Scions of the Star Child

[NurseNinja]

INTRODUCTION

“People talk about Goge Vandire like he was evil... like they all saw it coming... if that was true they would have done something about him, rather than wait for... divine intervention. No, Vandire was human, arrogant and prideful, a million worlds, untold... there is no number for the people who he ruled over... he held the lightning in his hand, and it killed him, nearly killed us all. But for eight short decades, he did what no... human ever had or ever would again, he held the lightning in his hands”
-Transcript, Confessor Vivasty. Excommunicated Traitorus Extreamus.

The 361st Master of the Administratum, 199th Ecclesiarch of the Adeptus Ministorum, High Lord Goge Vandire maintained almost complete control over the Imperium, as both religious and political administrator, little was outside of his purview or his influence. It is fact as laid out by history texts that the man was insane, a mad dog, prone to fits of rage and depression, false idol and that he was laid low by a unified confederacy of light.

Few question the logical inconsistencies of the story, that a lout of a man with no charisma or social grace might first become political controller of a bureaucracy ruling a million worlds and then go on to claim the Ecclesiarchy as his own, that with just two of the twelve seats at the high lords, he might be able to overpower such robust and powerful persons as: The Inquisitorial Representative, The Fabricator-General of the Adeptus Mechanicus, The Grand Provost Marshal of the Adeptus Arbites, The Paternoval Envoy of the Navigators, The Master of the Astronomican, The Grand Master of the Officio Assassinorum, The Master of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, Lord Commander of the Segmentum Solar, Lord Commander Militant of the Imperial Guard, Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes

It seems unlikely then that the man could have been quite as the official histories suggest. To get to a closer perspective on his nature, an case study is needed, an example of how this singular man operated and shaped the Imperium for millennia to come.

FOUNDING - HOMEWORLD

http://wh40k.lexicanum.de/mediawiki/images/7/75/PalatineR.jpg

“Founding ...Hmm.. I always felt that this word does not describe the creation of a chapter well. It is a process more akin to labour and childbirth... Resources of all kinds are consumed in mass quantities, the offspring closely resembles those who had a hand in its inception and there is pain and suffering and sacrifice throughout... Oh. Oh yeah, just like my stinking kids, they never thank you either”
-Grugger Culux, Artisan Armoursmith, father of five.

Scions of the Star Child began their history as a footnote in a mandate from the High Lords, an example of a sector governors request falling on listening ears, being backed by tactical analysis from the regional Administratum offices and verified all the way up to Segmentum command. That mandate would become the mission statement for a small bureaucracy of workers from all walks of life, artisans and fabricators, philosophers and tacticians, priests and administrators. Across the Imperium it is likely that hundreds of thousands acted as midwife to the chapter.

It is important to note that at this point in time Goge Vandire was still much of an unknown figure as an Ecclesiarch, having only a few months taken his second seat on the High Lords Council. To that end, he crafted a body of policy both traditional and controversial, stringent restrictions on the activities and movements of ' sanctioned witches' were imposed, made possible through his Administratum powers, potential enemies within the church were divided through restructuring of powers and diocese, perhaps most importantly he wrest control of the churches armies for himself.

These changes went a long way to securing his position but made enmities in many organs of state that he required for the running of the Imperium, most notably; The Astronomican, The Adeptus Astra Telepathica, The Paternoval Navigators and many influential members of the inquisition.

Over a period of years and decades, these organisations began to decentralise their operations from Holy Terra, in some cases a conscious decision was taken that perhaps a Adeptus Astra Telepathica training school might less likely to be burned to the ground in the distant reaches than amongst the fanatical hordes of earth, in others it might simply be to avoid the 'witching taxes' or fear tainted instinct.

Through a combination of macro-economics, tithe loopholes, strategic positioning and perhaps the famously dark humour of psykers, the world of Nikaea became unofficial Segmentum Tempestus centre for the witch (The Council at Nikaea during the great crusade had been where the emperor banned sorcery, restrict witchcraft and ordered the dismantling of the space marine librarians training programs)

The Adeptus Astra Telepathica, built their base upon the towering hive peaks of Nikaea prime, the base grew into a sprawling fortress of grim beauty with and a matching fortress high above in the darkness of space, black ships laden with untried witches followed. As years went by the inquisition redirected the bulk of black ships in the Segmentum to Nikaea, where the advanced Telepathica facilities could separate the strong from the weak. The weak would go on to Terra to feed the emperor, along with those who might become astropaths, the strong were allowed to begin their training to become sanctionates.

It was this ill fated world that would become home to the Scions chapter, a world that in grew to become the a regional centre for the Inquisition, whose moons teemed with chartered shipping and rogue traders looking for contracts with the Guild of navigators, whose astropathic choir reached all the way to the astronomican itself, a mecca for the witch, a psykers paradise.

The growth of Nikaea was not unwatched by Terra, and Vandire in particular. Popular uprisings against the heavy burden of tax and tithe was rending the fabric of his Imperium, and the glacial changes slowly unfolding the structure of certain imperial organisations was a perennial topic of forecast and analysis by entire departments of his administration.

Between the 'Witchling' agencies, an opposing power block was forming, one with the potential to topple his throne. Vandire selected his tool carefully, and went to work setting the feline amongst the cliff doves. He made two modifications to the Scions mandate, moving their home world to Nikaea and moved their proposed ratification date ahead by twenty years.

FOUNDING - FATHERS.

“...Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, And don't criticize what you can't understand
Your scions are psykers beyond your command, Your old empire is rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand, For now the times for a-founding...'. ” [/i]
-Neophyte Sam Telius, Marching Song.

Grandmaster Geralt
The autonomy of the space marines has always been a check and balance to the power of grand agencies within the galactic strata of the Imperium, it is even stated in the Codex Astartes “...on the subject of the impious tyrant thou shalt instil the worst of fears...” so it might be questioned why power became so centralised during this era and the answer is most likely historical. In the centuries leading up to the Vandire's reign of blood an event called the “Cursed Founding” took place, which resulted in dozens of space marine chapters that were befouled by awful luck, annihilated, excommunicated or otherwise rendered non-combat capable. Simply put, the space marines were too occupied defending imperial territory to even consider an assault on Terra, or even civil disobedience.

The man who would become the first ruler the Scions, was not and could never be one of them, nor would he want to be, for to his eyes they were in every way inferior to his own beloved chapter. Exactly who they were is unknown at this stage, except that they were decimated shortly before he came to be assigned to the first training cadres of the Scions, and that he would never speak of them. His tutelage was brutal, many in his care died of exhaustion, others were in effect beaten to death during marathon sparing sessions.

The handful of neophytes who survived the horrors of their selection trials, who survived the gene seed implantation could never meet his expectations because nobody truly knew what they were, or if he simply hated everything left in the universe. Some initiates attempted to master ranged combat, others hand to hand, fencing, heavy weapons, leadership, nothing would please the Grandmaster.

During the final battle Geralt led the charge of the provisional 1st company into battle, it is not known if he achived any satisfaction with his marines in that pointless conflict, it is known that they died almost to a man.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/dark-heresy/news/blood-of-martyrs/53_Chapter2Frontis_MichalIvan.png

Inquisitor Jacob L. Fletcher.
Perhaps one of the lasting results of Vandire's reign was the Holy Ordo Hereticus. This agency is dedicated to protecting humanity from its worst enemy, itself. This isn’t to suggest that the inquisition turned a blind eye to such things previously, but certainly it lacked the resources and centralised authority to tackle corruption at the highest levels.

Inquisitor fletcher was both archetypal of the sort of man to whom such work appealed and would later be one of the founding members of the sector Herecticus Cabal. He was also one of the first inquisitors executed in the purges of imperial society that took place in the years following the toppling of Vandire's regime (The charges remain a state secret).

Before the Ordo Hereticus's inception the assignment of inquisitors to the founding process was spotty at best, with many inquisitors assigned to the monitoring complaining that working with of so many different organisations (Mechanicum, Administratum, local tribes, Other Space Marines,) made the task impossible. Another frequent complaint was that there were no dedicated inquisitors with specialist training and experience in the arcane processes involved. Its strange perhaps and symptomatic of Vandire's influence on the project that the inquisitor assigned to monitor the founding took such a leading role in it.

This is a good point to discuss the chapters eventual tittle. On Inquisitor Fletcher's home world a fable is told to the children. The fable is the story of the Star Child and the Sespent, scholars see it as a stepping stone from childish ideas to the more intellectually complex dogma of the Imperial Cult.

The essence of the story goes thus:

The Star Child walked among mankind, a beautiful and perfect being, he formed many families and fathered many children, his sons were immortals of beauty and grace, his daughters were geniuses of cleverness and cunning.

Unlike the Star Child, whose light could be seen across the galaxy, the Scions of the Star Child's scions were dark and hard to find if they didn't want to be.

One day the Star Child made Angels, to protect mankind, but some of the angels grew jealous of the Star Child and wanted his love to themselves. The eldest angel decided to make war upon those he was bound to protect and in doing so broke the Star Child's heart

The Star Child hasn't moved from where he sat to weep in ten thousand years, but it is said that his children, the Scions of the Star Child, will one day come back to him and sacrifice themselves to mend his broken heart.

Beyond the name and associated cultural influances, the inquisitor drew up the legal constitution for the Scions occupation of Nikaea. In some ways this is when the Scions lost any chance of being a normal space marine chapter and became the deeply flawed and changed thing that it became. Few other chapters occupy planets with significant presences from other imperial agencies, certainly not agencies that they didn’t share a long and beloved history. As examples of an traditional shared occupation; the Iron Hands share significant holdings with the mechanicus and the Exorcists operating out of Inquisitorial bases.

In return for the ceding of the needed tracts of land and the right to recruit from the world's population the other agencies gained many complex pacts from the still unborn chapter. Intricate deals bound the chapter from protecting chartered shipping to guaranteeing recruiting a minimum number of sanctionates.

GENE SEED AND CHAPTER ORGANISATION

Events surrounding the founding of the chapter would leave the Scions with a deep rooted need to prove their themselves both collectively and as individuals. Of the first provisional company only 'The Seven ' survived the final battle. Seven marines bore thirteen functioning progenoids, all subsequent marines were produced from these few progenoids, and each marine of the chapter can recite his progenoids legacy back to The Seven.

The recitation of legacy is a commonly used prayer before battle, an affirmation of purity and purpose. An example line of the prayer goes thus:

'...Who begot Jagett, apothecary and saver of souls, saviour of Port Macherius, whose legacy I will not dishonour this day...'

Going beyond the simple act of ancestor worship followed by many space marine chapters, the ultimate purity of The Seven was proved by the events after the final battle, a subject to be discussed below, but for now simply know that the the scions view these few survivors as sacrosanct.

The Scions chapter's focus on legacy and lineage does not stop there however, as so long as he survives, each marine will personally train those implanted with his two progenoids. This relationship is referred to as Gene-Father and Gene-Son. In addition most marines will have a single Gene-Brother (As the first progenoid matures after five years and the second thirty, there is normally a gap of twenty five years between Gene-Brothers)

It is almost certain that Gene-Fathers squad will accept its new Gene-Son into the household, however it doesn’t necessarily follow that the eldest marines will be of higher rank, the squad will appoint its own leader, and how it does that is its own business so long as it doesn’t affect combat readiness. It is an oft reported and much joked of topic of conversation by onlookers that the family dynamics and internal politicking of each squad can be quite bizarre to outsiders, even other Scion's.

Each company is formed of a fairly fluid number of squads and support units, five to ten squads is the average, though some have grown larger and indeed some have been annihilated. The Maximum size for each company is decided largely by the size of the strike cruiser it is assigned, the chapter has been negligently short of new warships since its inception, though if this is a result of malice the chapter has been unable to confirm it.

As with squads each company is left to its own devices to elect from its ranks a household to act as company command, the household itself elects a company commander from its number and the rest of the household form honour guard or perhaps take specialist positions of administration, such as fleet master. Additionally, if the commander dies or is unable to discharge his responsibilities then the next in a predetermined line of succession will follow until the company is withdrawn from conflict. Historically, some households have evolved into traditional monarchies for periods of decades and centuries where prolonged wars have made such a withdrawal impossible, it is perhaps a measure of a space marine that none has ever refused to step down.

Finally at the organisational level each of the four to six companies (sometimes called clans or tribes) selects from their numbers a clan to lead, the clans ruling household will select a grandmaster from their number, sometimes this man is also company commander, sometimes not, depending on the chapters needs at the time.

In addition there is another group within the chapter, an addition of increasing size and potency that was never part of their intend structure and did not exist at the time of their creation, Scions are forbidden from acknowledging this groups existence, to give name to them, to even acknowledging their presence in the same room. They are emblematic of the Scions burning need for purity and honour in all things and are perhaps best best titled by the phrase used by Warrior-Poet Vextrid in his verses; The Un-Quiet Dead.

These wretches can be easily recognised by their markings, be they branding, tattoos or patterned masks. Their faces bare stylised skulls, their chest ribs and their arms are coloured by tribal depictions of bones.

The majority of their number are or rather were, neophytes in the process of induction into becoming full marines, some were marines. They share a common thread however, they failed. Either their dishonour was too much to bare or they failed the final trials or broke a law of the chapter, whatever the reason they have chosen to or forcibly been banished.

The first step is an assessment of their psionic capacity. Each marine will have been tested and assigned a level near the beginning of their training. Any abilities in excess of what they began with are deemed to be part of the chapters gifts to the subject and are removed.

Few psykers would ever chose to undergo 'The Rite of Ablation' and as such powerful candidates are few and far between, so the opportunity to perform it is taken by many seeking to master the esoteric process. Most commonly the rite is performed by an apprentice of the inquisitorial distaff or an apprentice of the Culexis temple. The subject is bound to an alter and anointed in the ways the rite demands, when it is ready the performer places its hands upon the head of subject and rends the subjects soul from the warp. Those who have seen the process claim they have seen the performers hands sink into the subjects flesh and pull out their pineal gland, though these claims have never been substantiated.

Next the psycho-surgery and hypno-memetic training that removed forever their ability to feel fear is reversed, cloned tissue repairs the function of the amygdala, the periaqueductal gray and the hippocampus.

Over a period of months the extra organs implanted into their bodies are removed. It takes time as their increasingly human bodies struggle to adapt to the changes, many die during the process, though this is seen as aggravating the dishonour.

Certain changes are beyond the science of the chapter and even at the end of the process the resulting creature is hulking, grey, unhealthy looking, neither man nor marine. Many lack the ability to function, perhaps be unable to talk or run, those whose mental faculties remain often struggle with dark reflection of the life they have lost.

After this what happens to the Unquiet Dead is of no concern to the chapter and its agents. There have been reports of some going on to lead lives, both long and fufilling, but they would be the exception. The vast majority live out their unnaturally prolonged lives as masked serfs for the chapter, some are recruited by the inquisition as they may retain skills useful to their needs, some choose arco-flagellation conversion.



GENE SEED.
On the subject of the gene seed itself the Scions are fourth generation Iron Hands successors. The chapter notorious for their extensive use of bionics and a near pathological belief in the ultimate fallibility of flesh.

No known communication between the iron hands and the scions has ever occurred, and the Adeptus Mechanicus's notorious fondness for them has never translated into increased support for the Scions.

The braking up of the legion gave birth to the Brazen Claws during the second founding. Notable in that the first company were joined in meditation and bore a vision that the thirteenth black crusade would result in the fall of the Imperium, they subsiquently committed every marine of their chapter to the conflict and were perhaps successful in as so much that the Imperium did not fall that day.

Mechanicum techpriests have located a minor mutation in the Catalepsean Node of the Brazen Claws. (Implanted into the back of the brain, the node allows a Marine to sleep and remain awake at the same time by switching off areas of his brain sequentially.) that may cause certain marines nodes to be active at all times, potentially resulting in altered reasoning of hallucinations.

Tithed material was used to from the Brazen Claws to create the Brazen Minotaurs. Very little is known about this chapter, its organisation appears to be largely codex centric and their campaigns are amongst many of the great chapters achievements but there is a palpable vagueness in accounts of them, this may be a result the vastness of the Imperium, though it has been suggested their records were lost on Actisce Theta. (an Administratum world, the great fire of M34.564 resulted in a planet wide inferno that burned down over a 6.59 million square miles of archived records (mostly in pulped paper format))

It is known that the mechanicum tithed enough genetic material by M35 for the Brazen Minotaurs seed to be used in the founding of a space marine chapter during the twentieth founding, The Deaths Head chapter was birthed and destroyed itself in less than a millennia. The pathological hatred of impurity and the weakness of flesh that so often dominates the destiny Iron Hands successor boiled over into vicious internal strife.

They demanded and paid for (through heinous and unworthy missions to leaders of the mechanicum) the construction and resurrection of dozens of dreadnoughts, the walking tombs for the mortally wounded, all officers of the chapter permanently interred themselves in the machines, ridding themselves of as much flesh as possible in the process.

From there the chapter began to fold in upon itself, beginning with an act called 'The Shriving' where the entire tenth company were slaughtered by the dreadnought borne elite of the chapter who claimed they sought to undo the chapter with their impurities. They didn’t fight back, they didn’t run, they stood and died as marines.

Within a few short years only those entombed survived, demanding ever more flesh be removed from their rotting bodies by weary techpriests. All communication has since ceased.

In their fury they did however donate enough genetic material to Mars in a single millennia to found a dozen new chapters. Their gene seeds are amongst some of the purest found in a third generation chapter and Mechanicum in its wisdom decided in trial their precious material in the founding.


.

Founding – The Final Battle

“I'm sorry, the Emperor's not here right now, but if you'd like to leave a message please speak after the gun shot... BANG! No, but in all seriousness, I was hoping you could actually take him a message from me when you see him. Tell him its his move. Its His Move. Got that? *Gunshot*”
-Lord Vandire's reply a surprised missionary on the steps of the imperial throne.

Vandire's rein of blood reached its peak approximately eighty years after he first took control of the Imperium, vast swaths of imperial territory were soaked in bloody uprisings, Xenos incursions and petty empire building.

This has traditionally been seen as proof of the man's buffoonery, but a closer look at individual conflicts reveals that like a master regicide player, the pawns were put in place years and decades in advance of events that required them.

Within the deepest locked vaults of the Inquisition an analysis of the era is held under the strictest of controls. Submitted by the mad statistician-mystic Alhazz The Red and taking the form of a billion reports from from a million sources; troop reports, economic analysis, warp storm forecasts and other more esoteric sources.

He claimed that a mathematically impossible number of random events and against character decisions were made by individuals of the time. That for every time Vandire moved his pieces across the galactic board, a series of impossibly subtle events would twist the outcome against his favour. That at every point Vandire was outplayed by unknown and impossibly powerful opponent. The author claimed he could see the face of God-Emperor in the statistical analysis.

The Scions themselves warranted but a few hundred billion words, a fraction of a percentage point of the final work, but for our example we will further truncate the analysis to its key parts.

Nikaea, home world of the Scions of the Star Child enjoyed fantastical wealth and freedom, through their innate power and station the psyker's of that world were rising to the top of society, forming a nobility that looked to stabilize and dominate its culture.

The first provisional company of the Scions chapter had completed their trials and rites, even the Grandmaster of the chapter, Geralt had been accused of mellowing slightly now he no longer had to directly train cadre's of potential neophytes, in short the chapter was approaching the tipping point where its internal functions would support its culture and nature independently of the founding bureaucracy.

Inquisitor Fletcher was now Lord Inquisitor for the sector and his evolutionist position papers on the nature of the witch and the oncoming singularity event (where witches would become more dominant than the non-witch) were finding readers across the segmentum. Junior inquisitors in his cabal now took small bands of Scions on missions and their growing martial and psyonic might were lauded as a powerful sign of things to come.

Across the segmentum far from Holy Terra an organisation that would in years to follow become known as the confederacy of light grew powerful, a union of political and religious peoples led by a simple man known as Sebastian Thor.


Far back on Holy Terra Lord Goge Vandire prepared his final moves. Through the weakening of local control of the Frateris Templar and Frateris Militia an escalating crusade against the perceived impious nature of the segmentum grew, local dioceses no longer had the power to stop the cascade of religious zealots and frenzied that poured from one planet to another, gathering strength and ravaging worlds as it went.

All the pieces were in place for what would be the endgame.

Vandire gave what was to be his final sermon. He railed against those who betrayed the church, against those who rejected their Ecclesiarch and those who harboured the witch. This played across a thousand worlds, couriered at great expense by starship. In carefully coordinated timings his sermon hit each world just before the crusade did, with subtle differences each time, the worlds mentioned in each variation of the sermon invariably became targets of the ongoing crusade. In short, he beat the crusade onwards and pushed the stampeding masses in the direction of his choice, all while maintaining that what well meaning imperial citizens did was out of his hands.

When the courier ships arrived in orbit over Nikaea they delivered to the Scions a request from the High Lords. It begged the Scions to remove the mortal threat of Sebastian Thor from the imperium. Accompanying the request came recordings, and psycho-gems and sheets stained with fowl blood and pictures of entrails. To the powerful psykers of the Scions there could be no doubt that the first steps in a civil war the scale of which had not been seen since the Heresy was about to unfold. The Grandmaster took every marine of the provisional first company and departed to cut the throat of the rebellion, the Arch-Traitor Sebastian Thor.

It took sixteen days for the Scions reach the traitors fleet. It took sixteen days and one hour for the crusade to reach Nikaea.

[Midgard]

I really like the writing and would like to see more. The style and the flow of it is well done, and the questions about Vandire are indeed worthy of note.

[NurseNinja]

Updated.. think ill put corrected bits in another colour or font

[Darkchild130]

I really like this, has lots of character. I like the idea of a bitter Grandmaster who doesn't like his chapter, very original.

 

Darkchild

[Andurin Marvak]

“People talk about Goge Vandire like he was evil... like they all saw it coming... if that was true they would have done something about him, rather than wait for... divine intervention. No, Vandire was human, arrogant and prideful, a million worlds, untold... there is no number for the people who he ruled over... he held the lightning in his hand, and it killed him, nearly killed us all. But for eight short decades, he did what no... human ever had or ever would again, he held the lightning in his hands”

-Transcript, Confessor Vivasty. Excommunicated Traitorus Extreamus.

 

I loved most of this, this section in particular was awesome. Reminds me of what people said about Hitler.

 

“Inquisitor Fletcher? I have this fantasy about fletcher... what does it involve? A beach... all those beautiful bodies of his and hers... and then, Emperor, yikes this is wrong, but in my fantasy he uses his power to hollow me out, eat my soul and fill my empty shell up with his own... I heard that’s how he does it... the whole one person in many bodies thing...”

-Scribe Sam Telius.

 

This however, just creeps me out. What the heck is the point? Note: I just had surgery, so I may be confused due to pain medication.

[NurseNinja]

Fixed that for ye. :P

 

 

EDIT: I'm a nurse working trauma, so perhaps my perspective on 'creepy' is a little off. *goes back to holding intestines inside a guy*

 

EDIT: Added Gene Seeds... >< havnt even said which one their from yet!! (Successor to a successor to a successor of the iron hands)

[Andurin Marvak]

Thanks, Nurse. And yeah, I can easily see that getting into someone's head. I mean, I have no issue with feces of any kind anymore because I used to volunteer at a Zoo. Once you smell turtle :woot: (digested worm, fish, and plant matter), and they go on your hand while you allow small children to touch their shell (funnily enough, the particular one that did was named Shelley), you become numb to anything else.

 

I like the snippet you replaced it with alot, too.

[Midgard]

Very interesting, and very unique. I will keep on watching this project with interest.

[Allfather1]

The Scions chapter's focus on legacy and lineage does not stop there however, as so long as he survives, each marine will personally train those implanted with his two progenoids. This relationship is referred to as Gene-Father and Gene-Son.

 

In a codex chapter the new marines train in a scout company until the Black Carapace is implanted. then they advance into a reserve company and from there into the battle companies.

I suggest that new marines are led on the battlefield by veteran marines until th Black Carapace is implanted. To keep the "father" involved you could have his sons serving as a squire. You could say that the chapter places those who are close kinsmen in the same squad.

 

In addition most marines will have a single Gene-Brother (As the first progenoid matures after five years and the second thirty, there is normally a gap of twenty five years between Gene-Brothers), further tightening the ranks of family. This conviction in the virtues of familial honour and nobility are superficially of limited importance, if not for the fact that 'hereditary' organisation of the chapter is mirrored through the Scions organisation.

 

A Gene-Father and his offspring and their offspring form squads on the battlefield, with the elder serving as sergeant.

 

Looks good, but I think Astartes are too smart to allow the date of becoming a battle-brother dictate their position in the chapter.

I think that it would be more intressting if squads are composed of brothers, sons and nephews but instead of the elder being the squad leader the most experienced marine becomes squad leader. This would also make for some competition between family members. As the most experienced would be often be the oldest you could have it seem that the eldest is always the squad leader.

 

Finally at the organisational level each of the four to six clans (the number has historically varied) will select from their numbers a clan to lead. The leading clans noble family then takes on the role of Grandmaster of the chapter.

 

I would go with seven clans with the captain of an accendant clan becoming the Grandmaster. Each clan would trace it's geneseed back to one of the Seven.

 

Also it should be noted that should one family find themselves ascendant by their actions or the noble house brought low by some dishonour, they can be challenged for leadership.

 

Sounds good.

 

In place of companies five to ten squads form a Clan, with a ruling noble clan. This means that the 'company captain' is indeed a hereditary position, passed from Gene-Father to his Gene-Son (though in practice it should be noted that the Gene-Father will choose his successor from the rank and file of initiates. Often holding off until he is sure he has found a suitable progeny for his gene seed).

 

I think the company captain should appoint his successor. This would ensure that only those worthy become captains. While techmarines, apothocaries and and librarians could stay with their father company, chaplains should always serve with other companies so the chaplains don't have a family bond with those the judge. This could be extended to the Librarians as they would record the stories of the companies.

 

Maybe you could have an additonal company composed of those banished by their clans and those who choose to join that company to erase the shame from their family name.

If their geneseed had been harvested and used before the act their family name would be deviled by their actions. If not their geneseed would be either destroyed or tithed to the Mechanicus.

Upon the death of a marine who was banished or choose banishment the family honour would be restored. This might be the only way to redeem themselves or it could be possible to redeem yourself and live, in wich case they could be welcomed back into their family.

[NurseNinja]

Wow. just wow. I thought about what you said and added the purple bit and rewrote the red bit... i love both now. thanks for the input. hope you like what I did with your suggestions

 

EDIT: How do I do those banner headings I see everyone doing?

[Galrion]

Wow. just wow. I thought about what you said and added the purple bit and rewrote the red bit... i love both now. thanks for the input. hope you like what I did with your suggestions

 

EDIT: How do I do those banner headings I see everyone doing?

BBCode 101

[NurseNinja]

Now with added gene seed yum-yum

[Darkchild130]

I'm loving the artwork.

 

Darkchild

[Midgard]

I loved the fluff on the Death's Head chapter, it just screams psychotic grimdark to me, a desolate, decaying Chapter in a universe rapidly going to hell and worse. My favorite thing about this work in progress is the dark, desperate feel of the Chapter - it screams that the Scions were damaged goods from the start, with a lot of things going against them, and with a ridiculous amount of promises to live up to. This theme appears to be very prominent in their history, background, and, hopefully, it will show up in their later actions and outlook.

 

With this in mind, I would like to mention one thing pertaining to their gene-seed and "inheritance" practices. Presumably the Mechanicus would want their gene-seed tithe whether or not there are enough "Unquiet Dead" to draw the extra gene-seed from. I would imagine some Marines would be VERY unhappy if they are selected to have their gene-seed tithed. If the Chapter is less than fully disciplined (i.e. they have a lot of politicking within the Chapter), perhaps some Marines would see their gene-seed as the means to increase their status within a Chapter - if they have more "descendants", they would have a greater potential support block for promotions, and a greater power base. Conversely, Marines with few or no "descendants" would have harder time getting promoted, barring extraordinary deeds or complicated pacts of mutual support with others.

 

Additionally, does the Chapter have a backup plan in case of a disaster? I would assume that the Battle Brothers would rarely hang on to their progenoids, and would have them extracted as soon as possible (if a Marine thinks that he can increase his status by having the greatest number of "descendants", he would not want to risk the possibility those "descendants" being wiped out because they did not extract their progenoids before being destroyed in combat; additionally, it is in each Marine's interests to have a larger "family" as soon as possible if he wants to advance in the ranks). That seems to be a bit different from some Chapters who would carry at least one progenoid per Marine in case something happens to their gene-seed stocks, so that there is at least some gene-seed available to rebuild from in case of a disaster. Here, forcing some of the Marines to keep their progenoids would probably end up a very unpopular decision, seen as artificially restricting some Battle Brothers' advancement through the ranks.

 

And that leads on to the next possibility - does this practice give the Marines an incentive to become a sire to the new generation of Marines as quickly as possible? If so, did it lead to any genetic idiosyncrasies or even to some sub-par recruits being initiated due to ambitious Marines seeking to advance their standing within the Chapter quickly?

[NurseNinja]

With this in mind, I would like to mention one thing pertaining to their gene-seed and "inheritance" practices. Presumably the Mechanicus would want their gene-seed tithe whether or not there are enough "Unquiet Dead" to draw the extra gene-seed from. I would imagine some Marines would be VERY unhappy if they are selected to have their gene-seed tithed. If the Chapter is less than fully disciplined (i.e. they have a lot of politicking within the Chapter), perhaps some Marines would see their gene-seed as the means to increase their status within a Chapter - if they have more "descendants", they would have a greater potential support block for promotions, and a greater power base. Conversely, Marines with few or no "descendants" would have harder time getting promoted, barring extraordinary deeds or complicated pacts of mutual support with others.

 

Additionally, does the Chapter have a backup plan in case of a disaster? I would assume that the Battle Brothers would rarely hang on to their progenoids, and would have them extracted as soon as possible (if a Marine thinks that he can increase his status by having the greatest number of "descendants", he would not want to risk the possibility those "descendants" being wiped out because they did not extract their progenoids before being destroyed in combat; additionally, it is in each Marine's interests to have a larger "family" as soon as possible if he wants to advance in the ranks). That seems to be a bit different from some Chapters who would carry at least one progenoid per Marine in case something happens to their gene-seed stocks, so that there is at least some gene-seed available to rebuild from in case of a disaster. Here, forcing some of the Marines to keep their progenoids would probably end up a very unpopular decision, seen as artificially restricting some Battle Brothers' advancement through the ranks.

 

And that leads on to the next possibility - does this practice give the Marines an incentive to become a sire to the new generation of Marines as quickly as possible? If so, did it lead to any genetic idiosyncrasies or even to some sub-par recruits being initiated due to ambitious Marines seeking to advance their standing within the Chapter quickly?

 

This. Yes. I want to finish talking about the founding first, but yes.