Enlighteners

[Tylus]

Kindle the flame within their hearts. Watch it burn brighter than the stars. - Spoken by Chapter Master Kalu to the newly-appointed Governor of the liberated world of Issus. - 101. M.31

Origins
"We are the ones who light the truest path Man should take. Stray from it by one slight step and darkness shall swallow you." - Grand Enlightener Ashoka

It was the proud Imperial Fists who courageously defended Terra. Their loyal battle-brothers who fell on the very parapets and hallowed chambers of the Emperor's Palace itself. It was even their father, the great Primarch Rogal Dorn who carried the Leader of Mankind to the Golden Throne, ensuring both His and His Imperium's survival. However it was not the Great Dorn who reformed the Legiones Astartes with the Great Codex, and so, after being one of the final handful who accepted its tenets for the greater good of the Imperium, the Imperial Fist Legion was carved up.

Whilst the Legion broke up into different factions based upon their differing views on the right path to defend Man's empire, a decision was struck where a small number of Marines loyal to the Imperial Fists would be joined by Sigismund's followers and those of Alexis Polux of the Crimson Fists in a joint project of creating a new Space Marine Chapter that symbolised that all of the Sons of Dorn would remain united regardless of the colour of their armour.

History
"Every flame must bring forth burning heat as well as blinding light." - Ancient Durian Tribal Proverb

In ages past Duria was a place of prosperity, culture and learning. A haven for humanity's most skilled citizens within the Mordant Zone, on the edge Segmentum Ultima-Tempestus border. The metropolis of Duradel, the single place of human habitation on the planet, continued to prosper and flourish as revenue poured into the planet's coffers, covering an entire continent at its greatest reach. The buildings were architecturally sublime. Planned to the highest degree of thought and skill, with sweeping areas of living quarters connected to commercial districts via pure and romantic canals and a delicately carved road network that ran deep underground as if created by an unseen artist's deft strokes of a brush. South of the mighty mountain range was the unspoilt lands of the remainder of Duria. Tens of thousands of miles of deep valleys and rolling hillside covered in coniferous forest before they dissipated to an alpine tundra in the south of the Pangaea.

Both minerals and land for food were in ample supply yet Duria gained its riches so easily that it only imported the stone and marble, fuel and food for its people.

Then the warp-storms began.

Eight-hundred million humans lived on Duria. Eight-hundred million humans lived in the almost endless metropolis of Duradel. Within half a Terran year, seven hundred and ninety million humans were dead. Three quarters of these were doomed at the start, simply by living so far north that the journey on foot to the southern lands was too far with so few provisions - the underground road network soon choking from the volume of vehicles.

The rest of the citizens in ability to reach the mountains were beset upon by murderous gangs bent on survival, fellow citizens or a swift and fatal epidemic spreading from the north like wildfire from the deaths of so many millions. The few aircraft available able to ferry people out soon lost their fuel reserves or were overrun by desperate mobs. The thirty million who crossed the mountains endured large levels of competition for readily available food and game. Arable land started to be tilled yet it took too long for many for the crops to grow. The survivors of the disaster eked out an existance; their knowledge distilled down generation after generation as conflict between rival clans over food eclipsed the folk tales of a forgotten city that stretched as far as the eye could see, and further.


First Contact

Millennia later, the Imperial Fist led fleet of the Great Crusade passed into the Durian system whilst en route to an urgent summons by the Imperial Army of the 570th Fleet. For the first and final time Duria was blessed by Rogal Dorn's sight. Intrigued with the planet after life-scans indicated human activity away from the ruined city that could be seen from orbit and that the Exploratory Fleets had failed to encounter the system, Dorn embarked upon a single Stormbird with his Honour Guard and landed in the great valley which was the single route between the tribal lands and the ruined city. Upon the new world's grass he placed an ornately carved marble aquila. Dorn did not want to leave his beleaguered compatriots of the 570th to die in the far-off world's dunes any longer than was necessary, so he placed this aquila for it to be later found as the great bird that fell from the sky and, once the Imperium finally began colonisation operations, the tribes would recognise the Imperial Aquila and would comply.

A Durian hunting party followed the stream of dust in the sky in the direction the fiery bird had travelled to, crossing into the highlands for the first time in some hundred generations. The tribesmen witnessed the angels getting ready to embark on a great beast. Noticing their eyes upon him, Dorn turned and walked towards the savages. A number of them fled immediately. All but one after recognising the vast warrior was not going to stop. Yet that single figure, a young man whose heart was as strong as ceramite yet dressed in naught but fur loins stared and stood his ground.

First Contact

The mighty angel approached him, staring deep into his soul whilst placing a perfect hand upon the savage's shoulder. "Captain Arko," said the perfect being, "bring over the Aquillon Staff." His voice was so terribly deep that the tribesman felt his chest vibrate. A monster of a man wearing the yellow war regalia came over and passed a blood red staff the height of a man. The leader took it and placed the staff into the man's hands. The tribesman felt his core fill to the brim with peculiar energy, as if it had always been there yet left untapped. The deep voice returned, "Kindle the flame within their hearts. Watch it burn brighter than the stars."

Upon his return to his people the man told his clan what had happened. He rose to leadership and discovered that, thinking the right thought, he could summon fire in the palm of his hand. IT did not take too long before he travelled and subjugated the tribes through his ability and his story and his words. Within a few years, swathes of the forest answered to him and he commenced work on a mighty stone temple in the valley that the angels had landed. The most ornate room housed the great aquila in the temple's deepest bowels. Following the rediscovered route through the mountains to the ruins of Duradel, work teams brought huge blocks of marble and granite to build the vast structure. The temple steadily rose from either edge of the valley and then up high and ever higher.

It took decades to build. Four generations worked ceaselessly on the temple-citadel, yet Dorn's chosen leader remained, staff in hand. As those closest to him withered and passed away, the blessed man aged gracefully. After a Terran century the building was complete, their leader sat atop his man-made mountain and governed his people through wisdom and strength. During the grand project, the blessed's kingdom prospered and the Durian people showed signs of returning to civilisation. But then the beasts came.

Unknown to the Durians, the far-off Heresy reached its fateful conclusion and the barriers between the worlds and the warp had been breached. Like moths to a flame, the warp predators were drawn to Duria by the faint physic power of their leader and pounced in ravenous desire. Initially the kingdoms defences were utterly destroyed as mass panic and confusion gripped the nation. However Duria's warrior culture had not been dulled - the ferocious tribes to the south had fought against the blessed's realm almost every warm season.
In a brilliant move he showed his people what they had only just gained. He proclaimed that on the cusp of a golden age, never before experienced, foul beasts dared to defile their birthright. Mass recruitment took place and a stalemate was acheived as the more powerful warp-beasts dissipated as if looking like they were needed elsewhere. The Durian's held the tide for two years yet eventually began to lose ground the the creatures. Then a terrible bird-like creature descended on the world, screeching unholy syllables that broke the reserve of many and the least protected insane.

The bulwark was breached and the foul tide cleaved its way towards the great temple and the ever planning, ever awake leader. The bird daemon reached the Durian's center of newly regained civilisation. But then a flaming pod of metal fell through the sky and tour through the beast.

The Angels had returned.

A mighty battle ensued as the Angels defended the beleaguered humans from the unholy invasion. A score of Astartes and a single ornate Dreadnought decimated the host yet were to suffer a dozen of their number to fall by the end. The campaign of extermination took one week of relentless attack. The final foe they faced was a second bird-daemon, a fight that took four of the Angel's number.

Great songs and dances lasted for an entire lunar cycle and the Angels introduced themselves as the saviours of Duria from the stars themselves. They met with the Durian leader who showed them the Aquillon Staff that was given to him. The Dreadnought responded that he was part of the landing party that fateful day, having given the staff to their Primarch. The Angels explained that they were the sons of the great figure whom he had met so long ago and they were now searching for the sons of Duria to join their great army in the defence of the stars. The Durian leader was the first to offer up his sons, including his secret favourite; Kalu.

The Marines had much to deal with in the first few years after planetfall. With over half of their original number, including the planned Chapter Master, tasks had to be allocated to the survivors. The Durian leader nobly made his own sacrifice to usher in the ordained golden age by offering the great structure to serve under the Angels. Seeing how honourable a sacrifice this was the Astartes swore to defend Duria for eternity and enlighten her allied clans. Hundreds of tonnes of cogitator engines, medical facilities, supplies and precious Gene-seed were brought to the surface from the cruiser Tranquil Fire. Astartes rhetoricians compiled the huge array of knowledge in tomes that were decided were to be distributed to the Durians while intense study of their culture was under way to administer knowledge and loyalty to maximum effect.

It was decided that the myriad of independent clans to the south would be left untouched. Ancient Arko famously said "The only enlightenment they need is knowing of our existence." Over time outposts were built where the Marines were clearly visible as the Gods of the Mountains and would welcome any brave young men seeking fame in slaying them into the Trials of Illumination to earn a place into the Chapter.

The first cohort of recruits of the Chapter were from the allied tribes, many the sons of the Durian leader. With the eight remaining Astartes and Ancient Arko losing their brothers and would-be Master, they argued about what direction the Chapter should take. The factions of the Imperial Fists began to burn bright once more; three of Sigismund's followers were at odds with the three surviving traditionalists while two more wanted a route away from the zeal of the Black Templars and the stern attitude of Dorn's Legion. The Chapter Project was in peril. As the first cohort matured in their training and rose to the ranks of brothers, the founding Astartes wished to travel back to the Fists or their successors. It was decided that Ancient Arko would stay to guide the fledgling Chapter. Arko had been by Dorn's side during First Contact and at the Chapter's inception, he was the surest choice to administer to the Chapter and decide who would be the Enlightener's first true Chapter Master.

With the Astartes' departure the first generation of Enlighteners, later honoured as The Ancestors, decided in a council fashion the edicts of the Chapter with wise councel from Arko. Two decades later after commencing recruitment to encompass the entire landmass of Duria and comleting creating the Chapter's edicts, Kalu, the talented son of the Durian leader now approaching his fiftieth Terran year was agreed upon to be the Enlighteners first Chapter Master.

The Great Torch at the pinnacle of their fortress, Haven, was finally set alight.
Nearly ten thousand years later it burns still, brighter than the stars.


-----------------

Greetings everyone, I've had this Chapter in the works for a couple of weeks now after gaining a healthy helping of free time. I have a good amount still to go, both to write up and conjure up so I'll get onto that when I can.
Thank you for any interest, enjoyment or unbridled hatred as ever. Typos will be exterminated after I regain the use of my fingers.

If anyone has any fitting ideas of a Chapter badge/symbol I would really appreciate it!

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

So...where's the chapter? You seem to have gone into a huge history of this planet, without saying much on the chapter.

 

From what I could see, you want these to be Second Founding? That's quite a bad idea. It's been pretty well locked up, and something like this would have featured prominently. Why do they need to be Second Founding?

[Tylus]

So...where's the chapter? You seem to have gone into a huge history of this planet, without saying much on the chapter.

 

From what I could see, you want these to be Second Founding? That's quite a bad idea. It's been pretty well locked up, and something like this would have featured prominently. Why do they need to be Second Founding?

 

Hey and thanks for taking some time to go over this matey. I assure you I shall be getting into the Chapter part proper, much of it is written down, yet I've got to get some other stuff done. It took a while to set this up but will be added to.

 

Anyway, the focus on the history and the planet (basically everything on at the moment) can be justified with being the crux behind the character of the Chapter. They have to create their own path into the future and naturally they do this with reference to the homeworld so you're kind of jumping before the gun, but I should've been more clear.

 

The Second Founding? Well my perspective is that this was originally a good-natured joint effort between the Fist's Factions, and yet it happened to go from unlucky to plain bitter. It would not be something they would be constantly proclaiming to everyone is my take on it. I could pretty easily bomp it down to Third, yet I feel it loses an edge. Times erodes things. I simply didn't feel it would be much of a big deal - a handful of marines from a legion to see how the Chapter creation process would work upon its creation. An investment into the future.

 

Cheers again.

[Marshal Rohr]

Oh jesus, change the name Ashoka.

 

I just saw a multicolored space marine with tentacles growing out of his head!

 

:confused:

[Tylus]

Hahaha, after a quick and confused google image search I see what you're getting at.... oh deary me. As an ancient historian I was going for the important and great Mauryan Emperor. Alas, I cannot read that name in quite the same way any longer.

 

Darn tentacles.

[augustmanifesto]

Man, nice background. I like Imperial Fists successor Chapters! Though I'm not sure that it was intentional, there is an interesting connection between your theme of light and the Imperial Fists, whose successor Chapters have made use of such imagery, e.g. the Black Tempars use of lanterns to "spread the light of the emperor." Also fits as a reference to the VII Legion having been the praetorians of the Emperor. Good work

[voi shet magir]

Shorter is better, tylus. Dorn empowered an apostle, and there was a temple waiting for the burgeoning chapter. The history can be introduced by something people care about, like Dorn's visit. (As Primarch Dorn passed through the system, his fleet detected a continent-spanning city, whose occupants had apparently fled to the wilderness many generations previously. He descended briefly to place within the tribes an indelible mark of Imperial destiny. End history) At current, your explanations are laborious. Present the result, the pith, not painstaking reconstruction.

 

Oh jesus, change the name Ashoka.

 

I just saw a multicolored space marine with tentacles growing out of his head!

 

:blink:

 

 

I think this is your fault for indulging in whatever tawdry consumer entertainment this refers to. Now that you have polluted an innocent, you have become not just media victim, but victimizer.

[voi shet magir]

Shorter is better, tylus. Dorn empowered an apostle, and there was a temple waiting for the burgeoning chapter. The history can be introduced by something people care about, like Dorn's visit. (As Primarch Dorn passed through the system, his fleet detected a continent-spanning city, whose occupants had apparently fled to the wilderness many generations previously. He descended briefly to place within the tribes an indelible mark of Imperial destiny. End history) At current, your explanations are laborious. Present the result, the pith, not painstaking reconstruction.

 

Oh jesus, change the name Ashoka.

 

I just saw a multicolored space marine with tentacles growing out of his head!

 

:blink:

 

 

I think this is your fault for indulging in whatever tawdry consumer entertainment this refers to. Now that you have polluted an innocent, you have become not just media victim, but victimizer.

[voi shet magir]

Shorter is better, tylus. Dorn empowered an apostle, and there was a temple waiting for the burgeoning chapter. The history can be introduced by something people care about, like Dorn's visit. (As Primarch Dorn passed through the system, his fleet detected a continent-spanning city, whose occupants had apparently fled to the wilderness many generations previously. He descended briefly to place within the tribes an indelible mark of Imperial destiny. End history) At current, your explanations are laborious. Present the result, the pith, not painstaking reconstruction.

 

Oh jesus, change the name Ashoka.

 

I just saw a multicolored space marine with tentacles growing out of his head!

 

:blink:

 

 

I think this is your fault for indulging in whatever tawdry consumer entertainment this refers to. Now that you have polluted an innocent, you have become not just media victim, but victimizer.