Grim Wolves Space Marines

[Wolf Slayer 1]

Ok, so the previous attempt to come up with a background and story behind my DIY chapter was a bit of a flop, so i went back to the drawing board and did some serious tweaking and came up with................the Grim Wolves!!

 

I more or less based these on the space wolves 'vikingy' style, but wanted a chapter with more of a traditional 'seafaring' viking style.

The Grim Wolves are a chapter that patrols known spacial anomolies (such as the eye of terror) and where xenos incursions are likely to occur. They are a fleet based chapter, having no fixed homeworld. Instead, as the Grim Wolves patrol, they stop at planets with basic human settlements (ie, pre-warp humans) and recruit from the local tribes.

This in turn has created a diverse, superstitious belief system in the Grim Wolves ranks, with the entire chapter seeming to follow a tribalistic, almost 'fenrisian' belief system in that there are animal spirits that can guide and assist a warrior, and that by channelling the spirit of an animal, the warrior in turn inherits some of its qualities. This is manifested among the Grim Wolves in the keeping of totems such as animal pelts, bones, teeth, and talismans (not dissimilar to the Space Wolves). It must be noted though that the Grim Wolves are not a successor chapter of the Space Wolves, though it is not uncommon for a patrolling vessel that comes within distance of Fenris to ask the residing Space Wolf Lord for 'pilgrimage' to the home of what they call 'the first' (in reference to them being the first chapter to bear the name 'wolf' among space marine chapters). Due to the location of Fenris, this does not occur often and Grim Wolves who have undergone 'pilgrimage' often engrave it onto their armour as a mark of spiritual purity. This has also cultivated a bond of kinsmanship between the Grim Wolves and Space Wolves (as well as the Grim Wolves often having an affinity with any space marine chapter with an animal in its name).

As a fleet based chapter, the Grim Wolves are often involved in ship to ship space combat, and have become somewhat specialist in close quarter fighting and boarding actions. When deployed in regular planet based combat, the Grim Wolves tend to work in small 'guerrilla style' raiding parties. A common tactic of the Grim Wolves is to attack an enemy settlement or outpost, take all the resources the chapter can use for itself, completely raze it to the ground, then move onto the next as oppose to larger scale conflicts. It is not uncommon for entire squads of Grim Wolves to have been recruited from the same tribe from their respective planets. The Grim Wolves feel this helps create a much tighter and cohesive unit. It is a noted side effect of this is that stories of noted individuals feats of bravery and skill have filtered down to their respective tribes and as such the young men aspire to meet and fight alongside their own living legends.

The colours of the Grim Wolves armour is a dark grey with gold detailing. Each suit of armour is uniquely modified by the individual and often sports hunting trophies, animal pelts, bones and teeth detailing. The chapter badge is a howling wolf with a white full moon background. Due to the fact the Grim Wolves do not have a home planet or a permanent base to allow weapon development, many of the Grim Wolves special weapons are individual gifts from other chapters in recognition of great combat deeds. These weapons are then maintained and used by the recipient.

 

Naturally, i will be using the space wolf models for this chapter (id be a total muppet not to). I did however, have to get quite selective with the heads. I found some of them with the big spiky hair and more extreme hairstyles a bit too, well, space wolfy for my chapter (wanting to have a much more 'rugged, rough, spent the last century on the open waves' look to them). I turn I have had to shave a few of the heads down so they look a bit less 'woah'. Ideally, id like to include as many 'wolf pelt' items as i can, such as wolf cloaks, pelts, etc. but without completely overwhelming the models making them look like giant dogs, so hopefully after the paint jobs, that should be evident.

The paint scheme itself is going to be as simple as possible. Im a big fan of the less is more approach, so i really want to keep the 'nic-nacs' and fancy bits to a minimum. Im going to use a thinned down foundation grey for the main coat, paint the gold sections with shining gold and then the fur sections in contrasting colours (im thinking a white-grey-dark and white-brown-dark pelts would stand out the most). All the grey armour parts will then be given a thinned down wash of black ink to shade the recesses only. The gold im going to give a light flesh wash, and the wolf fur an even thinner black wash just to enhance the 'fur' feel to the model. As for the chapter badge, im just gonna use the one that comes with the space wolf box. cos i can, lol!

[Hrvat]

Hi there

 

Wellcome to Liber

 

 

From what you have writen there isn't much to comment. Your guys are Space Wolves in disguise so to speak. It is possible for different chapters to hold similar beliefs and imagery so your guys are plausible, but I would advise completely removing the Space Wolves from the story as it makes your guys to much of a "rip of". Otherwise the basic concept is sound and there is a lot more work for you.

 

 

 

Cheers

[Ace Debonair]

Ok, so the previous attempt to come up with a background and story behind my DIY chapter was a bit of a flop, so i went back to the drawing board and did some serious tweaking and came up with................the Grim Wolves!!

 

I spend so much time at the drawing board I can apply for citizenship there, so I know how you feel! ;)

 

I more or less based these on the space wolves 'vikingy' style, but wanted a chapter with more of a traditional 'seafaring' viking style.

 

Alrighty then.

 

My first piece of advice is: avoid comparing your Chapter with the Space Wolves in your descriptions of them.

 

Space Wolves are all kinds of badass, but since they can't have successors, it's a bit odd that a successor of another legion would go out of their way to venerate and glorify the Wolves, rather than, say, their own primarch.

 

Sure, if they ever meet up, the Wolves and your lads will probably get along great, but it's best not to talk about it, since we immediately start comparing your lads to the SW, and since you're using a similar theme, there's a risk of them just looking like a palette swap.

 

Palette swaps are fine, mind. It's just there's not much point reading about them, because reading 'they're just like [Existing chapter X], but with different coloured armour' isn't very interesting beyond the first sentence. :lol:

 

The Grim Wolves are a chapter that patrols known spacial anomolies (such as the eye of terror) and where xenos incursions are likely to occur. They are a fleet based chapter, having no fixed homeworld. Instead, as the Grim Wolves patrol, they stop at planets with basic human settlements (ie, pre-warp humans) and recruit from the local tribes.

 

By contrast, this is simple, effective, and cool. I approve! :P

 

 

It is not uncommon for entire squads of Grim Wolves to have been recruited from the same tribe from their respective planets. The Grim Wolves feel this helps create a much tighter and cohesive unit. It is a noted side effect of this is that stories of noted individuals feats of bravery and skill have filtered down to their respective tribes and as such the young men aspire to meet and fight alongside their own living legends.

 

Two quick points.

 

Firstly, sadly worthy recruits don't grow on trees - if you're recruiting from planets as you pass them, the likelihood of each planet giving you enough recruits strong enough to stomp through your initiation tests and form a whole squad is pretty slim.

 

Perhaps it'd be more fitting in this case to take a white-scars-esque approach and purposely split people from their tribesmen, forcing them to forge new bonds of brotherhood with their adopted Grim Wolves kin?

 

Secondly, how the devil do these stories of heroism filter back down to these tribes? Do your marines write letters back home? :P

 

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I realise I've probably just advised you to abandon some of your favourite ideas (anything relating to Space Wolves or Fenris, for instance), so let me see if I can't help spark some ideas on how to fill the gap that would leave. <_<

 

Was your chapter always fleet-based? Did they originally inherit their 'sailing around looking for trouble' attitude from a homeworld they had once upon a time?

 

What's the personality of your average marine? What do they believe about the Emperor, and the Primarchs? Is there one enemy they hate above all others (eg, Chaos or Orks?)

 

What's your Chapter's relationship like with the AdMech, or the Inquisition? Any friends or enemies in high places?

 

And just a quick question for my own curiosity - which founding are they from?

[Journeyman]

Ace questions/ feedback Ace - yeh bad pun I know.

 

I must say that your pointers are valid and I will be using them in the development of one (or two) of my forces.

It is too easy to shadow codex without context and too often we forget The Emperor.

[Wolf Slayer 1]

Nice one, Cheers guys!! Seem to be getting along a lot better with this background than the previous one!

 

Ok, gap filling time, lol!

 

The Grim Wolves became a fleet based chapter on permanent patrol after their home planet Lupus succumbed to a massive chaos incursion (possibly during a black crusade??). The chapter master at the time decided it was better to abandon the planet to save the chapter and to continue to fight for the imperium rather than waste all his battle brothers in combat against an overwhelming force. This action saved the chapter, but Lupus was lost to the warp. This has harboured among the Grim Wolves a deep hatred of chaos, and a strong desire to seek out and engage any chaos ships and warbands they encounter.

 

Though the Grim Wolves themselves are very secretive of their founding chapter, it can be argued that their raiding party style of combat would imply White Scar lineage. This would further reinforce the 'tribalistic' organisational structure of the chapter (as well as their desire to adapt to continual travel as oppose to resettlement on a new homeworld).

 

The Grim Wolves belief system is based on that of animal spirits, and that by keeping talismans an individual can bestow upon themselves characteristics and traits of the animal they belong to. This has been harboured from the basic belief systems of the pre-warp tribes from which the Grim Wolves recruit. The Grim Wolves believe in an afterlife among the 'Hall of Heroes' where great feasts are eaten among the great warriors of their history and great battles are fought with the 'Dark Spirits'. It is in this Hall of Heroes that the Grim Wolves believe the Emperor resides, as in their belief he was the greatest warrior of all and therefore sits at the head of the table and leads the heroes in battles against the Dark Spirits. Each Grim Wolf aspires to be a fearsome warrior and earn great victories and feats of bravery and heroism so that when they die they may enter the Hall of Heroes and join the Emperor's side in both the battles and the feasts!

 

This has culivated among the Grim Wolves a somewhat 'die well' attitude among them. Often younger Grim Wolves are eager to earn their place in the Hall of Heroes by trying to exceed each others bravery and skills. To temper this, squads are often mixed ages to allow the younger members to benefit from the experience of the older marines, as well as spurring the older marines to 'not let the cubs get all the glory'. These stories of bravery and heroism are told during daily feasts held at the Hall of Warriors (a mirror to the Hall of Heroes in the afterlife) in which individual sagas are told, and often drinking, eating and hand to hand combat contests are held.

 

As the Grim Wolves have no homeworld to recruit from, as mentioned before they recruit from several worlds on their patrol route. This in turn has lead to a slight variation on the way they select initiates. The oldest members of the Grim Wolves, often after they have recieved injuries that prevent them from fighting in the ranks are deployed to and remain on each of the recruitment worlds seeking out individuals with potential. These old marines are called the 'Old Wolves' and these marines have both the experience of hundreds of years of combat and warfare as well as memories and stories of the Grim Wolves history, including famed heroes of the chapter and their deeds. Due to the expertise as well as personal experience of what it takes to become a Grim Wolf and what is expected of each battle brother, these Old Wolves spend their time searching for individuals among the tribes that have the potential to become marines. These individuals are then tested and trialled by the Old Wolves who in turn train the initiates in the knowledge and stories they would need as marines. When the Grim Wolf fleet arrives at the planet, these initiates are then brought on board to undergo the genetic compatibility testing and organ implantation needed to become a space marine. It can be noted that due to the small size of the genepools on these planets, as well as the nature of the tribal settlements of these worlds, it is not uncommon for members of the same tribe to be selected for the Grim Wolves (albeit that they are often many generations apart).

 

As for the 'friendly relations' with the Space Wolves, ive decided to sack that idea off, lol (was just trying to find a way of explaining why there is 'fenris' on some of the armour pieces. I think ill just leave it to the Grim Wolves dialect and vikingy

beliefs, lol)

[Ace Debonair]

That's much better.

 

In fact, that's pretty solid! :ph34r:

I wasn't hugely sold on 'Old Wolves' for the veterans, but that's a very minor thing indeed - it works well enough to sum up the veterans, after all!

 

 

As for the 'friendly relations' with the Space Wolves, ive decided to sack that idea off, lol (was just trying to find a way of explaining why there is 'fenris' on some of the armour pieces. I think ill just leave it to the Grim Wolves dialect and vikingy

beliefs, lol)

 

Simple.

If anyone asks, it was part of a ceremonial arms/armour exchange that you had with the Space Wolves so many centuries back. Those pieces are prized by your chapter - considered tokens both of brotherhood and of recognition by the older, more experienced (and famous) chapter.

 

You don't need to work it into your backstory or anything, but that's a simple enough explanation. :lol:

[Wolf Slayer 1]

That's much better.

 

In fact, that's pretty solid! :D

I wasn't hugely sold on 'Old Wolves' for the veterans, but that's a very minor thing indeed - it works well enough to sum up the veterans, after all!

 

 

As for the 'friendly relations' with the Space Wolves, ive decided to sack that idea off, lol (was just trying to find a way of explaining why there is 'fenris' on some of the armour pieces. I think ill just leave it to the Grim Wolves dialect and vikingy

beliefs, lol)

 

Simple.

If anyone asks, it was part of a ceremonial arms/armour exchange that you had with the Space Wolves so many centuries back. Those pieces are prized by your chapter - considered tokens both of brotherhood and of recognition by the older, more experienced (and famous) chapter.

 

You don't need to work it into your backstory or anything, but that's a simple enough explanation. :D

 

 

Cheers mate, I was going for the 'Old Wolves' thing to explain the sagas and tales of the Grim Wolves getting back to the original tribesman as oppose to using the name for the veterans, maybe rename them 'Omega Wolves' to indicate they are no longer part of 'the pack' as such.

 

cheers for the input though, uve been really helpful and constructive in giving me pointers. Might do a touch more fleshing out (whack in a few character names, etc.) and post it on the chapters list.

 

Thanks again bud, ever u need any help or even just a sounding board for any ideas for DIY chapters, drop me a line and id be happy to oblige!