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With apologies to the balance that GW is attempting to find, these are my three Entries for the Iron Gauntlet 2017 Penultimate Challenge. =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= Espion did not come by his position with any ease, even as a young marine he has fought hundreds of battles, and completed thousands of projects to earn the title of Forgewright. He is often found assisting Forgelord Abielle during non combat operation, as the operational head of MACS, during combat he is often found in the command cupola of any of the numerous November Warriors mobile armour, preferring the Fellblade Unsung War. As a MACS instructor he knows the best ways to improve weapons accuracy and to deny the enemy the same via well placed Chaff Grenades. =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= Headmaster Falken is a presence more felt in the November Warriors than seen. He does not often take to the field, leaving that for his Sergeants and the younger Captains, preferring to train the younger minds and bodies of his Advanced School of Assault Warfare. This does not mean that he is not a prodigious warrior in his own right though. Falken pioneered many of the combat styles now practiced in ASAW, he himself trained Sgt. Johan Wu in the advanced forms of pistol based CQC. It was he who taught the Knight-Captain about the Dynamic Entry technique of battlefield arrival, and it was he who inspired the tactic of assaulting from Imperial places of worship to surprise enemy forces. When Headmaster Falken does take to the field, he prefers his custom gauntlets, Ofnir and Grabacr. =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= =][= Farsa Kas has a long and illustrious history in the November Warriors, he first came to prominence during combat operations against a non-aligned force. His quick thinking that day saved his squad and helped bring victory. In the time since he has been fast tracked towards command opportunities. His ties to the House Garaipena reach back to his younger years, he was initially rescued by Lisandra Garaipena II during an operation to retake an Imperial Colony from secessionist forces. He was raised by Lisandra II personally until his induction in the Warriors. As a neophyte in addition to his regular duties he often volunteered to take watches with the Garaipena and in the walkers bay. This continued entwining of interests has produced an exceptional partnership. Upon promotion to Lieutenant Farsa Kas was granted access to some of the rarest of the November arms and armour. The improved communications and sensor gear his new suit of armour contains has allowed for precisely targeted danger close strikes from Knight Titans that may not have an optimal single source firing solution. In addition to his new armour, he was chosen as the purest representative of the November Ideals and thus wields the Axe of Elegy's Lament and the Hammer of Particular Justice, the very weapons that have inspired the November tactic of Axe & Hammer Edit Log: 9/12/17: Adjusted Forgewright Espion point cost while mounted in Super Heavy.

​ The Dawn Blades 2nd Company veteran Shonar was the first of the Dawn Blades to receive the Primaris upgrade by unanimous consent of his brothers. +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ "Company veteran Shonar, your presence is requested in the Company mess within fifteen minutes. Do not be late." Shonar glanced up from his desk at the announcement, shrugged, and replaced his quill in the inkwell. Gesturing for his serfs to follow, he left the room, leaving the poem entitled "Death and Rebirth" unfinished on the desktop. +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ Shonar arrived in the 2nd Company mess to the sound of 108 clashing pairs of ceramite boots, and 108 fists slamming against their breastplates in salute. Chaplain Katz stepped forward and began to speak. Arrayed around him were Shonar's brothers in the command squad, Daimyo Lenoch, and all 10 squads of the 2nd Company. Behind him stood the three dreadnoughts of the company, strangely silent but unquestionably watching. "Company veteran Shonar," he intoned. "You have been selected by unanimous vote of your brothers to be the first of the 2nd Company to have your wargear and biological functions upgraded to the Primaris baseline. In concordance with this honor, you are being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, an ancient rank resurrected by the Primarch Rouboute Guilliman. Step forward and receive your honor." Shonar looked warily about, seeking jest in his brothers' eyes. Finding none, he walked to the head of the hall and stood in front of his brothers. "Shonar," Lenoch said, "you have no idea what this means to all of us." "No, captain. You don't know what this means to me," he replied, fighting tears. There was little a marine could hope for, other than the respect of his brothers, and this proved he had the respect of all of them. And that was something powerful. Smiling, Lenoch snapped his fingers. Four serfs approached the center, bearing a suit of power armor. "Lieutenant Shonar, it is my great honor to present you with this suit of MkX Tacticus armor. May it serve you well." He raised his voice. "Warriors of the 2nd Dawn! Come and armor your brother!" Each marine from each squad swarmed the slab, dismantling the armor, taking one piece each. Then they each placed their piece on Shonar, and then went to their squad's table. Within ten minutes he was armored. "Our ceremony is complete, now let us feast in our brother's honor!" Lenoch called. A great "HUZZAH!" went up from the 2nd company, and the serfs began to bring in food for the feast. Lenoch smacked Shonar on the shoulder, seeing the apprehension behind the helmet. "Don't you worry, brother. You're the most righteous and pious of this company, even above me. You won't let us down, I know it." Shonar nodded as he stumbled. This armor would take getting used to. "My thanks, Daimyo. I'll try and be worthy of the honor." "So I trust. ​ +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ Lieutenant Shonar exited the Apothecarion after three months of surgery, bio-reaccomodation, and physical therapy. He was a half foot taller than what he had been when he had walked into the Apothecary's domain, and 12 percent heavier. His bones felt tougher, his muscles stronger, and he swore his hearts beat slower but more powerfully then they ever had. And...he had this strange sense of immortality, back when he was a teenager and began to become a marine, but this felt...more real. Like he really was invincible. This would require meditation. His serfs began to armor him when he returned to his quarters, and soon he was wearing the new Tacticus suit. It felt just like his old armor did not three months ago, a second skin that would never fail him. Shonar proceeded to the company forge, where he was greeted by two brothers on guard duty. They saluted, and as he strode through the door he saluted back. He located an empty anvil and drew his combat knife. Pressing it to the anvil, he muttered a prayer to the weapon's warrior spirit, set it aside, and began to construct a power field generator. +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ Six days later, the power field was built and it was time to attach it to the knife. He took a drill and began to carve a small space in the hilt, just below the crossguard. Here he inserted the field generator, with two smaller holes to run the emitter prongs through the guard and up the blade. He attached the emitter prongs, and sealed them in, then attached the switch for the field. Shonar refilled the remaining dead space in the knife and then muttered a prayer. Taking the new knife in one hand and the ritual knife from the anvil base, he pricked his neck, just where the progenoid was, and began to speak the Litany of Modification. "Oh great machine spirits, I beseech thee, come to my weapon and enter it. Accept this offering of the blood of Ferrus, a pure sacrifice to anoint a holy weapon of the Solis-Imperator." The blood from his neck dripped down to cover the blade, and Shonar flicked the switch. The blood boiled off, leaving an iron-red residue as the power field activated. "May this blade bring vengeance to the slain and death to mankind's enemies. Let it taste the blood of a to rest at the feet of the Solis-Imperator." He felt the blade vibrate and watched it glow as the field generator accepted a machine spirit, and he grinned. He mag-locked the knife to his leg and walked out of the forge, and took from a forge-serf a brand new and shining bright stalker bolt rifle, with his Marksman's Honor badges already attached. Shonar stretched once and then walked to the firing range to test his new weapons. It was a good day, and he would do his best to be an example for his brethren. +++-----------------------------------------------------------+++ Lt. Shonar, 6 power, 100 points (with wargear) Lt. Shonar uses the Primaris Lieutenant rules and statline, with the following modifications. LD9, W6, and A5. Replace 'Company Heros' with the following rule: "Most Righteous and Pious of the 2nd": all models with the <Adeptus Astartes> and <Dawn Blades> Keywords that can draw line of sight to Shonar, or are within 6 inches of him, add 1 to their LD stat. He is armed with a power knife, master-crafted stalker bolt rife, bolt pistol, and frag and krak grenades. Power Knife: Type: Melee|Range: Melee|S:U|AP:-3 Master-crafted Stalker Bolt Rifle, Bolt Pistol, and Frag and Krak Grenades: see Primaris Lieutenant datasheet

http://www.frontlinegaming.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Chaplain_Grimaldus__Emperors_Champion.jpg Brothers and sisters! Welcome to the Penultimate Challenge! Our intrepid Gauntleteers have braved three challenges so far and only two remain. We have whittled our original field of twenty-nine down to four! Be wary, brothers, for you cannot falter with the end in sight! In this challenge, those seeking the Iron Gauntlet must make a dataslate for at least one painted and converted character, with fluff to accompany it. For those of you inclined to be all fancy shmancy, you may try editing this sheet here, or this one here (bearing in mind the latter one is specifically an 8th edition one). However, this is not truly necessary as anyone can simply make a regular post here on B&C with stats and rules, regardless of how slick and polished the eventual presentation is. # As per usual, anyone can enter! At the end of the Gauntlet you'll receive an appropriate badge for your participation, even if you only take part in this challenge. To enter, post the following: I, <your name>, of the <Chapter/Warband/Regiment name> take up your Challenges. I vow, before my brothers and sisters of the B&C to complete Challenge <challenge number> and submit it to the Liber before the deadline. I vow to support my fellow challengers to the best of my ability. May the Emperor/the Dark Gods/Brother Argos himself curse me if I fail.

T-Minus 40: Training exercise and matching of blades by the Dawn Blades chapter master and the Brothers Noctis 2nd Company Captain Mulier. "Tee minus 40 hours to Primaris Space Marine training exercise versus the Silver Sons and Brothers Noctis. All involved please report to Thunderhawk bay three. All Shinsengumi present, report to the Shogun's chambers at once. Repeat, Tee minus 40 hours...." The message repeated. Shogun Kujo Kamakura glanced at his chrono (a gift from a proud father when he was selected to become a Dawn Blade), even though the machine spirit had just announced the time. He nodded; at least the old thing still worked. He turned to the weapons and honors display that dominated the mantle. There lay four items of great importance to him: his plasma pistol, which had saved his life more times than he could count; his old right arm, which he had crafted a replacement for after it had failed to protect his Daimyo Stonetooth back when he was 4th company champion; his first combat knife, forged as a snake in the depths of the forges here on the Shogun's Might; and the Sunfire Katana, a powerful chapter relic that would kill anything that held contact with the blade for more than a second if they weren't wearing full Terminator plate, or its equivalent. Fortunately, Kamakura wielded it by the hilt, and the Blood Helm and its accompanying suit of armor was easily as tough as Terminator plate, if not stronger as it was backed up by a powerful iron halo. None of these relics would actually see battle that day, but Kamakura would still undergo his standard prebattle ritual. Gesturing, he summoned his serfs. They armored him in the Blood Helm, and after fifteen minutes he was ready to begin. He removed the knife first and touched it to his heart. “Ferrus Manus, forge me as I forged this blade, so that I may be as strong as steel.” The combat knife was strapped to his right leg, where it was easily accessible if needed. Next the Sunfire Katana was taken from its resting place, and touched to his armored forehead. “Vulkan, grant me your fire so the enemies of mankind may know our wrath.” The Katana was scabbarded to his left hip, so as to be drawn quickly on the field of battle. His plasma pistol came third, and touching the muzzle to his left hand he said, “Guilliman, guide my aim so I may bring down my enemy.” It was holstered just above his combat knife. Then he gestured one final time, and as the serfs attached his jump pack, he spoke his final preparation words. “Solis-Imperator, grant me your speed and fury, so that my enemies shall know your mercy-that of a quick but painful death at the hands of your avenging angels.” Flaring the engines, he muttered one last utterance to seal the vow. “As I have sworn in your eyes, so mote it be. Strike me down if I am unworthy.” And with that, Shogun Kujo Kamakura of Dawn Blades strode to the door and left for the Thunderhawk deck, his serfs following quietly behind him. =][= At Tee-Minus 26 hours, the Thunderhawks arrived at the grassy world where the training exercise would take place. The elements of the two other chapters present-the Silver Sons and the Brothers Noctis-were present in-system for recruitment and a joint deployment, and had agreed to this training exercise to see how the Primaris fared in battle and to test their skills against another chapter. At Tee-minus 3.5 hours, a joint spiritual service was held, in which the marines sat and listened to the Chaplains then meditated for a time. At Tee-minus 1.5 hours, a lunch feast was held to promote comradeship and to share stories and songs. At Tee-minus .25 hours, the marines left the tables to find themselves nonlethal versions of their standard weaponry before deploying. Then, at Tee-minus zero hours, battle commenced. =][= End Pre-battle Lore =][= The Armies (both are roughly 1250 points) https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/e43bGb Jack’s Brothers Noctis: Captain With power sword and master-crafted boltgun Terminator Captain with storm bolter and power sword (warlord with the Adept of the Codex trait) Predator with Twin linked Lascannon and twin heavy bolters Dreadnought with Multimelta and powerfist with inbuilt stormbolter Dreadnought with powerfist with inbuilt stormbolter and assault cannon Tactical squad with plasma gun, missile launcher, plasma pistol, and power sword (squad 1) Tactical Squad with plasma gun, missile launcher, and no sarge equipment (squad 2) Tactical squad with plasma gun, missile launcher, and power fist and (i think) plasma pistol (squad 3) X4 sniper scouts and one missile launcher Lenoch’s Dawn Blades: Gravis ‘Captain’ Ceticus Stormmoon (standard loadout) Primaris Lieutenants, one with autoboltgun (1) and one with power sword (2) Intercessor Squad 2 (bolt rifles, aux grenade launcher) Intercessor Squad Tiberius (stalker bolters, aux grenade launcher) Hellblaster Squad (assault plasma incinerators for some reason...I would regret this later) Single tactical marine with multimelta Shogun (chapter master) Kujo Kamakura, armed with the Burning Blade and a plasma sword...nabbed the Tenacious Warlord trait for +1 wound and an extra roll to ignore damage Primaris Lieutenant Shonar: Stalker Bolt gun and bolt pistol Lieutenant with twin lightning claws, bolt pistol, and jump pack Lieutenant with power sword, plasma pistol, bolt pistol, and jump pack Lieutenant with grav-pistol, power axe, bolt pistol, and jump pack Lieutenant with power sword, plasma pistol, bolt pistol, and jump pack (Saisho-shinsengumi) Front-line assault deployment, Capture and Control (two objectives), the Brothers Noctis have first turn. He holds two combat-squadded tactical squads in reserve. I hold all jump-equipped units in reserve. Scouts infiltrate to my left flank in a building. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/501549 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/hKVM85 Turn One He takes first turn and advances his forces, taking potshots with his long-range weapons. One of my hellblasters takes a wound, and Intercessor squad two takes one casualty. Intercessor squad 2 advances to the trenchwork on my side of the map and opens fire to little effect. Squad Tiberius, accompanied by Lt. Shonar, take out most of one of the combat squads near his objective. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/0js6k7 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/a4t3Yo I drop my four jump pack Lt.’s down behind his forces with the intent of distraction and blending his forces. Shooting takes a few wounds off of his armor all around, and the infantry (with the exception of one of the combat squads holding the objective) take no casualties. I only make one charge, and predictably it is against a dread with another dread within charge range. All Shinsengumi take overwatch fire and lose wounds. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/1nLW31 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/674920 Turn Two His two reinforcement combat squads walk on, in range of pretty much all of the Shinsengumi they can see. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/xZt98g I think we messed up at one point when I let him shoot across the board at a Shinsengumi even when there was a closer character he could shoot at. (How does that work, anyway?) It may have affected the game to a fair degree, as that krak missile hit the wolverine Shinsengumi and hurt him enough overwatch was able to finish him off, but it doesn’t matter that much. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/PEDTCm His forces advanced in the center to take the breastwork and opened fire once more upon my Intercessors in the center, but all his firepower bounced off their armor. At some point in this turn two hellblasters died to shooting (probably because I moved them from cover). https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/37375k Firing Range Trenchwork The two dreadnoughts smashed the single Shinsengumi in melee, after I spent two command points to go first (and after he died I spent two more to get some extra hits in). The two Intercessor squads advanced and opened fire, with Squad Tiberius killing the single plasma marine left on that flank and squad one killing a single marine in the center. My hellblasters advanced out of the building and opened fire at -1 on the predator, dealing an extra wound. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/kn86US (Recommend Powerwolf’s Amen and Attack to listen to whilst reading this bit) To begin the assault phase, I ate a bunch of overwatch that knocked out two Shinsengumi and had the one remaining one down to one wound. When charging, squad 1 charged the center, and heroic interventions brought his captain in. Maybe one marine died in the center and one on my right flank (his left). 3+ to hit and 4+ to wound with a power sword doesn’t equate to many hits, but I guess it’s better than 4+ to both. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/kn86US https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/i53D12 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/229493 And here we have Tactical Devastator Antreas sitting behind the statue, aching to take a shot at something. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/QF5Z4F Turn Three At the start of turn three, by agreed-upon rules breaking, both myself and my opponent deployed our warlords on the battlefield, right in the center of the map. No one shot at them; they didn’t shoot at each other either. It would come down to bladework (okay, there was one plasma pistol overwatch shot. So sue me). https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/9sfCW6 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/8o6c54 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/aar4j3 His combat squadded tactical squad moved left and right, the one with the plasma gun coming over to kill the Saisho-shinsengumi after their brothers fell back towards the monument. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/RP2267 His dreads and tank moved up the flank, and at this point he pretty much forgot about the snipers because they didn’t have line of sight to anyone (and in fairness I forgot about them too). Opening fire, the armor killed another Hellblaster. In melee, Kamakura knocked two wounds off of 2nd Captain Mulier, despite the fact that Mulier charged first and thus attacked first. The sword Lt. held his own for a while against Captain Foxworthy but eventually died in my melee phase. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/2m3557 In my turn little happened except in the melee phase (though devastator Antreas took a shot at one of the dreads, it missed. If I had any more command points I would have used them to reroll that; I really needed that shot to connect. Oh well). Once in melee, Kamakura took three wounds off of Mulier, though he lost two (2 6+’s to avoid wounds only works so well). I charged my Hellblasters and my autobolter Lt. into his predator and tied it up for the rest of the game (we had forgotten about falling back out of combat). The Gravis character (Ceticus Stormmoon) had finally made it into combat with the tactical squad, and promptly went into a duel with Foxworthy that took the rest of the game as well (this one, I think, was a glory thing. Which characters were better swordsmen?). https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/cfw4yg https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/419Px9 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/34JfJq Turn 4 Volleys from the squads on the left killed two Intercessors from squad Tiberius (one was already wounded), and another combat squad opened fire on my now-unengaged (by virtue of killing everything within one inch) Intercessor Squad and killed the sergeant (who was also wounded by a power sword earlier in melee). His assault cannon dreadnought opened fire and knocked out Antreas with a lucky shot...i saved four wounds. The fifth got through. (This may have been turn five though; it's hard to remember.) In melee, Kamakura defeated Mulier and consolidated into the other deployment zone. The power sword sarge finally died and my Hellblasters and Lt. almost took a wound off of the predator, but not quite. His Predator wasn’t able to kill anything. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/Bvqv9G Squad Tiberius ended up killing all the models they could see and still charge, so I couldn't make the charge to get in close and potentially contest his objective, despite being in range. Kamakura moved on to mince (but not annihilate) a squad of tacticals with the help of the two remaining members of squad two. Hellblasters and autobolter Lt. actually managed to wound the Predator (but only one would). At this point photos begin to degrade in regularity. Apologies. End Turn 4 photos Turn 5 At this point we are just mopping up. I had a hard departure time, and it was rapidly drawing near...so we ended up calling after turn five. That changed a little bit, but mainly it killed my chances at winning now Antreas was KO’d. We were just having a central bloodbath now. His remaining unengaged central tactical squad moves toward the center and prepares to charge Kamakura and his remaining entourage. His leftmost squad manages to completely wipe out squad Tiberius when I get supremely unlucky at save and IH FnP rolls. Only Shonar is left on my right flank (He was actually the only character with full wounds, including sergeants). https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/Ax5C2d In my turn, Kamakura wipes out 4 marines in 5 attacks with one swing of the Burning Blade, and the rest do laughably little in melee on either side. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/wL958g In the end, it ended up being 4-2 in Jack’s favor; he had his objective and First Blood, and I had Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker. https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/5Mb1Az (I know this is doubled-this was the end-of-game match.) https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/382500 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157803996@N07/shares/u84393 =][= He and I both had fun, and I definitely think I have some things to learn. Now for the unit grading and review. A is exemplary, B is good, C is meh, D is bad, and F is would not play again unless I had to. Gravis Captain: B. Good anchor, but slow. CM with Jump pack+Burning Blade: A+. Excellent blender and when given Tenacious Survivor is a monster to shift in melee (ever, honestly) when backed up with an Iron Halo. Ended up having effective 9 wounds-+1 from Tenacious Survivor and 3 saved 6+’s. JP Lieutenants: D+, but that’s mostly how I played them. Dropping them individually with no screen got them killed (and probably cost me the game) before either they or I knew it. Overwatch ate them alive. Definitely running an Assault Squad or Inceptors to screen them. Intercessors with Stalkers: A-. Oh Throne YES! Amazing at killing MEQ’s, and at 2 ppm an ultimate steal. Shonar gets the same grade and reason. Regular Intercessors: B-. Decent enough but I made the mistake of removing the aux grenade launcher first. *headdesk* DI Primaris Lieutenants: B. Good anchors but lacking in survivability for their points (ie. no invuln, but that’s just me whining). Hellblasters with plasma incinerators: C-, maybe D. If you had a plan to utilize these guys with these weapons and remembered it (spoilers: I didn’t), then you were okay. Otherwise go with regular incinerators or the heavy plasma incinerators, or regular plasma devastators, who are cheaper and more reliable but not as powerful. Tactical Devastator Antreas: C. He’s a one-wound model worth 40 points and only cover for survivability; what should I have expected? Did his job well enough until he died; he’ll be joining his squad soon where he’ll be much more effective. Overall, I had fun and learned quite a bit about Primaris and my Shinsengumi. This list will probably be modded to include supporting elements and some heavy armor (read: a pair of Land Raiders and Dreads) to make it better. =][= Begin Post-battle Lore =][= “End of training exercise. All personnel please clear the area so cleanup may begin. Repeat. End of training exercise. All personnel please clear the area so cleanup may begin.” The voxcast droned on for a while before a Techmarine who got annoyed with it shut it off. As the marines began to clear the field, they began to chat amongst themselves, discussing the battle they had just been in and offering advice to each other. Kamakura observed this from overhead, hanging off the spar of a Land Speeder Storm that had recorded the battle in video. The Shinsengumi were being brutally teased and mocked for getting themselves-ALL of them-cut down by overwatch fire. Even the pair who had made it through had been either been cut down when his opponents had fallen back or been ‘pulverized’ after a few blows from a dreadnought (or rather, a combat servitor that had sophisticated electronic warfare machinery that allowed the two dreadnoughts to participate in the fight). Kujo grimaced. His Arrows would all need a stern talking to about getting overconfident and careless in the face of a milk run or training exercise. In the aftermath of the training exercise, there was much camaraderie and mutual respect to be had between the warriors of either chapter. Unsurprisingly, the green Primaris troops had made their mistakes, rookie mistakes, but that was what scout training was for, and the Primaris would, by consensus of all assembled personnel from all chapters involved, be forced to undergo the same exact training regimen that 13 year olds did; vat-sim time didn't equate to time under a drill sergeant with two centuries of battle and another century of training experience under his belt. What was also not entirely a surprise was that the Dawn Blades had superior blade skills. Kamakura had bested Captain Mulier of the Brothers Noctis in combat, and after the exercise was over the captain had approached the Shogun and congratulated him on his amazing swordsmanship, to which Kamakura had replied that beating him had been no mean feat-and that was about the best praise the Shogun gave when it came to melee. What had amazed more than one person, though, was that one of the Primaris Lt.’s had almost beaten Captain Foxworthy in a duel-and the Lt. was still green. He would bear watching for any emergent skill, and training to become part of a training cadre for snakes. Foxworthy had already commended the Astartes for his skill, and was already being praised by some of the Techmarines who had experience with bladework. There was a second feast going on now, and the marines were intermingling. Kamakura lazily drifted down from the Land Speeder, gesturing for the pilot to follow, and landed next to Mulier. “It was a good fight, yah?” Mulier said, not looking at the Shogun. Kujo walked up next to him. “A damn good fight. You've got good men.” “Thank you. I'll…consider these Primaris. We’ll see about them.” Soon Captain Foxworthy came besides them. “Gentlemen.” “Foxworthy,” they replied. “I am afraid my forces must leave now; our Chapter Master has recalled us.” “Then give him my respects,” Kamakura said, and Mulier indicated the same. “I shall. Perhaps we shall fight side by side at some point.” “Indeed.” And with that, Foxworthy walked away, his forces falling in behind him. Soon Mulier left too, troops trailing like so many ducklings. And only the Dawn was left to leave, and when they did so came with them a brand new day. ==================================================================================================================== More photos may follow later in another topic, and I may correct the format later to make it look better-at this point it's just links to the photos unfortunately.

About two weeks ago Honda obliged me with my first game of 8th Edition and for me to get a chance to get my game in for the Iron Gauntlet. We ventured out to Goldmine games in Richmond TX, a friendly and super awesome local hobby shop. We claimed their urban table for our game. We used the Patrol deployment, with the combined Imperial Fist/Black Templar force deploying in the North East corner of the table the Dreadnoughts and Artillery of the Warriors set up in the Southwest. (note: The Pre-pre-battle Fluff and the pre-battle fluff http://i.imgur.com/UsCT7EM.jpg Belligerents: November Warriors: Tyberos The Red Wake as Headmaster-Captain Tybault Cataphractii Captain as Adjutant-Captain Bartlot (Combi-Melta, Chainfist) Legion of the Damned as The Ghosts Of Razgriz: Sgt. Blaze (Power Axe, Flamer, Heavy Flamer) Cataphractii Terminators: Sgt.Eyerton (Twin Lightning Claw) Tartaros Terminators: Sgt.Sennan (Twin Lightning Claw) Indomitus Terminator: Sgt.DeSilvra (Twin Lightning Claw) Ironclad Dreadnought: Sands of Futuro - Ancient Alixos (Storm Bolter, Chain Fist, Melta) Mortis Contemptor: Los Canas Avenged - Ancient Zinard (Kheres Assault Cannons, CML) Relic Javelin: Clarity of Purpose (Typhoon ML, Multi-Melta) Pilot: Sgt. Lincan Co-Pilot: Caldus Vex Rapier Quad Mortar: Retribution's Thunder Gunner: Qwentar Gunner: Hayvia Non-Aligned Imperial Forces: Templars: Grimaldus Priamus (Emperor's Champion) 1 x 10 man Crusader squad (Pfist, BP/Chainswords) 1 x 5 man Crusader squad (Las/Plas) 1 x 5 man Crusader squad (HBolter/Plas) 3 x Whirlwinds 1 x Ghost Talon IF: Primaris Lieutenant Apothecary 1 x 5 man Tactical squad (with something) 2 x 5 man Intercessors 2 x 5 man Hellblasters http://i.imgur.com/mrSwuKm.jpg Apologies to Honda, this is the best overall army picture that was taken, everything else ended up quite blurry. http://i.imgur.com/Q2mhUdU.jpg http://i.imgur.com/6JmqPlo.jpg The Battle started with the Dreadnoughts Sands of Futuro and Los Canas Avenged moving towards the Chronometric Chamber. The Rapier Quad Mortar Retributions Thunder fires on the Primaris contingent, scoring first blood by killing an Intercessor. Los Canas Avenged was able fire it's Cyclone missile launcher to take a second kill, this time removing a Hellblaster. http://i.imgur.com/bp2IMsg.jpg Honda wasn't about to allow those wounds to go unanswered, thus the Imperial Fist Primaris Marines charged across the bridge towards the location we called the chapel annex. Both Hellblasters and Intercessors fired at Los Canas Avenged, but it was to no effect. http://i.imgur.com/ylE4zgl.jpg Turn two brought on more reinforcement, Assault Terminators and Adjutant-Captain Bartlot teleported near the chamber to encircle it. The Ghost of Razgriz teleported in to block the Primaris Marines from moving further towards the Chamber. The Javelin Landspeeder "Clarity of Purpose" flew in behind the dreadnoughts to add ranged fire support. While everyone fired at the incoming intercessors, only 3 went down to wounds by the Javelin, the Contemptor and bolter shots by the Razgriz. http://i.imgur.com/Gowf6WO.jpg http://i.imgur.com/KrD2IQN.jpg http://i.imgur.com/G56FgMN.jpg The Templars then began to reinforce their gene-cousins walking on from the eastern edge, not quite as many of them made it as Honda had hoped, thus he spent one of his command points to re-roll for reserves, which unfortunately for him, wasn't to be. What did work in his favor though was firing a Lascannon and a plasma gun into Los Canas Avenged, wounding it to the point where it was slower and less likely to hit. http://i.imgur.com/wCrLgbT.jpg The third turn continued to go well for the November Warriors. Tartaros Terminators with Captain Tybault were able to teleport in. Both dreadnoughts scored kills on the intercessors, wiping them for a victory point. But this would be the start of the swing back. http://i.imgur.com/eR6UbAD.jpg The Templars were able to bring in some artillery support via a whirlwind that somehow perched itself on a set of stairs. I feel there should be note about how this could only be accomplished with the assistance of some sort of magic or psyker, just a note . That Whirlwind was worth whatever magic they used to get it in place since it immediately was able to bring the last wounds off the the Contemptor Los Canas Avenged. The Templar GhostTalon also made it's way on the board coming in from the north firing on the Novemberine to some effect, mostly mitigated by good save rolls but seriously wounding some of the Indomitus Terminators. The remaining hellblasters fired into the amassed terminators but again the terminators made their saves. http://i.imgur.com/Qk2eHkT.jpg http://i.imgur.com/D3vuanK.jpg http://i.imgur.com/USo2vHL.jpg http://i.imgur.com/01uxiSf.jpg Turn 4 saw the Terminators consolidated around the Chronometric chamber, keeping their captains screened from being shot by the flanking tactical squads. Sands of Futuro fired into those squads, but the sheer willpower of their chaplain kept them going. Allowing them to also remove the Sand of Futuro from action. The Javelin Clarity of Purpose had a plan, they would engage the GhostTalon, after shooting failed, they decided to ram it. Which both being aircraft is never a good idea, especially when the GhostTalon was able to fire a wave of overwatch shots that destroyed the relic aircraft. The men the command of Sgt. Blaze would find themselves overwhelming the last of the Hellblasters, allowing them to prepare to jump down and engage the Primaris Lt. http://i.imgur.com/6LAHNkt.jpg The GhostTalon repositioned to support the assaulting Templars, but it's angles of attack were mostly restricted by terrain. The Flanking templar forces charged in to attack waves. Their plan was interrupted by the use of stratagem Counter Offensive, allowing them wipe one of the 5 man squads charging it before it went down. The Emperor's champion was able to charge into the squad of Tartaros Terminators bringing much distress to them as he successfully applied multiple wounds to the much heavier armoured November Warriors. http://i.imgur.com/728KaJi.jpg http://i.imgur.com/JarcFVb.jpg Turn 5 was the make it or break it turn for the Warriors. The Cataphractii terminators failed their reserve roll again, and with all their heavy support gone, things looked grim. The Ghosts had hopped down from their perch on the annex to directly engage the Imperial Fist Primaris Lt. who was sure to make things difficult. Thus a liberal application of flame took out three wounds from the Lt before the Ghosts charged in to bring him low and take him out of the battle. The Tartaros terminators were still stuck in against the Emperors Champion, hoping to keep him from attacking our Captains and all the buffs and de-buffs that would entail. http://i.imgur.com/xeQYTNt.jpg http://i.imgur.com/3sDE3RS.jpg The Templars renewed their wall of fire, with a Hellblaster squad able to get the kill on an Indomitus armoured Terminator. The Magic whirlwind loosed a great fire unto the remaining Indomitus Sgt. killing him and wiping that squad. Now for this last bit we messed up the rule a bit, a squad of 5 intercessors charged the Cataphractii captain, and laid down such a wallop with his combi-melta that it took all 5 of them out, even if the rules say otherwise. At the end of this turn as the attacker I rolled to see if the battle continued. Lucky for the November Warriors it didn't. Thus we recovered our magic phonebooth outside of Circle K. http://i.imgur.com/kceEcel.jpg http://i.imgur.com/vgqyTHQ.jpg http://i.imgur.com/nFCoaMq.jpg Many thanks to Honda for joining me in this game, as always it is a joy to not only see such great models, but to hang out and spend the day in great company. Also many thanks to Goldmine Games, their variety and quality of tables is exceptional. More images can be found at http://imgur.com/a/F4GU6 and in Honda's battle report at http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/253019-the-albigensian-crusade-2nd-8th-game-080717/?p=4848644

Brethren of B&C! Weary Gauntleteers! Behold the third challenge of the IRON GAUNTLET! With the initial challenge and the second one complete, we move onto the the third in our series of five to determine if indeed anyone has the chops to claim an Iron Gauntlet. This challenge, seeing as we have had our Gauntleteers draw up a background for their army and, in the second challenge, had them paint it, we now encourage them to take to the field! Show us your strategic prowess and get those dice rolling! As per usual, anyone can enter. Simple as that. You do not need to have entered the previous challenges to participate but if you haven't, you won't be getting a Gauntlet I'm afraid. However, a nice shiny badge for completing the challenge can be yours - but what rank will it be? Bronze, Silver or Gold? Feel free to sign up, preferably with a force that has a custom background or is a DIY force of your own making. If you are interested but you aren't sure if you qualify, then please PM me. The third challenge is as follows: To register for this Challenge or any others make the following statement: I, <your name>, of the <Chapter/Warband/Regiment name> take up your Challenges. I vow, before my brothers and sisters of the B&C to complete Challenge <challenge number> and submit it to the Liber before the deadline. I vow to support my fellow challengers to the best of my ability. May the Emperor/the Dark Gods/Brother Argos himself curse me if I fail. [Please leave a link to your article so I can update the first post, or PM me the link instead.]

Brothers! Sisters! Members of B&C! I present to you the second challenge of the Iron Gauntlet! With the first challenge complete, we move onto the upcoming trial, the next hurdle for our budding Gauntleteers. As is custom with any event I host, I welcome all who wish to try their hand at beating the Iron Gauntlet - feel free to sign up even if you have not taken part in the first challenge. Just be aware that this is primarily a DIY focused event - if you are interested but you want to paint a canon entry, then please PM me. The second challenge is as follows: To register for this Challenge or any following challenge (details found in the original thread) make the following statement: I, <your name>, of the <Chapter/Warband/Regiment name> take up your Challenges. I vow, before my brothers and sisters of the B&C to complete Challenge <challenge number> and submit it to the Liber before the deadline. I vow to support my fellow challengers to the best of my ability. May the Emperor/the Dark Gods/Brother Argos himself curse me if I fail. [updates are welcome to be posted in this topic but, if you prefer, leave a link to your thread so I can update the first post.] Good luck and have fun!

Hi all, since starting the hobby many years ago, I've always encountered the same problem, I can never stick to one Chapter! So to curb that I decided to make my own and also, for self motivation, share it with everyone here. You can imagine my surprise and delight when I stumbled upon this sub forum looking for the right place to post about it and the great opportunity this Iron Gauntlet Challenge has presented Without further ado, here's the start I've made on this chapter. It all started when I read this small paragraph in a side note from the Gathering storm pt 3 book: It made me think, what a great base to jump-start this whole thing from, I'll be describing what has happened to this chapter and how I'll be carrying them through (story-wise) into 8th edition in the article below. +THE SWORDS OF Coccium (formerly The Knights Obstinate) + Chapter Symbol: Example marine: Miniature: Brother Sgt Ixion of the 5th Tactical squad, 2nd company He has embellished his Captains heraldry on his left shoulder pad with three bells, each represents a brother from his squad who died in combat. The chapter symbol is layed over the colours of the 2nd company. Ixion also bears several white crosses which show his veteran status within the chapter, The white cross being the sign of veterancy as well as the permanent heraldry of the first company regardless of Captain, in honour of their lost Chapter planet. Founding Chapter: Unknown Founding: 4th Known Descendants: N/A Chapter Master: Everart Homeworld: Coccium (Feudal world, overrun by Ghazgull's Waaagh, Now the Chapter is based on the Battle-Barge, Gloria Coccium) Fortress Monastery: Within the Battle-barge Colours: Grey (company Captain's colours and heraldry cover portions of a brothers armour.) Specialty: (Extremely flexible to various battle situations) Strength: Under strength. (600 full brothers 4 battle companies, one assault and one devastator company, with the 7th company being the Scout company.) Battle cry: Facta non verba (deeds not words) +CHAPTER HISTORY+ Several standard decades after the devastating events of the War of the Beast c. 544-546. M32, which laid waste to much of the known galaxy and threatened to destroy Terra itself, Lord Commander of the Imperium Maximus Thane, the former Chapter Master of the Fists Exemplar, and now the newly-appointed commander of the reconstituted Imperial Fists, decreed that the Imperium would raise as many new Chapters as possible with the gene-seed available in Terra's vaults. After enough gene-seed had been collected from the vaults on Terra, the High Lords of Terra authorised the 4th Founding of the Adeptus Astartes, sometime in the 7th century of the 32nd Millennium. One of these Chapters was to be the Knights Obstinate. The Chapter was given the task of policing a large portion of the galaxy between the borders of the segmentums Solar, Obscurus and Ultima, searching for and eradicating any greenskin threat before it grew, lest another 'Beast' could arise. Their base of operations for this undertaking would be the feudal world of Coccium. Located around 5 months warp travel from Armageddon, Coccium was a verdant world which could almost be considered idyllic if life outside any of the 9 gargantuan Bastion-cities wasn't rendered nigh-impossible by a wide menagerie of Animalistic Predator-Machines. These machines evolved from corrupted archeo-war tech left behind by the Dark Mechanicum, who where using the planet to develop these monstrosities for use during the siege of Terra however, before their plans could come to fruition, the Dark Mechanicum where purged from the sector during the scouring. The Chapter maintained an active presence amongst the people of Coccium as the Captains of each company where the Lords of each of the 9 Bastion-cities. +INITIATION INTO THE RANKS+ Recruitment for the chapter was done by organising hunting parties. Under the unseen supervision of a full battle brother, aspirants would go out into the wilds of Coccium to hunt the deadliest machines they could find. During these hunts, the battle brother would analyse not only individual strength and skill but the teamwork of the hunting party as a whole, identifying potential squad leaders along with weak links in the chain that would have to be removed if the hunt was successful. Upon success, the party would then go through the same trials any aspirants would undertake when joining a codex adherent Chapter until only ten where left as fully fledged battle brothers, joining whichever company the Lord of their hold was Captain of. As for the machines that where hunted, the chapter sent them off to the Adeptus Mechanicus to be analysed by the Tech-preists of Mars, with whom they developed close ties over the millennia as a result. An alliance that would pay off following recent events. +A PLANET OVERRUN+ In the closing months of the 41st millennium, the galaxy was in turmoil. The various warp storms made the policing duties of the Chapter impossible so, the then Chapter Master Bertrand, ordered the chapter to muster full-strength in order to discuss what to do next. Shortly after the meeting between the 10 Captains began, a massive Greenskin fleet of immense size, translated in system and immediately launched and attack on the surprised chapter. Despite the chapter fleets valiant defence, the Orks where able to crash collosal roks into the Bastion-cities of Orrum, Ashfeld and Marsh defended by the 5th 6th and 7th companies respectively completely eradicating them. It was at this time that Ghazgull Mag Uruk Thraka himself attacked the City of Valuation, home of the 1st company. Filled with righteous fury, Chapter Master Bertrand realised that the planet was lost. Naming first company Captain Everart as his successor, with final orders to deliver the news that the beast of Armageddon has returned with a waaagh to rival that of the beast of Ullanor to Terra, Bertrand, along with his honour guard, Marched out to meet Thraka head on. Thanks to Bertrands orders of an organized retreat to the surviving cities ports, Everart was able to co-ordinate the evacuation of what little remained of the forces of Coccium, along with the civilian population sheltering at the ports, off-planet to the Battle-Barge, Gloria Coccium. Everart, looking on grim-faced at the the remaining fleet prosecuting a glorious last stand and feeling a mixture of pride and regret, ordered the Gloria Coccium make for Terra. +AN OFFER OF RETRIBUTION+ Upon arriving in the Segmentum Solar, Everart sent an astropathic communique to the High Lords of Terra in answer to the hails and challenges of identification he was receiving. The message detailing the fall of Coccium and the unbelievable size of the waaagh under Ghazgull's command. Everart was met with orders to dock in high Orbit above Terra and to report directly to Lord Commander Guilliman. Completely taken aback, the Chapter Master had to send for conformation as it seemed that the message was corrupted and that he was to seek an audience with the Primarch of the Ultramarines, long held in stasis on Macragge. Upon conformation that indeed this astounding news was true, Everart made immediately for the Imperial Palace. Upon learning of this threat, Guilliman laid plans for a crusade back into the Segmentum Obscurus involving a detachment of the Talons of, the Emperor several regiments of Imperial Guard along with several Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, including the Knights Obstinate. Who were joined by a sizable force provided by the mechanicus, along with a full company of the newly formed Primaris Space Marines, the Unnumbered Sons also known as the Greyshields. They were to locate and eliminate the various Warbosses in Ghazgulls fleet in order to stop this waaagh dead in its tracks. The last thing the Imperium needed was a second War of the beast. To mitigate the substantial losses they had suffered, Chapter Master Everart reorganised the chapter into 4 battle companies with the 5th and 6th companies being assault and devastator specialists respectively, the 7th was to be the Scout company. In order to rapidly train new recruits, strike forces where made up of elements from each company so that all experience from deployments could be shared more effectively through the Chapter. Due to heavy damage sustained to much of their armour wargear, the chapter have had to re-commission their small stores of relic mk 3 and 4 plate. It was only thanks to the close ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus that this was made possible, even then, due to the limited knowledge remaining of the maintenance and repair of said armour marks, it had to be issued, piece-meal to battle brothers in dire need, with only those further up the chain of command such as sergeants and Captains able to wear full suits. It is here, at the dawn of a new millennium that the Knights Obstinate stand eager ready to seek vengeance on the filty xenos that drove them from their home. +Organisation of the Knights Obstinate c.999.M41+ Upon receiving the mandate for a crusade of vengeance upon the vile Greenskin hordes, Chapter Master Everart, not wasting any more time than was necessary, has restructured the Knights Obstinate in such a way as to maximise the effectiveness of what remains of the Chapter. +Current Structure of the Chapter+ Chapter Command Everart Lord Warden of the Watch Plomyde Lord Warden of Sanctity --------------------------------------------- Armoury Brumear Master of the Forge 20 Tech Marines 5 Predators 80 Tech Servitors 4 Vindicators 15 Rhinos 3 Whirlwinds 10 Razorbacks 3 Hunters 38 Drop Pods 3 Stalkers 15 Bikes 5 Landraiders 10 Scout bikes 10 Stormhawk Interceptors 10 Attack Bikes 8 Landspeeders 10 Stormtalon Gunships 3 Storm Variant Landspeeders 8 Stormraven Gunships 6 Thunderfire Cannons --------------------------------------------- Apothacarion Alynore Chief Apothecary 8 Apothecaries --------------------------------------------- Fleet Command 1 Battle Barge (Gloria Coccium) 3 Strike Cruisers (Orrum, Ashfeld, Marsh) named after the lost Bastion-cities 4 Rapid Strike Vessels 7 Thunderhawk Gunships --------------------------------------------- 1st Company, Bertrand's Honour Chapter Master Everart Captain of the 1st Lord Warden of the Watch Reclusiarch, Plomyde 5 man Command squad/honour guard 2, 5man Terminator squads 10 man sternguard squads 2, 10 man vanguard squads The first company, named Bertrand's Honour after the late chapter masters heroic sacrifice upon Coccium are made up of the Chapters finest marines. Though small in number, Bertrand's Honour not only represents the sharp tip of the chisel, but the blunt force of the hammer behind it. Due to the devastating loss of the majority of the Chapters Tactical Dreadnought Armour, there are only two active 5 man Terminator squads and even that is only possible due to the mechanicums efforts to restore 5 suits of Tartaros pattern armour that is in use by the company's 1St squad. It is thanks to the Chapters close ties with the Mechanicum that a few of the suits not completely destroyed are currently undergoing repair and testing with the hope that they may re-enter service. --------------------------------------------- 2nd Company The Resolute Captain Gauen Lord Warden of the Arsenal Chaplain, Burkhard 5 man Command squad 4, 10 man tactical squads The Second company, known as the Resolute are named so as they fully embody their parent legions unwavering, some may see it as stubborn, attitudes towards warfare. It was the Resolute that where the last of the companies to board the transports to the escaping flagship in Orbit above during the fall of Coccium. Being at the forefront of the defence of the evacuation, Captain Burkhard and the marines are well liked and respected by not only the rest of the chapter, but the surviving civilian population as well. --------------------------------------------- 3rd Company Reclamers of Novatum Captain Deulake Lord Warden of the Fleet Chaplain, Gottfreid 5 man Command squad 4, 10 man tactical squads The Third company, known as the Reclamers of Novatum; are named so as the sacking of their Bastion-city, Novatum and the subsequent retreat has left a particularly bitter taste in the mouths of Captain Deulake and his men. This has led to a noticeable display of a zealous attitude from the company who have vowed that it will be the third that will take back the first Bastion-city and it shall be Novatum. This zealotry has drawn the attention of the Reqlusiam and as such, a Chaplain is always present when members of the third are deployed to ensure their zeal doesn't become recklessness. --------------------------------------------- 4th Company The Rooted Captain Pelleus Lord Warden of the Marches Chaplain, Reynald 5 man Command squad 4, 10 man tactical squads The Fourth company, known as The Rooted, are fully committed to not losing another inch of ground to the vile Greenskin. It is the Fourth that work the closest with other forces of the imperium such as the imperial guard and the mechanicum on their crusade as, due to their limited numbers, the strategy employed by Captain Reynald relies on heavy garrisons on reclaimed world's and stations. --------------------------------------------- 5th Company Coccium's Lance Captain Kay Lord Warden Executioner Chaplain, Anton 4, 10 man Assault squads 2, 3 man Centurion squads The Assault company. The Fifth, known as Coccium's Lance, are made up of marines who favour an aggressive attitude to war. Relishing in the glory of close combat these Astartes are weilded like a surgical blade by Captain Kay. The marines of the fifth are trained I'm the use of bikes and Landspeeders to ensure maximum flexibility in any particular theater of war and it is the veterans of the fifth that not only make up the sergeants of the company like the rest of the chapter, it is these experienced warriors who are also granted the honour of piloting the precious few centurion assault warsuits that are in the Chapters Arsenal. --------------------------------------------- 5th Company Gargant Slayers Captain Mordrede Lord Warden of Recruits Chaplain, Tibauld 12 devastator specialists (attached the the squads of the 3 battle companies) 3, 10 man Devastator squads 2, 3 man Centurion squads The sixth company are named the Gargant Slayers due to the massive amount of Gargant kills that where tallied by the devastator squads that make up the sixth during the fall of the chapter world. It is through the sixth company that recruits are inducted into the chapter with the novices carrying bolters in the 10 man Devastator squads and then, once enough experience is gained, the are inducted into one of the 3 battle companies' tactical squads as a support trooper then, after gaining further experience, will replace a fallen member of the squad as a tactical marine or, if possible, petition to train as a devastator centurion pilot and become a veteran of the sixth. --------------------------------------------- 7th Company Tooth Hunters Captain, Garethe Master of the Signal Chaplain, Gerard 8, 5 man Scout squads The Scouts of the Seventh company are infiltration specialists without equal in the chapter, currently there have been no more recruits inducted into the seventh since before the fall of Coccium. --------------------------------------------- Chapter strength: 335 Brothers (not including command and support staff) (As a side note I've not decided on the Chapters stance on psykers so, for now, I've not included a librarius) By drafting in new recruits from the best candidates of the rescued population, the chapter has reached a strength of over 300 marines and growing. This initially came with some teething pains as the rest of the brothers didn't see these recruits as worthy due to them not being able to undergo the traditional trials they all went through. This was quickly stamped out by the Reqlusiam, in a rousing and inspirational speech, given by Reclusiarch Plomyde, he reminded his brothers that these were also citizens of Coccium with an Emperor-given right to fight to take back their Homeworld and that, these recruits were the chapter's future and as such needed the highest standard of training possible and it was each individual brothers responsibility to ensure the Glory and high standards of the chapter be continued, to ignore this duty would be to fail all those who died defending Coccium and it's people and that failure was not acceptable. It is squads from the 5th that exclusively fill in the assault role in all theaters of war whereas the 6th company, handle recruits, whom form 2 10 man devastator squads with the bolter bearing marines being the newest members. As for the rest of the company, rather than form squads of their own, a full brother will fill the role of heavy weapons specialist in one of the squads of the 3 battle companies when a position becomes open, usually due to the previous specialist being promoted to full tactical marine to replace losses. The only exception being when use of one of some of the few centurion suits is needed. When this is the case, one of the 3 permanent 3 man centurion squads is called into action. It is to be noted that, due to the close relationship the Knights Obstinate share with the Mechanicum, in order to make the most of their limited Armoury, they are able to rapidly re-fit their vehicles to different variants to suit whatever needs a particular theater may demand. + Chapter Beliefs+ The Knights Obstinate are not a religious chapter. Holding on to the tenants of the Imperial truth, they have no fondness of the Ecclesiarchy and its various branches. They do not tolerate any interference or delays brought on by their practices. This has occasionally brought the chapter into conflict with the organisation throughout history however, the chapters necessity in defending against the greenskin threat has prevented any sanctions that would otherwise be visited upon them. +Recent engagements The initial engagement of The Knights Obstinate where a resounding success. Advancing into the Ultima Segmentum information was gathered from a Dark Angels patrol inbound for the Rock of a sizable gathering of orks in a nearby system rimward of the galactic core. The Chapter had their target. Arriving at the edge of the system, the Chapter, reinforced by elements from nearby Ryza and Catachan, set about developing a strategy. Being the first engagement for the Chapter following the Honing, Chapter Master Everart wasn't prepared to accept any failure. Before any forces where dispatched, a request was sent to the vessels of the Mechanicum for a thorough scan of the system; the scan revealed that the largest gathering of the green skins where on the northern hemisphere of the 5th planet out from the binary stars. They had their target. As per the pre determined plan, the seventh company where sent in to assassinate the warboss present on the planet, which the scans showed was a death world overrun with dense jungle, much to the delight of the Catachan platoons. Further scans conducted by the mechanicum revealed that the southern continent was completely covered by an ancient city; though, as it was completely overgrown, it initially appeared to be simply mountainous terrain. As such the tech priests where eager to get to the surface. It wasn't two days before a transmission was received from Captain Garethe of the Seventh that the task was completed. Without hesitation, Everart launched the full weight of his forces at the planet. The fighting took just over two standard weeks before the system was considered purged: the force remained to weed out the stragglers, lest the crusade had a fledgling waaagh at their backs, and to establish a base of operations near to the front in order to resupply and launch attacks. One standard month on, the crusade made to push further into the Ultima Segmentum, aiming to move rimward in order to reclaim the world's along the border between the Ultima Segmentum and the Segmentum Obscurus with the ultimate aim to drive on to Coccium and from there, regroup and rebuild before purging the rest of the green skins for the region. A year into the undertaking things seemed to be going well. Aside from the painstakingly slow rate of travel due to the extremely tumultuous nature of the warp of late. It wasn't until they got closer to the Cicatrix Maledictum that operations had to grind to a halt, several imperial guard ships and mechanicum exploratoe vessels had been lost in trying to navigate a way through the massive warp rift and with no way to tell whether Coccium has been swallowed by it. As imposing whispers echo inside communications and a mysterious sense of death and decay permeate every vessel: the future of the crusade seemed unsure. +Chapter's Current Situation+ After several failed attempts to navigate the rift. Probes, dispatched by the Archmagos of the Ryza contingent, sent back disturbing returns, indicating that the rift had completely engulfed the region of space that Coccium had occupied. Uncertain of what this meant for the Orks that had infested that region of space, the Chapter had a large amount of new targets. It was during a grand ceremony of remembrance, attended by all elements of the crusade, guard, mechanicus, space marine and primaris alike. That Everart renamed the chapter The Swords of Coccium and proclaimed that an external war of vengeance be declared upon the forces of chaos spewing forth from the rift. I look forward to everyone's comments, as I've only built and painted one guy, changes that need to be made will be easy to implement so I welcome all constructive criticism Thanks for looking (and taking the time to read all this XD)

I was going to wait to start this, I've got chunks of other text written, but I'll put up a breakdown here of the overall picture of what I'm going for. After the prompting in the main thread to get our asses into gear, just to get the ball rolling I'll start like this and see if anyone has some initial input, based on this outline. So! This will finally be my IA for the Desolators, that I've been working on (with the help of many of you, especially Zhiv) over the last 6 months, originally as the canon Chapter the Destroyers. As some of us are doing again lately, I'm going to keep this list of core concepts and inspirations up the top here, to keep myself honest and refer back to when stuck: - part Cossack/old Slavic, part Game of Thrones Thenn (30% Nordic, 70% Slav) - cannibalism, ritual and symbolic - Chapter ruled and lead by psyker elements and their foretellings/divination - worship and seek to emulate the Khan to the extreme (hit and run, independent, "at peace" with the warp, value strategy) and tend to go overboard frequently - on supposed great quest; after huge vision event, the Chapter believes they are fated to be part of something highly significant to come +++ ORIGINS - Founding undecided as yet - White Scar geneseed, via Destroyers - created originally to retake forgotten worlds taken by Xenos in far reaches of ignored imperium HOMEWORLD - feral planet, mixture of swampland, semi-mountainous terrain and plains. Lightning storms and resulting fires/floods keep the people nomadic - tribal but highly organised people, lead by shamanic caste who are also mighty warriors and leaders (muscle wizards), value placed on both a warrior's skill and his insight equally - cannibalism prevalent throughout, belief system places this and associated practices at core of Homeworld culture BELIEFS - the soul/spirit is housed in the body - absolute faith in the utility and near-divinity of those with psychic power (like the Khan but overboard) - ritualistic consumption of the brain, heart and certain other organs can imbue one with the dead warrior's essence. Meaning depends on situation and ritual involved (also eat friendlies under certain circumstances) - the Emperor is no God but a hugely powerful psychic force in the universe, who influences fate of everything - the Khan was the "purest" warrior of all time ORGANISATION - largely Codex, as the Khan - companies as Scar brotherhoods, independent hunting forces - Librarians ("Kolduns") ultimately rule over Chapter in all major decisions and influence many minor ones. Warrior-mages, active in the field of battle more than they are lore keepers (Chaplains take these responsibilities) - Head Koldun ("Porahn") lords over Chapter - Chapter master is First Warleader, still prime director in martial and Chapter affairs and officially the head of the Chapter when a face is required to represent the Chapter in major events, but is ultimately second in command and able to be vetoed - leadership basically shared. Chosen by Kolduns whenever new one is required - no Dreadnoughts (unless very rarely decreed necessary by seers), minimal Devastators - very Landspeeder heavy, see this as the best expression of the Khan on his jet bikes - specialist veteran scouts, natural progression to Tactical marines is not always the case and some marines stay on in scout roles permanently (need to flesh this out) COMBAT DOCTRINE - "terror tactics" (?) and psychological warfare used - prefer to defeat their enemies by weakening them first (cutting off supply lines, sabotage, feints and distractions to separate forces, etc). - all manoeuvring and stalking to set up prey before striking with overwhelming force. Prefer not to hang around in prolonged warfare if they can avoid it - the hunt and strategical pre-game is just as significant as the conflict. Some tales are told of the strategical outwitting of enemies by great heroes in the Chapter's history without referencing the battle itself at all CULTURE - hunters above all. Hunting contests to track and kill a visited planet's megafauna whenever possible. - heavy ritual scarring commonplace (like the Khan but overboard) - poets. Contests of wit not uncommon. Known to play games of strategy as a past time - idiosyncrasies and minor habits/superstitions make them seem odd - brotherhood and reverence for past heroes important. Brothers will be acquainted with role, honours etc of every other Brother of the Chapter, even those they have not met (updated repository etc), both out of respect and in order to track the great essences of the Chapter's past. Creates sense of openness and unity among all - shaved bald heads by choice is standard, heavily bearded/moustached DISPOSITION - insightful and grim but not without humour. "Laugh while you are killing" - fierce, but still mystics and poets in nature, as the Scars. Encouraged to learn of the universe. Superstitious, eccentric to outsiders - cunningness is approved of and fostered - in all things, hunters - highly independent, usually dismissive of other Imperial organisations, trust few HISTORY - roamed out far and revelled in it, like the Khan for millennia. Upon initial mission statement of "attack all the xenos invaders in lost areas of Obscurus" chose Dark Eldar footholds with the background intention of beginning a search for information on the Khan's disappearance. Blooded themselves on them thoroughly and first developed their tactically subtle and cunning war style here, and began culture of terror and psychological warfare - asked repeatedly to return, never do, too free-spirited (like the Khan but overboard), then threatened. Here begins negative imperial relationships - went overboard in their compliance. "Want us to purge this cult? If you say so!" *eradicates cult, then sends specialist scouts to discover where original instigators of cult conspiracy started, do same to them and everyone they know*. "Want us to purge this new alien race? Sure!" *proceed to crush their forces and save the planet, then leave the current campaign and pursue them for decades until extinct* - create reputation for being unreliable but effective and utterly thorough in their approach when they turn up/do as they're asked, leaving no job half finished and taking every mission statement to the Nth degree. Scare whole systems into long term compliance with their bloody reputation and creating safe havens for imperial populace before moving on again, never hanging around - Created enemies and alliances (various stories written about these instances to flesh out their reputation and character) - Kolduns all have vision that the Chapter must go and roam once more, "until called upon" - not seen again for X hundred years - imperial record shows they suddenly return: the Kolduns have all divined that they must return to the Imperium, needed for a not yet clear but profoundly significant task to come. See themselves as fated and on an Emperor-guided path now, which they will journey on to its end no matter the cost RELATIONSHIPS - Marine Chapters: differs wildly depending on Chapter. More dislike them than are comfortable with them. Fiercely loyal to Scars and other successors - Imperial Guard/general human forces: as above. Indifferent towards mankind, somewhat aloof but no inherent disdain - Adeptus Mechanicus: neutral - Ecclesiarchy: strained - Inquisition: generally under close scrutiny whenever possible though certain Inquisitors quietly believe in their agendas +++ There's more but it's late and I need to break it down into bullet points better. It's a start though! If anyone has thoughts they'd like to share, I'm all ears This will grow and be refined in the weeks to come.

THE IMPERIAL SONS [/td][td=70%]CHAPTER NAME: .............. THE IMPERIAL SONS FOUNDING: ..................3RD [M.32] CHAPTER WORLD: .............BASTION FORTRESS MONASTERY: ........ECLIPSE GENE-SEED (PREDECESSOR): ...ULTRAMARINES KNOWN DESCENDANTS: .........NONE BATTLECRY: ................."IMPERIUM UNITED OVER ALL!" "We must put this misery behind us. We must enter a new chapter! And so I say to you that, as of this day, we are no longer Ultramarines! In honor of the ideals we fight for, in honor of the sacrifices of our brothers, in honor of the Emperor...as of this day we will take the name of our true purpose! As of this day, we are the Imperial Sons! For the Emperor!" - Galen Diomes, Praetor of the Imperial Sons Captain of the Imperial Sons, 2nd Company Member of the Crimson Guard, Imperial Sons 1st Company ORIGINS The origin of the Imperial Sons is one of betrayal, retribution and idealism. Once a part of the XIIIth Legiones Astartes, the Ultramarines, they were known as one of the fiercest followers of the Imperial Truth, which was delivered by the Emperor himself. As part of the Xth chapter, the Legionnaires under Arceas Odinathus witnessed some of the hardest fights the Legion had to endure. Before their gene-father, RobouteGuiliman was rediscovered on Macragge, the Xth chapter fought alongside the VIIIth Legiones Astartes, the Night Lords, for several times. From them, they learned how to use fear as a tool to bring entire wars to end. Though fear and intimidation were not the final means, they were useful in themselves. From destruction came rebuilding. From intimidation came trust. Those worlds, which were brought into compliance by Arceas Odinathus and his men, were glorious examples of the potency of mankind. From these worlds, the system sorrounding the world known as Corusca became their very masterpiece. Never did the Xth, also known as the Sons of the Imperium for outliving the tenets of the Imperial Truth, ever reform a world into such an efficient and prospering world. Corusca was said to potentially become a prime world like Macragge, a bastion of hope and future expansions. That all changed, when the first bombs fell on Calth. The dreadful betrayal of the XVIIIth Legion left its mark on the entirety of the sons of Guiliman. An invisible bond of shared horrors bound those, who survived the attrocities of Calth. Unfortunately, those, who were not present, like the Xth chapter, became outsiders within their own Legion. While their brothers bled in the dust of Heresy, Odinathus and his men fought in the northern realms of the Segmentum Ultima against the Heldaxi alliance. After finally hearing of what happened to their brothers, Odinathus decided to turn his forces against the retreating elements of both, the Word Bearers and the World Eaters. Thus, the Sons of the Imperium dived into the unstable region known as the Dominion of Storms, chasing down their traitorous brothers. In doing so, they reconquered Honourum and fought within the Nostraman sector against the remnants of the Night Lords traitors. In order to engage as much traitors as possible, Odinathus tasked his second in command, Galen Diomes, in plunging more into the Dominion, destroying every renegade force they would encounter, while he would be heading northbound. With half of the chapter under his direct control, Galen Diomes stayed within the Dominion, trying to eradicate the hiding traitors. Their main antagonist in this campaign became the Brotherhood of Kain, a confluence of both, the Word Bearers and the World Eaters. While fighting their nemesis, the Sons of the Imperium were trapped within the Dominion alongside their enemies because of rising storms and unpassable nebulas. Years later, the tides lifted and the few survivors of Diomes’ task force returned to the Imperium. It is assumed that the Brotherhood of Kain was completely eradicated. However, rumors were recently arising, heralding the return of Kain’s followers. In the meantime, the Second Founding was already done and the Third was drawing closer. Before they returned to Macragge did Diomes traveled to the nearby Corusca in order to resupply and enact crucial maintenances. However, when they entered the orbit of Corusca, they found nothing more than ashes and madness. Corusca had fallen beneath the merciless advance of Horus’ forces, turning it into a pit of anarchy and chaos worshipping cults, corrupted beyond salvation. Diomes had no other choice than to scorch the entire system, destroying everything they had once achieved. Blaming themselves for not being able to prevent Corusca’s demise and for not having prepared it against all odds, did they swore an eternal oath never let this happen again. From the ashes of Corusca did they arose anew as the Imperial Sons. It was they, who would bring the unquestionable truth of the Emperor to every world within the Imperium. The personal convictions and ideals of Diomes and his men were immingled with the tenets of the Imperium Truth and later with the Codex Astartes, forming the Corusca Doctrine. When they returned to Macragge, they found out that all loyal Legions had been divided into several chapters. As their brothers of the Scyths of the Emperor chapter, were Diomes’ men reformed into an independent chapter, the Imperial Sons. As such, they returned to the northeastern corner of the Dominion of Storms, claiming a new homeworld for their own, naming it Bastion. Once a former base of operation of the Brotherhood of Kain, it was conquered and reformed into a proud and loyal fortress world, serving as both, a social center and training grounds for the Imperial Sons. From Bastion did the Imperial Sons start their crusade of reclamation, slowly discovering the dangerous realm of the Dominion. While half of the chapter fought within the Dominion against rediscovered kingdoms of man and xenos alike, did the other half fought across the Imperium, serving in the name of the Imperial Truth and those, who had fallen in its name. HOMEWORLD Bastion, a name that speaks for itself, for Bastion is the incarnation of an imperial fortress world. This large, high-gravity world was covered in everything from rocky mountains and frozen ice fields, to rain forests full of carnivorous plants and deserts. As such, this planet was the perfect training ground for combat in difficult terrain. Its cities built at the shores of the seas gave birth to strong and resistible people, which again were the perfect pool to recruit for the ranks of both, the Imperial Guard and the Imperial Sons. But like most of the more famous worlds across the Imperium, Bastion has its dark secrets, deeply hidden in its history. Centuries ago, while the galaxy burned in the flames of betrayal fratricide, the world, which former name was lost in time, was once a base of operations for some of the most cruel and corrupted members of Horus’ forces, the Brotherhood of Kain. The Brotherhood fought against the forces of Galen Diomes, a high ranking member of the XIIIthLegionesAstartes. This conflict lasted for years and its degree of bloodshed and ferocity caught them in a rising warp storm, separating them for centuries to go. When the storm had finally lifted, the Brotherhood was no more and the victorious sons of Guiliman returned home. Shortly after did Diomes return to Bastion, a world that was more home to him than even Macragge. Rebuilding and reshaping it into a proud world of the Imperium, the newly founded Imperial Sons were allowed to take this planet as their new homeworld, naming it Bastion. Academies for the Imperial Guard were founded as well, all over Bastion as its environment was well suited for all kind of terrain exercises. One of the most notable academies of Bastion was the Caridan Academy, known for its excellent recruits. The Imperial Sons, having such a potent pool of possible neophytes at their doorstep, integrated their recruiting process within the academies. From their recruits did the Imperial Sons select the most promising ones for their own process. Those, who would fail these trials, would continue their "normal" drill, which will make them superb candidates for both Imperial Army and further the Tempestus Scions. If a recruitwas founded not suitable for military life, he or she rejoined their communities as disciplined and dedicated members. Under the imperial rule and under the guidance of the Imperial Sons, Bastion became one of the most reclusive and heavily guarded worlds in the Dominion of Storms. Most natural routes were mined and its defense fleet, which headquarters was an ancient space station, known only as Valor’s Fist, covered the rest. Valor’s Fist itself served as the Imperial Sons fortress monastery, thus making it the center point of all military actions of Bastions scions.Besides its numerous regiments, which exercised within its academies and the forces of the Imperial Sons, was the planet itself surrounded by a chain ofplanetary shields, protecting its most important cities and strategic facilities. ORGANIZATION Although being a true successor of the Ultramarines, the Imperial Sons did not follow the tenets of the Codex Astartes as some might suggest. For them, the regimentations of Roboute Guiliman were more of an advice role than a dogmatic rule. Adhering to the ideals of the Imperial Truth, did they kept the organizational structure of the Great Crusade, which was laid down in the Principia Bellicosa and written by the Emperor Himself. As such, the chapter was divided into two Battalions, which again consisted of four companies. Learning from their mistakes in the past by leaving compliant worlds on their own again, one Battalion staid within the Segmentum Pacificus in order to safeguard their assigned territory. Stationed aboard the chapters’ fortress monastery, the Valor’s Fist, they fought across the Segmentum Pacificus against uprisings and incursions. In the meantime, did the other Battalion fought, aboard the chapters’ flagship Chimeara, across the Imperium to hold up their duties towards mankind and to become more experienced in battling all kind of foes, be it Ork, Necron or traitor. After a century of waging war, both Battalions switch places in order to do several things: restock their supplies, initiation of new recruits, while the refreshed Battalion continues the chapters’ never-ending quest of unifying the galaxy under the Emperors’ rule. Either each Battalion, which was led by the Commander himself or his second in command, consisted of the following: A command squad, including the advisors of the Battalions leader 4 Companies, each divided into four Platoons and led by a Captain Each Platoon consisted of three squads and was led by a Lieutenant 48 Squads in total, each led by a Sergeant Half of the elite 1st Company, the Crimson Guard, about 80 Troopers Half of the 10th Scout Company, about 80 Neophytes Each Platoon in every company had its designated role. For example, every first Platoon consisted of the company’s veterans, with the first squad being the command squad of said company. As the Imperial Sons were a secretive and distrustful chapter, the following assumptions regarding their dedicated tactical composition is basing on third party observations and eyewitnesses. First Platoon: Command Squad and veterans Second Platoon: Tactical Squads Third Platoon: one Tactical and two Assault Squads Fourth Platoon: one Tactical and two Devastor Squads This way, the Imperial Sons proofed to be a very flexible and adaptable force to be reckoned with. It was not uncommon for them to deploy a Platoon instead of an entire company if they had to deal with a lesser threat. As the companies number way more members than codex aligned chapters, the entire chapter of the Imperial Sons is far larger than most of the known, established successors of Guiliman, having about 1300 members in total. Specialists like Chaplains or Apothecary were spread across both Battalions like the elite first company, the Crimson Guard. Acting as the Commanders personal bodyguard and the ultimate enforcers of the chapters’ ideology, the members of theCrimson Guard are the pinnacle of the chapters’ dedication and martial proofness. Each Trooper of the Imperial Sons desired to become as excellent as these red clad warriors. To become a member of the Crimson Guard, one had to proof himself in numerous battles until he was chosen to join the ranks of the company’s cadre of veterans, the Black Hand. These veterans served as a pool of experience for their company and as a source of recruits for the Crimson Guard, whose leader acted as the second in command of the Commander, leading an entire Battalion on his own. Furthermore, the Black Hand designation was to do what had to be done to keep order by any means. Even the use of terror tactics and sabotage missions were a usual mean, which was justified by the end. If the Commander did fell in battle, the Sovereign Protector, how the Crimson Guards’ leader was called, immediately took command over the entire chapter. Another note of importance was the fact that the Imperial Sons did not run any form of a Librarium. The reasons for that are deeply hidden in the vaults of Valor’s Fist but by analyzing the chapter’s past, one can conclude that fighting against numerous chaos cults and its demonical masters, left its mark on the chapter. Furthermore, it seems that the battle of Chorryn was the event in which the chapter abandoned its entire Librarium. Eyewitnesses have reported of a civil war within the Imperial Sons’ ranks. With their chief librarianor even their Commander having fallen to chaos, the chapter had to fight itself, leading to the death of all psykers within their ranks. From that day on, no further mentioning of any form of psi wielding Imperial Sonwere to be found. If it is a result of the loss of their Librarium or just a sign of further radicalism cannot be said for sure but the Imperial Sons do rank more chaplains as codex aligned chapters. Preaching their visions and ideology of the Imperial Truth, these chaplains spread their word across the worlds of the Imperium. It is they, who are heavily involved in reshaping those worlds, which were saved by the Imperial Sons. This impression is underlined by the following quote: “We are the true sons of the Imperium. We do not requirewitches or cursed souls within our ranks. We are His blade and bolter. We are His vision incarnate. None shall stand against His truth!” COMBAT DOCTRINE When the Imperial Sons were still a part of the XIIIth Legiones Astartes, the Ultramarines, they were recognized as Lord Guilimans jack of all trades, excelling in every combat on every battlefield and environment but never having mastered any specific form of waging war like siege warfare or boarding actions. Therefore, they compensated the lack of mastery by making use of multi-vector operations, regardless of terrain. In doing so, they finally specialized in a certain way of waging war, adding their expertise to Guilimans resources. Ten thousand years later did the Imperial Sons perfect this preferred doctrine, whose tenets were laid down in the Corusca doctrine. It is a manifold compendium, including the visions of their genefather, Roboute Guiliman, the ideals of the Great Crusade and the additions of their founder, Galen Diomes. As they had once served along the formerly loyal VIIIth Legion, they had learned how to use fear and intimidation in such a way, which allowed them to end conflicts without a bolter shell being fired. This usage of psychological warfare combined with multi vector operations made the Imperial Sons a potent opponent. A good example of their way of fighting would be the battle of Jandor. There, they had laid an ambush for a large cell of rebels. After the trap had sprung, the Imperial Sons entangled the rebels in the void, aboard nearly stolen ships and on the surface of Jandor. Everything was perfectly timed. While the Imperial Sons troopers did deal with the rebels, massive air support came from the cold void, dropping their bombs on top of the rebel encampments. In the meantime, did the Imperial Sons fleet encircle their enemies, unleashing hundreds of boarding parties, which again took over the hostile fleet, annihilating any form of resistance. The Imperial Sons prefer the usage of energy based weaponry instead of bolters, like volkites, plasma guns, melters, etc. This weaponry is more adaptable to certain battlefields like underwater engagements or vacuum battles. As such, they made use of a certain, heavily modified version of laser fangs, which were originally used by Stormhawk interceptors and were redefined as infantry weapons. With the support of the nearby forgeworld of Jandor, the Imperial Sons are able to equip their troops with this kind of weaponry. Furthermore, Jandor provided the Imperial Sons with a very rare and special vehicle, the Diadectes class transport, an amphibious transport class, which was basing on the ancient Mastodon transporter. GENESEED Like their primogenitor, the Ultramarines, do the Imperial Sons have a stable and pure geneseed without any known flaws. But still, it was never used for the any foundation of a successor chapter. It seems that, because of their wayward behaviour and sometimes marginal deeds, did the High Lords of Terra concerns about using their genetic heir. Some argue if the „rebellious“ character of the Imperial Sons is in fact a hidden flaw in their geneseed but none of these rumors were proofed to be real. Furthermore, it was observed that the Imperial Sons seemed to be more obedient towards orders than normal chapter, although this refers to orders given by within their own ranks. Orders and requests done by other imperial authorities, especially the Ecclisiarchy and the Inquisition were not answered immediately, if any. This strengthened the impression of tensed relations between them and official, imperial authorities. BELIEFS / CULTURE It is not uncommon for chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, to envision themselves as born warriors of the Emperor, the incarnate Angels of Death. But sometimes, there is a chapter who despises this self imposed depiction. The Imperial Sons are one of the latter. The Imperial Sons saw themselves as the soldiers of the Emperor and not as savage warriors, conquering for the sake of it. Their duty was one of reconquering and reshaping the galaxy itself in the tenets of the Emperors own decree, the Imperial Truth. As such, they embodied the Imperial Truth, which was written down by the Emperor Himself, with every fibre of their very being. The key facts of it were summarized and expanded by the founder of the Imperial Sons, Galen Diomes, adding the teachings of his genefather, Roboute Guiliman and his own experiences since the Great Crusade. He named the result the Corusca Doctrine, honoring his chapters greatest loss during the merciless years of the Horus Heresy. Though it based upon the Emperors work, the result was more of a twisted version of this noble and honorable decree. In using fear and indimidation as a mean to bring world into compliance, the Corusca Doctrine taught that effectiveness and succes against all odds mattered above everything else, ensuring mankinds survival. Failure was not acceptable and had to be eradicated. If a population had to be purged from the weakness of a ruling cast, which was founded guilty of failing the Emperor, than so be it. This behaviour resulted in a reputation of cold, ruthless and sometimes fearsome warriors, which walked amidst the stars. Fear followed in their wake, forcing adversaries to lay down their weapons in order to prevent sanctions like the infamous Ghorman-massacre. As the Imperial Sons declared every form of worship being a heresy to the Emperors vision, they were at odds with the Ecclisiarchy and other religious institutions. Nevertheless, other institutions like the Astra Militarum or the Ordos of both, Xenos and Malleus are more than willing to reap the fruits of the Imperial Sons merciless labour. Therefore, the sons of Bastion are both respected and feared within the Imperium. Growing up within the storm-tossed and still untapped region known as the Dominion of Storms, the officers and citizens of Bastion grew up with the Corusca Doctrine. Under the guidance of Imperial veterans and the Imperial Sons, along with approved literature, vids and mandatory viewings of morale sessions twice a day for cadets, officers would learn of the glorious past of the Imperium and how it had been robbed by the doings of both, Horus and those, who later called themselves the Ecclisiarchy. Many of Bastions citizens believed that only they could have the power necessary to wrest the galaxy from a path of chaos and corruption. Pre-recorded speeches often filled the airwaves, in which the leaders of Bastion would often comment on the depravity of the Imperium with revolts on several worlds, the corrupted horrors of heretics, and unchecked xenos advances throughout the outer realms of the Imperium. Following which stories of the Imperial Sons victories such as liberation of Galbak or winning a fleet battle in the Voluzar sector against a ravaging Ork fleet. Now, with the rise of the Avenging Son, their gene father Roboute Guiliman, are the Imperial Sons rejoice the coming of a new age. Immediately did they send half of their chapter towards Macragge in order to support their liege. SELECTED BATTLE HONORS The Jandor ambush: When the Adeptus Mechanicus came to the northern realms of the Dominion of Storms, it was looking for miscellaneous. Be it artifacts, lost archeotech or a place to test their newest inventions, everything seemed to be of value for the Lord Magi of Mars. But their thirst for new resources and worlds to exploit and civilizations to assimilate was the true cause behind the uprising commonly known as the Rebellion. Revolting against the Mechanicus’ oppression, the leaders of the Rebellion waged a guerrilla war against the seemingly overwhelming forces of Jandor, the centre of the Mechanicus approach of exploitation. Unable to get rid of the disturbing assaults and raids, did the Lords of Jandor contact the Imperial Sons. Together, they set a trap above Jandor itself. There, in its massive shipyards, was a mighty battleship near its completion. By withdrawing their forces to engage rumoured bases of the Rebellion, did the Imperial Sons give them an opportunity to strike. As suspected did the Rebel fleet emerge from the warp, trying to assault the seemingly defenceless Jandor. Ground forces boarded the shipyards, trying to capture the mighty vessel. Distractions were sent to bind Jandors forces on the surface. When the boarding party reached the helpless vessel did the Imperial Sons spring their trap. The fleet of the second battalion emerged from the warp, cutting the rebel fleet off from any escape route. Entire companies had waited aboard the battleship and within the hive cities of Jandor, waiting for the right time to strike. In a massive ambush did the Imperial Sons make use of their preferred way of waging war. With their multi vector attacks and ambushes on the surface of Jandor, within the shipyards and the in the planets orbit, did the sons of Bastion annihilate the entire military force of the Rebellion once and for all. The remaining rebels lost any hope and laid down their weapons, resulting in their capture and conversion into mindless servitors. As a result of their close collaboration did the Lord Magi of Jandor pledge their loyalty to the Imperial Sons, ensuring their supply with individual wargear, such as the Diadectes-class transport. The genocide of Konig Secundus: When the Imperium lost contact with the entire star system of Konig Secundus and its surrounding outposts at once, a nearby crusading fleet of the Imperial Sons chapter was recruited to engage the incident. With an emergency strike force, consisting of elements of the 26th Alphic Scorpions and the Phantom Blades chapter on route to support them, the Imperial Sons hurried to arrive as soon as possible. Entering the outer rims of Konig Secundus just in time to support the last survivors of the local Astra Militarum, the Imperial Sons witnessed the carnage which was unleashed here. The Scion of Madness, a massive Space Hulk which was led by the traitor warband known as the Iron Fist, hung deep in the lower orbit above Konig Secundus, the defending fleet scattered around it. There was nearly no response from Konig Secundus itself but those survivors, who had gathered within the southest fortress, Tal Dabor. Engaged by the Imperial Sons’ fleet, the Scion of Madness was long enough distracted until imperial reinforcements had arrived. Outnumbered and in a desperate battle for survival, the Iron Fist was about to flee. Sacrificing much of its warmachines to secure the escape, the Scion of Madness was barely able to flee but it made it into warp. As both sides had taken heavy casualties and with the completed genocide on Konig Secundus' people, no one dared to call that a victory. The Devourer of worlds: When more and more Hive fleets of the ferocious Tyranids appear at the border so the Imperium, did the Second Battalion heed the distress call of a range of imperial worlds. Facing a small tendril of the Hive Fleet Moloch above the world of Manwantes Tertius, the sons of Bastion fought fiercely and boarded the massive bio ships, trying to destroy the cerebella connection between the organisms and the upper hive mind. Although being successfull, the Imperial Sons were nearly annihilated. They were barely able to escape and had to take heavy casualties, depleting their numbers tremendously. Even with the final victory denied to them, the sons of Bastion did not hesitate and joined a combined fleet of Storm Rider and Phantom Blade elements and return to the Manwantes system, extinguishing the remaining xenos forces APPEARANCE “The chrome of my armor once coated the blades of the Primarch'sHonour Guards- blades that broke in their final battles, as the Honour Guards gave their lives for our father. As the wearer of the chrome armor, I must serve as a living memorial to their sacrifice, and an example to my brothers in the Crimson Guards." Vow of the Sovereign Protector The Imperial Sons heavily derive from their Ultramarine predecessors. They choose the colors of white, blac and red for them to bear. Each color has a distinctive meaning for them and in order to resemble their various ranks, the follow a strict code. The color of white resembled the purity of their purpose, the unification of mankind and the propagation of the Imperial Truth. Red stood for the sacrifices they were willing to make in order to accomplish their goals. If those sacrifices were of their own losses or civil casualties did not matter. The loss of the Emperor and their beloved father was of such impact that the Imperial Sons still bear the color black as a symbol of their mourning. Furthermore, it also represents their self-proclaimed role as the executors of the Emperors’ grand vision. As they loosely follow the tenets of the Codex Astartes, they implemented their own ranking system. The distinctive colors stood for certain ranks. They wore these colors on their right shoulder: Troopers, white shoulder inlet; white armor with black trim Sergeants, green shoulder inlet; white armor with black trim Lieutenant, yellow shoulder inlet; white armor with black trim Captain, red shoulder inlet; white armor with black trim Black Hand, white / green shoulder inlet; black armor with white trim Crimson Guard, white / green shoulder inlet; black armor with white trim Sovereign Protector, black shoulder inlet; chrome armor with red trim Commander, black shoulder inlet; black armor with red trim Furthermore, the Imperial Sons honor their armor in a different way than most other chapters. Instead of wearing their armor from their initiation until their death, each Imperial Sons obtains his armor with a certain rank. Acting as both, status symbol and recognition of their deeds, the variety of armor patterns are restricted as rewards. Besides very few and rare occasions, the different armor patterns were used as such: Trooper: MK V & VII, most widespread and common Mark within the Imperial Sons' ranks Black Hand: MK IV & VI, the most advanced patterns in terms of stealth abilities and combat proofness Crimson Guard: Indomitus Terminator armor, though telics as such, the Indomitus pattern is still the most commonly used by all chapters Sovereign Protector & Commander: heavily customized Terminator armor, basing upon the Tartaros pattern Color schemes: --------=][=-------- #End of record# To proceed, please open attached note *Opening attached note* Thought of the day: Ignorance can be a blessing to the soul... Hello there, first of all: I'm impressed of how active this subforum as become! All of these great, new ideas and chapter. Really glad that the subforum, which brought me into this brotherhood, is flourishing again! Thanks for that and keep it up! :tu: With the recently started Iron Gauntlet and Brotherhood of the Angels challenges, I though, why not participating as well? And why inventing something new if you already got a rough theme? Some of you might have noticed the Brotherhood of the Lost aka the Icarion Insurrection project. While working on it, I got an idea for a Second Founding chapter for the later years of the Insurrection. I'll be using this idea for the Liber Astartes challenges. As these are just a compilation of ideas, I'd require your assistance in order to make it a fitting article which makes sense in the end. ;) So what am I intending to do? Basically this: oh wait...before I start...this might help you to get into the right mood: So yeah, you might have guessed it: I'm intending to transfer the Galactic Empire / First Order from Star Wars into Warhammer 40K. Wait, don't leave right away, ok? Let me present my ideas and then you can leave if you want. Some bits are not yet decided. - Name: Imperial Sons - Origin: Ultramarines - History: former chapter / company of the XIIIth Legion, which brought many worlds into compliance; during / after the Heresy; they return to these worlds in order to reconquer them or support them against the rising threats of the Scouring; they see, how devastated these worlds have become and blame themselves for that for not having prepared them against all odds; become more and more obsessed with the Imperial Truth and the ideals of the Great Crusade, shaping worlds in the tenets of the Emperors grand vision - Combat Doctrine: multi-vector operations regardless of terrain; inspired by the great battles of Star Wars; take the battle of Endor as an example: precise ground and void ambushes, using the Deathstar as a killing blow and coordinated fleet operations (I'm willingly leaving the Empires failure out of this as it was most likely Palpatines fault); make more use of energy based weaponry than bolters (volkites, plasma guns, heavy lasers, etc.) - Organization: loosely follow the Codex Astartes (they see it as a guideline of their Primarch), more engaging the Principia Bellicosa as this was done by the Emperor himself; example: Chapter Master = Praetor, Captain = Centurion, etc.; maybe the'll have a special unit formation as well, resembling the Ultramarines former Destroyer squads; shoulder inlet indicates their ranks, company is displayed via numbers on kneepad - Culture: strict adherents of the Great Crusade and further of the Imperial Truth; therefore, they are at nearly hostile towards the Ecclisiarchy and the wider, corrupted imperial bureaucrats (and thus closely watched by the Ordo Hereticus); known to be ruthless, cold and sometimes brutal in their exertions; example: the successfully protected a world against an Ork-Waaagh! Afterwards, they executed the entire ruling cast as they saw them as incompetent and unworthy of ruling a world in the Emperor's name. Thus, the entire world was reshaped to be more adherent to their interpretation of the Imperial Truth. - Homeworld: name is Bastion; not a death world, but rather a climate world with several drastic climate zones like deserts, glaciers, etc.; perfect to train Astartes warriors; you can compare it with the worlds of Ultramar or the Star Wars world of Carida - Notable Elements: flagship being the Chimeara, a large and mighty vessel of a lost pattern (something like the Fists' Tribune); Galen Diomes, first praetor and founder of the chapter; it was him, who determined the chapters strict course So that is nearly all what I got so far. I did wrote down a small characterization of Galen Diomes and a timeline for the BotL, which can be adapted to the canon universe. I'm eager to hear your thoughts in order to improve and to flesh out this idea. Kelborn

This IA is a work in progress - currently at Major Update 1 (6/27/2017). After every major update, new/changed text will be highlighted in blue, while everything else will be the standard font color. http://i.imgur.com/5ux5DMb.png?1 Defend the Righteous - Torment the Wicked Chapter Name . . Tormentors Parent . . . . . Red Spectres Primogenitor . . Imperial Fists Founding . . . . 25th Descendants. . . None As of 999.M41: Homeworld . . . . Bellos Prime Allegiance. . . . Loyalist Chapter Master. . High Marshal Beatrio Key Chapter Data The Tormentors are a Chapter of Adeptus Astartes based in Castrix Sector, in the outer reaches of the Ultima Segmentum, close to the Ghoul Stars. Descended from the Imperial Fists and Red Spectres, the Tormentors defend their territories from deep space alien threats, and provide rapid regional responses as needed. In the middle of M40, a cluster of sectors reentered realspace after several millennia of warp storms, and Imperial forces began to build a reclamation fleet. During the build up, the High Lords declared a new founding of Astartes Chapters, and a number of these new 26th-Founding chapters, including the Tormentors, were designated to join that effort. The Chapter was a fleet-based, crusading chapter, until the conclusion of the campaign several centuries later. At this point, the Chapter laid claim to one of their re-assimilated planets, and began bolstering the new territories. The Tormentors are a very active organization, and at any time is operating in three areas at once, so the Chapter is divided into three Brotherhoods, each consisting of three Companies, which can easily deploy anywhere in the region with little notice with pre-assigned ships and assets. At any given time, one Brotherhood is on an active crusade, a second is either supporting that crusade or responding to other emergency calls for aid, and the third defends the home sector against warp anomalies and periodic xenos incursions from the Ghoul Stars. The company is divided into three Sections, instead of two Demi-Companies, to provide greater tactical flexibility for the commander. The Tormentors are a serious and determined group, valuing practicality over glory, and tend to scorn the pomp and circumstance that they perceive other, more established Chapters to be distracted by. The Battle Companies tend to coordinate intensively with Astra Militarum and other Imperial forces to determine key targets, then execute quick orbital strikes with infantry, land speeders, aircraft, and drop pod resupplies. The Chapter prides itself on completing missions violently and in quick succession, and tend to avoid the fanfare associated with larger operational victories, preferring instead to move onto the next objective or respond to a new request for aid. The Chapter will typically only deploy vehicles and armor to the surface when they expect to be mired in a protracted ground campaign, or other unusual circumstances. The Chapter has been compared to the Raptors Chapter by those observers lucky (or not) enough to have seen the two in combat. Appearance Selected examples of Tormentors uniform features and insignia: http://i.imgur.com/E9PZwD3.png Tormentors in the field (5th Battle Company) http://i.imgur.com/xTBqPDK.jpg details to come: Chapter Origin Geneseed Chapter Homeworld Combat Doctrine Battle Cry details to come: Command Structure Brotherhoods Chapter Fleet Auxiliaries Grand Cohort of Castrix details to come: Beliefs Recruitment Rituals Rank System Honors, Relics, Decorations, and Awards Retirement?! details to come: Activities as of 999.M41 Roll of Honor Castrixian Schism Chapter Masters Chapter Heroes Chapter Banners / Standards details to come: Grand Cohort of Castrix Affiliated chapters and nemeses details to come: Chapter Disposition Primaris debate

Origins: Part of the 22nd founding of the Adeptus Astartes, The Knights Defiant have always fought with an unwavering determination that cannot be stayed except by direct order. Much like their Progenitor the Venerable Imperial Fists the Knights Defiant refuse to retreat from most any battle and much less one on their own territory. History: During the first centuries of service the Knights Defiant remained largely within their own star with few exceptions. It was during this time when Venerable Roland came to power as the first Chapter Master raised from the home planet of Eysines. Under his guidance the Knights Defiant became more aggressive and eventually this cost them dearly. During a particularly bloody Campaign in Ork held space near the Eysines System Venerable Roland was struck low by the Warboss Urgak this caused House Ferox to fly into a fury unseen by the chapter as they pursued vengeance against the Warboss Urgak who had injured their Master. This ended with House Ferox facing almost complete destruction against the Ork horde as they Recovered the body of Venerable Roland they discover he was alive although barely. House Ferox had suffered greatly at this point but due to the intervention of House Wayland the Knights Defiant had recovered Venerable Roland and some of House Ferox. Upon the flagship, The Sword of Eysines Venerable Roland was entombed inside a Contemptor Dreadnought chassis. In the aftermath of the battle that laid Venerable Roland low House Lord Wayland ascended to Chapter Master and Rebuilt House Ferox and upon its return to full strength he renewed the Campaign. Under Chapter Master Wayland the Ork horde was suppressed to only a singular planet now Known as the Cage to the Knights Defiant who now use it as a training ground for aspirants. This is all that is recounted of Venerable Roland who is the only Astartes privy to the knowledge of the Chapter’s beginning due to a rebellion within the Chapter Librarium where Chief Librarian Dordalus and a majority of the Epostolaries turned to chaos and stole with them much of the Chapters lore. Considering this the Chapter has ruled the only loyal Epostolary remaining to assume the burden of the entire Librarium and the task of hunting Dordalus and reclaiming the Chapters lore. Now Epostolary Naram is under direct watch of the Reclusiam always and during battle he must remain near a Chaplain or a House Lord always should he turn. Considering Primarch Robute Gulliman’s Indomitus Crusade and the reinforcing of front line chapters with Primaris Astartes. The Knights Defiant were sent an entire company of Primaris Astartes due to no updates on troop strength reaching Terra or Gulliman. As such the Knights Defiant have a total strength of 1,100 Astartes during the final days of the Indomitus Crusade. However, the Knights Defiant haven’t taken kindly to the Primaris Astartes and have thus kept them entirely separate from the Great Houses. Since receiving reinforcement the Knights Defiant haven’t deployed and therefore the Primaris group hasn’t experienced combat and is distrusted by the Chapter until their worth has been proven. Homeworld: Eysines is a planet capable of maintaining human life and was first colonized during the Great Crusade. During its colonization progress, it was found to be quite rich in minerals required for manufacturing of Astartes vehicles and weaponry. Eysines had its own Imperial Army regiment founded for self-defense and transportation of minerals to the Blood Angels for use in the 9th Legion. Eysines remained largely unaffected by the Crusade until the Horus Heresy began and Eysines was invaded by the 8th Legion for the resources present. When news of the reached Baal the Blood Angels sent one of its Fleets to recover Eysines and in the following campaign a majority of the population had been killed off in the fight between the Astartes. Once the Night Lords had been repelled it was determined Eysines was too damaged to be considered a priority during the Heresy and was thus forgotten and the remaining population recovered over the course of the next 7,000 years. The inhabitants of Eysines regressed severely due to the catastrophic fighting that occurred on the surface and has now re-emerged as a pre-black powder society reminiscent of medieval Terra. Eysines people have organized themselves into a semi democratic society in which the head of one of the 8 Great houses assumes complete autonomy over the sovereign for the next year. The process by which this is chosen is directly correlated to the aspirant selection games that the Knight Defiant host each year to search for possible neophytes. Combat Doctrine: The Knights Defiant fight in a manner like that of the Black Templars preferring blade and strength to overwhelm the enemy at close proximity. However, the Knights Defiant also make extensive use of Razorbacks and Land Raider Redeemers as the primary mode of transportation instead of rhinos. The use of whirlwinds is also quite prevalent among the Knights Defiant to cover the approaching Astartes. Chapter Culture: During a meeting with the Black Templars that’s long since been forgotten the Knights Defiant have also taken up the quirk of chaining weaponry to their armor during Crusades as a form of devotion to the Crusade. Astartes within the Knights Defiant also tend to inscribe oaths of combat or faith upon their power armor during times of distress and sorrow as well as upon the Day of the Emperors Ascension. Unlike Most chapters an Astartes in the Knights Defiant are recruited into the same house they fought for in the Eysines Tournament and will remain in that house exclusively unless they ascend to Chapter Master in which they no longer belong to a House but to Eysines. This is shown in the way Battle Brothers address each other e.g. (Brother Lucas of Auxilus). Any ​Constructive Criticism is appreciated. Thanks for looking!

Greetings everyone, So the Iron Gauntlet challenge has been an enjoyable experience so far, I've gotten more hashed out in the past few months than I have in YEARS of working on this army This is my second thread in the Liber, so maybe some introductions are due since I spend most of my time over in PCA. I'm NovemberIX, I share a name with my DIY creation the November IX. I've been in the hobby for 6 or so years now, and in that whole time I've pretty much built just one force. The Adeptus Astartes November Warriors. (By this point I'm sure you're asking yourself, what's with all the November this and that, and it shall explained. Soon. maybe. well not really...) I have been on and off working on my IA from my beginning in the hobby, and I'd like to believe at this point I have a pretty good grasp of it, but as with all things, this is a work in iterative progress. This first post has a lot of our of universe background information on the Warriors and the IX, but given just how long everything is, I'm gonna hide this post behind a spoiler tag.

Index Astartes The Void Vultures "For the Emperor. For Sanguinius. For every last citizen we spill blood for. Dine upon their flesh! Feast upon their marrow! Let none of them survive! In the name of Sanguinius, death! Death! Let all blood fly!!" ~ Commander Donal, previous Chapter Master of the Void Vultures. The Chapter known as the "Void Vultures" ("Gypaetus Astra" in High Gothic), also known as the "Vultures of Ochim", Void Vermilion, and the Eaters of the Dead are a group of berserk, cannibalistic warriors hailing from a barbaric planet. Origins They were once known as the Vermilion Wings Chapter. One of the 23rd Founding. The High Lords of Terra found one area of space on the Eastern Fringe to be unprotected, within the Oshim system, and under constant threat of being invaded by the Greenskins. A petition had been signed, and the creation was underway. A training cadre was created from the Red Wings Chapter, and Mars had forged them a number of ships, arms and armor to begin with. The Brother-Captain Saon, formerly of the Red Wings, was put in charge of this cadre while a larger force of Red Wings space marines led the fight into the Oshim system. Within they had discovered that the Orks were terrorizing the Imperial planets in the sector. The entire system was in chaos. From the Battle Barge Angel’s Flame, Saon sent his cadre to several worlds, alongside the large force of Red Wings space marines who had come in with their own small fleet, retaking the worlds from the Orks. The final battle against the Orks was upon the planet Callisto, where Saon did battle with the Ork warboss. The warboss was defeated within a massive desert valley in the largest battle of the campaign. Callisto, and the Oshim system had been conquered. Saon was named the first Chapter Master. The system’s local Techpriests began construction on the new Fortress Monastery on Callisto. Whilst the Fortress Monastery was being built, the newly formed Vermilion Wings used the Angel’s Flame as a base of operations. After a Puritan Inquisitor had discovered that the Astartes on Callisto were engaging in cannibalistic rituals they had deemed heretical after investigating the disappearance of several Imperial nobles and governors, along with an Inquisitor, they stormed the Feudal World en-masse with a full detachment of Tempestus Scions and Astra Militarum. After several days of fighting, the Marines made a final retreat from their home, leaving its fate to the Inquisition. The barbarian and medieval inhabitants that made up the Planetary Defense Forces who fought the Inquisitorial forces using guerrilla tactics were made into a penal legion, sent out to various fronts across the galaxy. The Chapter then took on the name Void Vultures. They became renegades, running from the Imperium that they fought for, losing many along the way. They hid within the fleet of a rogue trader of the Everec Dynasty for many decades. They have since reclaimed their homeworld after aiding Baal during the Tyranid incursion and participating in the Indomitus Crusade fighting the Tyranids and the forces of Chaos. Home World Callisto is a temperate Feudal World located in the Ochim Sector. The world is mostly swamps and bogs, snow-capped mountains and gnarled forests in the north and desert wastelands with a few jungles in the south. One vast ocean could be found in the northern hemisphere, inhabited by fishing communities. The ancient fortress monastery of the Void Vultures was built in a wasteland full of Ork and Imperial wrecks leftover from the first engagement in the sector. The Astartes mainly recruited from the various barbarian tribes found throughout the desert region and the various mountainous regions that surrounded it. Fortress Monastery The Fortress Monastery of the Void Vultures is known as The Spire, a vast castle complex within the wasteland where they first battled the Orks on Callisto, still surrounded by wrecks and ruins. The insides are lined with the bones of dead battle-brothers. Organization Each company is made up of one hundred marines each, and led by a brother-captain. The first company is made of veterans and Terminators, the tenth are entirely made of neophytes, and the rest are full of a mixture of assault, devastator and tactical marines. Beliefs They have embraced the fact that, even though that Astartes are by far much longer than the average human citizen, the vast majority of them die in battle. Due to their curse, they all expect to die in battle one day, and sometimes entire forces are wiped out if only to hold the line to the last man. But they pay love and respect for their fallen. Once a battle is finished, they collect their dead, and lay them out in rows, and then devour their flesh. This horrific act will give them the memories of those who have passed on, and will sometimes rarely give them a brief glimpse at the memories of Sanguinius due to their hyper-sensitive Omophagea organ. The only ones allowed to eat the body of a fallen brother are those within his own squad. Before the body is consumed, a servitor sucks out the blood of the marine through a giant needle. This blood is put within the Pool of Remembrance. The Pool of Remembrance is a vast underwater lake within the Angel's Flame full of the blood of every dead battle brother, it is unknown what keeps the blood warm. When an initiate is first taken aboard, they must take a ritual bath for some time within the Pool, so that they may become one with their brothers before entering the chapter in-full. Once a battle is over, and their own dead are separated from the enemy's dead, they cook and consume the flesh of their enemies in a great ritualistic feast. If a battle-brother is caught devouring a Chaos warrior, he is brought to a chaplain, who will put him out of his insane misery. They will also transport the bones of the fallen back to the Angel's Flame, where they would be put within the Fortress Monastery to decorate the corridors lined with bones. They see themselves as servants of the Imperium, but being renegades, they fight battles on their terms, for whatever reasons that they deem worthy. Combat Doctrine The Void Vultures fight with a tendency towards aggressive assault actions using mobile forces, along with guerrilla warfare and surprise attacks. They make a heavy usage of scout squads to do recon after making landfall and use little in the way of vehicles. Recruitment The Void Vultures recruit from the various tribal and feudal societies on their homeworld of Callisto. Those who do not pass the requirements for joining generally help the Chapter as serfs. Gene-seed They have a hypersensitive Omophagea organ. This, mixed with the Red Thirst, makes them bloodthirsty killing machines on the battlefield. They will stop at nothing to get as close to the enemy as possible, and rip their hearts out and, if possible, devour it in front of their enemy. After a battle is done, they will build a camp and cook their enemies, then dine upon their flesh. Usually this is done in secret. This flaw appeared not long after they were created. Even in the earliest days of the Oshim campaign, the newly-made marines were found tearing off their helmets and ripping into grots after a victory and devouring them raw, along with eating anything that died, civilians, battle-brothers, and enemies. This was first thought to have been just the Red Thirst, but Sanguinary Priests of the chapter have discovered otherwise. Within months they had learned to control themselves to an extent. Regardless, whereas the Blood Angels are noble warriors, the Void Vultures are vicious monsters in comparison. Battle-cry ”Let all blood fly!”

Hail brothers and sisters of the Liber! Once again the Liberalia has come around and we have ourselves the honour of being the centre of attention. Regardless, I would like to ask both Liberites and other members of B&C to dust off any old DIYs they have and give them another shot. Now's the time to crank out the old creativity. We are honoured to once again host Grand Master Belial's Brotherhood of Angels event, which shall be posted by the man himself both in the Liber and the Dark Angels subforums. Any and all Liberites are encouraged to have a go, to prove their mettle. But, I say, there is more! This year we have something special. The IRON GAUNTLET returns! After so many years gone, it comes back - with thanks to efforts made primarily by Dosjetka to bring it back - and a welcome sight it is. Now, of course, just entering is not enough! There is a an expectation that we will have members who will accomplish all five challenges. If the old Iron Gauntlet challenges are anything to go by, they will not be many! But, certainly, those who push themselves and achieve all that is asked of them, then they shall be rewarded with a specific and unique badge. But do not be daunted. This is supposed to be fun... in a roundabout way. If you think you can only complete specific challenges, then only enter those ones. There is nothing here saying that you must complete them all or automatically fail. Do what you can. Just remember the idea is to push yourself. Also, before I forget, I urge anyone entering the Iron Gauntlet to consider entering the Brotherhood of Angels, too. GMB works hard to host these events, so I'd be pleased to see some entries this year. To register for this Challenge or any others make the following statement: I, <your name>, of the <Chapter/Warband/Regiment name> take up your Challenges. I vow, before my brothers and sisters of the B&C to complete Challenge <challenge number> and submit it to the Liber before the deadline. I vow to support my fellow challengers to the best of my ability. May the Emperor/the Dark Gods/Brother Argos himself curse me if I fail. [Please leave a link to your article so I can update the first post, or PM me the link instead.] Vows Dosjetka - Hounds Rampant Cryptix - Eternal Sentinels NovemberIX - November Warriors Dizzyeye - Knights Penitent Captain Lenoch - Dawn Blades BrotherSP - Iron Heralds + White Talons + New Eden Rifles + Sisters of Battle Order (threads yet to be posted) Ferrus Manus - Arctic Lions Brother-Captain Alecto - Argent Grenadiers (thread yet to be posted) KingHongKong - Astral Reavers Badass_Spaz - Brass Phantoms Draakur - The Desolators Halandaar - Sanguine Eagles Sete - Grey Talons MysticTemplar - The Wardens of Mercury bloodhound23 - The Violent Gods Coldfyre - Tormentors Kelborn - Imperial Sons Evz - Void Vermilion TheBlindPrimarch - The Specters of the Purged Lephisto - Elysian Phoenixes LancsHotpot90 - Knights Obstinate joschlumpf - Genocide Angels Lord Th

The Violent Gods Identity unknown Date:999.M41 Ref:................LBC//BLO Re:.................Adeptus Astartes; Renegatus- The Violent Gods "The love of wisdom walks a mere step in front of its eternal cohorts: blissful ignorance and wanton temptation. Fate would, of course, not deign to have them run in opposite directions, but, rather, they run in the same." -(Ancient Terran Philosopher, Unknown) +++TRANSMISSION INCOMING+++ +++TRANSMISSION RECEIVING+++ + + + 999.M41 Our Gracious Lords, In what follows we share new developments within our ongoing investigation into the renegade Astartes faction known as Saevus Dei, the Violent Gods. We are imminently grateful for the opportunity to provide assistance and hope you will find our work helpful to the ongoing progress of your invaluable research. May the Emperor protect. + + + We argue here that the available evidence suggests, specifically, that the rogue Astartes warband we will hereafter refer to as the Violent Gods is led by the Prognosticator assigned to the missing Silver Skulls Strike Cruiser Aevum immediately prior to its disappearance. + + + The facts of Aevum's otherwise-unremarkable disappearance return to the fore of our project given the involvement of the rogue Astartes warband known as Saevus Dei, the Violent Gods, in a number of conflicts preceding the specific grouping of events composing what has been called "The Night of a Thousand Rebellions". [The involvement of the Violent Gods in this specific grouping of events- and the events that now can be seen as leading up to them- constitute the reason(s) for this report.] It is not only, however, the mere existence of structural similarities between two extant Strike Cruisers that we think constitutes good reason to give credence to the thesis advanced at the start. It is, furthermore, the striking similarities among belief systems to which we point to further our case. We have long keep at merely an arms distance the Silver Skulls Chapter due to their deviation in the form of the use of the so-called Prognosticators instead of Librarians. As you well know, Prognosticators are assigned to each company and are highly revered in a manner unique to the Silver Skulls. In addition, the belief among the Silver Skulls in the power of the divination methods of the Prognosticators makes them spiritual advisors, taking on some of the duties assigned to Chaplains in Codex-compliant chapters. As such, we consider that (ceteris paribus) a detachment of Silver Skulls is more likely to fall under the sway of an influential rogue Prognosticator than a typical detachment falling to a rogue psyker in the average chapter, given a culture of distrust of psykers (given that the psykers in question command such reverence) is conspicuously absent among the culture of the Silver Skulls. If the aforementioned two reasons justify continued investigation, one would expect to see two types of evidence: first, a case in concreto of a deviant Prognosticator, and, second, a case in concreto that substantiates an explanatory route from a somewhat overenthusiastic belief in divination to full-blown heretical cult of personality via the manipulation of an otherwise benign trust of the approved forms of divination. Here we submit that we have instances of both, with the former causing the latter. We now move to a demonstration of both points, taken in turn, interspersed with arguments for their connection. Origins 584.M41 The Disappearance A simple archival search shows the rather abrupt cessation of transmissions from Silver Skulls Strike Cruiser Aevum while on a mission of unknown (classified) specification near the Minisotira sector within Segmentum Pacificus. Internal reports disclosed by the Silver Skulls note increasingly erratic transmissions from Aevum, which contained a task force drawn from the 5th and 8th companies (in toto significantly less than a full company), with the entire detachment falling under the command of an 8th Company Captain Kehan. Correspondence mentions mild unrest among the battle-brothers, including increasing paranoia from the some of the assigned specialists, in particular from the assigned Prognosticator. After reports involving steadily increasing intensity in the aforementioned ways, transmissions (as noted previously) ceased altogether. Aevum is officially listed as lost in the warp anomaly known as "the Gate of Fire" and the erratic reports preceding its disappearance have (in our estimation) so far been justifiably dismissed as unrelated to the direct causal circumstances of Aevum's disappearance. +++TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED+++ +++DOCUMENTS INCOMING+++ LOG: 140.583.M41 We have arrived at [redacted], as per Jaruk's guidance. Though I confess that I am puzzled as to why our mission has taken us this far from Varsavia- and with relatively small numbers and limited resources- I am not one to question the readings of the Prognosticators. Time will tell- as it always does- the precise nature of our business here. LOG: 200.583.M41 Jaruk has been unable to read the runes. Protocol demands that we wait to move on until Jaruk no longer suffers what from what the other Prognosticators call the Deep Dark, an inability to understand the will of the Emperor using the runes or the Tarot. Periods within this closed window of communication are said to only ever be temporary, momentary lapses in access that fade with time such that the ability eventually fully returns. Jaruk, however, does not seem encouraged by this apparently common piece of knowledge and has become increasingly isolated. He is, as is well known, normally a well-liked and inspiring figure, both charismatic and wise. He has been in his chambers for over two months as of the time of this log and has spoken to no one. Even as Captain, I fear to ask of his well-being as to not disturb his attempts to successfully use his gift of sight again. May the Emperor protect. LOG: 289.583.M41 The Prognosticators continued silence has engendered a number of violent episodes in the fighting cages, with loyalties often divided along regional affiliations. Brothers from the southern tribes of Varsavia have most often been the aggressors. Disciplinary actions have been taken but the number of incidents continues to rise. I worry that my ability to properly adjudicate between the two factions will erode if Jaruk's silence forces us to remain in limbo. The indefinite nature of the halting of our progress has clearly made members of our detachment restless. Whatever its true cause, it nonetheless remains that I cannot afford to have continued erosion of trust between us due to infighting. LOG 293.583.M41 I sense whispering. I know not of what, or how, but I am beginning to expect that some of the brothers are unified against my command. I am convinced the southerners do not trust me. Or, rather, perhaps they do not trust me nearly as much as they trust Ovis, the southern-born Techmarine, or his twin brother Kelsus, our Apothecary, who are the highest ranking of those born of the southern tribes, and seem to speak for them. More than half of my command is southern-born, including my chaplain. Only with the first sergeant, my delegatus and confidant, am I willing to share these thoughts. Jaruk has been around far longer than I, and will prevail if we do not end up on the same side and the situation escalates. I have no direct evidence of Jaruk's machinations, but I have long suspected that there was far more to his silence than mere penitence or even the semblance of genuine faith. Indeed, paranoid as I feel for even entertaining the thought, I know his silence has been quite productive for his aims. Warp storms continue to make outside communication difficult for days on end, all the more reason to suspect that he sees far more than I. It is only now that I can see that he has only tolerated my command, and it now seems that I am not in charge in anything more than name. If Jaruk speaks, we are bound to it. If I question his judgment, I question the word of the Emperor himself. When he finally speaks the word as given him by the runes, perhaps only then will I know if I am betrayed or not. Until then, I dare not utter such thoughts to anyone, save the first sergeant, whom I have asked to investigate the matter by any means necessary. I speak these thoughts only to give voice to them in case such ominous events do come to pass. I pray they do not, and if my suspicions are wrong, then I ask forgiveness for ever harboring them at all. LOG 297.583.M41 Nothing has substantiated my previous delusions, and I expect nothing will, as the first sergeant has found nothing out of the ordinary to report. I am embarrassed by my lack of faith. The Emperor has finally made our fate clear to Jaruk, the bickering has ceased, and we are set to return home when the warp storms subside. With the burden of the Deep Dark relieved, I suspect my doubts will subside as well. I remain alert regarding the fissures in our detachment that has been born out of this regional rivalry, but for now, I am happy to report that it seems as if my worries were in vain. May the Emperor protect. +++DOCUMENTS RECEIVED+++ +++TRANSMISSION RESUMING+++ First Encounter 866.M41 Imperial forces arrive to the dying throes of rebellion on Enneardia, a feudal world in the Sabbat Worlds in the galactic northwest region of Segmentum Pacificus. Upon further investigation, authorities also find evidence of past activity in the forms of unauthorized (assumed to be excommunicate) Astartes presence (including extensive vehicle activity) as well as evidence of several forms of outright butchering by the locals of human and animal bodies in conjunction with forms of ritual divination. Drawing and inscriptions at the various sites show what seemed to be rough versions of Astartes figures- clad in dark metallic armor, and almost always labelled with what translates from the local lingua franca as Violent Gods. Though at the time it was unclear as to which Astartes faction might be responsible for such depictions, a pattern emerges with later discoveries elsewhere within Segmentum Pacificus. Reavers of the West c. 940.M41-951.M41 Imperial Navy escorts throughout Segmentum Pacificus begin compiling reports of sightings of several Astartes vessels of unknown designation, largely unadorned and colored dark metallic. Boarding actions by then-unknown Astartes result in significant casualties and pillaging, in several cases leaving the vessels functionally immobile. Elsewhere, Astartes (presumably of the same faction) make planetfall and are thought to be responsible for several cases of abductions of a number of adolescent males, often leaving significant casualties in their wake and quickly disappearing with little more than a few eyewitnesses. Reports from those eyewitnesses speak of the same dark metallic armor, adorned with totems, severed skulls, runes, etc., and subsequent investigation corroborates mentions of increased psyker activity. In 951.M41, a Dark Sons Gladius Class Frigate is the subject of a boarding action by same dark-ironclad warriors, with all but a few being killed or captured. It is from this incident that we have most of our knowledge of the actual tactical tendencies of the Violent Gods. Consistent with reports elsewhere, they are reported to have arrived quickly and with little warning, were equipped for maximum versatility, and were thought to have access to resources beyond those possible from simple piracy, a point to which we shall later return. Confirmation 960.M41 The discovery of a ruined and abandoned Astartes-class Strike Cruiser on a sparsely-inhabited moon known as Taru in the Adrantis system (also northwest Segmentum Pacifus) marks what we consider to be the primary piece of direct evidence for our claim(s). Within the ruins of the vessel are quarters clearly marked off for what seems to have been the commander of the vessel, filled with objects of a similar sort to those found during the investigation of the aftermath of the events on Enneardia. They are speculated to have been used for heretical forms of divination, specifically haruspicy. Furthermore, the vessel has been refinished in a dark metallic color, consistent with the depictions at Enneardia. Though most of the insignia that would otherwise show the original Imperial owners of the vessel is defaced, the investigation returned with a pair of Mk VII pauldrons, obviously repurposed and refinished, but still bearing the outline of Silver Skulls insignia, prompting the investigation undertaken here- though their mere existence in this context need not imply anything further. Contact was initiated with the Silver Skulls, who quickly provided necessary ship specifications for comparison. As thought, analysis reveals this ship to have no significant structural differences between the ruined Cruiser found on the Adrantis moon and Aevum. Mysteriously, however, little was found in the way of bodies, wargear, vehicles, etc., leaving authorities to assume that the ship was successfully unloaded and its contents salvaged before it was abandoned prior to its eventual descent to the surface of Taru. Thus the evidence here is admittedly circumstantial. + + + For further context, we offer the following (tentative) profile of what we currently know of the so-called Violent Gods: Homeworld It is so far unclear where the faction is based, and so it is equally likely that they are simply nomadic and fleet-based. At least the one relatively uncorrupted aformnentioned Strike Cruiser- otherwise indistinguishable at a distance from a loyal Astartes Strike Cruiser- is confirmed to have once been under the control of the Violent Gods, though it seems as if they are capable of drawing upon resources of unknown origin. In particular, there exist confirmed evidence the activity (from the Enneardia site) of relatively extensive vehicle use, including both Predators, Land Raiders, dreadnought(s), drop pods, and Thunderhawk-class gunships, suggesting either the existence of alliances with other renegade factions, or even perhaps a larger fleet than what has been thus far observed. Organization They do not seem to lack access to more fundamental resources generally, however, and we suspect they have a number of competent Techmarines and Apothecaries, given the evidence of the activity of vehicles at their disposal and the seeming influx of new gene-seed, though we can only speculate as to how the new geneseed is acquired. How they are formally organized (and if at all), however, is as yet unclear. Combat Doctrine Despite limited contact, generalizations can be reasonably made regarding a coherent fighting style. Seeming to favor lightning assaults using drop pods and close quarters fighting, the average member of the Violent Gods is nonetheless equipped for maximum versatility, and have even been observed to be quite adept at effectively operating the boltgun one-handed, a feature responsible for leading earlier researchers to speculate a VI Legion lineage, though that theory, we argue, ought to be discarded and replaced with the one we defend here. Geneseed Though it is now suspected that many of the Violent Gods are indeed of Silver Skulls lineage, it cannot be the case that all members now are, given the size of Aevum's originally assigned detachment and what we know of the current fighting strength of the Violent Gods. If, as suspected due to their fairly robust access to resources, they are in collusion with other more established renegade factions, we maintain that it is likely that their ranks may include other traitors, perhaps even those allied with Huron or otherwise involved in the Badab conflict, though we dare not speculate here. Further, this explanatory gap means that we cannot rule out the existence of new rebel Astartes of their own creation with genetic material and/or aspirants acquired from unknown sources. This being the case, some of the Violent Gods may very well have geneseed of chimeric heredity. Beliefs The Violent Gods- given what was found at the site at Enneardia and at the site on Taru- are thought to practice trophy-taking, haruspicy, and likely even ritual forms cannibalism, perhaps focusing on consumption of the liver and the brain, presumably for the benefits they have been known to impart via the function of the omophagea. We have attempted to reconstruct a possible belief-system that may serve as a profile that may add to the resources of those who may come into contact with the Violent Gods, given what we now believe are the facts regarding their origin. It is likely that the average member of the the group in question is-if it is even helpful to speculate that they have any reasons beyond pure treason for their compliance with the agenda of traitors- explicitly or implicitly adheres to some sort of pantheistic/animistic mysticism, characterized by the belief in the efficacy of omens, tokens (such as the skulls/teeth of a number of different megafauna), runes, and other primitive practices of divination. Consistent with our thesis, similar beliefs are present among the brutal, southern tribes of Varsavia, the source of aspirants and homeworld of the Silver Skulls. Though great care is taken in the psycho-conditioning of aspirants to analyze and eliminate beliefs that are inimical to orthodoxy, the chapter cult of the Silver Skulls (in particular- their abnormal reverence for their Prognosticators) we think all but ensures that the eventual attraction to unorthodox forms of divination would not arise as spontaneously as it might otherwise be expected to in chapters with fundamentally different chapter cults. The same general caution we have emphasized for those who investigate or otherwise monitor the Silver Skulls has (at least in this case) been urged for the sake of cases like this one, where such beliefs are now thought to have manifested themselves here in the case of the Violent Gods. Battle Cry From an inscription at Enneardia: "Astra inclinant, sed non obligant." + + + We leave the decision on whether or not to notify the Silver Skulls of this hypothesis and the evidence that we have amassed in its defense to your discretion. The composition of the Violent Gods that are of Silver Skulls lineage could turn out range anywhere between just a single member and the entirety, as we believe Jaruk to continue to be alive. Whether it is made up of many or even just one would likely be of little import to the Silver Skulls, and we have scant direct evidence that could further demonstrate our hypothesis in any way other than in the (admittedly) circumstantial way in which we have been proceeding. Nonetheless, the similarities between the profiles of the renegatus Astartes faction known as the Violent Gods and the unquestionably loyal Silver Skulls is one that suggests reason for caution in our dealings with the Silver Skulls, present or future, and provides some reason to continue to keep a watchful eye of the Chapter, particularly now given the existence of a plausible scheme for how such beliefs may yield a particular kind of traitorous Astartes, particularly the case a of a rogue Astartes psyker. To continue with this line of investigation would be to develop a richer schemata for how and why a special sort of deference to divination in the case of the Prognosticators might make such a case as this one possible, but such a task has not yet been attempted, though we suggest that it ought to be. We hope to have succeeded in supplying useful information for the aid of those who may come into contact with the Violent Gods when the current unrest in Segmentum Pacificus can be addressed. May the Emperor protect. M. D. C., A. X. N.; Ordo Hereticus + + +