Random silly lore question

[HiveJive81]

What the hell is the braid thing on the back of the Van Saar heads?

What is with the splits and cracks around Goliaths' mouths?

Do members of the noble houses intermarry?

Why are the power cells for plasma weapons 'scarce', but bolter ammunition isn't?

Why doesn't the Mechanicus lose their shit over Van Saar's production of tech?

 

[Draco]

1. Not sure exactly.

2. Too much boxing practice?

3. According to lore, it is possible. Mad Donna was an attempt... And Ko Iron has some connection as well IIRC.

4. Logistical support is relatively bad in the downhive. Anything complex is likely to decay quickly and not be easily replaced. Not that it can't be done with ammo crates...

5. They simply don't know the nature of the STC, and if they did, would you want to replicate the defective STC?

 

[MakaroniFresser]

1. Page 10 of GW3 mentions their ocular implants are linked into their weapon sights. Maybe its the link for that.

2&3. No idea.

4. Bolt ammo might be easier to counterfeit to some degree. I choose to believe some of the weapons that should be rare in the underhive are homemade there, as opposed to official Imperial issue. Plasma guns are more complex, and notoriously fickle, so maybe only genuine ammo has a chance of not blowing up the user.

5. Van Saar's STC is incomplete and its products poison the users. No need for the Mechanicus to issue lasguns that poison the users to the IG, they'll die soon enough from other causes.

 

[Thorgor]

1. Some kind of neural interface

2. I remember it being explained when the game was first released. Had to do with their working conditions (dry air and heat)

3. In the old lore, it almost never happens. Not in the clan houses at least. Noble houses may do it more frequently, for political reasons.

4. Home-made bolts may be easier to produce than home-made plasma cells. Or there is something with plasma cells that make carrying too many at once a risk even gangers are not willing to take

5. The Mechanicus somehow doesn't know about the STC. If they knew, they would tear the hive in half just to get it, no matter how defective it is. That or lord Helmwarr uses his influence to ensure it doesn't happen.

 

[Stoof]

* What is with the splits and cracks around Goliaths' mouths?
Probably due to the heat and extreme dryness working near furnaces, alternatively, a side-effect of their house-wide drug habit maybe?

* Do members of the noble houses intermarry?
Yes, usually related to trade agreements, contracts, fluctuating alliances etc. The books Lasgun Wedding and Survival Instinct both have noble house marriage themes going on (admittedly old Necromunda basis not N17 - but hey, they re-published them!)

* Why are the power cells for plasma weapons 'scarce', but bolter ammunition isn't?
As I understand it plasma guns have power cells to power the firing process and also plasma flasks containing the actual ammo. The cells are widely available, the flasks are not. Boltguns are flippin' everywhere in the 40k universe, and "conventional" ammo is probably easier to make than special ammo such as plasma flasks and whatever meltaguns use.

 

[Aulenback]

1. Discussion thus far seems to suggest it is medical and other technological connections braided. Sounds a reasonable guess.

2. Could be an attempt to visually represent them being "stretched full" by the drugs and hormones [steroids] used to Bulk Up. Actual side effects of steroid abuse, bear in mind, include baldness, acne, infections and scarring thereby, splayed teeth, tendon stress, and deep vein thrombosis. Or it could be a visual signal regarding their regularly being punched in the mouth.

3. Noble houses, yes, there is some indication in the fiction that they do, deliberately and carefully, to cement political arrangements. The Clan Houses? Well, there is that old scenario set regarding Romiet and Julio, two Juves from different Houses, and how they need to be stopped, stopped I say.
https://yaktribe.games/community/threads/romiet-and-julio.2086/

4. I would agree with those above who suggest that bolter rounds are simply easier to counterfeit reliably. That sounds a likely excuse to use.

5. Likely the Mechanicus would confiscate even a malfunctioning STC, were they actually aware of it. Bear in mind that we, the players, have a bit of an advantage over any character in the setting, with regards to omniscient world-view. Yes, we don't have one either [since information is contradictory and biased, deliberately], but ours is much closer to being such than anything in the setting. Except maybe Tzeentch itself.

 

[spafe]

Why are the power cells for plasma weapons 'scarce', but bolter ammunition isn't?

It could also have to do with time to reload... a bolter is a mag (or clip, depending on bolter style), that you empty then slot/feed a new one into. A plasma weapon could involve removing delicate parts, refilling the canisters, it being a 2 man job to juggle the casing, liquid plasma, coupling, aux cooling while seperate from the weapon/weapon powered down, specialist tools. any of which would lead to it not being possible to reload in the heat of a gun fight.

Potentially.

 

[Stoof]

I like that idea.

"Ah dammit, my plasma gun has run out of ammo! Wait everyone! Hey! STOP! You too! Thank you. Sheesh, Juves eh? Right..."
*dons marigolds, produces huge thermos crudely marked "PLASSMA" on a masking tape label, a length of rubber hose and a funnel*
"Now then, nobody move, this is veeeeeeery delicate..."
*SKAPOOOMPH*
"Hothothothothot!! Agh, that's not gonna grow back!"

 

[HiveJive81]

With the plasma, it could be that more or less they're using a very old STC on Necromunda they've not yet advanced, and when a plasma stops working- it's best to just not tinker with it until you can plug it into a cogitator and figure out what went wrong. Might just be the gangers know it's hazardous, so they're like "We'll look at this back home in the workshop to be on the safe side". This would explain why the dude has the plasma weapon in the next battle, because he 'took it home and fixed it'.

 

[Borvin]

4: If you look at the Space Marines, even there the plasma weapons are special weapons, that are seen on only a few marines. Yes the IG fields some but also in extremly low numbers compared to the old reliable GL or Flamer. Now imagine how hard it must be for a ganger in the (under)hive to aquire such a weapon and its ammo when even the emperors finest only have limited access.
The Bolter, Bolt Pistol and Heavy Bolter on the other hand are used quite often by IG, on Tanks, by vets, Comanders even the Arbites use them, so they are more easy to obtain i think.

5. I have to admit this bothers me a lot. I mean you could say that it is a closely guarded secret and only the highest of their house know about it. But geez, they are running around with super sci-fi-Space armour, that looks more advanced than even Space Marines, and they have las-weapons nobody ever heard of before like the carbine and the shotgun-thingy. I imagine that propably the first guilder to see this would run off and tell the Mechanicus for a fortune of credits. I don't like the style they are released in at all, and they add huge unexplained holes to the fluff just for the sake off maybe selling the game to infinity players i feel.

 

[HiveJive81]

5. I have to admit this bothers me a lot. I mean you could say that it is a closely guarded secret and only the highest of their house know about it. But geez, they are running around with super sci-fi-Space armour, that looks more advanced than even Space Marines, and they have las-weapons nobody ever heard of before like the carbine and the shotgun-thingy. I imagine that propably the first guilder to see this would run off and tell the Mechanicus for a fortune of credits. I don't like the style they are released in at all, and they add huge unexplained holes to the fluff just for the sake off maybe selling the game to infinity players i feel.

I spent some time looking through various lore and reading the books, and I think it's worth consideration:

The armored bodysuit is, on its own, less effective than flak armor. Its purpose seems to be more for survival, bodily regulation, and environmental protection than combat. Plus, bodygloves have always been all over the place when it comes to how 'hi-tech' they look. Also, this suit seems to serve the purpose of interfacing with various things for medical and work purposes.

As far as the weapons Van Saar may specialize in producing 'civilian weapons' that are 'made to order'. Not knowing where you guys are from and how familiar you guys are with the arms industry in the US, we have weapons manufacturers that make firearms, body armor, and tactical gear that is absurdly better than anything the actual military has. Also, the price and complexity of this equipment compared to the mass-produced military gear (made by the lowest bidder) is a factor. It's easy to crank out hundreds of thousands of M4 rifles sold in bulk by FN Herstal (Previously Colt, and a few by Remington) but much harder for someone like Lewis Machine & Tool to produce the considerably superior CQB105-300 in those numbers.

So a Forge World can crank out a large mass-produced bulk number of lasguns, but a relatively 'smaller' group like Van Saar could produce more 'sophisticated' or 'better' las-weapons for a localized market and meet the demand.

So I think I found my answer here- maybe the Mechanicus does know about this STC, and took a look at the resources and materials required for what it produces and determined 'eh, it's not good for arming billions of soldiers' and decided if they really needed anything, they could just come and take it at any time.

 

[KopMcGinty]

40k scale, making millions upon millions of units is small scale.. I'd have thought the Mechanics would take it regardless because of this.

But.. that's at least plausible.

Other explanations could be that the STC is so incorporated into its surroundings that the Mechanics have simply entered j to an agreement with the Van Saar that it sits where it is under nominal Van Saar control but that they have full access and use of it too?

 

[HiveJive81]

40k scale, making millions upon millions of units is small scale.. I'd have thought the Mechanics would take it regardless because of this.

But.. that's at least plausible.

Other explanations could be that the STC is so incorporated into its surroundings that the Mechanics have simply entered j to an agreement with the Van Saar that it sits where it is under nominal Van Saar control but that they have full access and use of it too?

It could be that it -was- taken by the Mechanicus, too. It said they found the STC fragment, past tense- meaning that it could be in some vault on Mars or elsewhere and the Van Saar manufactorums are working without it, based on what they learned from it before.

 

[Domino]

I like that idea.

"Ah dammit, my plasma gun has run out of ammo! Wait everyone! Hey! STOP! You too! Thank you. Sheesh, Juves eh? Right..."
*dons marigolds, produces huge thermos crudely marked "PLASSMA" on a masking tape label, a length of rubber hose and a funnel*
"Now then, nobody move, this is veeeeeeery delicate..."
*SKAPOOOMPH*
"Hothothothothot!! Agh, that's not gonna grow back!"

At least you didn't have him suck on the tube to siphon the plasma into the flask.

 

[ntw3001]

So I think I found my answer here- maybe the Mechanicus does know about this STC, and took a look at the resources and materials required for what it produces and determined 'eh, it's not good for arming billions of soldiers' and decided if they really needed anything, they could just come and take it at any time.

This doesn't quite explain it for me. It's not as though the Mechanicus are black-suited businessmen only interested in machines they can mass-produce and sell. They have a hand in producing technology at all levels, from lasguns for guardsmen to unique bespoke items, and a religious interest in being in control of all mechanical knowledge for its own sake. They're the last group in the galaxy who would pass up the opportunity to take control of an STC of any kind.

 

[HiveJive81]

This doesn't quite explain it for me... They're the last group in the galaxy who would pass up the opportunity to take control of an STC of any kind.

Then all I've got is that maybe it already has been taken. Everything is past tense, so they could have long taken it and Van Saar is still just running manufactorums based on its schematics.

Then again, it also says it's a pretty dark secret.

 

[SumpRat]

GW3 says each house has Mechanicum overseers overlooking the production.

I reckon they know about it, the question then is really one of politics.

Which could be any answer. As HiveJive said, it could be based on what they had (which could explain why it’s detrimental to them, because they no longer have the original, which has that all important part about ‘yo, make sure you put the Rad protector in there’

 

[DarkApostle]

Regarding the Mechanicus thing, I headcanon it that the Mechanicus have seen and copied the STC blueprints, and now lets the Van Saar manufacture from them in exchange. We know that the Mechanicus is very grateful if you give them a functioning STC, so maybe in return to being shown the VS's incomplete copy they licensed it out for them to work from as a reward.

 

[HiveJive81]

As I'm understanding, and STC isn't a production facility. It's more like a series of directions that is based on the available resources. So, it's like your grandma's meatloaf recipe- not the kitchen where you make it.

 

[Stoof]

Some STCs are actually production facilities - they range from database of designs to "shovel in these raw materials and out pops a Leman Russ". We had a pretty good discussion about them here.