Imperial response to an in-chapter chaos schism

[Naz'kadun]

A bit of advice needed for some fluff I'm working on. There's a 6000 word essay in for next week too but that's by the by.

 

In your opinion, what would the Imperium at large's response be to sizeable portion of a loyalist chapter falling to chaos? I'm thinking 40-60 chaos-loyalist sort of split, followed by an in-chapter civil war with decent levels of survivors on both sides, with the renegades escaping into the warp as they always seem to. What would happen to the portion of the chapter left behind who fought for the Emperor against their fallen brothers? Unless i've glazed over something there doesn't seem to be much of a precedent since just after the Heresy (Fall of Caliban), with schisms being over a relatively benign difference of opinion on the Imperium (Sons of Medusa), a very small portion of the chapter going rogue (Sons of Guilliman), a belated change of heart (Some of Huron's allies at Badab) or effectively the whole chapter taking the plunge (Astral Claws etc).

 

Would my surviving loyalists be executed anyway, or would the rest of the chapter be broken up and sent to serve elsewhere? Would the loyalists be reformed into a new chapter, given a penitent task, just let be after Inquisitorial scrutiny or something else entirely?

[Lysimachus]

Presumably this schism has taken place out in the open and can't be kept within the Chapter? Probably with those numbers fallen to Chaos it couldn't be hidden anyway. Well, lets see, the loyalist/traitor split is fairly even, so they're already down to half numbers. Then those two factions go to war against each other, which is going to be nasty. Nothing more brutal and determined than a fight between brothers betrayed.

So you're probably looking at serious losses on both sides.

 

Getting to the point, how many Marines will the Chapter have left to rebuild from? Not many. Hence from the point of view of the Imperium, always suspicious at the best of times, is it worthwhile to put in the resources to help the loyalists rebuild? Not likely, in fact they're probably going to be tarred with the same brush, guilty by association, etc.

 

I'd guess that if the remnants were allowed to live, it would only be long enough to be sent on a (suicidal) penitent crusade, giving them a way to die with honour rather than be executed at of hand. Given the mindset of the Astartes generally, I think most Chapters would be quite happy with that.

[Naz'kadun]

It's taking place in a system at the southern limits of Tempestus - relatively out of the way, but not far enough so to hide open heresy and all-out war on an established chapter's homeworld with the loss of hundreds of Astartes. With the current draft of the fluff as it is, we're looking at roughly 200 surviving loyalists and X surviving traitors, routed by a loyalist task force before they could finish the job with massive casualties amongst civilians.

[Lord Ravenhood]

if you read the background for the deathwatch they entitle loyalist SM from heretic chapters to renounce there chapter (painting over their armors chapter badge) becoming black sheilds they permantly serve in the deathwatch not just assigned to it for a term of service serving in high risk missions or as advance scouts moving form planet to planet for signs of xenos threat, as for large groups perhaps they are tested and intergrated back into chaters they share a geneseed with or tested for grey knights training scince the resisted chaos when the rest of the chapter turned

[Andrew J]

I would think penitent crusade. That is a large number of the chapter going over to chaos. The only way the chapter would not be totally wiped out is if somehow some survivors made it out of the penitent crusade. But even then they probably would be sent to the deathwatch as the numbers of the chapter would be so small as to not worth rebuilding the chapter.

[Olis]

I would agree with the general consensus - a penitent crusade would be the option given to the chapter in question for allowing things to get so out of hand. The objective of the crusade would be up to you, I'd think, although a hunt for their fallen brethren would be the obvious choice.

[Naz'kadun]

Sounds good to me. Thanks everyone, just need to write it up now!

[Grey Hunter Ydalir]

as for large groups perhaps they are tested and intergrated back into chaters they share a geneseed with or tested for grey knights training scince the resisted chaos when the rest of the chapter turned

 

As an aside, I highly doubt, to the point of flat disbelief that any loyalist chapter would accept them into their ranks regardless of geneseed.

 

Secondly, Grey Knights are created in much the same way as regular Space Marines are, they aren't trained from recruits of other chapters, they have their own geneseed.

[Fullbrook]

I seem to remember in one of the souldrinker books they came up against a dreadnought who had remained loyal but i could be making that up. if im right then it was the warrior poet from their past who wrote the book on how they should fight seem to remember him being pretty annoyed.

[Alkana]

There's also a chance that the rest of the Imperium doesn't know about it. It's a big galaxy, and military units are always going missing or taking casualties.

[Deiros]

You can basically create your own Dark Angels version were the chapter is seeking to hunt down the traitors and explained they came under attack by a great numbers chaos worshipers.

 

This allows you to give a good story to your Loyalist and Possible create your own Chaos Space Marine warband.

[Culebras]

A bit of advice needed for some fluff I'm working on. There's a 6000 word essay in for next week too but that's by the by.

 

In your opinion, what would the Imperium at large's response be to sizeable portion of a loyalist chapter falling to chaos? I'm thinking 40-60 chaos-loyalist sort of split, followed by an in-chapter civil war with decent levels of survivors on both sides, with the renegades escaping into the warp as they always seem to. What would happen to the portion of the chapter left behind who fought for the Emperor against their fallen brothers? Unless i've glazed over something there doesn't seem to be much of a precedent since just after the Heresy (Fall of Caliban), with schisms being over a relatively benign difference of opinion on the Imperium (Sons of Medusa), a very small portion of the chapter going rogue (Sons of Guilliman), a belated change of heart (Some of Huron's allies at Badab) or effectively the whole chapter taking the plunge (Astral Claws etc).

 

Would my surviving loyalists be executed anyway, or would the rest of the chapter be broken up and sent to serve elsewhere? Would the loyalists be reformed into a new chapter, given a penitent task, just let be after Inquisitorial scrutiny or something else entirely?

 

As 40-60 marines represent less than a Company, I would start there. First off, the situation would depend on several factors, including did the marines all come from the same company or across the entire chapter? was the chapter leadership complicit in the treason? who led the treasonous marines and what were the circumstances of their treason?

 

If the traitors come from a single company, say deployed by itself somewhere in the galaxy, then punishment would fall first of all on the Company commander and/or leaders. If this was a bad fault, he might be severly punished, exiled, or handed over to the inquisition to be turned into a servitor or something. it all depends on the nature of the chapter and how egregious the fault was. If the Commander survives, his honor would be permanently stained until each and every one of the traitors is dead.

 

If the company commander led the chapter into chaos himself, then any survivors of the chapter that remained loyal would likely face recrimination and fault but would not face immediate execution. They would most likely embark on a series of missions to restore the lost honor of the company, recover relics, etc. possibly with the help of another company, but once again, the survivors would face suspicion and have to work hard to earn redemption.

 

If the traitors came from multiple companies all deployed across a single battlefield, than all the companies involved are to blame. The senior-most commander would face the harshest punishment and the rest would need to work very hard to erase the stain of dishonor.

 

The worst case scenarion is that marines from across all 10 companies go to chaos. If this happens, alot of it depends on how widely it is known. If the secret is hidden, then there will be an effort to keep the info confined to a small band (think dark angels) and they will have the responsibility of hunting down traitors. Sending n entire chapter after 5 to 6% or its members is excessive and only the most fanatical chapter could attempt such a feat without drawing undo attention from other organizations (like the inquisition)

 

if the Inquisition finds out, they may let the chapter off lightly and only execute the entire chapter command structure for incompetence. alternately, the chapter might loose its chapter homeworld or have to engage in a penitent crusade. neither case is very appealing.

 

In general, the more draconian the punishment, the more fitting it is for the 40k universe.

[Deiros]

He meant 40-60 % of the chapter that means 600 traitors with 400 loyalists left if the Chapter had 1000 total. So it's not a company but the Chapter as a whole.

 

Your ideas are pretty good tough, and I might steal it for the creation of the Dragon Warriors lol, but I am interested in Dark Tusks also.

[Ecritter]

There's also a chance that the rest of the Imperium doesn't know about it. It's a big galaxy, and military units are always going missing or taking casualties.

 

You must have missed the part where he said an "Loyalist Task Force" routed those that had turned to Chaos.

[Alkana]

You must have missed the part where he said an "Loyalist Task Force" routed those that had turned to Chaos.

 

Yes. Yes I did. In that case I'd say purity testing, maybe a few executions/scoldings, a penitent crusade at worst if they're genuinely loyal. They'd probably have to hunt the traitors as part of their punishment.

[Deiros]

I think they would be sent into a sort of crusade, to hunt down their treacherous brethren. The can still recruit and such, but they would be forever searching for those heathens were ever they may be. Which makes you a perfect excuse to put them anywhere in the galaxy as they hunt them down and search for clues of their whereabouts.

 

The other ones is if the forces are to few than the chapter will be scrapped and the survivors integrated to a "parent" chapter or maybe even the Deathwatch as permanent normal brothers or as black shields whichever the case (individual basis most likely).