More Monsters(?) of Mihrne

The Lands of Mihrne have many creatures lurking in it: some mere beasts, some perhaps anomalies of nature but wholly of this material world. And some, maybe, which might be in fact unnatural creatures existing beyond the natural laws of the world. This time I've added more concise bullet points on possible setting explanation and how it could be used.

Giants

Art by Christoper Bernades.

There are many stories told across the land about giants. Some say they are an ancient race predating mankind while others state they are the offspring of Men and Gods, towering demigods who bodies are the pillar which link earthly matter and heavenly, divine essence. Giants are known to have existed for an absolute fact since, in ancient times up until the current age people have found the skeletons of giants. These skeletons vary widely in size and shape but are generally humanoid, ranging from the size of a tall man to gigantic skulls the size of two grown men standing on each others. In the older days these were crushed and used in magical reagents or incorporated into weapons and armors. Some learned individuals have speculate that, perhaps, these were not all the skeleton of giant demi-gods as some displayed traits associated with the men-like monsters known as 'apes'. Alas, these days there are few skeleton left and none are intact and giants have mostly faded to myths.

Until fairly recently.

The past few decades have seen a slow mounting of evidence of the re-emergence of giantkind in the wilderness. Hunters frequently find giant paths carved in the woodlands as something immense crash through the wounds. There are remains of dead elks and bears, in pieces, showing massive bite marks not unlike the teeth shape of humans. There are and always have been rumours and stories of men of great stature, some large and powerful while others are crippled: a disease of the flesh called, of course, 'gigantism' which even in the men of Mihrne understand to be a condition of the blood. Some claim that, in wilder lands, more children are born with this growth sickness. Some believe children conceived around mountains and other places where giant bones are buried imbues children with a portion of Giantsblood. Others still believe the Giants emerging across the land are the same creatures as those of old, having slept through the eons and awakened in modern Mirhne. Of course, perhaps it is most likely that the creatures we call 'giants' are not a unified whole and might be creatures of disparate and unique origin.

• 'Giants' could very well be a form of alternate hominid, like the Gigantopithecus or the cryptid Sasquatch and Bigfoot which could be very real in Mirhne. The cavemen of Mirhne could be akin to a missing link of sort.
• Giants could be indeed akin to the Nephilim found in Ezekiel. They would be the offspring of the mating between human and the Gods. Of course, the true nature of these 'Gods' would be far more Lovecraftian than some simple Ancient Aliens story. The Giants could be Mirhne's equivalent to the spawns of Shub-Niggurath.
• 'Giants' are simply another mutation or corruption of humans run amock, this time distending the human form and expanding it with uncontrollable bone growth. In that case, such monstrous transformation could be easily coaxed to further advance and mutate through exposure to some corruption and/or through special means.
• Some giants may not even be large humanoids at all, but rather some eldritch monstrosity which lurks in the deep wood and the mountain peaks. What form it takes might be difficult to ascertain for sure.
• In any case, the bones of Giants is a 'magical material' in Mirhne, akin to what Mithril or Adamantium is in many settings. It is rare and stronger than bronze and is a substantial upgrade.

The Sorcerers

From Legend of Zelda

Mirhne both has a lot of magic and yet no true magic to speak of, unless one wish to delve into the darker powers of this world and brave the eldritch corruption. That said there are many things in Mirhne which blur the boundary between what we 21st century humans call science and what the people of Mirhne call 'magic': medical knowledge, chemical production and metalworking being a good example of what does work alongside more questionable practices such as trepanation, palm reading, astrology and so on. Openly magical effects as we recognize them in tabletop RPG are virtually unknown: there are no fireballs or healing spells. Even the darkest, blackest magic powered by eldritch knowledge and human sacrifice isn't so straightforward.

Except, maybe, for the Sorcerers. If the legends are true, anyway.

The Sorcerers are each unique individuals and they been woven through the history and myth of Mirhne. They are immortal and in the shape of men and women but beyond that who or what they are is unclear. They are said to possess unique powers, can speak all languages, curse the land, summon dead gods and travel all corners of the earth even beyond Mirhne. Sometimes the stories say they were the chosen servants of the Gods of old while others claim they are the last survivors of an older race of men, one closer to the powers of the gods. Others make them out to be evil and jealous individuals who have taken into themselves dark powers which no mortal should ever bear inside their flesh and soul. Some say they are all as old of Mirhne itself and were there when the land was young while others claim they are evil, foreign people with foreign magic and foreign gods to be feared and reviled by 'all good folks' (as the people of Mirhne often fear strangers from faraway lands). Their exact nature is unclear but so are their numbers, with an estimate around nine and twelve, assuming some names which pop up in myths are alternate names or conflation of different sorcerers.

• Sorcerers, if they exist, are unique high HD npc/monsters woven deep into the history of Mirhne. They are less like the Wizards of modern D&D and more akin to figures such as Merlin, Medea, Circe or Gandalf, but adapted to the more sword & sorcery-meet-Lovecraft tone. What powers they have beyond seemingly immortal in some shape or form is ultimately unknown until it pops up.
• Sorcerers could be indeed the rarest breed of humans: people who have indeed understood some fundamental knowledge about the world and how to warp it. Or they could very well be former slaves of ancient Gods who have broke free.
• Alternatively, the Sorcerers aren't innately magical. Rather they are the last remaining members of some older and more advanced civilization whose 'magic' they guard and keep to themselves for reasons only known to them.
• The Sorcerers aren't native to Mirhne and come from an alternate reality where the fundamental rules are different. Their magic is unique to how their biology function, yet they are also weakened by Mirhne. Alternatively they are aliens in the extra terrestrial sense.
• The Sorcerers aren't remotely human and are basically like the Istari of Middle Earth, only they are not 'angels' but rather servants of some ancient cosmic power from the darkness beyond. They are the rare eldritch threat which is fully able to think and act like a human, having faked it for so long.

Grimdark Future: 'Fluffy' Robot Legions Lists, Part 2

Death has come. We continue our look at thematic army lists for the Necrons Robot Legions for Grimdark Future. Where they were once one of the most boring and limited armies, they now possess enough unit variety to be interesting and varied.

Novohk: Murder Up Close

MAIM!KILL!BU- oh sorry, wrong faction.

Generally speaking, the Necrons are very much a 'shooty' army. They have extremely powerful guns and slow infantry after all. That said, the mechanical skeletons should never be underestimated in melee range. For one thing, they are made of regenerating living metal and secondly they do not feel pain or fear. Finally, there is the fact the more advanced Necron types retain part of their memory and knowledge, including that of dueling. The Novohk Dynasty may as well be the 'token melee sub-faction', much like the World Eaters or Blood Angels are to Chaos and Imperium respectively. Hell they are even red in color! These Necrons have an heritage of warfare and bloodshed and being robot skeletons hasn't dulled this one bit.

Tri-Scorpion Overseer [1] (230pts)

Overseer [1] (200pts)

Wrist-Mounted Laser Cannon

War Scythe

Warden [1] x2 (210pts)

Guardians [10] (330pts)

10x War Scythes

Warriors [10] x2 (570pts)

8x Gauss Rifle
1x Flame Caster

1x Fusion Caster

Flesh-Eaters [10] x2 (660pts)

8x Metal Claws

2x Electric Claws

Tri-Scorpions [3] x2 (680pts)

2x Twin Armblades

1x Heavy Armblade

Tactics: Expanding upon the units introduced in the Szarekhan list, this is a melee army to the core. Assign the Tri-Scorpion Overseer to a squad ot fellow Scorpion-bots and the regular Overseer to his Guardians. These are your elite melee units, while the Flayed Ones Flesh Eaters are your melee grunts but keep in mind these have not been upgraded with Ambush. The warriors, the standard unit of any list, exist to primarily provide cover fire. To further bolster the melee prowess of Warriors, a new hero unit (the 'Warden') is assigned to each squad. Alternatively each could be assigned to a Flesh Eater squad if that is more useful.

Nihilak: The Eternal Denial

"Its mine mine mine mine."

The Nihilak dynasty are a bunch of jealous bastards who guard their plundered wealth to the bitter end. They are as salty as any Necron can be salty and dislike giving any inch to their enemy. Initially I was unsure how to represent this in Grimdark Future but after some consideration I decided to build a disgustingly defensive list, which excel at basically not staying down. Offensively it sucks, but that doesn't matter because Nihilak are a bunch of jerks who will bitterly defend themselves. Their main mechanic is centered on using the Overwatch action but, in Grimdark Future, this is an optional and advanced rule.

Technomancer [1] x3 (480pts)

Gloom-Protocol

Regen-Protocol

2x Technoslave

Warriors [10] x3 (855pts)

8x Gauss Rifle
1x Flame Caster

1x Fusion Caster

Snipers [5] x4 (905pts)
Hunter

Tripod Robot [1] x2 (630pts)

Repair Bots (Regeneration)

Reanimator

Tactics: Assign a Technomancer to each Warrior squad, enhancing their regeneration and giving them the Fear mechanic. Your Tripod robots help enhance regeneration as well, allowing the army to keep on ticking no matter what. A set of Deathmarks Snipers wait in ambush until the time is right, at which point they can pop on the battlefield with their extremely dangerous 'Hunter' ability to vaporize priority targets. Use them to deny the enemy any location you see fit. Do keep in mind their squad size is smaller but, if need be, they can be combined to form two squads of ten instead.

Nephrek: Wings of the Deceiver

Shinycrons.

The Nephrek Dynasty is particularly gifted and well-versed in some strange metaphysical knowledge and science, as they possess some particularly impressive abilities when it come to what can be best described as teleportation. The Nephrek seek to become beings of pure light rather than return to flesh and their golden forms, especially those of their Lords, are able to teleport and flicker. Considering the Thousand Sons seek to acquire from them the secret to binding and controlling C'Tan shards and the golden hued finish of these Necrons perhaps they have acquired and jealously guard some power they have extracted from the C'Tan known as the Deceiver.

Nanobot Wraith-Shard C'Tan Shard [1] (490pts)

Psychic (3)

Technomancer [1] x3 (420pts)

Flame-Protocol

Jetpack Teleportation

Bot Master (Psychic (1))

Guardians [5] x3 (720pts)

Jetpacks Teleportation

Hover Bikes [6] x3 (765pts)

5x Twin Gauss Rifles

1x Antimatter Rifle

Doom Tank [1] x2 (550pts)

Tactics: This is another Psychic list, similar to the Szarekhan Dynasty list. The key difference is how it plays. The Szarekhan Dynasty list was akin to a brutal sledgehammer backed by powerful anti-Psychic defenses. The Nephrek list, meanwhile, is highly mobile. Assign a Technomancer to each Guardians squad as both are equipped with Jetpacks and are flying units, ignoring terrain through their bizarre golden, light-infused shapes. Meanwhile, formations of Tomb Blades Hoverbikes move around the battlefield at high speed, ignoring terrain with their Strider ability, backed by a pair of Doom Tanks.

Maynarkh Dynasty: Two-Pronged Warfare

From the Imperial Armor book
series by Forge World.

The nihilistic and destructive (even by Necron standards) Maynarkh Dynasty has grappled with the curse of the Flayer, which transform Necrons into delusional madmen. Well, more delusional than usual, anyway: Necron Flayed Ones believe themselves to be flesh and blood and long for it, which is apparently why they garb themselves in the stolen flesh of living beings. What was once believed to be some sort of grotesque shock unit of the Necrons is in fact a sickness affecting the metal race. This curse has nearly undone Maynarkh but now they are back from the brink and dedicated to the eradication of the Imperium of Man. This will not be a honorable war, no, for the lesser race does not deserve such a fate. And so yet another take on the good old murder-bots emerge from the lore.

Technomancer [1] x2 (250pts)

Flame-Protocol

Bot Master (Psychic (1))

Annihilators [3] x2 (870pts)

2x Gauss Cannon

1x Heavy Gauss Cannon

Flesh-Eaters [10] x3 (1230pts)

8x Metal Claws

2x Electric Claws

Ambush

Warriors [10] x2 (570pts)

8x Gauss Rifle
1x Flame Caster

1x Fusion Caster

Tactics: Maynarkh is a 'combined arms' type of force, combining two distinct halves of a Necron army. It make use of both extremely 'shooty' units with large, heavy weapons while its base troops are the demented Flayed Ones. This army is especially focused around using Ambush to deploy the troops where they are needed. Assign each Technomancer to a Warrior squad: these two squads are the only ones which aren't in Ambush at the start of the game.

Bone Kingdom of Drazak: Flayed Ones Harvest

Snick, snick...snick....snick...

Where Maynarkh was able to fight off the effects of the Flayer Curse, the Bone Kingdom of Drazak succumbed nearly entirely to it. Not much is known about it: not its color scheme, if the Dynasty name is Drazak or if the world is a specific one within a larger Dynasty. What is known is that the planet of Drazak is a tomb world populated by hordes of demented Flayed Ones, safe for their leader who is immune but powerless to stop the curse. When the Flayed Ones gets too hungry, they emerge from their shrouded world located in the Ghoul Stars to harvest the living.

Originally I wasn't sure how to execute a Flayed Ones-heavy army due to the unit limitations but, thanks to some refluffing and some new ideas I was able to create a list composed nearly entirely of some variation of the Flayed Ones. One idea being to model their Wraiths not as the Canoptek type but, rather, the original type of Necron Wraiths which were said to be of a similar nature to the Flayed Ones. Meanwhile, the mutated Immortals (and similar higher ranked Necrons) use the statline of the Skorphek Destroyers but re imagined as multi-jointed giants with large blades of meat cleavers for arms and feets. The Cryptek are the only guys with ranged weapons but they too are a form of Flayed One now, representing some form of mutated and devolved Necron nobility that stand above their Flayed One minions but are themselves afflicted.

Technomancer Flayed Lords [1] x3 (630pts)

Darkness-Protocol

Regen-Protocol

Flesh-Eaters [10] x3 (1230pts)

8x Metal Claws

2x Electric Claws

Robot Snakes Classic Wraiths [3] x2 (740pts)

3x Whip Coil Bladed Implements

Tri-Scorpions Greater Flayed Ones [3] (330pts)

Plasmabot (Rending)

Tactics: The goal of this army is blunt and simple.. These hordes of demented Necrons want to charge the enemy and tear off their sweet, sweet skin. Doesn't matter if its the pink or brown skin of human, the purple hue of Genestealer cultists, the green of Orks or the blue of Tau. Just head into melee and don't look back. Assign a Technomancer to each Flayed Ones Flesh Eater squad to give them Ambush (cost the same as upgrading the regular squad anyway, more or less). These Technomancers also grant enhanced Regeneration, which is good for an all-melee unit that is likely to take a lot of fire.

Lands of Mihrne: Character Creation

Art by Andreas Rocha

Some quick and simple rules for how characters would be made for a Lands of Mihrne game.

• The campaign make use of the upcoming (currently available in its beta form) Worlds Without Numbers from Sine Nomine. The game's core mechanics, base classes, backgrounds and skills are well suited to be used as a base for a Mihrne campaign. The 'Magic' skill is not available at character creation and represent knowledge of the normally unknowable.
• The only classes available are Warriors and Experts (or Adventurers which are a mix of the two). By itself, Mihrne has no 'magic' in the traditional D&D style. Obviously, the only choice of race is human.
• Possible, the following Foci from the Codex of the Black Sun from Stars Without Numbers could be allowed to represent the very peak of mortal abilities without fully surrendering to corrupting, eldritch powers: Soul Shield and Witch Finder.
• The campaign make use of the Silent Legions Madness mechanic, albeit with reduced or non-existent Madness gain from ordinary violence for characters of the Warrior class, as they are expected to be hardened to ordinary violence. Suitably gruesome butchery might still affect them, as does any serious violence involving a truly unnatural creature.
• Spells are learned as they are in Silent Legions. There are many practices on Mihrne which are considered 'magic' by itself people but isn't: herbology, crude and early chemistry, signs reading, shamanic rituals and even more advanced forms of metallurgy. However, capital M 'Magic' is exceedingly rare and learning it exact a toll on the mind and soul. Such powers are unlikely to be made easily available.

Monsters(?) of Mihrne

A key concept I wish to use in the Lands of Mirhne game pitch is the idea of uncertainty about what is and isn't supernatural. The people inhabiting the lands are a simple folk, living off the land and fighting with swords and spears. Written language is extremely primitive and most people don't know how to write and read. As a result, concepts which we modern humans would understand in scientific terms are completely unknown to these people. At the same time, however, there are eldritch and unearthly forces at work in Mirhne. The question then become: what is truly supernatural and what isn't? Is there even a clear line?

Keep in mind Mirhne is intended to be fiction and deliberately plays into eldritch horror concepts through the lenses of a pre-modern society.

The Others/The Wild Folks/The Cavemen

Frank Frazetta's iconic cavemen-morlock
thingies.

This is an unpleasant subject, but Mirhne is an unpleasant and grim setting. The mandatory savage humanoids of Mirhne are not orcs or goblins, but simple other humans. The thing is, are they really human in the same way the men and women of Mirhne are? In the northernmost lands and other wild places inimical to human life and too wild to tame yet are tribes of people that are cruder than even the poorest of the people of Mirhne. They live in ghost-haunted swamps, deep forests, the mountain peaks and other places. Many of them live in caves. They hunt and kill each others as well as the ordinary folks. They are shaggy, hunched and ugly. Many of them file what teeth they have left to a point. They are monsters and boogeymen and many wonder if they aren't demons clad in the flesh of Man.  Unlike the classic orc and goblins, however, encounter with these beings is extremely rare as they do not assemble in large hordes but rather have small, organized hunting bands or a raiding party consisting of one or two maladjusted lunatics.

The Wild Folks are the silly subhuman cavemen of Sword & Sorcery...except they also aren't. They are the uncomfortable outdated archetype of the caveman and the primitive people. They often have thick brows, they speak in grunting noises and are overly violent. They look like a Frank Frazetta painting of a caveman, more or less. So what are they? Are they a particularly scientifically plausible take on orcs and goblins, some sort of leftover 'caveman' race? Maybe. At the same time, the rare folks who have been killed in civilized lands and weren't promptly burnt or thrown in a river showed signs which even the uneducated men of Mirhne would recognize as sickness. Living in these foul lands, full of fungus and bog parasites may have infected these otherwise benign human relatives and driven these attacking individuals away from their tribe and into cannibalistic madness. It could be that there is a scientific and medical reason for why they are the way they are. Or it could be that something foul and unearthly has corrupted and degraded these beings. Which answer is true? I don't know.

Beasts of Mirhne

On Mirhne there are beasts and then there are Beasts. While common animals are dangerous enough, Mirhne is haunted by creatures of a somewhat unnatural bent. While there are many tall tales, rumors and folklore of particularly large animal (and some of it is used to tell children to never go alone in the woods), every few generation emerge particularly terrifying specimens from the wild. Much of Mirhne remain unexplored and once in a while, some new animal will come out of the woods and terrify the locals. And then there are the Beasts.

Art by Sarah Hartman

There is a phenomena in Mirhne, where animals are said to never truly die and with advanced age comes a malign form of sentience and a thirst for man-flesh. Unnaturally large and ugly, sometimes misshapen beasts emerge from the wilderness, displaying a remarkable level of size, strength, cunning and resilience. Large, black wolves with distended jaws larger than horses. Ugly misshapen hairless bears and strangely intelligent spider or ant colonies are part of the bestiary of Mirhne. Some of these creatures might simply be naturally large specimen. It might be that animals do grow larger and more intelligent in Mirhne but this does not explain the rest. Too many of Mirhne's beasts display a cunning that no normal animal should. These large, sickly beast (and many do carry sickness with them) are driven by a hatred or hunger that goes beyond what any normal animal would display. To the people of Mirhne however, it is simply an accepted fact that as beasts grow old and wise they realize that Men are not their friend and they grow into evil spirits that hunger for men's flesh, if not their souls.

• Black wolves and dogs tend to grow large, with shaggy fur that is tangled and oily. They often display large and jagged, asymmetrical teeth and their eyes have a certain reflective quality to it which simulate a 'glow'.
• Bears, elks, moose and other beasts often display a sickness akin to mange, followed by unnatural growth. Their skin thicken with scabs and scars. As long-lived beasts are survivors, most of them are indeed scarred from the snout to their rear.
• The Spiders of Mihrne are particularly infamous for their size. These range from the size of a house cat to that of a bear and it is said that spiders never stop growing or even grow larger and smarter with every soul consumed. The Spiders of Mihrne are the most intelligent of the Beasts and can even mimic human voices some say. The crabs of the coast display similar behavior but are known for their greed and guarding treasures.
• The rare Crows of Ill Omen are Crow Beasts the size of a cattle or so the stories claim. They too can mimic voices and some believe they can see the future or posses similar powers of sorcery.

The Touched

Art by Jose Garay.

Some say that all things can grow old, wild and evil. There are also some who claim that even men and women can become monsters, creatures of the night and wild. A lot of it is common folk superstition which vary from region to region: born with red hair, born on a moonless night, born out of wedlock on the seventh day of the week. Most of it is just that, superstition. Yet some people are sometimes born 'wrong' or develop a certain streak to their character which is unnatural and grows beyond mere mental illness, trauma or anti-social behavior. Stories speak of ogres, men and women who developed a taste for the flesh of children, Of strange wooden hermits whose bodies have become covered in shaggy hair and who can turn into bears and badgers. Others say that spiteful and vengeful men can feed off hatred and extend their lives until their flesh start to rot and yet the keep on living.

A detail all these stories have in common is that of retreat from society and a 'calling'. Considering many are exiled from their home for disgusting and socially inappropriate behavior they are often chased into the wilderness, where most hope they will be eaten by wild animals. The stories tell of another fate, however. The in the blackened hearts of human monsters they find themselves called to the deep and dark places of the world and that they are reborn as monsters. How much, if any of this is true is up for debate but, maybe (just maybe!) there might be evil powers out there in the world who worm their way into the heart of the insane, the monstrous, the exiled and those who are simply unlucky in life. Maybe there are dark forces at work, perverting the flesh and mind.

• Old Crones and Mad Hermits can be found in Mirhne, living away from civilization. They are ugly and bent, even by the standards of old folks but they possess near-supernatural insight. As their bodies wither and their sanity degrade their mind seemingly grow sharper in different ways. Many have been living at the edges of civilization for generations and they have lived long enough for grandparents to remember stories about them arriving. Somehow, these individuals have exceeded the ordinary human life span. (Interesting connection with how many versions of D&D and related systems increase the mental stats of people as they age, which make no sense as generally people lose cognitive abilities with age...) Or it could be lies, with some being nothing but stories and folk tales.
• There are tale of Bog Hags and Swamp Trolls in the lands of Mihrne. Some of the more scholarly mind of Mirhne (of which there are few, alas) believe that these are the people which were exiled from society, as it is commonly where many are sent. However this does not explain the stories of tall, lanky figures with slimy skin and wet hair. Some people believe that these people become evil spirit, living or dead, who haunt the swamps. The curse for exile is monsterhood and bogs are places where civilization rarely thrive. So there is a connection there.
• Folklore speak of a sea witch which collect abandoned infants left on boats, as many sickly and deformed children often are sent away in Mihrne. They say that under the ocean is another world, a reflection of ours, where the abandoned and the outcast are adopted by the sea witch. Some say she a goddess, others says she's simply the first woman who drowned. Stories say that one should mistrust sailors one doesn't know, because they might be hiding a flipper or a crab claw under their clothing. Or, perhaps, a fish eye under their eye patch.
• Some people are twisted not in body but in their soul. Madness is one thing, but some people are truly touched and are twisted in a way which ordinary madness cannot explain. There are stories of this madness spreading across Mirhne, affecting anything from wounded soldiers to ordinary farmers to children. While at first it will manifest as another form of mania or madness, the sickness will evolve and develop until their entire personalities are lost. These people speak in gibberish or unknown tongues or claim to be something else. They have inexplicable knowledge, such as the story of a villager who went mad and was sequestered in a well for weeks. Despite being down there, he knew of things he should not be able to know, such the name of a newborn child whose parents had not announced to the village. It appears that those twisted in the mind and soul develop extra sensorial perception.

Grimdark Future: 'Fluffy' Robot Legions Lists, Part 1

Under dying stars orbiting barren worlds, the Necrons awaken. They have slept through the eons and now they are poised to retake the galaxy and/or scour it of all organic life. Legion upon legions of soulless mechanical automaton march, ready to unleash their might upon the galaxy. With the release of a certain boxset adding new units and options it is time to cover the Necrons Robot Legions for Grimdark Future.

Classic Necrons: March of the Undying

Classic Necron art from their original codex.

The classic Necrons (or 'Oldcrons' as some neckbeards like me call them) were a much more serious and eldritch threat than the more personable Necrons of modern lore. Enslaved by the C'Tan star-gods they awakened from their tomb, a silent menace with no weakness, no emotion and no desire more complex than the complete and total annihilation of all life. To a certain extent these Necrons can still exist in more modern lore as demented and degraded Tomb Worlds improperly restored by their regeneration protocols, leaving even their mighty Lords to be nothing but cold dead husks. These are the Necrons at their coldest yet most iconic.

Technomancer Necron Lord [1] (150pts)

Regen-Protocol Orb of Resurrection

Eternals [10] x2 (600pts)

Warriors [10] x2 (520pts)

Bot Swarms [6] x4 (960pts)

Death Fortress [1] (770pts)

Repair Bots (Regeneration)

Tactics: Cold and cruel, this list has the tactical subtlety of a drunk ork with a sledgehammer. It only make use of 'classic Necrons' units and use them as nothing but a wave of unfeeling, undying infantry that slowly advance and gun down the enemy. The only exception to this is that, rather than a Necron Lord Overseer, a Technomancer is used to enable the lord to carry the iconic Resurrection Orb. Backing this simple and effective infantry line is their transport and heavy guns all rolled into one: the iconic Necron Monolith, towering over the battlefield. Keep in mind this list lacks any Deadly weapon and relies on raw numbers.

Sautekh Dynasty: Ruthless Conquerors

Oldcrons 2.0

The Sautekh Dynasty has pretty much become one of the 'default' Necrons, much in the same ways Black Legion is used to represent Chaos or Ultramarines represent Space Marines. Their colors are somewhat of a natural evolution or 'expansion' of the old classic 'grey Necrons'. The largest and most powerful dynasty, the Sautekh are ruthless conquerors and their Dynastic abilities focus on using heavy weapons while advancing which further seem to indicate they indeed are an evolution of the 'Oldcrons' tried and true method of ruthlessly advancing and shooting the crap out of everything.

Annihilator Overseer [1] (295pts)

Wrist-Mounted Laser Cannon

Overseer [1] (190pts)

Wrist-Mounted Laser Cannon

Warriors [10] x2 (540pts)

8x Gauss Rifles

2x Flame Caster

Eternals [10] x2 (660pts)

Flux Rifles

Annihilators [3] (435pts)

2x Gauss Cannon

1xHeavy Gauss Cannon

Death Fortress [1] (770pts)

Repair Bots (Regeneration)

Tactics: This list is an evolution of the Oldcrons list, trading in the masses of expendable scarabs for a more detailed and complex army with greater variety. The Warriors and Immortals Eternals are well suited to gunning down infantry masses, rather than just being used as a general purpose shooting range. Deploy the Destroyers Annhilators from Ambush to attack any tank or walker formation.

Mephrit Dynasty: Incandescent Power

Unleash the power of the sun!

The Mephrit Dynasty specialized in harnessing the power of the sun or destroying them. Their weaponry is powered by this very solar energy, which they once used to destroy their enemies at the behest of the Silent King. That's mostly what we got as lore on these guys, for the most part, despite now being one of the major dynasties in Necron codices. Still, they look cool with their glowing orange weapons powered by solar energy, which is used to destroy even the toughest armor. These are the Necrons with the biggest guns and shouldn't be screwed with.

Overseer [1] (190pts)

Wrist-Mounted Laser Cannon

Technomancer [1] (125pts)

Bot Master (Psychic(1))

Solar-Protocol

Guardians [5] x2 (320pts)

Warriors [10] x3 (900pts)

8x Gauss Rifle

2x Fusion Caster

Doom Tank [1] x3 (825pts)

Support Platform [1] x2 (560pts)

Flux Cannon and Twin Flux Cannon

Tactics: These Necrons are packing some serious firepower: where other lists were lacking in Deadly weapons these guys are the opposite, with each Warrior squad packing high AP and deadly weapons to dissect any tough target. The pair of Support Platforms, meanwhile, can rain down a hail of flux weaponry to soften or even outright kill softer infantry. assisted by a trio of 'tanks'. New to these list is the addition of a proper Technomancer who function identical to a Psychic, greatly expanding the list versatility. Assign each Hero to a squad of Guardians to give them an 'honor guard'.

Szarekhan Dynasty: Armies of the Silent King

Szarekh is here to make Necrons great (and terrifying)
again!

Introduced properly in the 9th edition boxset, the Szarekhan Dynasty are the minions of the Silent King, last true ruler of the Necrons. According to whatis currently known, they are quite powerful and bring with them some new units, which may have been awakened by the Silent King to bolter the Necron forces. They also apparently know how to use and manipulate the powers of Blackstone to counter the hated energies of the Warp and Psykers. While I loathe much of new 40k lore (Primaris are quite stupid), these new Necrons do look quite kickass and I have no issue with the Szarekhan Dynasty joining the fight.

Tri-Scorpion Overseer [1] (230pts)

Nanobot Wraith-Shard C'Tan Shard [1] (490pts)

Psychic (3)

Technomancer [1] x2 (270pts)

Gloom-Protocol

Bot Master (Psychic (1))

2x Technoslaves

Warriors [10] x2 (540pts)

8x Gauss Rifles

2x Flame Caster

Eternals [10] x2 (660pts)

Flux Rifles

Tri-Scorpions [3] x2 (710pts)

Rending

Tactics: What's this, a Psychic-heavy list for Necrons? Blasphemy! Well, not really. This is a fairly standard Necron list but it is augmented with not one but three hero units and a C'Tan shard. Assign the Scorpion Overseer to a squad of Scorpion guys and each Technomancer to whatever squad is best suited for them. Not only are they Psychics but they receive a +1 at countering enemy spells. Unlike the previous list there is more melee, with the Scorpion lads being able to get into melee range and cut down enemies. Using the Star Bots (-1 enemy melee) and Assault Bots (can move units) power can help these Scorpion lads to dominate despite their small squad size.

Game Concept: The Lands of Mirhne

Art by Michal Kvac.

A random thought evolving into a potential future setting, likely to collect dust alongside all my other abandoned ideas because I can't get everything done. Ah well, the usual. The concept of Mirhne (and indeed, even its name which seemingly mean nothing) came to me at utterly random, following a bit of a rant with someone at how people really don't get Lovecraft and don't know how to use his material even slightly correctly. The Lands of Mirhne were conceptualized as a mixture or bridge between several disparate ideas which are that I wanted to do, among other things: a (very) low fantasy setting, the idea that 'less is more', run something more akin to Sword & Sorcery, take cues from historical settings and finally return eldritch horror to a status that's a bit more accurate to what the genre is about, namely fear of the unknown.

Facts About Mist-Haunted Mirhne

Currently the lore for Mirhne is a bit sparse because the setting only exist as a series of bullet point notes:

• The Lands of Mirhne are, as far as its people are concerned, mostly all there is to the world. It consist of an island chain. There are traders from far away lands but they remain mostly alien to the the people of Mirhne.
• The land is cold and mist-haunted, with very few of the lands ever experiencing a truly warm summer. It is loosely similar to a mixture between the Scandinavian lands and the British Isles, to get a loose ideas of what its geography would be like.
• Mirhne is very loosely at the level of the early iron age, too crude to be properly called 'medieval'. Its people are a harsh people, formed into large clan, tribes and early kingdoms who frequently war with each others.
• Mihrne is a human-only setting and is somewhat of a Sword & Sorcery setting, just one trying to be a bit more coherent and historical than pure pulp cheese. The land is cruel, harsh and often wars can be bloody and pointless.
• The primary enemies are human and, initially, mere 'bandits' (read: men serving a rival lord). Other enemies include the barbaric and inhuman near-Men who live beyond the light of civilization and live in the woods.
• The Beasts of Mirhne are said to be immortal until slain and the land has many beasts which have grown truly massive with age and possess a cruel, almost alien intellect. Black wolves the size of a horse haunt the land, as do the Spiders of Mirhne, which are unnaturally large and intelligent. Crows and large sea-beasts almost haunt the land and are increasingly common where once they existed in myths.
• Speaking of myths, Mirhne's extremely low magic status leave much ambiguous as to what is indeed truly 'magic' and what is really just a natural part of the land. Are the spiders large due to being some antediluvian terror or is that just natural to spider biology in that world? Are there truly 'goblins' hidden in the forest or are they just another, more primal branch of humans? Or maybe they are just a myth spread by bandits. In Mirhne, the players will not know what is truly tall tale and myths and what is truly supernatural until they encounter it. The land has many myths. Some are true, some are false. Or maybe they are both and neither at the same time.
• As the campaign advance, the Mist and the eldritch will slowly grow in power. The curse which haunt the lands of Mirhne will grow in potency and the age of the world will turn to a new page. Monsters will be born more and more both from beasts and men alike.
• There is a chance that any myth, any fantastical element in Mirhne ties into a greater 'mythos' of eldritch terror. The Old Gods are indeed real but they are alien beings which the primitive men of Mirhne cannot hope to truly understand. There is a dark secret or ten hidden in Mirhne but, currently, not even I know what it is or how it might develop.

Worlds Without Number: Meat Gods

This is a compilation of ideas from the Stars Without Numbers Discord, more specifically the Worlds Without Number channel. This is a compilation of ideas taken from disparate sources, discussing anything from OSR cliché to adapting Dragons to Worlds Without Numbers. These ideas somehow reconnected and created the 'Meat God' concept. The name is taken from an entry in this pic, a parody hexcrawl of OSR blogosphere setting clichés by Joseph Manola at Against the Wicked City. Special thanks to 112nugohs. Now on to content for a game that isn't even out yet!

Meat Gods

From Dark Sun.

Ever since the dawn of time, man has feared death and craved power. This has been an unshakable certainty about the world, from the mists of prehistory to the dying lands of the Latter Earth. There are those which crave power yet are denied by birthright or circumstances. They seek to artificially transcend the limitations of the human (or near-human) form through whatever means are available. The process of becoming a Lich is a classic example, but the Meat Gods are the opposite: where a Lich is a cold, unfeeling being which is forever 'frozen' in their state of undeath the Meat Gods are the opposite. They are living, ever-growing and changing monstrosities which overflow with stolen life.

The path to Godhood requires much in the way of vile acts and is built upon a foundation of sacrificed lives and stolen power. Most spellcasters will, at best, reach the point of trying to extend their lives in some capacity (WWN has the Necromancer's Art 'Unaging' for example) but those on the path to Meat Godhood eventually take it further. There is no particular spell, technique or forgotten super science which create them, as each is a unique process with unfortunately similar side-effects. Through a combination of bodily alterations, magic and possibly genetic reshuffling those seeking immortality are able to stretch and distort their biology far beyond its normal limitations. The conversion process invariably requires countless victims to be sacrifice and/or assimilated by the prospective would-be God. For those seeking Legate-level power, further and further self-modifications are required, carving away the 'unnecessary' or 'inferior' human organs or reabsorbing them into their general biomass. Flesh and matter is grafted and assimilated, spells are encoded on a genetic level and the body continues to grow and mutate, akin to a living cancer possessed of a wicked and now inhuman intellect.

Art by Taissa Abdoullina.

Many would-be young Meat Gods are creatures of intense vanity, reshaping their growing form into great and statuesque avatar of beauty and power, reveling in their newfound form and experiencing entirely new life pleasures. Unfortunately this 'stage' is temporary. The protean nature of these beings is inherently flawed and chaotic. Each time they reshape their body or add something new to it, a small flaw will develop in its form. These flaws accumulate as incompatible information, stolen power and the unholy knitting of flesh rebel, too chaotic and incoherent to stabilize. Too many new organs have been grown, cultivated or absorbed and their bodies have been pushed too far. At that point each of them is a living pile of Blight, all vying for control over their form and function. The ancient posthuman 'Gods' of prehistory were designed from the ground up to be beings of a higher order. By comparison, a Meat God is an unholy assemblage of whatever was available.

As their transformation continues, growth is increasing and at exponential rate, often driving them insane with pain and pleasure. As their bodies become too bloated and chaotic, their bones break...and then instantly begin to repair at odd angles. This process repeat itself several times per day for every single organ, until a form of natural singular evolution occur: the body sticks to the form and shapes most suited for its current purpose and environment and so most aren't bipedal. Skin thicken with bony barbs, many grow a tail, claws and fangs. Quite a few 'dragons' of Latter Earth are in fact Meat Gods. The greatest of Meat Gods, however, are found the ocean's depth or in space, where gravity is no longer an issue to their macro-scaled frame and bloated, blubbery whale-like forms.

Age of Fantasy: Building Paper Armies, Part 3

More paper miniatures for Age of Fantasy, which is totally not streamlined version of a certain game made in a certain European country that is getting increasingly crazy about copyrights despite ripping off a shitload of other works and never giving them any money.

High Elves

Click for full size.

Ah, High Elves: the pinnacle of 'Elven smugness'! Fortunately, this is an army with good support from One Monk/Mayhem in Paper, with paper miniatures available both in free and paid form. Several of the free versions can be found somewhere in their hoard but they also can be bought. Considering how much I've used this stuff, I have opted to buy the Elven Alliance bundle from Drivethru RPG. In the future I might have to rework these, as there's talk of expanding that army with new units from a rather similar-but-legally-distinct faction from a certain controversial game which has replaced the classic fantasy battles. Yes, I am currently taking the piss out of a certain company over their copyright nonsense. Can't you tell?

• Warriors and Archers are taken from the Basic Infantry set, while the Elites are from the Heavy Infantry and other mods included with the pdf. They also have musicians and command units with banners and all that. Overall, there basics are all mostly covered. There's also cavalry in there, which is good because a lot of armies lack options for good cavalry miniatures. Its all in the bundle.
• Shadow Sisters and Shadow Brothers are recolors of the previous Wood Elves stuff, giving them a different style from the white colored and clean base troops while still remaining elven. Their colors are darker, which fit their more stealthy purpose but still have splashes of blue and gold to fit the High Elf theme, replacing the obvious green associated with Wood Elves.

This is such a good lineup that I intend to make High Elves my first AOF paper army, alongside my friend's Mummified Undead.

Shadow Stalkers

Click for full size.

The Shadow Stalkers are one of the more unique armies from Age of Fantasy, truly moving away from the roots as a copy of a certain Nottingham company and into the realm of a mixture of original content and Mantic Games. These are creatures of nightmares, with a theme clearly built around horror iconography: think of them as grim dark Halloween critters. They are classified as Undead due to their mechanics but my interpretation using what I found is a bit more eldritch and plays into them being able to field Lovecraftian horrors. The way I see it they are unliving, never-born monstrosities animating scrap, dead flesh and whatever else. They are the things that go bump in the night. Beware the Shadow Stalkers!

• The various Scarecrow are taken from this set.
• The Shadow Stalkers take cues from many different designs by the underrated Distrigillator. There's some really, really weird shit in the Dukes of the Underworld which are used to represent the various eldritch monsters.

Not a bad start, even if the army list is still small right now.

Urban Fantasy: Astral Life forms

We generally assume that 'life' is of the material: cells formed of proteins forming a larger organism. Yet life exist beyond the material, composed of the paradoxical 'immaterial matter': stray thoughts, concepts and ideas. As always, these discussions return to the concept of Spirits yet they are not the only form of immaterial life. There exist a parallel 'order' of immaterial beings which are Spirits but not quite Spirits with a capital S. Thoughts, ideas and mental energy form their ephemeral bodies but they are not driven by their embodiment of concepts. These creatures are of a lower, more primal order. They are crude, often almost mindless creatures. They are often animal, predators or parasites.

Astral Entities

Art by Jurasbatas.

Astral Entities are a form of Spirit in so much that they are made of spiritual matter and can be repelled or controlled by the same means a more defined, or 'proper' Spirit can. The difference is that Astral Entities are the 'animals' of the Spirit World. This term can be a bit confusing, as there exist spirits of animals which embody animalistic  traits but Astral Entities exist aside from them. Their 'spiritual bodies' and composition is crude, with little more than a limited intellect, sensory abilities and some mean to attack and kill living beings (or, in some cases, parasite them). They are of a lower order of complexity, much in the way we'd consider bacteria or virus to be 'less' than a human given how complex we are. Yet these things can and do kill us and the same is true for an Astral Entity. Phantovores are an example of creatures which straddle this line.

By themselves these creatures drift across countless astral spaces, immaterial and mostly unthinking, feeding off stray mental energies mostly harmlessly. In our daily lives we encounter an uncountable number of these entities as they brush off our reality for a split second, to the even spiritually aware people don't even notice them. The danger emerges when one enters another dimension, another world or plane of existence where the spiritual and material are one and the same. By themselves most Astral Entities are too weak and stupid to ever enter our world but when someone impede upon their domain and hunting ground they will pounce. Since Astral Entities have no true form, they will shape themselves to become part whatever psychic environment one is visiting, assuming fake forms which are thematically appropriate.

Astral Entities, by themselves, are at best an environmental hazard or a one off random encounter to explain to players that sticking too long in some spiritually active areas might be a bad idea, as it might attract hungry metaphysical predators. They aren't particularly interesting monsters by themselves. However, these creatures can be used as part of a greater adventure:

• Any antagonist to the PC with access to spirit-related abilities or spells could use such a knowledge to harass the PC, summoning predators to hunt them down and keep them away from astral planes. These creatures would take the form of hunting beasts and attack them whenever they are either isolated or close to a spiritually potent area. Thus, they can be used as 'mooks' by an antagonist. Weak but eternally replenishing minions.
• Most Astral Entities are fairly weak but a singular, high HD one could have become stable enough and established a lair in an area of some other plane, where it thereafter functions much in the same way as any monster with a lair, making the area difficult to approach. Given their form reflect the themes of an area, this can potentially be used to change the pace and use some monster from another genre or game.
• Astral Parasites can be the focus of an adventure. They are similar in function but they don't eat those they attack, instead implanting a spiritual 'egg', much like how some wasps (or the Xenomorph) do. Once it is done sucking on the mental energies of the host it pops out, temporarily with Manifestation at Rank A and attack, implanting its own eggs in the process. Left unchecked this can create an epidemic.
• Astral Entities can also be used by players as temporary minions or even messengers, should they need to acquire and send information but suspect their phones or other methods to be spyed upon.