Starting up a DIY chapter.

[BigMek]

So, waiting for a few marine bits to arrive from forgeworld I though now would be a good time to start on the "soft" side of the DIY chapter creating process, that being theme, fluff and all that good stuff.

 

I'll be using the FW Red Scorpion models and iconography for the chapter and the following paint scheme:

 

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q198/BigMek_Orkenstein/Marine.jpg

 

I intend to have a black/dark grey stripe down the middle of the helmet (as on the red scorpions).

The scorpion icon itself will be black/dark grey and veterans will have the helmet in an off-white colour.

 

I'm not sure on the name of the chapter "black scorpions" keep popping up but I'm afraid it will seem a bit cheap as it's very close to the red scorpions, so any ideas here are more than welcome.

 

I've only come up with a small bit regarding fluff and theme, but feel free to comment on it and throw out ideas.

Keep in mind that this is mostly brief ideas, so nothing have been completely worked out yet.

 

The chapter homeworld is a feral lowlight/nocturnal planet inhabited by a nomad warrior people who value rituals and traditions above all else.

Shamanism is also a big part of the culture and most of the shamans seem to have some psychic ability, though this may be minor.

 

The chapter tactics is based on rapid assaults, ambushes and hit and run attacks.

The chapter also use scouts more than most other chapters and have an additional scout company available.

 

I've been thinking about some sort of "flaw" in the chapter since I've always liked the idea of a minor defect in the "perfect" marine, though what this should be I'm not sure.

Been thinking something along the lines of a personality trait, quick to anger/rage and violent and brutal behavior in combat (more than usual that is), though this seems less like a geneseed flaw and more like a trait of the inhabitants of the planet their recruit from.

 

This is all I have now, I gladly accept any ideas, critique and what not people have to offer and when I've figured out what the rest I'll write up a proper IA.

 

Thanks in advance

BigMek

[Ferrata]

With the Scout Comapny - are they standard scouts as in the new recruits who are testing their ability in battle or are they like Space Wolf scouts which are veterans? An additional scout company of recruits could fit in well with their aggression - they expect so many of them to die in their first years they have to recruit twice as many men. It would be an intersting twist.

 

Coming from the home world culture is probably better than a gene-seed defect, it is less work.

 

As for a name, how about chaning black for something like Ebony or Onyx. You could also change the work scorpion to something similar or latin etc.

[BigMek]

I really like the idea of the space wolf scout'ish style, with them not being recruits but merely having chosen a different "path" than the standard marine.

The problem with this is that I want to use the standard marine codex (I really do love the Storm that much) and the standard scout statline dosn't really make sense if they were to be fully fletched marines, may be a way to work around this though.

I do like the idea of them having recruit additional scouts because the training is so harsh that many wont survive it and thought about it myself a bit but though it was a bit to grim for the "good guys"...but I just remembered now, this is 40k.

 

The name is the thing that's bugging me the most at the moment, I really wanna keep the word Scorpion since, well, their icon is a scorpion (and it may have something to do with me being born in the sign of the scorpio).

I did think about using a latin name but in some way it seems a bit out of place for a feral world based chapter...not sure if that makes sense to anyone but me though.

 

Changing black to something else may work, think the reason it keeps popping up is because of the colour scheme and the name "black scorpions" just brings up images of grim warriors...or a villain right out of G I Joe ^^

[Ferrata]

Nothing is too grim in the world of 40k. The Flesh Tearers are good guys - everything goes. I've had recruits being kidnapped from their families, being placed in pens and left to kill one another. Grim is good :)

[Ace Debonair]

Nothing is too grim in the world of 40k. The Flesh Tearers are good guys - everything goes. I've had recruits being kidnapped from their families, being placed in pens and left to kill one another. Grim is good :P

 

Sometimes all in the same IA, in fact. :)

 

If you want a good geneseed-based defect, you could make them Iron Hands successors. They have a hatred of weakness, which could fuel the fury of your Scorpions.

Also they'd probably be aware that they should be a bit more, you know, cold and calculating, instead of consumed by rage. :(

[Lysimachus]

nomad warrior people who value rituals and traditions above all else.

 

Been thinking something along the lines of a personality trait, quick to anger/rage and violent and brutal behavior in combat (more than usual that is), though this seems less like a geneseed flaw and more like a trait of the inhabitants of the planet their recruit from.

 

 

Being ferocious/quick to anger could be a trait of the culture. However, as an alternative, the geneseed of the White Scars shows a tendency towards similar rages, plus I could see the Chapter Master of a WS successor viewing the kind of culture you've described as very suitable to recruit from?

[BigMek]

Was thinking about using white scars geneseed but don't know alot about the chapter, except for prefering bikes and all that and ofcause the "mongolian/hun" theme.

 

Are there any flaws or some such in the WS geneseed?

[NightrawenII]

Was thinking about using white scars geneseed but don't know alot about the chapter, except for prefering bikes and all that and ofcause the "mongolian/hun" theme.

 

Are there any flaws or some such in the WS geneseed?

There isn't much info about WS, they are (along with Ravenguard and Iron Hands) one of the invisible First Founding Legions. :ermm:

 

AFAIk, there is no flaw in their Gene-seed.

[MaleOpener]

All I can do is chime-in on your color scheme and say, "I like it!"

[Quozzo]

I've been thinking about some sort of "flaw" in the chapter since I've always liked the idea of a minor defect in the "perfect" marine, though what this should be I'm not sure.

Been thinking something along the lines of a personality trait, quick to anger/rage and violent and brutal behavior in combat

The chapter also use scouts more than most other chapters and have an additional scout company available.

Im just throwing this out there, but what about a off-shoot of the Blood Angels, sanctioned by the Lords before the now known 'Flaw', that would account for the quickened rage. The twist is they were trained by the Space Wolves and so use their codex with the 'elite' scouts. Failing that you could always opt for training by the smurfs and use the C:SM instead.

 

nomad warrior people who value rituals and traditions above all else

The Black Rage could be the motivation for them to carry out their rituals and keep the effects of the red thirst under control, you will have to balance that with the quick to anger aspect you wanted though.

[BigMek]

Thanks alot for all the ideas, really help getting it all going.

Even though I considered using either the wolf codex or Blangels codex I've decided to use the standard dex...mostly because it seems most people around here play either of those two "new" dexes.

 

Have some more stuff I've come up with, though mind you that my knowledge of marines is very limited.

 

First of, I thought instead of the chapter staying on their homeworld the companies would fly around in fleets, answering "the call" when the need arises and so would actually never be a combined force.

Instead of there being a scout company as such, each battle company would have a larger force of scouts attached to them since they are an integral part of their training and battle tactics.

 

Also, I seem to remember reading that marines have an ability where when they eat something, they get some of the memories and such of the subject their eating, so was thinking maybe this could be used in a sorta cannibalistic ritual.

The idea is that when a marine falls, his battlebrothers in the squad would consume his flesh to honor him or some such...dunno if this is to far out though.

[Quozzo]

Also, I seem to remember reading that marines have an ability where when they eat something, they get some of the memories and such of the subject their eating, so was thinking maybe this could be used in a sorta cannibalistic ritual.

The idea is that when a marine falls, his battlebrothers in the squad would consume his flesh to honor him or some such...dunno if this is to far out though.

great minds think a like! i had this idea, but coupled with the BA gene-seed. you can read about my chapter here.

 

 

Instead of there being a scout company as such, each battle company would have a larger force of scouts attached to them since they are an integral part of their training and battle tactics.

Do you mean like the initiate/neophyte of the crusader squads that the Black Templars use or just a scout squad assigned to each company, the latter would work with the C:SM

[BigMek]

Just the latter, with the scouts working on their own in a sort of "if you can't cut it alone, you're not the right stuff to be a black scorpion" sorta deal, really wanna try and bring alot of "roughness" out in the chapter.

[Quozzo]

sounds like you have got the "soft" stuff sorted out, the hard part is getting it all to flow and putting it in a coherent format.

 

i do look forward to reading it though. :lol:

[BigMek]

On a different note: I've updated the original thread with a slighty different colour scheme which I like a bit more, it's not that different from the first one but adds a bit more diversity.

One thing I'm not sure of is the off-white coloured shoulderpads, not sure if it'll work or if it's to big of a contrast, considering that the chapter badge will be a black scorpion.

 

Also, come up with two ideas to show veteran status on marines, not sure which one to go for:

 

Veteran Option 1

 

Veteran Option 2

 

Your input is greatly appriciated.

[Quozzo]

Im a big fan of white helmets so i would say veteran option 1, although the file is called veteran2.jpg so don't get them mixed up :lol:. It will add a definite contrast to the 'normal' marines if you play TT, and even if you don't.

[BigMek]

I have a single question left now and then I'm pretty much set for starting on the IA.

It's about chapter leadership.

 

Now, the Chapter Master is usually the big cahuna of a chapter, but would it be possible to a chapter to not have a chapter master but instead a sort of counsil made up of the captains of the companies?

[Lysimachus]

I can't see it being a problem; as a GW approved example the Iron Hands Chapter is divided into Clan Companies and the Chapter is led by a council formed of the leaders of each Company plus other ranking officers, Libbies, Techies/Chappies (or Iron Fathers to be specific), etc.

 

Edit: Should be noted that's not in the most recent C:SM where they've been described as an ordinary Codex following Chapter, but it's not been specifically retconned either...

[Leonaides]

If you're going down the council route - which there's nothing wring with from a fluff perspective - you might want to consider what would happen if there was a tie over a decision (5 captains vote for a crusade in X system, 5 vote for y system...). Not neccessary to go into it in any detail, but maybe as a little 'flavour' text: how "in teh 38th millenium the chapter council was split on a decisinn of great import, whether to save the agriworld of XX from a ravaging Tyranid Horde, which would be able to grow much faster if it feasted on the biomass, or an important hive world from a Chaos assault. On such decisions hang the very fate of the Imperium, and as teh council was deadlocked they turned to the ............." That sort of thing. Would the chaplains with their faith have the deciding vote, would the librarians cast the Emperors Tarot, or maybe you only have an odd number of captains (thus slightly divergent structure from normal codex) and all captains must vote, so no abstentions.

 

Just a thought, and feel free to ignore, but maybe something to consider for further down the road on your IA.