The Blood Brother Space Marine

[maverike_prime]

So this particular idea for a chapter grew out of an idea I had years ago to build a set of rules to represent the cursed founding chapters. This particular piece of that idea was to have a loyalist version of the World Eaters with out it actually being the world eaters. Recently I've been putting brain to paper and working on expanding them out into an actual space marine chapter and developing the chapters back story, explaining where they come from and why they are the way they are. I have an idea of what codex I'm going to use to represent these guys, but I don't want to say. I want to see if my descriptions will tell you which one I'm thinking of. So, here we go.

 

 

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/blood_brothers_icon.png

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Blood_brother_spread.jpg

 

A sky chocked in smoke, a city choked in misery and decay. A landscape blasted by radioactive meteors. An earth scorched by the heat of its own core. These are the lands that give rise to the men who will become members of the Blood Brothers.

 

While technically a chapter of Space Marines, the Blood Brothers utterly disregard the Codex Astartes in favor for their own organization and doctrine; a doctrine that revolves around blood. Reminiscent of the Blood Angels belief in the power of Sanguinius

[Dorns Padawan]

Hey maverike_prime just had a squiz over your IA mate. I quite like it. Don't often visit this part of the forum so I hope my input is helpful. First thing that struck me that I noticed was this:

 

The Blood Brothers exhibit a number of unusual qualities among the Space Marines. Their obsession with blood notwithstanding, their total dismissal of the Codex has earned them not a few detractors. Beyond these qualities, they utterly shun outside contact even with other Space Marines. The exact nature of their indoctrination practices is not known, and no Inquisitor has yet managed to penetrate into their inner circle to learn of their dealings, if indeed they have any, with any other groups besides themselves and their recruiting worlds.

 

Why do they shun outside contact with other Astartes chapters? Does this mean they won't/are not willing to fight alongside other chapters? Also how would being a member of the DW effect them?

 

Enemy blood is considered to be tainted and unclean by the Brothers and thus it touching a warrior’s body is considered to be an extremely Taboo event. However, it is used a means of ‘kill mark’ during battles. Blood Brother marines are encouraged to spill enemy blood in the most gratuitous fashion they can and to have the blood spray across their armor and weapons.

 

By not touching the enemy blood, is this skin to blood contact with the enemy you mean? Other than that I quite like the beliefs section.

 

Regarding the home worlds section, I can't quite think how to word it right now but something doesn't quite sit right. Once I have had a nice cuppa I will get my thinking cap on again & add more.

 

On the training side of things, I like it though it certainly has that World Eter feel to it (which I guess you are aiming for?!). By being such beserkers there is every chance these dudes could fall into the hands of the Blood God? You wanting them to be loyalist or edging towards the renegade/chaos side of things?

 

Over all I quite like it. The Blood Fire is a nice touch. I will revisit it later once I had a cuppa but as I said, I don't often visit this side of the forum. Hope that I have said nothing too harsh & that you understood what I mean. Hope it helps anyways.

 

:D

[maverike_prime]

Hey maverike_prime just had a squiz over your IA mate. I quite like it. Don't often visit this part of the forum so I hope my input is helpful. First thing that struck me that I noticed was this:

 

The Blood Brothers exhibit a number of unusual qualities among the Space Marines. Their obsession with blood notwithstanding, their total dismissal of the Codex has earned them not a few detractors. Beyond these qualities, they utterly shun outside contact even with other Space Marines. The exact nature of their indoctrination practices is not known, and no Inquisitor has yet managed to penetrate into their inner circle to learn of their dealings, if indeed they have any, with any other groups besides themselves and their recruiting worlds.

 

Why do they shun outside contact with other Astartes chapters? Does this mean they won't/are not willing to fight alongside other chapters? Also how would being a member of the DW effect them?

No worries. I had hit a creative wall in writing this so honestly I was hoping for people to raise these sorts of questions of help unclog my mental log jam. So in response:

 

They will fight on the same battle field as other astartes, but they seldom fight along side other astartes. The VERY rare exception to this is if the Astartes force in question is commanded by an individual the Blood Brothers have come to respect. at present Commander Dante and Ragnar Blackmane are the only 2 I can put my mind on that would fall into this category.

 

Beyond happening to be on the same battlefield at the same time as other astartes, no they do not engage with other chapters of astartes at all.

 

Enemy blood is considered to be tainted and unclean by the Brothers and thus it touching a warrior’s body is considered to be an extremely Taboo event. However, it is used a means of ‘kill mark’ during battles. Blood Brother marines are encouraged to spill enemy blood in the most gratuitous fashion they can and to have the blood spray across their armor and weapons.

 

By not touching the enemy blood, is this skin to blood contact with the enemy you mean? Other than that I quite like the beliefs section.

 

I could have sworn I wrote a passage in there explaining that. Oh well, I'll re-write it. The Blood Brothers see a very distinct separation between warrior, armor and weapon but all are part of an Astartes. It is considered to be a very questionable sign for a warrior to come in contact with enemy blood, and by questionable I mean it's not explicitly bad, but it's definitely not good. Kind of like how Ragnar lost the Spear of russ in the Space Wolf books. Ultimately Ragnar he wasn't punished, but he wasn't rewarded either. Similar mentality here. If a Warrior comes in contact with an enemy's blood it doesn't necessarily mean that the warrior is tainted, but it's not a feather in his cap either.

However, if the warrior comes in contact with an enemies blood it is seen as a failure on the part of the armor. After all, what good is armor if it doesn't protect the warrior? The Blood Brothers has a belief in the quasi-sentience of weapons and armor and vehicles, not far removed from the Mechanicums' belief in machine spirits thought not nearly as dogmatic about it. They believe that the armor is every bit a part of a battle as the warrior himself.

 

Basically, when a Blood Brother kills an enemy, the armor is as celebrated for protecting the warrior as the weapons if for killing the enemy as the warrior is for directing the weapon.

 

Regarding the home worlds section, I can't quite think how to word it right now but something doesn't quite sit right. Once I have had a nice cuppa I will get my thinking cap on again & add more.

okay. Just post your thoughts here.

 

On the training side of things, I like it though it certainly has that World Eter feel to it (which I guess you are aiming for?!). By being such beserkers there is every chance these dudes could fall into the hands of the Blood God? You wanting them to be loyalist or edging towards the renegade/chaos side of things?

Hmm more like dancing on the knife edge. As you've said I am going for a very world eater sort of feel and certainly there is considerable questions regarding just how loyal the Blood Brothers actually are loyal. Now that I put brain to paper about the question, I figure there would be considerable chance for the Unblooded to fall to the lure of unending rage. Might be a nice starting point for a chaos renegades group.

Edited December 19, 2011 by maverike_prime

[Dorns Padawan]

Hi mate sorry for the late response, I had replied to you a couple of days ago but for whatever reason the page timed out & I had lost all that I had written & was so mad with it I was too cross to rewrite what I had written.

 

So having gathered myself & re-read the home worlds section here we go.

 

The remaining three planetoids are Ignias, Cruor Prime, and Mican and each is seen as a different sort of death world. Cruor Prime was once a forge world in ages past. For whatever reasons, that have been lost to the march of time, it fell into chaos and disarray. The factories burned to the ground, the machines fell into disrepairs, and the Adeptus Mechanicus abandoned the world to its fate after stripping it of everything they valued. Left to the dangers of the world ravaged by the chaos, the people of the world learned to push on and survive forming very close knot bonded groups. The world is still considered extremely dangerous, stalked by dark robotic predators, ancient guardians guarding stores of knowledge that no longer exist.

 

Perhaps rather than For whatever reasons, that have been lost to the march of time maybe the AdMech could just have stripped the planet of everything of value & then left hence why life would then be a real struggle for the surviving population? stalked by dark robotic predators, ancient guardians guarding stores of knowledge that no longer exist

- this part has good potential which would be worth expanding on, this way you could justify why the Blood Brothers recruit from such worlds as Cruor Prime.

 

Ignias is a ash strewn volcanic waste land barely habitable by any standard. Temperatures reach well beyond levels that would kill most people while the abundance of volcanic activity presents a constant danger to all life on the planet. The volcanic activity is affected by the gravitational forces of the sun and the planets 4 moons, creating a yearlong cycle around the planet. Because of this, the inhabitants of the world are nomadic traveling throughout the world to stay just behind the worst of the volcanic activities, or the ‘burning’ as they refer to it. This has the added benefit of providing the inhabitants accessible growing areas, as the volcanic ash that is disgorged during these periods is extremely nutrient rich and the nomads can quickly plant and cultivate crops upon it. This allows them cultivate in a few weeks the crops and food sources to survive for several months until their next planting season. Still, life on Ignias is difficult as it takes more than food to survive. Large regions of tetonicly active land can be swathed in poisonous volcanic gasses for months at a time or be inaccessible due to massive chasms or rivers of lava forcing the inhabitants to alter their migration routes every year.

 

I think I would change Temperatures reach well beyond levels that would kill most people a little bit or rejiggle the words. If it is too hot then how does life go on & how can the people survive? Maybe tempreatures could be unbearable for a couple of months therefore the nomads would have to cultivate crops inorder to have enouigh to live on while they seek shelter underground away from the death-like heat? I liked the part about cultivating crops with the volcanic ash, really nice touch. Finally the part about poisonous volcanic gasses - again maybe mention a tad more about how the nomads cope with living with this hazard & how they detect where the pockets of poisonous gases are.

 

 

The last habitable planet is known as Mican and it resides dangerously close to the close. In truth it is only habitable due to the presence of a dense asteroid belt between it and the sun itself. The asteroids shield Mican from much of the radiation given off by Cruor, which would make the planet inhabitable. So it is that the asteroid belt is a shield for Mican, but it is also the planets bane. As Mican’s single moon makes its decade long revolution, its gravity will pull on the asteroids and occasionally pull one toward Mican itself. Due to the asteroids proximity to the sun, and the heavy fusion energies they are subjected to because of it, they are typically extremely radioactive. These impact on the planet’s surface and create radioactive hot zones that last for centuries. Indeed, a notable portion of the Southern minor continent is totally inhabitable at this point due to these radioactive asteroid impacts.

 

With this section there is no mention of how the nomads cope with the hazards of the asteroids or the radiation that they give off?

 

Overall mate I quite like your IA so far, I see what you are aiming for & the Blood Brothers have got some great potential I believe. Be nice to see how they keep from the lure of the blood god. Perhaps their chaplain could play a part in keeping their path on the straight & narrow as well as from the clutches of chaos & the blood god? Hope what I written all makes sense. Like it so far ;)

[maverike_prime]

Okay, so I did some work and was working to address the points that Dorn raised. So, lets try round two.

 

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/blood_brothers_icon-2.png

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/Blood_brother_spread-2.png

 

Background

A sky chocked in smoke, a city choked in misery and decay. A landscape blasted by radioactive meteors. An earth scorched by the heat of its own core. These are the lands that give rise to the men who will become members of the Blood Brothers.

 

While technically a chapter of Space Marines, the Blood Brothers completely disregard the Codex Astartes in favor for their own organization and doctrine; a doctrine that revolves around blood and an organization that bears a resemblance to gangs more than a formal military force. Reminiscent of the Blood Angels belief in the power of Sanguinius

Edited January 1, 2012 by maverike_prime

[maverike_prime]

So no new comments huh?

[maverike_prime]

okay, still developing the Blood Brothers and there are 2 sections that my brain just won't let go of. First is somewhat general and is in regard to the Blood Brother belief's regarding their armor and equipment. Basically what I'm going for is a depth of character for the individual to rival that of the Wolf Lords themselves. Every member of the Brothers is highly highly individualized and that individualization is a combination of the warrior himself, the weapons he wields and the armor that guard him. Here's that passage:

 

Beliefs

The Astartes: The Warrior, the Weapon and the shield

The Blood Brothers maintain a note worthy belief when it comes to their solders and to the idea of the Astartes in general. The Blood Brothers hold a firm belief that true Astartes are comprised of 3 separate, but interconnected parts: The Warrior, the Weapon and the shield.

 

A warrior is any man who has ascended to the ranks of the Blood brothers. In this regard there is no difference between the Eldest Red Hand, to the newest Unblooded. All are considered to be warriors.

 

Perhaps owing to Cruor Prime

Edited April 7, 2012 by maverike_prime

[Jonas Stromclaw]

Truly I quite like what you have, but everything can be improved upon. As to your first problem, the individuality of the marines', try playing up their almost barbaric background. Maybe talk about them coming from different warring tribes on the planet, or maybe rituals where they bind their concept of the Fighter into one; the Warrior, Weapon, and Shield being cemented into a single entity. Maybe they do Oaths of Moment. Maybe talk more about the naming of their weapons and how they familiarize themselves with their wargear, perhaps taking long sojourns to battle the creatures of their deathworlds in order to bind themselves to a new chainsword or bolter. Just some ideas.

 

As to the second point, how about a colorpiece, a short little blurb about some Unblooded's first battle and his fascination with the debased life he is ending. Here's an example.

 

Varagas watched with a mixed feeling of shame and fascination as the blood slowly traveld down his leg. An Unblooded, this was his first battle in full plate, and the venerable suit Agrimor had failed in its task. An ork bullet had grazed the thigh, punching through at an oblique angle and taking off a strip of skin and muscle. The wound bled slowly, the leak eventually stopping as the larriman cells did their work. But a few drops still trickled down Varagas's leg, where they mixed with the foul xenos ichor on the ground...

 

A sudden wave of revulsion struck Varagas and he tore his gaze away. He would have to seek out the Chaplain later and do penance for this disgrace. In the meantime, he would settle for more orks to kill.

 

Just stick something like that at the appropriate point in the IA, its one of the best ways to explain difficult concepts to people.

Edited January 14, 2012 by Jonas Stromclaw