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Hail Sons of Vulkan, I am researching the legends and tales of the Salamanders and compiling a list of future purchases for my own archives. I thought it may be of interest to others seeking lore regarding the chapter. If anyone can share any published stories, eBooks etc. which I have missed, please comment below and I will add the entry into the list. As best as I could, I separated them between the Horus Heresy and the later 40,000 era. Without knowing the stories, I couldn't begin to guess at a chronological order, so alphabetical seemed the wisest method. Using the Black Library, here is the list so far. HORUS HERESY Artefacts, by Nick Kyme (eShort, Sons of Nocturne eBundle) Deeds Endure, by Gav Thorpe (HH43 Shattered Legions, Meduson anthology) Grey Talon, by Chris Wraight (HH43 Shattered Legions, Meduson anthology) Horus Heresy 26: Vulkan Lives, by Nick Kyme (eBook, Sons of Nocturne eBundle, Paperback, MP3) Horus Heresy 30: The Damnation of Pythos, by David Annandale (eBook, Paperback, MP3) Horus Heresy 32: Deathfire, by Nick Kyme (eBook, Sons of Nocturne eBundle, Paperback, MP3) Horus Heresy 43: Shattered Legions, edited by Laurie Goulding (eBook, Paperback, MP3) Horus Heresy 47: Old Earth (eBook, Paperback, MP3) Horus Heresy 50: Born of Flame, by Nick Kyme (eBook, Paperback, MP3) Immortal Duty, by Nick Kyme (HH43 Shattered Legions, Meduson anthology) Meduson: Ultimate anthology (eBook, Hardback, MP3) Meduson, by Dan Abnett (Meduson anthology) Mercy of the Dragon, by Nick Kyme (eShort) Promethean Sun, by Nick Kyme (eBook, Sons of Nocturne eBundle, MP3) Salamanders: The Omnibus, by Nick Kyme (eBook) Scorched Earth, by Nick Kyme (eBook, Sons of Nocturne eBundle, MP3) Sons of the Forge, by Nick Kyme (Sons of Nocturne eBundle, MP3) Strike and Fade, by Guy Haley (MP3) The Either, by Graham McNeill (HH43 Shattered Legions, Meduson anthology) The Hand Elect, by Chris Wraight (HH43 Shattered Legions, Meduson anthology) The Keys of Hel, by John French (HH43 Shattered Legions, Meduson anthology) The Noose, by David Annandale (HH43 Shattered Legions, Meduson anthology) The Seventh Serpent, by Graham McNeill (HH43 Shattered Legions, Meduson anthology, MP3) Unforged, by Guy Haley (HH43 Shattered Legions, Meduson anthology) Unspoken, by Guy Haley (HH43 Shattered Legions, Meduson anthology) Vulkan: Lord of Drakes, by David Annandale (eBook, Hardback, MP3) WARHAMMER 40,000 Deathwatch 9: The Walker in Fire, by Peter Fehervan (eShort) Emperor's Deliverance, by Nick Kyme (eBook, Tome of Fire anthology) Fireborn, by Nick Kyme (eBook, Tome of Fire anthology, MP3) Firedrake, by Nick Kyme (eBook, Salamanders: The Omnibus) Fires of War, by Nick Kyme (eShort, Heroes of the Space Marine anthology, Tome of Fire anthology) Forge Master, by David Annandale (eBook) Hell Night, by Nick Kyme (eShort, Tome of Fire anthology) Heroes of the Space Marines (eBook) Know Thine Enemy, by Gav Thorpe (eShort) Nocturne, by Nick Kyme (eBook, Salamanders: The Omnibus) Only Ash Remains, by Nick Kyme (eShort, Tome of Fire anthology) Overfiend, by David Annandale (eBook, MP3) Perfection, by Nick Kyme (MP3) Prometheus Requiem, by Nick Kyme (eShort, Tome of Fire anthology) Rebirth, by Nick Kyme (eBook, MP3) Renaissance, by Nick Kyme (eBook) Rite of Pain, by Nick Kyme (eShort) Salamander, by Nick Kyme (eBook, Salamanders: The Omnibus) The Ash of Souls, by Nick Kyme (eShort) The Burden of Angels, by Nick Kyme (eShort) The Burning, by Nick Kyme (eShort, Tome of Fire anthology) The Core, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (eShort, Fear the Alien anthology) The Firebrand, by Nick Kyme (eBook, Tome of Fire anthology) Tome of Fire, by Nick Kyme (eBook) Vulkan's Shield, by Nick Kyme (eBook, Tome of Fire anthology, MP3)

Hello, brothers! I'm fairly new to playing, but have been painting for a while now. I have flip-flopped between which chapter to play, but my first love was the sons of Vulkan for their incredible humanity and willingness to protect those who cannot protect themselves. I come to you today to ask about the viability of a fully primaris Salamander list. Now, I don't plan on going to tournaments, but I am curious if I can create something viable in the meta, and fun above all else. It doesn't have to win every game, but I would rather not get decimated at every turn. At the moment, I have: Primaris Librarian Primaris Captain Primaris Captain in Gravis Redemptor Dreadnought 30x Intercessors 5x Hellblasters 3x Inceptors Happy to buy some more stuff, but would like to keep most troops in the primaris range, aside from Dreadnoughts (Because those bastards are amazing, and my favorite unit in the lore). I thank you, fellow brothers, and hope you can enlighten me!

If you thumb through the Salamanders section of The Horus Heresy Book 2: Massacre, you'll see a type of cuneiform in the top half of unit number diamonds. Though these markings only appear in Heresy Era use, there's nothing saying they won't prove of use for Salamanders of other eras. A good example is on the knee of this breacher legionary. http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/c/c9/Salamanders_Breacher_Mk_III.png I've tried to decipher them in the past, but just when I thought I had the pattern down, I'd find a unit for which it didn't work. For example, most correspond to the line company listed for the marine in question, but in one case - Kobal Ru'than of 3rd Line Company - the cuneiform number does not match. A couple days ago, I realized the reason: there are multiple ways of representing certain numbers in the system - specifically 5s and 100s - and the cuneiform can appear in multiple contexts - usually as a line company marking, but also relating to personal honours. Once I understood that, the rest fell into place. In the cuneiform, there are wedges that point in one of five directions: the four cardinal directions (left, right, up down) and a diagonal pointing up-right. Each direction corresponds to a place value in the line company number. Wedge Place Direction* Value --------------------------- Up Ones Left (with Up) Fives** Right Tens Down High Tens** Diagonal Hundreds (Up/Right) *Direction the wedge is pointing **These function similar to a five-count tally mark - four vertical slashes with a fifth diagonal crossing them out - except that the pattern is to three up wedges overlapped by two left wedges. Numbers are built up from clusters of wedges, thus the number 40 would be represented by four right pointing wedges. Ones value wedges appear to the right, while tens and hundreds value wedges appear to the left. Tens and High Tens value wedges will overlap, while diagonal-hundreds will appear above the tens value wedges. http://bolterandchainsword.com/uploads/gallery/album_10579/gallery_80588_10579_13192.jpg A rather blurry example, but it shows the diagonal hundreds mark. The number 7 would be represented by a cluster seven wedges, either all pointing up, or two pointing up with three up wedges overlapped by two left wedges. In the case of single digit number five to nine, the wedges representing the non-five portion appear left of the wedges making up the five. http://bolterandchainsword.com/uploads/gallery/album_10579/gallery_80588_10579_5318.jpg Here, the number 7 is represented by two up wedges left of two left wedges overlapping three ups (making the whole 2+5). When used for a current line company the unit is attached to, the symbol is a white outline diamond, the bottom half of which is white, with the Line Company number in a sans-serif (looks to be Impact font at a glance) in the bottom half and Salamanders Cuneiform number in the top half. http://bolterandchainsword.com/uploads/gallery/album_10579/gallery_80588_10579_9269.jpghttp://bolterandchainsword.com/uploads/gallery/album_10579/gallery_80588_10579_14977.jpg Line company usage. Note that in some instances (like the marking on the left), ones digits greater than 5 do not always use the left pointing wedges. When appearing in honourific form, the honours are displayed on a black diamond. In the bottom half of the diamond are the honour glyphs earned (the geometric diamond symbols seen most clearly on the Firedrakes model right shoulder). In the top half, the line company to which the marine was attached when those honours were attained appear in cuneiform. Thus Kobal Ru'than, a Terminator of the 3rd Line Company, attained honours - most likely those that earned him a spot in the 3rd - while attached to the 62nd Line Company. http://bolterandchainsword.com/uploads/gallery/album_10579/gallery_80588_10579_7618.jpg Kobal Ru'than's honours, demonstrating honours gained while part of the 62nd Line Company. And there you have it. Salamanders cuneiform numbers, ready for use on your Fire Born units. And yes, being the Carlson that I am, expect these markings to have a decal sheet in the near future.

Having finally got my hands on Inferno and reading the Space Wolves section there is mention of the Trefoil of legions which were formed in greater secrecy than the rest. Those being the aforementioned Wolves, as well as the Salamanders and Alpha Legion. The need for secrecy with the Wolves seems plainly obvious, they were the executioners, designed and trained to kill/destroy whoever the Emperor decrees, even if that is other legions or members of humanity. The Alpha Legion are a legion all about secrecy so why should their creation be any different? Although I question what about their founding required an extra level of secrecy. Based on the Wolves secrecy it is likely because it was some sort of end game requirement that the Emperor needed the Alpha Legion for that other legions couldn't know about. So the only thing I can think of is that they were maybe to be designed as a secret police either for the purpose of infiltrating the other legions and keep the Emperor abridged of any dissent or problems that could need addressing by the "Executioners". Or they were to be the secret police across the galaxy, using their ability to recruit human operatives to keep the human populace in line. So two of the three make some arguable sense for their secrecy, but what was the Salamanders legion job that required that extra level over the others? Can understand if Vulkan needed extra secrecy what with his Perpetual nature and all. But that trait doesn't seem to have exactly transferred to his sons. So what about the legions foundation required them to be kept secret from the others? Does anyone have any opinions to the idea? Or other opinions on the Alpha Legion?

THE STORM BEARERS CHAPTER OF THE ADEPTUS ASTARTES Born of Man. Die for Man. Greater than Man. Origins Not all that is Man is created equal, and this stands true even for those who came of Man but have become far more than Man. The Emperor’s Angels of Death, transhuman warriors formed into Chapters, are Founded every few centuries. Not all of these Chapters are formed equally. Some are born poor, bereft even of a home world, bound to an existence of vagrancy across the stars. Auspiciously born from the blood of the 18th gene-line, in the 18th Founding, the Storm Bearers were more fortunate. To them were gifted an unconquerable fortress upon the orbiting moon of a world specially selected for suitable recruitment, as well as an immense Star Fort and numerous outer system planetary defenses with which to defend their home. The Aetna System was not only well placed to provide easy access and monitoring of several nearby subsectors, but had also come under a most unconventional siege. No enemy had yet been encountered, but evidence too substantial to ignore suggested a great threat had worked its way in. The Storm Bearers first action as an independent force was to root out and extinguish this threat, thought to be the Polyphemians, an ancient Etnaphemian myth that could potentially be the oldest known record of the foe. The Storm Bearers thought it superstition, and blamed the failure of the locals in locating and eliminating the threat on their superstitious nature. Superstitious though they may be, the threat was real. The enemy was real. The deaths of dozens of Space Marines attested to the power of the enemy, and yet such was its cunning and stealth that only the dead were left as evidence of its existence. Even the Steropes facility, a hub-bastion that coordinated the extensive network of defenses surrounding Aetna’s outermost planet, was susceptible. Analysis of recordings made on recovered Space Marine suits revealed the impossible truth. That the enemy was everywhere and yet the suit’s wearer would simply forget the creature’s existence once it had left the battle-brother’s sight. The recording was disseminated across the Chapter, and soon other recorded encounters were uncovered. Study of the creatures in the recordings commenced, and countermeasures were extrapolated and put in place. The Chapter’s Librarians began to concentrate upon the sensation of a sudden shift in their brothers’ memories; unable themselves to simply fixate and locate the xenos breed. This task fell to the Chapter’s Techmarine corps, who would modify the Chapter’s supply of suits to provide recognition whenever such creatures are witnessed, and log it so that the wearer would be reminded once the creature leaves sight. This advantage allowed the Storm Bearers to finally uncover and bring ruin upon the xenos hiding in their midst. The struggle against the xenos would last nearly two hundred years before the last uncovered nest could be put to the sword, though possible sightings and unsubstantiated reports would continue indefinitely. With the Polyphemian threat neutralized, the Storm Bearers would settle into their role as guardians, the superstitions and weaknesses of mortal man now laid bare. For millennia, the Storm Bearers would be the bulwark and the tempest both, as the Imperium required. Their exploits, particularly those of their long line of Lightning Bearers, would earn them great glory. In time, they would be given the greatest honor of providing the seed through which another Space Marine Chapter would be born. This Chapter would take the name of one who had fallen long, long ago, as the Storm Giants reborn. Home World Brontes was once a more civilized world, well onto its way into becoming a proto-Hive World. This did not suit the Storm Bearers, who wanted their world to inspire a more warrior spirit rather than simple genetic suitability. The Storm Bearers would be far from the only Chapter to affect directly the fate of their home world, but few would go so far as to reverse cultural progress and systematically destroy all evidence of an advanced civilization. The survivors, who were many as the Storm Bearers kept casualties at a minimum, formed smaller, local communities. Retained knowledge of metallurgy and other skills stalled regression in the equivalent of the Bronze Age. This setting has been encouraged and even violently enforced by the Storm Bearers. The planet of Brontes is a volatile one. Its large, harsh seas make for difficult ocean-faring, and traffic between its extensive, rocky island chains and small, isolated continents is light. The erratic orbit of its satellite moon of Mene, upon which the Storm Bearers’ fortress-monastery resides, plays havoc with the planet’s already fluctuating magnetic field. Storms of immense size and ferocity form with frightening regularity out among the tumultuous waters, their titanic fury when they hammer upon the shorelines inspiring the Chapter and giving them their name. Combat Doctrine In contrast to their Nocturnean kin, the Storm Bearers are deliberate and cumbersome, but far from slow. The Chapter maintains a large fleet of Thunderhawk vessels, preferring to arrive upon the enemy like a great storm cloud upon the horizon, though they are far from adverse to orbital deployments, drop pods striking the battlefield like bolts of lightning. Speed of delivery is imperative, their military strength gathered tight to lend the blow as much weight as possible. This preference has made them adept at offensive siege warfare, using their heavy, lightning assaults to shatter defenses, as well as to isolate and eliminate enemy commands no matter how deeply defended or concealed. Organization The Storm Bearers are strong components of the Codex Astartes, finding deviations as distasteful as any conservative Successor of the Ultramarines. Within the Chapter’s auxiliary forces there is, perhaps, a greater deal of communication and interaction than may be commonly found. Ongoing threats faced by the Storm Bearers has seen such internal organs as the Reclusiam, the Forge or the Librarium cooperate and partner for creative means of overcoming these challenges, such as the task to eradicate the Polyphemian xenokind requiring the services of the Librarium and the Forge in equal measure. Though these auxiliary formations remain separate within the Chapter’s chain of command, to an outsider familiar with other Space Marine Chapters the distinction may not be so clear. The Storm Bearers regularly maintain a crusader force tasked far beyond the borders to their realm and protectorates, and as such, the Chapter has been witnessed upon worlds and in battles across the breadth and width of the Imperium. Leadership over these crusades will fall to one commander, overseeing many companies in his command. These commanders are given the role of representing the Chapter well beyond its sphere of influence, and as such are given the rank of Lightning Bearer. This rank comes with exceptional honor and glory attached, as well as promises of future advancement. There have been more Storm Bearer Chapter Masters who had once served as Lightning Bearers than not. Beliefs The Storm Bearers came to the Aetna System bearing copies of the Promethean Creed, the spiritual treatise that continues to shape their Salamander brothers. Over time, the Storm Bearers would make changes and additions, inevitably coming to very different conclusions and the applications of their beliefs. The Cyclopean Creed, as the editions held by the Storm Bearers came to be called, has grown to place less faith in humanity than its parent Creed, finding them inherently weak and susceptible to corruption. Though such an assessment is often born of distaste, the Storm Bearers see this truth as due to their exceptional vulnerability and need for protection. The powerful gifts the Emperor and Vulkan provided the Angels of Death be not for mortal use, though it does instill a strong sense of responsibility. The Adeptus Astartes are gifted with the thunder and lightning of war, so that they can do what mortals cannot and should not. While the Storm Bearers see themselves as superior and above the general populace, their beliefs continue to bind them to humanity in service rather than in rule. Gene-seed The genetic material of the Storm Bearers remain effectively pure, what few mutative deviations exist are of little consequence. The most evident of the Storm Bearers deviations is in the improper function of their melanochrome organ. When operating at peak efficiency, the organ enables the Marine to shift skin tone for absorbing multiple levels of radiation. This organ within a son of the Promethean will malfunction, what should be temporary becoming permanent. The interaction between Brontes and Mene releases regular, periodic bursts of exotic forms of electromagnetic radiation. The Storm Bearers’ genetic legacy is affected, causing hair growth and eyes to pale and whiten, while the skin darkens in color, though far from the extent as seen by their Salamander brothers. These physical changes separate the sons of Vulkan from mortal kind, a divide the Storm Bearers embrace. Battle Cry “Fire and thunder!” http://i.imgur.com/H4zfnWk.jpg Pict-capture of a Storm Bearer survivor Outside the remains of the Steropes facility