IA: Knights Tempest

[Tarbanger]

First off, thanks for taking the time to give my random thoughts a glance. Secondly I have to appologise for a lack of color scheme, I'm currently on the long sail home after a deployment in the med. Our net connection isn't the best, so no SMP for me. That's all I got, this is still a WIP so I'd much appreciate all your input.

 

Knights Tempest

 

Origins:

22nd Founding ~ 500.M36

The Galaxy is rife with turmoil in the wake of the Age of Apostasy. Warp storms cut entire systems off from the empire, giving chaos cults free reign to corrupt the isolated planets. Ork warfleets rampage unchallenged. The newly reinstated High Lords of Terra quickly vote in another founding of the Adeptus Astartes to aid their overburdened forces. It was during this founding that the Knights Tempest were born. Captain Logust Veritass of the Sons of Dorn was given the honor of fathering this chapter. Assigned to the Segmentum Tempestus, Veritass chose a backwater planet that reminded him of his own homeworld, if only a bit more savage. From the battle hardened populous he raised his brotherhood, and spared no time in baptizing them in battle.

 

586.M36

Worked with the Order of the Valorous Heart to restore the emperors glory to the rebellious people of the (insert system name) during the Plague of Disbelief. This was their first great undertaking as a chapter, committing 32 squads to the endeavor.

 

756.M38

Blunted Waaagh! Tuffboot with three regiments of the Praetorian Guard, committed 28 squads to stem the green tide.

 

128.M40

Tasked to hold the tide against the Archenemy on Drecksus II near the Void Of Despair until guard reinforcements arrived. All 24 squads were slaughtered when a warp rift tore open releasing horrors unimagined.

 

 

Homeworld:

-Karthan, a feudal world ~ 700 million

A planet of a varied climate, similar to the records of Holy Terra past, with extreme cold at the Poles and a warming towards the equator. The planet is covered 40% with a vast ocean separating the edges of supercontinent and a colossal lake set in the supercontinents center. The land is divided up into rough quarters by fierce warrior kingdoms.

-The hearty and raven haired Ursa Lords rule over the frozen northern pole from squat fortress cities.

-The extensive mountain ranges of the east are controlled by the albino Arcis lords from their vast keeps carved right into the mountain sides.

-The crimson plains along the southern edge of the equator are roamed by the nomadic Equus lords who are of bronzed skin and fair hair.

-The verdant rainforests of the west are safeguarded by the fiery haired Venator lords from their many hidden outposts.

As it was when the world was chosen by Logust Veritass these lands are under constant flux. Each warrior kingdom vying for the resources of their neighbors. There hasn’t been much in the way of technical advancement among the natives of Karthan, seeming content with their way of life.

Roughly every four years Karthans orbit takes it near enough to a nebula to cause fantastic radiation storms. These storms are little more than light shows, with blue fire dancing overhead and green bolts of lightning skipping across the horizon. These storms last for approximately 80 days, during which all warfare is stopped and the kingdoms hold great feasts and tourneys. It is during these tourneys that the Knights descend to the planet for recruitment. The best and brightest of each kingdom are taken to join their respective Orders. The natives view this as the greatest honor that could be bestowed on a family. As such, almost every family on the planet trains their male offspring obsessively from the age of 5. Many families keep a running tally of their members chosen to train under the Knights, although once taken off planet, their sons never make contact with them again.

 

 

Combat Doctrine:

When perusing a particular quest, the Knights seem to follow basic Codex tactics. This being said, the specialist squads chosen for this quest exercise their expertise to ensure the most efficient favorable outcome to any battle.

Although they mostly maintain standard Astartes equipment, there are two unique aspects to their apparel. Firstly is their helm, it is thought by many brother chapters and other imperial organizations, that the Knights have some sort of special relationship with the Grey Knights, thus granting them access to their Aegis Amour. Although they do not dispute this to their brethren, it is not the case. It is simply the case that their Techmarines have fashioned the helms into a more noble and knightly facsimile. Also, due to a logistical mix-up, the first batch of arms were lacking in Melta weapons. Instead the Knights were shipped crates of small melta charges, known by the veterans of the Death Watch to be employed by the Imperiums more subtle agencies. Undaunted by this setback, and well aware that another shipment of arms was unlikely to arrive for decades, their Master of the Forge adapted these capsules to be fitted onto bolts specially designed to fit in Astartes sized crossbows. Over the first few decades this design was perfected into the Tempest Bows the Knights now use, which is a close mix between a pump action shotgun and a crossbow, which is their favored special weapon.

 

 

Organization:

A quirk that was passed by their first Knight-Commander, Logust Veritass who served two tours as Deathwatch spanning over 3 decades, the chapter as a whole does not specialize in any one type of warfare. Instead choosing to be a jack of all, but master of none. This isn’t the balanced approach to warfare of the Ultramarines. This is something more extreme.

After it’s founding, the Knights Tempest, Logust Veritass requisitioned tutelage from some of his former Death Watch squadmates, while the majority of the requests were turned down, two brothers were permitted to assist their former brother. This was to include the Raven Guard and Storm Lords, to teach of stealth/guerrilla fighting and lightning strike warfare respectively, along with the veterans of the Sons of Dorn to pass on their expert knowledge of point defense and siege making.

Unlike the Holy Codex, the Knights are organized into five Orders of roughly 200 Knights each. Under each of these orders is a specialty of warfare, The Order of the Dart, The Order of the Hammer, The Order of the Spear, and The Order of the Shield, ending with The Order of the Sword an elite order that ties the best aspects of each into one. Furthermore there is no scout company, each Order is responsible for training their own successors.

 

Order of the Dart: This order concentrates on the more covert aspects of the Codex. The Knights of this order hail from the western rain forests and have stealthcraft ingrained into their beings. During the founding years of the chapter they received limited tutelage from members of the Raven Guard on ways to improve their clandestine operations. This lead to a darkening of the chapter colors, and furthermore painting those colors with a non-reflective powder based paint. They often employ their units behind enemy lines and have a greater compliment of scouts tied to them.

 

Order of the Hammer: The Hammerites specialize in cracking the defenses of their foes. They posses the majority of the chapters heavy armor. They also employ a greater number of devastator marines to further add to their typically overwhelming firepower. Trained by the seigemasters of the Sons Of Dorn, there are few outside of Dorns legacy that can match their precise application of force on enemy fortifications.

 

Order of the Spear: The plainsmen that makeup this Order have been hit and run specialists for hundreds of years before the Knights set foot on Karthan. Substituting their proud horses the Spearmen have taken new steeds in the form of assault bikes. Having taken the directions of the Storm Lords to heart, they have supplemented the basic Codex bike tactics with a few variations. This ensuring they get the most out of that revered text.

 

Order of the Shield: The proud men of the north are the bulwarks of the chapter. These proud Knights exemplify Dorns’ stubbornness in the taking and defense of an objective. They excel at urban operations and point defense. So long as one of them draws breath, no foes will sully their charge. With devastating overlapping fields of fire and intuitive counter assaults they hold their ground until reinforcements arrive, or their adversaries have exhausted their resources. They are also the only Order to employ Dreadnaughts.

 

Order of the Sword: Being that Brother Rhetoricus believed the sword was the perfect weapon, so too is true for the Knights of this Order. They are the best and brightest of the Knights Tempests. They carry with them Terminator honors and the admiration of every Brother-Knight who serves the other Orders.

 

Although this may seem odd a fighting force of 200 marines concentrating on a single type of warfare, the Knights are of a mind to pick and choose what forces they will need for a specific quest. When a quest is brought before the Knight Commander, he petitions for a Knight Captain to lead who in turn deduces what capabilities he requires to complete his quest. Similar to how the Iron Snakes operate, squads volunteer for the quest at hand. This ensures that no one “company” gets all the glory. Reserve companies are unheard of in the Knights Tempest.

Each Order is lead by three Knight Captains. These are not entirely your typical Codex Captains, they are the; Knight-Captain Militaint , Knight-Captain Spiritus, and Knight-Captain Arma. Each of these are drawn from the ranks of brother marines, chaplains and techmarines respectfully. These individuals have shown, with the exception of the Knight-Captain Militant, that they are more than their specialist training dictates. That they have a wider grasp of tactics than their specialist training usually enables and would better serve the chapter by leading it’s forces. Again these exceptional warriors excel in specific types of warfare, the Spiritus concentrating on more offensive tactics, the Arma on defensive measures and the Militant being the measure between the two. With that being said, each order still retains several dedicated Chaplains and Techmarines.

At the head of the Knights Tempest is the Knight-Commander, who is essentially a Chapter Master. When the time arises that a new Knight-Commander must be named, any of the Knight-Captains of the four orders can be chosen. While the Knight-Captain Spiritus and Militant share about equal footing for being chosen to be the Knight-Commander, there exists only three occasions out of twenty-five where a Knight-Captain Arma has been named Knight-Commander.

 

 

 

 

Beliefs:

 

The Knights venerate the Emperor and Dorn. They are a middle ground between the fanaticism of the Black Templars and the unparalleled devotion of the Imperial Fists. They hold to many traditions of the Imperial Fists, but with minor variations.

Disputes between brothers are almost always solved by honor duel, but these duels are held in small arenas with constantly changing terrain. The duel is still fought with tungsten epees, but with the addition of shields and their movements are not restricted in any fashion. The duel ends upon the submission of an opponent or the word of the overseeing Chaplain, who acts as an impartial judge.

Following in Dorns’ dictation that transgression must be atoned for through pain. The Knights practice ritual flogging and drills of punishment that even knighted veterans find trying and humbling.

Holding to the values of their first Knight-Commander, the Knights view that serving in the Death Watch is a great honor. Every 7 years a great tournament is held, where any knighted member of the orders can compete. These tourneys were designed by Logust Veritass, and his brothers who served in the Death Watch, to ensure the champions have mastered the skills essential to being part of a kill team. The top five from each Order are given the title Knight of the Watch, and should a call from the Ordo be made during their tenure, these twenty-five marines are presented as the chapters best. Although it isn’t unheard of for the Ordo to choose a Knight not of the Watch, these occurrences are very rare. This practice has earned them high esteem with the Ordo-Xenos, and has seen many of their brothers proudly display their stylized pauldrons, albeit on their right shoulder now.

 

 

Geneseed:

The Knights Tempest are descended from the regal bloodline of Rogal Dorn, with the Sons Of Dorn as their parent chapter. This gives them the tenacity to stand, reaping a grim tally amongst their foes, when most other marines would have succumbed to the Sus-an Membranes healing sleep. Also as successors to the Dorn bloodline they are lacking in the Betcher’s Gland, which they view as an un-honorable addition to Astartes already considerable arsenal. Another unusual aspect to their legacy that originally drew the attention of the Ordo Malleus, through over two centuries of investigation no evidence of taint was found, is that their eyes glow with a dim cerulean blue. This is believed to be the byproduct of the radiation storms that come every four years on their homeworld.

 

 

*** still working on a battle cry.....any suggestions?

[Andrew J]

This is very well written! I like your ideas and they seem to fit the fluff quite well!

[Tarbanger]

Thanks for the compliment Andrew J, I realy had a decent amount of time to edit and squash most of the shinanagins. I plan on structuring it up with code and colors once I'm back home. Also I'll be adding a propper tragic event for em, because you know in such a universe that requires these folk no one stays happy joy joy forever....