Marine Mind
I quite like the idea that the only reason marines are given, or allowed to retain, a mind that can think like a regular human is so they can beat them!
I imagine their ‘human’ side as a personality matrix, a sub-routine which is no more than an artificial implant. This implant is a mixture of Electrograft with neuropath reorganisation and restructuring, and patterning with psycho-indoctrination.
In the books and novels produced by BL, I image that the side you hear is this ‘implant’, not the actual mind of the marine. The personality matrix is a stand in, a charismatic ‘father figure’ generated by the implant’s control of facial features and body gesture. All orchestrated to engender a feeling authority and trust.
The marine’s mind in ‘reality’ is totally alien to a regular human and thinks in very strange ways (like Confucius on steroids). It is constantly working behind the mask, musing on strategy and simulations in conjunction with the machine spirit of the implant. While in communication with a human it’s mind is silent (apart from the personality matrix twittering on). The marine, even in conversation is not distracted, instead it is watching your every move, it (he) anticipates the sudden attack, it is constantly scanning it’s surroundings, it is using it suit’s enhanced sensor to scan, to check for concealed bombs. It is uploading imagines of those about it for logs and recognition matrices in the ether of the machine spirit, it is always watching, it never stops, it wants to kill you, and it will as soon as you give it an excuse.
To emphasize the point, a marine could be friendly and civil to you for 20 years, you could even consider the marine a friend, but if you were to say something heretical or say a word on its watch list you would be dead before you finished the sentence.
These marines have more in common with the terminator than a human, that’s why I refer to them as ‘it’ not ‘he’. There are no more than machines of flesh. All very Rogue Trader era in flavour.
Philip
Noise Marines
Noise Marine obviously use ‘sonic weapons’ so you probably think they require air (atmosphere) to propagate the sound wave right?
Wrong! Noise Marines use ‘soul scream’ technology, a bastardised version of Eldar technologies derived from ancient Slann devices, tweaked by the power of chaos and amped up with the raw energies of the warp!
Soul Scream technology uses border-space to propagate the ‘reality waves’, think of them a concussive wave form of power-field energy riding the ether. They are tuned to disrupt the link between a human and their warp image, to directly interfere with the psyker umbilical link to our dreams, to rend our very soul. Being overwhelmed by these waves can induce madness, and in so doing the link can become stronger and the person consumed with base desired and over emotion. Such a person who falls, become craven and demonic, adoring fans of the noise marines. They are know as the fallen, the groupie of the Noise Marines.
When a Noise Marine strums out stairway to heaven on their sonic guitars, the high notes shed your sanity with volume that should by all rights burst your eardrums, the middle notes distort your soul, and their bass plunking really hit home to the bone, and may even shatter and inflict injuries.
Many think they can resist the power of a Noise Marine, but burst eardrums will not save you, neither will armour or psyker powers. All who hear shall fall, and cavort and writhe to the music of the warp. Such is the art of the Noise Marines, first Adorations of Slaanesh, idolic champions of pain and pleasure.
Philip
The Dragons
I was checking my site traffic, which unfortunately is one of those many nerdy things I do on a disturbingly regular basis, and I have been continually surprised at the truly global nature of my readership. I was getting a lot of hits from Russia and China these last few months; it seems the Russian like my Bolter Page, and the Chinese are curious about my home brew chapter: The Dragons.
While everyone loves Bolters (what's not to like?), I am very pleased that the Dragons are getting around China, as they are based on Chinese Dragon mythos (and a bit of History). I wanted to include other cultures from around the world and it seems to have paid off in a small way. I immediately went off Googling to see what I could find, and I struck gold and found a few forum pages - translated them - and it seems pretty positive.
The Dragons are a bit of an experiment, as I wanted to showthe Alpha Legion's MO (a Chaos Legion) on the one hand and how they could usurp a loyalist chapter, but on the other I didn't want it to be certain that the Dragons really were Alpha Legion.
I like the idea that chaos is not always blatant, and by leaving it vague I hoped to provoke the emotion within us (our chaos), to let uncertainty flourish and allow the reader to jump to conclusions based on what they see. It is purposely debatable either way. Though I must say that I do like the idea that each 'Dragon House' is a head of a Hydra, I also like the idea that the Inquisition were up to no good (as they often are!). In truth, when writing it I image the Dragons to be loyal, and both chaos and/ or the inquisition are attempting to undermine them from both the chaos and law extremes, yet the Dragons enforce their autonomy and stand tall.
Philip