Index Astartes: Red Phantoms

[Lord Benthamus]

Index Astartes: Red Phantoms

 

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/dd64caafb3.jpg

 

History

On the surface the Red Phantoms chapter appears to be a typical successor to the Blood Angels; honour bound and noble of spirit but afflicted with the berserk fury that plagues the sons of Sanguinius. Their heroic deeds are famed across the galaxy and their reputation for bringing doom to the enemies of humanity is second to none. Yet they possess a dark secret, leading back to the times of the Heresy that, whilst only known to themselves and the highest ranking members of other Sanguinary chapters, threatens to destroy the chapter should it become known to the Inquisition.

 

To explore this secret, it is best to travel back to the Great Crusade, particularly the actions of the World Eaters on Istvaan III. The purging of all Loyalists from the traitor legions is recorded elsewhere, however what is not recorded is that, whilst the bulk of the legion were dispatched to aid Horus in his assault, a single detachment (postulated by some to be from the 6th Grand Company of which Captain Erhlen was also a member) had been deployed on Arisede to combat a rising tide of Orks. This was no mere oversight on Angron's part, having newly turned to Khorne and being unsure of how many of his legion would turn against him he dispatched a division of those he presumed to be loyal armed with inaccurate information and facing overwhelming opposition from the greenskins.

 

However this underestimation of the capabilities of his legion would prove a key mistake, as under the leadership of Captain Baouen Caesius the bulk of the strike force had survived long enough to bear witness to the psychic turbulence caused by the massacre and, with the knowledge that some of the Emperor's finest had turned to chaos, they conducted a retreat from Arisede (leaving it to the mercy of Waaaagh Rustbukkit) as they all knew that they would be needed most dearly elsewhere. However, abandoning the world and its people did not sit easy with the marines, the screams of those torn asunder by choppas afflicting them even as their Thunderhawks rose from the surface.

As Angron had presumed them to have been slaughtered there was no pursuit of Caesius' forces, however their ships were damaged from battle against the Ork fleets and the colossal warp turbulence meant that by the time they reached loyalist forces the news of Horus' betrayal had already become known.

 

In a strange twist of fate they met with the Blood Angels (long considered the World Eaters most bitter rivals among the legions) and Caesius, making an oath of brotherhood and reconciliation with the scions of the winged Primarch, was accepted to join the Blood Angels in defence of the Imperial palace. In reference of this their armour was painted, the white and blue of the World Eaters replaced with solemn black for their exile from their legion and red for their newfound alliance with the Blood Angels.

 

Caesius' marines fought alongside the Blood Angels in defence of the palace, standing firm against their traitorous bretheren and meeting the Khornate frenzy with the righteous fury of the loyal few, as well as the psycho-operant implants that had remained installed on many of the legions assault marines. It is said that whilst Angron's disciples yelled their fury at the top of their lungs, Caesius men met them with grim silence, refusing any acknowledgement of their ex-brothers other than a bloody ignoble death. When Sanguinius lead his closest followers to Horus' battle barge at the climax of the siege, Caesius' men remained behind, defending the palace to the last and, upon the withdrawal of the traitor forces, hounded all those who remained on the surface, hunting down in particular the Emperor's Children for their sadistic crimes against the helpless Terran civilians, as well as any of their former brothers they could cut a chainsword into. Caesius himself was struck down on the soil of Terra following the siege, taking with him a mob of Slaaneshi terminators who had loosened their armour's security for an enhanced sense of the suffering of those they tortured.

 

Following the siege, and eventually the reconstruction of the Imperium's forces, there was concern as to what to do with those World Eaters who had remained loyal. Though there was now no doubt of their loyalty and commitment to defending the Imperium great harms could be done if they were seen to bear any trace of Angron's legacy. Worse than that it appeared that the gifts bestowed by Khorne on the traitor marines were beginning to spread through the geneseed of the loyalist World Eaters as well. It was the Sanguinary High Priest of the Blood Angels who found a way to save them. They and the Adeptus Mechanicus managed to transplant stem elements of Blood Angels geneseed (using techniques that are now long lost to the galaxy) into that of the World Eaters, helping to stabilise the rage as well as having the external effect of altering the visage of the marines. More than this it was decreed that they had fought and earned the right to be alongside the Blood Angels as sons of Sanguinius, especially as they were now brothers in blood. As they had fought with silent fury, as an unexpected foe to the forces of darkness, the Red Phantoms chapter was founded.

 

Homeworld

 

As members of the World Eaters the original members of the chapter were largely drawn from Terra, as well as other worlds conquered during the Great Crusade. Following the Heresy those who remained journeyed alongside a small detachment of Blood Angels to Arisede, to find that the once unstoppable Waaaagh had collapsed and that the planet was populated by roving tribes or Orks and those few humans who had been spared as slaves. Here and there there were those who had managed to escape and form small units of resistance to their Ork masters (ironically similar to those slaves who had been led by Angron so long ago). The marines descended onto the world, butchering the scattered Orks and freeing every human they could. The shame at having abandoned the world still lingered and so the Red Phantoms pledged that they would forever more defend Arisede. Many of the escaped slaves had been forced to become mighty warriors in resisting the Orks and these provided ideal recruits to begin populating the chapter. A mighty fortress-monastery was carved high into the mountains and named the Chapel of Solitude, from here the Red Phantoms watch over their world.

 

The scars of the Ork invasion linger on Arisede to this day, the main continent existing as little more than an arid desert broken only by mountain passes. It is primarily from this desert that recruits are drawn, as the roaming desert nomads live a hardy existence that is a near vital prerequisite for life as a space marine.

The Red Phantoms are not as ruthless in maintaining the primitive nature of the main continent as some are, as they frequently employ arcane engines to create water supplies, preventing the healthy competition of the tribes from descending into vicious hatred.

 

However, whilst the main continent is feral, other island chains and land masses exist in a fairly standard Imperial manner (although ruled by delegations from the Chapter rather than the Administratum). It is normally forbidden for people from the developed areas to enter the desert (as it is feared that technology might soften the people of the desert). People of these lands tend to serve the chapter largely as fleet hands, staff of the monastery and aides to the battle brothers. However recruits are sometimes drawn from these areas, there are periodic occurrences of massive tournaments of strength and skill, the winners of which are permitted to defend their people as warriors of the stars. Thus when battle brothers gather during their indoctrination to the chapter some are undoubtedly at a technological advantage, but this is more than offset by the rugged survival skills of those from the desert tribes.

 

 

 

Organisation

 

The Red Phantoms broadly adhere to the codex astartes, their Sanguinary geneseed gives them a predisposition toward bloody assault and airborn strikes, to this end there is no shortage of assault marines within the chapter. This geneseed also means that, just as with the Blood Angels and their successors, some Red Phantoms succumb to the Black Rage and the blinding visions of Sanguinius' demise, joining the death company.

 

All marines from the rank of sergeant upwards wear ceremonial black hoods into battle, indicating their membership of the Chapter's ruling priesthood, those who learn in depth the progress of Angron's fall and the full truth of the Chapter's mission. These veterans guide the Chapter into battle, and it is when they face those who betray humanity that they lead their comrades in assuming their characteristic deathly silence.

Geneseed

 

The Red Phantoms geneseed is very complex, a symbiosis of genes taken from two of the first founding legions and interconnected on a deep scale. The fact that these two legions were also bitter rivals seems encoded in here, leading to a high propensity to mild dissociative identity symptoms within the chapter. The unique blend of Angron's brute rage and the terrifying wrath of Sanguinius produces uniquely lethal warriors. There are also rumours that, on initiation to the death company, warriors are implanted in a very similar manner to the World Eaters of old, amplifying the ferocity to truly terrifying heights allowing them to earn a truly heroic death. They also are said to be capable of pumping sedatives into the bloodstream, ones that would kill a lesser man but serve merely to blunt the fury of the Death Company allowing the chapter's chaplains a certain measure of control over their actions.

Iconography

 

The chapter's symbol is derived from Caesius' personal heraldry, a shield half black and half white. The Red Phantoms paint their right shoulderpads in this manner, the left site black and the right side white. As well as being a symbol of their saviour, these colours also serve to represent the dual nature of the chapter's psyche and their two progenitors; the dark brutal Angron and the holy altruistic Sanguinius.

 

Battle Cry

Descending from their history during the Horus Heresy the chapter typically offers no cry to the enemy, coldly butchering their foes. It is said that the chapter's binding philosophy, as engaged on the Chapel of Solitude, is: “Darkness Deserves No Recognition, As Those Who Commit Evil Are Already Dead”. Thus it is common, before a battle, for the Chaplains to lead them in intoning “Darkness Deserves No Recognition”.