Index Astartes: Reckoners

[Hasoroth]

Index Astartes: Reckoners

 

Origins:

 

Created with an Imperial Mandate to vigilantly defend the Abbrucheld Sector, the Reckoners are a violent chapter of ill repute, infamous for their butchery and savagery in assaulting alien pirates, traitors and those that the chapter perceive as incompetent, Imperial ally or Astarte brother alike. Having long abandoned their original mission in search of combat across the stars they have evaded the long arm of the Inquisition for millenia, warring brutally across the void in numbers that continue to swell. Despite their near renegade status the Reckoners have been known to appear to defend Imperial planets in dire need of aid, stopping only long enough to destroy the enemies of the Emperor and to cleanse the planet of those they have considered to have failed in their duty before venturing forth onto yet another battlefield.

 

Geneseed:

 

The Reckoners hail from Guilliman’s geneseed, though they have long since left the dictates of the Codex behind.

 

Homeworld:

 

The Reckoners lay claim to many stretches of the galaxy, a claim matched by their massive war fleets, salvaged and won over the long centuries. A full list of the Chapter's territory would only be found in the deepest reaches of the Reckoner's records halls. In truth, the Reckoners do not maintain territory so much as they collect a series of terrified vassal states, eager to gift the Astartes with anything that they may require in order to stave off retribution. Though their lack of permanent territory makes supply gathering a haphazard process it is a duty that many of the younger brothers of the Chapter enjoy prosecuting, voyaging through space to demand supplies from terrified citizens so that the Emperor's Angels of Death may continue to prosecute their holy war.

 

This said, the Reckoners do maintain a fortress monastery of sorts. The closest they have to a permanent home (other than the cells of their ships) is a cluster of asteroids dubbed Algheit's Belt. Algheit's Belt is the host of the centennial "Recall", where the varied companies of the Reckoners reunite to share information and to update their brothers as to their whereabouts and status. It is a grave dishonor to fail to heed the Recall, and it is not uncommon for Captain's who have failed to return to be challenged to Leadership Duels by their brothers, for it is at the end of every Recall that new initiates are shared out between the various companies, replenishing their ranks.

 

The greatest permanent residence of any marine in the chapter is aboard one of their ships. To date Inquisitorial watch-dogs have monitored a grand total of three dozen ships flying under the flag of the Reckoners in Imperial controlled space, with many more unverified sightings. If true, estimates of the Reckoner's numbers could greatly exceed the thousand men at arms prescribed by the Codex Astartes, a worrying thought that continues to drive Inquisitorial pursuit of this wayward Chapter.

 

Recruitment:

 

Traditionally the Reckoners will rebuild their ranks once every century, returning to Algheit's Belt to pick a company's worth of recruits. However as the realities of the chapter's reckless expansion have began to sank in and as the fleets of the individual companies continue to grow it is increasingly common for each fleet to have and utilize the facilities required to turn mortals into Astartes. Recruitment policies are standardized throughout the fleets to ensure purity, Companies will demand tithes of young men and subjugate them to intense analysis, medical, spiritual and psychic. Those candidates found pure enough to begin training begin the process of gene implantation immediately if the need for recruits is pressing, otherwise recruits are taken back to Algheit's Belt to be turned into full fledged Marines, in time for the next Recall. For the unfortunates that fail to meet the Reckoner's standards they are either taken on as servants or lobotomized and turned into servitors, the Reckoners are not ones to pointlessly waste manpower.

 

Organization:

 

In unintentional mimicry of the crusades of the Black Templars, the Reckoners have long since abandoned the rigid constraints of the Codex Astartes, although the ten original companies of the chapter's conception still war to this day those numbers have been augmented with at least another two dozen companies ranging in number from a score of marines to Lieutenant Konneg's two hundred man grand company. Such massive deviation from Imperial stricture would warrant a purge but the individual and scattered nature of the Chapter continues to confuse and baffle Imperial attempts to record the full strength of the Reckoner's.

 

Furthermore the Reckoners have their own unique method of advancement through the ranks, promotion is based upon martial superiority. If a battle brother of the Reckoners feels he has enough popular support he is free to challenge his superiors for their rank. Usually these duels are to the death, weakness is abhorred as a personal trait and if any Captain was returned to the ranks alive more likely than not his battle brothers would turn on him as soon as they were able, working to eliminate the stain of defeat from their company.

 

The librarius of the chapter could reasonably be assumed to be a stunted arm of the Reckoners and to an extent this is true. Lacking the temperament, resources and inclination to train psychic warrior-mystics the Reckoners employ no astartes psykers. The duties of the librarium fall to the vast hosts of astropaths and chroniclers that accompany the Reckoners. Although at odds with the visceral, ferocious Astartes these men and women are surprisingly well looked after by their hosts; after all without their recording the deeds of the Reckoners would never pass into legend. What is also surprising is just how many Imperial astropaths will volunteer to accompany the Reckoners whenever they lay anchor at an Imperial world, perhaps the call of adventure amongst the Emperor’s chosen sons is far more fulfilling a life than the drudgery of dying in an Imperial hive.

 

Finally the Chaplains of the Reckoners are a world apart from the devout and passionate warriors in other chapters. Dour in temper and dour in the name, the Executioners of the chapter retain the skull helms and sable armour of their former occupation but now dole out justice, punishing those they consider to have failed in their duties. Despite their name typically they reserve the blades of their wolf head axes for the enemy, but it is not unheard of for one or more incompetent member of the chapter to have met his end through the bite of the Executioners.

 

Combat Doctrine:

 

The Reckoners rival the Flesh Tearers and the Marines Furioso for savagery on the battlefield and prefer to engage in surgical strikes where their horrifying skill at close quarters combat can be flaunted for their terrified opponents to see. Yet the true aim of any attack from the Reckoners is to spread fear, disorder and chaos undermining any defence that the chapter may face in its campaigns. To fulfil this objective all means are permissible, from atomic strike to artillery barrage but all too often, a simple butchering from the chainswords of the Reckoners is all that is needed.

 

Beliefs:

 

In the simple hierarchy of the Reckoners, your superiors are objects worthy of almost religious deference unless circumstances prove otherwise. By instilling this reverence in recruits for the chapter, the Reckoners ensure that any leadership duels that may occur happen only out of necessity; when a leader has failed so severely in his duties that all respect for him is undermined. As an extension of this belief the Emperor himself is worshipped by the members of the Reckoners as the ultimate leader of mankind and the Astartes. An extension of this belief is that by holding the Emperor accountable as a honorary leader of the Reckoners he himself is open to a leadership duel from a member of the chapter who feels that the God-Emperor of Mankind has failed in his duties; but the Executioners keep vigilant eyes open for such arrogant heresy and are swift to extinguish any foolishness.

 

Warcry:

 

The Reckoners routinely create warcries to specifically target whatever foe they are fighting. In combat against the primitive murder-giants of M’bean IV for example the Reckoners broadcasted vox-recorded howls of the tundra canids, the murder-giant’s sole natural predator.

 

 

 

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Bear with me as I do some formatting and pictures over the next couple of days.

[Grey Hunter Ydalir]

In mimicry of the crusades of the Black Templars the Howler's have long since abandoned the rigid constraints of the Codex Astartes, although the ten original companies of the chapter's conception still war to this day those numbers have been augmented with at least another two dozen companies ranging in number from a score of marines to Lieutenant Konneg's two hundred man grand company. Such massive deviation from Imperial stricture would warrant a purge but the individual and scattered nature of the Chapter continues to confuse and baffle Imperial attempts to record the full strength of the Reckoner's.

 

You seem to be using the Black Templars as justification for your own chapters divergences. Where the High Lords simply have to put up with the antics of a second founding chapter, your chapter has neither the history nor the political weight behind them to carry it off.

 

Also the Codex is hardly constrictive. Comparing it to Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War', it's not something that binds you in rules and restrictions, it's something that promotes tactical and strategic thought outside the box. The Codex is essentially the same thing and barring the organizational restrictions which were put in place to prevent further acts like the Horus Heresy, it's more of a book you turn to to provide inspiration than anything else.

[Hasoroth]

In mimicry of the crusades of the Black Templars the Howler's have long since abandoned the rigid constraints of the Codex Astartes, although the ten original companies of the chapter's conception still war to this day those numbers have been augmented with at least another two dozen companies ranging in number from a score of marines to Lieutenant Konneg's two hundred man grand company. Such massive deviation from Imperial stricture would warrant a purge but the individual and scattered nature of the Chapter continues to confuse and baffle Imperial attempts to record the full strength of the Reckoner's.

 

You seem to be using the Black Templars as justification for your own chapters divergences. Where the High Lords simply have to put up with the antics of a second founding chapter, your chapter has neither the history nor the political weight behind them to carry it off.

 

Also the Codex is hardly constrictive. Comparing it to Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War', it's not something that binds you in rules and restrictions, it's something that promotes tactical and strategic thought outside the box. The Codex is essentially the same thing and barring the organizational restrictions which were put in place to prevent further acts like the Horus Heresy, it's more of a book you turn to to provide inspiration than anything else.

 

Thanks, some good points were brought up:

 

We don't actually know what the contents of the Codex Astartes is, but we do know that:

 

1) Uriel Ventris was sent on a death quest because he decided to lead a strike team of Death Watch marines against a Tyranid Hive Ship, a relatively minor matter which was considered a massive breach of the Codex Astartes

2) Marneus Calgar had to meditate for days and have a massive recall of the Chapter just to debate on whether to add Tyrannic War Veterans as an official branch of the Ultramarines.

 

Which leads me to conclude that the Codex Astartes is fairly rigid.

 

Furthermore how am I using the Black Templars as justification? I've edited the sentence you quoted to "unintentional mimicry of the Black Templars" because the only similarities between the two chapters is:

1) Multiple fleets under one central authority pursuing their own objectives

2) Numbers may be in excess of the thousand strong limit

 

But unlike the Black Templars in this IA its hinted at the fact that the only reason the Reckoners have survived so long is because they don't stop moving and thus have escaped censure for their habits:

 

Having long abandoned their original mission in search of combat across the stars they have evaded the long arm of the Inquisition for millenia, warring brutally across the void in numbers that continue to swell.

[soddinnutter]

Possible reason for the utter savegery could be the high turn-over rate.

 

If you have to keep moving then you have to have every marine in the chapter on a permenent crusade, move from one battle zone to another with no break save transit time and this could be kept up for centuries with only a few week off every century to pick up fresh meat.

 

This is going to wear away the number of able bodied battle brothers a lot. so you are going to have to recruit a lot. In the book Sons of Dorn a gathering of ~2000 fresh recruits from one world resulted in 3 battle brothers and this was considered good.

 

So maybe they recruit heavily, like occasionaly whole underhives suddenly feeling a little on the empty side. And then you have high mortality rates. Result = lots of young marines who barely make it past the overly-aggresive stage.

[Grand Master Tyrak]

Which leads me to conclude that the Codex Astartes is fairly rigid.

 

If it's anything like Sun Tzu's Art of War, then it will be rigidly flexible. Remaining rigidly consistent to the Codex does not make it inherently rigid if its doctrines are inherently flexible. It is possible to dogmatically adherent to the doctrine of doing whatever the hell you want.

 

If the Codex is as all-encompassing as it is made out to be, Calgar's problem would have been "If this is so necessary, wouldn't we have been told already? Even as a general principle that could be adopted to these circumstances?".

 

1) Uriel Ventris was sent on a death quest because he decided to lead a strike team of Death Watch marines against a Tyranid Hive Ship, a relatively minor matter which was considered a massive breach of the Codex Astartes

 

Desertion is not a minor matter - the only remedy was the Nelson excuse: it worked. Choosing not to recognise the Nelson excuse is pragmatic caution and not necessarily rigidity - would you want to encourage that kind of gambling in a Chapter of only 1000 Marines, even at the risk of higher rewards?

 

That doesn't stop that being a poor decision on the part of the Ultramarines, but for reasons that aren't related to the Codex.