Hounds of Demos

[Valkyrion]

Okay, so here's the deal.

I want to play brown space wolves. There, I said it. There aren't enough brown chapters, so I'm going to do one.

 

Demos is very roughly Greek for populace, Hounds are hunting dogs, so Hounds of Demos means Hunters of the People.

I could follow this theme right through and have a very humanitarian chapter that treats its people well (not done very often as far as I can tell), or I could just have them live on a planet called Demos.

 

Basic ideas include - stranded for years as a result of a warp storm (I know, I know, but it'd be a real warp storm, with real references and real timeline that GW have actually invented - use the tools at your disposal, right?).

As a result of this, the chapter is forced to recruit solely from one world, or not recruit at all (and die), and over the years the culture of the population seeps through, even if it's potentially heretical (worship of the Emperor as a wolf? necromancy/sorcery prevalent in the population? just ideas...)

 

The people are tribal in nature, constantly warring with each other and the different tribes become blood/swift/sky claws depending on their tribe, after which they are promoted to tactical squads (grey hunters) and then devastator squads (long fangs).

 

Erm.....yep. I know it's not a lot, but I'll keep adding ideas as they come to me. Unless anyone can give me a reason to have brown space wolves without the default 'your models, do what you want'....

[Destecado]

Hmm…I always thought that Demos was a misspelling of Deimos; dread, the personification of terror in Greek mythology. Earth tones would work well. You may want to consider using a muted bronze as one of the colors in your armor or possibly a bronzed skin tone for the marines.

 

As for the background, why does it have to be the full chapter and do you really need a warp storm. How close were you going with the Space Wolf concept? Is the chapter codex adherent or are they organized is their structure more like that of the Space Wolves? It could be possible for a company to become stranded on a planet…possibly their fleet assets are destroyed. Help may eventually arrive, but until it does, the remaining marines fight on. As their numbers dwindle, they might turn to the populace to replace their flagging numbers.

 

The training of local forces to reinforce their diminished fighting force might lead to inducting the best fighters as space marine recruits. They might lack the wherewithal to transform them into full fledged marines, but if a relief force does ever arrive, they will have highly candidates with which to hopefully rebuild their company(s).

[soddinnutter]

Maybe they were a Great Company that were in the Vin's World Uprising.

 

Vin's World starts to go Deamonworld as the extremists within the rebel hierarchy go Full Chaos and summonings happen and reality is violated.

 

Great Company and the Imperial Guard send out distress calls by their one remaining Rune Priest (who nearly died of exhaustion trying to cut through the warp-fog). Grey Knights intercept the message and drown it in static to prevent any others from hearing it. They arrive and nuke the world till it looks like its covered in a sea of irradiated glass.

 

But the great Company, elements of the Imperial Guard and many of the indigenous population survived in the deep caverns, catacombs and the vast system of nuclear bunkers built many hundreds of years ago in preparation for an atomic war that never actually happened.

 

With no way of contacting the greater Imperium and no guarantee that the Knights won't just finish the job properly they stay quiet and forgotten under miles of blighted rock for a very, very long time. The Brotherhood, as the locals know them, take it in shifts in hibernation and cryo. They, when awake, guide the civilization as it rebuilds in the Stygian Depths.

 

Eventually a Rogue Trader, from a dynasty down on it's luck, arrives to pick over the bones of the world for scrap value.

 

By this time there is a very self-sufficient, very isolationist group of cave dwellers.

 

The Great Company are dismayed to learn that they have been forgotten back on Fenris and the Denizens of the Pit are not at all surprised to find that they have been removed from all records.

[PorridgeMeister]

Whilst planning my Chapter, I've been tempted towards doing this and I even had wrote some notes for this Chapter.

 

A few ideas that I had:

- continue the Greek theme with a Chapter Master Actaeon; but I would lean to a more wild/barbaric theme - possibly Thracian?

- my original colour scheme was going to be red with white trimming

- I had just got a greyhound about the time I was planning it; so I was thinking about what I could derive from him - fast, dark, quiet, observant - inspiration for tactics maybe?

- thought about having a new pattern of Land Raider; tailored towards being an assault transport - no sponson weapons for greatly increased capacity?

 

Despite using a GW-approved warp storm I would avoid the idea, as its heavily clichéd, but I like soddinnutter's idea - though I have to say that I would not go for them actually being forgotten Space Wolves as then how would the Chapter actually be founded? There are NO SW successors of any kind and the High Lords would not approve them to become an Independent Chapter.