The Occult Brotherhood

[Praetor of Calth]

Hey, Praetor here. This is my DIY fluff for my puritst Word Bearer Warband, "The Occult Brotherhood" (Occult means to deal with supernatural beings ie; Daemons) This will be my showcase thread for all the things I build and paint related to The Brotherhood. I have decided to finally pick up CSM in light of the new incoming (rumoured) Codex.

 

The Occult Brotherhood

 

The Occult Brotherhood is a warband forever raiding and pillaging the worlds of "The Imperium of Man", they have brought ruin in destruction to those who dare opose them since the days of the great scouring. Although the warband is no longer considered a part of the Word Bearers legion, they still maintain many of the traditions and ideals of their proginators. At the head of The Brotherhood stands a warcouncil of battle brothers, sworn in oaths of blood and steel, the warcouncil mimic the infamous "Dark Council" of the Word Bearers legion in some repects albiet on a much smaller scale. The Occult Brotherhood can only lay claim to 3 warships; the ancient Heresy Era Battle Barge, Despoiler Class, "The Primordial Truth", the Charibdys Class Grand Cruiser "Raptorus Hound" and the more recently captured Battle Barge "Bleeding Scourge", taken by force from The "Aurora Chapter" though a series of brutal and bloody boarding actions on the turn of the millenium.

 

The bulk of The Brotherhood's Warriors are made up of warriors swearing fealty to the chapter of "The Unhallowed Heart", however among the ranks of The Brotherhood their also brothers still claiming membership to the chapters of "The Wrought Chalice" who swore oaths of frealty to The Brotherhood millenia before. Although all the warriors in the wabnad for the same unified purpose, their is a a notable secular divide among the ranks of The Brotherhood, the once famed lodges are known to be spread throughout the warband, each following their own dark and secretive agendas, one of The Brotherhood's chaplains at the head of each of them.

 

 

 

Structure and Traditions of The Occult Brotherhood

 

The Fellowship

 

At the head of The Brotherhood stands a warcouncil of warlords, preachers and other mysterious figures. Every 17th Terran day the fellowship gathers on the bridge of the "Primordial Truth, discussing and meditating over The Brotherhood's next course of action. Each member of The Fellowship is a brutal and viscous fighter in his own right, a experienced fighter that has earned their posistion in the warband through curelty, malice and betrayal.

 

The Ra'útvaldra "The Chosen Few"

 

The Ra'útvaldra are one of the smallest, yet perhaps the most powerful, of all the lodges in The Brotherhood, the possessed warriors of the lodge are both repsected and feared by their brethen given to the immense power they hold at their fingertips. Each aspirant of "The Ra'útvaldra" bears the chalice brand of their lodge somewhere on their armour, a testament to the goblets of tainted daemon blood each aspirant must drink before being granted the honour of becoming one with of the many inhabitants of the warp.

 

Coitere

The Brotherhood is made up of hundreds of groups of warriors known as "Coiteres", each Coitere is made up of 11 battle brothers of The Brotherhood, led by a Aspiring Champion. In each Coitere one battle brother is granted the great honour of carrying a ancient revered banner of the XVII Legion, only members of the lodge of "The Annointed" have ever been granted this honour. As to what the members of "The Annointed" did to recieve this great honour went un-recorded in the annals of the warband.

 

Sacred Seals

The Brotherhood employ a honoury mark similar to that of the adeptus astartes purity seals known as "Sacred Seals". On each seal, one of the many declorations from the "Book of Lorgar" are handscribed apon againg parchment by their lodge Chaplains, before being affixed to the warrior's armour with black wax, rather than the traditional red commonly seen in their loyalist counterparts.

 

Modeling Ideas/Prospects

 

Chosen

-A fairly obvious one I think most of you will agree, I'll be modelling my chosen with dark angel robes. Also, I have decided on a fluff reason for why they wear their robes which I'll reveal in the future. (probally when I make some chosen models)

 

Basing

- I'll be using FW Zone Mortalis Bases for everything I build for this army, I just love the look and feel of them.

 

Sacred Seals (Purity Seals)

- See Fluff

 

Scavanged Armour

- I'm going to be doing a serious amount of kit-bashing of these guys, expect FW and GW pre heresy bits mixed in with standard Chaos/Loyalist plastics.

 

God Specific Units

-I have a fair few ideas for some counts as models for the cult units. Beserkers for eg. will be standard marines mixed in with the black templar tabards among other things. I think fluffwise these "cult" units will be one of the countless lodges in The Brotherhood.

 

That's it for now, I'am currently working on a test model for my army, complete with GW WB pad and a ZM brass etch base, so expect to see pics in the near future. (well I've actually finished it, I'm just waiting for some decent lighting :)) And finally, I will be coming up with background for all the "leaders" in the warband, however this will only happen when I make a model for the character in question. As with my "heroes" I prefer to have the model tell the story rather than me try and come up with something from the ground up.

 

Please tell me what you think below, any questions/comments or critism would be much appreciated. Cheers, Praetor. :)

[space wolf]

I really like it. Its kind of how I picture the WB's

[Praetor of Calth]

I really like it. Its kind of how I picture the WB's

 

Thankyou very much good sir. I wanted to keep to that traditional Word Bearers theme with the warband themselves to create a nice baseline I could work from, and then add character to them with the lodges and the like. :tu: