IA 2nd Draft: Orbital Beacons (WIP)

[bento-of-the-earth]

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/genso6/OrbitalBeaconsIcon.jpg

Founding: 22nd
Gene-seed: Imperial Fists
Homeworld: In orbit over the ruins of Hran (fleet-based)
Colors: Bluish-grey, white trim
Symbol: Winged sword

Orbital Beacons. The Swordhands of Justice. High Knights of Hephaestus. Protectors of the Arion Belt. The Dragoon Saviors. By nearly a hundred names and titles they are known across the galaxy. Yet they require not elaborate titles or recognition of their deeds, all they require is a sword to fight the enemy, and a holy text frothing from their lips to part darkness and send heretics weeping for mercy. While they may seem immortal to the humans they stand to protect, they alone know of the darkness that clouds their past, darkness that only they can lift from over their souls.

Origins

T

he Orbital Beacons were formed during the 22nd founding to reinstitute the ways of the Imperial Cult upon worlds that had been ravaged by Goge Vandire following the genocidal Age of Apostasy and therefore would not trust or submit to loyal Ministorum officials. Since the Ecclesiarchy was forbidden after the incident to house its own supply of troops, Imperial Guardsmen were out of the question. But, it was no great task for a high ranking Ecclesiarch to coax his way up to an appeal with a High Lord of Terra, who in turn could plan for the creation of a chapter to suit such needs at the next Time of Founding…even easier was convincing a crusade of Imperial Fists (who coincidentally took part in battling Vandire on Terra) to found and nurture this fledgling chapter into a fighting force worthy of the name Astartes.

Their worship of the emperor took them across galaxy, battling all manner of xenos and heretical cults over many decades. Where they fought, they soon began to preach of the Emperor as the Savior of the Galaxy, and the Adeptus Ministorum flourished in their footsteps. So when the faith of Hran, a desolate hive world, was called into question, naturally the Beacons answered the call. The relatively new chapter was sent in along with another recent addition to the Imperium: the newly formed Adeptus Sororitas. Accompanied by these peculiar women in power armor, as well as a suspicious Inquisitor, the battlegroup set out for Hran.
Believing the mission to simply be one of restoring the faith of the populace, upon the fleet’s arrival the Sisters of Battle went to the surface in an attempt at negotiations. They failed horribly. The surviving population had fallen under the sway of Chaos, and opened fire on the Heroine and her retinue. When they returned with news of their failure, the inquisitor ordered a fire-bombing of all Hran’s population centers. Soon after, the rebels fled their destroyed cities to the obvious source of the heresy: a smaller city converted into a massive cathedral where a legion of Word Bearers had secretly been spreading their anarchy for years. It could only be them orchestrating the planetwide rebellion. Battle plans were drawn out, and a mission to root out and exterminate every last traitor within was set into motion.

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They fight from the shadows
Wraiths of flame and daemonkin
I have not heard from support for days,
As their accursed ritual ceases our vox channels
Yet I know we cannot be winning...

Brother-Captain of the Orbital Beacons, name lost

While the Beacons fought the traitor militia outside the cathedral’s walls, the Sisters deployed on top of it\\\'s spires to break in and cut off the head of the ruinous operation. However they had not accurately gauged the complexity of the structure’s interior, and soon they were lost in a maze of darkness. It was not long before every last one was picked off by the Word Bearers themselves. When the Beacons breached the city walls they discovered the grizzly fate of their allies, and, taking up the fallen Heroine’s sword, their chapter master bellowed his rage through the labyrinthine halls. They set to killing every last human traitor, but they too encountered difficulty when faced with Chaos worshiping Astartes. By the time they reached the middle levels of the cathedral theirs numbers had fallen by hundreds.
Then came the daemons.

A massive ritual that fed off Hran’s very core transformed the renegade populace of the world into bloodthirsty daemons. Now trapped in the dark underbelly of the cathedral, they worsened the fighting odds of the Beacons, who were now not only outnumbered but outmatched. While some still survived in the upper reaches of the cathedral, lost among the darkness, only Chapter Master Horte and his shattered retinue survived to reach the innermost sanctum of the fortress, deep below Hran’s crust. Here they found a coven of Word Bearers sorcerers, led by a terrifying daemon prince who had once been a Word Bearer himself. The squad charged into the traitor ranks but was cut down. In the end Horte sacrificed himself to fell the great daemon with the Heroine’s sword, a final act of vengeance. The only witnesses to his victory were a handful of scouts, who discovered their master’s body in this secret chamber long after the fight had transpired, and much longer after the surviving sorcerers had escaped through hidden passages.

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This news reached the remaining Astartes and they returned to the surface. A full chapter had gone into the depths of the cathedral, but barely three companies returned to the surface, and only two of those companies had Brother-Captains that still lived. The scouts who had returned with their master’s body and the sword he had grasped in his final moments were among them.
Aboard the space fleet, terror had overcome the feeble Inquisitor’s mind, and he revealed his true identity. Since there was little time to properly train an Inquisitor

Passing of Duty

“Brother Naemur,” spoke the Chaplain in his gravelly tone. “You have been brought before us because you are one of humanity’s finest. You have fought in the name of justice and purity, Ave Imperator!” His exp​ression suddenly darkened. “You know why you stand before me. You have been chosen to be the first in our next lineage of Battle Chaplains.” Naemur didn’t need to be told how great an honor he was receiving. The Orbital Beacons placed more power, and infinitely more faith, in their Chaplains than any others. He was essentially being offered his own battle company

“If for any reason,” he continued, “you feel that you are not worthy of defending the galaxy from the threat of the great enemy, or of upholding the honor and principles of our sacred chapter, speak now and you will not have to face the trials ahead.” The silent response was deafening. “Very well, Brother Naemur. Your trials will now begin.” He turned to the Techmarine. “Brother Gideon, retrieve his battle armor.” With a nod, the Techmarine emitted a series of clicks and hissing sounds from his scarlet-red helmet, and a sextet of chapter-serfs emerged from where he had been standing past the pillar.

After moments of rippling eternity, each serf walked away with a portion of Naemur’s armor. He had been instructed not to wear his battle-helm into the ceremony. One serf carried both his massive pauldrons, another his torso pieces, a third his vambraces, a fourth his greaves, and lastly a fifth bore his backpack. Now Naemur stood alone before the High Reclusiarch, the Techmarine, and the last remaining serf, standing bare except for his ceremonial black carapace.

“You stand before us Naemur, exactly as you came to us. Vulnerable, weak, unprepared for the transformation that would usher in a new chapter of your personal saga,” boomed Sebastian. “Brother Gideon, you may begin the branding ritual.”

“The depths of space may be thick,” began the serf with a monotonous chant.
“But my sword-arm is sturdy,” responded Naemur, as he had from the sacred tomes hundreds of times before.
“The bastions of the Enemy may stand tall-“
“But I shall rise above them.”
“The Enemy may plant words in my ear-“
“But my deeds speak louder than words.”
“The Enemy’s whips may rend my body-“
“But my spirit will never yield.”
“The Enemy may devour my soul-“
“But I shall burn them from within!” finished Naemur. The serf nodded once more. Naemur looked down to see that during his litany a purity seal had been stuck onto his naked form, the heat melding to his chest. In his righteousness, he had not noticed any pain from the burning.

The High-Chaplain nodded. \"You are indeed pure, or else the pain would have driven all hatred and evil from your maw. Be glad it did not.\" With a smile on his grim lips he turned now to Gideon. \"Bring forth his armor, and the helm.\" And in that moment Naemur felt true awe.

His armor had been blackened in those short moments inside the very forger that had birthed them, now the glinting color of space itself. His battle helmet was also carried out by the serfs, taken from his chamber only moments before, yet mantled to its front was the inlaid skull of the rebel leader he had killed on Brusso. It had been his first kill.

\"I stand here as a mentor no longer, Lord Naemur,\" High-Chaplain Sebastian praised.

to lead a force of the newly founded Sororitas, one had been seconded from the Ordo Malleus. He had sent a distress call to the nearest Malleus fleet upon hearing of the scale of the daemonic incursion, and they arrived shortly after all surviving forces had been extracted from the cathedral. The Grey Knights executed the Inquisitor for dereliction of duty, and ordered Exterminatus upon Hran, in the form of a cyclonic missile that would effectively destroy even the deeply buried portions of the cathedral. After only a single volley, the planet’s core, weakened by the Word Bearer’s dark ritual, exploded and shattered the lifeless husk of Hran.

The Orbital Beacons were tasked with a century long Crusade of Repentance to atone for failing to save Hran (and to further prove if they were possibly contaminated by Chaos) which they willingly accepted. Outside of the chapter, it is unknown what events transpired throughout their crusade. But, near the end of their hundred year sentence they were reportedly sighted, at full chapter strength, by an Imperial Guard regiment. A host of daemons had descended upon the terrified Cadian Dragoons, when out of the sky Thunderhawks blazed down, deploying a thousand grey-armored warriors to the heart of the horde, effectively carrying the day. After the battle they supposedly flew back into space, although the entire affair has been question by Imperial officials. Nevertheless, they continued their crusade for another few years, before returning to fight the foes of the Emperor at the end of the 38th millennium.

History Today

T

he Orbital Beacons have not kept their same heraldry from that time; for they believe their old ways were destroyed with everything else on Hran. They now wear the winged Sword of Valora on their armor, in remembrance of their last chapter master’s sacrifice. They no longer have a place for a chapter master amongst their ranks, for to even suggest another could be as courageous and faithful as Horte is foolish. Thus the leader of their chapter is the High-Chaplain, known to them as the Axemaster, and his followers the Brother-Chaplains. They are the Executioners of the chapter, acting as both Chaplain when faith is required, and as Apothecarion in times of peace, recruiting and mentoring new Battle-Brothers until the time when they fall in battle and he may send them to meet the Emperor. Thus members of the Chaplain Order lead the fight on the ground during battle, while the company captains serve as an advisory council, occasionally even remaining on their ships or in an otherwise secure location where they can provide tactical advice on how to proceed.

Rather than being tied to a standard fortress-monastery, the Orbital Beacons send out their fleets to every corner of the galaxy from their Ship Monastery, Everlasting Light, which orbits the asteroid belt that was once Hran. Such proximity to the site of their greatest failure makes them aspire to redeem themselves in the eyes of the emperor through battle. Aboard their fleet of several dozen ships of varying sizes, the Orbital Beacons train their minds and their bodies alike, in fact prayer-ships the size of the largest Terran cathedral are attached to the fleet for the sole purpose of providing mass meditation to the entire chapter when required. Their fleet also provides them the luck of the draw when recruiting, and they have a steady source of potential initiates coming in from worlds they have fought to defend. On the less civilized worlds of the Imperium, a traditional duel between a Chaplain and tribal warriors or an order of knights will prove who is worthy to be selected for recruitment.

On hive worlds however, they take much more drastic action. Gathering up dozens of penitents destined for execution, a Chaplain will walk down the line of sinners, uttering a prayer of benediction for their soul, before shooting them point-blank with a plasma pistol. The Chaplains believe that should the blast backfire upon the Chaplain, the aspirant has been shielded by the Emperor and is therefore truly repentant. They will be taken up to the fleet and trained with other aspirants, and many great heroes have been born of such second chances.

Organization

O

rbital Beacons as a chapter typically follow the teaching of the Codex Astartes, with one prominent exception: their Chaplains (known amongst their ranks as Executioners) hold more power than their Brother-Captains. While the Captain is head of the company and has access to the sacred armory as a result, their position, though highly respected, is a figurehead. Meanwhile all declarations of war, rank promotions, and battle honors are handled by a council of the chapter’s priesthood, which convenes when circumstances call for it.
However, in times of war, a Captain may be left in command of his company should hisl attached Chaplains be slain or otherwise unable to perform their duties. Each one also commands his own battleship which transports his company into warzones, and is an effective star-sailor. Therefore the rank of Captain is never taken lightly, and ancient rivalries have been forged because of Chaplains not agreeing with each other on a candidate for captaincy.
There has not been a Chapter Master for many thousand years, since the time of their great defeat. The last Chapter master was Horte, who sacrificed himself thinking he had saved a planet from certain destruction.
Other positions of lesser honor are also given names corresponding to the chapter’s religious belief. A list of such positions and their respective names follows in order of importance:

High Chaplain: Axemaster
Chaplain: Executioner
Company Captain: Shipmaster
Brother-Sergeant: Spirit Scribe

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On the opposite end of the spectrum, they maintain good relations with the Adeptus Mechanicum. They have been known to receive occasional “gifts” from the Scions of Mars, be they in the form of an extra tank mysteriously arriving among a Martian supply delivery, or experimental weapons or power sources the Martians wish to test before putting into widespread usage. The few Techmarines of the chapter are also extremely skilled at their duties, and many of the chapter’s tanks and dreadnought sarcophagi are in prime condition even after several millennium.

Combat Doctrines

T

he Orbital Beacons excel at siege warfare, and are effective at city-fighting as well. This only partially derives in part from their gene-fathers, the Imperial Fists, while actual tactics of the chapter are taken directly from years of tried-and-true experience fighting alongside their predecessors.

Historic Engagements

Hran Offensive-M37
Hunt for Zaarken\\\'s Shadow-982.M39
Mirukian Belt-346.M40
Purging of Hive Crastor-601.M41
Hephaestus Campaign-677.M41
Dalryth Uprising-780.M41
Titanicus Crusade-889.M41
Battle for Feargate-950.M41

They also make extreme, almost fanatical usage of plasma weapons to confer the very light of the Emperor onto their foes, a blessing and a curse at once. While their powerful reactive blasts are appealing, the danger of wielding one is even more relished by them. It is a common saying about plasma weapon bearers in their ranks, \"if one is not ready to sacrifice his live for the Emperor, then how can he be expected to fight at such risk?\" and so any hardened veteran will have handled one of these weapons during his lifetime.
Swords are another symbol of rank among their number, in honor of the Falling Sword of Valora (their chapter symbol), the weapon of their final Chapter Master and the Adeptus Sororitas Heroine he gave his life to avenge.
A more unusual addition to their armory is the dual axe-crozius weapon wielded by their many chaplains, representing their role both as masters of faith, but also executioners of the fallen. One who has earned the respect of a chaplain may adorn his armor with an axe glyph, while one who wields an axe without permission from the Chaplain council is considered a dishonor to the chapter.
Their tactics taken from the Codex Astartes frequently make use of Whirlwind artillery tanks, which although new to the chapter\\\'s armory have become commonplace in many of their battles. A personal favorite method is to assail their foes with a relentless tide of fire, up until the last moment when they meet the foe head-on in waves of infantry.

Beliefs

T

hey follow essentially the Ecclesiarchal doctrine, as quick to execute a potential traitor as a heretical cult. Perhaps most simply, the Imperial Creed is the most common religion of the Imperium, and so is easily recognizable on all the worlds they recruit from. And it is no strain for them to follow the teachings of the Adeptus Ministorum, seeing how they were created to meet the needs of the order. The chapter stands against all the emperor’s enemies, but they feel an especially strong hatred of Chaos. This may seem surprising for a chapter founded upon the Black Templar’s ideals of ‘burn the xenos’, but the ever-loyal naturally feel a special resentment towards the lost and the damned. Not to mention their defeat during the Word Bearers siege, for which they seek eternal vengeance on that legion in particular.

Almost nothing can come between a Beacon and his beliefs, on some occasions they have even been known to execute human soldiers in the heat of combat for using anything less than writ and undying devotion towards the Emperor. Of course, the Commissars typically turn a blind eye to this, as it saves them the trouble and they themselves do not wish to cross one of the mighty Astartes. And a guardsman here or there is nothing fight-wise compared to a wrathful Space Marine.

Exceptionally skilled warriors will adorn their armor with skulls of fallen brothers, a token of remembrance to their Brothers lost on the Day of Black Rain, as well as countless others slain since then. Such icons only increase the terrifying aura surrounding the chapter\\\'s heroes, and a warrior who bears enough skulls can soon count himself among their Chaplain elite. While this heathenish act may be frowned upon by more puritan sectors of the Inquisition, it has made them popular amongst wilder Astartes forces, notably the White Scars and the Flesh Tearers. Their more daring attempts to fight the forces of Chaos have also brought them to the attention of the Ordo Malleus. The Grey Knights are not fond of a chapter of simple Astartes meddling in their affairs, and if they do not soon learn their place, they may have difficulty proving their devotion to the Imperium after the first blemish on their reputation with the Inquisition...

Battle Cry

Fear is for the weak! Mercy is for the weak! Death is for the weak!

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Comments, criticism, ideas, and (dare I say it?) praise is more than welcome guys! Still workin out the kinks on this one...

[Andrew J]

I like it a lot. You have done a good job writing it, while writing some good ideas into old concepts that tend to be overused. I personally am not as much of a fan of Orbital Beacons as that is just personal preference. I like your origins sections it is well written. Just a couple nagging issues that I thought of when reading through it.

 

Did they go to Hran with the whole chapter? You did not mention it earlier in the origins section but mention at the end that only 300 out of the 1000 made it out of the temple. Also a whole chapter dedicated to the destruction of one building no matter how large makes me feel like it is a guaranteed victory. Companies have been known to quell rebellions on a world or stop a large invasion force.

 

On hive worlds however, they take much more drastic action. Gathering up dozens of penitents destined for execution, a Chaplain will walk down the line of sinners, uttering a prayer of benediction for their soul, before shooting them point-blank with a plasma pistol. The Chaplains believe that should the blast backfire, near harmless to the armored Astartes, the aspirant has been shielded by the Emperor and is therefore truly repentant. They will be taken up to the fleet and trained with other aspirants, and many great heroes have been born of such second chances.

 

Dont necessarily know if this is needed. I guess I could use a little clarification on how a plasma backblast would not hurt an astartes as that has been mentioned before as able to kill a marine.

 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, they maintain good relations with the Adeptus Mechanicum. After responding to an Alpha Forge World’s distress call during the Hephaestus Campaign, they have been known to receive occasional “gifts” from the Scions of Mars, be they in the form of an extra tank mysteriously arriving among a Martian supply delivery, or experimental weapons or power sources the Martians wish to test before putting into widespread usage. The few Techmarines of the chapter are also extremely skilled at their duties, and many of the chapter’s tanks and dreadnought sarcophagi are in prime condition even after several millennium.

 

It is good that they maintain good relations with the Mechanicum, but Chapters routinely respond to requests of distress at forgeworlds. I dont know if that would be enough to warrant "special gifts" over the other 999 chapters in the imperium that also fight the bad guys.

 

They also despise the Word Bearers for at one point in time placing faith in the Emperor as an immortal deity, which goes against the teachings of the Imperial Creed.

 

This does not make sense because being followers of the Imperial Creed themselves they would worship the Emperor as a God, as that is the Basic tenet of the Imp Creed.

 

Those are my 2 cents. Hope they help!

[bento-of-the-earth]

Thanks for the feedback Andrew! In response to your concerns:

 

I personally am not as much of a fan of Orbital Beacons as that is just personal preference

 

Believe me, no one is :woot: Since the first time I uttered it while staring at the poster of Astartes Chapters at my GW, I can't seem to shake it! No matter how many similar sounding synonyms I try, it's grown on me waaaaay too much...ah well, just my loss I s'ppose

 

They did indeed go to Hran in full force (i'll fix that later, the code is being a bit- *hrm* a bit of a problem right now, maybe when I'm less tired) Although I see the point you made, I should try and make it seem more realistic on that point.

QUOTE

On hive worlds however, they take much more drastic action. Gathering up dozens of penitents destined for execution, a Chaplain will walk down the line of sinners, uttering a prayer of benediction for their soul, before shooting them point-blank with a plasma pistol. The Chaplains believe that should the blast backfire, near harmless to the armored Astartes, the aspirant has been shielded by the Emperor and is therefore truly repentant. They will be taken up to the fleet and trained with other aspirants, and many great heroes have been born of such second chances.

 

 

Dont necessarily know if this is needed. I guess I could use a little clarification on how a plasma backblast would not hurt an astartes as that has been mentioned before as able to kill a marine.

 

Nice job picking up on that, I took that bit out about it being harmless (although I may just say later that it was the Rosarius protecting them?)

 

QUOTE

They also despise the Word Bearers for at one point in time placing faith in the Emperor as an immortal deity, which goes against the teachings of the Imperial Creed.

 

 

This does not make sense because being followers of the Imperial Creed themselves they would worship the Emperor as a God, as that is the Basic tenet of the Imp Creed.

 

Technically the Creed declares that however powerful the Emperor, he is still only human...according to pre-heresy Word Bearers however, he was revered as an IMmortal by them. I see how it could be confusing, so that went away as well.

 

If you have any other ideas, I'd be more than welcome to hear them!