Obsidian Vanguard

[James Raynorus]

Obsidian Vanguard

Origin

On the fringes of the Segmentum Obscurus at the beginning of the Cygnus arm is the Litero system. The system consists of 10 planets that have been wracked by destruction. Due to its area and problems an Imperial guard regiment would be considered would be considered ineffective with out excessive funding so in the end they with the plans for a 26th founding the High Lords decided to create a chapter to defend this important system. Thus, the Obsidian Vanguard was born.

Home world

There are 10 planets in the Litero system. Litero I is an Ork dominated world headed by the War boss Slice Dica. His Waaaagh is commonly trying to take over the Litero system and has footholds in nearby systems. Litero II is a rebellious hive world where some of the government officials secretly fund the gangs to attempt to cause rebellion. Litero III is relatively peaceful verdant Agri-World. Litero IV is a research station researching the Tyranids. Litero V is a research station making important discoveries in anti-tyranid weaponry. Litero VI is a planet that’s core exploded turning it into floating rocks around the remains of the planet that has now become a gas giant. Litero VII- IX are gas giants. Litero X is a mining planet. The inside of the planet froze causing it to be tunnel able everywhere. Unfortunately Dark Eldar led by the Archon Razj Doomlight has webway portals in the planet allowing them stealthy access out of Commoragh. The Chapter’s fortress Montessori Valiance is a space station that floats around the system. This allows the chapter easy access to areas in and nearby the system. They recruit from all of these planets.

Combat Doctrine

The Vanguards prefer a rapid deployment that will let them be the first to the battle usually taking advantage of drop pods, teleportation, and sometimes even jumping from moving Thunder hawks in bikes or just jumping. They will rarely hold reserves that aren’t just moving into a position to better join the battle. Every scout is required to make a successful freefall before they are allowed into the main contingent of battle brothers. This strategy makes rapid deployment from the Valiance easier. They are also skilled at adapting to scenarios, and tactical squads will usually have bayonets or knives. The Chapters terminators are usually fielded with a thunder hammer and a sorm bolter so they can engage in melee and shoot.

One good example was during the Third War of Armageddon a Hive City sent out a distress signal. The Vangaurd's drop pods locked on to the Ork's trucks and slaughtered the invasion before any other reinforcements had arrived. They also managed to slay one of Ghazgulls warbosses by teleporting the Chapter's 10 terminators right into the command room of the enemies SkullHamma' and pounding through the unsuspecting orks and they in the process found the Obsidian Hammer a master crafted Hammer now used by the Raven.

Organization

The vanguards follow the Codex Astartes with a slight deviation the 6th and 7th are always fielded on bikes or land speeders. The reserve companies are made up of those that excelled at a certain thing in scout training and were assigned to one of these specialized companies. The first company is made up of 1 squad of veterans from each company and a squad of terminators. They also traditionally have 2 chapter masters The Raven and The Salamander

Beliefs

Coming Soon ( Still Thinking)

Gene-seed

The Vanguard are descendants of the Raven Guard primarily. There gene-seed has all the mutations of the Raven Guard gene-seed with one minor entirely un Raven Guard like flaw. The Scout company captain from the Raven Guard was sent to teach the chapter the Raven Guard's ways. Over time he noticed the new marine's skin had been becoming an OBSIDIAN (see I came up with something), and instantly requested some of the tech priests to examine one of the chapter's tech adepts. The news was shocking. There had been a servitor malfunction causing the chapter to have dark skin. They sent for a represantative of the Salamanders. They sent a tech marine who was very zealous about the Salamanders legacy. The two represantatives became the Raven and The Salamander respectively each having their own Honor Guard. eventually the two died and chose their heirs a tradition carried on to this day. This has made the chapter favor making they're own weapons, and squads are known to have their own weapons stockpiles of weapons the squads members made.

War cry

We are the vanguard of the Emperor!

[kiwitexansfan]

To be honest the first thing that I was surprised by is that the colour of your marines is not in fact Obsidian..... in fact Obsidian comes in all these colours (Black, gray, dark green, red, yellow, pink) but not brown.

[James Raynorus]

I think Obsidian is a cool sounding thing and what about weapons i might have the swords obsidian esque

[Firepower]

Yeah, the "Obsidian" thing is a bit odd, given the color choice. I'd reflect on that a bit.

 

Due to its area and problems an Imperial guard regiment would be considered would be considered ineffective with out excessive funding so in the end they with the plans for a 26th founding the High Lords decided to create a chapter to defend this important system. Thus, the Obsidian Vanguard was born.

 

This seems a bit unlikely. Granted, IG are huge logistical machines that take an army in itself to keep running. But a Space Marine legion, while small, demands the best of the best wargear, facilities, spacecraft, etc. The creation process alone is a costly endeavor. The Astartes are not really the High Lords of Terras' bargain bin ^_^ . Also, a typo- "would be would be".

 

The Vanguards prefer a swift rapid deployment usually taking advantage of drop pods, teleportation, and sometimes even jumping from moving Thunder hawks in bikes or just jumping. They will rarely hold reserves that aren’t just moving into a position to better join the battle. Every scout is required to make a successful freefall before they are allowed into the main contingent of battle brothers. This makes rapid deployment from the Valiance easier, and partly helps the success of the chapter.

 

Hm, a very literal flying from the nest for the up and coming scouts, then. This sort of ideology makes me wonder if a bird/dragon totem, or some other flying beast, would be a good addition or change tot he Chapter name. Something such as Obsidian Comets, Obsidian Rain, Obsidian Vultures etc. would exemplify this death from above, me thinks. That is of course assuming this sort of focus on plummeting from the sky is something that permeates the Chapter in more ways than just the initiation process, though.

 

A good example of this was during the 13th Black Crusade when the chapter was able to land and get chased by demons slay some and when they reached combat range the marines retreated to a Thunder hawk and watched the carnage of the bombs on the mass clump of demons they repeated this process endlessly until the planet was free of the demonic taint.

 

A comma or period here and there would make this a lot more understandable. Anyway, if I understand correctly, this combat doctrine involves landing at a distance, withering the enemy forces with firepower, and retreating when it reaches retaliatory range? Sounds like the Tau :lol: Maybe the Raven Guard would be a good parent chapter considering these tactics.

 

Overall, a good framework and start out of the gate for the Chapter. As is, it's a bit 'nuts n' bolts,' so I would start thinking about giving it a real character-booster-shot with the upcoming Beliefs article ;)

[James Raynorus]

I intend to change the combat doctrine to be more exciting, but first by Vanguard I was thinking like first to the battle or first reinforcements.