Decimators

[Brother Cambrius]

Hello everyone,

My Star Tridents has more or less been completed so I've decided to start off on a new project with an Iron Hands successor.

Name: Decimators

Geneseed: Iron Hands

Founding: 17th

Homeworld: Kairus [Destroyed]

Symbol:

Colour Scheme:

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g119/Scallyscanlon/Bolter%20and%20Chainsword/Decimators.gif

We live in a universe of apathy, greed, corruption and power. Where xenos attack our every front, heretics who attack from within. When it seems that all chance of mankind enduring is lost, there is hope. There is courage, honour and justice to protect humankind. For we are the Decimators, we are the sons of Ferrus Manus and we are the hammer that blows against the anvil of war and death. We cleanse the xenos, purge the heretic and bring justice to all who attempt to destroy us. May our enemies fear us, for we are their destruction! Chapter Master Fernus during the siege of Garosh.

History:

The Decimators bear a long history of bringing justice onto the enemies of the Imperium. Forged from gene-seed of the Brazen Claws, they were designed to be the great hammer that strikes against the enemy as the weapon of the Emperor and Ferrus. Founded in the 17th creation of Astartes, they were trained in the Segmentum Obscurus by the Silver Talons as they fought against the Eldar and Orks. The Decimators had soon created a great tally of victories over losses against the xenos and heretics and were declared after 122 years of tutoring under the Silver Talons and fighting alongside other chapters as their strength built, as a fully fledged chapter. To fully declare the chapter as being independent, they were sent forth onto a crusade against the Orks that were plaguing the important systems of the Nexus ring, which contained many agri-worlds and forge-worlds. The chapter cleansed the system of the green tide with minor casualty ratings than other chapters would have suffered against the green tide. Their time as a fully-fledged chapter had begun. Crusade after crusade proved their zeal and courage to fight for the Emperor and Ferrus facing off many enemies such as the ruinous powers of Chaos on Gravok and against the sadistic Dark Eldar pirates who were striking terror raids throughout the Si-run cluster. Enemies of the Imperium began to fear the sight of the Decimators and it is rumoured that a clan of Orks retreated at the mere sight of them. But the chapter also learnt harsh lessons during their early history as defeats took their toll on the chapter and its master.

Around 80 years after the chapter were declared as a fully-fledged chapter, they came across a newfound xenos the Sharom who were deemed a threat to the Imperium after invading a noble-world of Tranquis. The Decimators were ordered to destroy the xenos before they could cause any more problems to the already stretched system as many of their units had left to bolster the Eye as a new Black Crusade by the Despoiler was due to begin.

The Sharom

The Sharom were great war-like beasts with clumps of white fur dispersed on their grey hides around their chest and head. They were purely a xenos race built upon brute strength that carried blunt weapons of power and force, the most common being club which was able to conduct electricity through it and could kill a squad of marines with ease after a few well placed swings. The weapons recovered from the Sharom are currently being examined by tech-priests on Mars to find out how they work and if it is possible to utilize it in the future.

The Decimators chapter master, Grevius decided to take a strong strike force into the large cities of the Sharom that hid beneath the mountains of their planets. Bombarding the mountains with a manner of weaponry failed and so Grevius decided to make a daring attack by infiltrating into the mountains where the Sharom laid and place thermobaric bombs within the caverns. All went well and the bombs were placed by the main structures of the mountain and Grevius with his elite squads pulled out, only for the bombs to be mistimed and exploding before the last squads pulled out of the mountain, including Grevius and his command squad. The Sharom were destroyed and the mountain was levelled but miraculously Grevius and a handful of others survived the blast and were knocked down into a great ravine. All were severely injured and four of the chapter’s finest died of their wounds on their way back up to the fleet in orbit, but Grevius was still alive and it was decided by the chapter’s council, that he would be reborn as the Venerable Dreadnought, Decimus. The Sharom were soon exterminated and the system was claimed the Imperium, where a new forge-world was built solely for the Decimators and their brother chapter the Chalice Knights. A monument was placed at the edge of the mountain range for the venerable brothers of the Decimators who paid the price for the cleansing of the Lumus system.

Beliefs:

Since the Decimators are from the seed of Ferrus Manus, they posses the idea of the flesh is weak and they do replace some limbs with bionics when they become fully-fledged astartes. The most common body parts that are replaced are the arms and hands so that the marines become in their eyes, more similar to their Primarch and their parent chapter, the Brazen Claws. The chapter also posses a great hate for any xenos or “impure” humanoids such as the Ogryns and the Decimators refuse to battle alongside any Ogryns or similar. The Inquisition have warned the chapter for this belief and despite the warning given, the Decimators infamously executed a company of Ogryns during the aftermath of their defeat on Sarrim since they believed that the impurity of the Ogryns had been one of the factors of their loss. When the Inquisition heard of this the chapter was sent on a penance crusade for a decade where the Legio shadowed them to ensure that they were still pure of heart and mind. The chapter still refuses to fight alongside sub humans of any kind but the reminder of their rap on the knuckles by the Inquisition reminds them to keep their views in check or they will suffer greater consequences for their actions.

The chapter see the Emperor as the greatest warrior in the history of man and that they should all strive to become great warriors of purity and belief in the Emperor and Ferrus, whom they see as the great fabricator of the war machines of the Imperium and that their war gear possesses the mark of Ferrus’ spirit within the machine’s spirit and it should be respected at all times when within battle or not. Since the loss of their homeworld to the hands of the Tyranids, the chapter have developed an enormous hate of the reptilian xenos that could rival the Ultramarines. On the armour of the Decimators, there are writings to remind them to ensure that their purity and loyalty to the Emperor is absolute and that they will remember to keep their xenophobia in check before they suffer the consequences.

In the chapter’s year, there are two great markings of remembrance, the first being the feast of the founding, where the chapter celebrates their founding millennia ago and it’s seen as a time to reflect on the past year and their achievements/losses. The second event is the night of the heresy, where the chapter remembers the great heresy of Horus and the ten legions that cast their oaths of loyalty to the Emperor into the wind and turned away from his light. It is during this time that the chapter claim their oaths of loyalty once more and they punish themselves for their actions over the past year if they had sinned. The traditional punishment is that a fellow brother takes a whip with lead ball bearings on the end and the sinner is given 10 lashings for each sin they have caused, which is placed in a log over the year and is called out during their punishment.

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I intend to make this chapter a heavy weapon specialist one that relies heavily on its tanks and other equipment. Is the Iron Hand geneseed a good idea as I want them to hate the weakness of the other xenos making them heavily xenophobic (which hasn't gone unnoticed by the =][=...).

They sacrafice their own homeworld due to it being overrun by the Dark Eldar in their later history and are now a fleet based chapter answering deistress calls by other chapters or planets. They loath the xenos even more for having to sacrafice their homeplanet to cleanse the system of the xenos taint and to ensure that their citizens deaths were quick and painless instead of the endless pain given by the sadistic Dark Eldar.

I'm thinking of having their first chapter master encased in a dreadnought's sarcophagus and is used for initiation purpouses as well as being a dangerous foe to face with his clawed power fist and assault cannon.

Is most of the above viable/possible? All comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. :tu:

I'll be writing more up over the weekend but before that I must go to bed and dream about my marines.

Cambrius

[Ferrus Manus]

I love the colour scheme, and i cant wait to see more on this new xenos race.

[Brother Cambrius]

I love the colour scheme, and i cant wait to see more on this new xenos race.

 

Thanks Ferrus. I trst that I'm allwoed to use your holy geneseed? :lol:

 

I'll be posting up more on the Shalom sometime tonight once I finish all of my work stacking and packing for a few hours. :)

 

I'll give you one little secret about the Shalom, they have a very nasty club made from a special stone that can conduct electricity through it. Beware my brothers for it will be a shocking experience *shot by mods for such an awful pun*.

 

Cambrius

[Ferrus Manus]

Thanks Ferrus. I trst that I'm allwoed to use your holy geneseed?

 

yea no problems with it, i hope they do me proud ;)

[flintlocklaser]

Brother Cambrius, are you sure you want to name your alien species after a Hebrew blessing? Are you intentionally aiming for a Biblical/religious significance to the name? If not, and especially if your species name isn't supposed to be pronounced like the Hebrew word, you could change the spelling to emphasize the differing pronunciation. Just pointing it out.

[Ferrus Manus]

Brother Cambrius what program do you draw your chapter symbols on?

[BlackRaptor93]

Hey Brother Cambrius

 

WHOOO! HALO! (;) The Brutes are awesome!).

 

But yeah, very good ideas. I can't wait to see more on the Xenos (as Ferrus also said), and the Chapter Master being used as an initiation test is cool. Prehaps they must avoid him (considering Dreads have scanners and that) for a period of time?

 

Thanks,

 

BlackRaptor93

[Brother Cambrius]

I've just recieved a PM off Scally and he created an amazing colour scheme drawing for me without me even asking :lol: I'm ever so humbled by his generosity so I've now added it in immediately.

 

Brother Cambrius, are you sure you want to name your alien species after a Hebrew blessing? Are you intentionally aiming for a Biblical/religious significance to the name? If not, and especially if your species name isn't supposed to be pronounced like the Hebrew word, you could change the spelling to emphasize the differing pronunciation. Just pointing it out.

 

It wasn't meant to be a hebrew/biblical name. I knew that something was niggling in the back of my mind about the name Shalom but I couldn't place it. I've changed it to Sharom instead, sound better? What does Shalom mean then in hebrew? I'm intrigued (sp?).

 

Brother Cambrius what program do you draw your chapter symbols on?

 

2D design version 1.6. I borrowed it from school for my GCSE graphics coursework and I've had it on my computer since then and I've used it to screate all of my chapter symbols. I'll make one for you if you'd like, just drop me a PM and I'll let you kniow if I can do it. :)

 

Hey Brother Cambrius

 

WHOOO! HALO! (:D The Brutes are awesome!).

 

But yeah, very good ideas. I can't wait to see more on the Xenos (as Ferrus also said), and the Chapter Master being used as an initiation test is cool. Prehaps they must avoid him (considering Dreads have scanners and that) for a period of time?

 

Thanks,

 

BlackRaptor93

 

Yes the brutes are indeed awseome, but they're very annoying in Halo 2 when they keep charging you when you least expect it! <_<

 

I like the idea of the Dreadnought intiation, I'm thinking of having a challenge where the intiate must pass 3 test. One being stealth by hiding from the Dreadnought of the Chapter Master and placing a fake bomb on him. The second is to assault, where the the initiate must fight against the local preadotrs armed with only a combat knife and a pistol with only 1 shot in it and the third being a shooting and faith challenge where they must shoot fast approaching targets and must answer questions on the divinity of the Imperium and of their Primarch. Sound good?

 

Work on the xenos is close to completion, the chapter is currently having fun blasting their way through the cavernous mountains where the Sahrom lie in wait for them. The Sharom may be knuckleheads but some do have a grasp of militarial knowledge...

 

Unfortunately responsibilities at home have hampered my work (housework sucks) so I'll probably post up more tonight or maybe earlier.

 

Cambrius

 

Cambrius

[BlackRaptor93]

Hi

 

 

The Initiation sound fine to me, Cam!, and, you'll hate Brutes much more in halo 3! <_<

 

And the Sharom sound awesome!

 

Thanks,

 

BlackRaptor93

[flintlocklaser]

Brother Cambrius, are you sure you want to name your alien species after a Hebrew blessing? Are you intentionally aiming for a Biblical/religious significance to the name? If not, and especially if your species name isn't supposed to be pronounced like the Hebrew word, you could change the spelling to emphasize the differing pronunciation. Just pointing it out.

 

It wasn't meant to be a hebrew/biblical name. I knew that something was niggling in the back of my mind about the name Shalom but I couldn't place it. I've changed it to Sharom instead, sound better? What does Shalom mean then in hebrew? I'm intrigued (sp?).

 

Sounds fine! Like I said, I just figured if you weren't intentionally going somewhere with it, you wouldn't want the baggage that the original name might have created!

 

As for what it means, a girl I went out with once described it to me as being the "Hebrew aloha;" it's used to mean hello, goodbye, peace, and blessing. So it would have been a bit of a contrast for your horrible Xenos to be named that!

 

Everything else seems great so far, and I agree that the color scheme looks great! I look forward to seeing more of this chapter.

[Heru]

Name: Decimators

No-one ever has an original Chapter name these days. ;)

[DutchKillsRambo]

Just a thought, Dark Eldar arent normally assocaited with infesting planets. Their too few in numbers, thats why their pirates. I think Orks would fit this bill a little better. Thats just my opinion though. Also, is your Dreadnought intered CM the current Chapter Master? This has been discussed before, and the general consensus is that Dreadnoughts couldnt perform the day to day tasks of leading a Chapter. If you want to say he's still around to inspire the new recruits and such, that sounds cool and adds some depth to your Chapter. Keep up the good work.

[Brother Cambrius]

Hi guys, sorry I haven't posted ajnything yet, but Rl's really cutting down my chances of writing. :(

 

To answer Dutschkillsrambo's question no he's not the current chapter master, after he died the captain of the third was chsoen by vote to be the new chapter master. Venrable Grevius is now only used in battles when the chapter's in dire need or for the initiation as I've mentioned above.

 

I'll try my best to post something up.

 

Cambrius

[Brother Cambrius]

A little more of their history has been added. The Battle with the Sharom is nearly complete. :D

 

Cambrius

[Brother Cambrius]

Story of the Sharom now added. How does it look?

 

Cambrius

[A_POINTED_STICK]

No-one ever has an original Chapter name these days.

 

How about;

the Abolishers

the Eradicators

the Liquifiers ;)

the Quashers

the Quellers

the Ruiners

the Mow Downers ^_^

the Supressers

the Vanquishers

the Sackers

the Scatterers

the Overwhelmers

the Surmounters

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the Kick-your-yeller-arsers

the Tan-your-backsiders

the Sphincter Raiders (probably slaaneshi cultists)

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I've got a million lowsy names and very few good ones.

[Brother Cambrius]

No-one ever has an original Chapter name these days.

 

How about;

the Liquifiers :)

the Mow Downers ^_^

 

 

;) I must try to use those names sometime soon.

 

Cambrius

[Ferrus Manus]

I love the detailed dexcription of the battle against the Sharom. But surely an orbita bombarment would destroy the mountains?

[Brother Cambrius]

True, but then you lose most of the planet with it.

 

Cambrius

[Ferrus Manus]

Yea I supose so maybe you should change it to a bombardment by the chapter's devastator marines and tanks such as whirlwinds and the like?

[krieger haggoroth]

Looking good so far. You've got the battle against them filled out, now what about the rest of the chapter? Homeworld, recruitment, etc. You have a lot of fluff and not much fact here, and i look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[Brother Cambrius]

Yea I supose so maybe you should change it to a bombardment by the chapter's devastator marines and tanks such as whirlwinds and the like?

 

Good idea Ferrus, I'll add that in soon. And to answer Krieger's question, the rest of the information is slowly being churned out of my head and there is good things to come, including the loss of Kairus, the homeplanet of the Decimators thanks to the 'Nids...

 

Cambirus

[Commissar Molotov]

I have to wonder what role the Sharom play in this Chapter, apart from being an (obvious) homage to Halo. In truth, the Gravity Hammer was what tipped me off. 40k is cool. Halo is cool. Mixing them together opens up problems, but if done well it can be cool. I tend to find that when people create custom races for their Chapter to hate on, it becomes less IA: Decimators and more IA: Sharom (with 50% extra Decimator!).

 

Especially when you talk about the Chapter losing its homeworld to the Tyranids, your Chapter starts to lose its focus, that cohesive theme that really makes them attractive. Look at the Crimson Fists. They're alien-hating. They've got numerous campaigns against the Scythians under their belt. But what does the IA article say?

 

Polux fell eight centuries after the founding of the Crimson Fists, during the battle for an unnamed system, codified as HR8518. The system was occupied by a previously unknown alien race, who came to be referred to as the Scythians. These deviant xenos warrior monks made war using terrible venom-based weapons, and it was such a poisoned projectile that struck the Chapter Master in the temple and brought about his death. It is said he fought the deadly poison for many days before his superhuman physiology was finally overcome... After his death, his forces enacted his plan, and the aliens were repulsed from the system after a short but extremely bloody campaign of xenocide from which the Scythians learned the true power of the Imperium. The xenos have since rarely engaged Imperial forces in open battle preferring instead to mount stealthy raids and assassinations where their deviant, underhanded and dishonourable ways can prevail.

 

One paragraph dealing with an entire campaign and the death of the Chapter's founder! A noble warrior that fought in the Heresy! That probably boarded Horus's Battle Barge!

 

Because that's all that's needed to keep the article tight and cohesive, as well as exemplifying the anti-alien theme.

 

My point is that the best IA articles have a cohesive theme that runs through them, like reinforcing rods, or those funny little words in sticks of rock. You should be able to snap your IA article in half at any point, and your key theme should be there, bold as day. If you have a Chapter that hates aliens, any examples of famous heroes should be alien-killers. Any famous battles should exemplify your themes. After all, the Relictors fought Orks at Armageddon, but the article focuses on their battles against Chaos.

 

What do the Sharom have that the Tyranids don't? Do they add anything to your Chapter? If so, keep them in, and work at them to make them more sophisticated. If you could take your initial post and change "Sharom" to "Tyranid" and not notice much of a difference, then could the theme be tightened by referencing the Tyranids?

 

I'm not suggesting to make articles (or Chapters) myopic, but especially in an IA article, you're not writing the condensed version of nine thousand years of campaigning. You're trying to make an evocative snapshot of a military organisation (and, more specifically for the Liber crowd) a group of cohesive, interesting characters.

 

Are you writing short fiction, or an IA article?

 

:tu:

 

- Mol.

 

 

 

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P.S: As an aside, Orbital Bombardment wouldn't "lose most of the planet". Targeted missile strikes or lance fire are nothing like, say, Cyclonic Torpedoes. Look in the Inquistion codices at "orbital bombardment" or read the penal legion book Thirteenth Legion where the Cruiser flattens the city. There are different scales of bombardment. ^_^

[Brother Cambrius]

Thanks for the reply Molly. :P You've elightened me on quite a bit, now for some answers.

 

I have to wonder what role the Sharom play in this Chapter, apart from being an (obvious) homage to Halo. In truth, the Gravity Hammer was what tipped me off. 40k is cool. Halo is cool. Mixing them together opens up problems, but if done well it can be cool. I tend to find that when people create custom races for their Chapter to hate on, it becomes less IA: Decimators and more IA: Sharom (with 50% extra Decimator!).

 

Hmm, I was thinking when I was writing the IA that the Sharom part that it was getting a little too long winded. I wanted to try and get the feel of the campaign and the loss of chapter master Grevius was he turns up later on in the IA in the initiation process for the final challenge of the initiates.

 

I wasn't trying to make the Sharom too abvious an image of the Brutes in Halo but I forgot completely about the grav-hammer as I've only played Halo 3 once at a friends. It wasn't meant to be grav hammer, just an idea that popped in my head. I was attempting to take out pieces of the brutes such as they're strength and the appearance of doomsday from Justice League when I was browsing through the wonders of Y-Tube.

 

Especially when you talk about the Chapter losing its homeworld to the Tyranids, your Chapter starts to lose its focus, that cohesive theme that really makes them attractive. Look at the Crimson Fists. They're alien-hating. They've got numerous campaigns against the Scythians under their belt. But what does the IA article say?

 

Thanks for showing me that Mol. I'm probably going to condense the Sharom campaign and write a good amount on the loss of Kairus and the chapter's fortress. I'm thinking heroic last stand gbut not too Ultramariney...

 

I'm not suggesting to make articles (or Chapters) myopic, but especially in an IA article, you're not writing the condensed version of nine thousand years of campaigning. You're trying to make an evocative snapshot of a military organisation (and, more specifically for the Liber crowd) a group of cohesive, interesting characters.

 

Are you writing short fiction, or an IA article?

 

What does myopic mean? I'm not the best at english. I'm thinking of having some certain characters who wil shine through this IA as heroes for certain reasons. This is meant to be an IA but I don't think it came across well. The chapter is meant ot have the background of being a xenophobic bunch who have been given a rap on the knuckles by the =][= for it...

 

Thanks again.

 

Cambrius

[Commissar Molotov]

'Myopic' comes from the condition myopia, which is a form of extreme short-sightedness. The word is used just to mean that I don't advocate making an IA have too much of a narrow focus, or to be ignorant of the wider Imperial context around it, but I think that the best IAs are the ones that do have that cohesive theme that binds them together.

 

I'm glad you didn't take my feedback too badly! :P As I've said, this Chapter does have stuff going for it, but I think you just need to take a step back from your work and try to make your homages a little touch more sophisticated. :)