The Emperor's Fury, WIP

[Joasht]

*Writer’s Notes: This fluff is for my 13-year old DIY chapter, and ultimately reflects my real-life experiences and preferences, with almost every bit of the fluff being inspired by a true story. I'm typically terrible at writing fiction, so I'd appreciate any feedback. Thanks!*

 

Origins

The Emperor’s Fury is a successor chapter of the Ultramarines, founded during the 24th founding. According to chapter records, two Strike Cruisers were dispatched to the Anaris system to set up a successor chapter using the three human-populated planets of Primas, Aeonia and Gargen as a source of recruits. However, upon arrival, it was evident that Eldar pirates had recently gained a foothold on the system and both Strike Cruisers, being ill-designed for space combat, were rapidly incapacitated by the aliens and forced to make an emergency landing on the planet of Primas. The battle on land lasted six months, culminating with the defeat of the Eldar leader and a rout of his surviving forces, although at considerable losses. This would later come to be known as the First War for Primas.

 

The victory ushered in nearly a century of peace, buying precious time for the chapter to build itself from the ground up and within two centuries, the chapter had nearly recovered its losses from the First War. Although a comparatively young chapter, the ruthless effectiveness of the chapter rapidly became known throughout the neighbouring sectors, having participated in countless battles and numerous campaigns against every foe imaginable. Even so, Anaris had always been plagued by the Eldar, pirates and Craftworld alike, who were seemingly drawn towards the system.

 

The Eldar are masters of surprise and are often unpredictable, thus requiring the chapter to retain at least a single Company to defend the system at all times. Of these however, one Craftworld proved to be the most tenacious of them all: the Terga-Dare. Little is known about them, save that years prior to the chapter’s arrival on Primas, the craftworld was nearly decimated when nearly half their number, including the entire Striking Scorpion enclave inexplicably went mad, leading to a brutal internal civil war that resulted in the loss of the entire Aspect and catastrophic destruction to the other Aspects. Guardians therefore became the mainstay of the army, as Aspect Warriors took far longer to train and replenish.

 

The Eldar race is not one to commit their resources carelessly, and the Terga-Dare are no different. While their actions and seemingly unusual ferocity had them initially labelled as pirates instead of typical Craftworld Eldar, the reason for the unusual Eldar activity in the system became apparent in 920.M41 with the discovery of an ancient complex buried deep underneath the Shifting Plains of Aeonia, believed to have been built by the Old Ones untold millennia ago.

 

Although the Eldar threat was ever-present since their defeat during the First Battle For Primas, the attacks were rarely of great intensity and relied more on fast surgical strikes, for which their race is known for. However, almost immediately after the complex was unearthed the Eldar struck with a force greater than that of the First Battle – many believe that nearly the entire Craftworld was committed to this battle.

 

Unfortunately for the aliens, this time they were not faced with a small desperate band of defenders – they faced the entire might of the chapter backed up by the local planetary guard. The battle lasted months, costing both sides tremendous losses although the Space Marines once again proved victorious. The Eldar were never heard of again, with reports that the last survivors had fled through warpspace. Although at the time this was taken as a sign of absolute victory, the victory was fairly short-lived as within several decades rumors of a tendril of the Hive Fleet Leviathan started surfacing, even as the chapter was still recovering from the Second War. Perhaps, the Eldar left knowing that a greater threat was approaching, or maybe their intent was to use the Tyranids to win the war they could not win with their own hands. Only as time unfolds would the truth be known.

*WRITERS NOTES: The Terga-Dare are my cousin’s Eldar, against which I played most of my earliest games against. The name of the system and the setting was based of a campaign we ran about 10 years ago, involving the “Extinguisher of Stars” in the Anaris system.*

 

 

Homeworld

The Anaris system is located at the border of the Eastern Fringe closest to Holy Terra, comprising of a single star and ten planets, three of which – Primas, Aeonia and Gargen – are populated by humans with each planet their own government, armies, industries and cultures. Although greatly respected, the chapter generally does not interfere with the politics and governing of the system.

 

Primas is a verdant world that resembles Holy Terra many millennia ago with its land mass divided into five continents and hundreds of islands. It is mainly an agricultural world, supplying food to the other two planets, and a trading hub for humans from other nearby systems. This has made it the centre of commerce and politics of the system for many centuries primarily due to the reliance of Aeonia and Gargen on the crucial food supplies of Primas. The largest continent of Collo makes up for the nearly half of the planet’s land mass, with great rivers criss-crossing much of the landscape. At the heart of this great continent however lies the Great Wasteland, an inhospitable environment spanning thousands of miles in all directions, cut off from most water supplies. It is here at the chapter has made its primary Fortress-Monastery, with nearly half of the chapter’s recruits coming from Primas. Although Primas has become an increasingly commercial planet in the past few centuries, most of the populace are still steeped in their warrior traditions of old, harking back to the times before the coming of the Space Marines, where they had to defend themselves against ravenous hordes of aliens and pirates that had come to pillage their rich lands. Nearly every child is trained in some form of martial arts or self-defence from a very young age, and take great pride in their life-long pursuit of honing their skills.

 

Aeonia is a deathworld constantly plagued by natural and unnatural disasters of every form of and manner, and inhabited by some of the most deadly organisms in the system. The locals are therefore nomadic, and travel in tightly-knit tribes. Although recruits from this planet are less common than that of Primas and Gargen due to the poor survival rate of humans born into these unforgiving conditions, they make for exceptional warriors when trained and are thus a vital resource of recruits for the chapter.

 

Gargen is the largest of the three planets, and is an almost inhospitable planet of stone and rocky mountains, compounded by scorching heat due to its proximity to the star. As a result, the people of Gargen are thus exceptionally tough and rugged. It is a planet rich in minerals and raw materials, and serves as an industrial world that supplies the other planets with its manufacture and materials in exchange for otherwise scarce food and water.

 

Combat Doctrine

The chapter’s constant conflict with the Eldar has also lead to an emphasis on speed and mobility, which is in turn employed to rapidly deliver maximum force at surgical precision; often up close. This has caused a heavier emphasis to be placed on melee combat training, combining the methods in the Codex Astartes with the ancient martial arts of Primas. The chapter’s combat doctrine has also led to the vast utilization of bikes, jump packs, drop pods and transports, and it is rare that any unit would be deployed without at least one such form of increased mobility. Indeed, static elements are often eschewed unless used primarily for defensive roles.

 

 

Chapter Organization

Much of the chapter’s general organization remains similar to the dictates of the Codex Astartes, but the chapter maintains a significantly larger number of Assault Squads, Bikes, Land Speeders and transports. The Second Company functions as the main battle company, consisting primarily of Assault Marines, bikes and Land Speeders which act as both the spearhead and scalpel of almost any assault launched by the chapter. It is very rare, if ever, that the chapter takes to battle without at least a number of members from the Second Company.

 

 

The chapter also maintains an enlarged Reclusiam, which also doubles as a training ground for the elite Reclusiam strike force – the Exemplars, mirroring the ancient warrior traditions of the local populace where the spiritual head of a tribe was also amongst its foremost warriors. From their early stages of training, each recruit is monitored closely by the Chaplains and those that display exceptional ferocity and aptitude are inducted into the chapter’s Reclusiam to receive separate training from their brethren. This training is far more perilous, with many dying during the process and many more failing and being returned to the chapter’s standard training regime. Those that succeed however are forever changed and don the black power armor of their order, mirroring the armour worn by Chaplains. They are occasionally assigned to squads on the eve of battle, provoking their brethren to higher feats of zealous carnage in combat. In rare and dire circumstances they can act as a single unit consisting of only Exemplars, with their contagious zeal driving one another almost to the tipping point of sheer bloodlust, only balanced by their exceptional mental conditioning and indoctrination. Only after an Exemplar has proven himself time and time again, may he be promoted to the official rank of Chaplain.

 

*WRITERS NOTES: This was based on my actual real life preference of vehicles and jump packs in order to close the gap with the enemy. I personally dislike slow units. The Exemplars have always been my Death Company – I’ve used converted Khorne Berserker models since 1999, and I seriously doubt I’d ever change that because, well, for one, I’d have to buy more models and throw away my current models. I did, however, improve (IMO) their fluff a little.*

 

 

Beliefs

The chapter’s beliefs are an amalgam of the traits of the people that make up its numbers – the people of Primas a great emphasis on martial prowess and skill; the people of Aeonia are exceptionally tenacious, and the people of Gargen respect discipline and effort. As a result, the Space Marines of the Emperor’s Fury constantly strive to outdo themselves and their forerunners, relentlessly perfecting their art of war with unyielding determination, discipline and tenacity. Although the chapter does not worship the Emperor as a god, they nevertheless venerate the Emperor as a warrior paragon, the golden standard to which their strife for martial excellence is compared against. Their Primarch Roboute Gulliman is similarly given reverence as a mighty warrior and brilliant strategist.

 

 

Geneseed and Implants.

The chapter descended from the Ultramarines, and thus use the same stable geneseed and implants.

 

 

Battle Cry

“None can stand before us!”

[Dosjetka]

This is good. Very good. There are few spelling and grammatical mistakes here and there, the only fluff mistake being that Strike Cruisers are actually formidable warships and are regularly deployed alone with handful of escorts (IIRC).

 

I'll get back to you on the few mistakes tomorrow, after some sleep, but I would like to say one last thing before I go to dreamland: you do not suck at writing fiction :P

 

Cheers,

 

Ludovic

[Messor]

I can only second Brother Ludovic, it looks good, quite well written. Is that their actual paint scheme down in your sig (with burst cannon, I see XD)? If so, I really like that, I'm a big fan of blue.

[Joasht]

Thanks for the positive words! I'll make the amends on the Strike Cruiser fluff ;)

@Messor yep! I actually just uploaded a picture of my Librarian.

[Messor]

How about that, I'd just looked at that fine figure earlier today and not connected the two. He looks epic, nice work.

[Joasht]

Thanks for the kind words!

With some minor tweaks I'll probably repost this in IA format; although I must admit, I'm confused at how to do all the cool borders and stuff, even with reading the sticky. Not the most tech-savvy person ><