Celestial Lions

[Captain Idaho]

Howdy all.

 

I am currently working on a project (literary based) that heavily involves the Celestial Lions. Whilst I have managed to locate information on the fluff already "established" for them, and the link below of a previous topic where a member of the forum asked some questions, I have some questions on top of the previous link that are a little different from the linked thread below., and didn't want to raise it from the dead. Check the link below for the old thread:

 

Link

 

Right, what I need to know is what sort of IP surrounds the fluff we do have for the Celestial Lions, who made it (as in what GW staffer) and how official is the fluff in the Lexicanum (as in was it torn from official GW sauces)?

 

Using what fluff we have, if I was to "fill in the blanks", what is the consensus on character themes to use (as in Roman names etc)?

 

Also, how popular would they be (hypothetically) if a story was to be created on their fate?

 

I have a few ideas and don't want to write a load of stuff that is not going to be well received or "accurate".

 

Thanks to all who take time out to help me.

[RagingGriffon]

Well, I guess it all depends on how you write the story. I think you should just gun for it and see ho people respond. I mean, you have as much as we do. Good luck with it. I'll read it and give you my honest opinion.

[Brother Tyler]

I've already quoted the relevant text from various WD articles in the linked discussion. Here's the text that first appeared at the Third War for Armageddon website:

The Celestial Lions have a long and glorious history, stretching back over four thousand years, but events set in motion a decade ago may now prove to be the Chapter's undoing. During the Khattarn Insurrection, five companies of the Celestial Lions were attached to the forces of Inquisitor Apollyon to aid him in crushing the revolt. The orbital defences were no match for the Space Marine battle barges and the initial landings were virtually unopposed.

 

As the campaign progressed and the number of prisoners taken by the Celestial Lions grew, it became increasingly clear to them that there was more to the revolt than they had initially been briefed. The corrupt priesthood of Khattar had fallen prey to the vile god of decadence and led the ruling castes into the depraved worship of Slaanesh. The Planetary Defence Force and local Imperial Guard regiments could not stand against the righteous fire of the Space Marines, who easily swept aside all resistance. Within the space of three months the rebellion was crushed and the Celestial Lions were boarding their ships, ready for the journey back to their Fortress Monastery on Elysium IX.

 

As the Space Marine craft achieved high orbit, the Navy ships in the Inquisitor's force began bombarding Khattar, systematically obliterating every trace of life on the planet's surface. This horrified the Celestial Lions who roundly condemned Inquisitor Apollyon. Their force commander, Captain Saul attempted to halt the bombardment, but he was unable to prevent the Inquisitor from wiping out the planet's population. The Celestial Lions were highly vocal in their condemnation of the Inquisitor's actions and began a series of loud and highly public criticisms of him and the entire Inquisition. A delegation of the Chapter's senior officers left for Terra to further their cause, but the ship failed to arrive. A freak warp storm blew up around their vessel, sending it hundreds of light years off course and into Ork held space. The wreckage of their craft was finally discovered nearly two years later. This was not enough to deter the Celestial Lions from their course and they continued to demand an investigation into the extermination of Khattar's population.

 

Their efforts were to prove in vain however. The Inquisition answers to no-one but the Emperor himself. With the outbreak of the third war for Armageddon, the Celestial Lions were ordered to mobilise their entire Chapter and deploy their forces in Hive Volcanus. Within a month of their deployment, the Celestial Lions had suffered appalling casualties. Intelligence provided to them on the Orks strength and disposition proved to be woefully inaccurate and each battle found the Space Marines vastly outnumbered and cut off from support. Several of the higher ranking officers within the Chapter began to suspect that this was deliberate, but could prove nothing and had no choice but to continue their attacks on the Orks as before. In one disastrous battle, four entire companies were wiped out in the Mannheim Gap by the combined forces of Warlord Thogfang's Gargant mob and the Razor Speed Freeks. Losses continued to mount, culminating in the Orks launching an uncannily well co-ordinated attack on the Celestial Lions base camp. The battle raged for over three hours, hundreds of Space Marines falling to the overwhelming numbers of the Orks. Unerringly accurate sniper fire from the mountains blasted through the camp, relentlessly targeting the Chapter's Apothecaries. A depleted company was finally able to break through the Ork ring of firepower and fight their way back into the hive. Only ninety six brothers of the Celestial Lions survived, and even worse, the last of the Chapter's Apothecaries took a bullet in the head within hours of arriving at Hive Volcanus.

 

The gene seed of the fallen now lies unharvested on the battlefields of Armageddon and the surviving battle brothers have all sworn to die alongside them, fighting the Orks until the last breath has been crushed from their bodies.

So the only named Celestial Lion that I know of is Captain Saul. I don't think that one name is enough to go off of with regard to determining a theme for taxonomy as we don't know how large the Chapter's recruiting base was or the variations in names among that recruiting base. For example, a Chapter that recruits from a single world with a very specific naming theme might follow that same naming theme. However, a Chapter that recruits from multiple worlds, or from one or more worlds that have a wide variety of naming themes (e.g., the Imperial Fists) might have a broad range of names. If we knew a bit more about the Chapter, we might be able to come to a somewhat accurate conclusion. As it is, the dearth of information prevents us from arriving at any conclusions that have a high degree of validity.

 

I have no idea who made the Celestial Lions up. I don't think that we have any indicators other than who the known GW staffers were at that time and perhaps narrow it down to one of those that was heavily involved in the development of that campaign.

 

The information at Lexicanum is semi-accurate, though it does draw a few conclusions that are suspect. The assigned founding date of M38 would be the latest that the Chapter was founded. This is based on that date being included in the Index Astartes article. I originally concluded that those dates indicated when the respective Chapters were founded, which appears to be what the author(s) of the Lexicanum article did. However, as the novel Warriors of Ultramar demonstrates, those dates aren't necessarily the founding date. In that novel, it was revealed that the Mortifactors were a Second Founding successor of the Ultramarines, whereas the date in the Index Astartes article, had it been the founding date, would imply that the Chapter was founded thousands of years later. This was probably either a retcon or lack of fact-checking on the part of the novel's author, but the retcon won out with regard to canon.

 

I think that a story about the Celestial Lions has the potential to be very popular. The Chapter has come to embody the most noble aspects of the Adeptus Astartes (among those who know about the Chapter).

 

Did you plan on writing a story about the events described during that campaign, or something that happened earlier in the Chapter's existence?

[Captain Idaho]

Thanks for the replies, very useful both of you (I appreciate that you would be happy to see a story based upon the Celestial Lions RagingGriffon)

 

Without going into too much detail I am writing a novel (or at least the 1st 3 Chapters) as a project that I cannot reveal at present (but will do in due course). However, the rough theme is the immediate aftermath of the events on Armaggedon, with the Chapter fractured in various small parties each trying to do their own thing.

 

Roughly; I want Captain Saul to be a surviver and leader of the largest group of remnants of the Chapter. He has 2 missions, to avenge the death of his Chapter and seek a way to expose the betrayal by the Inquisition. His story starts in the mountains beside Hive Volcanus.

 

Additional characters I want included are a handul of Marines trying vainly to rebuild the Chapter on their home world, only to find wholesale rebellion from the populace against the Imperium, including them. Why and the fall out will be revealed at a later date.

 

A single Celestial Lion, a lowly Assault Marine but real hard nut, will be trying to return to his Chapter, after being taken captive in the aftermath of the Manheim Gap disaster. Who has taken him captive and his fatewill be revealed soon enough, as he will be fairly important to the Chapter, eventually...

 

I was tempted to throw an Arbrite into the mix, one researching the gross negligence of the Munitorum (Imperial Guard to you and me) officers who had already been executed by the Ordo Herectus. He was to be "employed" by the Navigators who will have a relatively high ranking representative working with him, for unknown reasons. Why he was employed is a mystery to himself, but he is due to discover unravel things about the truth of the "betrayal". Why hasn't he been knocked off? That is easy enough, even the Inquisition have to be careful now other Imperial institutions are involved, especially the Navigators. Why are the Navigators involved? Let's say for now they are unhappy with the loss of several of their kin who were on board Celestial Lion vessels when they were destroyed by the Orks.

 

And of course the badies will have a showing!

 

As for IP etc, I suppose I should be safe enough to write stuff about them, as they are an officially documented Chapter by GW so fair game. I was just concerned that the author may have taken the IP with them. (Yes I am being enigmatic here, but it is relevant I will let you know why in due time!)

 

I think that a story about the Celestial Lions has the potential to be very popular. The Chapter has come to embody the most noble aspects of the Adeptus Astartes (among those who know about the Chapter).

 

Yeah, keeping to their morals and pride despite their horrific fate. Though I will be adding moral duplicity into the mix.

 

Consensus needed: I was going to keep the Chapter character proud, aggressive and mostly Codex adherent. They are going to have minor divergence in they lean towards assaults and fighting eye to eye with their enemies. However, I was not sure about fleshing out the Chapter's history, as that way leads to madness. I wanted to have them unclear on their history, but that was a little too Blood Ravens, don't you think? Also, I was leaning to them being Decendent to the Imperial Fists liniege, as the idea of them being proud, noble etc seems to walk hand in hand with Dorn. What do people think of that?

 

When I have a something tangible completed I will let you guys know and have a taster.