IA: The Grey Ghosts

[Ishida]

We're now on the latest revision, which I'm calling v. 1.2. A "Beliefs" section was added; the "Scouts" entry has been slightly but significantly revised; and I made a few minor typo corrects and other tiny fixes.

 

I still need to inject more character into the document. I think one way would be to give them some sort of rivalry or enemy...

 

Their outward similarities to, theatre overlap with, and very different philosphies might make the Raven Guard a good rival. (Plus, I personally don't like jump-pack heavy armies and used to play Raven Guard way back before WD 276 invalidated all of my personal fluff.) On the other hand, "picking a fight" with a First Founding Chapter seems destined to end badly.

 

The local "metagame" is chalk full of Blood Angels players, so building a rivalry their would see a lot of use for me on the tabletop... but I cannot find anything to use as a "hook" here and, again, they are a a First Founding Chapter.

 

DIY Chapters that were created to squish the Tau, garrisson the Eye of Terror/Maelstrom, and/or beat up the Tyranids all just seems so cliche. I've already worked my freind's Orks (Waaagh Hulka) into my story and frankly, its hard to develop a good rivalry with space orks...

 

What to do, what to do....

[Aegnor]

A dislike of the Sons of Sanguinas could work very well. Maybe they've fought alongside them in the past and witnessed marines succumbing to the Red Thirst, and therefore consider them aberrant freaks who hide behind a veneer of nobility. If you're worried about them picking a fight with a 1st founding "chapter", then maybe the issue actually happened with one of the Blood Angel successors, but as a result they consider all the Sons of Sanguinas cursed and refuse to fight alongside them.

 

Maybe they inadvertantly witnessed some of the Blood Angels more... disconcerting rituals and behaviour via their gargoyles.

[Captain Forcystus]

When it comes to giving a chapter a nemesis I find its good to take a look at where the planet is in the galaxy, find what enemies are most numerous there and just go with that. With a huge universe like 40k there is bound to be at least a few others that have that group as a nemesis but oh well.

 

And then maybe from there sort of have their tactics geared toward fighting that enemy or something.

[Ishida]

Draw a line from Ophelia VII to Carpathia, and another from Yarant to Luther McIntyre; You'll find Perdu III right about there... Sadly, I haven't found a better map than this.

 

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a348/Ide_Ishida/map-2.jpg

 

The downside of having my Chapter's homeworld located in such an old and relatively stable part of the Imperium is a lack of any ready enemies. There are always Orks, of course, and Hive Fleet Kraken hit nearby... Eldar or Dark Eldar are an option, but... I dunno.

 

I think I'll stick with the Blood Angels, I like the idea that my guys might have "sneaked a peak" behind the veil. Given the Red Thrist being something of an "open secret" in canon, my Chapter's prediliction for being sneaky gits, and the proximity of the Convent Prioris (home-base of one half of the Sororitas), it might make sense to cast the Grey Ghosts as having a "who watches the watchman?" bent...

[Captain Forcystus]

With that spin it sounds pretty cool just be careful to make sure they arent doing the Inquisition's job

[Ishida]

THE GREY GHOSTS IN DEATHWATCH

Suffer Not The Alien to Live'
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/d/d9/Deathwatchsymbol.jpg

The Deathwatch are a unique and specially trained Space Marine Chapter that recruits its membership from veterans of every chapter of the Adeptus Astartes and dedicates its every hour to xenos hunting. They are the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos, charged with protecting it in its search of information, containment, and ultimate destruction of all xeno species.

With a long history of Ork activity in the vicinity of their homeworld, ample experience in operating in xenos cities, and a marked preference for scouting and reconaissnce missions, Battle-Brothers of the Grey Ghosts Chapter are often welcome additions to the Deathwatch. Battle-Brothers who are seconded to the Ordo Xenos and return to the Chapter will retain the black armor of the Chamber Millitant, instead returning to the ash grey of the Chapter, as a badge of honor. Service in the Deathwatch is considered a prerequisite to becoming a Scout Sergeant.

Grey Ghosts Characters

Grey Ghosts Space Marines gain the following benefits: +5 Weapon Skill, +5 Perception, and the Rampage Solo Mode ability.

RAMPAGE (GREY GHOSTS)
The close-quarters fighting and lighting warfare favored by the Grey Ghosts emphasizes speed, strength, and constant movement, resulting in a battle-brother that can be a whirlwind of destruction in close-combat.
Required Rank: 1
Effects: When the Battle-Brother succeeds to wound an enemy in close-combat he gets +10 to hit on his next ranged attack. When the Battle-Brother succeeds to wound an enemy with a ranged attack, he gets +10 to hit on his next attack in close-combat .
Improvements: At Rank 3 and above the Battle-brother also gains +2 to damage on his next attack. At Rank 5 and above the Battle-brother also gains +2 to penetration on his next attack. At Rank 7 and above the Battle-brother can make the next attack as a free action immediately after the first attack is resolved. The next attack must be of a different type that the original (a ranged attack must be followed by a close-combat attack, and vice-versa).

CHAPTER DEMEANOR: PROUD
Grey Ghosts Space Marines are extremely proud of their heritage and tactics, sometimes to the point of being a bit hard to tolerate by those who follow the Codex Astartes more closely.

Grey Ghosts Chapter Advances

Survival (300 XP / Skill / ---)
Survival +10 (400 XP / Skill / Survival)
Survival +20 (600 XP / Skill / Survival+10)
Tactics (300 XP / Skill / ---)
Tactics +10 (400 XP / Skill / Tactics)
Tactics +20 (600 XP / Skill / Tactics +10)
Talented [Concealment] (500 / Talent / ---)
Talented [Move Silent] (500 / Talent / ---)
Hatred [Orks] (500 / Talent / ---)
Heightened Sense [smell]] (500 / Talent / ---)
Heightened Sense [Taste] ] (500 / Talent / ---)
Furious Assault (800 / Talent / ---)

CHAPTER ATTACK PATTERNS: SPECTRAL ASSAULT
Action: Free Action
Cost: 2
Sustained: Yes
Effects: The Grey Ghosts are adept at finding and exploiting even the smallest breaches in enemy lines. Once the moment comes the Battle-Brother can lead his squad in assault that is quick as lighting and as hard to stop as thunder. As long as every one in the squad is using at least a half action to move towards the enemy everyone within the support range of the Battle-Brother will make all ranged and melee attacks first, as if they automatically had higher initiative than the enemy does. If even one member of the squad voluntarily stops or is unable to move towards enemy the effect stops.
Improvements: If the Battle-brother is Rank 4 or more each member within the support range also has +10 to all to-hit rolls.

CHAPTER DEFENSIVE STANCES: GHOST-SENSE
Action: Reaction
Cost: 2
Sustained: No
Effects: The Grey Ghosts can prepare and launch a surprise attack in almost any tactical situation and are adept at turning ambush situations around. At the start of any combat the Grey Ghost can spend a Fate Point and any Battle-Brothers within support range of him immediately gain a Surprise Round as if they had Surprised their foes. He can do this even if the Kill-Team was Surprised. In this case the Grey Ghost has managed to turn the ambush around and enemy does not get Surprise Round.
Improvements: This ability cannot be improved.

[Heru]

Sadly, I haven't found a better map than this.

Try this one.

[Ishida]

That map is darn pretty, but I've never cared for it as a map... For one, the "3/4 projection" that it uses distorts the shap of the galaxy quite a bit. Secondly, it rotates everything about 90°, putting the Segmentum Tempestus (for example) in the "east" instead of the "south."

 

I know that galaxies don't really have cardinal directions, but the 40K universe has always been discribed in those terms and laid out like so:

 

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/a/aa/SegGalacticPic.jpg

[Octavulg]

The Grey Ghosts differ most notably from the Codex Astartes in the overall organization of their Chapter, although they adhere to most of its tennents when in battle. The Grey Ghosts are organized into seven Brotherhoods rather than ten Companies; the Chapter's equivalent to the Codex Astartes' four Battle Companies are its Second, Third, and Fourth Brotherhoods. Each of these Brotherhoods, at full strength, consists of ten squads of Battle-Brothers and has attached directly to it a further ten squads of neophyte Scouts. This close intigration of the Scouts is thought by the Chapter to have several benefits. The Battle Brotherhood's Captain has direct command and control over the Scouts, a company strong in number and always available wherever his Brotherhood may find itself. The Scouts are able to gain much from their closer relationship with the experinced battle brothers. Given the Chapter's specialization in urban warfare, having a large constingent of highly mobile and dedicated scout is seen as a great force multiplier. Generally, the scouts role is to range ahead of the main Space Marine force, preparing the way for the main advance by infiltrating enemy lines, sabotaging and gathering intelligence - causing as much chaos and disruption as possible. When circumstances warrant, the Scouts will be utilized in much the same way as a Tactical Squad, lighter armor and less specialized anti-tank weaponry being less of a liability in the built up hives and compact xenos metropollii of the 41st Millennium.

 

Being larger than Codex is frowned upon by many Imperial sources. Why would they do so? And why would they need so many extra Scouts? And how would the Chapter not massively balloon in size from having so many extra Scouts?

 

and thirteen thousand of Perdu's sons volunteered for consideration as Space Marine recruits.

 

While I may be wrong, my distinct impression is that the Space Marine Legions only recruited from their home worlds. Strange, but there you have it.

 

Gargoyles

To gather information within the great hives the first Techmarines of the Chapter created thousands of cyborg 'gargoyles' to be the 'eyes and ears' of the chapter, using a variant of cyber-cherub archaeotech. The gargoyles have stealth abilities and many of Perdu's hivers who claim to have seen them say they only noticed when the 'borg blinked it's flame red eyes before vanishing into thin air. It is taken as a warning, and due to their evasive nature hivers call them 'stone ghosts'. It is a popular superstition that the stone-ghosts work for the chapter and watch for sinners. However, there are stories where the stone-ghosts have helped loyal citizens to escape the nastier elements of the hive gangs. Many times a lost traveler has saw a glimpse of a 'beckoning spirit' - but blink: and it is gone. Yet later they learn they narrowly escaped a clutches of rampaging gang. The Techmarines and senior commanders of the Chapter will seed their areas of operation with gargoyles well in advance of their forces, using the stealthy servitors as probes, scuttling through offworld hives, alien jungles, or empty space hulks.

 

I'm not sure this really adds that much.

 

* * *

 

Section order's a little odd. Say what you will about the conventional format, it definitely works. I think you'd be better off with something more conventional, honestly.

 

We know a hell of a lot about the chapter's home world. We know much less about them, how they came to be who they are today, that sort of thing. I know everything about what the Chapter's like except who they are and how they fit into these other components. Which is the most important part, really.

 

The relationship with the home world could be explored more - we don't get much about how the Chapter relates to the home world itself. The quotes suggest the relationship is quite interesting, so it was rather disappointing not to see it explored. There's a lot of information on the home world, but home worlds are important because of what they tell us about the Chapter. Don't lose sight of that. A lot of the details are important and interesting - but a lot of them could disappear without hurting our understanding. Resist the temptation to tell everyone everything.

 

Remember - IAs are about the Chapter. The content should be dedicated to that purpose.

 

It was an interesting read. This is going to be very good when it's done.

[Ishida]

Some more notes on the culture of the Chapter and their gene-seed have been added to the OP.

[Ishida]

Being larger than Codex is frowned upon by many Imperial sources. Why would they do so? And why would they need so many extra Scouts? And how would the Chapter not massively balloon in size from having so many extra Scouts?

 

The Grey Ghosts are not larger than the Codex Astartes dictates. The Reserve 5th, 6th, 7th, and Veteran 1st Brotherhoods consist of ten squads of ten men, plus command and support elements. That's bog standard Codex Astartes. The Battle 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Brotherhoods consist of a standard Codex Astartes battle company and ten scout squads.

 

At full strength, the chapter will have 700 Marines and 300 Scouts (plus command and support), this is well below full strength and shouldn't raise too many concerns from the High Lords of Terra, Inquisition, or other Astartes.

 

The Chapter's geneseed flaw means only 1/3 of its Marines develop two Progenoids, with 2/3 of its Marines developing only one useable Progenoid. Slowing their replacement rate and limiting the growth of the Chapter.

[Octavulg]

Except your sentence is vague - it could be interpreted as referring to all Brotherhoods.

 

"Each of these Brotherhoods, at full strength, consists of ten squads of Battle-Brothers and has attached directly to it a further ten squads of neophyte Scouts."

[Ishida]

Well, to be honest, I think it makes perfect sense when read in context of the whole paragraph, and given the org chart that is also included in the article. That said, the writer often reads things in a way the reader does not... the offending line now reads:

 

The Grey Ghosts are organized into seven Brotherhoods rather than ten Companies; the Chapter's equivalent to the Codex Astartes' four Battle Companies are its Second, Third, and Fourth Brotherhoods. These three Brotherhoods, at full strength, consists of ten squads of Battle-Brothers and has attached directly to it a further ten squads of neophyte Scouts.

 

Emphasis added - Ish

[alfred_the_great]

Immediate thoughts:

 

Combat Doctrine, 3 para, 2nd line, inherited spelled incorrectly.

 

Combat Doctrine, you say dreadnoughts are not used (replaced by chevaliers), yet your breakout box under HH & GF lists them as dreadnoughts again.

 

Sorry for this level of nit-picking, but things like that really detract for me. On a wider view, I suspect the others have provided much better feedback!

[Ishida]

Combat Doctrine, you say dreadnoughts are not used (replaced by chevaliers), yet your breakout box under HH & GF lists them as dreadnoughts again.

 

The "breakout box" is meant to read Dreadnought as I was using the standard Codex terminology. I'm going to remake that graphic one day... when I have something better than MS Paint to work with.