IA: Gryphon Lancers revision 4

[Gryphonclaw]

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"Now order the ranks, and fling wide the banners, for our souls are the Emperor's and our bodies the Chapter's, and our swords for the Imperium!" Said by Chapter Master Aerion Macdon as he engaged an Ork Waagh with the remaining elements of the chapter on Tarrikus IV

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/hq2.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 8px 2px; padding: 12px 8px 12px 8px; border: 1px solid #DDD; margin-left: 0 auto; text-align: left; color: #fff; text-indent:50px; font-size:130%; width:50%;">Chapter Purpose

The Gryphon Lancers are an Imperial Fist Successor Chapter from the 26th founding 738/M41. Formed as a Crusader Chapter to patrol and protect the Imperium and to carry on the Great Crusade. Most of the chapters action has been seen around the Dominion of Storms from chaos attacks from the Dominion and Ork hordes in the area along with some Eldar raiders. The Chapter dives into its role as a Crusade chapter with a zeal that leaves no enemies left in its wake. Though they are a young chapter they are always on watch to find and destroy any incoming threats to the Imperium and it's rim worlds. They have excelled at breaking the backs of many invasions and sieges on Imperium planets.

Marridian Crusade

The Gryphon Lancers used their speed to the greatness effect on the planet of Marridian III when the Lancers came to the call of the Planetary Government about Eldar raiding parties. After a crusade was called and the proper units chosen they deployed their 2nd Company the Templars to the planet along with the 4 squads of the 10th Company and two Knights Lancers squads from the 1st company. Unknown to the Gryphons at the time of deployment that the Planetary Government wasn't clear on the actual make up of the raiding parties.
The Lancers found themselves stuck in between two equally fast forces of Eldar and Dark Eldar war parties. The true reason the accursed Xenos had chosen to war upon an Imperium planet was never found out. Though they could not match the Eldars speed The Lances used their own speed and tactics to harass and delay the Xenos for two months picking at them while they chose to war upon each other. To Codicier Ral Marlacu the Librarian attached to the 2nd Company it seemed like the Eldar where trying to find something buried in the main mountain range of Marridian III which the Lancers zeroed in on and patrolled constantly to try and find the Eldar before they could flee to their hidden locations.
They stalled both parties long enough so that two more Gryphon Lancers battle companies could be deployed along with Imperial Guard forces to eventually drive the Eldar and their dark kin off world and free Marridian III from war. Or so they think it was never confirmed if the Eldar or their Dark Kin simply accomplished their vile mission and left planet of their own accord.

Chapter Culture and Beliefs

"The Gryphon Lancers character is forged in the granite of the mountains and the storms that the Gryphons fly threw. That is no timid reed easily shaken by the wind of these xenos!" 10th Company Knight Captain Thain Syme to his Scout Squads during the chapters encounter with Eldar war parties on Marridian III

The Astartes of the Gryphon Lancers are by nature reserved, dutiful and some would say aloof. They are forever mindful of the sacred honour bestowed upon them by the Emperor and are watchful for any threats that would seek to destroy their home and honour that duty at all costs. They are viewed by many of the other Imperial organizations to be straight to the point and unwavering in their crusade to crush the enemies of the Imperium. As a whole the chapter is not boastful or arrogant when dealing with other chapters or Imperial organizations they keep that to themselves and reserved and quite only speaking if direct action is needed or to answer a question they deem worthy. Always watching and always listening is the role they play during joint operations with other organizations of the Imperium but they will step in if they feel one of the other branches isn't fulfilling their role to the Imperium. The Chapter command believes that with a greater understanding of all the branches of the Imperium military will allow them to gain a greater advantage over the many enemies of mankind by working with and not shunning other branches. Within the chapter there is a great amount of boasting, jousting and competitions between squads and companies. The Sergeants encourage sparring, pranks and joking to build a greater bond between the brothers of the chapter along with joint squad training. Unlike some chapters where squads avoid interaction with each other the Gryphons regularly train their marines in joint operations so there is a greater amount of communication on the battle field between squads. When an assault squad knows what a devastator squad is going to do in any given situation is an advantage the Lancers strive towards.

The Chapter command reminds their marines of duty at all times from the smallest of task to the greatest of tasks."Duty First." is a common phrase employed by the Sergeants of the chapter to keep their squads forever working for the greater good of the Imperium. Every marine is tasked with something to do other than the maintenance of his battle gear, prayers and training. Most of these taskings tie into the chapter being fleet based and it is not an uncommon thing to see marines in the ammo storage areas moving, cleaning and counting ammo, marines helping with the maintenance of the ships, cleaning hallways or even helping techmarines and apothecaries in their assigned duties. Always ready and always moving forward is the key to the chapters success.

The Gryphons are true defenders of the Imperium to the highest level and some say will be the downfall of the chapter in the long run. The chapter abhors the lose of any life from the masses of humanity and are prone to suicidal defenses of civilian areas, are quick to ask for rear guard actions to hold the line while others are given the chance to live and fight another day and are strictly against any tactic that will cost the lives of innocents.

The Gryphon Lancers hold strong to their faith and devotion to the Imperium and the Emperor but they cling just as tight to their founding history. The Chapter gains it's name and history from the ancient histories Terra and their founding chapter and trainers the Imperial Fists. They base their chapter off the ancient tales of the shining Knight a symbol of duty, honour and selfless service that have held firm threw out the millenniums passed down threw many cultures and generations of the Imperium . The chapters foundation, like the knights of old, places strong emphasis on the Sword, Duty and Self Sacrifice along with the Gryphon and the Lance. The Gryphon is a highly symbolized creature of myth that is known for it's pride, power and it's history as a creature that would lay down its life for pride and home striking from on high using the clouds and sun to advantage to take down far larger prey and predators as a group. One such myth is of Gryphons being able to kill or drive off ancient dragons by using its speed and maneuverability. The Lance has always been a symbol of power throughout the history of humanity. Used by nobility and countless numbers of ancient armies and warriors to gain the advantage of first strike on an enemy formation.

The Sword and the Shield

The Chapter holds strong to their honor and founding history in using the Knights weapon, the Sword, they gained most of the respect for the sword from their founding chapter and trainers the Imperial Fists who passed on this belief to the chapter. They rarely use anything short of Chainswords or Power Swords or their personal swords. All marines carry a sword of some type into combat, along the lines of a Longsword from Ancient Terra, each blade is created by the Masters of the Forges and awarded to the marine upon becoming a full fledged Astartes. Each blades is perfectly made for the wielder and each blade is created by information gained by the Swordsmiths, a group of Chaplains that have a unique ability to produce these images from the initiates mind at the beginning of the marines conditioning. The Swordsmiths not only search for corruption and flaws within the initiate but also search for the initiates inner sword as they call it. The image of the perfect Knights sword from the mind of the wielder to be granted upon acceptance within the chapter. Many initiates have been turned away for the simple fact that the Swordsmiths couldn't find the inner sword in their mind or the sword came out corrupted or weak. There are some instances with marines receiving visions of swords calling out to them seeking to be freed from an enemy of the Imperium. The Gryphons view this as a great honour and task to be undertaken at all costs. Once the marine receives the vision quest, if the marines company is not already engaged or the Chapter is not already on a Crusade given by the Imperium, orders are given and the Swordsmiths begin a week long ritual meditation with the marine to gain the information needed to declare a Sword Crusade.

Sword Crusades have been known to be no bigger than squad action all the way to multiple companies of the chapter going to purge the enemies of humanity and claim the sword in the name of the Emperor and Imperium. Some instances of these vision quests end with the marines never returning to the chapter but the names of the entire Crusade are always remembered upon a great granite slab that resides in main cathedral of the chapters lead battle barge, The Gryphons Roost, referred to as the Hall of the Mourning Sword. Once a marine returns from his quest he and his brothers that undertook this quest are marked with gold upon another granite slab in an adjacent hall referred to as the Hall of the Defiant Sword and he is given the choice to either remain with his company or he is to be trained as a Knight Gryphon and promoted to the ranks of the 1st company to join the rest of the Quest knights as one of the elite members of the chapter. The marines that choose to remain with their company are granted a unique heraldry they place on their right knee guard of two white swords in the shape of an X. No sword gained from one of these quests has ever been used again, the Gryphons view this as a great sacrilege and all the swords are stored in the Hall of the Fallen Swords.

Almost all Gryphon marines carry a shield into combat. These shields act as the marines personal badge along with a vital combat tool. The Gryphons view the Shield as an extension of themselves almost as much as the Sword. All marines are fully trained in a Sword and Shield combat style from their earliest years. There are no guidelines on what a marine can put on his shield once he is given the honour of carrying one into combat but each shield is the same at the time of honouring. Each shield is a kite shield with a hole in the upper right side of the shield to allow for a bolter to be locked into a firing position. Each shield is painted with the chapters symbol on the upper right square of the kite shield on a yellow background and the Imperium Aquila on the upper left square on a dark blue background. The bottom half of the shield is a chess board pattern of white squares and the marines company designation color. Some marines also place the company colors and white chess board pattern on their lower left leg armor.

There are only a few exceptions to the Gryphons faith in the sword and shield. These reside in the chapters most devout and powerful warriors that take their chapter name as not only a name but as a state of being. Power Halberds and Lightning Claws are used by only a select few within the chapter and they are viewed as the talons and beak of the Gryphon and that only the most skilled and devout of the chapter are permitted to use these weapons to strike down the enemies of the Imperium with the Fury of the Gryphon incarnate. Going along with this belief the Marines of the Gryphon Lancers also use the older Mark VI helmets seeing them as an extension of the Gryphon. The chapter views itself as the Imperiums Lance to strike down its enemies but some take this belief a step further and actually carry lances into combat most of these marines are landspeeder crews or tactical squads that use attack bikes on a regular basis but there are many Assault marines that carry lances into combat dropping in from on high lance leading to gain the first strike upon an enemy.

The Gryphon Lancers view duty and honour as the end all view points of service to the Emperor and the Imperium.The concept of duty is the bedrock of the Chapter’s belief system, with everything else revolving around it. The Gryphons consider any task undertaken in the Emperors name to be a sacred task, and that it is their honour to fulfill that trust or to die in the attempt. To face the Emperor having died in the conduct of your duty is far better than to live knowing you have failed him. They also place great emphasis on self sacrifice seeing it as a duty to the Imperium to protect and assist those that can't defend themselves. The Gryphons hold to this view and most of the chapters recruitment is based of these beliefs. They seek the most noble, honourable and self sacrificing individuals to recruit. This is an oddity most chapters seek the greatest warrior of the cultures they recruit from but the Gryphons believe that any person can be taught to wage war but only the special can be taught to do so with honour, duty and self sacrifice. The Gryphons recruits go threw many periods of time in where they are placed in situations that promote these three beliefs. The final stage of the Gryphons training is a simple affair. The chapter masters choose from creatures they capture on planets that they visit during their crusades or that are found by the recruitment company commander during their recruitment missions and unleash it upon a village and the Initiate must defend the village at all costs from the rampaging beast. Most of these beasts resemble great mythical beasts passed down threw the ages. Dragons, Gorgons, Hydras or other great beasts that plagued the dark ages of humanity. The Initiate is given the simple task of die fighting to save those he has sworn to protect or slay the enemy. If the initiate falls in combat his gene seed is harvested and the beast is dispatched before it can actually harm any of the village by the marines overseeing the final rite of passage and the initiates name is engraved on a tomb in the village cemetery to forever be remembered by those he gave his life to protect. If the initiate slays the beast he is awarded his first heraldry which is normally placed upon the Marines combat shield and becomes a full fledged Astartes in the service of the Imperium with a full understanding of why he was created and what he is going to defend.

"We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death." Head Chaplain Kay Macual

Chapter Organization

The Gryphon Lancers hold firm to the teachings of the Codex Astartes as put forth by Roboute Guilliman. They hold themselves to the highest standards possible not only in their chapters organization but in the day to day life of the marines that are the back bone of the chapters fighting force. There are only a few variations that mainly are displayed in the company markings on the marines armor. The chapters first company is the chapters veteran company. The chapter has a very small amount of Tactical Dreadnaught Armor available to them and only field up to three squads of Terminators at any given time. The vast majority of the 1st company are formed in Knight Gryphons squads (Vanguard squads) and Knight Lancers (Sternguard squads). The chapters 2nd threw 5th companies are all battle companies and form the chapters main fighting force on its crusade to defend the Imperium. 6th and 7th companies are both tactical reserves, the 8th is the Assault reserve and the 9th is Devastator reserve. Last but not least is the chapters 10th company which is the home of the scouts.

The Gryphons place the squad markings on the lower middle area of the right pauldron. The veterans of the 1st company use silver not white as its company color. The company number is also placed in the sword that is carried by the Gryphon on the chapter symbol. This also leads to the chapters companies being referred to as Swords and also falls into part of the chapters battle cry "Swords Front!".

A normal marines helmet in the Gryphons is a midnight blue along with a yellow strip going down the beak of the Mark VI helm. The chapters sergeants shy away from the codex they do not paint their helms red as most codex adhering chapters they paint them yellow with a midnight blue strip instead. Veteran Sergeants have a yellow helm with a white strip in the 2nd threw 9th companies. The veterans of the chapter in the 1st company paint their helms full silver as per the codex with a white stripe and veteran sergeants of the 1st company paint their helms silver with a midnight blue stripe. The Marines blessed with the honour of Terminator armor paint their entire helm white with the veteran sergeants having a midnight blue stripe.

Chapter Company Breakdown

1st Company "Paladins" Veteran Company
2nd Company "Templars" Battle Company
3rd Company "Cavaliers" Battle Company
4th Company "Crusaders" Battle Company
5th Company "Tempests" Battle Company
6th Company "Lightning" Tactical Reserve
7th Company "Thunder" Tactical Reserve
8th Company "Maelstroms" Assault Reserve
9th Company "Dragoons" Devastator Reserve
10th Company "Light Foot" Scout Company

Chapter Combat Doctrine

The Gryphon Lancers hold firm to the teachings of the Codex Astartes but have a tendency to lean on a fast attack combat doctrine. They make heavy use of scout squads to not only train up future marines faster but to find and report on the enemies position and strengths so they can launch their attacks faster. It is rare to see any crusade not have at least one squad of scouts deployed to the combat zone. Unless faced with a far larger force the scouts engage and stick the enemy in place to allow for the battle companies of the chapter to move into position to crush the enemy. They use a high amount of drop pod assaults, thunderhawk gunship assaults and rhinos/razorbacks to move their tactical and devastator squads on to the field of battle to maximize damage done to the enemy before they have time to react to the Gryphons assault. The Gryphons use a larger amount of Landspeeders and Attack Bike squads to lend extra speed to their attacks and an extra blocking force for the scout squads.

The chapter also makes heavy use of a tactic they call the Lance Strike which leans heavy on an armored spear thrust into an enemy and aimed at the heart of the enemy leadership. The armored force will generally move into a enemy formation looking to engage and destroy the center or any major command units and deploy their combat squads from there and then push out of the enemy coming in again at the sides of the enemy while the main force holds the center and directs the armored lance attack into the weakest or strongest areas of the enemy when needed.

The Gryphons are also known for their stubborn resilience when faced with overwhelming odds which they have gained from their father chapter the Imperial Fists. Rather than retreating in the face of an enemy the Gryphons are known to stubbornly dig in and hold the line against all comers to allow time for the Chapter command to react and move squads to break the back of the enemy with a fast attack to the rear of the enemy formations or leadership.

Tarrikus Crusade

"Difficulties be damned! Clear the Way!" 2nd Company Knight Captain Richar Gordon used as his company was the fore front of a four Company attack on an Ork held mountain pass on Tarrikus IV he was a veteran sergeant at the time and was promoted to the rank of Knight Captain shortly after when the Captain of the 2nd was promoted to the 1st company captaincy.

The greatest victory and defeat the Gryphon Lancers have faced to date was at Tarrikus IV one of the Gryphons recruitment worlds near the Dominion of Storms. Upon receiving word that a large Ork horde was threatening many of the Gryphons recruitment worlds they deployed all four battle companies and elements of the 1st and 10th companies to destroy the horde. Upon transition from the Warp the Gryphon Lancer fleet found itself instantly bombarded by the Ork war fleet and had no maneuver room to escape the trap laid by the Orks. The resulting damage done to the fleet didn't allow for a proper deployment of ground forces or time to properly judge the size of the Ork Waagh which was far larger than the original information received by the Chapter command. Overall command was under Knight Captain Kain Dommin of the chapters veteran 1st company who chose to combat drop the entire force to the surface of Tarrikus IV before to much was lost in the horrible destruction above the planet. Nine squads, including the Crusades commander himself Kain Dommin and all five Librarians assigned to the Crusade, where lost in the combat drop to Ork ships which remains a stain upon the chapters mind to this day.

Upon reaching the planet and seeing the devastation the Chapter had faced Knight Captain Kay Gilcres of the 2nd company took over as the overall commander for the strike force and pulled the Lancers back into the rolling hills away from the Ork horde to allow for proper information to be gained. Gilcres used the scout squads to find the hordes warlord and used all the speed he could muster out of the remaining armor, landspeeders and thunderhawks to make one swift strike to cut the head off the horde to buy time for reinforcements to arrive from the Chapter and Imperial Guard units in the sector.

Knight Captain Thain Syme of the 10th company located the Ork Warlord responsible for all of the death and destruction brought to one of the Gryphons worlds in a high mountain pass moving towards the capital. The Scout Captain found an old Imperial Fortress deep in the mountains and not far from the valley the Ork Warlord was moving threw. Upon hearing this information Gilcres formed up the remaining forces of the Lancers and moved them to the fortress to stage the attack. Once set the attack order was given and 100 marines assaulted down into BarnokPass from the cliffs above and 232 marines drove threw Barnok Pass into the teeth of the Orks. Four hours is all it took for the Gryphons to purge the mountain pass and eliminate the Warlord. Syme brought low the Warlord as he was engaged with Gilcres and his command squad with a well placed sniper rifle round into the power unit running the Orks armor. 52 marines died in the assault, a heavy toll but not as heavy as what was coming in the Gryphons direction.

Upon the death of the Warlord the Ork horde went into infighting to decide a new warlord the Lancers used this time to move back to the stronghold to regroup and rearm and pay their respects for the honoured dead. Out on the plains it didn't take long for the new Warlord to emerge and after the demise of the previous greenskin he acted fast and directed the entire horde towards the fortress and the Gryphons. The entire horde turned on the Gryphons and attacked. With no where to turn or move the Gryphons made ready to receive the Orks and made them pay a dear price for the destruction the Orks had wrought upon the planet. The Gryphons fought for almost three weeks before the remaining forces of the chapter lead by the Chapter Master himself and Imperial Guard units from the Sector made planet fall and smashed to the Waagh to pieces. Out of the 520 Lancers deployed only 62 remained alive in the last keep of the fortress the rest of the area was blasted to pieces and the Ork bodies where piled so high in some areas that it could block out the sun from a terminators vision. The chapter is still currently trying to recover from the losses it took at Tarrikus IV but they still stalk the vastness of space for any and all incoming threats to the Imperium.

"No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."


I hope you enjoy the read. "SWORDS FRONT!" "FOR THE IMPERIUM AND EMPEROR!"

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

Chapter Homeworld and recruitment: The Gryphons have no true homeworld to call their own but their main recruitment planet is Aerie Prime (uncatalogued) which is a Fuedal World located near the Dominion of Storms. Aerie Prime is known for its heavy amount of rain storms and 80% of the planet is covered with high ranging mountains and valleys.

 

What do you mean by uncatalogued? This is a really cool idea for the planet.

 

Chapter known fleet assets: 2 Battle Barges (The Stormclaw and Gryphons Roost) 3 Strike Cruisers (The Lancers Steed, Aerie's Pride and The Dragoons Shield), 3 Gladius class Frigates (The Broadsword, The Longsword and The Claymore) 4 Nova class Frigates (Paladin's Fury, The Avenger, The Retribution and The Storm Runner) but there have been sightings of larger amounts of Gryphon Lancer ships threw out their designated patrol area.

 

The bolded stuff should be throughout. Who designated the patrol area?

 

Founding Chapter and Geneseed: The Gryphon Lancers carry the Geneseed of Rogal Dorn and have inherited both the flaws with the Imperial Fists Geneseed the missing Betcher's Gland and the missing Sus-an Membrane but no other known flaws. The Gryphon Lancers where not created from the Imperial Fists they hail from the Black Templars Chapter which supplied the Gyphons their original training. 23rd founding believed to be formed in reaction to the Black Crusade at the end of M37.

 

As far as I know, the Templars have no successors. Try searching for Templar successors and see what you come with. :)

 

The Gryphon Lancers are an Black Templar Successor Chapter from the 23rd founding believed to be formed in reaction to the Black Crusade at the end of M37.

 

See above for my problem with the Templar thing. Also, it takes so long to get the chapter started that they wouldn't be formed to protect from a black crusade.

 

Formed as a Crusader Chapter to patrol and protect the areas around the Dominion of Storms from chaos attacks from the Dominion and Ork forces from Balur until the planet was scourged of Orks by a marine led expedition in M41 in which the Gryphon Lancers committed 2 companies to the Balur Secundus Strike Force. Shortly after the chapter has been placed on a larger patrol around the around the Dominion of Storms and outlying sectors.

 

Again, who placed the chapter on this?

 

The Chapter dives into its duties as a Crusade chapter with a zeal that leaves no enemies left in its wake.Though they are a young chapter they are always on watch to find and destroy any incoming threats to the Imperium and it's rim worlds. They have excelled at breaking the backs of many invasions and sieges on Imperium planets.

 

Crusade chapters don't patrol. They crusade to continue the great crusade.

 

All marines place a shield upon their armor normally on their right shoulder or built into Bolt pistols, Bolters or Stormbolters that is painted on the upper left side of the shield the double winged eagle of the Imperium, the Chapter Symbol on the upper right and their company markings ( a chess board of white and company color squares) on the lower half of the shield.

 

This sentence is confusing, consider revising it.

 

Some marines also place the company colors and white chess board pattern on their lower left leg armor. The Chapter also holds strong to their honor and founding history in using the Knights weapon, the Sword. They flat out refuse to use anything short of Chainswords or Power Swords. The only exceptions to this are Power Halberds and Lightning Claws which are viewed as the talons or beak of the Gryphon but only the most skilled and devout of the chapter are permitted to use these weapons. The Marines of the Gryphon Lancers also use the older Mark VI helmets seeing them as an extension of the Gryphon.

 

Nice touches.

 

The Gryphon Lancers view duty and honour as the end all view points of service to the Emperor and the Imperium.The concept of duty is the bedrock of the Chapter’s belief system, with everything else revolving around it. The Gryphons consider any task undertaken in the Emperors name to be a sacred duty, and that it is their honourable duty to fulfill that trust or to die in the attempt. To face the Emperor having died in the conduct of your duty is far better than to live knowing you have failed him. They also place great emphasis on self sacrifice seeing it as a duty to the Imperium to protect and assist those that can't defend themselves. The Gryphons hold to this view and most of the chapters recruitment is based of these beliefs. They seek the most noble, honourable and self sacrificing individuals to recruit. This is an oddity most chapters seek the greatest warrior of the cultures they recruit from but the Gryphons believe that any person can be taught to wage war but only the special can be taught to do so with honour, duty and self sacrifice. The Gryphons recruits go threw many periods of time in where they are placed in situations that promote these three beliefs. At periods recruits are placed in small villages on one of the feudal plants and are placed as serfs to the non astartes and can only leave with the elder of the villages blessing that the recruit has learned self sacrifice, duty and a good work ethic by performing whatever tasks the villages need done during the recruits time. This gives the Gryphons a great insight on what they are fighting for in the name of the Emperor and Imperium. The final stage of the Gryphons training is the greatest test of all for the young recruits they are placed in a situation where one recruit must sacrifice ones self in the defense of the village that was part of their earlier training. If they live threw the defense they understand what sacrifices they will have to make in the defense of the Imperium if they don't they will have performed the greatest sacrifice any Astartes can do by dieing in the defense of the Imperium.

 

Bold= through. Your final stage doesn't quite make much sense.

 

The Gryphons place the squad markings on the lower middle area of the right pauldron and the company color markings are displayed in a chess board pattern of white and the company designator in which they place on their lower left leg armor or on small shields they place on the forefront of the right pauldron of their armor or sometimes both.The veterans of the 1st company use silver not white as its company color. They also place small shields of varying sizes on their ranged weapons or in the case of the Assault squads and Knights Gryphon squads they use full fledged combat shields or storm shields. The company number is also placed in the sword that is carried by the Gryphon on the chapter symbol. This also leads to the chapters companies being referred to as swords and also falls into part of the chapters battle cry "Swords Front!".

 

Some of this seems to have been stated quite a number of times before.

 

The Gryphon Lancers used their speed to the greatness effect on the planet of Marridian III when the Lancers came to the call of the Planetary Government about Eldar raiding parties. The Knights deployed their 2nd Company the Templars to the planet along with the 4 squads of the 10th Company and two Knights Lancers squads from the 1st company. Unknown to the Gryphons at the time of deployment that the Planetary Government wasn't clear on the actual make up of the raiding parties. The Lancers found themselves stuck in between two equally fast forces of Eldar and Dark Eldar war parties. The true reason the accursed Xenos had chosen to war upon an Imperium planet was never found out. The Lances used their speed and tactics to harass the Xenos for two months picking at them while they chose to war upon each other. To the Librarian attached to the 2nd Company it seemed like the Eldar where trying to find something buried in the main mountain range of Solstice. They stalled both parties long enough so that two more Gryphon Lancers battle companies could be deployed along with Imperial Guard forces to eradicate the Eldar and their dark kin and free Marridian III from war.

 

It's almost impossible to beat the eldar for speed, guerilla warfare, and psychic power.

 

Upon reaching the planet and seeing the devastation the Chapter had faced Knight Captain Kay Gilcres of the 2nd company took over as Knight Commander for the strike force and pulled the Lancers back into the rolling hills away from the Ork horde to allow for proper information to be gained. Gilcres used the scout squads to target major tribe leaders and used the speed he could muster out of the remaining armor, landspeeders and thunderhawks to cut the heads off nine tribes in the first month of war throwing a major portion of the Waaagh into confusion and in fighting. Even with all of the speed and fury being thrown at the Orks they still flooded five of the main cities on the planet killing as they went.

 

Actually, the Chief Librarian would take over, followed by the first company captain.

 

Knight Captain Thain Syme used this time to locate the Ork Warlord responsible for all of the death and destruction brought to one of the Gryphons worlds. The Scout Captain found an old Imperial Fortress deep in the mountains of northern Tarrikus where the Warlord had brought the best of his horde to guard him fearing if he stayed out on the plains he would be targeted by the Angels of Death. Upon hearing this information Gilcres formed up the remaining forces of the Lancers and made an all out attack upon the Warlords stronghold. 100 marines assaulted down into the fortress from the cliffs above and 232 marines drove threw Barnok Pass into the teeth of the Orks. Four hours is all it took for the Gryphons to purge the mountain pass and the stronghold. Syme brought low the Warlord as he was engaged with Gilcres and his command squad with a well placed sniper rifle round into the power unit running the Orks armor. 52 marines died in the assault, a heavy toll but not as heavy as what was coming in the Gryphons direction.

 

Orks do not hole themselves up in mountains in fear. He would attack. After all, it's impossible to beat an ork, because no matter what they win.

 

Upon the death of the Warlord the Ork horde out on the plain didn't act as a normal Waaagh would. The remaining tribal leaders decided the only way to figure out a new head Warlord would be to kill the super hummies in the mountains. The entire horde turned on the Gryphons and attacked. With no where to turn or move the Gryphons made ready to receive the Orks and made them pay a dear price for the destruction the Orks had wrought upon the planet. The Gryphons fought for almost three weeks before the remaining forces of the Gryphons and Imperial Guard units from the Sector made planet fall and smashed to the Waagh to pieces. Out of the 520 Lancers deployed only 62 remained alive in the last keep of the fortress the rest of the area was blasted to pieces and the Ork bodies where piled so high in some areas that it could block out the sun from a terminators vision. The chapter is still currently trying to recover from the losses it took at Tarrikus IV but they still stalk their designated patrol area for any and all incoming threats to the Imperium.

 

Try not to kill your chapter too much. Also, how is this not normal Waaagh! behavior?

 

Good job on this.

[NightrawenII]

First, merry Christmas and welcome in the Liber.

 

Next, delete or change the formating of the pic-panel at bottom of your post. One picture of your marine is enough, not to mention the panel breaks the format of the thread.

 

The Gryphon Lancers where not created from the Imperial Fists they hail from the Black Templars Chapter which supplied the Gyphons their original training. 23rd founding believed to be formed in reaction to the Black Crusade at the end of M37.

~

The Gryphon Lancers are an Black Templar Successor Chapter from the 23rd founding believed to be formed in reaction to the Black Crusade at the end of M37.

What the Chapter Master Ignis Domus said. The Black Templars are bad choice for parent chapter for various reasons covered in the Guide to DIY and Octaguide 2.0.

 

Formed as a Crusader Chapter to patrol and protect the areas around the Dominion of Storms from chaos attacks from the Dominion and Ork forces from Balur until the planet was scourged of Orks by a marine led expedition in M41 in which the Gryphon Lancers committed 2 companies to the Balur Secundus Strike Force. Shortly after the chapter has been placed on a larger patrol around the around the Dominion of Storms and outlying sectors.

- It's better ot leave the official events out of DIY.

- Another thing, the Chapter was formed as the guardians of the DoS, yet stationed here after ~2,000 of their existence?

 

Though they are a young chapter they are always on watch to find and destroy any incoming threats to the Imperium and it's rim worlds.

- They are ~2,000 years old, not very young in my book.

 

At periods recruits are placed in small villages on one of the feudal plants and are placed as serfs to the non astartes and can only leave with the elder of the villages blessing that the recruit has learned self sacrifice, duty and a good work ethic by performing whatever tasks the villages need done during the recruits time.

- In all fairness, this is odd training menthod for the Space Marines.

 

The Gryphons place the squad markings on the lower middle area of the right pauldron and the company color markings are displayed in a chess board pattern of white and the company designator in which they place on their lower left leg armor or on small shields they place on the forefront of the right pauldron of their armor or sometimes both.

*snip*

The Marines blessed with the honour of Terminator armor paint their entire helm white with the veteran sergeants having a midnight blue stripe.

- Booooring.

 

Upon receiving word that a large Ork horde was threatening many of the Gryphons recruitment worlds they deployed all four battle companies and elements of the 1st and 10th companies to stall the horde to allow the Imperium to marshal more forces to crush the threat.

- Why not Reserve Companies? Reserves are, after all, here to reinforce the Battle Comps.

 

Knight Commander Kain Dommin of the 1st company combat dropped the entire force to the surface of Tarrikus IV before to much was lost in the horrible destruction above the planet. Nine squads, including the Sword Champion himself Kain Dommin, where lost in the combat drop to Ork ships and meteors which remains a stain upon the chapters mind to this day.

- Two different titles for Kain Dommin.

- Also, I don't quite understand how could meteorites damage the Astartes ships, since they are described as *heavily armoured*.

 

The Scout Captain found an old Imperial Fortress deep in the mountains of northern Tarrikus where the Warlord had brought the best of his horde to guard him fearing if he stayed out on the plains he would be targeted by the Angels of Death.

- Lol, this is absolutely un-Orky.

 

Upon the death of the Warlord the Ork horde out on the plain didn't act as a normal Waaagh would. The remaining tribal leaders decided the only way to figure out a new head Warlord would be to kill the super hummies in the mountains.

Yes and No.

There will be *alot* of infighting involved.

 

+++

Overall. Good read, but most of the IA feels like missed oportunity. I simply can't tell *who* are the Gryphon Lancers. The article delves into unnecessary details like livery or marking, but avoids talking about the nature of the Chapter like Plague Marine avoids bath.

[Gryphonclaw]

Awesome thanks for the suggestions and stuff I need to change. I'll get on it as soon as xmas is done and dusted. Merry xmas to you as well !

[Gryphonclaw]

Ok, I think I have revised and added some stuff to fluff it up a bit. Thank you again for all of the suggestions and corrections that needed to be done. I have been digging about what a crusade chapter is technically and I'm a bit confused on it I think. My general view of it is they are fleet based have no certain area they just go to where the fighting is the heaviest or if they are called to battle by the Imperium? Also the question about uncatalogued planets I thought I read that not all planets are visited by the Imperium paper pushers because they are believed to be unimportant or will never amount to anything for thousands upon thousands of years but I might be wrong I just tossed that in there I can take it out if needed.

[Gryphonclaw]

I will be working on the nature of the chapter now. :tu:

[NightrawenII]

My general view of it is they are fleet based have no certain area they just go to where the fighting is the heaviest or if they are called to battle by the Imperium?

Correct.

 

Also the question about uncatalogued planets I thought I read that not all planets are visited by the Imperium paper pushers because they are believed to be unimportant or will never amount to anything for thousands upon thousands of years but I might be wrong I just tossed that in there I can take it out if needed.

That bit was probably about Imperial tithes. The amount depends on the planet's resources and production abilities, so it's possible for some backwater planets to not be tithed very often.

 

The Chapter gains it's name and history from ancient Terra. They base their chapter off the Knights of Terra. The chapters foundation, like the knights of old, places strong emphasis on the Sword, Duty and Self Sacrifice along with the Gryphon and the Lance.

- I would like to point out that we are 40,000 years in the future. The memories of the knights of the old Terra will be vague at best. The same apply for this: Most of these beasts resemble great mythical beasts of Terra. Dragons, Gorgons, Hydras or other great beasts that plagued the dark ages of humanity.

 

The Lance has always been a symbol of power through the history of Terra.

~

The Chapter holds strong to their honor and founding history in using the Knights weapon, the Sword. They flat out refuse to use anything short of Chainswords or Power Swords when they have been given the honour of becoming a sergeant or a member of an assault squad.

- At odds with each other.

 

Each blades is perfectly made for the wielder and each blade is created by information gained by the Librarians of the chapter at the beginning of the marines conditioning. The Librarians not only search for corruption and flaws within the initiate but also search for the initiates inner sword as they call it. The image of the perfect Knights sword from the mind of the wielder to be granted upon acceptance within the chapter.

- Why not Chaplains? It's not like there is clear image of sword in the initiates mind.

 

Once the marine receives the vision quest they are given leave to travel and obtain the sword at all costs or die trying to obtain it.

- Very unlikely. Marines don't wander around on ther own.

 

On more than one occasion the Gryphons have been seen marching shoulder to shoulder shields locked moving forward as a shield wall pouring fire into the enemies before them.

Q: Why was close order formation abandoned in the modern army?

A: Because of the invention of explosives.

 

... but there are many Assault marines that carry lances into combat dropping in from on high lance leading to gain the first strike upon an enemy.

- I thought they flat out refuse to use anything but sword?

 

The Gryphon Lancers view duty and honour as the end all view points of service to the Emperor and the Imperium. The concept of duty is the bedrock of the Chapter’s belief system, with everything else revolving around it.

- Where in this belief is permission to go on their personal quest of searching for weapon?

[Aegnor]

Just a style/preference thing, but I feel there is at least one too many elements to the chapter motto. It feels too long and "be all" and "know all" don't sound as good as the rest. "See all, hear all, and let the Thunder Come" seems in my opinion a much snappier, forceful motto.

[Gryphonclaw]

That is a bit more forceful Aegnor I give it that I will go with that idea which I thank you for or change it up even more. NightrawenII thank you for your words as well you bring up valid points and I will get back to revision on those points you made after reading them a few times over you are correct a few to many flaws and issues to be had. B) rawr back to reading resources and dragging out information in my head!

[Gryphonclaw]

Ok changes made back to figuring out this motto and more about the nature of the Gryphons!

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

I would just take out the "hear all, know all". Try saying it a few times. It sounds pretty good.

[Gryphonclaw]

"Be all, See all and let the Thunder come."

 

"See all, Hear all and let the Thunder come."

 

"Fear nothing and Glory to the Imperium."

 

"Vigilant, Just , Loyal unto Death."

 

"Always Ready, Always Forward"

 

"Rock of the Imperium."

 

"For the honour of the Imperium."

 

"Loyalty and Courage."

 

"We yield not, we strike for the Imperium."

 

"No enemy to difficult, no sacrifice to great, duty first."

 

Well a few to pick from now. I have a few others but they don't really fit.

[Gryphonclaw]

Alright just added some stuff to the Culture and Beliefs area. Now back to hashing out the motto.

[Gryphonclaw]

changed up the motto tweaked a few areas.

[Gryphonclaw]

Alright made the IA a bit more eye appealing and added and changed a few things around.

[NightrawenII]

Chapter General Information

Chapter motto: "No enemy to difficult, no sacrifice to great, duty first."

- Redundant. And where we are at it, this entire section is redundant, because the same informations are repeated in the article.

- Also "too difficult, too great".

 

Chapter Culture and Beliefs

They are forever mindful of their duties bestowed upon them by the humanity of the Imperium and are watchful for any threats that would seek to destroy their home and honour that duty at all costs.

- Either High Lords of Terra or the Emperor himself. *Humanity of the Imperium* is somewhat strange wording.

 

They are viewed by many of the other Imperial organizations to be aloof and uncaring but in truth they care far more than most would think and they let their actions speak for themselves.

- Logical fallacy. If they let the actions speak for themself, then they shouldn't be viewed as uncaring or aloof.

 

As a whole the chapter is not boastful or arrogant when dealing with other chapters or Imperial organizations they keep that to themselves and reserved and quite only speaking if direct action is needed or to answer a question they deem worthy. Always watching and always listening is the role they play during joint operations with other organizations.

- Why?

 

and horse play between squads and companies.

- Horse play?!? You know, the marines aren't exactly light-weights.

 

The Gryphon Lancers view duty and honour as the end all view points of service to the Emperor and the Imperium.The concept of duty is the bedrock of the Chapter’s belief system, with everything else revolving around it. The Gryphons consider any task undertaken in the Emperors name to be a sacred duty, and that it is their honourable duty to fulfill that trust or to die in the attempt. To face the Emperor having died in the conduct of your duty is far better than to live knowing you have failed him. They also place great emphasis on self sacrifice seeing it as a duty to the Imperium to protect and assist those that can't defend themselves. The Gryphons hold to this view and most of the chapters recruitment is based of these beliefs.

- You really like word "duty", don't you?

 

The chapter masters choose from creatures they capture on planets that they visit during their crusades or that are found by the recruitment company commander during their recruitment missions and unleash it upon a village and the Initiate must defend the village at all costs from the rampaging beast.

- Hmm, and these guys abhor any tactic that will cost the lives of innocents? I sniffle hypocrisy there. :)

[Gryphonclaw]

Alright answered all of those keep it coming. :)

[Gryphonclaw]

Ok ya I over did it with duty lol took about 15 of those out.

[Aegnor]

Just a small thing, but the misspelling of "feudal" in the third line of the text has survived through each of the versions to date. Spell-check is your friend! -_-

 

If you really want to emphasize the pervasiveness of duty in their worldview, maybe make it a formalized, codified, system of honor that governs all aspects of their behavior, and coin a term for it, like the samurai code was called "Bushido". This could be derived from the warrior code of honor from their homeworld. You can briefly explain what your code is once and then use the term as a shorthand to avoid having to repeatedly explain it - it also gives you a term to alternate with "duty".