Renaming Chapters

[Gertjan]

After having not played a power armor army for a looong time I decided it was time to pick up some marines again. Last time round I played Space wolves so I want to go for "standard codex" marines this time round. To make it a bit more fun I decided to start creating my own chapter.

 

Now, I am still in the process of writing background/collecting thought/themes and names so it will be some time before it fully materializes and is done. Since I've been out of touch with 40k fluff since 2nd I have some serious catching up to do.

 

The more important question I have at the moment is: Do chapters rename themselves? the idea I am playing around with is a chapter which originally had no home world, but as an aftermath of a long drawn out campaign which left them sorely depleted in resources they stayed at the liberated planet for a longer period. eventually turning it into their home planet as such. As a sort of thank you/show of honor to the loyalty shown by said planet they renamed their chapter.

 

Like I said, I don't know if it's possible/plausible so do chapters rename themselves, and off course, can they simply declare a planet/system to be theirs or would the High lords of Terra have to approve of it first etc?

[Octavulg]

Chapters do indeed rename themselves, though personally I've always questioned it - they'd be abandoning their history and heritage, after all.

 

I believe they can just declare the planet their own. Whether anyone cares depends on the planet's importance.

[Leonaides]

it may be a thank-you to the planet - but its also a kick in the teeth to their forebears, and would have to go thru the Administratum to check that the name isnt already in use - which could take a long time (either a personal trip to Sol system porbably to consult the records or a tedious wait for some functionary to answer the astropathic query).

 

Re-naming is possible, but sadly overused as a way to paper over massive flaws in an IA. For example - what can you infer of the Novamarines preferred modus operandi from their name? Or the Patriarchs of Ulixsis? a simple suggestion if I may - dont rename your chpater unless there absolutley is no other way to achieve what you want. A planet is honoured enough to be chosen as a home by a chapter of Astartes, though its previous rules may not see it that way as their pre-eminent position is no longer theirs - no more tithes, no more taxes, less administratum oversight, far better defences, etc.

[Gertjan]

it may be a thank-you to the planet - but its also a kick in the teeth to their forebears, and would have to go thru the Administratum to check that the name isnt already in use - which could take a long time (either a personal trip to Sol system porbably to consult the records or a tedious wait for some functionary to answer the astropathic query).

 

Re-naming is possible, but sadly overused as a way to paper over massive flaws in an IA. For example - what can you infer of the Novamarines preferred modus operandi from their name? Or the Patriarchs of Ulixsis? a simple suggestion if I may - dont rename your chpater unless there absolutley is no other way to achieve what you want. A planet is honoured enough to be chosen as a home by a chapter of Astartes, though its previous rules may not see it that way as their pre-eminent position is no longer theirs - no more tithes, no more taxes, less administratum oversight, far better defences, etc.

 

Hmm, the renaming might not be the best of ideas then. It should be possible to get the same results via a different route if I think it over a bit. If being chosen as a home planet is enough of an honour renaming would indeed serve no other purpose than to take a swing at their ancestors. With regards to the active administration of the planet losing it's control, well, they got their planet invaded and couldn't handle the situation without the intervention of the Adeptus Astartes so they would probably be disposed of afterwards and replaced with more competent leadership normally I reckon. Or is that a bit to efficient for the Imperium... ;) I am more worries about the fact that the Lords on Terra might consider it "stealing" a planet as it were.

 

Maybe it's easier to just start out with the appropriate planet as their home, gonna take some working around with the rest of the concept, but since I'm inevitably gonna have to bend/break the fluff in certain areas it's best to keep as much as possible consistent with fluff and normally accepted values (if that's the right word).

[Ferrata]

A lot of people have used the renaming of chapters to explain why a chapter that loves to use bikes are called "The Bikers of Doom" or those that like fire are called "The Firebearers of Doom". This is when it is done untastefully and ruins an IA. Or it is done to show shame after a defeat...that's common as well. It can be done in a good way, but like many things, it is hard to do.

[Leonaides]

The administratum might be a bit peeved but ultimately chapters of marines appear to have a rather good hand for dealing with such nuisances - a commission from the Emperor (and the right of conquest - presumably). If a marine chapter takes a world and turns it into a fortress, then that makes the whole sector more secure, and more likely to be able to pay its tithes on time, more reminded of the power of the Imperium and more likley to send their recruits to the guard correctly... There are upsides to a chapter choosing a world, evn if that world is lost as a direct source of tithes to the rest of the imperium, and I suspect the marines are intelligent enough not to stroll along and claim a world that is already vital to the functioning of an area (like a military command world, naval sector command, ecclesiarchy world etc). Good luck with the IA, and I'll be watching out for it...

[Gertjan]

It would not be an important world no. I find it hard to imagine that when a world is important to the Imperium they would only send one chapter, or part of one chapter to defend it. I mean, Armageddon is obviously one of the most important planets but they had several chapters defending it. The planet I had in mind would be the central one in a very small system on the outer borders of the Imperium. So it's not a big nono, it's just not something to be done with important/key planets. I can work with that.... ;)

 

And it'll take some time before it's all done, not the fastest of people and it takes time to put my disjointed thoughts on paper in a coherent, logical, readable fashion... ;)

 

Thanks for the help guys.

[Leonaides]

I find it hard to imagine that when a world is important to the Imperium they would only send one chapter, or part of one chapter to defend it.

 

You do realise the pure destructive power of even a single company of marines dont you? Sanctioning the use of marines is second only to Exterminatus on the Imperial response scale...

 

Armageddon isnt a good example purely because Armageddon is massively atypical for an Ork Waagh. Ghaz was/is possibly the greatest ork tactician ever, and the fact that it took multiple chapters to defeat him both times acentuates this - Normally even 1 chapter ought to be sufficient to stop a Waagh dead in its tracks. i disnt want you to think that your chapter wouldnt merit an importatn world, more that if your chapter took such a world, they could in effect remove a vital cog in the functioning of that sector, and actually make it weaker/damage the local sector. For example - Your chapter arent gogin to want every tom dick and harry merchant ship passing close by their base of operations (far too risky for a surprise attack), so if they took a trade hub, that would shut down trade till it found new routes - so food/raw materials dont get to a forge world, so supplies dont get to an army, so a few planets defences fall below necessary levels, making them more vulnerable to attack or piracy, which again makes tradesr go elsewhere, which delays supplies again, etc etc etc.

 

 

An ideal home for a marine chapter is somewhere out of the way (off regular trade routes so they dont get bothered by unneccessary visitors and is vaguely hidden). If that world has some features that make it naturally easily defensible, and capable of being fortified, then even better (they'll fortify it anyway but an airless surface is a bonus when you're the only ones in sealed combat suits for example). If that world has raw materials suitable for use in teh chapter forge, again, a bonus (but not necessary - the Ad Mech should supply everything you need, and it ought not take too long to build up a suitable 'safety reserve' in case of supply disruption). If that world has a human population that area suitable candidates for recruitment again a bonus, but recruits can alwasy be shipped in from elsewhere ( I imagine all chapters would do relatively frequent sweeps of their neighbourhood - no reason they couldnt pick up a few promising youngsters along the way each time like the BT's do from their fortress keeps).

[Gertjan]

It was the only example I could think of on a short notice. Maybe not the best choice then but I do get your point. Some of the parts on the strategic placements of the planet I hadn't thought of yet, I can use some of that quite well I reckon, thanks for that. Back to the drawing board to make some adjustments there then...:)