Scorpion Crusaders

[Aiestz]

Greetings, brothers. I recently tried to do a Chaos Warband DIY but I felt that worshipping the chaos gods was not what I wanted so that got me thinking and then I saw the Sevrin Loth miniature and I fell in love.

I always liked Librarians more than anything else but I didn't want to do Red Scorpions, too pure for my taste and I wanted the renegade way so, here it is. Take into account that my english skills are a bit rusty.

Origins

During the first days of the 41st millenium, one of the last chapters created was the Scorpion Crusaders. Their gene-seed was made with the Blood Drinkers one, a succesor chapter of the Blood Angels. Their name was given from one of the creatures of their homeworld.In the planet Ejgul, There were scorpions the size of battle tanks and with a feral bloodlust. When the Blood Drinkers arrived, they faced those creatures and soon began to respect them because of their great stamina, tenacity and fury . Local population was at the feudal technology level and yet they had kept at bay the scorpions for ten thousand years . The Blood Drinkers were amused with this little planet and so they began to recruit from it . They built a small fortress at the mountains, hidden from the population and from there, every four years the Blood Drinkers called the population to a series of tests at the grand plains to become initiates. In the course of fifty years,the numbers of recruits passing the trials had augmented so much that Blood Drinkers couldn't take more. They didn't want to lose so many good candidates so, they persuaded the adeptus terra to let them join the next founding and thus, the Scorpion Crusaders came into existence. The blood drinkers left in Ejgul some squads to take care of the new chapter and left the planet.

Homeworld

Ejgul was the Scorpion Crusaders homeworld. They recruited from the planet, their population hardened by constant Clan wars and the fight against the omnipresent giant scorpions.

Located in Segmentum Ultima,it was a world with great planes and forests, a few mountains and just a forty percent of the planet covered with water.Ejgul's culture was made upon cooperation. Towns traded freely and there was no wars. The reason for this was the Clan wars. Feudal lords promoted great proxy wars between them to keep the population busy. Fighting outside games was punished by death. They were very proud of their culture and everyone respected it, even if they had to face aquaintances. They organiced cleansing crusades too, cleaning their domains from the giant scorpions when their numbers had grown to much. The Scorpion Crusaders base their beliefs in this world. Scorpion Crusaders participate in proxy wars between themselves and go on cleansing crusades too, but no army is sent, just a squad of marines against dozens of scorpions. Population venerated space marines and when they organized their trials of recruitment, feudal lords sent huge quantities of youngsters to prove their value to the Scorpion Crusaders.

Combat Doctrine

Scorpion Crusaders do follow codex astartes but not adhere completely to it. They follow Blood Angeles doctrines too. They favour tactics that resemble the ones from the Ejgul scorpions. One of the most popular is the "Pincer and Sting" in wich troops able to hold the line(tactical marines, devastators, land raiders) act as the "pincer", they launch diversionary attacks focused on luring the enemy forces to a point and hold them there.When the enemy is struggling against the pincer the sting attacks. Drop pods, thunderhawks and stormravens attack the enemy headquarters with speed and overwhelming strength. This tactic had a great succes at campaings like Orkanaught in wich the ork horde depended greatly on ther war trukks to move their forces. The orks attacked en masse the space marines that made planetfall. Upon arriving they found the space marines heavily entrenched and with their heavy weapons ready. The orks suffered heavy casualties and retreated to their fortress to bring heavier weapony. Upon arriving they found the fortress laying in ruins, the ork garrison massacred and all their vehicles reduced to burning rubble.

Beliefs

Scorpion Crusaders had a profound respect to their progenitor chapter and the culture from their planet. They carry out simbolic rituals. Amongst them are drinking blood from the Ejgul scorpions when a space marine becomes a full battle brother, suffering the exposition to the venom of the scorpion and ceremonial duels between marines.

Gene-seed

Since they carry the gene-seed of the Blood Drinkers,Scorpion Crusaders are susceptible to the Flaw and it's most visible effects, the Black Rage and the Red Thirst. By rituals from the Blood Drinkers and others created by themselves, they keep the Black Rage at hold most of times, but it does occur from time to time. These fallen brothers form a squad known as "The Sting host". Unlike Blood Angels, Scorpion Crusaders do not end the lives of the fallen brothers. They keep them at stasis until the next battle, the only way to die is at battle as they believe a marine must die doing his duty.

Battle cry

Before entering battle they say one phrase looking at their chapter badge: "Let us be as fast as the sting, as powerful as the pincer and as poisonous as the venom"

Becoming renegade

In their last battle as a loyalist chapter, most of the chapter was deployed(three hundred marines out of four hundred) fighted againts the Black Legion and a daemonic warp rift. They had been requisitioned by the ordo malleus to help them. A powerful Chaos sorcerer was leading the chaos forces. Profetic visions had bestowed him the knowledge of one failure that Scorpion Crusaders didn't know, so he had a plan in motion. He prepared a council of sorceres and began to invoke an aura of primal fury and madness. The aura made the inquisitorial troopers and Black legionaries to fight with their bloodlust increased but the effect was much worse in the Scorpion Crusaders psyque.In mere minutes, most of the chapter began to fall to the effects of the Red thirst, becoming nothing more than bloodlust beasts. They began to attack allys and foes alike, anxious of drinking their blood. In a few hours chaos had extended through the imperial army. The ordo malleus declared the Scorpion Crusaders too dangerous to keep them alive and directed his troopers and Grey Knights against them and the Chaos forces. The few forces who hadn't succumbed to the Red thirst where scattered and fighting for their lives against chaos, inquisition troops and their fallen brothers. Lexicanum Vizar Turux, saw how the master chapter turned into a mad rage driven beast and charged to the young librarian. The combat was too much unbalanced, Chapter master crushing the lexicanum's bones and beating him mercilessly, lucky for the librarian, the chapter master wasn't wearing a helmet so the beaten marine grabbed the head of his master and used his psychic powers to fry the chapter master's brain. Wounded fisically and spiritualy,Vizar managed to launch a psychic message to the sane battle brothers that remained. To reunite and escape the planet. Once they reached the extraction point they where picked up by thunderhawks. Before the surviving marines escaped in their battle barge the ordo malleus had a message for them: they and they're homeworld were going to be purged. The surviving space marines readied their warp engines and made haste to Ejgul. When they arrived their worst hopes had been realized, the planet was under attack by the Imperial Fleet and elements of the Inquisition. They knew they're fleet was no match to the Imperial Navy, filled with rage, they had no other choice but to send thunderhawks, extract the garrisoned marines at the chapter fortess, their gene-seed and flee as fast as posible.

They faced a very rough trial now, they were leaderless, merely a shadow of their former self(there where still alive aproximately one hundred marines) and they had nowhere to go. One of the few surviving warriors of the Venomous Guard, Jokar Higuriun, took control of the chapter. He declared the Imperium the real enemy. They would never fight for that rotten Imperium again and proposed to themselves to bring a spark of hope in all the chaos that the Imperium had brought. In the following three years they built a chapter fortress identical to the one they had in Ejgul on an asteroid far from the eyes of the Imperium and from there they began to rebuild their chapter. Their scouts where sent to different feral and feudal planets to look for possible candidates. Those were hunted and placed in a series of trial, the last one being locked in a cage with a reduced version of the Ejgul scorpion, if the recruit managed to kill him, they were brought to the fortress and they would be initiated as space marines.

The Scorpion Crusaders dedicated themselves to piracy but only against enemies of humankind, the Imperium included. The space marines attacked convoys and instigated rebellions against the Imperium. In one of those operations, they managed to take control of some Chaos warships, as they where in dire need of ships since they only had the battle barge, and it was crippled by a Imperial Navy counter ofensive the following year and they had to abandon it. A planet they liberated saw them as saviors and provided them with personnel for their ships and materials for their maintenance.

Important Characters

Marines importantes

Jokar Higuriun:Current chapter master and leader of the Venomous guard(their equivalent to the Sanguinary Guard).He is a man broken by the incident that almost wiped his chapter. Loyal friend of the former chapter master, his loss affected him very deeply. Yet he is the most brilliant strategist of the chapter, a veteran of the progenitor chapter and a formidable warrior. He wants to get revenge from the Inquisition and the Imperium. He wants to find a succesor in the not too distant future, for he feels that he will fall soon to the Black Rage, embittered by all the loss he has suffered.

Vizar Turux: Last librarian of the chapter and second in command. Unlike most Librarians he is usually seen spearheading an attack along his honor guard, smiting his foes with his psychic powers. He bears a great sorrow for killing the former chapter master. He is the most active in taking worlds from the Imperium and setting them free. He wants to see the Imperium erradicated and change it to a more logical one, without the Inquisition and the Eclessiarchy. Nevertheless, he is quite superstitious and does all the rituals of the chapter.

Rimaldian Ecnal: One of the oldest chaplains in the chapter, he was heavily wounded by the marines who sucumbed to the Red Thirst in the fall of the chapter. Half dead, he was rescued by the Sternguard from a pile of bodies he made battling his former brothers. He was encased in a dreadnought and fighted again for the chapter, but sadly he sucumbed to the Black Rage. He asks constantly to let him kill the enemies of the chapter and don't let him die if not in battle.

Uruk Lai: First company captain, Uruk lai is a murderous beast in combat. Many times his brothers thought he falled to the Red Thirst while he teared his enemies only to see that he was as humorous as ever. He is a man who constantly talks, he is rude and with little respect to positions. He hates the Imperium more than any of his brothers because he loved his homeworld and seeing his people massacred hurted him depply. He is a master of the pincer tactico. He and Vizar achieve devastating results.

Janius Sevan: Apothecary master, he is a man of few words. He is the responsible to create new space marines from the gene-seed they retrieved from Ejgul and the new ones they create. He also tries to find a cure for this adittional flaw in their gene-seed to ensure that something like the fall of the chapter never happens again.

Yacobszoon Dorebel: Master of the forge. He retrieved all the data the chapter had in their armoury, included the appreciated Stormraven. A true enthusiastic of technology, Yacobszoon enjoys greatly being in the old Imperial warships that the Scorpion Crusaders stole to chaos forces. He enters war constantly to supervise the weapons of the chapter and ensure they cause maximum destruction. He is often acompanied by a plethora of servitors plotting new creations for the Scorpion Crusaders. He is an old friend of Vizar, being in the same town as him when they were young at Ejgul.

This is everything by now. Please rip it as much as possible and don't leave any error unchecked ;) I think maybe a put to much references to scorpions, but I wanted that people can relate them to their name.

[XKhalilX]

like what you have, but i think calling them the Black Scorpions or Silver Scorpions would work better.

[Aiestz]

Thanks for the response. I'm glad you liked it but i'm not sure about putting a colour in the name, I see it a little bit cliché.