Index Astartes : Crusading Nightmares

[Champion Cliesthenes]

THE BACKGROUND OF THE CRUSADING NIGHTMARES CHAPTER

 

The Gene-Seed of the Crusading Nightmares was granted by the Dark Angels. A surviving Terminator that was part of the Honor Guard who was teleported on board Horus’s Battle Barge, Vengeful Spirit, received a terrible wound to the head. This head injury wiped all of his memories from the past. The Space Marine was later recovered by fellow Adeptus Astartes after the fight between Horus and the Emperor had come to a conclusion. This Marine was healed of his wounds by the Dark Angels Chapter who later began to train him in their combat techniques. After the Marine was rehabilitated, the Dark Angels granted him a Gene-Seed to begin construction of his own Chapter. Because of the skills learned by the original Grand Master the Crusading Nightmares Chapter is currently renowned for their efficient ranged combat.

 

The Crusading Nightmares used their long range combat skills to great effect while attacking Prospero with the Space Wolves. The 1st Chapter Master of the Crusading Nightmares accompanied Leman Russ through battle. During the battle with Magnus the Red the Crusading Nightmares Chapter Master was fatally wounded by one of Magnus’s attacks. The first Chapter Master had fallen to Magnus the Red with only 16 other Marines in the Chapter. Because of the state of despair the whole human galaxy was in, the Screaming Crusaders were never granted any Tactical Dreadnought Armor. Because of this the Crusading Nightmares only had 1 suit of Tactical Dreadnought Armor, which belonged to the original Chapter Master. The First Chapter Master is still unknown as there is miniscule information of him. This battle was the first action the Crusading Nightmares had ever been a part of and ever since then the Crusading Nightmares and Space Wolves have always been close allies.

 

The 2nd Chapter Master was named Raphael Lucius and would lead the Chapter on their first campaign. This campaign took place in Segmentum Ultima where the Crusading Nightmares had found a sizeable presence of Thousand Sons; the Screaming Crusaders became very aggressive and conducted a raid on Holda via drop pods. Holda was the planet where the most Thousand Sons activity was taking place. A Strike force of the 3rd Company led by Raphael Lucius followed an orbital bombardment of the Thousand Sons encampment. Raphael Lucius and his honor guard found Magnus the Red in a Temple of Tzeentch. After entering the temple the Vanguard forces of the Screaming Crusaders watched as Magnus the Red had finished a ritual to become a Daemon Prince. Magnus the Red quickly evacuated the temple through a Warp Portal because of his weakened state. The attack by the Crusading Nightmares had severely weakened the Thousand Sons. After the escape of Magnus the Red the Crusading Nightmares Virus bombed the 5 planets where they located the Thousand Sons; these planets were named Holda, Naogeddon, Dunen II, Berien VI and Doton. Without informing any other Imperial forces the Crusading Nightmares bombed all 5 worlds and exterminated all of heretics and cultists on the planets.

 

After the bombing of the 5 planets recently home to the Thousand Sons the Crusading Nightmares wound up in orbit of Thranx. These new settlers (because of their father chapters’ virus bombing after a Genestealer invasion) requested the Crusading Nightmares’ help in destroying a rebellious group of individuals who were committing terrorist acts against the government. The 4th Company volunteered to assist the government. During a wrap up operation in the short campaign the Crusading Nightmares found feral tribe members roaming in the wastelands. The Captain of the 4th Company made contact with these tribesmen and they were praised them as “the Great God’s Children”. The tribe numbered in the tens of thousands and because of these numbers the Crusading Nightmares made Thranx their recruiting world. All their recruits would come from Thranx for the time to come.

 

Soon after this event the Crusading Nightmares located 3 Ork “Roks”. The Chaptership, the Hidden Sentinel, and it’s supporting Battle Barges engaged the “Roks” in Space Combat. After the Battle Barge Daemon Smiter Destroyed 1 “Rok” and second one had it’s engines disabled the Chapter mounted boarding actions. The Hidden Sentinel launched boarding torpedoes at the disabled “Rok”. In the ensuing combat, led by Raphael Lucius, the Crusading Nightmares exterminated all the orks on the Rok they boarded. While searching the ship for survivors the Warlord Jawpuncha attacked Raphael Lucius in single combat. The Ork Warlord was from the Deathskulls clan and fought ferociously in the tight confines of the hallway. Raphael, however, came out victorious. This engagement proved the Crusading Nightmares were truly Angels of Death. The search of the Rok also uncovered Adeptus Astartes technology including 2 Land Raiders. These Land Raiders were defiled by the Orks and were sent to the Mechanicus for repairs and to heal the 2 machines’ Machine Spirit. The 3rd Rok was soon destroyed by a broadside from the Pure Fury before it could escape.

 

For the next 15 years the Crusading Nightmares fought in only minor confrontations and were attempting to raise their numbers to over 500. The Mechanicus gifted Crusading Nightmares with 5 suits of brand new Tactical Dreadnought Armor and the 2 Land Raiders they discovered on Warlord Jawpuncha’s Rok. Soon after these gifts were received the Crusading Nightmares the Chapter embarked a Space Hulk where there was rumored to be a contingent of Thousand Sons. The raiding party led by the Chapter Master was ambushed by Possessed Chaos Marines and multiple sorcerers of the Thousand Sons war band. The Librarian accompanying the Chapter Master had led the Squad into the ambush and willingly became possessed by a Tzeentch Daemon. Raphael Lucius was the first Crusading Nightmares slain; he was killed by a spell cast from the traitor Librarian. Overall 56 Marines were killed on the Hulk but it was purged by the Crusading Nightmares. After the betrayal by the Librarian all Librarians in the Chapter were to now be accompanied by 2 Shadows at all times fear of more heretical events they could cause. After this event, The Crusading Nightmares lost a great amount of respect and trust for the Librarians of their Chapter.

 

All the relics and Geneseeds of the Crusading Nightmares were recovered and a new Chapter Master named Antonious Raptor was promoted. The Crusading Nightmares, under orders by their new Chapter Master, obliterated the Space Hulk and then retreated back into more friendly imperial space.

The following centuries were humble and allowed the Screaming Crusaders to reach a size of 1000. During this time Antonius Raptor created 3 squads of elite Boltgun wielding Marines and had his Techmarines perfect the Vengeance round so that they would no longer have the chance to explode when fired. These squads were called Ghosts and usually worked alone in small teams.

 

While patrolling in space near Dimmamar in the Segmentum Obscurus the Crusading Nightmares heard a report of heretic forces and the 2nd and 5th companies immediately responded to the threat in Dimmamar. The world was torn between loyalist and heretic forces. The Crusading Nightmares launched their very first attack straight into the suspected heretic headquarters. The 2nd and 5th companies were at full strength at the time of the attack and inflicted massive casualties on the unprepared heretic forces. The Captain of the 2nd Company commanded the attack and showed his tactical brilliance by allowing a distress call to be sent out by the Heretics. By the time the enemy force responded the Crusading Nightmares were already fortified in their position and took a heavy toll on the heretic forces while decapitating the enemy command structure in 4 hours of battle. The Crusading Nightmares changed the tide of the world wide war and help secure the world for the imperial forces.

 

The Crusading Nightmares later took part in the 1st War of Armageddon. The Crusading Nightmares deployed the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, part of the 10th, and the 9th companies in the war. The Crusading Nightmares fought alongside the Space Wolves in their massive counter-attack against the chaos forces. During this engagement the 3rd company’s drop pod assault landed in areas already overtaken by a vast chaos force. The 3rd Company lost 83 Marines before they could break out of their encirclement, the Company managed to carry their Captain’s body after he fell to a Bloodcrusher. The 3rd Company was almost annihilated but the Grey Knights appeared and saved the remaining Screaming Crusaders. The 3rd Company limped back to space and stayed in orbit for the remainder of the campaign. The 1st and 6th Companies supported the Space Wolves’ assault counter-attack against the Daemon Primarch Angron’s forces. The 3 Ghost Squads managed to engage the Word Bearers’ Command Structure, the Elite squad and Antonius Raptor managed to slay the champion and his bodyguard before the rest his war band could escape to the Space Hulk.

 

Soon after the 1st War of Armageddon the Crusading Nightmares were caught in the midst of a political war between the Space Wolves’ Logan Grimnar and the Inquisition. The Space Wolves did not want the whole population of Armageddon to be sterilized and put into work camps. The Crusading Nightmares were torn between the sides but Antonius Raptor decided it was not his battle to fight since he and the rest of the Chapter had served their purpose in service to the Emperor. The Crusading Nightmares left soon after the end of operation on Armageddon and were not there to witness the sterilization of billions of people on Armageddon because they quickly exited the system.

 

Should post again later but do not know when I will work on it.

[Leonaides]

Too much text! Please break it down into paragraphs a bit better, I cant even read that.

[voi shet magir]

+1

 

Style is about class and class is about confidence and confidence is about believing in yourself which is, ultimately, about booze.

 

I especially like the part where you got their name wrong. Wanna team up?

[Champion Cliesthenes]

oh sorry, I went through a name change when i was editing because i wrote this a year ago or so lol. But yea i'd team up if that was a legit question =P