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*SPOILERS* New fluff on the Grey Knights

29K views 158 replies 58 participants last post by  ChaosRedCorsairLord 
#1 · (Edited)
Just got hold of an advance copy of the upcoming Codex: Grey Knights. It's blurry yet readable, with scarce pictures, but the rules and subsequent fluff are all there.

Reading through the whole thing, three things struck me as being really interesting for fluff-addicts like myself.

*SPOILERS from here*


Justicar Anval Thawn

Without explanation, this eternal warrior has died countless times to the daemons of chaos, and each time he has been resurrected days, hours or even minutes after being slain, healing completely from any physical injury as well. The librarians of The Grey Knights have fruitlessly tried Thawn for daemonic corruption, finding no taint whatsoever. Hence he is once again drawn to battle, forever untill the end of time.


Lord Kaldor Draigo, Supreme Grand Master of The Grey Knights

Being both famed and cursed upon his first dealing with the daemon prince M'kar The Reborn, Draigo was yanked into the warp by the out-phasing M'kar on their second meeting. For untold time he has wandered the Realms of Chaos slaying daemons and traitors alike. No foe has ever had the best of him, and now only the most crazed Khornate followers will knowingly oppose him. But in the impossible Realms of Chaos, Draigo is himself an impossiblity. He can never restore order, and every time his zeal has destroyed legions of daemonic followers, they will always return.

Recently he has experienced being drawn from the warp as any other daemonic creature, through the sorceries of corrupted psykers, and several times has he been reunited with The Grey Knights. Fighting alongside his brethren untill his eventual departure back into the warp like the daemons they slay.

NB!: The previous Supreme Grand Master, Janus, is mentioned several times in the Codex, as well as in Draigos entry. Janus was slain by the Daemon Primarch Mortarion, whereafter the enraged Draigo cut Janus' name into Mortarions rotten heart, an insult the Daemon Primarch has never forgotten. (It doesn't say how he gained access to his heart)


Inquisitorial henchman: Jokaero Weaponsmith

Yep, we finally get rules for the little-seen Jokaero race! (Which means they will be a bigger part of the fluff).

With no changes to their background, they are still heavyset, orange-furred space apes with a passing resemblance to the orangutans of ancient Terra. They are described as unpredictable in their work ethics, as they, like ork meks, get inspired in their work, rather than having an overall plan. Hence, should they choose to fickle with a lasgun it might be turned into a much more formidable weapon, or may simply undergo some purely cosmetic changes.


The whole thing is a bit Matt Ward-esque. I think Draigo is the worst example, being able to stay incorruptible in The Realms of Chaos and phasing in and out of reality like the daemons themselves. Oh yeah, and that he OWNED Mortarion :no:

Hope you enjoy!
 
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#86 ·
Hmmm... so after a few minutes of reading i would have to agree:

1.) Matt Ward should be put in a GW isolation facility where he would live out the rest of his life in isolation where he will never ruin GW fluff and the dreams and hopes of many gamers worldwide. His reign of fluff terror shall end now!! ( or hopefully in the near future)

2. I agree with the general consensus about the Supreme Grand Master and i find it terribly upsurd even for GW standards. Dam, some creativity does hinder the spirit of the work.

3. In the CSM codex in the Daemons section where it discusses the functioning of daemons, does it not say that Daemons that materialize in the Material realm are a lot weaker because they only manifest with a partial ounce of their strength and are constantly being drained to keep themselves their? Also Daemons are ten times more powerful in the warp because they do not have the need to maintain their presence and are actually empowered by the surrounding warp energy?

My point is fighting a GD bloodthirster or something other in the material plane and barely beating it does not compare to fighting one in the warp because its power levels are drastically different?
(Need someone to criticize or Confirm this info plz)
 
#87 ·
I think you got it right... Its not the idea of this char. beating down a blood thirster at all that bothers me its the idea that he is being made out to be a total bad ass and there is no way at all he will be able relfect this in the game . Not only this but since when do the GK make use daemon weapons and things of that nature. It has almost ruined my perception of the GK and I'm scared to see what is gonna happen to SoB when ever they write there codex
 
#90 ·
If your talking about the GD daemons or any other daemons in general theres a entry in the Codex: CSM pg. 61.
 
#96 ·
There was a lot of criticism sparked over his *necronsandbloodangelsbuddyfisting* incident, but if he would only be more elaborate in conveying such occurences then it may not seem so ridiculous.

I am currently reminded of several books in Graham McNeill`s UM series which seem to have followed a bit of this overkill trend. For example, an Ultramarine captain wanting to help a band of skinless mutant monsters does not strike me as being incredibly true to 40k canon. Nor does the idea of a Grey Knight Grandmaster letting him do it. :shok:
 
#97 · (Edited)
I cant believe im gonna actually defend this but i am.

In Dead Sky Black Sun You have to put yourself in Uriel's shoes. You and one other guy are basically stranded on a hostile daemon world possible about to get eatin by giant skinless monsters. Oh yeah that turn out to be the leftovers in CSM creation that seemngly still believe in the emperor. The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend. It was the most logical option available vice attempting to fight aginst them. Sometimes in order to survive we must go aginst what we believe here and there otherwise we die!

As for the BA and Necron thing. If you read necron fluff the lords still have reasoning capability. They know when to make the force fall back and know how plan an attack. Logically if the BA were facing the Necrons and a Nid invasion was to occur during the war then it is a viable option. It was a temp. and bitter alliance that crippled both forces just enuff to where they couldn't continue to fight. In war there really are no rules we like to think there are but the will to survive will always conquer all our morals and beliefs.

The fluff makes sense but it is written to degree whre A. you must undertsand what these people are going through and B. know your fluff from the other sources. I thought the same thing when i read the UM books and read the BA codex. Then i looked at from a diffrent stand point. Matt just failed to explain a lil further.

There are situations where 2 armies that would never work together can be forced to work together when a higher threat is introduced. It is the nature of war!

As for the fluff on the GK this a lil OTT
 
#98 ·
This does sound like some of the worst fluff I have read from GW.

The Draigo fluff could have been so much better. They should have made him more into a tragic hero. Yes he destroys anything but in the end it does not matter as they come back. It should be shown that it is the Chaos Gods or Daemon princes which are helping him survive so he can see how pointless the battle against Chaos is.

I wanted the Grey Knight book to show them as amazing warriors but warriors fighting a battle they all know they cant win.
 
#111 ·
I pretty much agree with Protoss on this, if mortals could exist in the warp then why didn't the Emperor just send a few Legions in and kick the granny out of Chaos?
If it needed to be Psykers then the Tsons would have been able enough, maybe some Librarians from other Legions to bulk them out a bit and job done, no Chaos to worry about.
 
#112 ·
Maybe Draigo is a Daemon Prince of Malal. xD

LOL JK JK. haha i'm gonna get sooooo much heat from this. xD
 
#116 ·
Okay calm the nerd rage its just fluff so what is GW has no idea on what to do like prices codexes balance or employes i guess GW will eventually figure it out but it is not now.

And now for why I posted I have found the leaked codex bit that all of the rumors are coming from and this is the url below this

http://www.scribd.com/doc/49119291/Grey-Knights-Codex-2011-LEAKED-Incomplete

I think it might be fake but it matches up with all of the rumors that I have found lying aroung the internet.
 
#120 ·
Can you just not read and enjoy, A man is in the warp and is not dead so, the warp has no rules the warp is beyond the comprehension of man, you expect something to die in the warp, but the very nature of the warp is that you can not expect, so don't.

Aso the almighty emperor is protecting him. :)
 
#121 ·
Can you just not read and enjoy, A man is in the warp and is not dead so, the warp has no rules the warp is beyond the comprehension of man, you expect something to die in the warp, but the very nature of the warp is that you can not expect, so don't.
I certainly wouldn't expect the Warp to fuck itself over, if you'll pardon my language, for the sake of a single human being. It's been ten thousand years since teh Emprah was placed on the Golden Throne; why haven't there been more examples like Draigo who go around killing everything in the Warp? And if there are, then that leads me to my original question: how hasn't the Warp been conquered by these mighty examples of humanity?

Both extremes are bad; one extreme is improbable given previous situations in which mortals perished in the warp, and the other extreme contradicts established fluff in which the Dark Gods are supreme in the Warp. The only way this could be made probable is if it is made accessible - something like "sometimes humans survive in the Warp, but it is an incredibly rare occurence." Ward has not done this.

A common phrase concerning the willing suspension of disbelief is that "You can ask an audience to believe the impossible, but not the improbable." We all know that the elements of the 40k setting are impossible outside of fiction, but even fiction has limits. We can hear about an organization of super-human beings hunting daemons in a dystopian future and take it in stride; that cannot be said about one who gets lost in the warp and is able to survive because he's so badass and kicks so much daemon hind-quarters that daemons are scared of him and his manly manliness. Such is highly improbable even in a setting with so many impossible elements because we expect him to fail (even for a man of Draigo's caliber) yet he succeeds for an unstated reason without changing the odds. If there was some stated reason, be it a "known known" or a "known unknown", then it would be more believable. That is to say, if the reason(s) for Draigo's survival was listed in detail or if it was stated to be unknown at the time, then his fluff would be much more believable. As a reader, I can't just sit back and take that Draigo can survive in the warp; I have to ask why.

tl;dr Some readers can't enjoy the fluff because they don't believe it.

That's just it. SOMETHING is going on. Humans can't survive unaided in the Warp. With Draigo, whatever is making him able to survive inside the Warp could be bending the ruled of 'Warp Reality', causing things to behave differently.

It wouldn't make sense for him to just be 'lucky' and survive. SOMETHING is making sure he survives AND behaves like a Demon, always being pulled back to the warp.
I guess we'll just have to wait until April to find out. I don't really have a rebuttal at the moment. :scratchhead:
 
#124 ·
I don't know if this was pointed out at any point in this rather long thread but this name almost makes me think it is a joke. Khal Drogo is the name of one of the characters in the Song of Ice and Fire series of novels by George R. Martin. He's a Mongol esque barbarian that leads a large horde of horsemen and marries the last princess of the former ruling house.
 
#125 ·
I did speculate the character as being a practical joke (and I really hoped it was), but then it's Matt Wards, so that's already unlikely in the first place. And now GW gave us a price-tag, so yeah, seems like it's settled we'll be dealing with him in the future.

Will he turn out to be another God Mode Sue though, or just somewhat overpowered? Well, we can only hope that some extensive polishing will be happening from now till April.
 
#127 ·
As long as he has a Achilles heel like mephiston I won't overly mind him in game, yet I doubt someone so hyped up in the new delusional version of 40k fluff will have something like a lack of inv save.....matter of fact he will probably have a inv save instead of a armor save making him only vulnerable to things that allow no save, or dare I say it other gray knights.
 
#128 ·
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1140064a

I literally can't stop cringing at Matt Wards description of him on that page, he(ward) sounds like a total tool.

Want your army to do this 'x' Draigo can make that happen! Want your opponents army to do this 'y' Draigo can make that happen!!! Want to see me orally pleasure Guilliman, Calgar and Draigo?? Draigo can make that happen!!!!!!
 
#129 ·
I had managed to resist the urge to look at the GW site, then I clicked that link:angry:
What is Matt Ward thinking, if he's even thinking at all?
What a complete tool he really is, did no one else in the office take a look at what he was doing and think to take him to a quiet corner and have a chat?
12 year olds will look at this sort of stuff and instantly wet themselves but anyone with at least a tiny bit of common sense is going to laugh and call Matt a cock!
 
#131 ·
The model looks retarded The fluff is retarded and then if you read the text on the site about Matt Ward says

Jesus its like they completely decided to make him unkillable for daemon or nondaemon alike

He gets S 10 attacks towards daemons and S5 aginst normal enemies. I can't believe GW even allows this idiot to wrie for them.
 
#134 ·
Rest assured everyone that Ben Counter will most certainly tone down the newly empowered Grey Knights.

One Grandmaster taking on countless Daemons? Too close to actual capabilities of a Grey Knight as mentioned in previous official codexes.

Storming a Sisters of Battles HQ and coming out with just a few causalities? That's more like it.

Grey Knights... soon to be Ben Countered
 
#139 ·
Nicely said, Norm. I would feel much more comfortable at looking at those codices if we have a Heretic or two constantly looming over Ward and his 'work'. :biggrin:

Heck, I would feel even better if our Heretics takes over the official fluff writing. After all, even Khorne knows most of our fluff writers can kick Matt Ward's ass so hard he would come out of the other side of the EOT. Oh, and he would be 'unscathed', of course!

But yes, right now, I'm getting a big God Mode Sue vibe from Draigo. Doubt it would take too long to find him with Calgar on the Disgraced roster of the trope pantheon.
 
#140 ·
Please tell me this new GK fluff isnt true...I thought the warp was supposed to be cthonic instant insanity if you even look upon it kind of thing. Now we basically have an unkillable GK running around in it, maybe Matt Ward should throw in sly marbo while he is at it. This is exactly like what blizzard is doing with World of Warcrap, dumbing down the backstory to sellout to 13 yr old kids with an epeen complex (the game itself has pretty much been buttraped to shit now because of this).:suicide:
 
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