Index Astartes - Dragon's Children

[Tibbsy]

Hey Guys,

This is my first Index Astartes for my Chapter - and actually my first post on this forum for a very long time, please let me know what you think

Thanks,

Tibbsy

Index Astartes

Dragon's Children

Tactical Marine of The Dragon's Children 3rd Company - 1st Squad

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll241/Tibbsy_The_Ultimate/DragonLogo.jpg

Chapter Symbol

Origins

The Dragon’s Children were formed in the 17th founding and their gene-seed is believed to have originated from Jaghatai Khan. It is, however, unknown which chapter this gene-seed came from, whether it came directly from the White Scars or through a series of other successors is unknown. The Dragon’s Children were formed in the Morhan system in the Mordant zone of Ultima Segmentum. The Morhan system was settled around the time of the Great Crusade and later forgotton by the Imperium. Upon rediscovery, it was found that the solitary settled planet (then known as Morhan Tertius, it being the smallest in the system) had a population that had regressed to a pre-gunpowder level of technology. This world, being of otherwise little value, was left pretty much alone as the other two habitable planets in the system were settled (Morhan Primaris and Secundus, as a hive-world and agri-world respectively)

Early on in the resettling and development of the Morhan system the High Lords of Terra decreed a new founding of Space Marines and Morhan Tertius was noted as an ideal homeworld for a new chapter due to its relatively small, hardy population and hostile native life.

Homeworld

The Dragons Children’s home world is close to the fringe of Ultima Segmentum, the planet itself, renamed Akros, A native word meaning “Haven” is a small, Martian-sized planet with a very dry atmosphere – as a result the terrain is mainly desert, with large mountain ranges scattered about the landscape. Around the poles are some cooler, more temperate areas where the bulk of the population survives. Akros is relatively close to the sun and so is quite hot, resulting in parched desert almost completely covering the surface around the equator.

Akros has a fairly stable population, most of them living in isolated towns, each individually governed by feudal kings and warlords, that dot the surface of the temperate poles. Each town or village is for the most part self-sufficient, with limited trade between them. There are few resources on Akros, and what little there is is fought over quite heavily, leading to a hard, and often short, life of warfare, both in defence of their homes or besieging others’.

One of the most interesting things about Akros is the dominant predator. Large, winged lizard-like creatures inhabit the mountain ranges of Akros. With a wingspan of 20 feet or more these massive creatures hunt desert dwelling herds of horse-sized mammals. Resembling the “Dragons” of ancient Terran myths these monstrous lizards are able to spit a stream of highly flammable liquid up to a distance of 50 feet. This liquid is very unstable and will ignite upon contact with air, when its temperature rises above 18°C. As the average temperature of the planet is around 25°C, it tends to ignite instantly, giving the appearance of a massive flamer blast. Dragons are the dominant native life upon Akros, however, being such large creatures, there are relatively few dragons around, and their presence has never been an issue for the human population, apart from the occasional destruction of a village. This, however, is relatively rare.

The Morhan system has a large military presence, with many Imperial Guard regiments raised from Morhan Primaris. Some are sent to Morhan Secundus or some of the habitable moons within the system to act as PDF. The presence of the Dragon’s Children on Akros means that no PDF is ever raised or sent there, as the presence of a Space Marine chapter is deemed to be protection enough. The system is privy to many of the secrets of the Adeptus Mechanicus, with Morhan Primaris producing all the weaponry and vehicles that the many guard regiments need.

The Chapter Keep of the Dragons Children – often referred to as “The Great Cave” - is also underground, buried deep beneath one of the Akros’ many mountain ranges it covers over one hundred square miles of underground caverns, both natural and man made. Like the Space Wolves chapter keep on Fenris, The Great Cave is reckoned by the few outsiders who have seen it as one of the great wonders of the Imperium, mile high caverns glittering with a billion crystals, beams of light dancing over the natural pillars, stalactites and stalagmites, lighting them up more efficiently than any human attempt ever could. One candle can fill miles of cave with dancing points of light. The mountain ranges of Akros were all volcanic at the planets formation, but by the thirty ninth millennium all volcanic activity ceased as the planet stabilised and the caves left behind under the mountains were rich deposits of volcanic crystals that reflect light like mirrors.

Combat Doctrine

The Dragon’s Children despise stealth as the tactics of the coward, and seek to show their colours at any opportunity. The chapter motto shows their disdain for these tactics: “Stealth is Surrender – Neither has a place in the fires of battle.” Space Marine Scouts are used on the battlefield as units like Black Templar Neophytes; they fight on the battlefield to train them in the ways of war. Although the Scouts are often used for reconnaissance duties, they, too disdain stealth, and tend to avoid the use of silenced weapons and sniper rifles, preferring to fight up-close-and-personal where the enemy can see them clearly.

The Dragon’s Children are trained extensively in the ways of the close-quarter gunfight, utilising bolters to thin the enemy ranks before advancing with combat knives into the heat of battle. The art of the close-quarter gunfight is the primary philosophy the chapter follows, leading to a higher proliferation of Sternguard, with Vanguard veterans being relatively rare. At the formation of the chapter, the-then Chapter Master, a veteran from The Storm Lords who assisted in training and who organised the chapter until a recruit proved himself enough to merit the rank, displayed a preference for close fighting with a boltgun, stressing to every Space Marine he trained that sooner or later, their life of war would bring them close to their enemy, where their lives would depend on their bolters and knives. This is a part of training that successive Chapter Masters have never forgotten and as such the chapter is well capable of both attacking, and defending itself at close quarters.

The chapter’s roots with the White Scars have passed over in their use of vehicles; whilst not as much a cornerstone of their chapter as the White Scars, the Dragon’s Children tend to utilise transport vehicles. Usually Razorbacks, as this gives the cut-down squads within additional heavy fire support in an advance. The Drop-Pod assault is another tactic utilised by the Dragon’s Children, and often a squad or two of Space Marines will wait in reserve before dropping in and unleashing death.

The Dragon’s Children’s most famous action was the purging of Kraal IX; the planet had been corrupted from within by an insidious cult of the Blood God that, either by chance or evil design, polluted the mind of the planetary governor, allowing him to utilise his great power to corrupt the population. An astropathic message for help was received by the chapter’s librarians, sent by the last outpost of imperial power left, a small but important ore mine on a separate continent to the capital, away from the influence of the governor. The Dragon’s Children 3rd company under Brother Captain Targaryan was sent to investigate and found itself drawn into a conflict with a force of heretical warriors spearheaded by some World Eaters Chaos space marines. Several of the Morhan regiments were sent to reinforce them, a routine investigation turned to outright war that lasted over two Terran standard years.

Organisation

The Dragon’s Children are organised slightly differently to standard Codex chapters. There is no formal scout company or first company, instead, the troops that would form these are spread evenly around through the different battle companies, being assigned permanently to these means there is always a core of veteran warriors and scout troopers available to a company commander. Promotion from scout to battle brother is entirely at the company commander’s discretion; also, promotion to veteran status is a choice for the company commander. This set up ensures that the battle companies can operate alone for longer periods of time, and that they will always have the support of vehicles, Dreadnoughts and other ancillary equipment. As a result of this strange system the battle companies are much larger than those of other codex chapters, requiring less reinforcing other than a steady stream of Scouts to replenish those that are promoted or killed. Despite this, the veterans of the chapter still bear first company colours in addition to that of their company, although the first company technically doesn’t exist, these veteran warriors are all nominally part of it. Dreadnoughts and other vehicles are also permanently assigned to a battle company; again this is so that each battle company has the widest spread of resources available to them.

Beliefs

On Akros, the majority of the population believe that The Emperor is incarnated within the souls of the mighty Dragons that are such a dominant part of the ecology on Akros. They believe that a part of the Emperor’s soul resides in each one and that each time a Dragon dies, the other Dragons get stronger. If there were ever only one Dragon left in existence, it would be a physical embodiment of The Emperor.

To some extent, this passes through to The Dragon’s Children, even after initiation. They believe that The Emperor’s soul is scattered throughout the galaxy in the form of immensely powerful Dragons, and that should they ever unite, The Emperor will rise from his throne to herald the beginning of another Golden Age for Humanity.

Part of the initiation ritual for applicants is, at the end of a gruelling training system lasting months – the final test is to send the applicants out in groups of 4 to hunt and kill a Dragon from one of the mountain ranges. Although the Dragons are quite rare, they are immensely powerful, and, coupled with the high losses in the previous months, it is rare for more than 3 groups to ever be sent out at any one time. Of these, typically only 1 will return, with maybe one or two applicants struggling to drag the corpse of the beast.

The Dragon’s corpse is stored in stasis while the applicants undergo the surgery that will turn them into Space Marines. Upon completion – The Dragon that they have slain is taken out of stasis and eaten in a huge feast that involves every marine in the chapter currently present. The final part of the feast is the ritual consumption of the glands that allow the Dragons to breathe fire.

Gene-Seed

The Gene-Seed of the Dragon’s Children is descended from Jaghatai Khan and the White Scars, and their Gene-seed has remained pure. There has been, however, a mutation of the Betchers Gland. The ritual consumption of the Dragon’s fire-breathing equivalent has mutated the Betchers Gland so that instead of an acidic compound, it will now produce a liquid not unlike that produced by the Dragon. A highly flammable substance that will ignite whenever it’s temperature rises above 18°C, essentially allowing each Space Marine to spit fire.

This mutation has been deemed to be within acceptable deviation limits by the Adeptus Mechanicus and the remainder of their Gene-Seed remains unchanged.

[Tibbsy]

No love for my Chapter? :)

 

Any feedback would be appreciated, I have a few ideas for slight modifications, and other ideas in my head I'm not entirely sure how to put into words...

 

If someone can please provide some feedback or some extra information they think they need that would be great :blink:

 

Thanks,

 

Tibbsy

[Elric the Silvercoat]

I like it they have a great story and I think the belief and the change of the geneseed as well.

[Tibbsy]

Still no love? ;)

 

I've made some minor format changes to make it a bit easier to read, but I need feedback still!

 

Please, if you read this leave some criticism... Whether its constructive or not is optional :)

[Greyall]

Damn, mate, lots of thought put into your Chapter, some great details there. Not a big fan of the colours, but that's just my opinion.

[Reyner]

Sounds good to me, gotta love dragons. The only thing that seemed a bit odd was the Beliefs I wonder how other marines would react hearing this? I liked the recruitment part too - my Chapter does pretty much the same thing without the ritual feast :D Fire breathing marines is quite entertaining, to keep it being too OMGAwesome how about a slight downside to it? Like other forces freaking out seeing it or the geneseed could not react well with recruits or something?

[Tibbsy]

Firstly, thanks for the feedback guys ^_^ Much appreciated...

 

Secondly, I wasn't trying to make them fire breathing per-se, but instead of the Betcher's Gland secreting acid, the liquid is flammable... I think I may need to re-word that to make it clearer... I didn't want each marine to have his own personal flamer :P

 

And the beliefs came from, funnily enough, the 5th ed Space Marine Codex... Specifically in the Chaplain entry, it mentions that each chapter diverges from the teachings of the Ecclesiarchy... So thats kind of where the justification comes from.... I made the rest up though :P That's one of the parts I'm least sure on anyway, if anyone has any other ideas please fire away ^_^

 

And the colour scheme is one of the few things I'm not shifting on :P Having got a fair few painted up already...

[Reyner]

Yeah I got that, still cool ^_^

[Tibbsy]

I've now added a crappy MS Paint version of the chapter symbol, more as an idea of what it looks like roughly...

 

It looks better when painted on models, honestly! ^_^