soddinnutter Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Just finished watching the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Then I got thinking about Rouge Traders and how they are the nearest there is in the 40kvers to them. Then I started thinking about the old 80's era fluff (best fluff) about how the more powerful Trader Dynasties could employ Space Marines, even have entire chapters of the payroll. Then I started to think about what that would look in the new fluff. What it would look like if loyalists of a Crusading Chapter got their hands on a Trader License just as their psycho-conditioning started to break down. Istvaan's Children Founding Istvaan’s children were part of the glorious 4th founding, born of Gullimans stock by way of the Novamarines. Their parent chapter was chosen for their affinity for space faring and their heritage as void-dwellers and it was hope that these traits might be passed on to a new generation of the Emperors finest. Their primary goal was to act as a means of limiting the damage caused by, and eventually eradicating, the seemingly endless waves of raiders and marauders spewing forth from the Dark Maw in the southern Segmentum Ultima. Homeworld/Fleet Being a fleet based chapter Istvaan’s Children forsook a homeworld to which they could be tied down to to stagnate. Not for them the responsibility of caring for an resident population and all the responsibilities that it entails, not for them the endless duty of protecting a fortress of all their holy worth and not for them the sheer lack of adventure that is to be found only in the starry seas of night. They were gifted, at the time of their founding, with a single Battle Barge, the St Monica’s Vengeance, and a mere handful of support craft. The Battle Barge lasted for all of five hundred years before taking catastrophic damage at the hands of Orky pirates of the Blud Toof Freebootaz. As a result of damage caused by a rampaging Squiggoth being transported into close proximity to the Warp Drive the ship went wildly off course and ended up in the Oort Cloud of the damned, and some would claim haunted, Istvaan System. In all the millennia that have followed the St Monica’s Vengeance has remained in that cursed place, and not only because of the truly extensive damage it suffered. The fleet that is used originally consisted of the handful of support craft that the chapter had inherited from their space faring progenitors but has now grown to a total of twenty-three warp capable vessels. Not one of those vessels is much larger than a merchant bulk-hauler and that’s not surprising given that a few of them started out as just that. The only thing that they have in common is that they were all taken in battle. Organisation Many outside authorities have taken one look at the organisational qualities of Istvaan’s Children and written them off as being slightly less ordered than the scum they were originally charged with the extermination of. This is a slander that is only half-deserved. Their current lack of any real centralised authority to which command can be taken and disputes settled by is the result of several thousand years of relentless duty dragging them further and further across the galaxy and away from any of their own brethren. But where many other Crusading chapters have felt melancholy in their isolation and depressed in their solitude the Children of Istvaan revelled in it. Not for them the stuff pomp and ceremony of a well structured hierarchy, not for them the solemn nobility of strict adherence to holy writ and never to their liking the expectations and demands of life as an entirely holy order devoted to such notions as purity and the ideals of the Warrior-Saints of yore. For them there is only the joy of duty done in good heart and clear conscience devoid of any sin to the honesty to ones own nature. They realise what they were designed to be and what they were created to do and have never in fact and despite the accusations of many deviated from their true purpose in as they see it. Command Structure The command structure of Istvaan’s Children has been simplified to the point where it barely exists at all. There are twenty Captains and each Captain has a ship. Each ship is its own responsibility and sails as its Captain commands. Each Crew is responsible for it’s own recruitment, patrol route, management of hostilities, acquirement and distribution of the Loot, general keeping of Faith and all manner of ensuring the correct execution of duties and the definition thereof. Beyond this there is little in the nature of anything uniform between Crews beyond the fact that they all have a truly phenomenal aptitude for boarding actions and they will all contain one Navigator and one Astropath. They may have more than one Tech-Marine and Apothecary or they may on occasion have given the job to an exceptionally talented regular human. Keeper of the Codex – A near mythical figure amongst the Children of Istvaan. He is said to have the appearance of a leathery old man, ancient beyond measure for one of a race of near-immortals. His name has been stricken from all records and has not been spoken aloud for an age and it is said that even Death has forgotten it and so can never find him. Some claim that he is Bartholomew Blackheart, one of the founders of the chapter and co-author of the Enlightened Codex, some claim that he is the reincarnation of Malcador the Sigillite, a few think he is one of the Emperors Custodeus sent to forever judge their worth, a few think that hew was the first of their brethren to spend time upon the dead world with whom they share a name and that he became the host of all the pain, suffering and sorrow that soaked into that lifeless, irradiated rock and forever driven to ensure it never happens again and others believe that he is a Small God bound into a mortal form. His primary duty is to ensure that the rather broad dictates of the Codex are never transgressed. Punishments for any wilful transgressions are swift, brutal and unavoidable. If Istvaan’s Children fear or hold any true reverence for anything then it is he. Speaker for the Navigators – Such a far travelling and space bound chapter requires reasonably skilled Navigators and with such a need comes power to those who have the ability to wield it. Because of this the Navigators have acquired a voice at all meetings of the Captains, should they be able to decide upon a single Speaker. For this reason the other captains have always made a half-hearted attempt to try and hire Navigators from differing houses in the attempt and hope that they might spend more time arguing and avoid getting undue influence within the fractious infighting of the chapter. Another possible reason for hiring Navigators from different houses is the chapters continued attempts to start their own Havigator House loyal to the chapter. So far this has had limited success. There have been children born into the New House but they have been of mediocre talent and half of them leave to join one of their parent’s houses. Captains – There, at full strength, are twenty Captains with approximately and officially fifty of Istvaan’s Children under their command. They are given much more independence than many of the Captains of other chapters. They each are responsible for patrolling their own trade routs, extracting protection money from the traders, killing any and all raiders and looting the corpses. Because people derive some notion of what it means to be normal from constant reference to the people around them it is quite understandable that many Crews have become a little peculiar, given that they have only their own company for, sometimes, decades at a time. In such circumstances the spiral of madness can only go ever downwards. Captain Morris the Mutilated, for example, is permanently hardwired into his ship and has a crew entirely consisting of sevitorised heretics and this is considered perfectly normal. Recruitment Recruits are traditionally taken from the Dockyards and Ships of the Imperial Navy and usually not from the all too civilised officers and others of such noble stock. Transformation from baseline human to super-human follows much the same pattern as their Novamarine ancestors, but with a far greater amount of rum consumed. One notable exception is the Trial of Solitude. At the end of the training and after the Black Carapace has settled in they are taken to the blasted, ruined and lifeless surface of Istvaan III and left with just enough food to last them and a gun with a single bullet. They are then left for a year and a day. It is said that souls of the twelve billion inhabitants of that world still sing songs of lament and longing and sorrow and incite all who listen to them to join them in death. If the Crewman can survive this trial with is mind intact he is worth of joining the ranks of the chapter as a true Child of Istvaan. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/232954-istvaans-children/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother-Sergeant Bohemond Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 So...they raid people? Or just attack Orks?? And thats a really really bad name. Like, really bad as far as the Imperium is concerned...its Istvaan for cryig out loud... Every Iron Hands, Salamandars and Raven Guard hate Istvaan. The Imperium hates Istvaan. Its where the heresy started, Horus first act of betrayal. Its the site of the dropsite massacre... Its taboo in the Imperium. Oh, and the keeper sounds like the old DA Cypher guy crossed with Jack Sparrows father... Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/232954-istvaans-children/#findComment-2803222 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulse Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 I am not even joking when i say that i want to see Jack Sparrow as chapter master. :tu: Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/232954-istvaans-children/#findComment-2803588 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shinzaren Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 I'm not even joking when I say that if Jack Sparrow is your chapter master I will literally vomit from rage. :tu: Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/232954-istvaans-children/#findComment-2803618 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulse Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 How dare you! Jack Sparrow is ze best! :P Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/232954-istvaans-children/#findComment-2803642 Share on other sites More sharing options...
soddinnutter Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 A master of the chapter can only be appointed by popular vote of the Captains, but as each captain will invariably vote for themselves this is very unlikely to ever happen. Also there is some stuff in command structure. YAAAR! Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/232954-istvaans-children/#findComment-2804148 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChaplainMathreyn Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 They drink Space Rum, and cavort with Lusty Space Wenches! YAAAAR! And, Librarians have Mechano-Parrot familiars! Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/232954-istvaans-children/#findComment-2806676 Share on other sites More sharing options...
PorridgeMeister Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Their arch-enemy is a Daemon Prince, who has an octopus for a face and can summon a void whale to eat their ships. Also, they carry bolt pistols which only have one bolt in the clip just in case... :P They drink Space Rum, and cavort with Lusty Space Wenches!And, Librarians have Mechano-Parrot familiars! A master of the chapter can only be appointed by popular vote of the Captains, but as each captain will invariably vote for themselves this is very unlikely to ever happen. I'm not even joking when I say that if Jack Sparrow is your chapter master I will literally vomit from rage. :D On a touch more serious note, due to above quotes (^), I would think this would make a very good Index Comedius (IC), rather than a serious IA. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/232954-istvaans-children/#findComment-2808880 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arikel Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 I'm not even joking when I say that if Jack Sparrow is your chapter master I will literally vomit from rage. biggrin.gif He wouldn't be chapter master anyways, he'd be Spack Jarrow. Grand Admiral of the Tortugan Sector, and he would sail his mighty ship the Lapis Nigram around pillagging and wenching as he would and none would be able to stop him. Seriously though it's kind of a neat idea though maybe 20 ships is a bit much...if you have it at 8-12 ships or so with a hundred crew per ship you'd still be almost codex, just that their would be no splits between companies(they would all be battle companies essentially) with veterans and recruits mixed in with the line troopers.This actually isn't much different from how the salamanders and space wolves operate from what I can figure out, just themed around pirates, which are full of awesome. The space wolf codex actually would work pretty good with this idea i think, as it allows for more free form veterans and troop squads than the rigid tactical/sternguard/assault/vanguard split of the regular codex. edit: added right quote Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/232954-istvaans-children/#findComment-2809127 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChaplainMathreyn Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 But who would they pirate?... You'd have Space Marines in flak vests, with lasguns cause... The Space Marines aren't really "fat, lucrative targets"... :\ Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/232954-istvaans-children/#findComment-2810107 Share on other sites More sharing options...
soddinnutter Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 Added a bit more. Added a bit more to the Organisation bit Tided up Founding and Fleet/Homeworld a bit Added first attempt at recruitment Better or Worse? Needs more Rum. Why is the rum always gone. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/232954-istvaans-children/#findComment-2811866 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.