New Chapter 3.0

[CKO]

I am back! :rolleyes: I have some free time to work on my IA. My goal is to create an IA for my marine army. I also want my IA to be an example of how to use the Octaguide correctly to create an IA!

 

In New Chapter I answered the questioned "What do I want?". By sharing my idea of what I wanted I was able to get suggestions on possible ways my chapter can terrorize others. The problem of xenos was brought to my attention as terror tactics will not work on orks, tyranids, and eldar. Overall most of them thought it was a neat idea that can work.

 

In New Chapter 2.0 I wrote the first part of the origins section and made an outline reluctantly as Octa had to convince me to do an outline. After reading the guide I see how outlines makes life alot easier not only for yourself but for the critics/readers/editors. The suggestions that were made were useful such as informing me that scheduled assaults is not scary and that the idea of recruits commiting terrorist plots is farfetched.

 

I made some changes for New Chapter 3.0 and I have written a better outline, using the instructions of the Octaguide. I cant wait for feedback! (You too Nightrawen)

 

Chapter Name:

Angels of Despair

 

Origins:

11th Founding

Imperial Fist Successor Chapter

Created to regain control of the Lacior Sector

Initial efforts resulted in a stale mate until Captain Kenari used terror tactics

He becomes Chapter Master during the war

He believes in crushing the spirit of the enemy with terror tactics

They regain control and claim the Death World La’cem as their Home World

 

Home World:

La’cem is a death world made up of jungles and deserts full of predators

Humans do not live on the planet

Recruits are brought in from other planets and dropped off with some gear

They have to make it to the monastery

They must bring with them a pelt of one of the planet’s predators

This shows that they have conquered fear

 

Beliefs:

They believe that fear is the most powerful weapon

It can motivate creatures to do just about anything

They believe that they have mastered fear and are capable of using it to win battles

 

Geneseed:

No betcher’s gland nor Sus-an membrane

 

Combat Doctrine:

Against traitors or human like enemies they use terror tactics

Scouts are sent in weeks sometimes months in advance to terrorize the population

They assassinate figure heads and leave signs of who the next victim will be

They capture Military Leaders and torture them over a radio broadcast

Master of siege warfare like the Imperial Fist

Main forces use a lot of long range fire power

Destroying targets that demoralizes the enemy

Once key targets are destroyed they assault with an unmatched zeal

If against xenos they prefer to assault believing that it is their duty to teach them fear

 

Organization:

The chapter has a slight divergence from the codex

There are 10 companies, all are similar

Each company has nearly a hundred marines and ten scouts

There are no squad signs, units are simply grouped together

Vets have silver armor instead of gold

They sometimes lead the units or form together to make veteran squads

Each company is lead by a Captain

First company is lead by the Chapter Master

 

Battle Cry:

“FEAR US”

[Sigismund Himself]

An interesting start :lol: Right now though, an idea of their character and an answer to 'why?' would be good to establish before you go any further. Why do they use terror? Do they simply use it as a tool, like Batman? Or are they consumed by it, seeking to ensure all know and fear their name? For every dotpoint, you've put up ask 'why?' and try to relate it back to the chapter's main theme. This will help you expand it easily.

 

Recruits are brought in from other planets and dropped off with some gear

They have to make it to the monastery

They must bring with them a pelt of one of the planet’s predators

This shows that they have conquered fear

This is a part that has some potential (and seems to have been appropriated from Predators :) ). Do they know that they are auditioning to become space marines? Or are they just left on their own to try to reach this place for survival? If so, you could end up with some unwilling recruits, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It could hearken back to the old Rogue Trader era fluff where marines were brainwashed/indoctrinated former criminals.

[CKO]

Thanks for the input I will try to answer the questions.

 

Why do they use terror?

 

They used terror tactics to win their first battle and decided to make it their theme. Can you think of some more colorful reasons besides that? It is rather simple and can be "dramafied" if you know what I mean.

 

Do they simply use it as a tool, like Batman? Or are they consumed by it, seeking to ensure all know and fear their name?

 

I want to say it is a combination of both, they use it as a tool and they consider themselves masters of terror tactics so they strive to perfect it as a tool. They are like the Emperor's Champions except they train to perfect terror tactics. Does that mean they are consumed by it, I am not sure? Do you think it would make them stand out to do so?

 

I am having a problem with defining terror tactics, people have given me their opinions but I am still wondering how do you train an entire chapter to be masters of terror.

 

Thanks

[Castiel]

Have you considered giving them a rivalry and/or hatred but grudging respect for the Night Lords? Might work seeing as they are the masters of terror!

[Ace Debonair]

Do they simply use it as a tool, like Batman? Or are they consumed by it, seeking to ensure all know and fear their name?

 

I want to say it is a combination of both, they use it as a tool and they consider themselves masters of terror tactics so they strive to perfect it as a tool. They are like the Emperor's Champions except they train to perfect terror tactics. Does that mean they are consumed by it, I am not sure? Do you think it would make them stand out to do so?

 

I am having a problem with defining terror tactics, people have given me their opinions but I am still wondering how do you train an entire chapter to be masters of terror.

 

Thanks

 

Your marines could, simply, believe in breaking the spirit of their enemies before they commit to a battle.

 

Having select teams of veterans (not initiates!) sneaking around and eliminating isolated targets in gruesome fashion, or where possible eliminating enemy leaders* could cause the rank and file to gibber in terror, watching the horizon and not daring to sleep when the night falls, lest they be next. :devil:

 

Leaving vox-devices scattered around enemy camps that broadcast the screams of the captured as your marines torture them to forgiveness in the Emperor's eyes would work too.

 

I'd say any chapter that does this pretty much qualifies as a master of scare tactics! ^_^

 

 

*with Orks or the more fractious Traitor forces this could be the cue for a big internal power struggle, leaving your enemies weakened even if not neccesarily afraid! ;)

[Shinzaren]

You knew this was coming CKO :P

 

Initial efforts resulted in a stale mate until Captain Kenari used terror tactics

You have mentioned our previous discussions on terror not working on most Xenos. So, who is he taking this world from? Second, the Codex has answer to this problem and pretty much every other problem you have or every will encounter. So, why terror? What made him think terror would work? How did he terrorize? Did he do it psychologically? Brutally? Was he so vicious that his enemies couldn't stomach facing him? Was he so far in their heads that every time they had a thought it had to tiptoe past his guard?

 

He becomes Chapter Master during the war

He believes in crushing the spirit of the enemy with terror tactics

They regain control and claim the Death World La’cem as their Home World

More explanations on the terror and how it worked. Explain how they evolved their terror and how they learned to master it. If terror is the theme of the chapter, it needs to be explored in depth, so the reader knows exactly why it works.

 

Home World:

La’cem is a death world made up of jungles and deserts full of predators

Humans do not live on the planet

Recruits are brought in from other planets and dropped off with some gear

They have to make it to the monastery

They must bring with them a pelt of one of the planet’s predators

This shows that they have conquered fear

Problem... If the world is so hostile and deadly that humans, one of the most adaptive species in the galaxy, can't survive, dropping a recruit with no knowledge of the world or its inhabitants and geography will simply result in the deaths of your recruits. You are from Earth, you know a fair bit about it, and yet, if I dropped you alone in the Rainforest and told you find me on the other side of the planet, you would be dead within a week. Faster if their were no humans. Now, this is a stone age tough lad we are dropping on La'Cem, so I'll give him two weeks, maybe less. A world this deadly has already proven that it can best mankind. Why make it prove it again and again?

 

Beliefs:

They believe that fear is the most powerful weapon

It can motivate creatures to do just about anything

They believe that they have mastered fear and are capable of using it to win battles

Goes back to the limited applications of fear in the wider Imperium. Useful against humans, but that is pretty much it. How are you going to master fear so that it works on creatures that are literally incapable of fear?

 

Against traitors or human like enemies they use terror tactics

Scouts are sent in weeks sometimes months in advance to terrorize the population

They assassinate figure heads and leave signs of who the next victim will be

They capture Military Leaders and torture them over a radio broadcast

Good, this is good. Shows how they terrorize. This is important. Perhaps make it so you have scouts as a position of importance and veterancy, a'la Space Wolves? After all, this is a very important task, and not one you want a mere recruit/trainee screwing up.

 

Master of siege warfare like the Imperial Fist

Main forces use a lot of long range fire power

And there it goes. Siege and Fear don't work well together. The greatest applications of Fear are the ones you already mentioned. Ghosts in the night whom no one is safe from. Once you engage in a Siege, you give the enemy a target. You give them an enemy to focus on, hardening their resolve. I personally would remove the Siege expertise. After all, even if they aren't experts, they can still siege a city just fine, they are Astartes after all.

 

Destroying targets that demoralizes the enemy

Once key targets are destroyed they assault with an unmatched zeal

If against xenos they prefer to assault believing that it is their duty to teach them fear

Black Templars have unmatched Zeal. Compared to them you are just slightly zealous. Perhaps instead you assault with ferocious zeal. Terrifying zeal. Bloodthirsty zeal. You always need to be careful with words like unmatched or peerless, because it has a tendency to make it look like your chapter is better than everyone else, even if that wasn't your intention.

 

Organization:

The chapter has a slight divergence from the codex

There are 10 companies, all are similar

Each company has nearly a hundred marines and ten scouts

There are no squad signs, units are simply grouped together

Vets have silver armor instead of gold

They sometimes lead the units or form together to make veteran squads

Each company is lead by a Captain

First company is lead by the Chapter Master

Organizations seems very basic codex. If you are having trouble filling in this section, picture how their Armory, Librarium, and Reclusium are compared to a vanilla chapter. Bigger? Smaller? How are they different?

 

Battle Cry:

“FEAR US”

Simple, easy to remember, it works.

[CKO]

Thanks Guys

 

Your marines could, simply, believe in breaking the spirit of their enemies before they commit to a battle.

 

This is gold, it is simple and makes it easier for me to explain!

 

Having select teams of veterans (not initiates!) sneaking around and eliminating isolated targets in gruesome fashion, or where possible eliminating enemy leaders* could cause the rank and file to gibber in terror, watching the horizon and not daring to sleep when the night falls, lest they be next.

 

I dont know veterans sounds good, but I was going to use the terror plots as part of the scouts test to become a marine.

 

Leaving vox-devices scattered around enemy camps that broadcast the screams of the captured as your marines torture them to forgiveness in the Emperor's eyes would work too.

 

Sounds like the work of the Angels of Despair!

 

I'd say any chapter that does this pretty much qualifies as a master of scare tactics!

 

Thanks alot, breaking the enemy spirit before major combat begains is alot easier to expalin than terror or scare tactics.

 

*with Orks or the more fractious Traitor forces this could be the cue for a big internal power struggle, leaving your enemies weakened even if not neccesarily afraid!

 

This is the next problem I have to take on, but I think I might have a solution.

 

Thanks Ace!

 

You knew this was coming CKO ;)

 

I wonder if the Sons of Lightining can teach us some fear tactics for Eldar? :D

 

You have mentioned our previous discussions on terror not working on most Xenos. So, who is he taking this world from?

 

Have you considered giving them a rivalry and/or hatred but grudging respect for the Night Lords? Might work seeing as they are the masters of terror!

 

They are reclaiming Imperium land from humans, but Castiel has a point I could add a particular type of enemy that inspires the chapter to use terror. The Night Lords are obviously choice number 1, but are there any other suggestions?

 

Second, the Codex has answer to this problem and pretty much every other problem you have or every will encounter. So, why terror?

 

I agree with you that the Codex has everything you could ask for as far as tactics are concern, its just that Kenari salvages all the terror tactics from the book and uses it against the enemy and as Chapter Master he makes it their specialty.

 

What made him think terror would work? How did he terrorize? Did he do it psychologically? Brutally? Was he so vicious that his enemies couldn't stomach facing him? Was he so far in their heads that every time they had a thought it had to tiptoe past his guard?

 

All are good questions that I will have to answer, at the moment he decides to go the terror route when looking through the Codex but that seems kind of dry do you have any suggestions?

 

More explanations on the terror and how it worked. Explain how they evolved their terror and how they learned to master it. If terror is the theme of the chapter, it needs to be explored in depth, so the reader knows exactly why it works.

 

I need to show the evolution of the use of terror tactics by the chapter, this should be in the origin section or belief?

 

Problem... If the world is so hostile and deadly that humans, one of the most adaptive species in the galaxy, can't survive, dropping a recruit with no knowledge of the world or its inhabitants and geography will simply result in the deaths of your recruits. You are from Earth, you know a fair bit about it, and yet, if I dropped you alone in the Rainforest and told you find me on the other side of the planet, you would be dead within a week. Faster if their were no humans. Now, this is a stone age tough lad we are dropping on La'Cem, so I'll give him two weeks, maybe less. A world this deadly has already proven that it can best mankind. Why make it prove it again and again?

 

Come on "MAN" <_< its rites of initiation these things are meant to be hard, my test is not that farfetched, no but point taken I already had intentions of making it more of an objective type mission make it here where you will have aid in the form of kit and you continue to follow instructions until you make it to the monastery!

 

Goes back to the limited applications of fear in the wider Imperium. Useful against humans, but that is pretty much it. How are you going to master fear so that it works on creatures that are literally incapable of fear?

 

Xenos is fear incarnated, and battles against them is viewed as a fight against fear, victory proves their mastery over fear. They have some respect for xenos as fear tactics do not work on them. Atleast that is what I am thinking how does it sound to you?

 

Good, this is good. Shows how they terrorize. This is important. Perhaps make it so you have scouts as a position of importance and veterancy, a'la Space Wolves? After all, this is a very important task, and not one you want a mere recruit/trainee screwing up.

 

:lol: I play Templar and Wolves so thats where the idea came from, I am going to either make the scouts elite or have them accompanied by an Initiate in the fluff.

 

And there it goes. Siege and Fear don't work well together. The greatest applications of Fear are the ones you already mentioned. Ghosts in the night whom no one is safe from. Once you engage in a Siege, you give the enemy a target. You give them an enemy to focus on, hardening their resolve.

 

I was thinking the exact opposite, the enemy finally has a face and who wants to confront the army that has been terrorizing you for the past month?

 

I personally would remove the Siege expertise. After all, even if they aren't experts, they can still siege a city just fine, they are Astartes after all.

 

Uhhhhhh I guess your right!

 

Black Templars have unmatched Zeal. Compared to them you are just slightly zealous. Perhaps instead you assault with ferocious zeal. Terrifying zeal. Bloodthirsty zeal. You always need to be careful with words like unmatched or peerless, because it has a tendency to make it look like your chapter is better than everyone else, even if that wasn't your intention.

 

So, thats where I got it from, use a thesaurus gotcha.

 

Organizations seems very basic codex. If you are having trouble filling in this section, picture how their Armory, Librarium, and Reclusium are compared to a vanilla chapter. Bigger? Smaller? How are they different?

 

The main difference is they dont have all those squad markings and veterans wear silver armour instead of gold. The company doesnt have x amount of tactical squads, x amount of devastators they just have a number of marines that do what ever task that is given to them.

 

Thanks Shinz