In this post: a quick supplement to my Fandom Growth 2022 signup, individual thoughts on my Warhammer ships, because the AO3 signup box only allows 5,000 characters including spaces and HTML, and that divides badly among 11 ships. This is NOT a complete letter, just a supplement for that one canon with thousands of characters who do not do enough smooching.


Ahzek Ahriman/Kydomor Forrix
The ship in a nutshell: a warrior odd couple - a sorcerer and an engineer - learning to appreciate each other's traditions and saving each other from danger.

Where is it in canon: They interact exclusively in Magnus the Red: Master of Prospero. There are other books where they each appear—Ahriman especially goes on to have quite a career—but this is early in the timeline and none of that other stuff is necessary to appreciate the dynamic.

Prompt: I just desperately want them to have more of a chance to explore the growing bond between them. Maybe Ahriman doesn't have his foresight vision of Forrix & doom, or maybe he has it and responds by wanting to prevent that future rather than wanting to cut off his connection to it. Or maybe they just have a little bit of downtime between dangerous missions to play regicide, share stories of home, compare fighting styles, or make out a little. Or give me anything that touches on Forrix's heroic tanking to keep unconscious Ahriman from harm, because DAMN does that give me feelings and I want it to give Ahriman feelings too.

Akurduana/Ferrus Manus
The ship in a nutshell: Beautiful swordsman learns why his own commander is so enamored of one of the Imperium's other commanders, agrees entirely.

Where it is in canon: Ferrus Manus: Gorgon of Medusa is the only book with Akurduana at all. Ferrus is an important character in the main plot but since this is a book centered on him (and again, early in the timeline) you get a good sense of him there.

One specific DNW here: please don't write this as infidelity fic—I do also ship Ferrus/Fulgrim and don't want a cheating angle. You can skip mentioning it entirely or come up with any kind of consensually open arrangement, whatever works for you.

Akurduana's overwhelming crush option: perfect in every way. That is some high praise, sir! Would love to see extremely thirsty Akurduana doing his best to prove himself worthy of Ferrus' esteem and also cock. Showing off his skills, offering personal services (maybe things he's done for Fulgrim in the past?), craving and ultimately getting the pounding of a lifetime. Also the descriptions of him sparring in the practice cages are *so* gorgeous, I would love to see some of that making Ferrus hot and bothered too. DAMN but they'd make a pretty study in contrasts.

Fulgrim's proxy option: Fulgrim can't currently be with his brother, but he has appointed his captain to offer Ferrus any support that he would himself. Including sex. Akurduana will do his best to provide as fulfilling an experience as his primarch would. The formal expectation and obligation, the dismissal of someone's individual agency and treating that like a high honor—all that shit feels very 30k to me and I love it. Lightly dubcon vibes are cool here (this isn't about what Akurduana wants) but he does still have that overwhelming crush and space marines face much worse challenges all the time so I'd rather it not be a traumatic experience.

Bastarnae Abranxe/Lonomia Ruen
The ship in a nutshell: hedonist warriors are so into themselves and showing off for each other.

Where it is in canon: Mostly in Angel Exterminatus; they're minor characters even there, but obviously into each other. They both also appear in the novella "The Reflection Crack'd," which takes place before Angel, but their role in it is mostly to get swatted aside as less important contributors to a battle. Also they weren't together yet.

Prompt: These are shallow, pretty douchebags who should probably have kinky sex, possibly in public (at La Fenice, maybe?), possibly involving one or the other's weapons. If you are drawing, I honestly can't remember any clear descriptions of things like hair and eye color, but i would expect probably they share Fulgrim's pale hair & dark eyes. Piercings, tattoos, and scarification would all be great here.

If you're not feeling the porn, I think a get-together with the florid subtext of the canon would also be a lot of fun: Abranxe lost his previous partner shortly before Angel and is already with Ruen the first time he shows up in the novel. Was he performatively grieving to get someone to ~console~ him? Was he unaffected and Ruen just saw a chance to press his suit before anyone else could get there? How mutually enamored with their own descent into libertine excess are they? Entertain me with some self-centered beautiful dirtbags, please.

Kellendvar/Kellenkir
The ship in a nutshell: really the worst unhealthy codependent brothers, and in a legion led by Gratuitous Torture Batman, that's saying something.

Where it is in canon: I've only read "A Safe and Shadowed Place" so far, though I know they also appear in Pharos, which picks up their story shortly after that. SSP already contains a clear picture of how they interact now and where they came from. Content warning for lots of explicit torture descriptions.

Prompts: I'd love backstory for them, their semi-feral violent youth on Nostramo being the only person that either of them could depend on; or, a few years later, going through induction and the training-to-be-space-marines process. Either way, their us-against-the-world attitude in the face of whatever challenges are currently in front of them. Alternately, some really kinky mess set around the end of SSP, with Kellenkir bound and gagged or immobilized with the pain spike and all Kellendvar wants is to show his brother how good it still is to be together. Remember? It's different for us! It means more between us! Table-turning optional, messy and not optimistic ending likely. Violence (including sexual violence) between them as adults is fine and really rather likely; if you're doing backstory I'd rather things be consensual (but they can still be awful together toward anyone else).

Mkani Kano/Meros
The ship in a nutshell: If two space marine golden retrievers hadn't seen each other in ages and finally got to go on the same mission again, while their fleet dives headfirst into cosmic horror they didn't know existed. Boatloads of h/c potential.

Where it is in canon: they're supporting cast in the novel Fear to Tread, and I don't think either of them appear elsewhere.

Prompt: Look at them!! I just love their camaraderie and teasing and would be delighted to see them on a mission together, sparring in the practice cages, hooking up in the showers, generally being playful and fond of each other. I love that Meros is just as fight-fight as any other marine despite being an apothecary. Kano being tender with Meros' "check it out I almost died" abdominal scar would be particularly sweet.

Angron/Lorgar Aurelian
The ship in a nutshell: two very different demigods, both struggling with their role, trying to connect with each other when neither of them are good at that and both expect to be scorned.

Where it is in canon: This is the hard one; these are major characters with significant arcs over the course of the Heresy. The text that made me want to explore them as a ship is "Butcher's Nails," an audio drama/short story set shortly before the major novel they share, Betrayer. There's a lot more content for both of them and the Lorgar simp in me especially wants to rec First Heretic (and my heart breaks for Angron in "Lord of the Red Sands"), but the key stuff for them both together is those two stories.

Prompts: Again, the hard one. I would love for them to actually find common ground (both grew up as someone else's tool; both now get little respect or friendship from their brothers) and figure out how to communicate honestly with each other and idk maybe help with each other's problems? I'm super here for an AU where Lorgar does find a way to deal with the Nails and where Angron consents to that. I'm into the idea of Angron teaching Lorgar how to handle himself better in a physical fight, something he never learned. I would *love* any situation where one of them gives the other respect in a field that they're used to having scorned—Lorgar recognizing Angron's intelligence, despite the Nails sabotaging his communication, Angron acknowledging the courage in Lorgar's faith instead of being disgusted. etc. ...I would also be here for a heartbreaking canon divergence where Angron tells Lorgar outright that he doesn't want to be saved from the death that's coming for him, and Lorgar decides that honoring that is more important than advancing the cause of Chaos. I would cry, but I would be here for it.

Barabas Dantioch/Alexis Polux
The ship in a nutshell: Two legions, both alike in dignity, in the fair Imperium—ok not quite. But still: two warriors from bitter rival legions learn to work together and care about each other despite their preconceptions.

Where it is in canon: Principally as supporting cast in The Unremembered Empire and Pharos, with some backstory for each character in "The Iron Within" and "The Crimson Fist" if you want to see them take center stage.

Prompt: SAVED BY FEELINGS omg. I would love to see them spend more time together on Sotha, and Polux reacting to the fact that Dantioch could activate the Pharos through the instinctive, desperate desire to save him. Also, both of them experiencing the soft, pastoral environment of Sotha in contrast to the hard-edged fortified war conditions in which their legions constantly operate; maybe this space is so different from the endless war that it gives them the chance to explore their connection in a way that they wouldn't have in any ordinary place/time. I'd be all in for sweet kink exploration between them, whether or not either of them has experience with that; I'd also really love Dantioch removing his mask being a big emotional moment, and any acknowledgement of/careful handling of Dantioch's hrud-campaign disabilities. All I want is soft things for these tired veterans.

Konrad Curze/Elver
The ship in a nutshell: Mortal who never did anything wrong trapped on interstellar junk ship with demigod monster; torture and stockholm syndrome ensue.

Where it is in canon: Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter. Content warnings for gore, torture, mutilation, gratuitous cruelty, and a main character who's trying really hard to justify all of that. Curze appears in a number of other stories but Elver is only in this one, and you get a pretty clear picture here of what Curze is like at the point in his life where he's around Elver.

Prompts: This situation is horrible in canon and I just... want to see it explored more. Maybe with a sexual component, maybe just with all the uncomfortable psychological mess that is Curze happening to a mortal who can't escape. Play with the instinctive awe response that humans have to primarchs, even when they're Like That, and Elver's desire to focus on whatever positives he can find. If you're drawing, lean into the size difference and Curze's zombie-scarecrow monstrousness.

I like the feelings being messy and complicated here, neither of them entirely sure how they feel about this uncomfortable arrangement—please don't make either of them just straightforwardly fall in love or anything, even as a Stockholm Syndrome thing. The edge of unpleasantness never goes away.

Konrad Curze/Jago Sevatarion
The ship in a nutshell: It's not easy being the emotional support sociopath but Sevatar does his best.

Where it is in canon: Curze shows up in a number of things; Sevatar's most important connections with him are in "Savage Weapons" and "Prince of Crows." Content warnings for torture, cannibalism, desecration of corpses.

Prompts: How Sevatar earned the red hands and why Curze chose to suspend his sentence like that. Sevatar's struggle to make sense of people and the comfort of having Curze's stark (horrible, hypocritical) moral code to give him answers. Curze touching Sevatar's scars, on his face or otherwise. The stark black-white-red palette option (I will never understand why the Forge World model uses "tanned skin" for Sevatar when we know Nostraman natives are literally-never-see-the-sun corpse white).

Incredibly awkward sex, going through motions that they both know are supposed to have significance but Sevatar doesn't understand emotions and Curze is terrible at connecting with people: there's symbolic importance to doing this but they're both in alien territory with no map and only each other for backup.

Magnus the Red/Perturabo (Warhammer 40.000)
The ship in a nutshell: a magic nerd and a math nerd find each other a little bit exasperating but a they're still so very fond.

Where it is in canon: Kind of another tough one with two primarchs, however this time I feel Magnus the Red: Master of Prospero gives you a good contained look at the dynamic between them. Perturabo's characterization across the series suffers a lot from having multiple writers (so much sympathy for comics fans lately); he is, I think, at his best here.

Prompts: I'd love to actually see them studying/researching ancient Terran inventors and scientists together, with the development of their affection for each other in the process. Or either of them putting his foot down to make the other take a break in the middle of a too-intense research/creation process. Or their very different approaches to battle working well together. I love that Magnus values and encourages Perturabo's creative side, bringing out the best in him when nobody else seems to. If you include sex I tend to think Magnus is more experienced, but I'm happy to be convinced otherwise (and Magnus having a lot of Information but not having Done It would be really cute tbh).

Nathaniel Garro/Saul Tarvitz
The ship in a nutshell: their unbreakable bond of trust and faith saved an empire from swift annihilation, and yet we have next to no information on how that bond was forged. Help me.

Where it is in canon: Meet Tarvitz in Horus Rising and see his key moments in Galaxy in Flames; pick up Garro's POV on that crucial encounter in Flight of the Eisenstein. Garro goes on to have other heroic adventures later but afaik they don't touch on his relationship with Tarvitz.

Prompts: First, I am dying for details about the campaign where they met and bonded; what does a space marine meet-cute look like, anyway? I'd be here for something with a canon tone & approach to the battle, but I'd also be into tropey stuff like chaos sex pollen or accidental soul bond that they have to overcome together. Canon divergence territory: I would fight god for an AU where Tarvitz is there too when Garro comes back to Isstvan III in search of Loken, and their reunion, and maybe some h/c on the long trip back to Terra, dealing with trauma and also just overwhelmingly relieved to see each other alive again ;;;;
Art-wise, while I think just about any of these ships would be pretty cool fighting back to back, these two are made for it. Or if you hate drawing armor, makeouts in the shower after the battle would also be thoroughly choice.