The Demiurg are a race of short semi-humanoid traders and miners allied with the Tau Empire. They were first introduced in additional material to the Battlefleet Gothic game. It is currently unknown if the Demiurg are full members of the Tau Empire, or allies, or mercenaries. But they are involved heavily in trading and economic relations with the Tau.The Demiurg appear to have no homeworld, or at least have abandoned it in favour of spacecraft. They are known to avoid Imperial space unless invited in, making them a very uncommon sight, and are described as defensively-hostile and non-militaristic. Though the number of sightings in the Ultima Segmentum has increased over recent centuries.

The Demiurg are organized into "Brotherhoods", though any further information on a Brotherhood is unknown beyond the rumours from Rogue Traders that one Brotherhood is typically

present upon a Bastion Class Vessel and two to three upon on a Stronghold Class Vessel. At least two brotherhoods, the Srry'Tok and Thurm, are known to have joined the Tau Empire.

The Demiurg have a high level of technology invested in their vessels as they are required to perform a number of tasks; Stronghold Class Vessels for instance are used as factories, processing units and as a base for mining fleets, while the Bastion Class Vessels are often configured for use in asteroid mining. These vessels are largely automated and use electro-magnetic fields to scoop up interstellar hydrogen, which is then compressed inside the vessel and ejected towards the rear, creating a form of ram-jet engine. The engines are relatively slow in comparison to Imperial technology, however the complex shielding the system requires and the beneficial side-effects of its use are as of yet still unfathomed by the Adeptus Mechanicus.

A known tool is the Demiurg survey glass which is a penetrative visual tool used for mineral detection of up to 2km depths.

From the Demiurg the Tau acquired their knowledge of Ion Cannon technology, which is now heavily used by the Tau in their armies and fleets. Furthermore, in the Tau language, the Demiurg are known as "Bentu'sin", which translates as 'wise-gifted ones'.

Aside from the development of ionic weapons, the Demiurg appear to remodel a lot of their weaponry from technology already developed for use in resource gathering and manufacturing. Two examples of this on board their spacecraft are the Cutting Beam, which appears to have been adapted from high powered lasers used to mine asteroids, and automated mining machines, which, once reconfigured, are launched as attack craft against enemy ships.

A pair of Demiurg commerce vessels fought along side Imperial vessels as part of the gathered armada against Hive Fleet Jormungandr in 995.M41, or so some Imperial reports claim.

Celestial phenomenaDemiurg ships are totally unaffected by solarflares, gas and dust clouds and radiation bursts.Do not place blast markers in contact with themfor celestial phenomena of any kind.Deployment and ScenariosAside from the Tau, who appear to have thestrongest known connection with the Demiurg,a number of races have on occassion beenreported as having made contact with thesealiens. Any fleet except Orks, Tyranids andNecrons can use Demiurg Bastion class vessels;they are purchased as cruisers but do notcontribute to the number of ships required togain access to battleships, grand cruisers, etc.Demiurg ships can never carry fleetcommanders, use fleet commander re-rolls or beplaced in squadrons with non-Demiurg vessels.Tau fleets (and other races whose fleet listspecifically include the Demiurg) ignore theserestrictions and should instead select Demiurgvessels using the entries given in their fleet list.MercenariesUnless the fleet is entirely composed of Demiurg

ships they are considered to be mercenaries andwill not continue to fight if crippled. CrippledDemiurg ships will attempt to disengage everyturn and run for the nearest point on the nearesttable edge if they fail. However, if the Demiurgship is part of a fleet fighting against Orks it willonly disengage if first reduced to only having 1or 2 Damage points remaining.DEMIURG WEAPONSDemiurg Stronghold and Bastion class vesselsuse the following the special rules:Cutting beamThe cutting beam is a short ranged butdevastating ionisation beam usually employedfor gouging out recalcitrant moonlets. Thecutting beam counts as a single lance but eachBlast marker picked up by the Bastion in theMovement phase gives the beam the equivalentof one extra lance shot (up to a maximum of 8).Blast markers cannot be held from turn to turn

in order to power the cutting beam, any unusedones are lost.Launch baysDemiurg ordnance is reconfigured from itsautomated mining machines within thecavernous dorsal launch bays. Some Demiurgships are equipped with launch bays which arealso permitted to fire torpedoes. If this is thecase this will be noted n the ‘Range/Speed’column of the launch bays profile. Such launchbays can be used to release either attack craft ortorpedoes, but not both in the same turn. Notethat Demiurg torpedoes and attack craft are notalways interchangeable, so Demiurg torpedotubes cannot be used to launch attack craft, andlaunch bays may only fire torpedoes if noted inthe ship profile.Once a supremely rare sight, the gigantic statelycommerce vessels of the Demiurg have beenseen with increasing regularity in the UltimaSegmentum over recent centuries. Althoughknown in legend among many indigenous racesthrough the region, Demiurg vessels avoidImperium-claimed space scrupulously unlessspecifically invited in. Unfortunately, less thanscrupulous planetary governors have beenknown to employ Demiurg forces to bolstertheir own positions, inviting Inquisitorialcensure for their truck with aliens.Fleet strategists have postulated a link betweenthe ships and the expansion of the Tau Empireon the Eastern Fringe, citing three confirmedsightings of Tau/Demiurg or Kroot/Demiurgfleets in the region of the Damocles Gulf. Othershave suggested that the nomadic movement ofthe mysterious Demiurg demonstrates only anopportunistic desire to capitalise on thedisruption caused by the Tyranid hivefleets.DEMIURG SPECIAL RULESDemiurg stronghold and Bastion class vesselsuse the following the special rules:Blast MarkersThe curious shielding arrangement of Demiurgvessels dissipates the effects of ionised gases andrepels larger obstacles in its path. As a result, anyBlast marker which a Stronghold moves over isremoved immediately – this includes any in base

contact with the stronghold at the beginning ofits turn. Blast markers have no effect on themovement of the Demiurg ship. Keep markers‘hoovered up’ like this to one side so they can beused to fire a cutting beam from the prow in theshooting phase. Note that Blast markers movedover must be removed, the Demiurg player can’tchoose to remove some markers and leaveothers in place.

Demiurg ShipsThe type classified as ‘Stronghold’ class isfairly typical of Demiurg vessels, beingvery large, technologically advanced andextremely well powered. Strongholdsappear to act as factory/processor vesselsand bases for a fleet of intersytem asteroidmining pods, haulage flyers and prospectorprobes (it is theorized that many of theseare automated). Typically, lone strongholdshave been encountered in the flare ormercurial zones of uninhabited star sytems,hanging motionless and prow-on to the starwith a cloud of small craft busily hustling toand fro to exploit local resources.In most cases these ships withdraw theircraft and disenage if challenged but in someinstances have inexplicably turned on theirattackers with surprising ferocity. It isworthy of note that every known encounterbetween Demiurg and Ork vessels hasresulted in combat, and that renegadeelements have often hired Demiurg vesselsto fight as mercenaries in interplanetaryand intersystem power struggles. Aswarships, Demiurg vessels are slow but welldefended, boasting considerable firepowerat close ranges and the capacity forlaunching mining craft reconfigured asattack craft and torpedoes.A notable trait of the Stronghold class is itsemployment of an array of electromagneticfields around its prow to scoop upinterstellar hydrogen. This is accelerated tothe rear of the ship to provide motivepower in a ram-jet effect but the complexshielding it requires evidently producesnumerous other benefits. This process islittle understood by the AdeptusMechancius and they would dearly like tosecure an intact Stronghold forinvestigation, but thus far the opportunityhas eluded them.

Originally Posted by Jervis johnsonI know I shouldn't get drawn on this... but... can't... resist

Seriously, a couple of points just so you can have an informed debate based on the real reasons that Squats are no longer available. Be warned, it is going to be hard reading for people that like the Squat background.

First of all, Squats were *not* dropped because they were not selling well. There were then, and are now, plenty of other figure ranges that sell in the sort of % quantaties that the Squats pulled down, especially when you look across all of the ranges produced by GW rather than just those for 40K.

No, the reason that the Squats were dropped was because the creatives in the Studio (people like me, Rick, Andy C, Gav etc) felt that we had failed to do the Dwarf 'archetype' justice in its 40K incarnation. From the name of the race (Squats - what *were* we thinking?!?!) through to the short bikers motif, we had managed to turn what was a proud and noble race in Warhammer and the other literary forms where the archetype exists, into a joke race in 40K. We only fully realised what we had done when we were working on the 2nd edition of 40K. Try as we might, we just couldn't work up much enthusiasm for the Squats. The mistake we made then (deeply regreted since) was to leave them in the background and the 'get you by' army list book that appeared. With hindsight, we should have dropped the Squats back then, and saved ourselves a lot of grief later on.

Anyway, the Squats made it into 2nd edition, and since we were doing army books for each of the races, we started to try and figure out what to do with them. Unfortunately we just couldn't figure out a way to update them and get them to work that we felt was good enough. The 'art' of working on an army as a designer is to find the thing that you think is cool and exciting about an army, and work it up into a strong theme. This 'muse' didn't strike any of us, and so, rather than bring out a second-rate product simply re-hashing the old background, we kept doing other army books instead, with stuff we did feel inspired by.

Now, while this was all going on for 40K, we were actually doing some rather good stuff for the Squats in Epic. On this scale there was a natural tendancy to focus on the big 'hand-made' war machines the Squat artisans produced, and this created an army with a feel that was very different to the biker hordes in 40K. However, this tended to reinforce the problems we saw in the Squat background rather than alleviate them, underlining what we *should* have done with the Squats in 40K.

In the end (and it took years to really get to the roots of the problem) this led to a realisation that we were going to have to drop the Squats in their 'Squat' form from the 40K background. There was little point having a major race that we weren't willing to make an army book for, and their inclusion in the background meant that people kept asking us when we'd do a Squat Codex. Instead we decided that we'd write the Squats out of the background by saying that their Homworlds had been devoured by a Tyranid Hivefleet. This would give us the option in the future to return to making a race based on the Squat archetype for 40K. This race was given the name of Demiurg, and a certain amount of preliminary work was done to get a 'feel' for what the race would be like. At present the only hint of the Demiurg in 40K is the Demiurg spaceship for BFG. However, we do have this race 'in our back pocket' as a possible new race for 40K, or an interesting character model in Inquisitor, or whatever. So far the Demiurg have lost out to other projects, and it may be that their time never actually comes, as they will have to win through on their merits, not simply because we once made some Squat models in the past. At present, I have to say that it is more lilely that they *don't* make the cut than do, as there is a certain predudice these days to simply taking races from Warhammer and cross them over to 40K like we did in the early days, so it may be that the Squats/Demiurg end up remaining a footnote in the history of the 40K galaxy. Only time will tell...

I'll finish off by saying that whatever we decide to do 'officially', there is nothing stopping players with Squat armies from using them, either in Epic or 40k for that matter. There is no GW 'rule' against using old Citadel Miniatures, as long as you use them with exisiting army lists and in a way that won't cause confusion for other players. I recommend taking a positive stand by saying "Have you seen these cool old models? They're called the Squats and GW used to make them back in the late eighties/early nineties. I love 'em, so I count them as Imperial Guard and use them with the current rules..." Put like this I can't imagine that anyone would stop you from using your army.

Best regards,

Jervis JohnsonHead Fanatic

Wargear: Aegis of Chalybs (2+ Armour Save, 5+ Invulnerable), Boltgun, Power Axe

Independent Character

Preferred Enemy: Orks

The official Ambassador from the Chalybs Brotherhood to the Searing Dawn expedition, Bentu'Sin'El Fannor'Kir'Shasvre or the Trade Duke of his brotherhood. The Duke is the direct representative of Gnarus the Wise, the leader of the Chalybs Brotherhood. The Trade Duke grew up on the Stronghold capital chip of the Chalybs' known as Monarchia. The Duke rapidly grew to prominence, even to the head of his own organization. However, Chalybs came in contact with a pirate band of Ork's and battle broke out. The interruption would turn out to be the downfall of the Duke's own company but also the turning point in his life. For heroics in repelling the Ork raiders the Duke was awarded his cherished suit of Exo-Armour by Lord Gnarus himself. While his own organization perished and was drawn in by the vast meglacorporations of Chalybs, the Duke's own career sky rocketed. From this point Gnarus kept close tabs on him and in turn began training him in the ways of great leadership, in the end awarding him with the title of Trade Duke, his actual name being lost to history. When the Thurm Brotherhood aligned themselves with the Tau Empire, Lord Gnarus understood the importance of following suit, so they met with Tau Ethereals, one of them being Aun'O Vash'Ya, representative of the Searing Dawn Expedition. To show his compliance and full dedication to unity between their races, Gnarus dispatched the Duke to the Expedition as his representative. Fannor'Kir'Shasvre adopted the new Tau-based name to symbolize the new unity between their two people. Since that day the Duke has served beside O'Mont'Rra and his forces.

Bentu'Sin'El Fannor'Kir'Shasvre wears the Aegis of Chalybs, an ancient relic of the Chalybs Brotherhood. The Aegis is an advanced set of Exo-Armour that provides the wearer with heavy protection from small arms fire as well as a minor reflector shield to protect the Duke from energized weapons. The Aegis has a boltgun built into one of its arms and a power axe in the other. The weapons have served him faithfully through many battles, both against Orks and other races in the name of the Tau and Chalybs Brotherhood.

Wargear: Ionrifles, Flak Armour, Frag GrenadesOne Employee can be upgraded to a procurator at 6 additional points and is equipped with a close combat weapon and a pulse pistol.

Squad: A squad comprises of a procurator and four to nine employees.

Preferred Enemy: Orks

Demiurg forces can be used to supplement Tau forces. Generally these forces are conscripted from Demiurg Mining teams but there are a small number of dedicated Demiurg security forces. The teams of Demiurg Auxillaries comprise of a certain number of employees led by their manager known as the procurator. These auxillaries are fully functioning teams that on their ships would work together on a daily basis, so these units have perfect unity with each other and are more than capable of operating individually.

Weapons: The company van is armed with a storm bolter. The van is also a troop transport and can support up to twelve models (infantry)

Transports like the company van are often used for moving personnel across the vast Demiurg spacecrafts and for transportation on planets. The hull is armoured for use in caves when mining, so as to provide protection for employees under a collapsing tunnel roof. The van is a light vehicle and a soft option when compared to the Tau Devilfish but still serves as a cheap and light transport for carrying auxillaries.