IA: Vermilion Wings

[Evz]

Index Astartes

 

 

The Vermilion Wings

 

"For the Emperor. For Sanguinius. For every last citizen we spill blood for. Dine upon their flesh! Feast upon their marrow! Let none of them survive! In the name of Sanguinius, death! Death! Let all blood fly!!" ~ Commander Donal, current Chapter Master of the Vermilion Wings.

 

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/292354_10150345633146800_617466799_9802897_5775399_n.jpg

 

Origins

They were one of the 23rd Founding. The High Lords of Terra found one area of space on the Eastern Fringe to be unprotected, within the Oshim system, and under constant threat of being invaded by the Greenskins. A petition had been signed, and the creation was underway. A training cadre was created from the Red Wings Chapter, and Mars had forged them a number of ships, arms and armor to begin with. The Brother-Captain Saon, formally of the Red Wings, was put in charge of this cadre while a larger force of Red Wings space marines led the fight into the Oshim system. Within they had discovered that the Orks were terrorizing the Imperial planets in the sector. The entire system was in chaos. From the Battle Barge Angel’s Flame, Saon sent his cadre to several worlds, alongside the large force of Red Wings space marines who had come in with their own small fleet, retaking the worlds from the Orks. The final battle against the Orks was upon the planet Callisto, where Saon did battle with the Ork warboss. The warboss was defeated within a massive desert valley in the largest battle of the campaign. Callisto, and the Oshim system had been conquered. Saon was named the first Chapter Master. The system’s local Techpriests began construction on the new Fortress Monastery on Callisto. Whilst the Fortress Monastery was being built, the newly formed Vermilion Wings used the Angel’s Flame as a base of operations.

 

Home World

Callisto is a temperate medieval world. It is much like Terra was in ancient times, with many different climates and cultures. It has several continents, each covered in kingdoms and cities. It was colonized just before the Age of Strife, but since then it had been cut-off from the Imperium and the people have since devolved, and had come under constant threat by Orks until the Vermilion Wings arrived. The people range from average people living in the cities, to barbarians living in the harsh north, to desert-dwelling dark-skinned warriors. A good group of people to recruit marines from.

 

Fortress Monastery

The Fortress Monastery of the Vermilion Wings, The Spire, is located in the Green Desert, named after the fact that the campaign against the Orks had first ended there, and is still littered with Ork and marine wrecks. The Fortress itself is a big gray structure within the center of the desert, built to look like an ancient castle. It is surrounded by high walls, which are bristling with cannons. Within, the corridors are lined with the bones are battle-brothers long dead.

 

Organization

There are ten companies within the Chapter, each made up of one hundred marines each, and led by a brother-captain. The first company is made of veterans, the tenth are entirely made of Neophytes, and the rest are full of a mixture of assault marines (including bikers and speeders) and tactical marines, with a few devastator squads.

 

Beliefs

They have embraced the fact that, even though that Astartes are by far much longer than the average human citizen, the vast majority of them die in battle, but they pay love and respect for their fallen. Once a battle is finished, they collect their dead, and lay them out in rows, and then devour their flesh. This horrific act will give them the memories of those who have passed on, and will sometimes rarely give them a brief glimpse at the memories of Sanguinius due to their hyper-sensitive Omophagea organ. The only ones allowed to eat the body of a fallen brother are those within his own squad. The bones are then added to the corridors within the Fortress Monastery.

 

Before the body is consumed, a servitor sucks out the blood of the marine through a giant needle. This blood is put within the Pool of Rememberance. The Pool of Rememberance is a vast underwater lake beneath the Spire full of the blood of every dead battle brother, it is unknown what keeps the blood warm. When an initiate is first taken to the Spire, they must take a ritual bath for some time within the Pool, so that they may become one with their brothers before entering the chapter in-full.

 

Once a battle is over, and their own dead are separated from the enemy's dead, they cook and consume the flesh of their enemies in a great ritualistic feast. They eat most enemies, save for those aligned to the Chaos gods, the Necrontyr, Tyranids, and Greenskins. Such things are said to be impure. If a Vermilion Wing is caught devouring a chaos warrior, he is brought to a chaplain, who will put him out of his insane misery.

 

The Death Company is the same as it is in every other Blood Angels Chapter, as the curse of Sanguinius is still present. If a marine who had succumbed was felled in battle, they will be given a proper burial as to not risk eating the flesh and falling to the Black Rage themselves. They will also transport the bones of the fallen back to Callisto, where they would be put within the Fortress Monastery to decorate the corridors lined with bones.

 

Combat Doctrine

The Vermillion Wings fight with a tendency towards aggressive assault actions using mobile forces. They make extensive use of tactical squads and assault squads. They have little to no terminator squads, or transports besides Stormravens and Thunderhawk Gunships, as they believe hiding in tanks is silly and weak. The assault squads will swarm enemies, and rip them apart in close combat, whilst tactical squads sweep in and pick off whoever is left, and hold objectives. Tactical squads will also be used for smaller operations. All of the close-combat obsessiveness is due to their dark flaw.

 

Recruitment

Every year, a Chaplain travels the world, and visits several cities, picking up a group of young men from each. This day is like a holiday to the people. The boys are taken to the Saraphim Gorge, a heavily-forested mountain area on the eastern continent, where the Vermilion Wings have built an outpost. Here, in the gorge, where the water reaches up tot heir ankles, they are told to strip. The fifty young men strip themselves of their clothing, and are each given a combat knife. The Chaplain tells them to cut the symbol of the Vermilion Wings into their left shoulders. Some of the boys misunderstand, and end up cutting themselves all over, so that they are drenched in their own blood. Next, they are forced to pummel one another with their bare hands and knives and whatever else they can find, until twenty remain. These will be the next neophytes of the chapter. They are then flown to The Spire, where they are to bathe within the Pool of Rememberance. Following this, they will undergo the implantation and training process, and then finally become scouts.

 

Gene-seed

They have the Red Thirst and Black Rage. This is something that cannot be cured. Every one of them does not like it but they continue to do their duty to the God-Emperor. Along with this, they have a hypersensitive Omophagea organ. This, mixed with the Red Thirst, makes them bloodthristy killing machines on the battlefield. They will stop at nothing to get as close to the enemy as possible, and rip their hearts out and, if possible, devour it in front of their enemy. After a battle is done, they will build a camp and cook their enemies, then dine upon their flesh. They are forced to fight the urge to devour meat and blood when near an Inquisitor or any other Imperial of high status, and instead do it in secret. While the Red Thirst and Black Rage cannot be avoided, they can at least control their Omophagea organs to an extent. This flaw appeared not long after they were created. Even in the earliest days of the Oshim campaign, the newly-made marines were found ripping off their helmets and ripping into grots after a victory and devouring them raw, along with eating anything that died, civilians, battle-brothers, and greenskins. This was first thought to have been just the Red Thirst, but Sanguinary Priests of the chapter have discovered otherwise. Within months they had learned to control themselves.

 

Battle-cry

”Let all blood fly!”

[CantonWC]

Hello

 

I will need some more time to work through the IA, but this immediately caught my eye.

 

There are ten companies within the Chapter, each made up of one thousand marines each

 

I really hope you meant 100 each, because ten thousand Astartes is completely unacceptable.

[NightrawenII]

Hello, because the CantonWC missed his chance, I'm going to C&C you Chapter instead... :cuss

 

Origins

They were one of the 23rd Founding. The High Lords of Terra found one area of space on the Eastern Fringe to be unprotected, within the Oshim system, and under constant threat of being invaded by the Greenskins.

- Nothing really bone-breaking just... Around 23rd Founding was the BA flaw well-known. Why would HLoT create a flawed Chapter?

 

A training cadre was created from the Red Wings Chapter, and Mars had forged them a number of ships, arms and armor to begin with. *snip* Callisto, and the Oshim system had been conquered.

- A training cadre reconquering a entire system? That's a lot of work for 20-25 marines.

- Btw, Callisto is moon of Jupiter.

 

Saon was named the first Chapter Master.

- Why? Wasn't here any suitable candidate other than Sanguinary Priest?

 

Home World

It was colonized just before the Dark Age of Technology, but since then it had been cut-off from the Imperium and the people have since devolved, and had come under constant threat by Orks until the Vermilion Wings arrived.

- Eh, a little discontinuity, Dark Age of Technology was golden age of human science and discovery. It has ended with Age of Strife, when the various worlds were cut off by Warp Stroms. At the beginning of Age of Imperium, the Great Crusade lead by Emperor and his Primarchs attempted to find and unite these lost worlds.

 

Organization

The first company is made of veterans, the tenth are entirely made of Neophytes, and the rest are full of a mixture of assault marines and tactical marines.

- No Devastators? Why?

 

Beliefs

... separate from the bodies of their enemies, which are usually just piled up and cooked before being eaten.

- You know, eating a Chaos cultists is not exactly smart move.

 

When an initiate is first taken to the Spire, they must swim for some time within the Pool, absorbing memories of all the passed brothers, and even those of other successor chapters, and maybe even Sanguinius himself.

- I would say "ritual bath" or something like that. Swimming is a little inappropriate.

 

Recruitment

They are then flown to The Spire, where they are to bathe within the Pool of Rememberance. Those that do not go mad from the surge of memories and visions will undergo the implantation and training process, and then finally become scouts.

- Ahem, they don't have a Omophagea organ yet, so I'm a little sceptical about this flow of memories.

 

Gene-seed

- Nice quirks, but you should expanded on them more. For example in the Belief or Combat Doctrine section.

 

 

Cheers, NightrawenII.

[Evz]

Hello

 

I will need some more time to work through the IA, but this immediately caught my eye.

 

There are ten companies within the Chapter, each made up of one thousand marines each

 

I really hope you meant 100 each, because ten thousand Astartes is completely unacceptable.

 

 

Oh snap, I didn't even notice that. Will go back and edit.

 

And thank you too, Nightrawen. I'll fix things. And the Imperium is a big, big place. There've got to be more than one planet with that name. And they do not eat any chaos-aligned enemies, which I should probably mention.

 

Also, which Founding would you recommend?

[Shinzaren]

"For the Emperor. For Sanguinius. For Dante..."

Emperor = Good

Primarch = Good

Chapter Master of a Chapter not even remotely your own? = Not Good.

I can understand rallying your troops in the name of the Primarch and the Emperor, but why Dante? Do they always include the Chapter Master of the Blood Angels, or this just a case of wanting to tie your marines to a name character of GW's?

 

At once a petition had been signed, and the creation was underway.

Nothing in the Imperium happens "at once." It is the the bureaucracy to end all bureaucracies. Paperwork beyond paperwork has to be done, etc etc. Not an instant process.

 

A training cadre was created from the Red Wings Chapter, and Mars had forged them a number of ships, arms and armor to begin with. The Brother-Captain Saon, formally of the Red Wings, led them into the Oshim system. Within they had discovered that the Orks were terrorizing the Imperial planets in the sector. The entire system was in chaos. From the Battle Barge Angel’s Flame, Saon sent his cadre to several worlds, alongside a force of Red Wings space marines, retaking them from the Orks.

Average cadre consists of a handful of veterans, lets say 30, and a large number of human recruits, age 10-14. Not a force capable of retaking the system. It is possible that a sizable force of the Red Wings Chapter retook the system, and that the Cadre simply came along for the free loot and XP, but the Cadre certainly wouldn't be the leaders, and certainly wouldn't be doing the heavy lifting of the campaign.

 

Callisto is a temperate medieval world. It is much like Terra was in ancient times, with many different climates and cultures. It has several continents, each covered in kingdoms and cities. It was colonized just before the Age of Strife, but since then it had been cut-off from the Imperium and the people have since devolved, and had come under constant threat by Orks until the Vermilion Wings arrived. The people range from average people living in wonderful cities, to barbarians living in the harsh north, to desert-dwelling dark-skinned warriors. A good group of people to recruit marines from.

Nothing in the Imperium of man is wonderful. The concept of a paradise or an idyllic setting is completely inimical to the setting. Still, it is a nice change of pace to have worlds that are diverse throughout and feature more than just "tribal people killing each on a world of complete desert." Mono-climate planets are boring and I applaud you for avoiding this trap.

 

The Fortress Monastery of the Vermilion Wings, The Spire, is located in the Green Desert, named after the fact that the campaign against the Orks had first ended there, and is still littered with Ork and marine wrecks. The Fortress itself is a big gray structure within the center of the desert, built to look like an ancient castle. It is surrounded by high walls, which are bristling with cannons. Within, the corridors are lined with the bones are battle-brothers long dead.

That's problematic. Orks reproduce by releasing Spore as they fight and die. If you have a desert littered with dead Orks that was the site of a major battle, soon enough you are going to have an Ork infestation on your hands, and those are a pain to stop. Wipe them all out, burn the bodies and get rid of the loot/wreckage. Secure the planet.

 

 

There are ten companies within the Chapter, each made up of one hundred marines each, and led by a brother-captain who is guarded by an Honor Guard. They also have a Sanguinary Guard and a Death Company, like most successors of their progenitor Chapter. The first company is made of veterans, the tenth are entirely made of Neophytes, and the rest are full of a mixture of assault marines (including bikers and speeders) and tactical marines, with a few devastator squads.

This whole paragraph is easily summed up. "They are organized like Blood Angels." Alternatively, "They are Codex compliant, with only minor divergences as a result of their cursed Gene-Seed."

 

They have embraced the fact that, even though that Astartes are by far much longer than the average human citizen, the vast majority of them die in battle, but they pay love and respect for their fallen. Once a battle is finished, they collect their dead, and lay them out in rows, and then devour their flesh. This horrific act will give them the memories of those who have passed on, and will sometimes rarely give them a brief glimpse at the memories of Sanguinius due to their hyper-sensitive Omophagea organ. The only ones allowed to eat the body of a fallen brother are those within his own squad. The bones are then added to the corridors within the Fortress Monastery.

While this is an interesting and unique character trait, it should ALWAYS be hidden. This is the kind of... unorthodox practice that the Inquisition pounces on. Rituals like this are the reason that the Grey Knights get called in.

 

Before the body is consumed, a servitor sucks out the blood of the marine through a giant needle. This blood is put within the Pool of Rememberance. The Pool of Rememberance is a vast underwater lake beneath the Spire full of the blood of every dead battle brother, constantly bubbling, it is unknown what keeps the blood warm. When an initiate is first taken to the Spire, they must take a ritual bath for some time within the Pool, so that they may become one with their brothers before entering the chapter in-full.

Water bubbles as the molecules heat and boil. That blood is VERY hot, and evaporation/steam from a constantly boiling pool would mean your pool would a fairly hshort termed thing. That said, if you just make it so the water is warm, but not bubbling hot, I think this is a unique idea and one that embraces the Flaw/bloodlust of the Blood Angel's lineage.

 

Once a battle is over, and their own dead are separated from the enemy's dead, they cook and consume the flesh of their enemies in a great ritualistic feast. They eat most enemies, save for those aligned to the Chaos gods, and the Necrontyr. Such things are said to be impure. If a Vermilion Wing is caught devouring a chaos warrior, he is brought to a chaplain, who will put him out of his insane misery.

So, they eat Orks, which I can only imagine would be almost more cause for alarm/problems than Chaos? They also consume Tyranid flesh? Again, this is another HUGE issue that the Inquisition is going to seize on and destroy you for. Make sure stuff like this is always carefully hidden.

 

The Death Company is the same as it is in every other Blood Angels Chapter, as the curse of Sanguinius is still present. If a marine who had succumbed was felled in battle, they will be given a proper burial as to not risk eating the flesh and falling to the Black Rage themselves. They will also transport the bones of the fallen back to Callisto, where they would be put within the Fortress Monastery to decorate the corridors lined with bones. And they take trophies of the enemies they slay. Brother-Captain Abiel, during the conflict with the Tau in 759.M41, was known to take the bodies of the Tau warriors he had killed, bleached their bones, and adorned his quarters of his Strike Cruiser with them, and collected Tau swords.

Heh heh, Tau swords... Good one. That said, decorating the corridors and quarters of your ships with the bones of your enemies is another divergent practice that the Inquisition is going to want to ask you about. Right now you have a LOT of issues that you need to hide, and if an Inquisitor ever makes a surprise inspection I feel like your lads are screwed...

 

The Vermillion Wings fight with a tendency towards aggressive assault actions using mobile forces. They make extensive use of tactical squads and assault squads. They have little to no terminator squads, or transports besides Stormravens and Thunderhawk Gunships, as they believe hiding in tanks is silly and weak. The assault squads will swarm enemies, and rip them apart in close combat, whilst tactical squads sweep in and pick off whoever is left, and hold objectives. Tactical squads will also be used for smaller operations. All of the close-combat obsessiveness is due to their dark flaw.

Tanks are for the weak? No Termie armor? How do they handle enemy armor, Titans, or Super Heavy Tanks? How do they deal with Tyranid bio-monstrosities, or Ork Squiggoths? No big guns is going to leave you pretty screwed when the enemies rolls out their armor. Even the Blood Angels have tanks, ludicrously over-powered one at that.

 

They have the Red Thirst and Black Rage. This is something that cannot be cured. Every one of them does not like it but they continue to do their duty to the God-Emperor. Along with this, they have a hypersensitive Omophagea organ. This, mixed with the Red Thirst, makes them bloodthristy killing machines on the battlefield. They will stop at nothing to get as close to the enemy as possible, and rip their hearts out and, if possible, devour it in front of their enemy. After a battle is done, they will build a camp and cook their enemies, then dine upon their flesh. They are forced to fight the urge to devour meat and blood when near an Inquisitor or any other Imperial of high status, and instead do it in secret.

And when the bloodlust is too strong? What then? What happens when a marine goes crazy and slips up, tearing the hearts out of his opponents and feasting on them in front Guard commanders or Inquisitors? Its a cool idea, and I think the tension of always hiding their nature should be explored more.

 

While the Red Thirst and Black Rage cannot be avoided, they can at least control their Omophagea organs to an extent. This flaw appeared not long after they were created. Even in the earliest days of the Oshim campaign, the newly-made marines were found ripping off their helmets and ripping into grots after a victory and devouring them raw, along with eating anything that died, civilians, battle-brothers, and greenskins. This was first thought to have been just the Red Thirst, but Sanguinary Priests of the chapter have discovered otherwise. Within months they had learned to control themselves. They also gain extended canines, fangs, that allow them to drink the blood of their enemies, and claws. Though most of them cut and file down the claws so that they may fit the gauntlets on their hands, though the bloodthirstiest will not even wear gauntlets and go into the thick of battle with the claws, ripping and tearing apart the enemies of the Imperium.

Whoa... Whoa... Hold up. Extended fangs and claws? Now you have taken the Vampire theme a bit far don't you think? You were doing well up until this point. This is a little much. Back off the claws and fangs, especially with all the other issues your chapter has. If you are this far gone, the Inquisition will know and will just wipe you out. As long as the practices and signs are all internal and hidden, you might be ok. If you have very visible, physical signs of mutation, you are done.

 

 

 

All in all, not bad at all. Lots of unique concepts and a fresh take on the Blood Angels gene-seed and its issues. A good start, that's for sure.

[Evz]

Thanks Shinzaren, I will fix it all up. Thank you for your input.