Bound to Chaos: Crimson Paladins

[Erasmus of Baal]

The Crimson Paladins were astonishing in how simply nondescript they were; a part of the Cursed Founding, they were created as one of the stabler of those experiments. The Crimson Paladins simply did their duty without exception or question or even a Warp oddity for thousands of years. Things changed for them around the turn of the 42nd millenium, however, as they found their fleet called upon more and more often to fight the Necrons - and unleashed an ancient force that would unintentionally lead them into a self-imposed exile. Their future after this event is still completely uncertain.

 

Origins

 

The Crimson Paladins, scions of Sanguinius, fell from the Emperor’s grace on 5.305.010.M42, on the planet of Akkadia. They were fighting a Necron awakening, attempting to prevent the entire tomb-world from being reactivated. Only the Chapter Master himself, Josiah of Crimson King (a title borne by all of the Paladins’ Chapter Masters), was able to kill the Necron Lord who was guiding the world’s awakening and hopefully stop the activating war-machines. While the process was continued by the Tomb Spyders, it was slowed enough that the Crimson Paladins could halt it completely - in time.

 

It is at this point that information becomes scarce, and two divergent ideas have formed concerning what led to the actual fall. The next event is an explosion that destroyed a full eighth of the planet, and this is the source of the divergent theories.

 

The notion most favorable to the Crimson Paladins is that the explosion was their own doing, an attempt to destroy some major war-engine or power source belonging to the Necrons. While few bother to discuss whether the detonations spiraled out of control or was the minimum appropriate size to destroy whatever nightmare was within those catacombs, scholars favoring this view argue that the Necron relics which the Crimson Paladins kept corrupted the Marines’ machine-spirits and, eventually, the Marines themselves. Of course, this would have been most prominent in the Crimson King, especially as many argue that he kept more Necron items than just the warscythe which is perched in the back of his armor.

 

The other idea is that the explosion was Warp-based. This idea concludes that the Crimson Paladins realized the Necrons’ weakness to the Warp and attempted to bring as much Warp-force as possible to bear against the Necrons. Whether the explosion was an intentional outpouring of this force or an extraordinary mishap, the exposure to the Warp led to the Marines’ corruption by demonic forces. This explains the extraordinary power of each of their librarians, but does not explain the Chapter’s lack of attachment to the usual symbols of Chaos.

 

Reality, it has been said, is stranger than fiction. The Necrons - whether knowingly or not - set the stage for the Crimson Paladins’ fall many millennia ago, when they imprisoned a young Warp entity within this tomb world. It was one of their many ploys against the users and denizens of the Warp, and this Warp-entity was one of the few young enough that the imprisonment was actually successful. Over the millennia, however, these imprisoned Warp-entities was able to grow in power by drawing on the Warp very, very slightly at a time - enough to grow, but not enough to be corrupted by the Four Dark Powers. The Crimson Paladins have even come to believe that the Sanguinor is one of these Warp-entities, released some millennia ago. At this Tomb-World was imprisoned a beautiful Warp-goddess, so strong in her passions that she could easily be mistaken for a daughter of Isha and Khaine together! The Crimson Paladins’ war on the Tomb-World had weakened her cage to where she could break herself loose - when she forced the cracks that the Marines had unintentionally made, the resultant explosion tore a sizeable chunk of the planet apart and killed many Marines. She felt their deaths immediately, and began to weep as she brought her vengeance - bother for her imprisonment and for the deaths of those many Crimson Paladins - to the Necrons. Unlike Isha, her tears were violent, fiery things, causing destruction even as she passed over the wasteland to tear more of the Necrons apart.

 

When Josiah heard of this mysterious Warp-being demolishing Necrons, he was still badly wounded from destroying the Necron Lord and ordered a retreat to the Marines’ planetside base of operations. To his astonishment, a woman appeared inside the base. Her long hair was the same color crimson as the Paladins’ armor, and she wore a large, golden dress. When he demanded to know who she was, she simply said that she was Sylvana of the Golden Heart and that she wished a private audience with him. He reluctantly agreed on the condition that his three best librarians be outside the door, ready to enter on the slightest sign of danger. Josiah has never revealed to any other what passed within that meeting, but he emerged fully healed and possibly even stronger than before. As he passed through the encampment, Sylvana followed behind him; when he reached the camp’s west edge, he gestured towards the horizon and informed his troops that the Necrons would attack from that direction, the Marines were to be battle-ready, and that Sylvana and the chief librarian would joining the usual perimeter guard. Only then did the men notice that Sylvana had donned armor like the Crimson Paladins’ but in female form and with her head exposed, now wielded a massive, golden longsword, and wings had appeared on her back in the gold color that was otherwise missing from her armor. This, she explained, was her battle-aspect, inspired by those who had freed her from millennia of captivity. She also declared that, as someone indebted to the Crimson Paladins, she would be proud to fight at their side.

 

When the night fell, the Necrons appeared over the horizon in the exact place where Josiah had marked; it proved to be the last time when they would attack on that planet. Sylvana was not the avatar of slaughter that the Marines thought that she would be; instead, she held back, using her power less to slaughter their foes and more to bolster those around her and heal those that were wounded. There were no casualties from that battle, unless you want to count the piles of Necron rubble. The Crimson Paladins’ counterattack was just as successful as their defense with Sylvana, although a number of vehicles were lost to the Necrons’ guns.

 

The Chapter’s fall was a gradual one, although it began at this point. Sylvana had gained the Chapter Master’s ear and, as a Warp-entity born of love, oscillated between devout loyalty and violent disregard for all authority, even Josiah. Her outbursts wore at Josiah’s mind, as he found himself unable to disagree with her regardless of whether she was claiming the Imperium as a noble organization or a cold, hellish authority that humanity would be better without. Ultimately, Josiah decided that Sylvana had to leave, but then she broke news most shocking to him: She literally could not leave. Her very existence was completely tied up with the Crimson Paladins ever since she felt them die as she gained her freedom; she had exchanged one set of chains for another. In response to this, Josiah called an emergency council of his top advisors: his personal Honor Guard, the Chief Librarian, the Sanguinary High Priest, the Grand Reclusiarch, the Master Techmarine, and the nine Captains of the Crimson Paladins. Together, they decided that they would be branded heretical for having a Warp-entity so bound to them, and so must either dispose of her or leave the Imperium. When the Chief Librarian explained that the only way to unbind Sylvana from the Crimson Paladins would likely kill off the whole Chapter, Josiah decided that the meeting was over, and he would meditate on whether they would leave the Imperium or wait to be forced out.

 

In his meditations, Josiah realized that a huge amount of what Sylvana said was true, that the Imperium did, in many ways, infringe unnecessarily upon the individual. While the Four Dark Powers of Chaos were no better, the Crimson Paladins could not stay within the Imperium so long as the Imperium was so incredibly rigid in all things. It was only a week after the emergency council that Josiah declared that the Crimson Paladins were leaving the Imperium’s support, choosing to follow Sylvana to righteousness rather than the High Lords. They would still hold their faith in the Emperor - indeed, her presence had only made the Emperor’s Tarot clearer and more accurate - but also keep Sylvana’s guiding light at their side. “Henceforth,” Josiah declared, “She shall be known to us as the Crimson Queen!”

 

Homeworld:

 

The Crimson Paladins have never had a homeworld, preferring to have a highly mobile fleet capable of dispatching exactly as many squads as necessary to any given point in the galaxy at a moment’s notice. As such, they possess ten Strike Cruisers, one for each Company, each named for the first Captain of that Company: Numot, Oros, Intet, Teneb, Vorosh, Rith, Darigaaz, Dromar, Crosis, and Trevan.

(For those of you who play Magic, these are the names of the two cycles of tricolor legendary dragons from the Invasion and Planar Chaos blocks. If you want to suggest better names, please feel free to do so, even if they’re not good character names.)

 

Recruitment is an issue which was previously accomplished by recruiting as possible from the variety of worlds that the Crimson Paladins would encounter on their travels. Since their rebellion, however, recruitment has halted for fear of Imperial authorities. A number of the Paladins’ officers have proposed solutions to this, but none yet have the approval of the Crimson King.

 

Combat Doctrine:

 

The Crimson Paladins were previously a typical Sanguinian chapter, following the Codex Astartes but utilizing close combat whenever possible. Since adopting Sylvana as their patron and abandoning obsessive adherence to the Codex Astartes, however, their penchant for close-combat has exploded, as the Crimson Queen came with a new zeal for life itself that is much more readily realized with your chainsword in an opponent’s face than from a bolter’s distance.

 

Organization:

 

The Crimson Paladins originally used a method of organization almost perfectly in line with the Codex Astartes (including the usual Blood Angel successor variations); the only major difference was an extended personal period for whatever training or craftwork individual Marines wished to undertake. The idea behind this extended personal time (a full hour) was that this gave Marines the time that they needed to specialize in whatever way was appropriate; for example, a Marine who knew he needed more training in bolter aim. Since the Crimson Paladins left the Imperium, however, they have moved even further away from being a Codex chapter by more or less dissolving the very idea of companies. Training has become increasingly centered around the areas in which a Marine wishes to specialize, making the company structure less useful as the strike forces are drawn from the overall pool of Crimson Paladins according to how the Captain chooses to plan the mission. Tactical Marines still exist and are still useful, but are not as strongly present as they are in other Chapters. Squads are the highest level of organization adhered to strictly, although the Apothecarium, Librarium, and Reclusiam still exist. The Apothecarium in particular has a great many recruits because it is Sylvana’s favorite of the special duties which a Marine may take up.

 

Beliefs:

 

While the Crimson Paladins still revere the Emperor and Sanguinius, their devotion is slowly shifting to feature Sylvana more centrally. While this has tempered their battle-fury slightly, they still fight with admirable zeal because of their new belief in life. Soon, they will be so influenced as to no longer fight just to crush their enemies; instead, they will fight to save the lives of others, in defense. Granted, this will only change their preferences, not their mastery - the boltgun will still be a holy weapon to them, and incredibly useful, even if it is not always a personal preference.

 

Gene-Seed:

 

The Crimson Paladins were originally a typical Sanguinian chapter, complete with the generations-exacerbated Flaw, but Sylvana’s presence has somehow hindered the Flaw. This reduction doesn’t remove its influence entirely, but the Paladins’ Death Company has hardly seen any new members since she was bound to the Chapter.

 

It should also be noted that the Sanguinary High Priest has, in potential answer to the Chapter’s recruitment issue and as a nod towards their patron, begun experiments in adapting the Chapter’s gene-seed to meet a female body.

Battle Cry:

 

Originally: Nascio ignis et adamas! Born from fire and steel!

Now: Morsare vividus! Death becomes life!

 

Uniform:

 

The Crimson Paladins’ uniform has not changed in the slightest since their rebellion save that they have marred and defiled all signs of the Imperium upon their armor - though not signs of their allegiance to the Blood Angels. Their helmets are all silver, with a bold red armor; there is no ready distinction between squadrons for the enemy, with even their small Sanguinary Guard often being difficult to distinguish. The only exceptions to this are the special members of the Chapter: the Librarians have blue helmets, the Chaplains have black helmets, the Sanguinary Priests have silver helmets with silver in other places that are usually white on Apothecaries’ armor, the Chapter Master who wears a gold helmet, and the Death Company who wear red helmets.

[Erasmus of Baal]

Two notes for friendly critics:

1) I don't know where this is going next. It started out as a bit of a joke (the Chapter without anything special about them), and then I wrote an event. I don't know where these guys are headed after the event, so that's something that could I would love assistance with.

2) Feel free to tear me a new one on any point that you think is just so incredibly stupid that it's so bloody obvious and you don't even understand how I missed that. I know that I get awfully involved in writing each piece of stories like this that I miss out on things that should be obvious and easily corrected. :)

 

Enjoy!

[Erasmus of Baal]

Bumping because I really need some help here....

[Erasmus of Baal]

Y'know what? I give up on getting others' C&C. This thing, on reflection, is a piece of crap. Mods, could you just nuke this thread, please?

[Crimson Hawk]

Just one complaint- FOR GODS SAKE DON'T HAVE THEM SCREW WITH THE GENESEED. Corax the Primarch tried it and had 'unsavoury' results. Who says a bunch of aapothecaries could do any better. Corax was only trying to make more marines, and he still ended up with the weregeld. Be careful, I'm just saying

[Ace Debonair]

Just one complaint- FOR GODS SAKE DON'T HAVE THEM SCREW WITH THE GENESEED. Corax the Primarch tried it and had 'unsavoury' results. Who says a bunch of aapothecaries could do any better. Corax was only trying to make more marines, and he still ended up with the weregeld. Be careful, I'm just saying

 

Uh, I'm not sure how to tell you this, exactly, but this is the out-of-date version of this IA. :)

 

Take a look for the 'Crimson Kings', that should find you the newest one. :wacko:

[Crimson Hawk]

I'm an idiot ^_^ I just saw the thead back when I was a visitor, so I went to give the thread some love. Ah well, good to see the name change, as GW took Crimson Paladins. Idiot!

[Erasmus of Baal]

good to see the name change, as GW took Crimson Paladins. Idiot!

Actually, I changed them back to being the Crimson Paladins, taking advantage of what GW has set up with the Crimson Paladins. "Crimson King" is now the Chapter Master's title.

 

And thank you, Ace Debonair, for directing Crimson Hawk to the more recent version. :)

[Erasmus of Baal]

Latest version of this IA is here, for any of you who want to see the latest stuff on the (renamed again) Crimson Paladins!