Selection criteria for BA Chaplins and SPs

[Dhx711]

I've been wondering as I'm painting my latest batch of non-named characters what excaltly the chapter looks for in a scout/battle brother that might make them a good canidate to be accepted/assigned into either the Sanguine Priesthood or the School of Chaplins (coudn't find the proper name).

 

Any offcial fluff or personal thoughts are cool.

 

Thinking about some background fluff as to how they got to where they are for my SPs and Chappies not named Lemartes or Corbulo

[Brother Nathan]

dont have any fluff on it as far as i know. i would assume the potential for such would bewatched out for by the seargentsRember in the 40k background they still have alot of paper work. for guard id expect detailed reports on missions etc, possibly some times backed up with mind reading truth seriums etc. and data implants etc.how does this affect marines, specifically the newbs. well id assume the sarge has to evaluate the marine on his ability and personality. this must be specifically important to ba and the succesors as the rage and thirst must also be watched out for.obviously one who would be tasked for a positon of power must have a better ability to conrl them than his battle brothers. now on top of that he sargent would be watching out for those who can encourage his brothers and isnt put off by what he faces. fights hard can lead but dosent wantt lead more than the squad. watches out for signs of his brothers flaws comming out and helps thm those ways. thats likely what he looks for in the chapliny type, stealy determinaton.

the priests however... the fearlesslyfacing things aint wat they would be watching for here. sure firstand formost they are marines and must be able to fight, likely willing to risk their lives to save their brothers. running from posion to positi to check up on the men. likely first ones to notice someone is injured and havinga rudimentary idea of what to do, roughly binding up wounds, pulling shrapnel out of wounds, etc. likely to notice someone is lowed down. if it isnt phsyical then tell the chapliny type.

actually thinking of the salamenders book isnt one of they guys justhelps out the apothcary and keeps having to do it and when his squad gets mostly split up (the sarge gets sent to train as a libarian) he goes for apoth training.

how dos that help well... the sarge watches forthese things and logs them somehow. backs it up with pict shots(built into armour). now as a scout theres no congrats your now a chaplin, have all this special stuff. they still have to progress from scout to assault, to dev to tact. then they have a look at the records. which would have the records of all their previous sarges, and hopefully recomendations from captains too. of course hey could be fast tracted but not often. a god assault marine who single handd ly holds up a pass killing hndred of green skins and killing gazkull ( or any big greenskin warboss) for exapmple, and then dropping in to a chaos stronghold to kill abbadon might just be pomoed to a vanguard squad... also theres different levels of each position and all the taining they have to go through to achieve even the base position in each. like relearning to become a marine. hope that helps

[Erasmus of Baal]

I agree on the whole with Brother Nathan, but I really don't think that it always or even typically takes that long. I would think that the brothers get pulled for special duties while in their first squad assignment (not mission) after receiving their suits of power armor.

 

Granted, I don't have any kind of fluff to back it up, it just makes sense to me. However, it does match up well (in my mind, at least) with various bits of fluff that I have heard tell of mentioning various battle-brothers as having specializations beyond which weapon he is skilled with--just because he hasn't been trained as a Techmarine doesn't necessarily mean that he has no idea of how guns work, yeah?

[Brother Nathan]

well every marine needs to know how to use his weapon. to me part of that would be cleaning and dissasembling. read thousand sons? in it the leader isnt happy they were using theeir powers to clean their weapons and insisted they do it the old fashoned way incase they were stuck some day. real soldiers have to do the same. i would easily think of marines knowing he basics for feild repair for their armours and weapons. But i dont think it would that quick to be repositioned withinin the structures of the chaplinacy and priesthood. after all they arnt just incharge of rare relics, but priests have sanguiniuses blood and are as examplary to the rest of the chapter as chaplins. i would think they would both to have to serve for long enough that they would have respect from their brothers even without their positions.

[Erasmus of Baal]

As for the cleaning and maintenance of wargear, that's actually the only reason that I don't think that they just receive their first suit of power armor in the colors of whichever special organization (save Librarians, of course): they need to learn the basics first, hence time in whatever their first squad assignment is. THey don't need to learn how to use and work with heavy weapons or similar in serious detail, even though at least the basics are a part of their basic training.

 

With the respect, however...I have always thought that they are respceted by virtue of the learning of their post automatically. I would think that, if they are good enough to be inducted into the specialist organization, they have some measure of respect already for their clearly evident talents.

[Gv0zD]

I totally agree with the respect-thing. Surely Sang Priests and Chaplains have to gain their brother's respect. However, I doubt that in order to obtain a position within Reclusiam or Priesthood, a marine should progress the standard military hierarchy (I mean scout-assault-devastator-tactical-veteran). IMHO as the certain batlle-brother shows the necessary traits, he is taken either to Reclusiam or Priesthood (like the psykers are taken to Librarium).

As for the chaplains, I've read somewhere that they are selected during the" scout-stage" and the criteria are that the candidate should be fearless, brave, eloquent, willing and able to inspire his brothers. I don't remember the source <_< but I'll try to find it, and if successful I'll post a link.

[shatter]

Priest selection is probably based on the core of the most perfectly transformed blood angels with the most perfect geneseed development. They'd need to be the ones most receptive to maintaining reason and discipline to prevent the taint of chaos ever getting it's hands on the primarch's blood within them. Ie, They'd have to be the best of the best raw material. So, I think that becoming a priest would take a long selection process. While seeing if a candidate was genetically superior is easy, discovering the perfection of spirit requires the test of time... although, given the nature of prophesy, the priesthood may have a 'good feeling' about certain marines and deem them 'ones to look out for'... and then again, prophesy is like ADD children. Two might kill each other.

I'm pretty sure they're damn careful either way.

 

I think the chaplains are selected from the same group as the priests but with an outlook to command rather than serve. Like the difference between crusade order knights (not men at arms) and warrior monks.

 

pg 48 of C:BA makes their roles out to be confusing and contradictory seeming outside of Blood Angels ideology. But sense can be made of it. They're not yin and yang, they're rather similar yet address both sides of the coin that differentiates Blood Angels from lesser marines.

[Erasmus of Baal]

pg 48 of C:BA makes their roles out to be confusing and contradictory seeming outside of Blood Angels ideology. But sense can be made of it. They're not yin and yang, they're rather similar yet address both sides of the coin that differentiates Blood Angels from lesser marines.

Actually, that makes them perfectly yin and yang--apparently opposites, but like male and female, both halves necessary for the whole. Each half needs the other--how do you define 'good' if no 'evil' exists?--but they oppose each other.

 

More on-topic, nice insights about the priest and noting the Chaplain for command.

[Leonaides]

problem is- chaplains and sang priests dont have command rank in the usual sense. And every marine is expected to be proficient with every weapon. They spend 16-18 hrs a day for several years training and practising just to get out of the scout company. A chaplain is perfectly able to use a lascannon as well as any other marine, field strip and service it for example. People identified for specialist training spend the afternoon training session doing their spec field while the line brothers practice squad, company and larger unit fighting, such as with armoured support or large-scale defense/offense battles. Was in the 3rd ed c:sm if i remember. Sorry for wall of text, on phone at moment.

[Gv0zD]

Yes, the marines' daily schedule was provided in c:sm 3rd ed. It is obvious that specialists should be trained to use all the necessary equipment, jump packs in particular. But in the same time they have to study their specializations, which are taught only after a marine gets appointment to reclusiam or priethood. Hence this appointment happens after one progresses from scout to marine. Also I think that if there is anyone who can see the necessary traints in a candidate is a scout sergeant. In fact he is more a tutor than a commander. And ras, tac or dev sarges mostly work out tactics and maintain combat performance of their squads, rather than seek out personal trait of their subordinates.

[shatter]

pg 48 of C:BA makes their roles out to be confusing and contradictory seeming outside of Blood Angels ideology. But sense can be made of it. They're not yin and yang, they're rather similar yet address both sides of the coin that differentiates Blood Angels from lesser marines.

Actually, that makes them perfectly yin and yang--apparently opposites, but like male and female, both halves necessary for the whole. Each half needs the other--how do you define 'good' if no 'evil' exists?--but they oppose each other.

 

More on-topic, nice insights about the priest and noting the Chaplain for command.

 

I agree with you (my insights are awesome! kidding!), it's describable as yin-yang, surely. What I was doing however was to try (badly) to put it in context with regard to the differences between chaplains and priests versus the rest which is more of a triumvirate than duality. Which reminds me of a joke

 

"You're always trying to put things in terms of dualities!"

"What are you trying to say? Duality bad, non-duality good?"

 

problem is- chaplains and sang priests dont have command rank in the usual sense. And every marine is expected to be proficient with every weapon. They spend 16-18 hrs a day for several years training and practising just to get out of the scout company. A chaplain is perfectly able to use a lascannon as well as any other marine, field strip and service it for example. People identified for specialist training spend the afternoon training session doing their spec field while the line brothers practice squad, company and larger unit fighting, such as with armoured support or large-scale defense/offense battles. Was in the 3rd ed c:sm if i remember. Sorry for wall of text, on phone at moment.

 

I acknowledge that it's not typical in any sense for a chaplain to have the command commission of a company thereby being a commander in the CoC sense. What I meant was part of the differences between Chaplains and Priests is related to their place in CoC. This is supported by the codex via FoC in that there are HQ Chaplains (Astorath & Reclusiarchs) but not HQ priests (mere Elite Corbulo & priests). Which is a pity to me as I'd have liked to have seen this! Poor Corbulo.

In an engagement, it's more typical to see a chaplain motivating a bunch of marines with priests serving their needs.

[Brother Nathan]

though corboulo used to be a hq, and we used to have sanguary high priest hqs when we had furious charge all round, and they essientially gave fnp and gave the squad they joined rerolls to hit and had access to the armoury...actually this is our first codex without hq priest.(which i disaprove of.

And i kinda disagree with the newby marines being in the chaplancy or priesthood. because it isnt just the training and all they have to go hrough, they have new bodies to learn to control. these guys leading the chapter spiritually, (and the fact that the chaplins have to lead the dc) means they need to know how to work with marines. you dont want a chaplin that hasnt proved his mettal as a marine and runs at the first sighn of failure. what way does it work in the real army?

[Tabgoi]

Actually, and I cannot remember which books, but there are several that talk about brotehr marines who are expected to begin training to become chaplains after current assignments are complete and their task force returns to the Fortress Monestary. I beleive one was a Swallows book (I know, horrible example with the way he butchers things), and the other one was a Dark Angel book. Neither directly talked about requirements to become a chaplain but the Dark Angel one talked about the brother having earned the respec of his fellow brothers in combat time and time again and having had great insight into sacred texts of the chapter. In addition it talked about his normal stoic silence, but that when he decided to speak his oratory could move any brother present.

I think basically they look for veteran marines (not neccessarily 1st company, but ones with some serious experience) who show promise in the position. Its like how marines with a knack for heavy weapons tend to end up in devistator squads or more often end up with the heavy weapon in the squad even though the duty rotates.

Sorry I cannot be more specific about the sources, I know the lore is there in the novels, but trying to remember which one out of dozens and dozens when you were reading them for fun and not studying them, not so easy.

[shatter]

I'd have expected the best of the best to be able to do all jobs required else they wouldn't be best of the best... would they?

 

Well, if I was running the BA chapter, I'd have chaplain and priest candidates survive for a several decades before making decisions over their career path. The Codex supports this too as the WS of priests and chaplains reflects veterancy or better already. While the fact of initial BA recruitment and quality of metamorphosis may be proven, the mind needs to be tested and tempered.

 

*shrug*

 

Maybe there are always marines rotating through the arms of the two towers and favorites are simply apprenticed when someone feels like it.

[BorisBC]

Selection Criteria?

 

1. must show demonstrated experience in the field of smashing the enemies of the emperor

2. must show aptitude for health sciences (SP only) or Chapter theology (Chaplain only)

3. show competency in all weapons (with current certificates)

4. demonstrated capacity of good oral and written communication to all levels (recruits to Chapter Master levels)

5. must show knowledge of principals and code of conduct of the Chapter.

 

lol that should be familiar to anyone who's applied for a Govt job!!

[NightrawenII]

Well, if I was running the BA chapter, I'd have chaplain and priest candidates survive for a several decades before making decisions over their career path. The Codex supports this too as the WS of priests and chaplains reflects veterancy or better already. While the fact of initial BA recruitment and quality of metamorphosis may be proven, the mind needs to be tested and tempered.

Well, don't forget there is a position of Sanguinary Novic. His title suggests that he is a priest-in-waiting, ie. he is deemed suitable for the priest-mantle, but he has yet to prove his worth.

 

I bet, there is similar position within Chaplain ranks.

[Malus the Destroyer]

Greetings! Been MIA for a while, due to injuries, and random issues. But I'm back!

I am still trying to track down the document again (Curse reformatting! lost all cool stuff stored) but I had read a detailed account on selection for the Reclusiam. First, a brother must be blooded, seen a fair share of war already. I'm assuming a brother who's at least past Devastator. Secondly, he has to earnn 2 honors, displayed as a small white stripe, and a small blue stripe on the right shoulderpad trim, lower part above the arm. These honors are.............well they have to do with spiritual purity amidst combat, and the second is an honor from the librarium. Its details completely elude me. I REALLY wish I had access to the document I read this in.

It entail alot about Commissars actively seeking and testing their knowledge, command, and worth to Space Marine Chaplains. Hope this at least helps someone else hunt this document down!

 

Reclusiarch Malus, of the Flesh Tearers.

 

Edit-A brother after selection begins indoctrination of Chapter beliefs, history, and alot of study in the Reclusiam Sanctuary. He will not advance until his Mentor falls in battle, then he will take the helm, and as much of the armor as he can strap on right there on the battlefield, assuming the fallen Chaplain's Name.