Outdated: The Lords of Dawn

[Sobansa]

Lords of Dawn Overview

 

Forces Recognition

The Lords of Dawn official colors are white and blue. They use white as a base color with blue providing the trim and decoration. While their armor is mostly painted a medium grey, the shoulders are white with a blue trim. The Skull, Wings, and belt is also white. (see attached image) Their chapter symbol is a seven pointed star (see attached image).

 

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t275/asoban/spacemarine.jpg

Lords of Dawn Space Marine Armor

 

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Lords of Dawn Chapter Symbol

 

 

Origins and History

See attached timeline for overview of events.

The details of their founding are lost to history. However, I believe that they were founded in the twelfth founding. They appear too early for the fourteenth and too late to be a part of the eleventh. The first hard information on them comes in 024.M36. They had chosen the world of Kilmer to be their home and it was officially declared Aptus Non. The next few years are uneventful for the Lords of Dawn. They performed their duties as was expected of them by the Imperium and the Codex. In 055.M36 a space hulk named Judgment of Devastation was discovered on collision course with Kilmer. The space marine fleet was augmented by a nearby imperial fleet. After a week of bombardment it became clear that the collision with Kilmer became unavoidable. The Lords of Dawn decided to rescue their few artifacts and as many of the population as they could. The imperial fleet was also able to assist with this and 90% of the population was saved along with most of the strength of the Lords of Dawn. It was at this time that the records pertaining to their founding were lost to my investigation. The refugees of Kilmer were packed aboard the ships of the Space Marine fleet. During the next five years, they apparently lost the will to find a new homeworld and instead became a permanent fixture aboard the space marine ships. In 060.M36 the home world of the Lords of Dawn was listed as fleet. During the same time year a Warrant of Trade was issued to the former governor of Kilmer to form a fleet for the refugees of Kilmer and to support the Lords of Dawn.

 

In 148.M36 there was a official review of the fleets by the rogue trader and the chapter master of the Lords of Dawn. There were 57 Space marine ships and 4385 ships belonging to the Kilmer fleet. The review stated that there were exactly 147 space marine squads, 63 scouts, and 421 ranked space marines for a total of 1,484 space marines. The population of the Kilmer fleet was 3,294,345. Of this number 2,800,193 were adults and all trained in the defense force of the fleet. The name of the defense force was Brethren, indicating close ties to the Lords of Dawn chapter. Of those, 280,019 were considered to be active duty. 18,370 were considered to be warrior-disciples fighting alongside the Lords of Dawn. After this fleet review, the fleets were split roughly according to company lines. These fleets were numbered I through X.

 

During the age of apostasy, the Lords of Dawn were separated from the empire by serious warp storms. This did not deter them from their duties and preformed them well. In 286.M36 the Lords of Dawn joined Thor’s crusade. This also caused a massive swelling of the number of ships and people in the Kilmer fleet. Previous to this, the Kilmer fleet believed as the space marines did. However, because of the influence of Thor and the new believers, they became more in line with his beliefs. Because of this, the space marines slowly began to accept the truth of the imperial dogma. They maintained close ties to the ecclesiarchy after this and some units from the Lords of Dawn accompanied Thor on his journeys. In 359.M36 two Adepta Sororitas Commanderies joined the Kilmer fleet. One of them was a part of the Orders Hospitaller and the other of the Orders Militant. The Warrant of Trade was amended to the support of the Commanderies as well as the Lords of Dawn. In 439.M36 the Commanderies were upgraded to Preceptorys.

 

As far as the records show, The Ark Mechanicus Hand of the Onmissiah crashed into a space hulk and lost most of its fleet in 538.M36. After approximately two years in the warp and the loss of the majority of the crew the hulk came out of the warp and was attacked by the Lords of Dawn. They managed to rescue the Ark and the Kilmer fleet helped to crew the repaired ark. The Hand of the Onmissiah and it’s new fleet joined the Lords of Dawn fleet at the fleet review in 634.M36. The Warrant of Trade was again revised to add the fleet of the Hand of the Onmissiah that the Kilmer Trader was to support. The Lords of Dawn had 152 space marine squads, 97 scouts and 413 ranked space marines for a total of 1510 space marines. They used 47 ships. The Kilmer Rouge Trader fleet had 67,234 ships with a population of 16,243,974 adults. All of them were considered to be trained as Brethren. 1,825,359,752 were considered to be active duty in the brethren and 23,893 were considered to be warrior-disciples with the Orders Militant and 19,375 with the Lords of Dawn. The Adepta Sororitas Orders militant fleet amounted to 35 ships and 1853 Sisters. The Adepta Sororitas Orders Hospitaller fleet consisted of 270 ships, with 1674 sisters. A lord inquisitor had also attached a fleet to them at this time to watch over them consisting of 27 ships. The Hand of the Onmissiah also had a fleet consisting of 547 ships. This review was conducted by the Kilmer Rouge Trader, The Chapter Master of the Lords of Dawn. Both Canoness Preceptors, the Magos Explorator, and the Inquisitor. This fleet was commanded by the High Lords of Terra to explore the far reaches of the Segmentum Obscurus for a hundred years and given a name as a whole of Ardua Survailiious.

 

During the hundred years that they explored, they were far from any outside support. They learned how to mine asteroids and dead worlds for raw materials and depend on each other for support. In 723.M36 the fleet was returning to terra with the discoveries that they had made. They flanked the 5th Black Crusade and were instrumental in sending it back into the eye of terror. Excited about this success, they were given a more extensive mission in Segmentum Obscurus for a hundred and fifty years to return in 900.M36. The fleet again departed and returned to the imperium in time to help repulse the 6th Black Crusade. During the sixth black crusade, some of the captains of the fleet were seduced by Chaos and fell with those that were on them. As the 6th black crusade ended, the shadow fleet fled into the Ultima Segmentum. In hot pursuit, the fleet followed into the darkest regions of the segmentum. Over the course of the last two hundred and fifty years they have hunted the shadow fleet without mercy. However, the shadow fleet put the lessons learned during the two commissions to explore to grow and to hide. Whenever it seems that they seem to be defeated they keep coming back. This has resulted in the growth of the entire fleet to over ten times the size it was before their first expedition.

 

See attached timeline for overview of events.

Late M35 12th founding

024.M36 Kilmer declared Aptus Non for the Lords of Dawn space marine chapter.

055.M36 Impact of space hulk with Kilmer

060.M36 Lords of Dawn homeworld listed as fleet. Warrant of trade issued to former governor of Kilmer.

148.M36 Splitting of the fleet

286.M36 Lords of Dawn join Thor’s crusade.

359.M36 Adepta Sororitas Commanderies join the Kilmer fleet.

439.M36 Both Commanderies upgraded to Preceptories.

538.M36 The Hand of the Onmissiah is lost in the warp.

619.M36 Fleet Review and commission to explore.

723.M36 Return of the fleet and participation in the defense against the 5th black crusade.

901.M36 The heresy and division.

157.M37 Return of the Fleet from the crusade. Most recent fleet review.

[soddinnutter]

You can almost hear the Nerdrage building with the mention of Loyalists from the Traitor Legions.

 

But for whatever it is worth it sounds good. A chapter that worships the Emperor as an actual god would probably not get along with the other chapters, delusions of self-importance or not. They would, however, get the political backing of the Ecclesiarchy and, more importantly, the Adepta Sororitas.

 

Only thing that stands out as bad is the means of recruitment.

 

If you are only taking one in ten million for training then you are going to be needing to recruit from several worlds of Necromunda size. given how someone making it to the scout stage is less then one in a thousand and if something like a companies worth of marines gets nuked then you are going to need a lot of fresh meat.

 

If you sifted through the entire planetary population as part of the standard education system then you could be taking one in ten million as an end product.

 

Also can't see how a circus full of ring-leaders would work.

 

Conflict of dominant personalities would tear the chapter apart. Unless each marine was given a cohort of human Warrior-Disciples to lead into battle. But that is so fat from the Codex Astartes that it cant see it with magnoculars. And the only way I can see Traitor Legionaries surviving Gullimans reforms is if they accepted the Codex unquestioningly.

 

Or maybe such changes could be taken after some sort of cataclysm, Age of Apostey for instance.

[Ecritter]

Okay here goes.

 

Why did they not fall with the rest of the Legion? What made them different?

 

What happened to them during the Great Crusade? Why didn't Lorgar destroy them ... 100 vs. a whole Legion does not stand a chance not to mention that every other loyal Legion would have hunted them down and attacked them.

 

Why were they allowed to live after the Great Crusade? Other Legions would have killed them on sight.

 

How do they deal with other Chapters now?

 

EDIT:

 

I ask because I have a Chapter based on loyal Word Bearers and those (plus others) are all questions you're gonna have to deal with.

[Sobansa]

excellent points!

 

You can almost hear the Nerdrage building with the mention of Loyalists from the Traitor Legions.

 

If it calms the nerd rage I'll make them from someone else. However, being from the Word Bearers gives a very good idea of what the feel I want for them.

 

 

If you are only taking one in ten million for training then you are going to be needing to recruit from several worlds of Necromunda size. given how someone making it to the scout stage is less then one in a thousand and if something like a companies worth of marines gets nuked then you are going to need a lot of fresh meat.

 

If you sifted through the entire planetary population as part of the standard education system then you could be taking one in ten million as an end product.

 

Lets say that they have one small hive world of 100 billion. That means that you get a tithe from said hive world of about 10,000 men a year. (see bottom of post for break down of numbers.) One or two hive worlds of halfway decent size (not a runt like this one) would be able to supply recruits in even the most extreme of contingencies. You also mentioned education. The age of recruitment would be around 10 or so. The Lords of Dawn would have a massive influence on the education system and the recruitment would be in great part helped by the education system to find the right candidates.

 

 

Also can't see how a circus full of ring-leaders would work.

 

If you have ever read the 21 Laws of Leadership, (and if you have not, do it's a great read and one of the best books on leadership out there. Written by John Maxwell the world Guru on leadership right now.) then you will remember the law of The Law of Respect that is People Naturally Follow Leaders Stronger Than Themselves. The Lords of Dawn have a keen eye for leadership ability.

 

Conflict of dominant personalities would tear the chapter apart. Unless each marine was given a cohort of human Warrior-Disciples to lead into battle.

 

This is what they do. It helps with the whole everyone is a very good leader thing.

But that is so far from the Codex Astartes that it cant see it with magnoculars. And the only way I can see Traitor Legionaries surviving Gullimans reforms is if they accepted the Codex unquestioningly.

 

There are a few points here, first the Codex is a big book of war. War is change and so it is very adaptable. I imagine that in terms of organization, it would follow the codex. In terms of combat style they would take more from the parts of the Codex that deal with what happens when Space Marines so lead auxiliary forces. They merely have those forces integrated rather then as happening simi-randomly. An important point to remember here is that a Space Marine is a Powerful Battlefield presence and orphaned units are likely to look to them for leadership and follow them if they are not getting orders from anyone else.

 

Or maybe such changes could be taken after some sort of cataclysm, Age of Apostey for instance.

That is basically the backup origin. They are a chapter founded during the age of Apostasy and so their original leadership was more worshipful of the emperor. Fighting against the heretics made them more so. Perhaps the chapter master died and a strong chapter master who had been completely indoctrinated with belief in the emperor took over. Like I said, the main reason for the Word Bearers reference is because it gives a good feel of what I'm looking for.

 

Why did they not fall with the rest of the Legion? What made them different?

What I'm thinking is that the leader of the chapter was a very good leader and had some personal experience with the emperor that made him doubt the sudden reversal to him not being a God. This filtered down into his unit.

What happened to them during the Great Crusade? Why didn't Lorgar destroy them ... 100 vs. a whole Legion does not stand a chance not to mention that every other loyal Legion would have hunted them down and attacked them. Why were they allowed to live after the Great Crusade? Other Legions would have killed them on sight.

 

Information, they were able to provide information about the Word Bearers movements and such in exchange for remaining a loyal legion. they had already been thinking of possibility leaving and so they faked their deaths of being lost in the warp until it was too late for the rest of the legion to do anything but retreat into the eye.

 

How do they deal with other Chapters now?

relationships tend to be fairly hands off. The other chapters are more then a little weirded out by them and their devotion. They don't get invited to many space marine mixers. Even though they are a far more powerful fighting force then most other chapters. Their ally chapters are the ones willing to look beyond this quirk and their enemy ones are the ones that can't.

 

I ask because I have a Chapter based on loyal Word Bearers and those (plus others) are all questions you're gonna have to deal with.

awesome, your going to be a great help.

 

Ok, so did all of the explanations make sense? Do I still need to change things?

 

Calculations:

100,000,000,000

50% male

50 years even distribution.

1,000,000,000

1% PDF

10,000,000

10% guard

1,000,000

1% tithe

10,000.

[Paradill]

Just a quick note. It is stated in The First Heretic that Lorgar, Erebus and Kor Phaeron (plus their most loyal minions) had spent the 43(ish) years between Monarchia's destruction and outbreak of the heresy secretly weeding out and killing any Word Bearers who didn't agree with the new faith..

This doesn't mean there wont be any loyalist Word Bearers, just that 100 is probably too many to have 'escaped'. Combined with the chaplains' hold over the legion and the blood bound zealous loyalty the legion has for it's Primarch I would say that to make this work you are going to have to reduce the number of loyalist word bearers to squad size or less, between 3 and 8 or so, maybe being the founders and training cadre for a new chapter or infiltrating their way into a new chapter's hierarchy in the rebuilding and miscommunication after the scouring..

 

How did your marines know to fake their deaths?

 

How did they justify the betrayal of their training, loyalty and faith in Aurellian?

 

How did they re-integrate themselves into Imperium, an organisation so cautious and vigilant that their own geneseed is a contraband material?

 

Hope this helps

 

Paradill

[Sobansa]

How did your marines know to fake their deaths?

 

Being loyalist in a traitor legion means that you know your going to have to get out some way. Faking being lost in the warp is fairly easy to do. Jump a different way and keep your head down till things blow over. When he said march on Terra they decided it was as good of a time as any.

 

How did they justify the betrayal of their training, loyalty and faith in Aurellian?

 

Loyalty trust and faith in the emperor.

 

How did they re-integrate themselves into Imperium, an organization so cautious and vigilant that their own gene seed is a contraband material?

Not so much as reintegrate as never left in the first place.

 

thanks for the insights, I'm starting work on V2 of this hopefully I will get a few more responses before I'm finished.

[Paradill]

How did your marines know to fake their deaths?

 

Being loyalist in a traitor legion means that you know your going to have to get out some way. Faking being lost in the warp is fairly easy to do. Jump a different way and keep your head down till things blow over. When he said march on Terra they decided it was as good of a time as any.

 

So after taking the entire legion to Istvaan to murder the loyalists, after the four year butchery in ultramar and the galaxy as a whole, your guys say "No thanks, think we'll switch sides now, see you later [/fakedeath]"?

 

How did they justify the betrayal of their training, loyalty and faith in Aurellian?

 

Loyalty trust and faith in the Emperor.

 

Ok, was there any dissent in the ranks? Or after killing Raven Guard, Salamanders, Iron Hands and Ultramarines, did they unanimously decide that they actually quite liked the Emperor and would be better behaved from now on?

 

How did they re-integrate themselves into Imperium, an organization so cautious and vigilant that their own gene seed is a contraband material?

Not so much as reintegrate as never left in the first place.

 

It would be hard for them to have never left in the first place, "information on word bearer movements" would be unlikely in my opinion. If a zealot in granite armour told me he was good but that the other zealots in granite armour were definitely not behind that tree about to ambush me, but that I should stand next to that tree, I would shoot the zealot and call exterminatus on the tree. Stupid trees, hiding heretics everywhere.. But you get my point..

 

thanks for the insights, I'm starting work on V2 of this hopefully I will get a few more responses before I'm finished.

 

No worries, I think it's a good idea to go from but the application is a little bit off.. I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops.

 

Paradill

[Sobansa]

Updated

 

The Lords of Dawn were originally part of the Word Bearers Legion. Their first chapter master was a Chaplin who was raised on Colchis and became a leading Chaplin in the Word Bearers. He took part in the destruction of Monarchia. While others, including Lorgar were disillusioned with the emperor, the chapter master took his pledging to the emperor seriously even though it conflicted with his personal beliefs.

 

As Lorgar and the outher marines of the Legion began to turn away from the emperor and look for other gods to serve, the first chapter master decided that doing that would be even worse than their worship of the emperor had been. When the first marines who refused to change were killed he quickly decided to tow the party line but look for marines who felt the way he did. He was responsible for “converting” many reluctant or undecided marines to Lorgar’s banner as they embarked on the crusade.

 

He gathered as many marines as he believed could be trusted into his group. They were believed to be be loyal. Because of the Word Bearers did not have any marines on Istvan III they were not told of the massacre until after it had already happened. As Lorgar called his marines to fight in the heresy, the chapter master contacted friends in the other legions. He would provide intelligence against the Word Bearers in exchange for them being spared when the word bearers were defeated.

 

As the Word Bearers launched the strike against the Ultramarines, the first chapter master realized that he would quickly be discovered. He volunteered with his men to lead an assault against a stronghold. However, he had already worked out with the Ultramarine commander what was going to happen. They took as much information as they could and walked into the strong hold and proceeded to hold it against the World Bearers. After the battle he ripped off the colors of the world bearers and they wore unpainted armor.

 

Because of their small size they were not a significant force in the war. In the aftermath, there was much confusion especially with the division of the legions into Chapters. They seized this opportunity to reform themselves as the Lords of Dawn. Their first act as a reconstituted chapter was to lead a crusade to retake the worlds that Lorgar had taken. They finally established themselves in the far eastern part of the galaxy.

 

Their homeworld is half training grounds, half religious pilgrimage site. They have massive cathedrals and relics from a massive number of worlds. The Training grounds are where the Lords of Dawn take their tithe of one in ten million children and train them in the ways of war. It is located in the far east of the galaxy.

 

They believe in the Godhood of the Emperor. They believe that he sleeps and will one day rise to lead them all on a glorious Second Great Crusade. In the great day of the Emperor they will finish the work that the heresy had delayed. Heretics, Mutants, and Xenos would die in a cleansing flood of fire and blood. They show an enthusiasm for this that unnerves most other space marines. The scary part is that they also believe that they are destined to be leaders in this crusade. So what they do is that they select from the children who show the most leadership potential from their tithe. The ones from the tithe who are not selected to go through the grueling tasks to become a member of the Lords of down form a a group of Warrior-Disciples that the members of the Lords practice leading in preparation for the second Great Crusade. Each marine is given a cohort of human Warrior-Disciples to lead into battle. The Warrior-Disciples in turn teach the ways of war to anyone who is willing to learn from them. Although they are considered to be slightly crazy by the rest of the space marines they enjoy a close relationship with the sisters of battle and the eclesearchy.

[Ecritter]

Why did they not fall with the rest of the Legion? What made them different?

 

What I'm thinking is that the leader of the chapter was a very good leader and had some personal experience with the emperor that made him doubt the sudden reversal to him not being a God. This filtered down into his unit.

 

Flaw 1: There were no Chapters before the Heresy, only the Legions and its many divisions. Someone else will have to give a breakdown of how the Legions were organized however.

 

Flaw 2: I don't really see a Word Bearer Chaplain (who is on Crusade) would have any direct dealings with the Emperor. Lorgar himself had to be called away from the Legion to recieve his butt-chewing by the Big E.

 

What happened to them during the Great Crusade? Why didn't Lorgar destroy them ... 100 vs. a whole Legion does not stand a chance not to mention that every other loyal Legion would have hunted them down and attacked them.

 

Why were they allowed to live after the Great Crusade? Other Legions would have killed them on sight.

 

 

Information, they were able to provide information about the Word Bearers movements and such in exchange for remaining a loyal legion. they had already been thinking of possibility leaving and so they faked their deaths of being lost in the warp until it was too late for the rest of the legion to do anything but retreat into the eye.

 

Flaw 3: Pre-Heresy, no one would have listened to them because they'd have been seen as raving loons.

 

Flaw 4: Heresy, no one would have listened to them because they were part of a Heretic Legion.

 

Flaw 5: After breaking from the Legion, these marines would have no idea what the Legion was doing.

 

How do they deal with other Chapters now?

 

Relationships tend to be fairly hands off. The other chapters are more then a little weirded out by them and their devotion. They don't get invited to many space marine mixers. Even though they are a far more powerful fighting force then most other chapters. Their ally chapters are the ones willing to look beyond this quirk and their enemy ones are the ones that can't.

 

Not exactly what I was looking for. Is their geneseed known to the other Legions?

 

Who would ally with them and why?

 

I ask because I have a Chapter based on loyal Word Bearers and those (plus others) are all questions you're gonna have to deal with.

 

awesome, your going to be a great help.

 

You may learn differently. :P

 

Ok, so did all of the explanations make sense? Do I still need to change things?

 

Not really.

 

100 Loyalists is too many.

 

Lorgar would have had them killed long before the Heresy.

 

Chaplains are not Chapter Masters.

[Sobansa]

Ecritter, thanks a lot for your thoughts. A few of the issues that you have raised have been addressed, Flaws 1 and 2 have been dealt with by not specifying the numbers or chapters. (also some legions were already organized into chapters before the heresy.) Flaws 3, 4, and 5 have been corrected by having the future chapter master make friends outside of the chapter so that when it happened they could defect. They defected in the first combat they were involved in during the heresy and the in middle of a campaign.

 

Not exactly what I was looking for. Is their geneseed known to the other Legions?

 

If someone looked really hard they might figure it out. They did not go far out of their way to hide it. However, it is not common knowledge. It is believed by most they are an offshoot of the Ultramarines.

 

100 Loyalists is too many.

 

edited numbers.

 

Lorgar would have had them killed long before the Heresy.

 

As Lorgar and the outher marines of the Legion began to turn away from the emperor and look for other gods to serve, the first chapter master decided that doing that would be even worse than their worship of the emperor had been. When the first marines who refused to change were killed he quickly decided to tow the party line but look for marines who felt the way he did. He was responsible for “converting” many reluctant or undecided marines to Lorgar’s banner as they embarked on the crusade.

 

Chaplains are not Chapter Masters.

I'm not sure what you mean here, he became chapter master of the new chapter that they formed.

 

Do check out the updated back story and give me your feed back. You have been of great help so far and your insights have been very valuable to me and how I've been shaping the chapter.

[Paradill]

The first action of the Word Bearers during the heresy was the dropsite massacre on Istvaan V, where the entire legion was present to brutally butcher their brothers from the Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard legions. In your time line, your "good guy" not only participated, but new beforehand of the treachery and did nothing, he didn't warn others, he didn't try and avert it, he didn't do anything other than what Argel Tal, Erebus, Kor Phaeron and indeed Lorgar were doing.. Being heretics..

 

The Word Bearers were divided into chapters pre-heresy, each consisting of x amount of companies. A chapter would be a minimum of 300 marines or there abouts..

 

"Flaws 3 and 4" aren't fixed.. The Ultramarines were under attack from the Word Bearers, they wouldn't have trusted anyone from that legion, irrespective of whether or not they said "We are totally on your side bro, we don't deal with all that heresy fo shizzle"

 

I like the way you're dealing with him "toeing the party line" but ultimately I think it's unrealistic. Erebus and Kor Phaeron, under Lorgar's direction, were in complete control of the legion. Erebus new everything about his chaplains, they painted their armour black as a sign of devotion to the cause and they collectively researched the ways of chaos, remember these are the most zealous and devout warriors in a zealously devout legion, I'd never think one of the word bearers chaplains would turn from Lorgars path..

 

Again, I think that it's a good basis but needs work to make it, errrmmm... work..

 

Hope This Helps

 

Paradill

[soddinnutter]

...I think it's unrealistic...

 

In a setting where Inquisitors for a galactic Nazi/Soviet Theocracy fight demonic entities with light-sabers to banish them back into a realm made of bad dreams it's hard to see how a group of warriors sitting on the fence and then staying on the Loyalist side can be considered anything but quite tame, in the circumstances.

 

Just saying.

[Paradill]

To clarify, it seems unrealistic in the setting, they aren't just 'sitting on the fence', they are fooling several high ranking legion officers with ease, attend the drop-site massacre and then decide to switch. If we are using the " everything is unrealistic, that's the point" scenario, then why should we even have a section such as this?

 

Development of backstory in relation to existing canon is important. Otherwise there's little point in having the canon at all.

[Ecritter]

The legion size issue is contentious, with several types of numbers mentioned in separate sources meant to reflect a general or nominally-sized legion. As well as numbers directly given in sources themselves, several authors have commented on the issue. Pressed with questions about pre-heresy organization - although declaring there is not any real information about it - Andy Chambers answered that "Space Marines started out in Legions of approximately 10,000 strong (or more, depending on the specific legion), which were broken down into Chapter-sized Great Companies rather like the Space Wolves (who are renowned for not adopting the Codex Astartes alterations made by Guilliman post-heresy and who thus follow pre-heresy organization more closely)."

 

So not Chapter but Great Companies instead ... may sound better and be less comfusing.

[Codicier Lucion]

Flaw 1: There were no Chapters before the Heresy, only the Legions and its many divisions. Someone else will have to give a breakdown of how the Legions were organized however.

 

Not quite. In First Heretic it actually says the Word Bearers were using chapters of various sizes within their legion and the position of "chapter master" is noted within the Collected Visions books to exist in several legions.

[Sobansa]

Updated

 

The first members of the Lords of Dawn were former members of the Word Bearers. Their Geneseed is from Word Bearer stock. The name comes from a pair of stars that were called the Lords of Dawn on Colchis. Their First Chapter Master was named Agrath Angelos. He was born and raised on Colchis in the faith of the Emperor. He became a Chaplin in a small chapter of the Word Bearers. Although he only saw the Emperor once in his entire life, while he knelt in the dust of Monarchia, the words that the Emperor spoke became his personal creed. While the event drove most of the Word Bearers to reject him as their God, he reacted differently. He knew in his heart of hearts that the Emperor truly was God. His message went straight to Agrath’s heart. Even though he was a Chaplin, he was created to wage war on behalf of him, not to spread his word.

 

Lorgar told all the Chaplins about his plans for the great journey. Agrath knew that the path they were walking lead away from the Emperor. He also knew that he could never walk that path. For days he was plagued with indecision. He decided on a bold plan, he would pretend to follow the plan of Lorgar while looking for a way out. A way to serve the emperor in the way he had been told.

 

In the three years that Lorgar was gone, he prepared his chapter for what was to come. Their task was made easier by the Costodes who were assigned to them. They took great Zeal to their work of defeating worlds in the name of the Emperor. They were one of the most distinguished chapters in this regard. The betrayal of Horus and the long jump to join Lorgar, almost two months, gave them the opportunity they needed to be lost in the Warp and defect to the side of the Emperor.

 

Because of their small size, they were not of any importance during the heresy. They repainted their armor in the colors of the only legion that would take them in, the Space Wolves. However, they were not true space wolves. When the heresy was over they went on a crusade of penance. Pushing back towards the east, they never took a home world. They were founded during the second founding, technically a Space Wolves chapter but not in reality.

 

They have been on one crusade or another for the last ten thousand years. In that time they have become extremely devout. However, they never lost focus on their main goal, fighting for the emperor and expanding the borders on the eastern edge of the empire.

 

However, they began to be spread too thin across their space. As a result of this, they knew they needed to change from their otherwise religious adherence to the Codex if they were to keep pushing against the enemies of the Emperor. They decided to take a tithe from any world that would be willing to give one. Over a thousand worlds send tithes to them. Every year they receive about a hundred thousand men in tithe who meet their stringent requirements. The ones with the most leadership potential are used to replace battle losses; however, most of them are trained to join the Warrior Disciples who are led by the Lords of Dawn. The Warrior Disciples also teach the ways of war to anyone willing to listen to them in preparation for

 

They believe in the Godhood of the Emperor. They believe that he sleeps and will one day rise to lead them all on a glorious Second Great Crusade. In the great day of the Emperor they will finish the work that the heresy had delayed. Heretics, Mutants, and Xenos would die in a cleansing flood of fire and blood. They show an enthusiasm for this that unnerves most other space marines. The scary part is that they also believe that they are destined to be leaders in this crusade. The Purpose of the Warrior Disciples is to provide them the opportunity to learn how to lead the second crusade.

 

They have close relationships with the Space Wolves because they were the ones that gave them a change when no one else would. Although their gene seed is not his, they venerate Leman Russ. They tend to get along better with the more mystical and religious chapters of the Space Marines. They do not get along well the Ultramarines and The Dark Angels.

[Paradill]

Ok, so this revised version is much, much better from my standpoint. The Lords of Dawn tying in to Colchisian culture is a nice touch and the "getting lost in the warp on the way to Istvaan" is a lot more plausible than the previous kill everyone and then change sides scenario from before.

 

Just a few things I feel need debating further to improve the background;

 

1) The Space Wolves are infamously insular, even for an Astartes Legion. The chances of them taking in any outsider is minimal, but to take in members of a traitor legion? The sons of Fenris are dogmatically loyal to the Emperor, there would be no words or parlay, they would just straight out cut the traitors down..

 

2) Chaplains are not chapter masters.. I think this has been said previously in this thread, but it bears repeating. Especially from the Word Bearers, they are there for spiritual guidance and showing their brothers how best to worship the Emperor in battle, not to direct the forces of the legion. Making Angelos a captain or even an extremely talented sergeant is more plausible, Argel Tal in the first heretic has doubts about his Primarch and the great journey, where as the chaplains are seemingly united in their cause.

 

3) There is still no convincing way for the loyalists to trust the LoD, they would have killed the word bearers on sight after Istvaan. Have you considered them laying low during the heresy, helping in what little way they could, then reappearing after the heresy, painted up as Ultramarines and pretend they've been stuck in the warp for 60 years or something, get there in time for the second founding and boom, LoD are born officially of the Ultra gene-seed. In relation to this, I would keep the traits of the Word Bearers apparent but not have the current marines know their true origins..

 

4) Having Custodes assigned to them and being a notable chapter in regards to worlds brought in to compliance makes it a lot harder to fake loyalty to the new faith and for Lorgar to give them the opportunity to slip away, the more notable the chapter, the larger it tended to be as far as I recall..

 

Apart from that, this is really coming into form, looking forward to seeing where it goes...

 

Paradill

[soddinnutter]

If you change Space Wolves to something else then it might be more believable. The children of Russ are an unruly mob of blood thirsty, battle lusting, animalistic, axe swinging, frothing at the mouth religious zealots with an uncomplicated attitude towards the rest of the universe that can largely be summed up with the words Axe, All-father and Beer.

 

And it is a cannon fact that they had only one 2nd founding chapter, the Wolf Brothers. And they did not end well.

 

The Legion most likely to listen to them would be the Salamanders, with Vulkan being the most reasonable member of the Emperors House. But they had no 2nd foundings at all because of pitifully low numbers after the Dropsite Massacre.

 

The only Legion they could possibly hide amongst and have a hope of it working would be the White Scars as they suffer no notable mutations and aren't disqualified through being the Ultramarines, Dark Angels, Iron Hands (too fractious. Any Clan that took them in would be ratted out to the =I= by another clan hoping for advantage), Imperial Fists (The presence of working Betchers Glands and Sus-an Membrane would be too much of a give away) or Raven Guard (They won't suffer the same genetic degradation).

 

This leaves only the Khans. They might hear them out if they surrender totally, tell them the utter truth and agree to all of them undergoing repeated extremely painful and traumatic psychic examinations that would cause brain damage and even fatality in a few of the LoD. And at the end of that they had better be showing extreme hatred towards the other Sons of Logar and a genuine desire for absolution and to earn forgiveness at any cost. Anything less and they would be put down just to be on the safe side.

 

And you better believe that they would leave observers with them and tell the other 2nd Founding sons of the Khan to keep an eye on them at all times.

 

Also, as has been said, Chaplains are not Chapter Masters. You could have a Chapter Master who achieves the rank and then starts to get all Warrior-Preacher afterwards but it will always be Warrior first and Preacher second. Start getting it the wrong way round and your second in command takes over since you are not taking your job seriously anymore.

[Sobansa]

Origins

In the beginning The Lords of Dawn were a small constellation of stars in the Colchis sky. It was for this constellation that a legion of the Word Bearers was named. Even by Word Bearer Standards, they were considered devout. Into the environment of fervent religious devotion to the emperor, came Agrath Angelos from Colchis. He became a devout Chaplin and excellent speaker of the Lords of Dawn chapter of the Word Bearers. He often compared the emperor to his own loving but stern father.

 

History

Agrath Angelos only had one encounter with the object of his adoration, when the entire legion knelt in the dust of Monarchia. The words of the Emperor were burned into his mind. He would never forget the words. While most of the legion felt that their God hated them, Argrath felt differently. When he was young his father, even though he loved him would spank him if he got out of line. In Argrath’s mind that is what the emperor had done. It was not an act of hate but an act of love to get a disobedient child to correct his behavior.

 

His mission was not to spread the word, but to fight for the Emperor’s name and glory. While this was a disappointing revelation to the religiously minded Argrath, he accepted it. However, he saw the path that Lorgar was taking was toward chaos. He knew that no one would listen to him. He was unsure what to do. He revealed his thoughts to the chapter master of the Lords of Dawn. The chapter master took some convincing but he also realized the error of Lorgar’s ways. They agreed that no one would believe them; however, they could not abandon the emperor. They decided to defect the instant that Lorgar did anything. They were blessed with the good fortune of having some of the Costodes stationed with them. This made it easier to hide in plain sight. They quickly became renown among the legion for the large number of worlds they took. They professed the Word of Lorgar, but did not believe it. They managed this for almost forty years. However, they were discovered and while they were helping serveral outher legions take a world that was being troublesome they were set upon and almost destroyed. They stole a shuttle up to one of the ships in orbit and managed to take the small warp capable ship. They jumped into warp after the exterminatis and were officially lost in the warp immediately afterwards. They lost a great deal of their leadership and Agrath took the position of chapter master in the few remaining survivors. Among the survivors were the costodes.

 

They fled towards earth to fall on the emperors mercy. However, they arrived too late. The warp had been fickle and they arrived after the death of the Emperor. Vulkan was the primarch who heard their plea for mercy. He would have had them all executed if it were not for the word of the costodes. He put them all through a brutal regimen of painful and extremely traumatic psychic examinations that lead to a tenth of them dying or getting irreparable brain damage. In the end, their burning desire to crush the enemies of the imperium and willingness to do anything for their absolution allowed them to live.

 

They rebuilt alongside the salamanders, absorbing many of their attitudes and traditions. They went on their first crusade with Vulkans approval and after their successful return he absolved them. Soon after, he left. Although they are not of his gene-seed, they revere him as their founder and father. He is the one that gave them a chance when no one else would. They show massive amounts of deference to the salamanders, and work closely with them whenever they can. The values of self-reliance, self-sacrifice and loyalty that the salamanders show are core to the ideals of the Lords of Dawn.

 

They have gone on crusade after crusade, mostly trying to either expand the borders of the empire or destroy the remaining members of the Word Bearers. At one point, they were on nine crusades at the same time. They were stretched too thin and began to take horrific casualties. Because of this, they decided to take a yearly tithe from worlds that they often came into contact with. The total numbers of this tithe amounted to less than a hundredth of what the imperial guard took, however they chose from the best of the young men of the age to become space marines. Every year they receive hundreds of thousands of them to become Warrior Disciples who are led by the Lords of Dawn. They take the ones with the best leadership potential to become members of the legion. The Legion leads the troops into battle. This multiplies the force that they can bring to bear and allows them to go on several crusades at the same time and without tiring.

 

Home World

They have no homeworld, believing that a homeworld is a distraction from their mission of destroying those who oppose the emperor. They never linger on any world longer then it takes to secure it and often err on the side of not staying long enough to make sure that things are set up completely. Having a fleet also allows them to move quickly from crusade to crusade.

 

Organization

The Lords of Dawn are organized along the lines of the codex. However, it is adapted for the addition of the Warrior Disciples. While overall the Warrior Disciples support themselves, a select few are chosen to be lead and discipled by members of the Lords of Dawn. Unless a member has spent serious time learning under a member of the Lords of Dawn they will not advance very far up the ranks. Because every one of them is a leader and has their own men to command they are very self-reliant. They also put high consideration on the leaders that are willing to sacrifice their own wellbeing for those that they lead. Being loyal and able to inspire loyalty is highly prized among the Lords of Dawn.

 

Combat Doctrine

Their combat doctrine also follows the codex. However, they adapt it for the warrior disciples. The warrior disciples often form the front lines and support force for the Lords of Dawn. If the Lords of Dawn need something done the Warrior Disciples are the ones to do it. While some might call them cultist cannon fodder, that underestimates their power as an extremely well trained, armed, and armored military force in their own right.

 

 

Beliefs

They believe in the godhood of the emperor. However, they are extremely fervent in their belief in his godhood and that one day he will arise from the golden throne and lead the galaxy in a second crusade of blood and fire. Cleansing the galaxy and the universe of xenos, heretics, and mutants. They are itching for it and they believe that everything that they do is in preparation for the second crusade. They also are not hesitant in the lest to tell others to prepare for the return of the emperor. This makes them less than popular. Their relationship with the salamanders is very good. They defer to them often, however their beliefs and the ferocity that they hold them is off putting to other less religious chapters. They get along surprisingly well with the Space Wolves with whom they agree in both the simplicity and sincerity of their beliefs. However, less religious chapters such as the ultramarines don’t like them in the slightest. Once a chapter gets past their beliefs, they find the some of the most dedicated and dangerous warriors in the galaxy.

[NightrawenII]

Hello, I'm going to comment your attemp here. I'm not nice, nor polite...

 

You can almost hear the Nerdrage building with the mention of Loyalists from the Traitor Legions.

 

If it calms the nerd rage I'll make them from someone else. However, being from the Word Bearers gives a very good idea of what the feel I want for them.

A common mistake in DIY. You can mimic the theme of traitor legion(s), while using loyalist gene-seed and thus avoid all this fuss over eating forbidden apples. So... What feel is your aim?

 

What do you have right now, is more of excuse why they weren't killed during heresy, but it tells us low to zero about how the chapter is like. Quite unnecessary and pointless.

 

Second, In the end, their burning desire to crush the enemies of the imperium and willingness to do anything for their absolution allowed them to live. They rebuilt alongside the salamanders, absorbing many of their attitudes and traditions. - Why would Imperium allow them to rebuild their numbers? When the Imperium gives the Marines a chance to redeem themselves, it sends them on Penitent Crusade, read Suicide Mission.

 

The Warrior Disciples are no-go, Guillimans reforms forbids such thing.

[soddinnutter]

Maybe if they were of standard default ultra-stock they could get away with some other form of deviation.

 

The introduction of the Warrior Disciples could have been a reaction to Goge Van Dire and the Fraternis Templars.

 

Some time later they could have had some sort of prophesy that they are approaching the End Times and that they need to be a Legion to stop it. They could be trying to bulk their numbers out whilst still keeping to the limits of the 1,000 brothers rule so as not to get the Inquisition dropping the hammer on their heads.

 

The pilots of the Thunderhawks and the tank drivers are all human and they have an unusually large number of Serfs with better than basic combat training for instance.

 

And the Tech-Marines, Apothecaries, Librarians and Chaplains do not count towards the 1,000 rule. They are not true battle brothers. They are specialists with whom we decided to share the gift of the Primarch as a sign of spiritual devotion and camaraderie. Not that this stops any of them taking to the field of battle and kicking ass. to ass insult to injury the Librarians may as well be called Battle-Psykers as the job of Librarian that actually involves the library could have been given to the Archivists and Rememberancers.

 

And each Battle Brother takes half a dozen 'assistants' with him. And they wear heavy carapace and carry bolters.

 

The Imperium would be really, really worried were it not for the fact that they seem to be using their numbers for nothing more or less than covering more ground across the Northern Fringe or some other remote location.

 

Just suggestions.

[ChaplainMathreyn]

And each Battle Brother takes half a dozen 'assistants' with him. And they wear heavy carapace and carry bolters.

 

Ah, yes, Secrataries of War.... "Brother Ascarius... Brother Ascarius... You have prayer scheduled for 5:15... Then a Chapter meeting at 6:15... Golf at 8:30, and the cleansing of the Praxonis system at 12!"... "Assitant Orphiaus... Go get me a coffee... And may the Emperor have mercy on your soul if it only has Two sugars in it!"

 

I Could, minutely, see Scouts done away with, with neophytes and Brothers fighting alongside eachother, Black Templars-style...

 

And the Imperium Would be worried, anyways... Whether they were patrolling the Solar Segmentum of 'Podunk Sector' on the 'ThreewaystoNowehere' galactic arm... And to explain away such numbers, and gear, if they secured the Podunk sector would be even harder, considering their distance and remoteness from anything of importance...

[NightrawenII]

@soddinnutter

 

Big fat NO.

Imperial Guard, Imperial Navy and Space Marines are, according to Guilliman's Edict of Separation of Power, separate entities.

 

IG cannot have space ships.

IN cannot have ground forces.

SM have leeway in this, since they are allowed to have Chapter Serfs and PDF of their Homeworld and their ships are armed to support planetary invasions. But that's it.

 

Having extremely well trained, armed, and armored military force in their own right, numbering in hundred of thousands warriors is out of question. Hell, even taking temporal command over IG regiments is viewed with suspicion.

[Sobansa]

edited, thank you everyone for your thoughts. Nightwren, I've changed their background per your suggestion but I'm not sure that it is a better background. soddinnutter, thanks for your insight into how I could work the Warrior-Disciples in more reasonably. ChaplainMathreyn, thank you for helping me figure out how to have such an odd chapter remain relatively unnoticed.

 

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t275/asoban/spacemarine3.jpg

Lords of Dawn

 

 

 

Origins

The Lords of Dawn were founded in the 12th founding. They were of Dark Angels stock and were heavily influenced by the stories of Lion’s fight and of the emperor. They devoted themselves to purity before their primarch and their God. The Lords of Dawn is a constellation visible from Calliban that was in rising when Caliban was mostly destroyed. Their most infulencal Chapter master was Afrath Angelos, He became a devout Chaplin and excellent preacher Lords of Dawn before he became chapter master. He often compared the emperor to his own loving but stern father.

 

History

Their first and second chapter masters fell in battle soon after they took the position. Agrath Angelos, formally the Chaplin of the chapter, took the position and lead the Lords of Dawn for almost seven hundred years before being entombed in a dreadnaught. In Agrath’s early life, he fell off a cliff that should have killed him. He blacked out and had a vision of him as a Space Marine and of the Emperor speaking to him personally. The Emperor told him that he would not die until he saw his return. When he awoke he saw the distance he had fallen and that he did not have a scratch on him. From that point forward Agrath’s whole life changed. Two years later he was selected to become a marine.

His devotion to the emperor spread to the whole chapter and amplified itself until the entire chapter accepted the beliefs of their leader. While they were still small, they landed on a world that had imperfect iron men. Agreath was horrified by them and their similarity to Servitors. While he has nothing against biotic augmentation, but the ripping out of the mind and will of a man they found unnatural. Agrath wrote of them, “Servitors in their biological and mechanical monstrosity are no longer human. A human is defined by his will and his mind. A Servitor has neither, yet is made from the same things as you and I. They are therefore heretical and abominations in the sight of the Emperor.” While they still needed the Adeptus Mechanicus and their tech priests they cut down as much as possible on the number of servitors that they use. This instead led to the first incarnation of the Warrior Disciples. They were not warriors then, merely men and woman that took on the roles that the servitors had been doing.

They were fighting alongside the Imperial Guard when a decapitation strike knocked out the leader ship of both the guard and the marines. This lead to Agrath’s entombment. Fewer than half of the chapter survived and the new chapter master wondered what it was that made them able to survive. He found after looking that the ones that survived had been where the marine and the imperial guard had been able to mesh under the leadership of the Marine. The ones that had not survived had previously demonstrated a marked lack of integration with the imperial guard units they were assigned to. This led to the creation of “Brethren” a group from whom they could either make new space marines or crew their ships. While originally they had a tithe of a hundred and fifty thousand to create the Brethren from, after a few years the population became self-sustaining. Men with the best leadership skills are trained to become space marines. The rest of them support the legion by crewing the ships and preforming maintenance, doing whatever needs doing. While they are all trained in combat, few of them ever see combat. Some of the military police are selected to Brethren, led by the marines as a test of their leadership skills. The number of Brethren vary, but tend to be somewhere between twenty and forty thousand.

 

Home World

They have no homeworld, they have their ships, and the fleet is massive by many standards, totaling over twenty million souls. They have three farm ships that provide food to the rest of the fleet. They have mining ships that procure raw materials for the fleet as well. This has led to them developing a very insular culture. They rarely see a friendly planet and when they do it is a short stop to pick up some vital materials or an important person before they continue on whatever crusade they are on. They manufacture all of their own weapons and equipment. While originally things were cramped, they have developed a specialty of clearing out tough space hulks and repurposing them into ships or raw materials. While every person over the age of thirteen is a crew member with a specific role, the fact is that because they value self-reliance and autonomy, people are able to choose what they want to do. They also have comparatively vast amounts of free time and during this are encourage to do things to help the shipboard economy run smoother.

 

Organization

The Lords of Dawn are organized along the lines of the codex. However, it is adapted for the addition of the Warrior-Disciples. While overall the Brethren support themselves, a select few are chosen to be lead and discipled by members of the Lords of Dawn. Because every one of them is a leader and has their own men to command they are very self-reliant. They also put high consideration on the leaders that are willing to sacrifice their own wellbeing for those that they lead. Being loyal and able to inspire loyalty is highly prized among the Lords of Dawn.

 

Combat Doctrine

Their combat doctrine also follows the codex. However, they adapt it for the warrior disciples. The warrior disciples often form the front lines and support force for the Lords of Dawn. If the Lords of Dawn need something done the Warrior Disciples are the ones to do it. While some might call them cultist cannon fodder, that underestimates their power as an extremely well trained, armed, and armored military force in their own right.

 

 

Beliefs

They believe in the godhood of the emperor. However, they are extremely fervent in their belief in his godhood and that one day he will arise from the golden throne and lead the galaxy in a second crusade of blood and fire. Cleansing the galaxy and the universe of xenos, heretics, and mutants. They are itching for it and they believe that everything that they do is in preparation for the second crusade. They also are not hesitant in the least to tell others to prepare for the return of the emperor. This makes them less than popular. Their beliefs and the ferocity that they hold them is off putting to other less religious chapters. They get along surprisingly well with the Space Wolves with whom they agree in both the simplicity and sincerity of their beliefs. However, less religious chapters such as the ultramarines don’t like them in the slightest. Once a chapter gets past their beliefs, they find the some of the most dedicated and dangerous warriors in the galaxy.

[soddinnutter]

Your fleet is a small hive city in space, with its own forge and Mecahnicus Enclave, hydroponics farms, population centers, religious institutions and Guard Regiments. It travels the void like some colossal Leviathan of adamantium that eats asteroids and Space Hulks and craps out warriors.

 

Dear God! This is awesome.

 

All you have to take into account is that they will not have access to some of the more esoteric equipment; Tellepoters, Terminator Armour, replacement dreadnaughts. That sort of thing.

 

I am guessing that combined they would have the population of about 1 Ramillies class Star Fort.

 

the latest update is good.