Imperial Guard Group Story

[Commander Shadow]

Hey Everyone, i was wondering if anyone would be interested in taking part in a group story centered around a single, noncanonical, regiment of the imperial guard (ie no cadians, steel legion, 13th legion, death korps, etc). Idealy everyone would be a character in the regiment (something similar to guant's ghosts) and the story arc would follow them from their founding to whatever bitter end (which would be decided upon later on).

pieces would be short, roughly 500 words each, just to keep things moving along nicely,

anyone interested?

[Stuart000X]

I'm interested. I just pray to the Warp that it doesn't die like most I've been in. I'll give a 110% commitment to this one though, I'm interested for it not to wither, but to prosper into something fun and great to be a part of.

[Stuart000X]

My character.

IMPERIAL GUARD SERVICE RERCORD

Name: Hanjhas “little warrior” Sjurio

Age: **

Gender: Male

Origin/Home World: Unknown, possibly from Granius-Sphere due to similarities in accent, dialect, various mentions of known local areas, and “physical” characteristic traits from above mentioned region of space.

Rank: Unknown

Medical Record/Service: Xhaji Skirmish – Bruising & cuts, Heliot Basin – Bruising & cuts, Battle of the Three Peaks – Bruising & cuts, scarred tissue starting from the centre of the top of the forehead stretching downward, over left eye and brow and adjacent cheek.

Appearance: Pale white skin with crimson coloured hair, no dye or other substance identified, no augmentation; suspects natural colour. Displays wounds from above mentioned theatres of combat, has purple for eye colour.

Armament/Weapon Skill/Training: Firearms, prolific with telescopic rifles/weaponry, marksmen skilled, regularly employed in sniper roles.

Biography Background: [Data corruption] = [Data corruption] = [Data corruption] = [Data corruption] = [Data corruption] = [Data corruption] = [Data corruption] = [Data corruption] = [Data corruption] = [Data corruption] = [Data corruption] = [Data corruption] =… [Attempting Data Recovery Commencing]… [Partial Data Restored]…

…Born on…in… Hanjhas Sjurio joined His Majesty’s Imperial Guard at [Data Corruption] at the age of [Data Not Found], participating at his first action on the desert world of Xhari, combating ork pirates at the Xhaji Skirmish. It was from this first instance that his skills as a marksman were noted, and with quick succession, his talents; far surpassing that of his comrades, were employed in squadrons of snipers, attacking from long range distances as he performed the God-Emperor’s Wrath with his rifle.

Since Hanjhas Sjurio has been involved in a few actions, Hanjhas Sjurio has earned an unusual respect and fame amongst the troops he serves alongside with, being affectionately dubbed the “little warrior”.

[Commander Shadow]

Looks Great Stu! I can't tell if you were going for a Middle Eastern or Eastern European feel with the name but i like it.
Personally i wouldn't mind keeping the regimental feel towards a Eastern European skew but we can work it out.

Just bouncing off some of the things you mentioned:

Regiment Homeworld:

Lyksas (Planet in the Granius-Sphere): Industrialized World, high density Urban centers, population 10 billion

Industrial Pollution in atmosphere causes very little sunlight to reach the ground, as a result civilians are pale in appearance and food is generally grown in agridomes.


Regiment Name: 67th Lyksari Regulars

Regiment Pin: Wolf's Head Emblem with the Regiment's Number underneath

Regiment Motto: Like the Wolves of Winter

Strength Upon Founding: 5,000 guardsmen in twenty companies (1 Light Infantry Company [scouts and recon], 4 heavy support companies, 15 line infantry companies, no dedicated armor support)

[All Subsequent Data is at founding]

Officer Cadre: 1 Colonel, 3 Majors, 15 Captains, 40 lieutenants

Commissariat Cadre: 1 Commissar, 3 Junior Commissars, 20 Commissar-Adepts

Ecclesiarchy Cadre: 3 preachers

Mechanicus Cadre: None

Medical Cadre: 1 head doctor, 5 doctors, 40 field medics

Standard Outfitting For Infantry: 1x lasgun (mk III), 1x combat knife, 3x frag grenades, 2x gray smoke grenades, 5x lasgun power cells (mk III), 1x standard pattern rebreather, 1x black beret (dress uniform), 1x helmet, 1x dust goggles, 1x entrenching shovel, 1x canteen, 1x kit bag, 1x shoulder pack, 1x week supply emergency rations, 1x light gray dress uniform, 1x light gray combat fatigues, 1x flack jacket (vest and shoulders covering). Additional Material to be issued as required.

I'll have my character up in a bit. most likely the colonel.

[Stuart000X]

When you say Eastern European, do you have something in mind? One of the things that come to mind is Soviet Russia, especially during the Stalin/WW2 era type. The Granius-Sphere can be sort of a system with a collection of planets which, on there own, have a small population cap, but pulled together they're quite reasonable, enough to draw soldiers from at least. And with that, we can, depending on who else joins our group, have a slight diversity of differing characters dictated to our whims and tastes, while at the same time giving an understandable reason for the low numbers (by comparison to other Imperial Guard regiments, as some consist of between millions to thousands of men), and translating down to squad form, having a small squad.

In reference to my character I have a slight twist to him, which I'll PM to you of. I look forward to your character .

[Commander Shadow]

I was thinking European, eastern, in terms of post USSR. I'd like lyksas to be pretty high in pop, close to what earth has now. The other planets, due to their close distance to each other, could naturally have pretty good relationships.

I was pretty much going off of the Gaunt's Ghosts model for Guard regiments. While some are in the 10,000s others are lower. We can up the numbers however if you feel like it.


Working out the character now.

[Stuart000X]

We're in agreement on the USSR set theme of our regiment. I imagine it'll be hard, draconian, bitter, tough, and pretty heavy going all round for the soldiers of this regiment. I'm in agreement of the planet of origin for the regiment. Numbers aren't much of a factor except for helping to set in my frame of mind of how densily populated the regiment is going to be.

[Commander Shadow]

Name: Olexandar Krahal

Age: 29

Gender: Male

Origin/Home World: Lyksa, Ulech Province, Tannenburg

Rank: Colonel

Medical Record/Service: near sighted, wears glasses to compensate

Appearance: Average height, close cropped blond hair, thickly muscled, looks almost scholarly.

Armament/Weapon Skill/Training: Standard Infantry Training (SIT), Tannenburg military academy, trained swordsman.

Biography Background: Born to a rich family in Tannenburg, the provincial capital of Ulech on Lyksa, Olexander was enrolled in the Military Academy so as to provide him with a stable position in the Lyksari PDF. His mobilization orders came as a big shock, he leaves behind his family and a fiancé.


we can always character develop as the story progresses i figure

[Stuart000X]

we can always character develop as the story progresses i figure

I like the character. To be honest, character bios in my mind are more to help standardise what the character is going to be like on a broad, general basis. How they turn out is mostly what transpires in the story itself.

[Rusk]

I'd be interested. Like Stu, I'd like to take part in a group story that actually gets its arse off the ground. I'll start bouncing some ideas around, try and churn something out soonish.

Just a quick question, though, if its GG inspired, I can imagine each author having to think up a fair few characters. I suppose that we can collaborate and cross that bridge when we come to it.

EDIT: Character Bio:

Name: Nizhnii Rog

Age: 26

Gender: Female

Origin/Home World: Lyksar, Scordia Province, Oszig

Rank: Captain

Medical Record: Heavy scarring on face and neck from hunting accident on Genelope, a nearby savannah world in the Granius-Sphere. Botched emergency treatment for scarring has led to slight speech impediment (slurring).

Appearance: Short, heavily-built, thick-necked. Pale-skinned (prone to burning when on a more tropical planet), blue-eyed, black-haired. Hunting incident has left Rog with deformed nose, ragged hairline, scars across temple, left cheek, back of skull and corner of mouth.

Armament/Weapon skill/training: Extensive experience with hunting rifles/equipment, bodyguard work and baiting. Basic Guardsmen training in other fields.

Background: Born into a well-off but not overly rich family in the agridome-heavy Scordia Province, Rog was recruited into Baron Aleksandar's entourage for hunting forays to several planets in the Granius-Sphere. Rog worked with Aleksandar for several years, until an encounter with a carnodon led to Rog's disfigurement and dismissal from service. Rog volunteered for the Guard shortly after, and due to her experience with weaponry and family background was appointed as one of the few female officers in the regiment.

~~~

I assume that having female characters is OK? If you want a male-only regiment I can drop her and whip up someone else.

[Commander Shadow]

Great to have you Rog! It'd be more than fine to have a few characters but like you said we can work that as we go along.

I like Captain Rog, nothing wrong with having females in the regiment, could lead to some interesting conflicts.

as of now we've got three writers and three characters

Colonel Krahal

Captain Rog

Trooper(?) Sjurio


we can just get it off the ground now, unless someone wants to throw up a few more characters? I'd be more than fine with that.

[Rusk]

The intention with her was more to focus on any conflict than make her a particularly innovative/ridiculous character. Plus characters build up better with the story, like someone said. Glad to see there is interest in this.

[Commander Shadow]

Character development is key to any story. So, on that note, how shall we start off? [ALSO ANYONE READING FEEL FREE TO JUMP IN AT ANY POINT]

I was thinking having an opening battle scene, where it possibly looks like the regiment is going to be destroyed and then a flash back to the founding and the story moves on from there. What does anyone think?

[Stuart000X]

I'd personally think we should, for now, stick to the characters we have now. We can obtain more characters later on, but during our current characters journey through the plot, they pick up strays along the way.

I like the idea of the regiment being on the rocks. Generally speaking, what occurs in the present tense is the regiment being decimated by an enemy, each character doing their best to survivor and etc. Following this, after the flashback segment, our characters are brought together into the same squad, the events prior helping to set up the reasoning behind they getting together in the first place, and what transpired beforehand.

In regards to the flashback part, I think they should focus on what our characters were doing before the conflict, setting up a general understanding of them and etc for the readers to follow. As our characters are different, I don't think we should set it primarily on the regiment's founding. Of course, if you envisage your character being a part of that occurence, then by all means include them, but regarding my character, I don't think a regiment would have recruited/pressed ganged a boy into service at the beginning, but perhaps a bit later on from the founding when numbers start to become low.

And so, unless on of you have something else in mind, I think it should be as follows:

Regiment carnage/Character fleeing or fighting for their lives (present tense) -> Regiment Founding/Character introduction to the regiment or story (flashback segment) -> Aftermath, characters survivor and join together (the epilogue of the present tense). This is more or less something you expect from a video game i.e. CoD, Gears of War, etc, but it helps flesh out a start to the story, and bring our characters straight into our readers' minds and thoughts.

[Commander Shadow]

Sure, i like the idea of adding characters on as we progress.

I like where you're going with the story line. However, i was thinking the beginning scene would be far in the future, when they're all grizzled veterans and the regiment is a shadow of its former self. The remainder of the story is how they get to this point, so we could jump back to the founding or leaving lyksas and then the conflict on the desert world or something. What do you think?

[Stuart000X]

Ah I like that idea. So the beginning is technically the end of the story, but we travel through the journey at the very "start" of how things happen, and we pick things up from where they started at the beginning at the conclusion of the tale, possibly ending it with a climax?

[Commander Shadow]

er... yes? to tell you the truth your last sentence was a bit of a mind-screw

[Rusk]

The only problem with starting at the end means that the characters we follow are guaranteed to survive (or survive at least to the end). If you were going to do an prologue at the chronological end of the story, then I would say only have 1 character, and possibly do it in first person so it doesn't reveal who the survivor(s) is, if that would work.

When you say it ends, I have in mind AT-147 from the Armour of Contempt, where there's only a dozen or so survivors from 250 men. Something like that. Would it go for total decimation then? Or somewhere where there could possibly be a sequel? (of course, we could do both, just have the survivors be amalgamated into another regiment, but I suppose thats not particularly important at this moment in time)

A structure is definitely needed so this doesn't collapse, however.

[Stuart000X]

er... yes? to tell you the truth your last sentence was a bit of a mind-screw

I meant finishing the story with where we began at the start of the story, with the regiment being decimated. At this climax, the characters are generally fighting for their lives in sporadic pockets, and then perhaps our characters can consolidate in one place for a final stand. I'm sort of thinking of Helms Deep on the second LOTRs film, with only scant defenders/fighters before being saved by reinforcements, perhaps Space Marines?

I agree with structuring, if only to help give a guide to what our intent is, and agree upon a general approach towards that end so we may cater our characters towards that end.

[Commander Shadow]

exactly! Something like the Two Tower but starting at

"How did it come to this...."

I'm going to start writing up my first piece, i'll put it up soon. I think the main problem with some group stories (why they stagnant and stuff) is that there's too much planning not enough writing. We're all decent enough writers/immaginers that we can bounce off each other's writings.

Btw, i was imagining in the opening that they would be fighting orks.