The Steel Lords (WIP)

[Thargrim_Bloodwolf]

Thought that the concept of a hugely tank based chapter would make a change from the norm.

 

Origins

 

The Steel Lords can trace their illustrious legacy back to the glorious days of the Great Crusade and the dark days of the Horus heresy. During this age of heroes and heretics the 18th company of the Imperial Fists were a furious mechanised fighting force under the leadership of the much decorated Captain Arnor Sylvanus, a skilled tactician who specialised in the organisation of highly mobile mechanised assaults.

 

During the Great Crusade the 18th conquered countless world in the name of Dorn and the Emperor, becoming famed for their vicious and decisive use of the highly durable tanks available to the Astartes legions. In one of their most glorious victories the Sylvanus coordinated the total annihilation of a Greenskin fortress through mass vindicator fire followed by a thorough scouring by rhino mounted sqauds and devastators armed with heavy bolters. During this the Captain himself joined the final destruction of their xenos foe, clothed in his highly ornate terminator plate he strode amongst the ruins, crushing the bodies of any greenskins he found with his huge thunder hammer Star Smighter.

 

However, as the Great Crusade came to an end and the Imperial Fists were recalled to Terra to serve as the Emperor's Praetorians Sylvanus and the Steel 18th, as they were now nicknamed, grew restless wanting to take to the field of battle again. It was due to this need for war that they were relatively pleased about the outbreak of the Horus Heresy and relished the opportunity to go to war again. before the final battle at Terra they ran interference against the traitor legions in an attempt to slow their progress to mankind's home. However, as time went on it became obvious that Horus would reach Terra and left with no other option the battered but unbroken 18th returned to aid in the fortification of the Imperial palace.

 

When Horus' traitor legions reached Terra and besieged the palace the 18th made the most of their tank skills with their land raiders, vindicators and razorbacks punished the invaders for every step with massed fire power. Sylvanus himself wa always at the forefront with his land raider and terminator honour guard, marching into the enemy soldiers while roaring speeches of hatred. By the end of the battle every one of the 18th had had their armour scratched almost bare of paint in the fierce fighting leaving them as steely as their vehicles and maintaining their reputation.

 

However, the 18th remained with the Imperial Fists even after the second founding and the legions long fight in the Iron Cage only breaking away in the 3rd founding with the Executioners after a dispute between Sylvanus and the current chapter master who constantly admonished him for his reckless charges into the enemies lines. So during the third founding the Steel Lords came to be, taking Cordus VI as their home, a bustling manufactorum world that made tanks which the newly fledged chapter would use to become the armoured fist of Dorn that the 18th had once been.

 

Homeworld

 

Taken by the Imperial Fists during the later years of the Great Crusade, Cordus VI was once a world held in the grip of the greenskins until their total decimation by Dorn's sons. By the 41st millenium the planet is a brutally efficient manufacturing world, rich in natural resources like promethoium and various ores, that churns out tanks and guns for both the imperial guard and the world's astartes rulers, allowing them to maintain their preferred mechanised fighting style.

 

Unfortunately the fact that the planet is a manufactorum world means that there is near constant competition between the Mechanicus and the Steel Lords for the produce of the myriad factories that dot the planet's surface. This has, more than once, led to factory owners attempting to play the Mechanicus and Steel Lords off against each other to ensure that they recieve the best price for their goods. Sadly for the more ignorant businessmen the Steel Lords are very quick to anger and this has resulted in those dealers who play around iwth the chapter for too long being made an example of by the chapter. This can take many forms, from public executions to basic humiliation the Steel Lords will see to it that those who seek to exploit them will never do so again.

 

The vast majority of the planet's surface, as previously mentioned, is devoted to factories and hive cities for the legion of workers who operate the machine in the plants. On the other hand, the uncolonised areas of the planet are desolate rad wastes dotted with mines for the precious ore that the planet has plenty of. The radioactive areas are the last vestiges of the Imperial Fists' campaign against the orks in the great crusade when they bombarded the wandering bands of ork on the planet's plains from orbit to thin the horde. These radioactive deserts make perfect training grounds for the neophytes and battle brothers of the chapters to ensure that they are prepared for the harshest battle fields for what could be worse than a radioactive wasteland full of fissures for preparing marines for war?

 

Cordus VI has very little fauna or flora to speak of due to the highly radioactive nature of the world even 10,000 years after the invasion. However, that which does survive on the desolate world is hardy and vicious in the extreme resulting in the majority of the creatures populating the world being insectoid like the waste strider, akin to a horse sized cockroache with 2 foot long mandibles, or the hell wasp whose name pretty much speaks for itself. The herbivorous animals of this world, smaller bettle like insects, rely on the plentiful lichens and mosses that survive out in the desert on the minimals water and sunlight that is available and as such are very hardy.

 

Let me know what you think, more will be done at a later date (If I remember).

[Ace Debonair]

Thought that the concept of a hugely tank based chapter would make a change from the norm.

 

I'm all for a 3rd founding 'Fists successor (old chapter, helps explain how they'd amass a bunch of tanks :tu: ) that likes to employ excessive vehicular force. Sound concept! :D

 

With regards to what you've got written; Up to now, I have to say there isn't much to go on - there's basically nothing about your chapter, and a few paragraphs about the 18th company of the Imperial Fists. :D

 

A good starting point, I've found, is to ask yourself 'Who are the X?'

Swap X for the names of some Chapters, like the Ultramarines or the Space Wolves, and then fit the answer to that question into one sentence.

 

Then, ask yourself: Who are the Steel Lords?

 

Once you answer that, you should start to get a feel for their personality - and that's what makes one Chapter stand out from another. ^_^

[Exark]

First I want to note that I'm new to IA's (still writing my first), however just one thing I want to point out fluff wise

 

Razorbacks were not in use in the Great Crusade/Horus Heresy era, they didn't appear until M37 (extrapolated from page 77 of C:SM)

 

However the article is interesting, good luck

[Aqui]

First I want to note that I'm new to IA's (still writing my first), however just one thing I want to point out fluff wise

 

Razorbacks were not in use in the Great Crusade/Horus Heresy era, they didn't appear until M37 (extrapolated from page 77 of C:SM)

 

However the article is interesting, good luck

 

If this is the case then it doesn't mean that over the course of time, that the Steel Lords don't gain access to such tanks finding them suitable for their purposes :P

 

One thing that occurs to me. The Imperial Fists are renowned for being experts at siege (as in keeping enemies out). Using Tanks would indicate that the Steel Lords have decided to be experts at the very art that would bring Fortifications low. Why have they followed this route? Circumstances? Or did they see the Imperium having a distinct lack of knowledge in this area (as in other parts of the Imperium found it hard to be able to crack enemy defences) and decided to step up to fill that gap?

 

If you have a think about this, it might better give the reader an idea about what the Steel Lords' mindset is (how they think, their dogma etc)