New Corsairs

[Grey Hunter Ydalir]

Having returned to Bolter and Chainsword after a long hiatus I have decided to at least open up the possibility, for myself, of revamping an old and incredibly badly thought out chapter design I had when I was last here.

 

I called them the Corsairs Serpentis. Honestly looking back at them they had no structure, no real themes to tie them together as an interesting group. The only things I seemed to attach to them were being technophiles, masters of fleet warfare and gurrilla warfare. Very over-powered fluff wise and had all the cliches in the book. While I can pick up a percieved problem in someone elses Liber article at 100 yards I could not for some reason pick the flaws in my own work.

 

No matter, in any case this thread is about what I am thinking about doing with them and any comments or constructive criticism would be well appreciated.

 

First I'll start with the images Scally made for my before he took his latest leave of absense.

 

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

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

 

Personally I found the second scheme to be quite inspiring and very cool looking in any case, though perhaps something that can be attributed to the 1st company, though having an entire strike force of marines painted in such a way would look quite excellent in my book.

 

Coming across the article on Wikipedia on the Corsair (Linky-dink) which I think Comissar Molotov may have suggested to me a while ago - the subject of the article not the article itself - though perhaps not. My memories of the last time I was here are not as clear as I would like them to be.

 

I was thinking that, with maybe a little bit of alteration to the name, scheme, heraldry or perhaps even if having to disregard the fantastic work by Scally for a new one, re-basing the chapter upon the concept of perhaps a naval/french/corsair themed chapter that revolves around the premise of the The Lettre de Course as described in the article.

 

Mainly that the chapter works on commission. For example; the Adeptus Mechanicus wants to get their hands on a new Tau weapon being field tested in an Imperial Warzone. They produce a commission for the Corsairs who subsequently go and aquire one of the prototypes for them. Or a prominant Xenos is to be detained for interrogation by the Ordo Xenos. Or even the persuit and destruction of a Daemon Ship carrying a dangerous artifact for the Ordo Malleus. There are hundreds of other scenarios to be invented and to me this only supports the idea.

 

There are some other factors to take into account, such as Homeworld, Founding, Geneseed. Not to mention their culture and influences which as I stated above may be of a Naval or perhaps french-naval theme, or slight theme with a touch of some other great naval nations, though this is far from set in stone.

 

These questions are what I am asking for advice on! I appreciate anything anyone can suggest and discuss in this regard.

 

-

 

Cheers.

[Hrvat]

A chapter for commission is an interesting idea but I doubt any of the mentioned organisations would be willing to "pay" your chapter for getting things done, especially various Ordos of the Inquisition, who generally just ask to help and if you do not comply you are in a world of trouble, not to mention they have their separate forces for the situations in hand.

 

The idea of such a chapter at least from my point of view can be developed but with a different twist. There are plenty of Rogue Trades willing to pay for marines as other organisations such as various trading and mining cartels, also such a chapter could be commissioned buy local planetary governors to get rid of seccessionist movements in hard to reach places or pirate ships infesting their system. The possibilities are many as long as you do not make connections with the "big" organisations except for very special and rare events in chapters history. I hope this helps.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

Hrvat

[Ferrata]

I'm not sold on what is basically mercenary marines, at least not loyalists. Chapters work for the Imperium, it is their duty, their life. Whilst they all go about it in different ways, they all go about it. What does your chapter do when nobody wants them? Fight for free like a normal chapter. Why would the Inquisition commision the chapter to do something when they can grab another which is willing to do it for the Imperium? Personally I would suggest looking more into the stereotypical character of corsairs over the actual facts about them. A flamboyent chapter sounds rather cool.

[Leethal]

Perhaps, you could go down the Soul Drinkers road. PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!! *cringes in fear*

 

Well, loyal to the Imperium at heart, but some horrible thing gets them kicked out. Now they're freelancers.

 

But a few things pop up in my head.

 

What use does a Space Marine have for money?

-Not food, he can turn his poop into nutritious paste.

-Not water, that nutritious paste also quenches thirst.

-Decorations? Meh...maybe. But unlikely, unless they're extraordinarily shallow or something of that nature.

-Trophies? You kill something. you keep it's head. Ta daa.

-Rights? Space Marines are a law unto themselves, so no go.

-Territory? That's just asking you to get hunted down by the Inquisition or something. You're not Ultramarines, you can't have your own empire despite however contradictory it is.

-Women? Unusuable man parts, so no good.

-Shiny things? Not that...useful.

-To buy stuff with? They could just...you know. Kill for it.

-Weapons? The Chapter's Techmarines could make it, or you know hijack transports.

 

The ONLY reason I can think of, why a Space Marine would be a mercenary is this.

-Because they have a union! :devil:

 

In all honesty a loyalist Mercenary Space Marine doesn't work quite as well as say a Renegade Mercenary Space Marine army. We all know Renegades are just pansy Chaos Marines, and we all know at least a third of them will wander down the path of Slaneesh and require bling, and liposuction, botox, and etc.

[FuriousFerret]

@ Grey Hunter Ydalir:

 

Awesome color scheme, weak-ish fluff. As others have argued, why buy the cow when you can have the milk for free? If an inquisitor commands, the space marines obey. Simple as that.

 

 

 

What use does a Space Marine have for money?

-Not food, he can turn his poop into nutritious paste.

-Not water, that nutritious paste also quenches thirst.

 

THAT WHICH HAS BEEN IMAGINED CANNOT BE UN-IMAGINED! AGH!

 

Thanks a lot.

[Grey Hunter Ydalir]

I wasn't so much thinking of literal payment, more to the point of pointing them in the direction of a target that needs to be taken care of. After what everyone has said I do agree that it is a bit weak. It was a shot in the dark to try and tie them to the actual history of the real world corsairs that, as evidenced by my not thinking it through completely doesent quite work. I'll have to think of something else now. ^_^

[Dazzo]

In rogue trader there were mercenary marines in camo power armour smoking cigars but today cool as the image is, you just couldnt get away with that sort of thing.

 

Name wise how about Ophidian Corsairs, ophidian being a less obvious name for snakes.

[Grey Hunter Ydalir]

I like your thinking Dazzo :tu: