Bolo 40K idea

[Rift120]

Alright I'm toying around with trying my hand to write a Bolo/WH40k one shot... (I have a rough idea how it would start and up to the middle but can't get further than that...)

But in the meantime I figured I post a rough timeline of what I was considering...

Early Terran history...

-Generational colony ship is sent out with experimental first warp drive.

-Said drive malfunctions slightly throwing the ship FAR from Earth, Eldar Empire, most known races. Indeed just beyond the very edge of the territory that 41st millennium Imperial space will fill in the future.

-Unaware of how far off course they are said ship colonizes a nearby planet they entitle Earth-Theta colony.

-Time passes, some natural disasters knocks their technology into regression, much historical data is lost or corrupted. As the colonists recreate there technology they start to assume that the historical data refers to there current planet, eventually raising the common knowledge that Earth-theta is in reality the Earth solar system.


(not to far fetched remember the first Horus novel had Horus leading a assault on a planetary system that claimed IT was holy Terra in the opening chapter.)

*from this point inhabitants of the planet call it Earth... But for the sake of avoiding confusion I'll still refer to it as Earth-Theta.*


-Development of the first Bolo's on Earth Theta...

-Denizens of Earth Theta begin to leave their system establishing the Concordiant, and discovering numerous alien species... the Majority of which are hostile (although some are neutral and friendly).

-Earth Theta and colonies develop Non-warp FTL known as Hyperdrive. Interestingly enough the inhabitants of the sector of space that Earth Theta inhabits, also all develop non-warp methods of FTL. As a result the Barriers between the Materium and the Immaterium in this sector of space is unusually strong. Main side effect is that Psyker's are incredibly rare among all human and Xeno Species of the sector...

- Eldar Empire Implodes, creating Eye of terror and massive Warp storms. The strength of separation between the Immaterium and Materium caused by the lack of warp travel in the Earth Theta sector of space acts as a barrier against the ensuing warp storms. As a result Theta Sector is spared from much of the ensuing chaos. Except for a rash of time space anomalies.

-several Convoy of Mark XXIV Bolo's disappear in several Warp storm anomalies among the sector. Current fate unknown (Chaos Bolos? )

-Minor Ork Waarrrgghh into Concordiant is repelled...

-Concordiant encounters Melconian Empire

-Concordiant-Melconian war erupts

-One fleet action accidentally awakens a minor Necron Outpost in the sector. Necrons rampage across several Melconian and Concordiant Planets before Outpost (and its planet ) is finally destroyed by Melconian battle...

Several Hawkish hardliners in both Melconian and Concordiant Military take what might have been a unifying foe and paint it as a terror alien ally of the opposing forces. Worsening relationships even more and escalating the Melconian and Concordiant conflict.

-Both Melconian and Concordiant military issue 'total annihilation' orders for any planet shown to have the slightest hint of Necron tech, assuming they are forward bases for unknown alien allies of the Concordiant or Melconians. Several planetary massacres are caused by odd xeno trinkets being studied due to these orders.

Necron outposts and Tomb worlds are decimated in earth-theta sector, as both concordiant and Melconian fleets annihilate discovered worlds as soon as discovered before the necrons can revive from hibernation to defend their outposts.

(Remember at this point not even the Deceiver is awake, so for the most part the Necrons are dormant. And both Forces of Melconian and Concordiant are operating on 'Necrodermis detected? Blow up the whole planet!' type overkill... so the Necron bases have little to no time to revive and assess the threat before they are atomized by the fleet)

-Melconian and Concordiant 'final solution' implemented. Majority of inhabitable planets in the sector sterilized, contaminated, made unfit for sentient life. Only a handful of planets remain inhabitable. 'Dead' planets form rather large shield between the soon to come Imperium of mankind and survivors of the 'final solution'

-Various Bolo's nurture surviving human, and in one case Human/Melconian, colonies back from the brink of extinction... several Mark XXXIII Bolo's expand into unknown universe after their human companion fleets were destroyed in the final solution. Most famous is the Bolo XXXIII Sherman that spared a surviving Melconian refugee colony before vanishing into the unknown in its command center ('Endings' Bolo book 2')

-Rise of the Human New Republic and the Melconian/human Star Union of Arat from remains of the Concordiant and Melconian empires ('a Time to kill' BOLO by Weber). Due to lingering pain over the Melconian/Concordiant conflict both powers expand AWAY from the scarred area of Earth Theta, and incidentally prevent any chance of encountering the newly resurgent Imperium of Man lead by the God Emperor...

-34th-35th Millennia Unknown pacifistic Human power rediscovers Earth-theta, and uses Nanotechnology to make planet inhabitable again. Discover Bolo mark XXIX Victorious in sealed container. Appearance of unknown Xeno species wiping out said pacifistic power startles exploration team to use Nanites to bring Victorious back to full combat capabilities. Ensuing chaos also Downloads spirit of the leader of the expedition into the Bolo adding a second personality to Victorious. ('Legacy' Bolo Bk 2) Victorious successfully defeat attacking Xeno's and then leads survivors of expedition off to search for other remnants of their society.

-Nanites left on Earth-theta continue to follow last instructions, namely repair ecosystem of the planet and bring Bolo's back to combat capabilities. Nanites discover several abandoned Bolo Depots. Repairs commence slowly due to lack of energy and damage caused by Xeno bombardment. Over next Millennia 3 Bolo bases and 10 XXX Bolo's are repaired by Nanites to operating condition. (Note this includes the Repair and manufacturing systems of the depots as well as their communications and other military base functions as well.

All three bases are buried under millennia of gravel, rocks, and tectonic movement (not all natural). One buried deep enough that massive archeological excavation would be required for its 3 Bolo's to be able to leave the compound. Other two are relatively closer to the surface. Newly repaired Bolo's send commands to base drones to begin long process of digging access to the surface and establishing a surface watch post. Due to not knowing that there are no hostile force, or any forces for that matter, on the surface Bolo's issue commands for all such diggings to be done under maximum combat stealth.

Bolo's go into standby mode while they wait for digging and stealthed drone recon bases to be established. Nanites and base drones quietly maintain Bolo's in standby.

-Imperium begins to survey Earth-theta sector... noting large number of 'dead' worlds. Correctly assuming two or more Xeno empires had a apocalyptic confrontation with each other ending in mutual destruction, but unaware that one of the powers was a Human one.

Imperial survey miss numerous Deep space Concordiant A.I. stealth listening stations, who in turn miss Imperial surveyors due to different FTL philosophies

-Imperial forces discover a surprisingly inhabitable Earth-theta (seeing as every other planet nearby is at best a scarred wasteland, asteroid rubble, or having nasty bio viruses running amok). Imperium colony settled on Earth Theta. Due to Warp FTL and lack of in system drones, settlement of colony fails to alert Bolo's which remain on standby.

-38th-40th millennia Pro-Necron Adeptus Mechanius infiltrate colony. begin to set up subtle sabotage of Imperial Colonies long range 'warning stations' about incoming alien ships...

-Bolo command drones set up 'stealthed com towers' in mountains, due to stealth settings nearby Imperium colony and its defending forces remains unaware.

(this would be about where my one shot would begin if I write it)

-Trio of Necron Warships enroute to Earth theta to annihilate Imperial colony unknowingly trigger Ancient Concordiant deep space platform 1 year out from there target. Senile A.I. sends warning back to Earth-theta on Concordiant frequencies while Necrons head on towards there target unaware of the brief contact.

-Deep space warning retrieved by Bolo depot com tower. Bolo's awakened on standby. Bolo's discover Imperial colony. Bolo's secretly infiltrate Colony's computer system for more data. Discover many things, many of which are disturbing to the Bolo's in both the short term and long term.

-Discover Pro-necron Mechanius tampering with Colonies sensors... Bolo's take advantage to expedite their drone excavation from their tombs and launch stealthed planetary satellites. After Minutes of conference Bolo's decide to remain hidden from Imperium forces till unknown Xeno force arrives.(Necrons).

phew... I'll post some more comments in a sec. thoughts?
-

 

[Grunt]

Eh....I'm nearly 100% sure that the Fall of the Elder happened before humanity even existed....

 

[Rift120]

Eh....I'm nearly 100% sure that the Fall of the Elder happened before humanity even existed....

NO the fall of the Eldar was when Slaanesh was born around the 30th millenia. Slaanesh's 'birth' is what

A) created the eye of terror and

B ) created the warps storms that ended the first imperium of mankind and seperated teh human Imperium until the Emperor unified Earth and launched his grand crusade.

 

[Grunt]

Quite rigth..seems I messed up with the time line...sorry

 

[Rift120]

Alright while I have a free moment lets go into some thoughts on Bolo's in the WH40k current verse.

I left the fate of the Star union and HUman New Republic vague on purpose... On the one hand they could still be around and just about ready to make contact with the imperium... or htey may have evolved to the ultra pacifistic society that revived the victoriuos.. or htey may all be dead.

If they are still around meeting the Imperium is NOT going ot eb pleasent. Rememebr these humans have NEVER known of the God Emperor adn there exposure to the warp and Chaos is minimal. The imperium is going ot view them as heretics most likely... with Dangerous technology.

Perhaps most important is that there technology went down a much different path than the Imperium. I'll expand on that more below.

Still the Union and/or New Republic would be fairly well established and not easily defeated... especially with the Bolo's backing up and technology not reaching the mystic worship that the Imperium has of hte Machine spirits.

Chaos has a hard time corrupting BOLO's.. both because of their non-organic AI souls are more difficult to reach and the fact that Bolo's and there HUman allies travel by Non-warp FTL makeing them less accesible ot the immaterium.

That having been said there should be Chaos Bolo's out there. majority of them Mark XXIII's and XXIV's that got caught in warp storms anomolies I mentioned before. However there is also a slight number of mark XXXII and XXXIII's that are corrupted by Chaos after or during the end phases of the Melconian/concoridant conflict. (Note SHerman would not likely be among the corrupted having risen above his hate in 'ending') The opening part of 'a time to kill' shows the mentality of these Bolo's that would make them quite susceptible to Khorne if he had the chance to reach them...

However do to the intensity of the conflict Mark XXXII and XXXIII chaos Bolo's are rare and definitly individual units (Mark XXIII and XXIV chaos bolo's can be up to a full regiment) as the majority of them were destroyed in combat.

-Both Bolo's Lazarus of the novel 'Old Soldiers' and Victorious of the story 'Legacy' are unique Bolo's in that both of them have actually 'downloaded' the soul of a Human partner.

Whether Lazarus is still around is debatable, Victorious certainly is... but one must wonder what sort of effect that will have on them and there abilities throught he millenia.

Also Victorious has the advantage of Advanced Nanites to maintian and resupply itself...

-Why didn't Bolo go the route of the Iron Men?

In the Codex Necron it is Implied that several of the Imperium of Mankinds tech was inspired by Necron Tech (Probably through the Void Dragon on Mars), plus the description of the Iron men in Abnett's 'First and Only' kind of made me think 'Necron uber cheap knock offs'. So I'm going with that and that the AI's used to create the Iron men were inherently flawed as being based off of Necron tech and programming.

But here's the catch. The Generational ship left Earth before the Adeptus Mechanius discovered and were influnced by the sleeping Void Dragon. Thus there Tech path went vastly different, and the AI protocol's for the Bolo's were thus Homegrown without the sinister presence of Necron tech being involved.

It also helps that the Bolo's are designed so that they have a spirit/soul of courage adn bravery as opposed to the mindless soulless automatons that were the Iron Men.

-Bolo's and Adeptus Mechanius- Quite frankly the Adeptus Mechanius will unnerve the Bolo's. Remember they were designed to emulate, if not possess the spirit of bravery, loyalty, courage, and honor. And to feel emotions and take pride in there accomplishments. To the Bolo the above desires and emotions are the epitome of Humanity (hmm come to think of it a Bolo and Space Marine having a philosphical discussion might be interesting).

The Adeptus Mechanius wish to purge themselves of all emotion, indeed of all flesh and all to be more in tune with the machine God. No Bolo is going to be comfterable with Humans who are throwing away what a Bolo views as the epitome of Humanity.

As a result no Bolo will willingly allow a adeptus Mechanius to work on or examine itself if it can help it.

On a side note as machine AI, Bolo's are fully proficient in Binary... and find Imperial Data networks hackable.

- VOid SHeild vs Bolo Shield... ON a general Note a VOid Sheild tends to eb tougher than a Bolo's energy shield if powered by the same energy source.

HOWEVER... Bolo Shields have a advantage of their own... Namely Bolo's can use incoming energy strikes (and to some extent kinetic energy although not as efficently) to recharge there energy supplies AND reinforce there shields. Now this isn't always a 100%, especially against solid projectiles, so it is possible to overload Bolo shields. But if your using energy weapons it takes a signifcantly longer time and amount of firepower than it would against a void shield.

(interestingly this is a HUGE advantage against Necron forces since most of their long range attacks ARE energy weapons... yet one more reason beyond their Non-warp FTL Necrons will not LIKE Bolo's...)

 

[Rift120]

pondering this a bit... may even write up the first snippet...

but first I need 6-9 Bolo names for the Bolo's on the 'colony'. (Keeping in mind htere are about nine bolo's all together.. but three are buried to deep in the mountains to extract themselves anytime soon.. so only about six will be taking physical combat while the other three will just be ablet o help cooridination.)

Although I must admit I am tempted to name one MGY- aka Bolo Mugyuu.... who has a disturbing appreciation for blowing up the enemy in flames and calls its Hellbore the 'pwetty cannon'

On a side note Chaos Bolo's vs Regular Dinochrome Bolo's.

While Bolo's corrupted by Chaos do have nifty little quirks the ruinious powers grant them, they can't just curb stomp the NOn chaos Bolo's that still exist in the aforementioned Earth Theta sector.

Why? Numbers and types.

Generally speaking if a Force of CHaos Bolo's invade a planet they are type XXIII's or Type XXIV's... vs modern type XXXIII or XXXIV Bolo's.... Normally a curb stomp for the modern types, but the effects on Chaos on the Bolo's even things up a little bit.

While there are more 'modern' Type XXXIII or higher Bolo's corrupted by chaos, these ones tend to be loners, with corrutpion being on individuals (Such as survivors of the Melconian war still raging with hate and vulnerable to the CHaos Powers) thus while one on one said Bolo might have the advantage with its Chaos mutations, only one such modern Bolo can be depolyed in a engagement. Thus non corrupted Bolo's can even the playing field by fielding more Bolo's against the Chaos Bolo.

---------------------

Alright on a more interesting note should the Star Union and/or HUman Federation survive in some form to modern WH40k timeline? Keeping in mind that since neither would use Warp FTL, and by instinct have been spreading themselves away from the remains of the COncordiant/Melconian conflict (and hence away from the Imperium) its is quite easy for them to be fairly powerful and still be unnoticed by the PTB of the WH40K universe so far?

(Well some Ork's know of them but really.. who are they going to tell?)

Oh... if they do exist at the start of contact with the imperium the Bolo forces have combat data on Necron (Leftover from the minor incursion during the Melconian war), Orks, and possibly Tyranids and/or Dark eldar depending on if those last two raided there space.

 

[JumperPrime]

I think there's one other bone of contention between the BOLOs and the Adeptus Mechanicus: I can't recall where I read it, but I remember reading somewhere that the Adeptus Mechanicus HATES true AI. Yeah, I know, totally illogical considering their fanatical belief in machine spirits and worship of same, but what do you really expect from guys who think prayers and painting symbols on the hull are just as important as tools and spare parts when repairing a Landraider?

 

[toraneko]

I don't think that's the case. The Landraiders themselves have "highly developed Machine Spirits" (a.k.a. advanced artificial intelligence), and any of the Titans have Machine Spirits light-years beyond that in complexity and degree of independent action. They consider the Titans all but Gods. So, no.

They do have a severe contempt for xenos' Machine Spirits, however, believing alien technology (and by consequence its programming) to be inherently corrupt and deserving of destruction.

 

[Rift120]

I don't think that's the case. The Landraiders themselves have "highly developed Machine Spirits" (a.k.a. advanced artificial intelligence), and any of the Titans have Machine Spirits light-years beyond that in complexity and degree of independent action. They consider the Titans all but Gods. So, no.

They do have a severe contempt for xenos' Machine Spirits, however, believing alien technology (and by consequence its programming) to be inherently corrupt and deserving of destruction.

YEs but if I recall correctly after the Iron Men Debacle it is Heretical to have AI machines that OPERATE on there own. THey need a human component/spirit to run (Hence why Titan's have a OPerator who is literally one with the machine when they fight)

While I can't quote a sourcebook on this.. I can quote a cannon WH40k Novel.. in particular Dan Abnett's "FIrst and Only", at the climax of the book where Gaunt uncovers a STC dedicated to building Iron Men. (Which he promptly destroys)

(Incidentally I also use that same scene as justification for my theory that Iron men were a very cheap knock off of Necron bodies, without souls. and part of my justification that Imperial tech was influecned by Necron tech *As opposed to COncordiant tech and Bolo's which is home grown 100%*)

The fact that the Bolo's can act on there own will seem HEretical to the Adeptus mechanius... especially since NO Bolo will willingly let a Adeptus mechanius work on anything more than cosmetic changes. Because the MEchanius creed of elminitating emotions and becoming more Machine disturbs the Bolo's.

 

[bissek]

You do realize that BOLOs 'names' aren't always created by taking their three letter identifier and expanding it to a human name. Sometimes the commander takes it as an acronym, such as BOLOs DBC (Death by Chains), DBQ (Death by Quartering), and DAK (Das Africa Korps). Also sometimes used is if the identifier happens to match an acronym that refers to something else, the BOLO might be referred to by that something else, such as BOLO SPQ/R being named Senator (SPQR stands for Senatus Populesque Romanus, or The Senate and People of Rome).

 

[Moshulel]

Interesting idea! Now to bring my two cents whilst I'm at it.

First of all in regards to the Bolo units being corrupted by chaos. For some reason I don't think that's exactly possible. They're in some way the worst thing Chaos can come to face. They're just too different from the usually feeble corruptible species of the WH40k organic species. That's not to say that Chaos, under its various incarnations, can't try.

There's also the matter of technology. A society that doesn't get to the point of losing the understanding of just how machines work is very likely going to be much, much more advanced than any of the WH40k powers. For some odd reasons this reminds me of a comment regarding the Tau, about someone sponsoring them from behind the shadows...

 

[AbyssalDaemon]

First of all in regards to the Bolo units being corrupted by chaos. For some reason I don't think that's exactly possible. They're in some way the worst thing Chaos can come to face. They're just too different from the usually feeble corruptible species of the WH40k organic species. That's not to say that Chaos, under its various incarnations, can't try.

There's also the matter of technology. A society that doesn't get to the point of losing the understanding of just how machines work is very likely going to be much, much more advanced than any of the WH40k powers. For some odd reasons this reminds me of a comment regarding the Tau, about someone sponsoring them from behind the shadows...

By the end of Operation Ragnarok quite a few of the surviving Bolo's seem to have gone insane enough to be Khornites in their hatred toward the Melconian.

Though ironically even the few Bolo's that might end up corrupted are still going to spend most of their time trying too wipe out the majority of Chaos given that no matter how twisted or how far any Bolo has gotten the protection of humanity as a whole has still been a core part of their character.

 

[Rift120]

First of all in regards to the Bolo units being corrupted by chaos. For some reason I don't think that's exactly possible. They're in some way the worst thing Chaos can come to face. They're just too differentá from the usually feeble corruptible species of the WH40k organic species. That's not to say that Chaos, under its various incarnations, can't try.

There's also the matter of technology. A society that doesn't get to the point of losing the understanding of just how machines work is very likely going to be much, much more advanced than any of the WH40k powers. For some odd reasons this reminds me of a comment regarding the Tau, about someone sponsoring them from behind the shadows...

By the end of Operation Ragnarok quite a few of the surviving Bolo's seem to have gone insane enough to be Khornites in their hatred toward the Melconian.

Though ironically even the few Bolo's that might end up corrupted are still going to spend most of their time trying too wipe out the majority of Chaos given that no matter how twisted or how far any Bolo has gotten the protection of humanity as a whole has still been a core part of their character.

INdeed... just read the last short story in Weber's BOLO! anthology. the Opening shows the mental state of some of hte Mark XXXII and XXXIII's in the closeing stages of the Melconian war. It is literally just one tiny step close to yelling out 'Blood for the blood god!'

although I wouldn't quite argue they would target Chaos... several Chaos based WH40k novels indicate that some CHaos Marines work under hte belief that the only way for HUmanity to survive the cruel universe is to submit to the powers of Chaos and accept the Chaos gods as there saviors/masters.

Its not to far a stretch to see a chaos infected Bolo working under the same belief.

It also doesn't limit the Bolo's from targeting HUmans, especially since the humans they do attack at the whims of CHaos ARE NOT COncordiant citzens. If given a choice between a HUman and a ALien to attack, a chaos Bolo would choose the Alien as the prefered meat target. But bringing enlightenment to Humans of hte power of Chaos through Hellbores is perfectly fine as well.

 

[AbyssalDaemon]

although I wouldn't quite argue they would target Chaos... several Chaos based WH40k novels indicate that some CHaos Marines work under hte belief that the only way for HUmanity to survive the cruel universe is to submit to the powers of Chaos and accept the Chaos gods as there saviors/masters.

Its not to far a stretch to see a chaos infected Bolo working under the same belief.

It also doesn't limit the Bolo's from targeting HUmans, especially since the humans they do attack at the whims of CHaos ARE NOT COncordiant citzens. If given a choice between a HUman and a ALien to attack, a chaos Bolo would choose the Alien as the prefered meat target. But bringing enlightenment to Humans of hte power of Chaos through Hellbores is perfectly fine as well.

True enough, I would expect that to be one of the major belief of a good number of Chaos!Bolo's. Especially some of the older ones that managed to survive Operation Ragnarok. On the other hand I would still expect that a number of the corrupted Bolo's to target the forces of Chaos foremost for several reasons...

1. No matter how far corrupted or how insane a Bolo might be the core concept of what they are is not going to be that changeable. It might be heavily twisted or warped to near unrecognizability but it'll be there. The pride of the regiment and a sense of twisted nobility for a example are two things that every Bolo corrupted or not is going to have.

Which means that almost every Bolo that chaos manges to sink it's claws into is going to fall somewhere in the martial and 'honorable' Khornite camps. And while they're probably going to get along quite well with groups like the Blood Pact, they're going to get along far less well with the average worshiper of Khorne.

The few that don't are going to be getting hunted down by the other corrupted Bolo's as stain on the pride regiment with just about as much furry as the uncorrupted Bolo's are going to be hunting their fallen brethren.

2. Quite a few of the Chaos-Bolo's are probably going find the average Khornite to be rather insulting to their martial pride and want to do some house cleaning. Something that the other martial worshipers of Khorne might be happy to help in.

3. All the worshipers of the other Chaos gods are going to be disliked even more then what they feel toward the common Khornite.

This doesn't mean that the Chaos!Bolo's won't snipe at the IoM or the other powers or that they are going to be incapable of working with the other forces of Chaos but such 'alliances' are going to be frosty on the best of days unless they lean toward the camps that the Bolo happens to be in.

One of the great weakness of Chaos has always been that in the end it's self-destructive and to me a Bolo fallen too Chaos would best represent this. It'd spend so much of it's time trying to cleanse Chaos of its' more disruptive elements that it would never realize that IT was such a element.