320)

    Saurus Scar-Veteran on Carnosaur (260)

    - Warblade

    Skink Starpriest (100)

    Saurus Scar-Veteran on Cold One (100)

    Saurus Oldblood (100)

    - Suntooth Maul

    Slann Starmaster (260)

    UNITS

    Saurus Warriors x 10 (100)

    - Clubs

    - Battleline

    Saurus Warriors x 10 (100)

    - Clubs

    - Battleline

    Saurus Warriors x 10 (100)

    - Clubs

    - Battleline

    Chameleon Skinks x 5 (120)

    Ripperdactyl Riders x 3 (140)

    Skinks x 10 (80)

    - Meteoric Javelins & Star Bucklers

    - Battleline

    BATTALIONS

    Bloodclaw Starhost (100)

    Shadowstrike Starhost (120)

    WOUNDS: 103 TOTAL POINTS: 2000 / 2000
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2017
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  3. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    Rave Reviews:
    Aye it was a bit of a gamble taking this idea and shoving it into a star trek parody, considering I am not a huge star trek fan, and basically went for typical star trek parody, but I think it was worth it

    It was a bit heartless to rip apart a red shirt, but needs of the many or the captain depending on the plot outweigh the red shirts. I did a lot of research to be somewhat subtle in my references so it wasn't too in yo' face.

    Yeah, I figured there would be a few who didn't get much star trek exposure, and a few who hate AOS, so if only one person fit into both categories then I lucked out.

    Hopefully this didn't give me away, maybe I am the only one using the times of battle?

    So you wanna collaborate? I am game! Haha!

    You got me, I did need a naïve character’s point of view for the big reveal. The tactic in the sexond ladt paragraph was my subtle reference to how they beat Khan in the wrath of Khan. Didn't land as nicely as I would have liked, but story was just about done and it was almost nap time.

    Yeah, hope and vengeance are rich hooks with a lot of potential. So I figured the comp would have a heavy tone, and felt there would be need to lighten it a bit. Which of course can either make the reader breathe a sigh of relief, or kind of send a system shock to the reader. Comedy rarely works out for warhammer, unless it is lightly peppered in, or written really well. My writing skills aren't there yet, but getting better all the time. Probably.

    The other side of the coin, it's great when someone both gets the jokes, and appreciates the break from the heavy (though amazing) stories here. I tried to slip in hints of the armies being played, but I think I went too subtle there and a bit heavier on the star trek.

    I think your additions definitely helped the story along. The problem with a slow joke like the Khan reference is that if done wrong, you lose the reader before the reveal. Still require a bit of work on timing. Or you need to read faster! Haha! If I go for comedy again, I will keep in mind that more story will enhance the jokes, so less need to keep the jokes going.

    It is odd going into a competition expecting not to come out on top, especially with being as competitive as I am. But it mixes well with my lack of seriousness I apply to all things. I also wish that space comp took off a little better too. It was such a cool idea.

    Me too buddy. Me too.
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2017
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  4. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    Good story, good well-thought out responses to your critiques.

    I do not understand why you made army lists. I do not believe it generally enhances a story to slap number and stats on the characters.
     
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  5. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    It does nothing to further the story, just taking the crunch and turning it into fluff.
     
  6. Qupakoco
    Skink Chief

    Qupakoco Keeper of the Dice Staff Member

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    @Bowser is the AoS Listmaster, afterall. His creative mind works in a world of balance.

    And yes, excellent responses. This was a very fun story.
     
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  7. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    I do enjoy creating army lists!
     
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  8. The Sauric Ace
    Salamander

    The Sauric Ace Well-Known Member

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    And sometimes making army lists can be a jumping off point of new ideas, when it comes to story writing :) I'm pretty fond of creating characters in GURPS (that's a role - playing game, btw) and then never used them, but write up descriptive stories about them. So sometimes numbers can be creative :p
     
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  9. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    I used to do that with the D20 Star wars rpg and Usagi Yojimbo RPG. Never did play Usagi Yojimbo, but did quite enjoy trying to come up with characters and campaigns.
     
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  10. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    I really enjoyed this story. Granted I lost the plot and just starting searching for star trek references throughout it, but it was a good read for me. Glad you put it together, the forum has needed a star-trek story fan story up until this point.

    Interesting idea to have a list built for the story, not something I have ever considered doing. I guess this is something that GW has done in the past (create a battle scene to showcase new models or epic scenery, build the lists for it, and create the backstory fluff) so its neat that you did the same!

    I have created many a wishful-thinking WH and WH40K army list, as well as numerous random d&d characters myself ;)
     
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  11. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    Fluff was originally explained to me back when I played 40k as a story to explain the game, basically a battle report, with narrative embellishments. I had decided to set it in the great green torc, a time of battle, and thought it should be playable. So I just reverse engineered it, as I was writing the story, I decided to make them all equal points costs to determine what each army would have at its disposal. Kind of a guideline for who would fill what role if I chose to write for them. I will probably do this for upcoming stories as well, in order to allow it to be a playable scenario.
     
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  12. Qupakoco
    Skink Chief

    Qupakoco Keeper of the Dice Staff Member

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    Here's my review. Started it before the contest ended, but now it's dedicated to your story:

     
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  13. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    Yeah, I definitely did not paint the picture as nicely as I would have liked. I think "Well thought puns made this feel more like a Monty-Python sketch than anything else. " is the nicest things anyone has ever said about me!
     
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