The Flamed Blades

[Raving Bonkers]

Hey guys. I have been thinking about a home brew chapter for a while. What will follow is my intro which I would like your opinions on and any ideas if things need changing.

 

 

 

 

 

The Flamed Blades

 

 

Founding:

Founded late into the 37th Millennium, it was a request that came from the Fabricator-General of Mars that called for a dedicated and superior force to aid in reclaiming the sites that provided discoveries of arcane technology. While the priests on Mars gave no new reasons for this sudden need they did remind the High Lords on Terra of their alliance and agreement to aid one another, plus the fact that a chance to recover lost planets and an unstopped Ork Horde should be more than enough reason in which to strike, before a true Waaagh is formed. Despite some initial protests The Flamed Blades was approved to use the geneseed from the Sons of Medusa stock, a fact highly discussed of within the halls of the Inquisition due to their very own unorthodox founding.

It is well known that before the Age of Apostasy the Proteus system had been home to several major finds of technology including the discovery of a partially damaged STC, yet the planets in their last centuries of Imperial control ceased to offer more rewards. The official records state the Flamed Blades were founded to recover the lost planets of Proteus and repel an Ork Horde invasion. Upon leaving space dock a follow up objective had already been ordered to prepare defences and assault positions in which to defend the sector and bring a more stringent control over the region so Imperial Guard and civilian forces could move in to maintain authority. With objectives complete a suitable Homeworld would be provided.

 

Orginisation:

Whilst from the beginning the chapter was formed on the Index Astartes, The Flamed Blades have diverged in quite a large way. The first and most noticeable change was that even with a home world most of the chapter operated and spent most of their lives aboard one of four fleets. The first three fleets consisted of two full companies from 2nd to 7th accompanied by elements of the 8th and 9th companies.

 

The 2nd to 7th originally formed as Tactical Squads with Rhino and Razorback transports available to suit any squad. The Tacticals varied in weapons preference and skill, each squad aloud flexibility to grow in their own way. If a squad is reduced to the size of just a few skilled Marines then they would join with other veterans to form elite units with more access to greater weapons. Surviving members of elite squads, dogged with age, will join 8th Company and a squad of the 9th will take their place. 8th Company was the station of Devastators, Predators, Whirlwinds, Tech Marines and the like. Those with a war hardened mind to field the weapons that rain destruction on to a battlefield. The 9th are the reserve forces, young marines to be trained with a variety of weapons; bolt pistols, bolters, shotguns, sniper rifles etc.

After the long process of a man being given implants, training and the geneseed he would join the 9th company. On the home world of Sentealis they would remain, training more until a time that one of the three fleets has used up a large portion of its reserve forces, and numbers need replenishing. Despite all the fuss made with companies and the company markings painted to armour, this is all done for nostalgias sake, once part of a fleet a marine takes the name of the flagship vessel that leads the fleet. Be it Primus, Mortortion or Farnum, stating their rank and company title for official records only.

The 1st company are similar to the Index Astartes in that it is formed completely of elites and holds all of the chapters Terminator class armour (and/but also all) Land Raiders. The 1st is also where all of the chapters' leadership squads and command groups are assigned and trained, from here being deployed to accompany one of the three main fleets. The unique part to the command structure is that even if the stay with a fleet for all their lives they will always state their rank within the 1st as well as their own fleet name. Even the mere warrior elites of 1st Company are not destined to fighting under one of the fleet titles as the 1st has their own vessel in which to go to battle, the battleship Sorrow, and ready to accompany any of the three fleets.

The fourth fleet is the most unique of all, the 10th company. They are the hunters, ambushers and advanced forces for the chapter. Consisting of many bikes, assault squads and land speeders they are a highly mobile force but not without their own punch. To follow up their speed the fourth fleet have the Vindicators to provide short range artillery to where it will hurt the enemy the most, and once the bikes and assault squads have hit the enemy lines Dreadnoughts in drop pods are called down to strike at the confused foes. The fourth also have a luxury when needing new recruits. Always being in the front of the battle they get the chance to witness their brothers of other fleets in battles. They are granted the chance to select individuals of the 9th company to join their fleet and may even request any marine from the 2nd to 7th companies to join them. If that individual agrees to joining then the command squads in place have no say in which to stop them. The fourth fleet flagship goes by the name of The Shadow.

 

Together Sorrow, Primus, Mortortion, Farnum and The Shadow form

The Flamed Blades.

[CantonWC]

I am not nice. Let's begin.

 

I will be basing off the Space Wolves 'dex to start but not using any named characters. Most likely just take Wolf Guard Battle Leaders and those who survive or do realy well and then die survive against the odds will evolve through the various HQs so I gain my named captains/wolf lords/wolf priests up to my chapter master, and making the house rules based on where they excelled. Examples, killing lots of enemy then increase the attacks, give bonus attacks or re-rolls to hit etc/killing high toughness enemies or monstrous creatures then give a special weapon of some form, re-rolls to wound or simply being similar to an average Joe marine but able to survive against the odds in some way.

 

Please, do not make the mistake of directly basing the back story on the rules. The back story essentially becomes a justification for why you use certain rules, and it becomes quite obvious and heavy handed, and yada yada yada. Maybe someone else can better explain.

 

The Prophets of War

 

I'm of the opinion that a name should reflect some or the overall character of the Chapter. so why are they called this? They don't seem to do much prophesying.

 

Born Through Failures

 

Stop right there. This will turn off most of your readers, it turned me off. I want to read about a Chapter that's cool and interesting. I want to read about a Chapter with character, how they arrived at that character and their philosophy through their experiences. I do not want to read about a bunch of failures. Failures do not deserve to be Astartes.

 

The Prophets of War are young but eager. Founded during the 37th Millennium

 

they are 5,000 years old in the time line. Not young.

 

it was a request that came from the High-Marshall of Mars that called for a more dedicated and superior force to aid in the search of arcane technology

 

You mean Fabricator-General of Mars.

 

We have a thing in the Imperium called the separation of powers. The Horus Heresy demonstrated that a single man in the right place, corrupted by Chaos can devastate the Imperium with civil war. Since that time Imperial institutions have been divided so that no one man can wield the power Horus did.

 

You are starting to cross into uncomfortable territory by letting the Mechanicus build their own Chapter and having it on call.

 

Not to mention, Astartes have only one purpose, to fight. Having a Chapter root around for archaeotech as their raison d'etre is quite frankly a waste of their time because they should be fighting. The archaeotech should be left to the Mechanicus because that's their job.

 

the origin of their geneseed kept secret from all but the highest of Inquisition officials.

 

No.

 

Despite it being much needed within a chapter, no marine of the Prophets wished to train as and take the title of Tech Marine, believing the imitation in name to be an insult to the Tech Priests of Mars.

 

This does not make sense. Every single Chapter has Tech Marines. If you have no Tech Marines, you have no capacity to wage war.

 

Fighting against a Tau Cadre their tanks were lost to battlefields, unrecovered

 

Does not make sense either. The Tau were discovered very recently. The Damocles Crusade was declared a few years after the 26th Founding. It makes no sense if your Chapter is so old.

 

The men suffered grievous injuries due to ill-maintained plasma weapons and marines in terminator armour were lost when teleport beacons failed to function properly

 

None within the chapter would trust the technology that could fail them so easily. From their trial The Prophets of War discarded all the plasma and teleporting technology they possessed.

 

This reminds me of something a fellow poster, Ace Debonair said in an unrelated topic.

 

"Brother Marcus is in XXX Chapter. Oh noes, Brother Marcus stubbed his toe on a Rhino. Now everyone in the Chapter hates Rhinos, and now there are three dedicated jump pack assault Companies because everyone is afraid of riding in a Rhino and getting their toe stubbed."

 

You see where I'm going with this?

 

Companies and the chapter were still left with no Captains or Chapter Master.

 

This does not make sense. You mean to tell me that there is no leadership structure in the Chapter?

 

It did not take long for those aboard the ship to realise it was an Imperial system and that below them lay what looked like a forge world in the making

 

If this is going where I think it's going, then don't. Astartes should not be allowed to settle on Forge Worlds.

 

That's all for now.

 

CWC

[Raving Bonkers]

Thanks for the reply. I like the critisism as it can only help to make things better. I know my idea is not of the simplest or best but this is the first sight I have posted to where I have actually had helpfull feedback. As this is the first draft I know there will be alot to change. I read up on as much as I could but there is just so much background that it can take a long time reading and no writing getting done.

 

As for the characters home brew rules. I realy can not think of how I want any special characters. I want to work towards a unique codex and rather than just dive into a whole new thing I want a real story to it, for me at least. So rather than saying this guy has such and such and can do this that and so on, my first battles will feature just the Wolf Guard Battle Leaders for HQs, troops with rhinos etc. The story will not be based completely on a battle by battle basis. I will play 3 or 4 and as they happen write down any of the moments which, due to dice rolls, are quite remarkable. This then gives me a platform on how I can start to evolve the character(s). So rather than story based around the rules, it will be the rules based around the story.

 

Now for the other small bits, alot to work on yes.

 

Teck Marines:

They will not feature on the battlefield, but they still have their role. The Cult of Iron being the marines who do the job or repairs and resupplies etc but never aloud to step on the field of battle to wage war.

 

Chapter Age:

Well thats a case of just changing. It was a first draft and alot to try and keep on top of. It was something that sliped past me when it came to their age, culture and first contact with a xeno, the Tau.

 

Chapter Organisation:

This was something not thought through very well I will admit, but I am still looking into the creation of a Chapter. For Geneseed there are just so many current chapters and I am still reading through all their background to find one that I realy enjoy.

The leadership comes back to the age again, I made them to old. When I find a chapter that I enjoy to use the Geneseed from it will be some squads from them that will help lead the chapter in the early days of creation.

The name will be from a more advanced story that builds during the first campaing due to play out.

No the planet will not be the homeworld. Its more a planet that was once being built up to a forgeworld but completion never happend. If the campaign goes well then the planet will be reclaimed for the imperium and the rather primitive human natives absorded back into the Imperium. The Prophets will settle in the sector on one of the other planets, their fortress built as the local planets begin to be utilised and the industrial planet's forges brought back online.

[NightrawenII]

To be honest, I'm not sure if this belongs in the Liber Astartes or in Short Stories of Librarium.

- If you want to develop the Chapter itself, then the Liber Astartes is the way to go.

- If you want to detail the deeds of your marines, then the Librarium is more suited for such things.

 

Here, in the Liber, we write the article(s) collectively called Index Astartes and to quote Octaguide:

There are a few things an IA is not. An IA is not a complete history of your Chapter. An IA is not a short story. An IA is not (especially not) a battle history of your Chapter. An IA is not an exploration of the important people in your chapter. An IA is not an exploration of your home world. An IA is not a Codex. An IA is not a justification for the quirks of your army on the tabletop. An IA is an IA.

~ What is an IA not?

[Shinzaren]

If your TeckMarines don't engage in combat, then they aren't marines, plain and simple. The Adeptus Astartes exist for the sole purpose of waging war. Why would a chapter waste the time, energy, material, and precious gene-seed to make full non-combatants? Secondly, your premise that you are having marines that are shunned because they are tech-savvy makes no sense in an environment of such closeness with the Adeptus Mechanicus. It seems far more likely that your Techmarines would have a place of honor and respect in such a chapter. That said, I too am curious what your aims for this post are. As Nightrawen asked, is this an IA, or an advanced Story?

[Heru]

To be honest, I'm not sure if this belongs in the Liber Astartes or in Short Stories of Librarium.

- If you want to develop the Chapter itself, then the Liber Astartes is the way to go.

- If you want to detail the deeds of your marines, then the Librarium is more suited for such things.

 

Here, in the Liber, we write the article(s) collectively called Index Astartes and to quote Octaguide:

There are a few things an IA is not. An IA is not a complete history of your Chapter. An IA is not a short story. An IA is not (especially not) a battle history of your Chapter. An IA is not an exploration of the important people in your chapter. An IA is not an exploration of your home world. An IA is not a Codex. An IA is not a justification for the quirks of your army on the tabletop. An IA is an IA.

~ What is an IA not?

No, that is incorrect. The Liber is not solely meant for the IA article format. The IA format is simply the most popular method for developing factions, it is not the be all and end all of doing that.

[Raving Bonkers]

I do not plan for this to be the place for the stories to be written out. I have been looking at how others have been doing their IA and I plan this to slowly modify and be similar along with a homebrew codex. I enjoy writing battle reports with story to them but they will be posted in with the battle reports forums and not here. When I have the base done and I see how the chapter is to develop, when I have the short histories that make them unique and when I have those few unique characters to go along with the standard units in a marine codex, I would like this to look very much like an actual codex. So I thought here would be the best place for it, if not then I do not mind it being moved as this will be a slow moving project. I do not plan on just writing up characters but hopefully getting good advice from people here, alot of play testing being used and converted models to represent them.

 

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As for my tech marines. I realy do not like the idea of them not being in a military role, but then I wasn't to sure on wether a chapter would ever rely on imperial forces, servitors or some other means to the vehicle maintenance. Does anyone have any ideas to how I could get about this. The way I would like them story wise is not a high standard for being so much like the tech priest of mars but the opposite, such respect and high regard for them that they do not wish to imitate the tech priests by name or apearance.

 

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Also I do aim to remove the mystery of the chapter about geneseed and their mission and reason why the request for the chapter creation etc, its just I think that would require a full intro to the codex. With the ideas not fully laid in stone as of yet and not knowing exactly how the codex will mature I don't think such masses of writting would be apropriate here.

 

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I just re-read the quote and comment to the chapter name. I was just curious as to how a chapter would normaly have their name given to them? Would it always be related as to the reason why they were created or similar to their founding geneseed chapter? I chose this name by simply using various name generators and just writing down the words I liked, chucked random ones together until I got something I just thought sounded good... to me at least lol.

[NightrawenII]

No, that is incorrect. The Liber is not solely meant for the IA article format. The IA format is simply the best suited method for developing factions, it is not the be all and end all of doing that.

There, corrected for you.

 

I know, I'm using the term of Index Astartes as loose reference to what we do there, rather than exact format of writing the articles.

 

When I have the base done and I see how the chapter is to develop, when I have the short histories that make them unique and when I have those few unique characters to go along with the standard units in a marine codex, I would like this to look very much like an actual codex.

Bad reasoning, young neophyte.

What makes Chapter unique are not the battles they fought nor unique characters, but the theme and overall nature of the Chapter. If you want your Chapter based on battle honours or characters, then as a whole the Chapter will be dull and uninspiring.

 

As for my tech marines. I realy do not like the idea of them not being in a military role, but then I wasn't to sure on wether a chapter would ever rely on imperial forces, servitors or some other means to the vehicle maintenance. Does anyone have any ideas to how I could get about this. The way I would like them story wise is not a high standard for being so much like the tech priest of mars but the opposite, such respect and high regard for them that they do not wish to imitate the tech priests by name or apearance.

There is no other way. Because:

- The Astartes are (meant to be) independent force, reliance on outside force would limit their inpendence - not gonna happen.

- Only the Scions of Omnissiah are permited of tinkering with technology in the Imperium. Anyone not sanctioned by the Priesthood of Mars is damned technoheretic and will be shoot at sight. The Techmarines *are* Techpriests, btw.

 

Also I do aim to remove the mystery of the chapter about geneseed and their mission and reason why the request for the chapter creation etc, its just I think that would require a full intro to the codex. With the ideas not fully laid in stone as of yet and not knowing exactly how the codex will mature I don't think such masses of writting would be apropriate here.

The the gene-seed and consequently training cadre will determine the starting base of your Chapter. It's important to choose wisely since some of the gene-lines brings additional luggage with them.

The easiest one to work with is the Ultramarines one (or some of their successors), because is blank and you can shape and form it according to your wish.

 

Btw, the Space Wolves are exception among their PA brethren in the terms of organisation and function. To explain, why is your Chapter using similar system is task by itself.

 

I just re-read the quote and comment to the chapter name. I was just curious as to how a chapter would normaly have their name given to them? Would it always be related as to the reason why they were created or similar to their founding geneseed chapter? I chose this name by simply using various name generators and just writing down the words I liked, chucked random ones together until I got something I just thought sounded good... to me at least lol.

The name and heraldry of the Chapter is chosen at the Founding.

[Heru]

No, that is incorrect. The Liber is not solely meant for the IA article format. The IA format is simply the best suited method for developing factions, it is not the be all and end all of doing that.

There, corrected for you.

Em no, that may be your opinion but it isn't mine.

[Aegnor]

Couple of points re the feedback given to date. I think it's misleading/unfair to tell people not to draw upon their ideas of what the army looks like/plays like on the tabletop. Often people will have a strong idea of their army as a tabletop force while not having worked out a background. For these people, there's nothing wrong with wanting to come up with a backstory that fits how they already picture their marines. It can be a complicating/restrictive factor in coming up with a good story, but so can any pre-existing idea about the chapter.

 

Nothing wrong with using it as a starting point, but for the thread starter, I'd suggest aiming to not put things in terms of tabletop rules in your versions as you go forward.

 

On your identity to date, you seem to have two clashing ideas about who the prophets are - a) that they are the Mechanicus' own chapter but b ) that they distrust technology and can't maintain it. Either could work, having the two at once sets yourself a huge challenge to explain why this is the case.

[NightrawenII]

No, that is incorrect. The Liber is not solely meant for the IA article format. The IA format is simply the best suited method for developing factions, it is not the be all and end all of doing that.

There, corrected for you.

Em no, that may be your opinion but it isn't mine.

Heresy!

 

:: Viciously attacks Heru Talon with "suspiciously familiar" spine-flail :: :tu: :sweat: -_-

 

Couple of points re the feedback given to date. I think it's misleading/unfair to tell people not to draw upon their ideas of what the army looks like/plays like on the tabletop. Often people will have a strong idea of their army as a tabletop force while not having worked out a background. For these people, there's nothing wrong with wanting to come up with a backstory that fits how they already picture their marines. It can be a complicating/restrictive factor in coming up with a good story, but so can any pre-existing idea about the chapter.

It seems like you do understand, why we advise against it.

It's difference between the "Hurr, hurr me likes flamerz and hammerz." and "We are Warsmiths!!".

[Aegnor]

Oh, I understand precisely why it is something that is often advised against. I have two problems with that though. First, often it's not "advised against", it's flatly stated as being wrong. Simply telling someone attempting a task for the first time that something they're doing is "wrong" doesn't actually help them adapt what they are trying to do into a form that will be more successful.

 

Second, I think it can in some cases actually be a piece of advise that hinders rathers than helps someone come up with a good story. The most important ingredient of any good story isn't a complete understanding of the shared universe, it's something that you find interesting and are motivated to develop. Many people who are coming to the job of developing their own DIY do so from the angle of having a table-top force that they are invested in, rather than a plot-line or vision of their marines that they want to tell. For them, the concept of who their marines are, and what they like about them, is tied up with how they play on the tabletop. Telling people to ignore that - which is often the message that's given, might theoretically save them some complications in writing a well-written IA, but also I suspect causes some DIY-ers to feel that they've lost the key part of the story that they wanted to tell. It's like being too quick to label someone's chapter a Mary-Sue.

 

I think it's a valid point to tell someone not to get hung up on the table-top representation of their marines, and to give us the "bubblegum chewing" as well as the "ass kicking". But I reckon it's sometimes more helpful to encourage people to explore what about their table-top force they like as the basis for their story. Hopefully as they go forward with the drafting, the references will get more nuanced and the flavour will get drawn out more, but, in summary and at the risk of repeating myself, I don't think it's automatically a bad idea for people's DIY to start off very much rooted in their actual collected army and how they imagine them on the table-top.

[NightrawenII]

I see. :D

 

Oh, I understand precisely why it is something that is often advised against. I have two problems with that though. First, often it's not "advised against", it's flatly stated as being wrong. Simply telling someone attempting a task for the first time that something they're doing is "wrong" doesn't actually help them adapt what they are trying to do into a form that will be more successful.

That's because there is very thin red line between good and wrong in this process and it's very easily crossed.

 

In theory, there is nothing wrong with background based on TT, in fact the background should reflect the TT and vice versa. However, in practise this often leads to situation when the DIYer becomes too obsessed with tabletop. In such instance, the DIYer focus solely on the units, wargear and rules and justify them in his article instead of looking for the ways to incorporate these things into overall theme. When this happens, and believe me it always happens, the justification and explanations are rather kitbashed and hamfisted. The Codex: Space Wolves is the frequent culprit (mainly because the SWs don't have any successor), when I'm reading such Chapter, I'm like "Emperor's hairy arse! C:SW with different fluff.".

 

Therefore when I (we) say, "The rules are not relevant to background development." - it should be read, "Choose the theme, not the units/rules/codex."

[Aegnor]

I think we're in furious agreement regarding 90% of this topic, or even 100%, albeit with a different view of how this principle should be introduced to people and implemented into the development of their DIY. I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with a DIY chapter being based upon someone's tabletop army in style, history etc, so long as that is not ALL that they base it on. It can provide a good strong base for the "imagining" of the chapter, and because of the investment people have in their army, actually provide them with the motivation to keep at it and get their background right. Particularly in early drafts therefore, I don't really mind people saying "I want them to do this, because that's how I play and I want my background to reflect this". In that case, it's then a case of helping them refine those ideas into a smoother explanation and concept.

 

I'd say that in general it's easier to fix a strong concept that has been clunkily explained than it is a poor concept that has been well written (in terms of conforming to the norms of the story format). But as a rider to that, what you get out of the tabletop army is only ever going to be one element in a strong concept - it is not sufficient in and of itself.

 

Anyways, apologies to Raving Bonkers for dragging his thread so far off track.

[Aegnor]

Had another read of this Mr Bonkers, and I'd say that at the moment you have a hell of a lot happening to these guys in a very short time. At the moment therefore, it seems a bit rushed and a bit forced - eg. founded in highly unorthodox and eventful manner, have significant mishaps that significantly impact their attitudes towards their equipment and lead to a mini-spiritual crisis, over come this only to be scattered across the galaxy by a warp-storm and almost immediately finding themselves orbiting a world where it seems they're likely to have another pretty pivotal experience.

 

I find one of the most difficult things with the chapter histories I've tried to write, and many of those I've read, is adjusting to the scope of time you have to cover. Most chapters, as institutions, have existed for thousands of years. In explaining how they arrived in their present state, it can be a trap to say that a ton of stuff happened to them in their first 50 years of existence and hence they've become divergent from the norm, but then nothing further has changed in the last 3950 years of their existence. If you've read the background of the original GW legions and their subsequent chapters, this can particularly be the case because in those cases, a hell of a lot that has left a lasting impact DID happen in terms of them finding their Primarchs and fighting the Heresy. For most latter day chapters however, it's pretty unlikely that they'll have had something as dramatic as recovering their Primarch and living through the galaxy's largest ever civil war within the lifespan of their founding chapter master.

 

In a real world example, imagine you were asked to write the history of the United States over the past 250 years. Obviously you would write about the War of Independence as a pivotal part of the countries history. But if you only wrote about that, you'd ignore the impact of the American Civil War. And then the impact of WWI and WWII. And the Cold War. Etc, etc. Conversely, try to imagine how the story would have been different if you were trying to explain modern America to someone and compressed everything that had happened into the first 20 years - it wouldn't make a lot of sense. A Space Marine chapter is a little different in that it is a much smaller, simpler beast than a nation of millions of people, but some of the same principles apply. It's a rare major and lasting cultural change that happens in a short timeframe.

 

Practically, I'd suggest doing up a list of dot-points as to what you want your "now" for your chapter to look like, and then do a basic timeline of the major events you want to have happen to them to get them to that point. That will give you a bit more structure as you flesh out the story.

 

Hope this is helpful.

[Raving Bonkers]

Thanks again guys, some realy helpful stuff said. I understand the things said, such as not using the backstory to justify the TT army.

 

@Aegnor: Thanks for that last post, it is realy useful and ploting out the events leading up to my current chapter is something I shall now work on.

 

A Question... If a chapter was to be aimed towards having a home world, would this happen early on or could they remain fleet based for lets say 1000 years or more? Not that I aim for such a long period I just need referance.

 

As for my culture, I look more towards a clashing of ideals. A chapter who have high regard for technology and will also field new or even experimental gear(equipment forged from incomplete STCs and such), but quickly become suspicious of, and refuse to use, the technologies that fail them or prove to offer great risk to the marine that uses them. However I may narrow this down and simplify it to a form of a standard chapter but who are highly suspicious not only of weapons that fail but other chapters, the warp and well never just blame things to luck. A chapter who feel that they are the best of the best and when failures surround them, and wars are lost, they often find cause that is not their fault. I just do not want it to sound like one of those we are the best of the best chapters. As I write this my ideas for the culture are just twisting and changing to find something with some uniqueness to it but still a fesable idea.

 

To help towards losing some of the mystery I am looking at the reason to why the chapter was formed. I was thinking along the lines of relics and ancient weapons that are discovered far on the front lines, away from mars. I know Space Marines do not dig in and defend points, but an idea that some weapons and relics found, STCs in the far reaches of space etc, are sometimes just to important to travel through the warp at that time due to increased strength of warp storms giving rise to more attacks in the longer travels. That some weapons may be to powerful or evil/deamonic that the risk to send through warp travel is to great altogether. So (and this would then be the chapters homeworld or atleast the system of where they reside) their would be a great vault, deep beneath a city, mountain, lake or other area. Guarded constantly by rotating squads of the chapter. It would be a form of challenge to them, to prove themselves the best warriors, as only those would be trusted to guard these secrets. They would never know what was inside, only the chapter master would have access to list of contents but not access inside the vault itself. Of course the Inquisition would have knowlege and probably access along with high officials from terra and mars.

 

My only doubt to this is if their are other forces out there designed for such tasks?

 

 

Finaly, it would appear that I have no avoiding the Tech Marines. Maybe I will just have to place them at the opposite end of the table for the chapter and have them regarded highly of throughout the chapter...

 

Sorry if the above is all abit garbled. I just got back from work and i am shattered.

 

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Edit: After a bit of sleep and some food I did some reading. For my geneseed I was thinking about using the Praetors of Orpheus, page 25 of the Space Marine codex. They are said to be close to the Adeptus Mechanicus and could prove to help with making my chapter. Mention them as little as possible but use them as the units who train up the chapter?

[NightrawenII]

A Question... If a chapter was to be aimed towards having a home world, would this happen early on or could they remain fleet based for lets say 1000 years or more? Not that I aim for such a long period I just need referance.

In-universe or out-universe?

 

Usually, the Chapters are given the area of space to patrol and defend. Therefore the Chapters is given suitable world in such area from start. However, there are so-called 'crusading' Chapters, which roam through the Imperium without any designated area of interest.

 

As for my culture, I look more towards a clashing of ideals. A chapter who have high regard for technology and will also field new or even experimental gear(equipment forged from incomplete STCs and such), but quickly become suspicious of, and refuse to use, the technologies that fail them or prove to offer great risk to the marine that uses them.

Technically speaking, the Imperium doesn't invent anything new and STC is not found every century or so...

 

However I may narrow this down and simplify it to a form of a standard chapter but who are highly suspicious not only of weapons that fail but other chapters, the warp and well never just blame things to luck. A chapter who feel that they are the best of the best and when failures surround them, and wars are lost, they often find cause that is not their fault. I just do not want it to sound like one of those we are the best of the best chapters. As I write this my ideas for the culture are just twisting and changing to find something with some uniqueness to it but still a feasible idea.

They sound like Iron Hands successor to me.

 

To help towards losing some of the mystery I am looking at the reason to why the chapter was formed. I was thinking along the lines of relics and ancient weapons that are discovered far on the front lines, away from mars. I know Space Marines do not dig in and defend points, but an idea that some weapons and relics found, STCs in the far reaches of space etc, are sometimes just to important to travel through the warp at that time due to increased strength of warp storms giving rise to more attacks in the longer travels. That some weapons may be to powerful or evil/deamonic that the risk to send through warp travel is too great altogether. So (and this would then be the chapters homeworld or atleast the system of where they reside) their would be a great vault, deep beneath a city, mountain, lake or other area. Guarded constantly by rotating squads of the chapter. It would be a form of challenge to them, to prove themselves the best warriors, as only those would be trusted to guard these secrets. They would never know what was inside, only the chapter master would have access to list of contents but not access inside the vault itself. Of course the Inquisition would have knowlege and probably access along with high officials from terra and mars.

 

My only doubt to this is if their are other forces out there designed for such tasks?

In my experience, you are probably ~10th DIYer with similar idea.

 

Technically speaking, when Imperium wants to defend something very valuable, it sends the Imperial Guard, a thousand of them. If the Admech wants something very badly, it sends legions of Skitarii and Titans.

 

Not to mention this is cliché. In every second Fantasy story there is settings like "Okey, we have this relic, which can summon the Overlord of all Evil, but instead of destroying it and be done with it. We will hide it in this heavily guarded vault since there is ABSOLUTELY no chance that someone would try and steal it."

Yeah, makes sense. :)

 

Edit: After a bit of sleep and some food I did some reading. For my geneseed I was thinking about using the Praetors of Orpheus, page 25 of the Space Marine codex. They are said to be close to the Adeptus Mechanicus and could prove to help with making my chapter. Mention them as little as possible but use them as the units who train up the chapter?

What kind of material do you have a access? Try Lexicanum for moar information.

[Banelord]

To help towards losing some of the mystery I am looking at the reason to why the chapter was formed. I was thinking along the lines of relics and ancient weapons that are discovered far on the front lines, away from mars. I know Space Marines do not dig in and defend points, but an idea that some weapons and relics found, STCs in the far reaches of space etc,

 

You don’t necessary have reason other than to counter the increase in enemy activity. The 25th founding was created in response to Necron and Dark Eldar activity after all. But maybe the relic/ancient weapon/ STC were found centuries after the chapter adopted the home world? Maybe the chapter didn’t know anything of it until a chaos/Necron/Eldar army was invading their world? Once discovered they make it their mission to defend it? This would be a little cliché but might fit the fluff a bit better. <_<

[Raving Bonkers]

The Iron Hands do seem like a really great idea to go from for the geneseed, but possibly not directly from them but one of their successors. I don't like the idea of messing to closely to the original legions. I know questions can get annoying but I have read that the loss of a primarch can cause bad effects to the geneseed. Is this always the case and has there ever been mention of any flaws to this geneseed as a result?

 

Looking to simplify more. Lose the Great Vault idea, these are space marines and they will be doing what they are genetically enhanced to do... which is war. Could a chapter be aloud to keep any ancient/powerful weapons they find or would they first have to go to Mars or be given to the inquisition?

 

So a reason to be made? The appearance/larger incursion forces of xenos in a certain area will suffice for this? Would it work that they are ordered to pacify the systems after which one is to become their base of operations? Thus solving the basic issue of creation and home world.

 

Culture, similar to Iron Hands in that they distrust/blame pretty much everyone else for failures and weaknesses. Being harsh, brutal and upfront sounds like it could be interesting and fun. Although keeping a deep closeness of brotherhood within the chapter they can still be quite sharp towards one another. They have a high need/want for tech and machines but unlike the Iron Hands they wish to utilize tech, not become it, always searching for weapons to more easily deal with the Chaos and Xeno problem that the galaxy suffers from. (Or just scratch the last sentence and just say they are a chapter that boasts a large amount of terminators, dreadnoughts and tanks?)

 

Sorry again for the many questions, but you guys are insanely helpful.

Thanks for your time as looking around here and other sites I can see there are a lot of DIY'ers and it must get repetitive and annoying.

RB

 

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Edit: After more reading on Lexicanum I could not decide on the founding chapter. The Red Talons have almost no info which could help in the fact I would need no reference to them. The Brazen Claws are considered MIA but also at one point considered a Traitor Chapter and so probs a 'no go' on using their geneseed? Finally the Sons of Medusa, although having some good detail to fall back on, I think I read that normally the chapter of the founding geneseed will often help train the new chapter, but the sons of medusa are fleet based and organised in a much more different manor to the norm. I know the Iron Hands were also organised differently with no Chapter Master so I could pull this off??? Any opinions on using the Sons of Medusa?

[NightrawenII]

The Iron Hands do seem like a really great idea to go from for the geneseed, but possibly not directly from them but one of their successors. I don't like the idea of messing to closely to the original legions. I know questions can get annoying but I have read that the loss of a primarch can cause bad effects to the geneseed. Is this always the case and has there ever been mention of any flaws to this geneseed as a result?

Outside of psychic back-clash of Sanguinius' death, there isn't another example of primarch's death affecting legion in significant way. And all Sons of Sanguinius are cursed, not only Blood Angels.

 

Looking to simplify more. Lose the Great Vault idea, these are space marines and they will be doing what they are genetically enhanced to do... which is war. Could a chapter be aloud to keep any ancient/powerful weapons they find or would they first have to go to Mars or be given to the inquisition?

Depends, the Marines are generally allowed to keep the spoils of war, but the Admech has monopoly on technology and it's 'very' interested in STC. The Inquisition could be involved in case(s) of xenos/chaos artifact, otherwise you are out of obligation.

 

So a reason to be made? The appearance/larger incursion forces of xenos in a certain area will suffice for this? Would it work that they are ordered to pacify the systems after which one is to become their base of operations? Thus solving the basic issue of creation and home world.

Yes.

 

(Or just scratch the last sentence and just say they are a chapter that boasts a large amount of terminators, dreadnoughts and tanks?)

Both TDA and Dread chasis are very rare and treasured technology, your Chapter has to be very good budies with Admech and even the 1st Founding Chapters cannot get these goodies in significant quantities.

 

Sorry again for the many questions, but you guys are insanely helpful.

Thanks for your time as looking around here and other sites I can see there are a lot of DIY'ers and it must get repetitive and annoying.

No probs. Our help is entirely voluntary. :D

 

Edit: After more reading on Lexicanum I could not decide on the founding chapter. The Red Talons have almost no info which could help in the fact I would need no reference to them. The Brazen Claws are considered MIA but also at one point considered a Traitor Chapter and so probs a 'no go' on using their geneseed?

:)

AFAIK, the destruction of Brazen Claws homeworld is only recent event and they are still fighting for Imperium's cause in the Eye of Terror.

 

Finally the Sons of Medusa, although having some good detail to fall back on, I think I read that normally the chapter of the founding geneseed will often help train the new chapter, but the sons of medusa are fleet based and organised in a much more different manner to the norm. I know the Iron Hands were also organised differently with no Chapter Master so I could pull this off??? Any opinions on using the Sons of Medusa?

Most of the SoM fluff was invented recently for the FW's Badab War books, I don't have the book so I can't help, but yeah if you ignore the blurb in the C:SM 5th ed., then the Iron Hands don't have Chapter Master, the Chapter is ruled by the council of representives of the the Clan-Companies .

[Raving Bonkers]

Finaly got back round to this about 30 mins ago. Games getting in the way and helping to create a campaign. I have edited my first post but this is what I have changed. It was only the first paragraph I modified and the rest has not been changed or been looked at as of yet.

 

Founding

Founded during the 37th Millennium, it was a request that came from the Fabricator-General of Mars that called for a dedicated and superior force to aid in reclaiming the sites that provided discoveries of arcane technology. While the priests on Mars gave no reason for this sudden need they did remind the High Lords on Terra of their alliance and agreement to aid one another, plus the fact that an unstopped Ork Horde should be more than enough reason in which to strike, before a true Waaagh is formed. Despite some initial protests The Prophets of War were founded from the Sons of Medusa geneseed, a fact kept secret from all but the highest of Inquisition officials due to their very own unorthodox founding. It was a well known fact that the Proteus system had been home to several major finds of technology including the discovery of a partially damaged STC, yet the planets in their last centuries of Imperial control ceased to offer more rewards. The official records state the Prophets of War were founded to recover the planets of Proteus from an Ork Horde invasion and prepare defences and assault positions in which to launch from against an encroaching Tyranid splinter fleet.

 

So geneseed sorted and from there the reason for alot of tech later on as I edit more.

Put the correct title of Fabricator-General of Mars in.

Lost the young bit and kept the founding time.

Placed in more reason for their creation and mission with the Ork invasion.

Furthur more to the creation is to recover the Proteus system, I stated an STC to represent of how valuable the place USED to be but this does not mean the planets will dish out amazing weapons of war for the Prophets.

The Orks are mainly the 1st step point. To get to the system. The nids will be step 2 with contruction of defences and staging areas for the prophets and IG to attack the oncoming threat. Finaly, they will win :P but with so much effort and resources already invested the Prophets settle on one of the planets within the System in which to call home...how sweet.

[NightrawenII]

Lol,

 

- Reclamation of single planet doesn't warrant a founding of entirely new Chapter. - Why not ask for several IG regiments and help from already existing Chapter(s)?

- You need permission from HLoT that you could create a Chapter.

- Tyranids are recent threat, the first contact was in 745.M41.

 

 

Cheers, NightrawenII

[Raving Bonkers]

Hey guys,

I have gone over this loads. Reducing thigs and cutting out as much rubbish as I can see and now I am ready to bring at least part of it here. So I have edited my first post, along with giving them a simpler and more generic name. Just a few questions about my own writing lols.

 

Founding:

Founded late into the 37th Millennium, it was a request that came from the Fabricator-General of Mars that called for a dedicated and superior force to aid in reclaiming the sites that provided discoveries of arcane technology. While the priests on Mars gave no new reasons for this sudden need they did remind the High Lords on Terra of their alliance and agreement to aid one another, plus the fact that a chance to recover lost planets and an unstopped Ork Horde should be more than enough reason in which to strike, before a true Waaagh is formed. Despite some initial protests The Flamed Blades was approved to use the geneseed from the Sons of Medusa stock, a fact highly discussed of within the halls of the Inquisition due to their very own unorthodox founding.

It is well known that before the Age of Apostasy the Proteus system had been home to several major finds of technology including the discovery of a partially damaged STC, yet the planets in their last centuries of Imperial control ceased to offer more rewards. The official records state the Flamed Blades were founded to recover the lost planets of Proteus and repel an Ork Horde invasion. Upon leaving space dock a follow up objective had already been ordered to prepare defences and assault positions in which to defend the sector and bring a more stringent control over the region so Imperial Guard and civilian forces could move in to maintain authority. With objectives complete a suitable Homeworld would be provided.

 

I have reworked this section alot. Cutting out quite a bit, removing most mystery to this. One thing I need to ask, along with your opinions on this part in general, is should I simplify this more? To simply say they were formed with a task of retaking a system of planets and securing a very turbulent area etc, and then end it with something like "But when the Flamed Blades are talked of rumours are quick to spread of influences by the Adeptus Mechanicus" ???

 

Orginisation:

...SNIP...

 

I do eventually, one day plan this to be part of a home brew codex and that is why I wrote this here. I would understand if people say such details are not needed for the IA. Reducing or removing parts?

 

The 1st company are similar to the Index Astartes in that it is formed completely of elites and holds all of the chapters Terminator class armour (and/but also all) Land Raiders.

While I know TDA is traditionally for 1st company in most chapters, do they also get the land raiders or do the LRs stay in the motor pool normaly?

 

Together Sorrow, Primus, Mortortion, Farnum and The Shadow form

The Flamed Blades.

The names of the fleets are to come from the legends/histories of their home world which will be added later, and so the devotions to announcing that name over their rank. I think it will be better to work at this IA one section at a time and have your criticisms help me through it.

 

Thanks again,

RB