The Crimson Tigers

[halfling hopperston]

I'm looking for some help on fitting my chapter in to the 40k time line and some events to make it fit my vision of how I want the chapter to have reached its present state.

 

Currently my basic outline i want for the chapter:

 

Successor of the blood angels.

 

they had several small encounters with enemy forces (passably contributing some troops to well known campaigns) before there home world was attacked and they were forced to enact exterminatius upon the planet, however they did manage to save some of the other planets they recruited from with some much needed assistance from other chapters.

 

following this they then established there base of operations in there fleet vowing not to take another fortress world as it lead them to lose many good men and restricted there ability to defend against there aggressor.

 

the chapter was then called upon to investigate a possible new threat to the impeirum that had been detected moving into there general area of space. upon receiving this order they went and found *insert race here* to be amassing a fleet to attack and quickly formed a battle plan to react to this threat however they were so vastly outnumbered that there numbers were severally reduced during the ensuing battles (hey space marines can get there assess handed to the as well right?) and in the space fights many of the chapters astropaths/navigators lost there minds to the psychic attacks of the enemy however the fleet was eventually successful in driving off the enemy force. thus the chapters remaining librarians were called into service to help guide the fleet home.

 

as the librarians were relatively untrained in this method of using there powers it has been a long journey home with little contact with the main fleet they left behind.

 

after this point I plan to flesh it out a little more with some more details on why my particular table top mechanics work fluff wise but i would like to focus on getting these facts set out first. if anyone has some suggestions on filling out these major evens I would love to hear it, particularly in regards to a suitable race to be the opponents they were sent to investigate, my first thought was to use eldar/nids as this force as they come to mid as having psychers that would fit the role of astropath/navigator killers but any suggestions would be welcome, I would love a war to explain other races having a similar impact on the chapter as they loss of this group of people will drive some of the later fluff elements but i want to keep some secrets while I'm still writing the story out.

 

The other reason I really don't want Eldar is I'm looking at creating a tabletop army of the foes i use at some stage in the future but I'm still not 100% what I would like to get. so thinking about that side of things would be great to.

[Espada Azul]

Err, I think the question needs to be asked before anything else, but what do you want for your Chapter? Yes, Liber is the place where we hammer out probable Chapter histories, but just saying 'Blood Angels successor' doesn't leave us much to work with. I mean, what kind of Blood Angels successor? Artistic? Gritty? Noble? Vampiric? Non-standard? Codex? Librarian-heavy? Death Company heavy? Repentant? Sinful? What's the Character that you're after, really?

 

Oh, and some requisite reading. Recommended for all:

The Liber Astartes DIY Guide

[Grey Hunter Ydalir]

I can see the problem you've run into from the get-go.

 

You've fallen into the all-too familiar and easy trap of starting with the details rather than the broader picture.

 

You have little images and ideas in your head which you're then putting into the IA. You need to stop, take a step back and think in much broader terms if you want your chapter to come together properly. Start with a core concept of who they are first.

 

Then you have to think in very broad strokes in order to tell their story. What are the broadest terms you can think of? Think broader.

 

A man is born, he lives, he dies.

Beginning, middle and end.

 

If you can start big and then gradually add layers of detail you will have a much more coherent work in front of you at the end of it than if you start with - 'what battles they fought on which day that involved which individual battle-brothers of whichever ruddy company happened to be there at the time'.

[halfling hopperston]

While your advice is welcome I have already read the DIY guide and have the whole big picture hashed out here, and am now working on filling in some of the smaller details to give some detail to the broad picture I have painted out for myself.

 

so there is a much bigger picture to come but i really need some of these details, mainly who the enemy that will have caused this will be before I'm happy to push out a much longer and more overall fluff for this chapter ;)

 

the battle I'm attempting to describe is one I have determined to have a major impact on the outcome of this fledgling chapter that was still attempting to create a real name for it self in the history, and as such much of what comes out of this piece of there fluff will flavor many of there later encounters when/if i get down to writing about them.

 

the first home world attack i really don't have to much interest, as it was just a way to get the bulk of the chapter off a planet and to begin to be space living so I could push the majority of the chapter at this second threat that molds the character of my chapter.

 

due to this attack my chapter will be librarian heavy (I have always had a soft spot for them since I saw them in my 3rd edition codex)

 

so asking me to think of who they are, well as you can see I have put quite a bit of thought in to this, and they have become who they are BECAUSE of these events, so they form the core of the details that define the whole chapter, once this is defined the rest of the who will make much more sense. and ill start writing up a much fuller history of this event and its consequences for the chapter for you guys to read over, so please can we go back to my original question of who should this enemy be so I can continue filling out the rest of the details please.

[Ace Debonair]

the chapter was then called upon to investigate a possible new threat to the impeirum that had been detected moving into there general area of space. upon receiving this order they went and found *insert race here* to be amassing a fleet to attack and quickly formed a battle plan to react to this threat however they were so vastly outnumbered that there numbers were severally reduced during the ensuing battles (hey space marines can get there assess handed to the as well right?) and in the space fights many of the chapters astropaths/navigators lost there minds to the psychic attacks of the enemy however the fleet was eventually successful in driving off the enemy force. thus the chapters remaining librarians were called into service to help guide the fleet home.

 

That's Eldar territory, right enough.

 

That and many of the other enemies haven't been around long enough to do this early in a chapter's history, even if you go with the latest possible founding, suggest Eldar are probably the treacherous xeno for you. ;)

 

'Course, you could just be fleet-based from the outset. Your chapter could be big on taking the fight to those fiendish xeno/heretic scoundrels, and what better way to do it than to stay on the move?

[Grey Hunter Ydalir]

While your advice is welcome I have already read the DIY guide and have the whole big picture hashed out here, and am now working on filling in some of the smaller details to give some detail to the broad picture I have painted out for myself.

 

Fair enough.

 

However just reading the DIY guide isn't the be-all and end-all of DIYing by a long margin.

 

Also, if you're asking us to help you with details, you have to provide proper context, otherwise things get confused and aren't given the same quality of criticism.

[halfling hopperston]

That's Eldar territory, right enough.

 

That and many of the other enemies haven't been around long enough to do this early in a chapter's history, even if you go with the latest possible founding, suggest Eldar are probably the treacherous xeno for you. ;)

 

'Course, you could just be fleet-based from the outset. Your chapter could be big on taking the fight to those fiendish xeno/heretic scoundrels, and what better way to do it than to stay on the move?

 

thanks for that just the sort of info i needed ill get the full history written up tonight hopefully and ill post a full outline of the chapter for some more C&C.

 

as for those asking why i didn't give the full history as you will see with out this piece of info i would have had more holes then Swiss cheese, but i can now give you a semi thought out version to help reduce the unnecessary wasted time refining it.

 

hmmm I might make them fleet based. but i was hoping to base them more firmly in a cluster of systems as there resupply point/recruiting center by having had a homeworld, and also use its destruction to have a slightly unnatural hatred for Xeno (was just going to be the race but the more i think about it the more i want to make it broader)

[RagingGriffon]

I think starting as fleet based is a good idea. You mentioned, "the first home world attack i really don't have to much interest, as it was just a way to get the bulk of the chapter off a planet and to begin to be space living..." What?!!! It's no big deal their Homeworld got routed and they just packed up and moved into space... No way. THAT would be the epitome of character defining. You don't want too many character defining moments because then it all becomes dilluted. Stick to one, IMHO.