Gale Arbiters, Renegade Chapter

[Sinister_Miles]

So being as this is my third post or so on this board I'll just go out and say that Im probably going to make a lot of mistakes and/or have numerous grammatical mistakes. I have read the guide to DIY chapters, paying special attention to the renegade parts, but I'm still probably going to make mistakes.

 

 

OK so getting started, firstly the name: When I was first envisioning this chapter I thought the name the Gale Arbiters was pretty cool, I still think that; but it doesnt really sound very renegade. Now that may not be a problem because I do want them to be a loyalist chapter if at all possible, though that will depend on what people think. Im very willing to accept ideas from people as to better names, plot devices, history, etc..

Anyways, the Gale Arbiters name really kinda shows what their background kinda is as far as their 'fall' is concerned.

 

History:

The Gale Arbiters were founded thousands of years ago on the planet Actus Rea where the supreme planetary authority were the legal courts. After a couple of hundred years the Chapter found itself heavily involved in the legal community of the planet, after an incident where a distraught mother attempted to have the courts force the chapter to give her son back. Still a thousand years into the chapters history the planet was struck by a natural disaster of immense proportions, the only information remaining about the fall of the planet is that along with many thousands of relics the origins of the chapter were destroyed and the only remaining link they had to their former homeworld was a legal library the chapter had put on their only battle barge in case another incident had arisen. This only led the Chapter deeper into the law, each warrior being forced to study the law during the times he was not practicing his warriors arts.

 

The Gale Arbiters have always believed that the first and primary role of the Space Marine is to guide humanity, if only by example, the Arbiters have always attempted to take a leading role in the development in any world they become invested in for any amount of time. As such the Arbiters have had a great deal of experience dealing with the many other institutions of the Imperium. During that time The Gale Arbiters have long observed the Imperium's decline, during their many centuries of service to the Emperor the Arbiters have kept careful records on their supposed allies. At first it was simply at the planetary level, corrupt leaders and bureaucratic delays were noted and stored whilst the Arbiters prepared to go to the higher ups in the other Imperial institutions and report this fundamental break down. However, as far high as the Arbiters could look the corruption and near inhuman indifference was present.

 

Whole planets could become embroiled in heresy or invasion and the higher ups in the imperium could care less, only once an invasion or heretical threatened whole systems would the Imperiums human organizations act. Here the Arbiters own efficiency was their downfall; determined to follow the tactical doctrine of the Astartes into the political realm, the Arbiters thought that the entire purpose of having the vast bureaucracy was so that these tiny invasions and heretical uprisings could be put down before they reached a system wide threat level. Thousands of years of watching and defending outlying imperial worlds with little or no help from anyone other then fellow brothers in the Astartes led the Arbiters to view the entire imperium as nearly unsalvageable in its corruption. Nevertheless the Arbiters oaths of loyalty weighed heavily on their minds, even if the Imperium were tearing itself apart, the Arbiters had sworn to defend it.

 

A solution presented itself to the Arbiters when representatives of the chapter visited the fabled realm of Ultramar, seeing this heaven amidst the chaos of the imperium, the Arbiters took a great deal of interest in the workings of Ultramar, and the Ultramarines were only too happy to show off their proud realm. The brothers who returned from the mission were changed men; the council of masters was convened to hear the brothers report. With increasing interest they heard of how even under attack by a full Tyranid hive fleet, the realm of Ultramar had stood, ordered and calm. Here was the Imperium as it should be, a realm where advancement was not seen as heresy but as crucial to the survival of the Imperium. Here was a realm where corruption was nearly non-existent. The Arbiters knew that the true will of the emperor must be that the Space Marines should be the rulers of the Imperium. Of course the masters of the Arbiters realized now that the Ecclesiarchy, Inquisition, Adeptus Mechanicus, and all the other myriad human organizations had betrayed the Emperor, setting themselves up as the 'High Lords'. In the end it was they who had caused the current state of affairs. The Imperium was crumbling and only the Space Marines could save it.

 

Nevertheless going renegade was never even conceived of. The chapter simply devoted its all to turning their patrol sector into a mirror of Ultramar. Of course they met with a great deal of resistance from the Civilized worlds in their patrol, whilst the feral and agri worlds welcomed the Marines with open arms. The chapter would not be swayed from their course, but they knew that they couldnt simply take over a world and expect them to be happy about it. So the Arbiters spent a great deal of time working themselves into the ruling class of their planets. Selfless protectors are almost always popular and they are especially so when those protectors are near gods among men. Soon enough the chapter was in virtually complete control of their entire patrol. Turning their vast intellects to the management of these planets the Arbiters began to feel some hope, if every chapter did as they had done then the High lords could do as they wished, the Imperium would be safe.

 

However the chapter was stretched thin by their commitments on each of these planets, taking an active hand in the protection of a dozen worlds had taken up almost all of the chapters forces, they had been forced to turn their reserve companies into full fledged battle companies in order to have a mobile reserve to meet any great threat to any planet. Then when two brother chapters went on crusade and begged the Arbiters to take over their responsibilities whilst the chapters were gone, the Arbiters were stretched beyond capacity. So they declared that each chapter would now be responsible for its own recruitment, the planets they protected would give recruits and each chapter would integrate them as they saw fit. Then they stretched their patrols around their new territories, no longer able to give each planet the comfort of an entire company, the Chapter divided its forces up, four of the companies would guard the civilized and hive worlds, staying very close their patrols would be more intensive because of the greater statistical chance of attack on these worlds. The rest of the chapter took of the rest of the patrol area, swiftly covering the distances between the sparse worlds under their protection.

 

It soon became clear that the extended combat needs of the two forces would force a breaking form the codex. What became known as the 1st division was forced to rely on footslogging tactical squads supported by scouts and the venerated terminators in order to combat the numerous entrenched urban foes they faced. The 2nd division on the other hand was forced to abandon almost all their infantry in favor of the entire chapters bike pool, the 2nd division companies swiftly became smaller more mobile forces, able to respond swiftly to any attack on their worlds and then move out so as not to cause gaps in the patrol.

 

The desperate need for supplies to augment the chapters dwindling terminator forces and bike pool meant that the chapter made many deals with fellow brothers and even the mechanicus in order to keep the chapter able to fight, boasting a sizable fleet and well equipped forces. Still the task was monumental even for space marines and eventually under the threat of no less then three major invasions by xenos and chatoic forces the chapter was simply unable to handle their patrols. The chapter appealed to the regional commanders for assistance, but received none. Eventually even with their super human skills and vast fleet, the chapter began to suffer casualties that were simply untenable. Retreating to the more easily defended hive worlds the 1st division took over responsibility to guard these worlds whist the 2nd division made lightning raids out of the fortress systems. Still the forces of the xenos and chaos slipped by the space marines and caused great havoc in the surrounding area. This led to wild accusations that the chapter were traitors and while the returning crusaders swiftly leapt to the defense of the Arbiters who had guarded their worlds for so long, the chapter was under a black cloud.

 

Bitter and resentful the weakened Arbiters returned to their original worlds, devastated by the invasions that the High lords had not seen fit to notice. Even Space marines can feel ignored and this canker worked its way into the hearts of the masters of the chapter. Eventually the chapter again returned to full strength. Finally when a world under attack by an Ork Whaagh refused the aid of the Arbiters, implying to the Chapter representatives that they had been ordered to, The masters decided that the only way to truly fulfill their oaths to the emperor would be to lead the chapter renegade and eventually topple the High Lords that were destroyed the Imperium. Declaring that they would no longer stand the corruption of the High Lords the Arbiters brutally attacked and mauled the Imperial Guard force which had chosen not to aid the Arbiters in their time of need.

 

Leading the chapter fleet into the Damocles gulf to seek refuge from the vengeful Imperium, the chapter there discovered a number of human worlds there. Populated by the remnants of abandoned Imperial Guard regiments left over from the Damocles crusade. Whilst fiercely independent the worlds had a relatively cordial relationship with the tau and so were quite developed. The chapter masters decided that two worlds in particular would make the perfect starting point before the chapter expanded to take over the rest of the imperium, these worlds named New Hope and Circium were in the middle of a large nebulae and the chapter had only discovered them by accident. The human worlds welcomed the presence of friendly space marines and quickly the Arbiters took over the governance of these worlds by making themselves the ultimate legal authorities. The leaders of the chapter making of the Supreme Court and the Chaplain-Captains taking up Judgeship positions whilst normal brothers act as free lawyers for the populous. And soon enough the Marines had a couple of well ordered, well defended worlds from which to plan the salvation of the Imperium. The need for resources and supplies has led the chapter to trade with the other human worlds in the system, careful to keep their worlds locations secret, they have also engaged in trade talks with the Tau.

 

Orginization:

The Chapter remains dedicated to the tactical doctrines developed during their history. As such the ten companies of the Arbiters are divided into two forces: the 1st Division and the 2nd Division. The two divisions have greatly differing organizations, and each company is responsible for their own recruitment and the maintenance of their own supplies. Luckily New Hope's residents include a large number of tech-adepts which combined with the chapters own Techmariens leads to no real shortage of technical ability. Recruitment on the two worlds is not too difficult, life is still hard on these worlds even with the help of Tau technology and the protection of an entire chapter of space marines.

 

The 1st Division is made of up by the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 10th companies of the Arbiters. Each company is a full battle company and by tradition each is also oversized numbering about 125 warriors each. The Arbiters put great stock in Terminators and so rarely fight without them present. The Tactical squads of the first division are all foot mounted, and prefer assault weapons over heavier weapons which are left to the elite veteran devastator squads. Swift moving assault squads are also well represented in the companies. Typically a 1st division assault features attacks from multiple directions using slower moving tactical squads to close a perimeter; this is in conjunction with diversionary attacks of the scouts who then set the teleport homers for the companies Terminators; Assault squads then assist the terminators and tactical squads by attacking enemy fire points, supporting fire from the tactical squads making sure the assault marines get to their destination. Once the 1st Division has a captured the ground, they fortify it so that they form a strong point from which the 2nd Division can mount it's lightning assaults.

 

The 2nd Division is made up of the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th companies of the Arbiters. Each company is entirely mounted, with the great majority being made up of bike squads. Each Company also has a number of Land Speeders to assist with heavier weaponry. Despite the Division's love of bikes each company keeps a few elite squads of veteran tactical marines mounted in rhinos to assist in taking any heavily defended point. The assaults of the 2nd Division are marked by the speed and swiftness, destroying the foe utterly and moving on to the next point of attack. Division companies rarely hold points they have taken, and those they do invariably become mobile fueling stations for the bikes and rhinos. With plentiful Meltas a 2nd Division company is often called on to destroy enemy tank formations, a task they revel in as it requires the bikes and speeders to move at high speeds at all times. The 2nd Division is also home to most of the chapters thunderhawks, using them for the swift deployment of the dreadnoughts which feature heavily in both Divisions tactics.

 

The Chapter as a whole features Chaplains and Librarians as important to the inner workings of the chapter. Many Chaplains hold command positions within the chapter, the Chaplains have almost entirely taken over the command of the chapter. The chaplains are required to pass many tactical tests set for them by the remaining commanders in the chapter, leading to the Master Judges, as they are called, to be a far cry from the fanatical chaplains of loyalist Chapters. The Master Judges are much more like the captains of other chapters, but also caring for the brothers spiritual well being and acting as judges in the courts of the chapters home planets. The Librarians of the chapter are also quite prominent, for while they are not more numerous then other chapters the Court Recorders as they are called are revered in the chapter as being closer to the emperor. The Librarians job is not so different from others chapters, though they are required to also record the many legal cases the chapter involves itself in.

 

Being a formerly Fleet based chapter the Arbiters have over the many hundreds of years since their becoming a fleet chapter they have gathered together a large fleet for a chapter. This fleet is supplemented by the many interplanetary vessels used to trade with the other systems and also used as picket ships. The Chapters Battle Barges also act as mobile Court Houses for the two planets, any case that gets passed the local courts is then taken up to the Battle Barges to be decided by the chapters Master Judges. Still the fleet remains a battle fleet and is more then capable of defending their home system against all but the most determined attackers. The Chapter has at least two Battle Barges known as the Abstraction of Justice and the Eminent Domain

 

Geneseed:

The Chapters Geneseed is a very pure strain, all nineteen organs working in perfect order. This leads the chapter to believe they must be a Ultramarine successor, while the Dark Angles are a possibility.

 

Beliefs

The Gale Arbiters believe in the law and they believe in the natural superiority of Space Marines. The Arbiters believe that the Space Marines should be the law, they should lead the Imperium as the genetic sons of the Emperor. The Arbiters point to the realm of Ultramar as ample evidence of the kind of Imperium a Space Marine led Imperium would be. The Arbiters recognize that the Traitor space marines represent one of the most potent threats to the imperium, they argue that without loyalist marines the Imperium would have died out long ago; Further they argue that with the inception of the Chapter sized space marine force, it would be nearly impossible for any heresy to again threaten the imperium in the way the Horus heresy had. The Arbiters also feel that with the increased efficiency and lack of bureaucracy would led to not only a swifter response to any renegade chapter, but also a much lower chance of the kinds of misunderstandings which allowed the Baddab war to involve two loyal chapters on the wrong side. The current crisis for the chapter is that some marines are beginning to express the idea that they are entitled to lead the imperium, rather then viewing it as a grave duty. The distinction is small but it can mean the difference between a tyrant and a just ruler.

 

The chapter also revers their Court Recorders, viewing any space marine with psychic talent to be a more pure representation of what the emperor would have wanted his legions to be like.

 

Anyways I think I'll post this along with my chaptor colors and see if this gets any love

 

[Lone Scout]

I really like your ideas. I'd like to know the meaning of the high german ship names.

Counts as space wolves yeah alright it been done succesfully ...see bols's goatboy.I would surgest that their"zeal" (or arogance) would be better modeled on the BT's :P

btw your scheme is similar too

Honestly I can't add more than to say well done so far. Can't wait for a short fluff piece to introduce the chapter.

[Sinister_Miles]

Sweet the Arbiters get love, Im gonna work on adding more info and trying to make the structure alittle less globular. As for the names they are in order: the Light of Justice, the No one harms us with impunity, and the woe to the conquered.

[RagingGriffon]

OK, well, let me get started. I am just going to shoot stuff out in bullet format on my initial reactions

 

- seperate the game from your fluff. Just put C:SW right out of your head. You are making a renegade chapter.

- I see what you are doing with your Chapter thinking Asartes should run the galaxy, but remember: half of the Space Marine Legions went rogue and it nearly brought the Imperium down. So, how does your Chapter explain that wouldn't happen again?

- 3 Battle Barges is WAY too much for most Chapters (I think the Ultras have two), and each Company have a Strike Cruiser is simply... ridiculous

- You need to develop their fall better. I am guessing they turned because they thought all the other offices of the Imperium were corrupt, so they started attacking them?

- Where are your Marines hanging out? If there was a rogue full-strength Chapter hanging out in real-space I promise many more Chapters and the Imperial war-machine would knock on your door and then kill you. If you are in the Warp, and you are a full strength Chapter, then you are going to have a lot worse knocking on your door, and then then they kill you. See what I am getting at?

- I roll my eyes everytime someone says "they have tons of Termie armor!!!11!" It is good to see that you rationalize your copious amounts of TDA with a lack of tanks. It is a start in the right direction, but I say nix the whole idea of having tons of TDA.

- You say follow the Codex, but you don't really.

- I don't think you fathom how much materiel it requires to maintain a Chapter and a fleet. How do you do it? My Crimson Warlords live on a daemon planet, they have a forge, and traitor tech-magos, but they always have to raid and defend themselves. You can't just have all this stuff without a legitimate way to keep it going

- I like your ideas about how Astartes should run the Imperium, but go back to my first post... How do they justify it wont happen again when they themselves have gone rogue.

 

 

Keep plugging away, and good luck.

[Sinister_Miles]

Well I really appreciate the critiques, and Im working on incorporating them into the fluff right now, but I thought I'd respond in a more OOC fashion right now so I make sure I understand fully what these problems are and how to fix them, anyways:

1: you're probably right, I should just focus on the fluff and not on the gaming aspects of my chapter

2: as I tried to explain the Arbiters feel that by keeping to the chapter scale heresy would be kept to a minimum, and that with the efficiency granted by the marines running everything the loyalist chapters nearby would know about any renegade chapter in a very short amount of time, allowing them to deal with the problem swiftly.

3: I was mostly operating what I've read in the Battlefleet gothic books and on the lexicanum, which i believe say that most chapters in general will have two battle barges and fleet based chapters will have more, and that almost every chapter has a strike cruiser for every company, again if I've misread this then I'm more then willing to change the numbers. The thing I wanted to stress was that they were a fleet that could, baring a major engagement, defeat most enemies, thusly allowing them to stay together.

4: again absolutely right, I do need to develop their fall better, I was thinking of incorperating more of the Librarian vs. chaplain divide in the chapter, as well as going more in depth as to how the chapter began to have this belief about the other imperial institutions.

5: obviously I need to rethink their numbers, a full strength loyalist renegade chapter is very short on friends. But I was thinking that they would mostly be hanging out near/in the Damocles gulf, which is pretty uninhabited but allows my chapter to face my regular opponents.

6: Perhaps your right but the thing I was trying to convey was that TDA's made up a very crucial part in the tactical doctrine of the 1st division, and a smaller number of suits would make it harder for me to have them be part of nearly every battle; but perhaps I need to rethink the need for TDA's to be part of every battle. And while the Arbiters certainly have a large number of suits, they would only have about a hundred total, again thats as large as the dark angles and perhaps thats unreasonable for me to expect that even with the abandonment of most of their armour that the chapter to expect to gain that large a number of suits. What number would you say would be more reasonable?

7: I said they could be considered a codex chapter in the sense that they are committed to the chapters existing in their current numbers, more or less. They have a highly different doctrine and approach to battle certainly, but they agree most vehemently that space marines should be kept in smaller more mobile and less dangerous groups.

8: again you hit on a point I had not considered, its true that even when my chapter was fully loyal that their techpriests would be stretched just to maintain the vast amounts of equipment I have given my chapter. For this reason Im probably going to downsize the actual size of the 'biker' companies such that while they are totally mounted, they are also much shorter of the 100 marine mark. Nevertheless I still need to come up with a way of downsizing my chapters currently massive stockpiles; I think I feel prey to the 'Give my marines all the goodies!!!!!!' syndrome :tu:

9: Again I was hoping that not only would my original explanation would come through, but I was also hoping that this explanation would serve to heighten the danger that the chapter is in, they are a chapter that left the imperium on very good grounds and had a belief that the Arbiters were still in the wrong and would need to be punished, now the only thing separating the librarians and their superiority teachings from being full blown chaos is the influence that these early visionaries have on the brothers, even the librarians themselves. But I did want that to be an aspect of the current chapter, that they are facing a crisis of whether they are truly attempting what their founders had desired or if they have become something else.

 

Anyways I'm grateful to you for your critique and suggestions and hope that this response helps you understand where I was coming from and perhaps gives you/others ideas on how I can more fruitfully convey these ideas. I dont want to give the impression that I want the forum to do my thinking for me or to write my fluff for me, but I would appreciate any and all ideas on solutions to the problems that RagingGriffon has highlighted.

[Grey Hunter Ydalir]

You really, really need some structure here. Your huge whacking great blocks of text will drive away more than a few well meaning people that check this thread with the idea to help out, myself included.

 

You need to put some space between paragraphs at the very least my friend.

[Lone Scout]

I agree space your paragraphs....easier to read.

Why do you need to say how many of each unit you have. I would worry less about numbers and specifics and instead work on conveying their beliefs. Perhaps a letter written by your chapter master to the high lords of terra putting them on notice for their failure towards humanity.

Instead of stating they have x number of cruisers perhaps something like

 

"As with any fleet based chapter the Gale Arbiters Chapter started with several crusiers. Over time the Arbiters have aquired more vessles though wheather this has been through legitament sources or priacy remains unclear. One thing is for certain, the Gale Arbiters boast a fleet strength that most chapters view with envious eyes". ??????

 

Forget number man....maths ain't cool !! :tu:

 

Same goes for your termi armour....the chapter revere the warriors who don the terminator armour and thus rarely go to battle without them. no numbers no maths :)

 

Just some thoughts ???

[Sinister_Miles]

Ok Updated, spaced paragraphs though its still kinda 'wall o text'. I also upped the lawyer aspect, maybe too much?