The Aurora Chapter

[Lexington]

Hey everyone,

 

My submission for this year’s Iron Gauntlet challenge. Love it tender, love it true.

 

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The dark days of the Horus Heresy nearly destroyed the fledgling Imperium before it was truly born. As the legendary battles of the Heresy raged, vast regions of space reclaimed during the Great Crusade were left defenseless and alone. Many worlds fell to anarchy and ruin, as those that avoided the opportunistic advances of alien races fell under assault from an ambitious enemy within. The Imperium's eventual triumph is a testament to the will of mankind, and to those who would defend the Emperor’s realm even when all hope appears to have vanished.

 

The world of Firestorm had been brought into the Imperial fold during the last days of the Great Crusade. Originally a world operating at the pinnacle of technology, the Age of Strife left the planet a shell of its former glory. Firestorm's rich resources gave way to a vast nobility, whose ambition spilled violently into perpetual civil war. A bloody stalemate took its toll upon both the citizens of Firestorm and the planet itself; untold billions were driven into the crucible of warfare, and great technological wonders were unceremoniously razed in battle or scrapped for munitions.

 

Constant warfare and destruction gradually eroded even the most powerful faction's ability to make war. Lasguns eventually gave way to muskets and crude cannons, which in turn gave way to sword and shield. Peasant soliders, in the final days of the war, wielded crude spears fashioned from shards of what was once the glorious machinery of mankind. The population of Firestorm, unable even to harvest the most basic of mineral resources, settled into a shattered existence of nomadic gathering. Upon their arrival, Imperial forces were greeted by a world that was a specter of its former greatness.

 

Having easily cowed the primitively-armed residents, Imperial Explorator teams soon set to determining the strategic value of their new conquest. Firestorm, which combined a strategically valuable location with extensive mineral deposits and fragments of ancient technology, was quickly deemed to be of critical importance. A communique was sent to the Ultramarines - specialists in reclaimation of new conquests - asking for aid in bringing Firestorm back into the fold.

 

A reply was sent in the form of Sergeant Ardus Cainen, a veteran of considerable experience, and a master of Roboute Guilliman's methods of developing Imperial holdings. Sent with four other veterans, Cainen's was tasked with bringing the world's defenses and industry to sustainable levels within one Terran year. Cainen immediately undertook a campaign to unite the scattered tribes of Firestorm into a coalition, and laid the groundwork for reclaiming the world’s forgotten glory. Long abandoned cities were rebuilt and fortified, and the cogs of an industrial machine shattered by the wars of the past were once again set in motion - a process that, thanks to the Ultramarines' expertise, showed remarkable progress.

 

However, during this period of healthy progress, communication from the Ultramarines came to a quick halt. Given the limitations in interstellar communication, transmissions from the Ultramarines fleet had been sporadic since Cainen's arrival; however, the lack of any communication at all was disconcerting. Unaware of the war that was tearing the Imperium apart, Sergeant Cainen and his men continued on their mission - developing government, economy, industry, and defense worthy of an Imperial charge. Ancient defense systems scattered throughout the system, long forgotten by Firestorm's inhabitants, were re-activated by Techpriests left behind by the Explorator teams to aid the Ultramarines. It was this action, perhaps more than any other, that saved Firestorm from a quick and terrible end.

 

The Aurora Control Zone

As the Macharian Crusade reclaimed great portions of the galactic southeast, the forces of General Tarka's Third Army were met by a fleet of streaming jade battle cruisers identifying themselves as a lost detachment of the Aurora Chapter. Originally sent as a garrison force to the system to defend against Eldar raids, the large force of Aurora Chapter Marines found themselves cut off from the Imperium during the Age of Apostasy. Taking charge of several systems within the reach of their fleet, they carved out a stable empire of worlds under their protection, awaiting the Imperium's eventual return.

 

Led by their Master Velatian and the Librarian Sulaco, the Aurora detachment aided the Macharian Crusade in its battles to reclaim the worlds of the galactic southwest, participating in the Scouring of Antaris IV and the infamous Siege of Duro. The Marines returned to Firestorm victorious, re-uniting with the homeworld their predecessors had left behind six thousand years before. The entire Chapter was deployed to Theris III during the turbulent wars of the Macharian Heresy, upholding the peace so hard-won by their brothers.

Over the following months, several of the satellite monitors that ringed the system began to fail. While no immediate cause could be discerned, a disturbing pattern began to emerge, as the orbital monitors failed along a direct path toward Firestorm. The disturbance was finally identified when one of the defense monitors sent back visuals of crudely-wrought vessels, moments before the satellite was destroyed. Sergeant Cainen brought the world to full alert, assembling his defensive forces - Orks were on their way.

 

With scant time remaining before the Orks would make planetfall, Cainen began to organize. In an effort legendary by even Ultramarines standards, Firestorm's fledgling industry was shifted to a war footing almost overnight. News of the impending attack spread quickly; faced with the prospect of certain death, the population of Firestorm woked tirelessly to master the art of warfare. Government buildings were turned into fortresses; assembly lines previously used to produce mining and farming equipment now forged the tools of war.

 

The Warboss Zagrokk and the sizable greenskin forces under his command had been displaced from their holdings by the ferocious battles of the Heresy, and had set its sights on Firestorm as a resupply station and source of slave labor. The Great Crusade had seen a change in human civilization, turning once-ripe targets of Ork invasion into well-defended enclaves able to turn aside all but the largest WAAAGH. The prospect of once again pillaging an undefended human world had set the Orks into a frenzy, and the greenskins had set the whole of their warmaking apparatus towards the quick conquest of the planet. The first volley of orbital defense lasers took the Orks by surprise, reducing a full third of their Kroozers to smoldering hulks. It was not long, however, before the sentries were met with suicide charges from brutal Ork Ram ships, and their guns silenced. The initial wave of defenses had slowed the Ork attack, but now thousands of greenskin warriors assaulted the planet, dropping from the skies in huge Rokks and swarms of fighters.

 

Upon landing, the Orks found crudely-walled cities bristling with weaponry. The walls fell after several sustained Ork assaults, but not before the defenders took their toll in green blood. As the walls were abandoned, Orks swarmed into the cities, only to find them suddenly emptied of their defenders. Through a system of ancient tunnels, Firestorm's populace had evacuated to the planet's heavily-fortified mountain ranges. Buildings in the abandoned cities were booby-trapped, set to explode and collapse on the invading Orks. The blunt Ork assault gave way to a protracted siege, the Orks attempting to wall the humans inside their mountain fortifications while they mined the planet bare.

 

The population of Firestorm turned to guerrilla tactics, destroying Ork equipment with satchel charges and crude firebombs. Mile by mile, the humans began to retake Firestorm's surface. The Orks attempted to retaliate, but the human assailants would simply melt back into the mountains, where pursuing Ork forces were slaughtered by the massed defenders. Sergeant Cainen is said to have met his death in one such siege, holding the gates of his mountain fortress against hordes of greenskins. His loss was mourned, but gave the men and women of Firestorm a martyr to rally behind. The renewed purpose of Firestorm's people resulted in a profound increase in the intensity of conflict, and a great victory was won by Firestorm's warriors as Warlord Zagrokk himself was killed as he attempted to mount an assault on command bunker within Mount Zarek. The final blow to the Orks came as two of the remaining Ultramarines repaired a downed Ork aircraft and snuck aboard the Kill Kroozer Deff's Hed, Zagrokk's flagship. Their attack detonated its core, sending burning shards of the Kroozer into an eternal orbit. Leaderless and demoralized, the Orks fled the planet. The battle for Firestorm was won, and the defenders took to once again rebuilding their home.

 

Less than a year later, the Ultramarines returned to Firestorm; the remaining Marines were given the grave news of Horus's rebellion, and the Emperor's internment in the Golden Throne. In turn, the new arrivals were told of Cainen's heroic command of Firestorm's people in the defense of their homeworld. The story spread throughout the Legion, becoming a source of inspiration and bravery as the Ultramarines fought to keep the Imperium from crumbling in the wake of the Heresy. Eventually, word of Firestorm's salvation reached the ears of Roboute Guilliman himself. When the Ultramarines were divided into independent Chapters during the Second Founding, Guilliman honored the fallen Sergeant by placing Firestorm in the hands of one such Chapter, honoring them with the title of "Aurora" - an ancient Terran patron of hope, renewal and the new dawn.

 

Home World

The Andromedus Forge World

Lying within the Tempest system, the Titus asteroid belt is one of the most valuable assets in the sector; it contains plentiful reserves of mineral compounds required to forge critical war machines. Forge World Andromedus, founded in M33 to utilize these resources, enjoys the full protection of Aurora Chapter, whose home world also lies within the system. Several times in their history, the Forge World and the Aurora Chapter have worked in tandem to repel invasions of the system, and have always emerged victorious. For their aid, the Forge World supplies the Chapter with an impressive arsenal of Land Raiders, Predators and other armored vehicles, giving rise to the Aurora's legendary armory and their penchant for massive armored assaults.

Firestorm, named for its regular meteor showers, has a surface comprised mainly of low-rise mountain ranges. These mountain ranges are rich in mineral resources - the recovery and processing of which employ the vast majority of Firestorm's citizens. Thanks to the steady pipe of technology afforded its citizens by Aurora Chapter, life on Firestorm is relatively luxurious by Imperial standards. Many citizens live in small communities situated upon the more productive mineral deposits, while others have situated near the small cities that house Firestorm's production industry. Unlike many Space Marine home worlds, Firestorm does not offer up natural extremes and hardships for its people; the majority of citizens lead peaceful, if spartan lives of mining, farming and industry. Rather than a potential pool of recruits, the Aurora Chapter views the citizens of Firestorm as a people under their protection. As such, great efforts are made to shield the population from the strife and conflict found throughout the rest of the galaxy.

 

The Aurora Chapter maintains its fortress-monastery of Tithonus in the remote Okeanos mountain range where Ardus Cainen is said to have fallen. Set into the rock of Mt. Eos, Tithonus is a maze of tunnels and enormous chambers where the Marines of the Aurora Chapter train and live. Here, the most promising recruits from Firestorm's military academies are given the grueling trials common to every Space Marine Chapter. Those few who earn their place within the Chapter's ranks become heroes and legends in their own time, lauded and revered by their communities, joining those warriors who have kept a long vigil over the planet of Firestorm, and all others who live under the protection of the Imperium.

 

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The Aurora Chapter is organized into the standard formations prescribed by the Codex Astartes, and their heraldry closely resembles that of the Ultramarines, with a few exceptions. Notably, while the Chapter originally displayed their Company colors on their pauldron rims, they are now denoted by white Company markings on the left kneepad of the warrior's power armor, while their shoulder rims remain permanently black in honor of the many brethren lost during the defense of Milagro IV in the Johnus Uprising.

 

As a proud First Born Chapter, the Chapter maintains close ties with the Ultramarines, often aiding the warriors of Ultramar with armored divisions and regularly sending troops for Ultramarine Honor Companies. The Aurora Chapter is also known to have alliances with several Imperial forces throughout the galaxy, including the Azure Flames Chapter of Space Marines, and the 401st Cadian regiment. The Chapter's Librarium, housed deep within the rock of Mt. Eos, is said to have a record of Imperial organizations, history and military deployments that rivals that of the Adeptus Terra. Exactly how and why the Aurora Chapter would keep such a repository of knowledge is unknown, but it has proven invaluable to the Chapter and its allies when requesting aid and assistance from the Imperium.

 

Beliefs

Quote

http://aurorachapter.com/images/indexastartes/sulaco.png

”Tell a man of courage, and he’ll believe you’ve found yours. Show a man courage, and he’ll find his own”

- Brother-Librarian Sulaco

The Aurora Chapter, like the majority of Space Marine Chapters, recognizes the Emperor as a warrior and leader without peer, but do not put faith in the aspects of godhood and divine salvation that the Imperial Cult ascribes to him. A reverence of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman also figures strongly into the Chapter's doctrines, exemplified by the Aurora Chapter's strict organization along the lines of the Codex Astartes. Though not exactly religious in nature, a set of rituals and iconography have grown up within the halls of Tithonus, and the Aurora Chapter observes many of the holy days observed by the people of Firestorm since before the days of the Imperium. Banners and other iconography of the Chapter often heavily features the stars and the heavens, as well as weapons of war balanced by shields, walls and fortresses, symbolizing the Chapter's role as a defender and harbinger of new hope.

 

The Aurora Chapter sees its place within the Imperium as a protector of the Imperium and its people, rather than a crusading force in the Emperor's name. The Chapter has often refused to attack intelligent, civilized species without provocation, which has caused considerable friction between the Chapter and other Imperial organizations. Thus far, the Aurora Chapter's long history of loyal service to the Imperium has kept them shielded from overt accusations of heresy, but several Puritan Inquisitors are said to be building a case for the Chapter's excommunication and cleansing. It remains to be seen if the Chapter can hold to their ideals in an age which demands unquestioning service to the Imperial cause.

 

Battle Cry

While the Aurora Chapter itself does not appear to have a true battle-cry, many banners, emblems and other symbols of the Chapter are inscribed with the the ancient Terran phrase "tuebor," meaning "I will defend."

 

The art in this article was taken from the Macharian Crusade book by the Fly Lords, proprietors of The Bell of Lost Souls, which you may have heard of. Character art by Thomas “Goatboy” Reidy, The Most Hated Man on the Internet. Thanks to them.

[Sigismund Himself]

Brilliant work :D Just a few issues with it but then there always is.

 

It was on my second or third read through that I realised that over half of the IA is contained in the Origins section and that the actual chapter is not involved at all. IT would be great to have the actual chapter feature some more, even if that meant expanding some of the other sections which do look a tad thin and slight in comparison. Some would advocate scrapping the start to reduce the length of the article but I feel a little torn, as it is a nice introduction.

 

The other thing was the justification for their name becoming a byword among the Astartes for armoured assault. If they have this access to the Forgeworld in the first place, they could have requisitioned a great number of Terminator armour suits instead. What made them choose tanks instead? What's their thoughts on armoured assault? Some more of the views of the chapter on the armoured assault may be good. Did they conduct this tactic lots before they got the added armour?

 

Another thing that belongs in beliefs would be the chapters view of technology, more specifically the tanks they use and the machine spirits contained within.

 

"Tuebor" looks a little too much like a musical instrument or a type of vegetable. Perhaps making it more "High Gothic" rather than a direct Latin translation would fit the IA better.

[Captain Juan Juarez]

This is like might thread Necro! :ermm:

 

This article appeared in the most recent issue of FIREBASE Magazine...

 

- I Might be impressed, but I don't know what that magazine is :huh:

 

...specter of its former greatness

 

- Drop the "r".

 

Sergeant Cainen brought the world to full alert, assembling his defensive forces - Greenskins were on their way

 

- It's a style thing, but I'd change "greekskins" to something else here as it's the first mention.

 

...assembly lines, previously used to produce mining and farming,

 

- I'm no expert but an assembly line produced farming and mining? Or is there an "equipment" missing?

 

The Warboss Zagrokk and the sizable greenskin forces under his command had been displaced from their holdings by the ferocious battles of the Heresy, and had set its sights on Firestorm as a resupply station and source of slave labor. The Great Crusade had seen a change in human civilization, turning once-ripe targets of Ork invasion into well-defended enclaves able to turn aside all but the largest WAAAGH. The prospect of once again pillaging an undefended human world had set the Orks into a frenzy, and the greenskins had set the whole of their warmaking apparatus towards the quick conquest of the planet. The first volley of orbital defense lasers took the Orks by surprise, reducing a full third of their Kroozers to smoldering hulks. It was not long, however, before the sentries were met with suicide charges from brutal Ork Ram ships, and their guns silenced. The initial wave of defenses had slowed the Ork attack, but now thousands of greenskin warriors assaulted the planet, dropping from the skies in huge Rokks and swarms of fighters.

 

- This just strikes me as wrong; I don't know if it's that there are too many commas or if it's the implication that Orks have a warmaking apparatus.

 

Upon landing, the Orks found crudely-walled cities bristling with weaponry.

 

- Sighted in system, but had enough to to retask factoriums and festoon the walls with defensive guns!?

 

The blunt Ork assault gave way to a protracted siege, the Orks attempting to wall the humans inside their mountain fortifications while they mined the planet bare.

 

Ork 1: 'deresz 'umies and 'derez rockz.. Waaaaaagh do we do?

 

Ork 2: getz da rockz!

 

Ork 3: *stabs Ork 2 repeatedly, looking threatening at Ork 1* We killz da 'umies

 

 

In the "Organisation" section, you could perhaps mention an Aurora presence in the Honour Company, given the close ties?

 

The Aurora Chapter sees its place within the Imperium as a protector of the Emperor's realm and the citizens that dwell within, rather than a crusading force in the Emperor's name. The Chapter has often refused to attack intelligent, civilized species - such as Eldar or Tau - without provocation. This has caused considerable friction between the Auroras and other Imperial bodies, including other Space Marine Chapters. Thus far, the Aurora Chapter's long history of loyal service to the Imperium has kept them shielded from overt accusations of heresy, but several Puritan Inquisitors are said to be building a case for the Chapter's excommunication and cleansing. It remains to be seen if the Auroras can hold to their ideals in an age which demands unquestioning service to the Imperial cause.

 

- Do they? Is that fluff or created?

[Octavulg]

Founded in the wake of great triumph, the Aurora Chapter carries the spirit and tradition of Robute Gulliman into the depths of the 41st milennium. Wherever the enemies of the Emperor strike, the Aurora Chapter can be found defending the people of the Imperium from the galaxy's most terrible threats.

 

The way the second sentence is currently structured kind of implies that the enemies and the theats aren't the same thing.

 

The world of Firestorm had been brought into the Imperial fold during the last days of the Great Crusade. Originally a world operating at the pinnacle of technology, the Age of Strife left the planet a shell of its former glory. Firestorm's rich resources gave way to a vast nobility, whose ambition spilled violently into perpetual civil war. A bloody stalemate took its toll upon both the citizens of Firestorm and the planet itself; untold billions were driven into the crucible of warfare, and great technological wonders were unceremoniously razed in battle or scrapped for munitions.

 

I'm really not a fan of the name Firestorm, honestly. It doesn't feel like something someone would name a planet.

 

Having easily cowed the primitively-armed residents, Imperial Explorator teams soon set to determining the strategic value of their new conquest. Firestorm, which combined a strategically valuable location with extensive mineral deposits and fragments of ancient technology, was quickly deemed to be of critical importance. A communique was sent to the Ultramarines - specialists in reclaimation of new conquests - asking for aid in bringing Firestorm back into the fold.

 

The Ultramarines were spread thin at this point. I doubt they'd have time to help rebuild. If anything, I'd expect another Legion to send troops, if anyone could spare them at all.

 

Also, considering how long the Heresy lasted, the idea that they'd have collapsed into tribalism is a little...odd.

 

A reply was sent in the form of Sergeant Ardus Cainen, a veteran of considerable experience, and a master of Roboute Guilliman's methods of developing Imperial holdings. Sent with four other veterans, Cainen's was tasked with bringing the world's defenses and industry to sustainable levels within one Terran year. Within six months, Cainen had unified the scattered tribes of Firestorm into a coalition, and had laid the groundwork for a proper Imperial government. This coalition was stable enough that work could begin on the planetary economy and defenses - a process that, thanks to the Ultramarines' expertise, showed remarkable progress.

 

Six months?

 

However, during this period of healthy progress, communication from the Ultramarines came to a quick halt. Given the limitations in interstellar communication, transmissions from the Ultramarines fleet had been sporadic since Cainen's arrival; however, the lack of any communication at all was disconcerting. Unaware of the war that was tearing the Imperium apart, Sergeant Cainen and his men continued on their mission - developing government, economy, industry, and defense worthy of an Imperial charge. Ancient defense systems scattered throughout the system, long forgotten by Firestorm's inhabitants, were re-activated by Techpriests left behind by the Explorator teams to aid the Ultramarines. It was this action, perhaps more than any other, that saved Firestorm from a quick and terrible end.

 

Why would they have not been discovered while Firestorm was part of the Imperium or when the planet was originally contacted?

 

As the Macharian Crusade reclaimed great portions of the galactic southeast, the forces of General Tarka's Third Army were met by a fleet of streaming jade battle cruisers identifying themselves as a lost detachment of the Aurora Chapter. Originally sent as a garrison force to the system to defend against Eldar raids, the large force of Auroras found themselves cut off from the Imperium during the Age of Apostasy. Taking charge of several systems within the reach of their fleet, they successfully carved out a stable empire of worlds under their protection, awaiting the Imperium's eventual return.

 

Except they would have had little or no logistical support, something which Space Marines need a ridiculous amount of.

 

The Ultramarines are implausible enough. Knockoff Ultramarines who managed it without an Imperium at their back are pushing things.

 

Over the following months, several of the satellite monitors that ringed the system began to fail. While no immediate cause could be discerned, a disturbing pattern began to emerge, as the orbital monitors failed along a direct path toward Firestorm. The disturbance was finally identified when one of the defense monitors sent back visuals of crudely-wrought vessels, moments before the satellite was destroyed. Sergeant Cainen brought the world to full alert, assembling his defensive forces - Greenskins were on their way.

 

Why would the Orks have to come in from the edge of the system?

 

And considering the way space works (note the term 'space') how would a ring of monitors be practical to establish with the limited resources available?

 

With scant time remaining before the Orks would make planetfall, Cainen began to organize. In an effort legendary by even Ultramarines standards, Firestorm's fledgling industry was shifted to a war footing almost overnight. News of the impending attack spread quickly; faced with the prospect of certain death, the population of Firestorm woked tirelessly to master the art of warfare. Government buildings were turned into fortresses; assembly lines, previously used to produce mining and farming, now forged the tools of war.

 

WHERE THE HELL DID THEY GET BUILDINGS FROM IN LIKE SIX MONTHS?

 

Seriously, dude. You're taking the already-bordering-on-lousy-writing Ultramarines efficiency and dialing it well past the point of workability.

 

The Warboss Zagrokk and the sizable greenskin forces under his command had been displaced from their holdings by the ferocious battles of the Heresy, and had set its sights on Firestorm as a resupply station and source of slave labor. The Great Crusade had seen a change in human civilization, turning once-ripe targets of Ork invasion into well-defended enclaves able to turn aside all but the largest WAAAGH. The prospect of once again pillaging an undefended human world had set the Orks into a frenzy, and the greenskins had set the whole of their warmaking apparatus towards the quick conquest of the planet. The first volley of orbital defense lasers took the Orks by surprise, reducing a full third of their Kroozers to smoldering hulks. It was not long, however, before the sentries were met with suicide charges from brutal Ork Ram ships, and their guns silenced. The initial wave of defenses had slowed the Ork attack, but now thousands of greenskin warriors assaulted the planet, dropping from the skies in huge Rokks and swarms of fighters.

 

Orbital defense lasers?

 

No. I'm sorry. You cannot rebuild a society from tribalism to producing surprise orbital defense lasers in less than a year. It's not happening.

 

Upon landing, the Orks found crudely-walled cities bristling with weaponry. The walls fell after several sustained Ork assaults, but not before the defenders took their toll in green blood. As the walls were abandoned, Orks swarmed into the cities, only to find them suddenly emptied of their defenders. Through a system of ancient tunnels, Firestorm's populace had evacuated to the planet's heavily-fortified mountain ranges. Buildings in the abandoned cities were booby-trapped, set to explode and collapse on the invading Orks. The blunt Ork assault gave way to a protracted siege, the Orks attempting to wall the humans inside their mountain fortifications while they mined the planet bare.

 

Ork...siege...

 

What? They're Orks.

 

(Also, they had time to build orbital defense lasers, but not to build walls? I know how to build walls quickly.

 

The population of Firestorm turned to guerrilla tactics, destroying Ork equipment with satchel charges and crude firebombs. Mile by mile, the humans began to retake Firestorm's surface. The Orks attempted to retaliate, but the human assailants would simply melt back into the mountains, where pursuing Ork forces were slaughtered by the massed defenders. Sergeant Cainen is said to have met his death in one such siege, holding the gates of his mountain fortress against hordes of greenskins. His loss was mourned, but gave the men and women of Firestorm a martyr to rally behind. The renewed purpose of Firestorm's people resulted in a profound increase in the intensity of conflict, and a great victory was won by Firestorm's warriors as Warlord Zagrokk himself was killed as he attempted to mount an assault on command bunker within Mount Zarek. The final blow to the Orks came as two of the remaining Ultramarines repaired a downed Ork aircraft and snuck aboard the Kill Kroozer Deff's Hed, Zagrokk's flagship. Their attack detonated its core, sending burning shards of the Kroozer into an eternal orbit. Leaderless and demoralized, the Orks fled the planet. The battle for Firestorm was won, and the defenders took to once again rebuilding their home.

 

And what were the humans doing for food?

 

Yeah. Just two Space Marines, sneaking through an Ork ship undetected. A non-standard design, Ork-filled ship. And why would the leader be in orbit, rather than on the ground where the action is?

 

The Andromedus Forge World

Lying within the Tempest system, the Titus asteroid belt is one of the most valuable assets in the sector; it contains plentiful reserves of mineral compounds required to forge critical war machines. Forge World Andromedus, founded in M33 to utilize these resources, enjoys the full protection of Aurora Chapter, whose home world also lies within the system. Several times in their history, the Forge World and the Aurora Chapter have worked in tandem to repel invasions of the system, and have always emerged victorious. For their aid, the Forge World supplies the Chapter with an impressive arsenal of Land Raiders, Predators and other armored vehicles, giving rise to the Aurora's legendary armory and their penchant for massive armored assaults.

Firestorm, named for its regular meteor showers, has a surface comprised mainly of low-rise mountain ranges. These mountain ranges are rich in mineral resources - the recovery and processing of which employ the vast majority of Firestorm's citizens. Thanks to the steady pipe of technology afforded its citizens by Aurora Chapter, life on Firestorm is relatively luxurious by Imperial standards. Many citizens live in small communities situated upon the more productive mineral deposits, while others have situated near the small cities that house Firestorm's production industry. Unlike many Space Marine home worlds, Firestorm does not offer up natural extremes and hardships for its people; the majority of citizens lead peaceful, if spartan lives of mining, farming and industry. Rather than a potential pool of recruits, the Aurora Chapter views the citizens of Firestorm as a people under their protection. As such, great efforts are made to shield the population from the strife and conflict found throughout the rest of the galaxy.

 

So where do they get their recruits from?

 

* * *

 

Details are good, writing's good. Concepts surrounding the history are flawed and push things a bit further than they should. The rest of the IA's fine, but the history needs some work and some toning down.

[Heru]

I'm really not a fan of the name Firestorm, honestly. It doesn't feel like something someone would name a planet.

Unfortunately that is the name of the Chapter's official GW given homeworld.

[Octavulg]

:P

[Captain Juan Juarez]

I'm really not a fan of the name Firestorm, honestly. It doesn't feel like something someone would name a planet.

Unfortunately that is the name of the Chapter's official GW given homeworld.

 

 

:lol:

 

What a wonderful start to my day :D

[Gree]

Thanks to the steady pipe of technology afforded its citizens by Aurora Chapter, life on Firestorm is relatively luxurious by Imperial standards. Many citizens live in small communities situated upon the more productive mineral deposits, while others have situated near the small cities that house Firestorm's production industry. Unlike many Space Marine home worlds, Firestorm does not offer up natural extremes and hardships for its people; the majority of citizens lead peaceful, if spartan lives of mining, farming and industry. Rather than a potential pool of recruits, the Aurora Chapter views the citizens of Firestorm as a people under their protection. As such, great efforts are made to shield the population from the strife and conflict found throughout the rest of the galaxy.

 

Peaceful people sheltered from conflict don't really make the best recruits for the Astartes. even the Ultramarines put their people through punishing training from hell as part of a mandatory military service.

[Lexington]

@Captain Juan Juarez - Dude, thanks! I cannot believe some of those grammar/word use errors that got through our original editing process here. My co-author for this thing's gonna have conniption fits when he hears about it. I'll take the stylistic changes into consideration while editing this weekend.

 

Though now that I think about it, it could be fun to write Firestorm as having some bizarre Settlers of Catan-style metaphysics that produce "mining" and "farming" as single-unit resources... ;)

 

Sighted in system, but had enough to to retask factoriums and festoon the walls with defensive guns!?

Outside of random Warp jumps, Ork space travel's always been portrayed as (relatively) slow. You see this in things like the Second and Third Wars for Armageddon, wherein the Imperials have a lot of time to prepare defenses against the slow but implacable wall of Orks bearing down on them from the void. The invasion here's nothing on that scale, but the mechanics are similar.

 

In the "Organisation" section, you could perhaps mention an Aurora presence in the Honour Company, given the close ties?

Definitely. I've actually written elsewhere about the Aurora Chapter maintaining an "Honor Company" tradition of their own, so this is going to be part of the revamp.

 

Do they? Is that fluff or created?

All me - as far as I've been able to ascertain, the Lexicanum article on the Aurora Chapter contains every scrap of official information on the Chapter that's ever been published. The excellent Macharian Crusade campaign book from Bell of Lost Souls is also a "canonical" resource, as far as the article's concerned. Actually, I'll note (with some pride) that BoLS Head Honcho bigred "gave" me their version of the Chapter to do with as I saw fit. Which was really nice of him, considering that this only happened after I wrote a story that killed off one of their special characters and consigned the other to the iron shell of a Dreadnought, then got it published it in what was, at the time, a stupidly popular 40K fanzine. Better to ask forgiveness, etc., etc. :)

 

Damn if there's not some ham-fisted sentences in that paragraph, tho. Consider that whole section on "The List" for revision, and thanks once more for the comments!

 

@Octavulg - A lot of your criticism seems to be based on a misunderstanding of the chronology here; you're mistaking the "Age of Strife" for the years directly after the Heresy (which has a name, but I can't remember it for the life of me). The article's referring to the 15 thousand years or so of chaos that directly preceded the Great Crusade. Plenty of time for a world to go to hell!

 

The way the second sentence is currently structured kind of implies that the enemies and the theats aren't the same thing.

Right you are! The Giant Red Pen has been alerted, and is en route.

 

I'm really not a fan of the name Firestorm, honestly. It doesn't feel like something someone would name a planet.

Ugh, so very with you here, but like Heru Talon said, it's been official since the 5th Edition SM Codex. I was considering making it a nickname or something (sort of like Forgeworld's since done with the Space Sharks), but it just seemed too obvious a dodge. I'm open to suggestions here, though. Hell, I'm pleading for them. People of the Liber, I beg of you - give me a plausible way around this dumb name!

 

Six months?

I have to admit, it's a pretty crazy figure overall. The idea here - never stated, for reasons of flow - is that Firestorm's remaining population was actually relatively small, and that there are some vast infrastructure that was more or less abandoned by its inhabitants. I'll see what I can do about stating these ideas more solidly in the edit, and upping the time span a bit more.

 

Anyone have any thoughts on how long it would take to plausibly (in the 40K sense) bring a world like this "up to code," so to speak?

 

As the Macharian Crusade reclaimed great portions of the galactic southeast, the forces of General Tarka's Third Army were met by a fleet of streaming jade battle cruisers identifying themselves as a lost detachment of the Aurora Chapter. Originally sent as a garrison force to the system to defend against Eldar raids, the large force of Auroras found themselves cut off from the Imperium during the Age of Apostasy. Taking charge of several systems within the reach of their fleet, they successfully carved out a stable empire of worlds under their protection, awaiting the Imperium's eventual return.

Except they would have had little or no logistical support, something which Space Marines need a ridiculous amount of.

This is something that came out of the BoLS-written Macharian Crusade background, but it's a concern I've had as well, and kind of glossed over for convenience's sake. Though, really, it could be explained by the fact that the multiple systems that were under their control had enough in the way of resources to keep the Aurora Control Zone going. combined with the fact that while the Auroras spearheaded the defense effort, they didn't do the whole thing alone - like good sons of Guilliman they are, the Aurora Chapter puts down a strong bureaucracy in the worlds they watch over, then relies upon it to help keep the riff-raff out.

 

Why would the Orks have to come in from the edge of the system?

As said earlier, this is just how Orks tend to work - their Warp navigation capabilities are unpredictable at best (often consisting of "ask da Weirdboy where we iz"), so they seem to often come in from outside of a system and work their way towards inhabited worlds. Once again, it's a method you see in the Armageddon invasions and elsewhere. The realism here can be debated, of course, but it's how these things have been done canonically since just about forever.

 

And considering the way space works (note the term 'space') how would a ring of monitors be practical to establish with the limited resources available?

That's 40K for you - squishing the third dimension out of the picture for narrative convenience! ;)

 

Seriously, though, good point. Another concept on The List.

 

Orbital defense lasers?

 

No. I'm sorry. You cannot rebuild a society from tribalism to producing surprise orbital defense lasers in less than a year. It's not happening.

Like the monitoring stations, the defense platforms are supposed to be a remnant of the world's system-wide defense grid, and were simply re-activated once the natives were doing more than rubbing sticks together. Once again, tho, this should be made more clear, and I'll endeavor to make it so in the edits.

 

Ork...siege...

 

What? They're Orks.

I seem to give Orks more credit than most, and try to portray them as having the Rogue Trader/WAAARGH Da Orkz!-era 'kultural' structures and military capabilities of yore. I love Orks and their zany antics as much as anyone, but this idea of a race that can’t keep up a coherent strategy in the space between mealtimes just doesn’t jibe with me. Orks can get things done if they want to, but it requires a lot of top-down pressure - which is why they fall apart if their leadership suddenly goes poof.

 

Also, to bring up Armageddon again, the Orks really do know from siege'n. Helsreach does this in detail, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a picture of what a semi-realistic war effort in the 41st Millennium looks like, or, really, anyone who likes 40K in general. It's a marvelous novel with some real depth to it, exploring both the hellish nightmare of logistics that a protracted war becomes and the psychology of Space Marines.

 

And what were the humans doing for food?

Good question. I've got ideas there, but they'll need mulling over. Any suggestions?

 

Yeah. Just two Space Marines, sneaking through an Ork ship undetected. A non-standard design, Ork-filled ship.

Hey! Don't trivialize the

of Brother Smith and Brother Goldblum! B)

 

Really, though, it seems to me that the fleet would only have a skeleton crew around, so it's plausible that a couple of Marines would be able to wreck havoc on the unsuspecting ship, especially since the Orks are in something of a low-level panic at this point.

 

And why would the leader be in orbit, rather than on the ground where the action is?

Zagrokk was already dead at this point, and clearly whoever his successor was didn't have the ability to keep the Orks going so well. ;)

 

So where do they get their recruits from?

Firestorm's military academies - they're pretty similar to the Ultramarines in this.

 

Details are good, writing's good. Concepts surrounding the history are flawed and push things a bit further than they should. The rest of the IA's fine, but the history needs some work and some toning down.

Thanks for your efforts! I've tried to explain what I can here, but I'll be looking at a lot of these areas during the revisions.

 

My weekend plans got deep-sixed yesterday, so expect an update on the IA (and my critique of several other IAs) over the next few days!

[Captain Juan Juarez]

Currently I'm disappointed my Ork conversation didn't merit a quote..

[Octavulg]

@Octavulg - A lot of your criticism seems to be based on a misunderstanding of the chronology here; you're mistaking the "Age of Strife" for the years directly after the Heresy (which has a name, but I can't remember it for the life of me). The article's referring to the 15 thousand years or so of chaos that directly preceded the Great Crusade. Plenty of time for a world to go to hell!

 

The years after the Heresy are the Scouring.

 

Describing it as "the years before the Imperium came to Firestorm" would probably get the point across so clearly even I can't miss it. ^_^ Making sure to make it clear that this is pre-(or post) Heresy would also be a good precaution.

 

Ugh, so very with you here, but like Heru Talon said, it's been official since the 5th Edition SM Codex. I was considering making it a nickname or something (sort of like Forgeworld's since done with the Space Sharks), but it just seemed too obvious a dodge. I'm open to suggestions here, though. Hell, I'm pleading for them. People of the Liber, I beg of you - give me a plausible way around this dumb name!

 

Simple! The Chapter's home world is the inner-system world of Firestorm, which is a lot like Mercury. The actual recruitment happens on WORLD X (which they also have custody over), and the system is called something else again. Mention it once, mention the monastery, never speak of it again. :P Claim that the plains and hostile environment make it a good place for testing armor formations and tactics under stress, if you like.

 

I have to admit, it's a pretty crazy figure overall. The idea here - never stated, for reasons of flow - is that Firestorm's remaining population was actually relatively small, and that there are some vast infrastructure that was more or less abandoned by its inhabitants. I'll see what I can do about stating these ideas more solidly in the edit, and upping the time span a bit more.

 

Anyone have any thoughts on how long it would take to plausibly (in the 40K sense) bring a world like this "up to code," so to speak?

 

It's just...if they were reduced to fighting with fragments of great machines, I'd kinda figured most of the buildings went, too.

 

In regard to timeline - depends on the degree of support available. Equally, it depends on how much infrastructure was left from the previous age. If there still was some, then it's a very different kettle of fish.

 

Still. I'd recommend a year or two, rather than six months. And make it clear how much infrastructure remained, even though the people didn't exactly grasp it.

 

This is something that came out of the BoLS-written Macharian Crusade background, but it's a concern I've had as well, and kind of glossed over for convenience's sake. Though, really, it could be explained by the fact that the multiple systems that were under their control had enough in the way of resources to keep the Aurora Control Zone going. combined with the fact that while the Auroras spearheaded the defense effort, they didn't do the whole thing alone - like good sons of Guilliman they are, the Aurora Chapter puts down a strong bureaucracy in the worlds they watch over, then relies upon it to help keep the riff-raff out.

 

Stupid BOLS. ;)

 

It's a question of time and perpetuating the geneseed, more than anything else. Even if it were several companies, they'd have a single digit number of Apothecaries and minimal facilities for dealing with geneseed.

 

The rest of the stuff can work, but the geneseed is a real bottleneck.

 

As said earlier, this is just how Orks tend to work - their Warp navigation capabilities are unpredictable at best (often consisting of "ask da Weirdboy where we iz"), so they seem to often come in from outside of a system and work their way towards inhabited worlds. Once again, it's a method you see in the Armageddon invasions and elsewhere. The realism here can be debated, of course, but it's how these things have been done canonically since just about forever.

 

Fair enough.

 

No. I'm sorry. You cannot rebuild a society from tribalism to producing surprise orbital defense lasers in less than a year. It's not happening.

 

Like the monitoring stations, the defense platforms are supposed to be a remnant of the world's system-wide defense grid, and were simply re-activated once the natives were doing more than rubbing sticks together. Once again, tho, this should be made more clear, and I'll endeavor to make it so in the edits.

 

I think they should probably be sparser - a few thousand years would have thinned them out due to asteroid strikes, pirates, etc.

 

I seem to give Orks more credit than most, and try to portray them as having the Rogue Trader/WAAARGH Da Orkz!-era 'kultural' structures and military capabilities of yore. I love Orks and their zany antics as much as anyone, but this idea of a race that can’t keep up a coherent strategy in the space between mealtimes just doesn’t jibe with me. Orks can get things done if they want to, but it requires a lot of top-down pressure - which is why they fall apart if their leadership suddenly goes poof.

 

Fair enough. Prolonged siege just doesn't seem their style, though. I'd expect them to even try luring the citizens out of the mountains before they settled in to starve them out.

 

Also, remember that once the Orks have been on a world long enough, you can never get rid of them. A siege is a good thing for the Orks in the long run - and the Marines would know that. Maybe.

 

Good question. I've got ideas there, but they'll need mulling over. Any suggestions?

 

Took it with them/grew it there/starved. Pick one. ^_^

 

Hey! Don't trivialize the heroic efforts of Brother Smith and Brother Goldblum! tongue.gif

 

Nice. :)

 

Zagrokk was already dead at this point, and clearly whoever his successor was didn't have the ability to keep the Orks going so well. msn-wink.gif

 

I'm just not sure why blowing up part of the fleet is necessary. Breaking the Orks on the ground (and keeping them broken) is usually sufficient to get rid of them, as I recall.

 

Firestorm's military academies - they're pretty similar to the Ultramarines in this.

 

Then mention them, I think. Right now you make it sound like they don't recruit from there.

[Lexington]

Peaceful people sheltered from conflict don't really make the best recruits for the Astartes. even the Ultramarines put their people through punishing training from hell as part of a mandatory military service.

Well, there's only so much sheltering going on here, and the training that goes on in Firestorm's military academies is pretty harsh, imaginably. It's not the succeed-or-die environment that a lot of Chapters put their potential recruit pool through - those who excel, but aren't quite Marine-quality end up in a semi-PDF/semi-Chapter Serf organization that mainly exists because I picked up some Kasarkin on the cheap, and they're just too damn cool not to use - but it does have the end goal of recruiting new Marines for the Aurora Chapter. I'll see about detailing this whole thing somewhere, but I'm not sure it belongs in the IA.

 

@Octavulg - Thanks, a lot of helpful ideas here. :lol: I'm gonna leave most of your response alone, to be answered instead by the upcoming revisions, but a couple of points:

 

Stupid BOLS. :P

Well, BoLS isn't really to blame here - in the original document, Theris III was the Aurora Chapter homeworld, so this all makes a bit more sense when viewed from that angle. When the 5th Edition Marine Codex hit, bigred went back in and altered it to be concordant with the snippets of info on the Aurora Chapter contained within, but it did leave things a little dicey, I'll admit. Ideally, I'd flesh this all out more to answer the questions that the story naturally brings up, but it's one of those things that seems like it'd bog the article down in statistics and explanations.

 

Also, remember that once the Orks have been on a world long enough, you can never get rid of them. A siege is a good thing for the Orks in the long run - and the Marines would know that. Maybe.

Another one of those things that I've worked out in my brainpan (short answer: it took a long time, but they did finally cleanse the greenskins), but answering it in the IA causes flow problems, and seems dangly.

 

I'm just not sure why blowing up part of the fleet is necessary. Breaking the Orks on the ground (and keeping them broken) is usually sufficient to get rid of them, as I recall.

Having their Warlord's death being the sole reason for their defeat just seems a little pat for me. The "coup de grace" attack on the fleet here is really more about giving the Orks an immediate kick in the pants to really get them evacuating - they were already disorganized, and would have fled eventually, but this gave them the impetus to leave en masse. On the Ork side, there were certainly power struggles as Zagrokk's lieutenants both tried to keep order while vying for their boss' old position. Having the WAAAGH's most important orbital asset suddenly rain from the atmosphere in firey chunks managed to completely demoralize that already-confused greenskin presence.

 

Really, this is all part of a larger thought cloud that I need to set down in essay form someday - the core idea being that 40K has a lot more in the way of verisimilitude when its narratives have the jaggy, post-hoc value that real history does. Too often, I see people write 40K background with the smooth contours of a genre novel, and it always strikes a false note.

 

Currently I'm disappointed my Ork conversation didn't merit a quote..

Sorry, yo - you and Octavulg both made the same observation, and I chose to respond to Oct's because it allowed a bit of a wider explanation. Yours made me chuckle, tho. :D

 

Once again, thanks everyone for your work - edits coming soon!

[Captain Juan Juarez]

Currently I'm disappointed my Ork conversation didn't merit a quote..

Sorry, yo - you and Octavulg both made the same observation, and I chose to respond to Oct's because it allowed a bit of a wider explanation. Yours made me chuckle, tho. :P

 

Once again, thanks everyone for your work - edits coming soon!

 

He may be prettier, but I'm funnier!

[Octavulg]

Lexington:

 

Well, BoLS isn't really to blame here - in the original document, Theris III was the Aurora Chapter homeworld, so this all makes a bit more sense when viewed from that angle. When the 5th Edition Marine Codex hit, bigred went back in and altered it to be concordant with the snippets of info on the Aurora Chapter contained within, but it did leave things a little dicey, I'll admit. Ideally, I'd flesh this all out more to answer the questions that the story naturally brings up, but it's one of those things that seems like it'd bog the article down in statistics and explanations.

 

It's definitely iffy. Why not just retcon where Firestorm is?

 

Having their Warlord's death being the sole reason for their defeat just seems a little pat for me. The "coup de grace" attack on the fleet here is really more about giving the Orks an immediate kick in the pants to really get them evacuating - they were already disorganized, and would have fled eventually, but this gave them the impetus to leave en masse. On the Ork side, there were certainly power struggles as Zagrokk's lieutenants both tried to keep order while vying for their boss' old position. Having the WAAAGH's most important orbital asset suddenly rain from the atmosphere in firey chunks managed to completely demoralize that already-confused greenskin presence.

 

I'd figure they killed the Warlords, then the Marines kept smacking leaders on the head until everything disintegrated.

 

It can work, I suppose. Going into space just seems risky and unnecessary.

 

Really, this is all part of a larger thought cloud that I need to set down in essay form someday - the core idea being that 40K has a lot more in the way of verisimilitude when its narratives have the jaggy, post-hoc value that real history does. Too often, I see people write 40K background with the smooth contours of a genre novel, and it always strikes a false note.

 

An interesting thought. Write it out some time.

 

 

* * *

 

CJJ:

 

He may be prettier, but I'm funnier!

 

The natural comedy of your appearance does manage to come through the textual medium somehow...

[Lexington]

Update tonight, lots of changed verbiage (besides addressing voiced concerns, I cut out all use of the term "Auroras," which seems too slang-ish for an IA article) and fixes based on feedback from Octavulg and Captain Juan Juarez. There's some things I've not addressed, however, and will hopefully be getting a more thorough edit done tomorrow evening.

 

Have at, you lovely monsters!