Index Astartes: Brothers Aeternus

[Heru2012]

Brothers Aeternus

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Origins:

C

reated in response to the growing threat of secession from a series of planetary governors throughout the Tarien Sector in the Segmentum Tempestus around the turn of the 36th millenium. It was rumoured that the governors were under the influence of the dark powers, and after investigation by the Inquisition this information was confirmed. The Inquisitions Representative in the High Lords petitioned a chapter pure of soul and purpose to be created in response to the threat.

Homeworld:

T

he Brothers Aeternus were gifted with their homeworld in repayment for their services carried out in the scouring of the Tarien Sector. They selected the feudal world Aeris Tertius due to it's hardy people and inhospitable nature.

Kyrallos is the main inhabited planet of the 12 planet system, sitting 5th in line from the star. It has a large Mechanicus and trading presence due to its super rich ore fields, but these are little more than slave camps and penal colonies filled with ne'er do wells from around the sector. Apart from the mineral wealth of the planet it holds no real power or importance, but does provide an excellent resupply route from forge worlds further a field. The only other planet that is inhabited in the system is Aeris Tertius, a large ice ball on the outer reaches of the systems inhabitable planets, home to the fortress monastery of the Brothers.

Aeris Tertius is a large planet in the outer limits of what can be classed as inhabitable in the system. With much of the planet in temperatures plummeting below freezing for most of the year, the planet is inhospitable at best, outright deadly at least. The local flora and fauna are no better. With areas of seemingly sublime warmth generated by ice-algal blooms that attract animals into their seemingly safe confines, only to fall gently under the pall of sleep, as the soporific fumes slowly released by the algae intoxicates them, leaving the blistering digestive acids of the bloom to slowly render its victims down to consumables. Ranging to the savage Savage Ice Roc and the deadly silent Crystal Wyrms of Dykal.

The original humans to come to Aeris Tertius were the descendants of prisoners working in the mines and refineries of Kyrallos, deemed to have paid their debts to the Imperium for minor crimes such as thievery and public spitting, the elders and their children were allowed to leave, but the Mechanicum would only take them by shuttle to a few prefab buildings on Aeris Tertius to live out their days in strife in the joint crippling cold.
The human population of Aeris Tertius survive in walled townships that were constructed by the first prisoners left there. Due to the lack of anything to bring joy or hope to the planets inhabitants, reverence and prayers to the Emperor became the only way the populace would find solace and hope. After the construction of their first buildings for worship and the arrival of a disgraced Ministorum Preacher, a religious fervour grew in the population, spreading gradually from township to township, giving hope and fiery reason to the peoples existence. They must take back the land from the crystalline daemons and prove themselves in the eyes of the Emperor.

The Brothers Aeternus found the people of the planet to be people of righteous passion and belief. As their ancestors crimes were of a minor nature it was judged by its founding Chapter Master and his trusted Council at Arms that they could no longer be punished or be deemed tainted by the Imperium, and that their continued survival through what seemed to only be possible via the righteous indignation and belief that they were worthy to be alive. They use the religious superstitions of the populace to gain access to new blood. Every 22.7 years a great darkness douses the sun for 3 months, as the much larger Kyrallos falls into a synchronous orbit with Aeris Tertius. Temperatures fall to well below freezing. The Hunt begins. In order for the youths of the populace to prove their purity to the Emperor, they must hunt down and slay one of the many crystalline beasts that inhabit the wilds of the planet, bringing their teeth back to prove its maturity, with only teeth longer than their forearms being counted as large enough for the successful hunt. Only the teeth are required, as it is known that the beasts teeth are notoriously difficult to remove and only a plasma torch can cut them out, and even then with great difficulty, a task that cannot be completed whilst the beast is still alive. Once the surviving youths return to their townships they are greeted by enormous statues with eyes of glowing emerald and pyres burning with intense fury grow from their backs, prayer parchments and prayers to the Emperor flowing from the statues surface. A prayer is incanted by the Statue in the name of the Emperor, then it will lead away the youth with the largest tooth, leaving the other broken and exhausted, out of the town gates and into the awaiting sky chariots, where he will feel warmth for the first time.

Combat Doctrine

T

he Brother Aeternus fight with cold calculated precision, selecting targets carefully, assessing all dangers and reacting aptly to all comers, attacking with such fluidity it is hard for any opponent to direct a worthwhile defence. Believing that to be the Emperors wrath is to be a controlled weapon of deadly accuracy and flexibility is what it means to be a true Astartes. The crudity of the brute force and raw aggression of brother chapters or the reliance of strict combat doctrines used by others has no place in the Brothers Aeternus combat procedures. To believe that the Emperors wrath would be so unsubtle and so stifled by doctrine is an anathema to its commanders.

The Brothers Aeternus were key in the destruction of the secessionist forces in the Tarien Sector, Their tactics needed to be more subtle as they were not fighting a war against traditional enemies but a war against opponents that could blend into the populace. Where some chapters would have committed to the utter destruction of a populace to route out their enemies, the Inquisition guided the Brothers Aeternus into the correct use of force. With many of the sub-sectors on the brink of rebellion, a show of force would add fuel to the secessionists propaganda that the "Imperium cared not for it's people.", which would lead to more sub-sectors joining their cause. Whilst this would ultimately just prolong their defeat, the Inquisition deigned it necessary to prevent more corruption, and only a more fluid warfare would bring the vagabonds back into Imperial rule and show the populace the Imperium "cared" for its innocent law abiding citizens. The Brothers Aeternus executed there war with a subtlety seldom seen in an Astartes chapter and it received many praises from its Inquisitorial allies. In fact the chapter still maintain close bonds with the Inquisition, well as close as one could ever want to be with them.

Organisation

T

he Brothers Aeternus follow the standard doctrines set out in the codex with regards to organisation. They maintain 10 companies with standard codex layout. They do however use a lot more flexible approach to combat groups, interchanging squads from different companies to suit battlefield needs. Spreading tactics between companies by seconding Brothers from different companies to train on new tactics used in a specialist warzone.

Beliefs

T

he Brothers Aeternus believe themselves to be the sword of the Emperor, their grandfather, the Pinnacle of Humanity. But a man. They do not worship Him as anything other than the father of humanity. Recruits taken from Aeris Tertius are taught that they have proven their purity to the Emperor in their trial and now they are needed to be his sword or his hammer, and in this it is required of them to be flexible and they are required to commit acts they believe the Emperor would require of them in order to preserve His vision of the Imperium, and with that the luxuries of morality and religion have no place, only a clear and focused mind, free from doubt and questions, can fulfil the role demanded of them.


These beliefs come from the first of the Chapter, they saw the potential recruits religious fervour and needed a way to harness that passion. They developed psycho-indoctrination that would steer their minds towards where the Chapter needed them to be. As the original command of the chapter died out and were replaced this belief that they were pure and were now to be fluid and have thoughts as clear as the crystal teeth lining the walls of the chapter reclusiam, the new commanders spread this among the troops. It successfully turned them away from violence for religious sake as they now believe once they are selected for the chapters scout company they are whole and able to start their dedication to the Emperor proper.


The Brothers Aeternus are pure of thought and focus, unshackled from some of their cousins dusty tomes and dogmas, but from the outside this purity of though and belief that they are untouchable by taint is carefully watched. The Inquisition still maintains a vigilant eye over the Aeris Tertius, lest they start to believe they are the Emperors will and therefore no one can stop them performing His wrath as they see fit, free of morality, with the ruthless efficiency and single minded focus that only an Astartes Chapter can achieve.

Geneseed

The Brothers Aeternus geneseed is descended Roboute Guilliman, from the gene stock taken from an unknown Ultramarine successor.

Battle Cry

We are His Will....
All: HIS WILL IS DEATH.

The Models

[Andrew J]

I like the ideas you have here. Overall well written and flows well. Like the color scheme and chapter symbol. Couple things I noticed.

 

Aeris Tertius is the 6th planet in the Kyrallos System. Kyrallos is the main inhabited planet of the 12 planet system, sitting 5th in line from the star. It has a large Mechanicus and trading presence due to its super rich ore fields, but these are little more than slave camps and penal colonies filled with ne'er do wells from around the sector. Apart from the mineral wealth of the planet it holds no real power or importance, but does provide an excellent resupply route from forge worlds further a field. The only other planet that is inhabited in the system is Aeris Tertius, a large ice ball on the outer reaches of the systems inhabitable planets.

 

You mention aeris tertius twice to describe 2 different planets? This is what I thought when I first read it. I had to read it like 3 times to figure it out. It is confusing a little bit. Try talking about one planet first and only mention its name, then talk about the other one. You jump back and forth.

 

Also in this:

The Brother Aeternus fight with cold calculated precision, selecting targets fluidly, assessing all dangers and reacting aptly to all comers, attacking with such fluidity it is hard for any opponent to direct a worthwhile defence. Believing that to be the Emperors wrath is to be a controlled weapon of deadly accuracy and fluidity is what it means to be a true Astartes.

You use fluidity 3 times in 2 sentences. Thesaurus.com is a good friend in times like this.

 

I also dont know if you have a central theme or want them to have a heavily defined theme. I personally like it but you may not. If you do have one I cannot pick it out, which makes me think generic marines. I noticed in your pics you have an aztec temple on one of the banners. Well painted btw. But it doesnt seem to fit what I have read so far.

 

Let me know if you would like some help with that. Otherwise keep it up! Good painting!

[Heru2012]

I like the ideas you have here. Overall well written and flows well. Like the color scheme and chapter symbol. Couple things I noticed.

 

You mention aeris tertius twice to describe 2 different planets? This is what I thought when I first read it. I had to read it like 3 times to figure it out. It is confusing a little bit. Try talking about one planet first and only mention its name, then talk about the other one. You jump back and forth.

 

Also in this:

The Brother Aeternus fight with cold calculated precision, selecting targets fluidly, assessing all dangers and reacting aptly to all comers, attacking with such fluidity it is hard for any opponent to direct a worthwhile defence. Believing that to be the Emperors wrath is to be a controlled weapon of deadly accuracy and fluidity is what it means to be a true Astartes.

You use fluidity 3 times in 2 sentences. Thesaurus.com is a good friend in times like this.

 

I also dont know if you have a central theme or want them to have a heavily defined theme. I personally like it but you may not. If you do have one I cannot pick it out, which makes me think generic marines. I noticed in your pics you have an aztec temple on one of the banners. Well painted btw. But it doesnt seem to fit what I have read so far.

 

Let me know if you would like some help with that. Otherwise keep it up! Good painting!

 

Cheers for the feedback, I see the problems! Thanks for pointing that out, as you can see it was a 3 in the morning job so my brain was a little frazzled. I will fix those points mentioned! As for the aztec temple, it was supposed to represent the Golden Throne and the halo around it, same with the chapter symbol. I think I will push to more of a theme that they believe themselves to be the Emperors right hand. May be a focus on librarians using visions and the Emperors Tarot to divine their next steps, whilst unfortunately this can bring them into direct conflict with other Imperials and they have been close to declared heretics several times but their ties with the Inquisition have just about kept them on the right side of the Imperium. They've taken their autonomy a little too far and whilst the originators of the chapter were focussed, the newer initiates seem to be retaining that sense that they are the righteous and pure, and if the Tarot of the libbys visions tell them to murder a planet, they've got to do it. Something along those lines.

 

What do you think? As I said it was only a first draft, so it was just laying the foundations to build on.

[Andrew J]

Not a bad way to go. I would try to stay away from the inquisition play though, that tends to be WAY over done and is almost a cop out. Chapters tend to do many things on their own, so it would not suprise me if no one outside the chapter knew about their preference for reading tarots. The only times I could see it being a problem would be when they denied people's request for support. They would never have to give a reason for it and could pretty much do what they want.

 

The Inquisition still maintains a vigilant eye over the Aeris Tertius, lest they start to believe they are the Emperors will and therefore no one can stop them performing His wrath as they see fit, free of morality, with the ruthless efficiency and single minded focus that only an Astartes Chapter can achieve.

I feel like this goes against everything that a chapter is supposed to be. Every one of them is supposed to be the emperors wrath.

 

The Silver Skulls chapter is very similar to this idea, if not the exact same. You could look into them on the Chapters of Legend page. They have a great thread going for them. Also since you are just starting out maybe you could come up with another theme.

 

I think you could go more with the emperors right hand theme in saying something about how they pretty much do their own thing, following their librarian's tarots that they see as the emperors word.

 

Other than that I dont have much more thoughts. I dont really know where to go to help you more. I find it helpful if you make a list of things you want your chapter to have/do/believe and then flesh it out from there with chapter history. I also find using real world examples helps to come up with a more well defined chapter or some additional ideas for background/beliefs.

 

Hope that helps.

[NightrawenII]

The Brothers Aeternus were key in the destruction of the secessionist forces in the Tarien Sector, Their tactics needed to be more subtle as they were not fighting a war against traditional enemies but a war against opponents that could blend into the populace. Where some chapters would have committed to the utter destruction of a populace to route out their enemies, the Inquisition guided the Brothers Aeternus into the correct use of force. With many of the sub-sectors on the brink of rebellion, a show of force would add fuel to the secessionists propaganda that the "Imperium cared not for it's people.", which would lead to more sub-sectors joining their cause. Whilst this would ultimately just prolong their defeat, the Inquisition deigned it necessary to prevent more corruption, and only a more fluid warfare would bring the vagabonds back into Imperial rule and show the populace the Imperium "cared" for its innocent law abiding citizens. The Brothers Aeternus executed there war with a subtlety seldom seen in an Astartes chapter and it received many praises from its Inquisitorial allies. In fact the chapter still maintain close bonds with the Inquisition, well as close as one could ever want to be with them.

What I gather from the text... The presence of Marines is pointless.

The dissident-problem goes through the filter of Inquisitorial agents, Officio Assassinorum, Adeptus Arbites and Planetary Defence Forces before is handed over to Astartes and at this point everything is on its way to hell.

 

Really, it's like calling mechanised brigade to deal with burglars.

 

May be a focus on librarians using visions and the Emperors Tarot to divine their next steps, whilst unfortunately this can bring them into direct conflict with other Imperials and they have been close to declared heretics several times but their ties with the Inquisition have just about kept them on the right side of the Imperium.

Inquisition are the guys, who declare others heretics. Hmmm...

 

 

~NightrawenII.