Index Astartes: Blazing Kitsunes

[Luy22]

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Organization and culture

They are unique that they only have 9 companies of Space marines, each having a slightly larger number than a normal space marine company. The members of one company are always consisting of one tribe, with each tribe specializing in one aspect. Whether it is healing, or it is hunting each tribe have a role to play. In addition, each tribe are responsible for their own recruitment as the Companies are basically the leaders of their tribe, thus making them similar to the Salamanders chapter.

The 9 'tribes' are in turn lead by a Kyubi no Kitsune (nine-tailed fox), which will play the role usually associated with a Chapter Master in other Space marines chapter. The title comes from the fact that the chapter master is the leader of the 9 tribes and that a nine-tailed kitsune in the folklore of their people is a very powerful being. And indeed it takes a very charismatic, powerful and wise man to lead the 9 tribes, as each tribe does not always work with each other. The Chapter Master is often decided by the Kitsunes by sending the head of each company and fight with each other in a ritualistic battle both in terms of wits and also strength.

The Astartes have two weapons they primarily call upon; Bolter and sword. The act of firing the Bolter is not so much an act of war as an act of faith. The Blazing Kitsunes believe their Bolter is an extension of their soul, their righteous fury made manifest. To fire a Bolter in anger is to call upon the most destructive force the Marine can possess.

No Kitsune would ever leave his Bolter behind. If the weapon is destroyed, the Kitsune must undergo a long ritual of cleansing, purifying his soul and severing the divine link with his lost weapon. Typically, the Kitsune will place a small token, such as a firing pin or a purity seal belonging to the Bolter in his weapon cabinet. He will then take a new Bolter, and pray with it within the Chapter's shrine. Finally, he will employ a Tea Ceremony with his Brothers (typically a superior, such as Sergeant or Captain, and a Tech-Sage). During this ceremony, he will be granted their blessing to take up a new Bolter. This new weapon is then dismantled, and meticulously cleaned. It will only be rebuilt on the eve of its first battle. The first action of this new weapon, and indeed any Bolter, is considered to have great significance for the weapon's legacy. If its first shot misses its target, it is a very ill omen, whereas if the Marine attains a kill it is considered favored. Should the Bolter misfire, the Kitsune has been rejected by the Machine Spirit, and must seek a new weapon; he cannot fire that Bolter again.

The nine tribes

The Tail of Healing

Hailing from this tribe are the Apothecaries of the chapter.

Tail of Faith

Hailing from this tribe are the Chaplains. They are story tellers, and travel from tribe to tribe sharing tales of the Sky-Emperor amongst other things.

Tail of Knowledge

For some apparent reason, the entire tribe have the highest concentration of psykers among the rest of the tribes. Thus with this, their role is that of a Librarian. However they call their Librarians , the Honno no Kitsune (Flame Fox) as their Librarians are especially well known for their unique psychic powers, the mouths or tails that generate fire or lightning (known as kitsune-bi; literally, fox-fire), willful manifestation in the dreams of others, flight, invisibility, and the creation of illusions so elaborate as to be almost indistinguishable from reality.

Thus they are revered and feared by the rest of the chapter. However, the Librarians of the Chapter are not always sent out in open battle as they are more often deployed as strategist and war-planners of the war effort.

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Homeworld

Their homeworld is Talko Primaris. It was once a vibrant jungle world with many species of creature and was ruled by barbaric tribes. All this is gone, as in the year M41.999, the Tau Empire took over the system. The planet was hit with a planet-killer, this wiped out most of the wildlife, and caused so many earthquakes the jungles were cooked away by rivers of lava and the Fortress Monastery collapsed into ruins, half of it falling into a chasm.

Geneseed

They are of Ultramarines stock.

The nine tribes

Tail of Destruction

The tribesmen of the 'Tail of Destruction’ are known to be as their namesake, destructive. They are the devastators.

Tail of Silence

As the namesake of the tribe, they are stoic and cool-headed, taking pride in their silence and independence, more so than the other tribes. Thus they fill in the niche as the scouts and the snipers of the Chapter.


Tail of Fleet

They are known to be quick of mind and quick of body, and also quick to respond to any matters regarding their own. Thus most of the Chapter's flanking and rapid response comes from the members of this chapter. This tribe also holds the speed units of the chapter (Bikes and landspeeders).

Tail of Strength

The members of this tribe are the strongest and the hardiest of the tribes. However, their behavior is more or less the amalgam of all the other tribes. However, they are easily the slowest among the tribes as their response are slower than average in regards to the people of their homeworld, although they are quicker than a normal human. They are the terminators.

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Recruitment

They recruit from the local tribes of barbarians. The marines once a year walk to the different tribes, and take in children as young as nine, and take them back to the fortress monastery. For the next ten years, alongside getting the implants needed to become a full marine, the aspirants are tested through grueling training and testing. Once this is all through, they become battle-brothers.

Warcry

"Kyubi no Kitsune guide us!!"

The nine tribes, continued]The nine tribes

Tail of Art

The tribe's role in the Kitsune war machine is the building of fortifications and also maintaining the gears of war. Most of the equipment of the Kitsune's are filled with ornate decorations of folklore of the Kitsunes, and it is the job of the Tail of art to make those illustration.


Tail of Vengeance

They are known to be the most zealous and most spiteful of all the tribes, and thus the other tribes will often try not to make them in any way angry. However, in the Chapter, they serve the purpose of shock troops as their temperament is ideal for their job. Thus they are often deployed as assault teams.

Author

Luy22, AKA Evz, has been into the hobby for over five years. He enjoys painting and modeling and lore aspects over the actual game, along with the many astartes-based novels. He is currently in his early twenties and is just readying himself for the world to be thrown at him. He is also apparently very bad at organizing BBCode.

[Luy22]

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