Devourers

[Greyall]

Devourers

Origin

The Devourers were a Salamanders successor Chapter created in M35. Though the creation of the Devourers was wholly supported by their First Founding progenitors, their creation was very much a personal project of Chaplain Malach For'thar. The old Chaplain, a paragon of virtue on and off the battlefield for over four centuries, had become increasingly reckless, intent on shedding his enemies' blood, and now leading through sheer martial prowess. Even though the Chapter Master and the Lords of the Promethean Cult at the time held numerous discussions with For'thar about the base values of the Salamanders and blows were almost exchanged, in the end, no one could really contradict the many examples For'thar gave of Vulkan's displays of martial prowess, from his liberation of Nocturne from the Dark Eldar to the swathe he carved in Isstvan 5. The arrival of a Salamanders fleet to a new, verdant planet in the Ultima Segmentum happened around that time, and presented For'thar with a perfect solution.

Homeworld

Centrurus is a Death World in the Mordant Zone. It is covered in tall, dense jungle, heavily populated by reptiles very much akin to the saurians of old Terra, to the point that they were named Sauros. Humans had lived in Centrurus for almost 2 millenia, survivors from the first colonization attempt, which had ended in disaster, but had experienced little in the way of development until the arrival of the Salamander fleet, mostly due to predation by the carnivorous Sauros. After being taken by surprise almost upon landing, the survivors of the expedition were left with no means to defend themselves from further attacks and forced to abandon the dropship, so covered in corpses and blood that remaining close would mean certain death. Thus, the settlers scattered and, generation after generation, they reverted to a primitive society, technologically speaking - many documents were saved, allowing for civilization and history to be treasured within every tribe. Moreover, there was seldom any confrontation between the various settlements, each individual being very reminded every day of the precarious situation he was in. Nevertheless, even with all the education one could provide to the youngest, life on Centrurus made for brutal individuals, who fought for survival but also out of sheer hatred for the Sauros and the constant hell they put them through. The day the Salamanders arrived was the most important in all of Human history in Centrurus, Astartes now little more than legends and bonfire tales given little credit. When a Salamanders Devastator killed a massive Sauros with a single Plasma Cannon shot, the human tribes knew their life would forever be changed. A few months after the first Marines came, Malach For'thar set foot on Centrurus.

Beliefs

Conditions for human life improved drastically thanks to the Salamanders, but the orders of Chaplain For'thar were for the tribes to be kept separated so that the Sauros could still represent a significant threat without severely stymieing the population growth too much. The Chaplain's idea was for the survival of the tribes to depend solely on themselves. Even though the difference in their lives had been tremendous, the coming of the Astartes did not erase the hatred for the Sauros from the humans' memories. Now, though, they no longer had to resort to surviving, and were determined to dethrone the most dangerous Sauros, the Daspletusauros (a theropod higher than a Warhound Titan), as the top predator of Triasic. After the Devourers were founded, with For'thar as the first Chapter Master, this desire for superiority became the Chapter's modus operandi. For a Devourer, the enemy had to feel pursued, cornered and devoured when it faced the Chapter on the battlefield.

Organization

The Devourers possessed 8 companies with 100 marines each. The Chapter had no Scouts, believing sneaking to be unfit for top predators. The other notable aspect of the Devourer's organization were the rituals required to ascend to squad command, company command and chapter mastery. In the first case, the aspirant had to lead a hunt on a band of Riptorosauros, carnivorous little higher than a Space Marine, but extremely aggressive, numerous and with claws capable of piercing power armour. As for Captains, they were supposed to singlehandedly defeat a Sauros deemed matching by the Chapter's Librarians, or Sunbringers (due to their affinity with fiery abilities). The Chapter Master position, specifically, has the aspirant hunt one of the giant herbivores that feed on the canopies, enter direct combat with a "rival" Dasptletusauros, survive a hunt by fellow brothers of the Chapter and, finally, if they've challenged the current Chapter Master for the place, engage him in a duel to the death.

Recruitment

Centrurus was the sole recruiting world of the Saurians. The Chapter was able to maintain its numbers at around 800 strong until the very end.

Combat Doctrine

Being Salamanders successors, the Devourers were fond of close firefights, especially those in which flame weapons could be used. What set them apart from the founding Chapter was their absolute love for melee fighting. Aware of the slower reflexes of the Salamanders geneseed, Chapter Master For'thar placed special emphasis on close combat training. Most training exercises pitched a single Marine against multiple opponents, so the Devourers really excelled at frontal charges and breaking a horde's back, but as soon as veteran status is attained, the focus shifted to duelling, so that the Chapter's leaders could better inspire their brethren by slaying champions and monsters. Devourer sergeants bore the brunt of the force management, acting like masters of the hunt. This derived from the pre-Salamanders times, when settlements had little population and could send little more than squad-sized groups to assure their defense, for fear that they'd be wholly devoured. This focus on tactical management left Captains (or Skull Taker) - who are still responsible for force deployment - free to effectively act as champions, seeking the enemy's leaders. However, and apart from truly legendary heroes of the Chapter, the real inspirators for the regular Marines were the Chaplains, also called Bone Hoarders. In fact, once a brother Marine became a Bone Hoarder, his vocal cords were removed, so that his inspiration came solely from his deadly arts. Before battle, these Chaplains medidated heavily, harnessing their hatred for the enemies of the Imperium to the point of blind rage. Once on the battlefield, the effect of almost berserker levels of violence and the absolute silence of these warriors were devastating on enemy armies, destroying their morale before crushing their bodies.

Chapter Master Navassa Daspletus

http://th04.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2011/228/c/e/the_biggest_fish_by_greyall-d46qu7i.jpg

To say that the human tribes never truly lost contact with each other before the Salamanders came is not entirely accurate. Navassa (meaning "The Boiling Blood") Daspletus (a name awarded to every Chapter Master, corresponding to the most dangerous Sauros in the planet) was born on the most isolated settlement in Centrurus, some 280 years before the Chapter's extinction. So isolated, in fact, that it stayed like that until the future Chapter Master was ten years old and was found by an expedition force. By then, only he and a handful of other children remained, each of them as taciturn and violent as a grown Triasite who'd endured the Sauros' predations for a whole life. Each of those survivors became heroes of the Chapter, but at the time of Navassa's ascension, his companions had all died. As he had promised to them, he drank their blood, becoming the embodiment of the predatory drive that was the base of the Saurians' glorious service to the Emperor. A killing machine and a duelist with few rivals in the Imperium, Navassa Daspletus carved a path of blood through the enemies of the Emperor, killing Chaos Lords, Hive Tyrants and Autarchs, ripping Land Raiders and Tomb Spyders in half, but also a name for his Chapter and itself in the halls of every Space Marine Chapter with which the Saurians fought along. He was particularly responsible for the warming of relations with the Salamanders, always weary of their successors' more bloodthirsty ways. Navassa showed the Devourers had lost none of the care for the people of the Imperium that made the Salamanders loved, even if he was significantly more brutish when addressing them.

Extinction

The loss of the Devourers was a true shock for the Salamanders, and felt in many other Chapters, even those that found them to be too savage, like the Ultramarines and their successors. In M38, an Emperor's Children - the Devourer's most hated foe - fleet entered the orbit of Centrurus and made planetfall. Hours later, smaller fleets of the same traitorous Legion and related warbands exited the Warp very close to orbit on the opposite side of the planet to the first fleet and opened fire. The rest is pure conjecture, the satellite feed having been lost. The Salamanders believe the Inquisition to be hiding the rest of the information, but have refrained from confronting the Ordo, mostly because of a disturbing detail...not a single shot was fired on any of the traitorous vessels by Centrurus' fearsome orbital defenses. Inexplicably, Centrurus welcomely embraced its killers. Whatever caused this tragedy, though, Centrurus is now a lifeless world, giant rotting stumps the only memory of the planet's natural majesty. In their capricious, supremely cruel ways, the Emperor's Children didn't even bother to turn it into a Daemon World.

Comments, criticism and attempts to find out what caused their extinction are all welcome. Thanks for taking your time to read this.

[Grizzly_bear]

I think it's a very good start and great little short story, so I'm right when I'm understanding that anyone in the chapter can compete and duel with the chapter master to take his title/place? Isn't that a little

Chaotic? As in the way of chaos space marines? Still a good concept but noth something I'd class with a loyal/imperial

Chapter, specially one that derives from one of the 1st founding legions and a loyalist legion at that.

[Greyall]

Well, I wanted them to really stretch the Inquisition's patience with their martial-mindedness. Since they have a very solid sense of self-preservation, the rule of challenging an old Chapter Master is very rarely used, Navassa Daspletus being the second Saurian to have done that (in a Chapter that reached 3 thousand years of existence) and is seen as a ritual, something that almost carries the approval of the challenged. Brash challenging is frowned upon. As to the hunting trial, that's part of their competing view with the Sauros, and the goal of each and every Space Marine of the Chapter to become the apex predator. And in Triasic, that means being hunted by the only other beings besides a Daspletusauros who are able to rise to the top of the food chain - humans.

 

It's good that their rituals seem to border the heretical - that was the goal all along.

[fivepointedstar]

I actual fancy the idea of a prehistoric style chapter full of cavemen in power armor. Your art piece is very detailed, and the twin CF is awesome additon to the TDA CM. nice work I look forward to more art/ IA.

[Greyall]

Soooo...No remarks or criticism, I'll just assume everything's fine with the IA and move on to produce more artwork on these guys. Thank you to everyone who read it.

[Uprising]

I simply love this IA, it remind me of my chapter The Carnivore(A dinosaur theme chapter, that share similar belief). The IA is extremely well done and the artwork is excellent. One thing I can't understand through is why would they just let themselves die to the Emperor Children? Is this to represent them becoming extinct like the dinosaur or is it a way so you can play both loyalist and traitor? It look like The Carnivore now have some compitation as the top dinosaur/apex predator chapter around here. ;)

[Greyall]

So, the idea for their disappearance is that the Devourers, having battled back and forth against the Emperor's Children (their complete opposites, as far as battle doctrine is concerned), averting numerous tragedies but suffering tremendous casualties against a foe which more often than not resorted to underhanded tactics and corruption. In a move driven by rage, Navassa Daspletus issued a challenge to Eidolon of the Emperor's Children, challenging the traitors to an all-out battle on Centrurus. Eidolon arrived on the first, largest fleet and was effectively allowed to deploy his troops. However, unbeknownst to Navassa, those weaker battle brothers had been visited by the soothing, tempting voices of the Prince of Pleasure. As a result, the orbital defenses never came back up and no one was warned of the coming of new Emperor's Children ships. When these opened fire on Centrurus, the battle below had already started, the Devourers having gained the upper hand in an open ground fight. Eidolon, however, fought with one moment in mind: the few seconds it took Navassa to acknowledge the situation, the traitor lord and his bodyguards attacked. Caught unprepared, Daspletus couldn't avoid being injured by the dozen possessed marines. Still, in a matter of moments, the ambush had become a duel between generals. That day, Navassa Daspletus fought with all the fury of Centrurus and the righteousness of the Emperor, but it was a day of tragedy. By the time Eidolon brought him to the ground, Navassa was already holding his innards. In a final effort, he managed to sever Eidolon's arm. Slaanesh was smiling that day, though, and before closing his eyes, the last thing Daspletus witnessed was the arm of his enemy reforming itself, his cackling laughter burning Navassa's soul. After the Chapter Master's death, and with Emperor's Children invading the human settlements and the Chapter's Fortress, it wasn't long before Cantrurus was a world devoid of human life. Eidolon didn't even bother to turn it into a Daemon World. Centrurus was left as a trophy, a mighty, freshly slain beast for everyone to see, and the head of Navassa Daspletus now addorn's Eidolon's halls.

[Octavulg]

Greyall, I just want you to know that I'm this much of a jerk to everyone. Honest. ;)

 

The Saurians were a Salamanders successor Chapter created in the 8th Founding, in M35.

 

Mention either '8th Founding' or 'M35'. Best case it's redundant, worst case it's contradictory.

 

Also...Saurian? Is this Dinotopia? Are these Lizardmen? Is this Star Trek? Mortal Kombat?

 

It's an odd name choice, is my point.

 

Although supported by the entire First Founding Legion, the creation of the Saurians was very much a personal project of Chaplain Malach For'thar.

 

Rephrase for clarity:

 

Though the creation of the Saurians was wholly supported by their First Founding progenitors, their creation was very much a personal project of Chaplain Malach For'thar.

 

Good sentence structure is the foundation of a successful IA. And good dental hygiene.

 

The old Chaplain, while ever a paragon of virtue on and off the battlefield for every Battle Brother throughout his four century-long career, had become increasingly reckless, intent on shedding his enemies' blood and leading his brethren through sheer fighting skills.

 

Sometimes, dear Greyall, less is more.

 

Try:

 

"The old Chaplain, a paragon of virtue on and off the battlefield for over four centuries, had become increasingly reckless, intent on shedding his enemies' blood, and now leading through sheer martial prowess."

 

Even though the Chapter Master and the Lords of the Promethean Cult at the time held numerous discussions with For'thar about the base values of the Salamanders and blows were almost exchanged, in the end, no one could really contradict the many examples For'thar gave of Vulkan's displays of martial prowess, from his liberation of Nocturne from the Dark Eldar to the swathe he carved in Isstvan 5. The arrival of a Salamanders fleet to Triasic happened around that time, and presented the perfect solution to the Chaplain's issue.

 

There's one flaw with this, conceptually - new chapters being used as dumping grounds for malcontents always feels...wrong. I mean, being a Chapter Master is an honor. Being the FIRST Chapter Master even more so. The best and the brightest should go, surely.

 

Why not reverse it and have HIM push to be part of the new chapter, disgusted with the way the Salamanders just aren't hardcore enough?

 

Triasic is a Death World in the Mordant Zone, Ultima Segmentum. It is covered in tall, dense jungle, heavily populated by reptiles very much akin to the saurians of old Terra, to the point that they were named Sauros. Humans had lived in Triasic for almost 2 millenia, survivors from the first colonization attempt, which had ended in disaster, but had experienced little in the way of development until the arrival of the Salamander fleet, mostly due to predation by the carnivorous Sauros.

 

Subtlety is important in an IA. Triasic and Sauros are not subtle.

 

Thus, the settlers scattered and, generation after generation, they reverted to a primitive society, technologically speaking - many documents were saved, allowing for civilization and history to be treasured within every tribe.

 

Documents hate humid, warm places. Unless they're non-technological, I think those records wouldn't have lasted long.

 

Organization + Combat Doctrine

 

These both seem to provide a bit more detail than is really necessary. Especially combat doctrine. I've always felt Combat Doctrine works best when it provides broad strokes, not lots and lots of detail.

 

The loss of the Saurians was a true shock for the Salamanders,

 

That wouldn't necessarily wipe out the chapter - they had no expeditionary forces out?

 

Looking at the explanation for what happened:

 

A ) Mentioning Eidolon feels like you're namedropping.

B ) Why would they have that fight on their home world? Why would the Emperor's Children consent? How do you contact the Emperor's Children, anyway?

 

* * *

 

Good concept. Awesome illustration. But you don't yet write as well as you draw. :)

 

What are you trying to do here? What themes do you want, what goals do you want to accomplish, what elements do you want to explore? All that stuff. ;)

[Greyall]

No hard feelings, Octav, most of what you say is spot on, so I've changed the name of the Chapter, as well as the planet's, and made a few tweaks to the story. Here's why I didn't change everything.

 

- I kept the large texts because, while it may become a bit more tedious to read, they're significant aspects to the Devourers' existence.

 

- The Devourers were created as a chance for Chaplain For'thar to prove his more martial ways and not a way for the Salamanders to get rid of For'thar. Poor writing on my part.

 

- I don't want too much subtlelty. I changed the Chapter's and planet's name because I found I'd been lazy, but I created these guys because I love dinosaurs, and I wanted an air of 'lolawesome' about them. So, the reptiles in Centrurus will forever be Sauros.

 

- Their demise is meant an absolute fall from grace, motivated by their excessive straightforwardness and tendency to act [boiling] hot-headed. The Devourers recalled every fleet and contacted the Emperor's Children through their Librarians. You know, there's always a Chaos Sorceror listnening. The point is, even if they had won, the Inquisition would've had their hides for inviting a Chaos Legion to their doorstep.

 

- As for Eidolon, I found nothing in Lexicanum preventing me from putting him in the Devourer's history. It says he's likely responsible for hundreds or thousand of attacks on Imperial worlds. This is just one of them. And it's not like Eidolon is Khârn or Abaddon, he's a secondary player in 40K.

 

Again, thanks, mate.

[Octavulg]

I quite like the new name, as an aside.

 

- The Devourers were created as a chance for Chaplain For'thar to prove his more martial ways and not a way for the Salamanders to get rid of For'thar. Poor writing on my part.

 

Well, that does make more sense. :ph34r:

 

- I don't want too much subtlelty. I changed the Chapter's and planet's name because I found I'd been lazy, but I created these guys because I love dinosaurs, and I wanted an air of 'lolawesome' about them. So, the reptiles in Centrurus will forever be Sauros.

 

Hey, a quick read of most of my IAs will show that I love me some cultural references (I have one chapter that's built off a quote from Diablo). They just shouldn't be too blatant.

 

- Their demise is meant an absolute fall from grace, motivated by their excessive straightforwardness and tendency to act [boiling] hot-headed. The Devourers recalled every fleet and contacted the Emperor's Children through their Librarians. You know, there's always a Chaos Sorceror listnening. The point is, even if they had won, the Inquisition would've had their hides for inviting a Chaos Legion to their doorstep.

 

Why would they challenge them on their home world, though? Why not set up a more complete trap somewhere else?

 

And if Chaos listens that closely, we're all doomed.

 

Doomed.

 

DOOMED!

 

- As for Eidolon, I found nothing in Lexicanum preventing me from putting him in the Devourer's history. It says he's likely responsible for hundreds or thousand of attacks on Imperial worlds. This is just one of them. And it's not like Eidolon is Khârn or Abaddon, he's a secondary player in 40K.

 

Fair enough.

[Greyall]

Why would they challenge them on their home world, though? Why not set up a more complete trap somewhere else?

 

And if Chaos listens that closely, we're all doomed.

 

Doomed.

 

DOOMED!

 

You have understand these guys are some rancorous a-holes whose need to prove themselves as "top predators" drives them to moments of near-stupid bravery. They wouldn't have laid a trap to the Emperor's Children, quite simply because their premise is to beat the enemy at its own game. Of course, they took massive casualties throughout their existence, especially against 'tricky' enemies such as Eldar and Chaos, but whenever their managed to reach their foe, they rarely lost. Imagine then, how epic a victory by the Devourers would've been.

 

As an example, imagine an Ork Warboss, surrounded by his vast horde, is screaming his superiority atop a mound.

 

- He's saying his Boyz are da best, 'cause he only allows the tuffer and meaner into his ranks. In this case, the Devourers will deploy in a regular fashion. And, mind you, they'll still take countermeasures against specific Ork units. If there are vehicles, they'll take Melta Bombs and Devastators. But their goal will be to face the Orks head-on and leave them broken.

 

- In this other situation, da 'Boss is vaunting over his own fighting skills, how he's never lost to anyone, how great his trophy rack is. This being the case, the Devourers' Force Commander will teleport or drop pod himself and his comand squad right on top of the Warboss' location and engage in a duel with said boss and his Nobz. Again, they'll take some measure of precaution against treachery, so Devourer forces will be deployed and engage the rest of the Orks, but eliminating and humilliating the leader will be the top priority.

 

So, in the case of the Devourers' final battle, they would've been protected against the coming of a second fleet, but the the treason enacted by a few Marines prevented the reactivation of orbital defenses.

 

It wasn't exactly a message thrown into the warp, it was as directed as possible. And the battle against the Emperor's Children was on open ground, head-on. Navassa really should've seen something was wrong when they accepted, but he'd been thwarted by the pink traitors so many times he was almost blinded with rage and pride. They were destined to fall from grace, really.

[Octavulg]

I'm not sure the massive arrogance quite comes across. It makes sense, but I don't quite get it as-is.