IA: Storm Stallions (Under Construction)

[Wade Garrett]

Chapter Name: Storm Stallions

Homworld: Fleet Based

Chapter Colors: Blue and Gray

Chapter Motto: Infirma Protegi Fortis (The weak protected by the strong)

Primarch: Unknown (possibly Ferrous Manus, possibly Roboute Guilliman)

 

The Storm Stallions operate at the fringes of Imperial space, with the mission of protecting outlying Imperial planets from the depredations of xenos or Chaotic raiders.

Unlike some fleet based Chapters such as the Black Templars or the Minotaurs, the Stallions's fleet consists of numerous smaller ships instead of a number of powerful vessels.

Generally speaking, they descend upon a world a world under attack, defend it, spend several months training up PDF and replenishing their supplies as much as possible, then depart. The best and youngest of the PDF trainees are are taken with them, to be inducted into the Chapter at a later date.

 

Because of their nomadic nature, the Stallions suffer from a severe lack of armored vehicles or Terminator armor, with much of the wargear and vehicles they do posses being ramschackle and cobbeled togather in nature. Many times, they are forced to utilize scavenged light Imperial Guard/PDF mark vehicles like the Chimera instead of Astartes brand vehicles like the Rhino and Land Raider.

 

Broadly Codex Compliant, because of their severe lack of equipment the Chapter relies on its Scouts and even unaugmented Iniates much than is suggested by Guilliman's great work, however, they do see a great deal of value in the Codex and and even common troopers are required to study it.

(Crunch note: Iniates and scavenged vehicles = Imperial Guard allies)

 

Because of the vast territory they are expected to patrol, the Stallions are used to operating with a very loose chain of command, with officers selected for their capabiltiy at independent action. Said independent nature, along with a very strong humanitarian streak cultivated by the Chapter is it's role as shield for the forgotten worlds at the Imperium's frontier, has lead to them butting heads with other Imperial organizations and even other Astartes chapters on occasion.

 

Criticisms of the Stallions include a tendency to spread themselves too thin, with scattered forces bleeding and dying tying to save multiple worlds instead of focusing on one single theatre of conflict for an assured win a common litany in the Chapter's histories. Likewise, their fanatic drive to save everyone often leads them to push their vessels to the very brink of destruction as they race from system to system.

 

The Stallions also constantly seek to "upgrade" themselves so they can better protect those under their care. Bionics are not uncommon among Stallion officers (even Astartes flesh requires more "wasted" time for eating, sleeping,etc than machines) and there are verified instances of their Apocetharies constantly brewing ever more powerful and addictive combat drugs to keep Marines in the field and fighting heedless of little things like horrible wounds or a lack of food and water. And those aren't even the most disturbing rumors about what avenues the Chapter Masters may have pursued to make their warriors more perfect protectors.

 

The Chapter Cult venerates all nine Primarchs as a pantheon, with each Primarch having his own specific area of responsiblity to be invoked in. For instance, a group of Marines working on repairing their gear might pray to Ferrous and Vulkan to strengthen their arms, while a Marine about to engage in act of reckless bravery or brave recklessness might throw a request for success to Leman Russ. The Stallions believe that while the Emperor is engaged in the grand design of ensuring humanity's survival across the stars to the point where a single soldier might not be able to get his attention, so it is better to use the Primarchs as an intermediary.

[Wade Garrett]

Idea behind the Storm Stallions:

 

Marines who are genuine white hats who want to protect women, children, and kittens FOR THE NINE! FOR THE EMPEROR...and it is slowly killing them, both at individual and a Chapter level, as they race from one hot zone to another, never able to save every world from raiders or heretics, while mainling combat drugs and using their neophytes as child soldiers just to stay in the fight while their equipment is held togather by duct tape and prayers to Vulkan and Ferrous.

 

They started out as Ultramarine successors, but then I realized the whole "combat drugs, bionics, and possibly other nasty surgeries because regular Astartes just aren't cutting it" sounded a bit similar to the Iron Hands modus operandi, and since I was unable to choose between them I just decided to let it be unknown.

[Messor]

Very interesting. Sounds like a hardy Chapter, and one of the rare ones to treat deify not only the Emperor, but the Primarchs. A Primarch pantheon sounds really cool. I was surprised not to see anything about bikers, but its quite cohesive without any gimmicks. Nice work!

[Wade Garrett]

Glad you like it, Messor.

 

Bikes and whatnot are going to be talked out once I hammer out their combat doctrine. I can certainly see them having a large number of Bike Squads...it fits in with the theme that this Chapter stays mobile, running from place to place to put out fires. I almost gave them genetically modded horses, sort of like what Krieg or Steel Legion rough riders use (representing Bike Squads on table top), but then I figured the Stallions are probably spend a lot of time on their ships moving between systems...Bikes can be locked in the hold and forgotten about. Horses, even death world gene mod cyborg horses require considerably more upkeep.

 

Assault Marines also fit with "move or die" theme, plus close quarters combat with melee weapons uses up a lot less of the Chapter's limited resources than prolonged firefights with bolters blazing.

 

To be honest I'm wavering on having them be Codex compliant or not...depending on how much I want to play up the "drugs and crazy Apocetharies doing crazy science" they might be better off represented as Space Wolves (with Grey Hunters, Wolven, etc. representing "successes" in the field of bionics, drugs, and mad surgery) or Blood Angels (Good news everyone! Thanks to the new injections, Squad Primera is now much more furious in combat! Unfortunately, most of their higher brain functions are offline) With the Chaplains/Sanguinary Priests now being Apocetharies in charge of keeping them juuust drugged enough.

 

For a chapter battle cry, I'm wavering between a sort of generic "For the Nine!" or a block paragraph that lets them use various themed battle cries for various Primarchs depending on the situation.

Ex: "Dorn, be my armor!" "Vulkan, kindle my fury!" "Lion, guide my blade!"

And a bit on how Officers might use their Chapter cult to instruct and counsel their troops: "Gentlemen, since we hope to outflank the traitor scum without them realizing it, perhaps we might let our souls be guided a bit more by Primarch Corax, and a bit less by Primarch Russ".

[Messor]

Ah, excellent. Heh, it would take some major, major modifications for a horse to be able to carry a marine, but almost anything is possible.

 

Based solely on your thoughts above, I would definitely forget about Codex Compliance. No force with such a fighting style could logically or physically adhere, imho. Bloodies and Space Wolves would be great bases for your material though. I don't know as much about Space Wolves, but I'm pretty sure they don't have bikes, so that could limit one of your options. Then again, they have legit wolf cavalry, so with the right fluff you'd have that. Blood Angels Deathwatch, and other assault units would certainly play well into your theme though.

 

Great ideas for battle cries, you should run with 'em. Heh, your quote sounds like an Officer chastising a particularly rowdy squad XD.

[Wade Garrett]

Okay, I was browsing through some stuff online about the new Blood Angels codex to see if that's what I want to base these guys around, and I have to say it:

Flying Librarian Dreadnaughts?

FLYING.

LIBRARIAN.

DREADNAUGHTS.

No. No. No. NonononnoNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

With that said, the Angel themes of speed and close combat are definitely in line with the feel I want for these guys, and the Red Thirst/Black Rage does a good job of representing the troops shooting up on Emperor-Knows-What sort of chems the Apocetharies have brewed up. The specialties of Deep Strike, bikes, and lots of jet packs also fit with what I want from them.

But no, none, zip, zilch, zero, nada FLYING LIBRARIAN DREADNAUGHTS.

Here's my first attempt at a color scheme for these guys..thoughts?

And it just hit me that he looks like Soundwave from Transformers...not that that's necessarily a bad thing. Ooh, idea!

*One trip around the Internet later*

Annnnd I've got the colorscheme for these guys, it'll be tough to rig up in the B & C painter but if I can it'll definitely give that link to the Iron Hands I've been trying to hint at.

Inspiration for said color scheme, since I don't feel like futzing around with painter for another 45 minutes.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/be/Megatron-shatteredglass.jpg/220px-Megatron-shatteredglass.jpg

[Ace Debonair]

Once I get back home I'll see if I can help with the colours.

EDIT: Back home! :D

Any good? Tried to keep it fairly simple while more-or-less following the scheme as laid out in that picture.

Diggin' the chapter so far by the way. Good stuff! :D

[Wade Garrett]

NICE work, AD. That's pretty much exactly the look I had in my head.

 

More about the Chapter:

 

Zeal Addiction:

While a normal Astartes can go without sleep for long periods of time, the Stallions's habit of trying to liberate/protect entire planets with only small forces of Marines require more. Zeal is what the chapter calls the cocktail of combat drugs their Apocetharies have developed and distributed on a Chapter wide basis. A powerful stimulant, it is also said to enhance higher brain functions, allowing Stallion troops to quickly react to unexpected events and officers to develop battle plans on the fly, but it comes with a price. It's highly addictive, and tends to encourage bursts of paranoid mania among long time users. Those so afflicted will become convinced that if they do not destroy a particular enemy, terrible things will happen, and will throw the best laid schemes into chaos as they charge madly into opposing lines.

(On tabletop, represented by the Red Thirst)

 

Heart of Iron:

While the Chapter's heavy use of combat drugs would have gotten them censured long ago if their decentralized nature and remote theatre of war didn't mean such efforts would require a counterproductive amount of resources committed , if the Administartum at large ever finds out about the drug they call Heart of Iron....

 

Although they lack the necessary technology to inter severely wounded Marines in Dreadnaughts, this particular compound enables Stallions wounded even unto death to make one last contribution on the battlefield. It takes its name from their beliefs about Ferrous Manus...they see him as being the exemplar of not just artificing and engineering, but also of sacrificing oneself so that others may live.

Did not Primarch Ferrous sacrifice his own flesh to slay the Great Wyrm on Medusa? Did he not give his own life to enable the Iron Hands, Salamanders, and Raven Guard to escape Isstvan? And so he also gives his name to whatever substances are brewed togather to make this terrifying compound.

Marines injected with Heart of Iron become completely obsessed with the destruction of the enemies of humanity, to the exclusion of all else. Formations? Allied casualties? Common sense? Secondary to the elimination of the foe. The only thing that can keep them mildly in check are the Apocetharies attached to such units, regulating the chemical balance of the now impossibly durable and powerful Astartes to the point that they can function as a semi controlled unit.

 

(Represented on tabletop by Death Company)

 

Yes, their idea of Ferrous seems a lot nobler than the one who turned up in Fulgrim or Feat of Iron. A theme with this Chapter is that they view the galaxy through rose colored glasses, and it repeatedly comes back to bite them.

[voi shet magir]

That last post does it.. You had me at the name, the chapter is great, you immediately generate new ideas. I almost like the OP too. Style, structure, and grammar become wastes of time when your ideas are good enough. Congratulations and welcome to the next level, if you haven't been here before.

 

Zeal, heck yes. The best part is how nice they are.

 

You should mail this to GW circa 1994 so you can beat the White Panthers and the Yellowjackets in those competitions. It is on that level. If this chapter had gotten into c:Ultramarines and 3e space marines instead of the White Panthers, they might have secured a golden age lasting a thousand years.

[Ace Debonair]

NICE work, AD. That's pretty much exactly the look I had in my head.

 

Happy to help. If you decide anything needs changing, give me a shout. ;)

 

Also, this chapter is shaping up very nicely. :P

[Messor]

Woah, that's a fantastic re-rendering of the BA rules! I don't have the 40k background to compare with Chapters of yore like voi shet but I can certainly say this Chapter stands out! Looking forward to more!

[Wade Garrett]

That last post does it.. You had me at the name, the chapter is great, you immediately generate new ideas. I almost like the OP too. Style, structure, and grammar become wastes of time when your ideas are good enough. Congratulations and welcome to the next level, if you haven't been here before.

 

I'm glad you like it, VSM. I know my article isn't formatted at all, but this is very much a brainstorming fly by the seat of the pants thread (Ex: They've gone from Codex compliant maybe Guilliman successors in post 1 to probably Iron Hand successors who threw the Codex out the window). Once I've got them good and nailed down, I'll do a "proper" Index Astartes article and submit it to the Liber.

 

And on that note:

 

Chapter Combat Doctrine:

The Storm Stallions preferred fighting style is heavily based on their usual area of operation: Outlying Imperial worlds under attack by xenos or Chaos raiders. As a whole, the Chapter prefers to get into the fight as quickly as possible, both to minimize civilian casualties and because their limited resources make drawn out conflicts problematic.

 

The Bike Squads are usually the first into the fray, seeking to outmanuver and destroy scattered or isolated enemy forces, while drawing the attention of more concentrated opposition with hit and run attacks. They want the enemy to pay as much attention to them as possible, so they don't notice the Scout forces manuvering locator beacons into positions behind their lines. Once the Scouts have done their job, Stallion fleet elements deploy the bulk of their forces from orbit, hopefully dropping the Chapter's numerous Assault Squads right on top of the enemy's command center or their supply bases.

 

Dropping troops right into the heart of the enemy means the Stallions don't have to rely on ammunition for bolters or other ranged weapons as much, which is good since such things tend to be chronically in sort supply. When all goes well, the enemy army is decapitated and the leaderless fragments can be picked off one at a time by Stallions, with the Bike Squads and Assault Marines using their superior manuverablity to concentrate their own forces and overwhelm the scattered opposition.

 

When it goes wrong, Assault Marines and Scouts have to fight their way out of the heart of enemy forces, with Bike Squads making nigh suicidal rushes on enemy positions to try and draw fire from their beleagered brethren.

 

The Stallions "kill them quick" approach also causes headaches for allied forces, since many a Stallion officer has made ringing declarations along the lines of "While you sit here and debate, the Emperor's people are dying. If anyone wishes to speak with me and my men, WE will be on the battlefield" and then stormed out of the War Council to Deep Strike every soldier under his command into the enemy formation, high command's strategic and tactical projections be damned.

 

Errata:

 

The Stallions and the Codex Astartes:

According to the Storm Stallions, they are a Codex compliant chapter, an assertion that has alternatively baffled and enraged various Ultramarine Successor Chapters they have fought alongside. According to the Stallions, the Codex is meant to be read allegorically, as descriptons of various ways in which a commander may array his forces, not as a set in stone description of how each individual Marine should be trained. They see themselves as embodying the spirit of Guilliman's famous quote:

"

And of the Assault Marine so do I decree: He shall descend upon the perfidious foe as an Angel of Judgement from on high. Let the jump pack be his wings and the roar of its engines a hymn of retribution. Let the chainsword be his sceptre of decree, its harsh voice singing joyfully with each and every blow. With it shall the Assault Marine bring bloody retribution to the heretic, the traitor and all alien transgressors who trespass on the Emperor's domains. So will the Assault Marine be the hunter of warlords and the slayer of kings. His armour shall run slick with the life blood of the vanquished, and all shall honour his name"."

 

Which is certainly applicable to their preferred tactic of "Destroy the enemy command structure via dropping troops on it from orbit"

 

The Stallions and Space Hulks:

Their limited resources and the lack of heavy manufacturing industry on many of the worlds they draw supplies from means that any Space Hulk located by the Stallions is a gift from the Emperor. Stallion ships will immediately deploy Marines onto the hulk, not so much to cleanse it as to strip it of anything useful that might be onboard. The only thing that takes priority over such a salvage operation is a distress signal from an Imperial colony.

The few sets of Tactical Dreadnaught Armor the Chapter posses tend to be deployed only these operations, since Terminator armor is uniquely suited to operations inside a Hulk, and the strength boost it gives a Marine means he can carry much more valuable salvage off the wreck.

[Octavulg]

 

Chapter Name: Storm Stallions

I like this.  

Chapter Colors: Blue and Gray

I despise this (your proposed scheme, that is).  It's got funny-colored feet, the blue's too bright, and the white distracts.  Dial it down a bit.  

Chapter Motto: Infirma Protegi Fortis (The weak protected by the strong)

I'm a big fan of not explaining mottos.  Make the plebs work it out.  

Generally speaking, they descend upon a world a world under attack, defend it, spend several months training up PDF and replenishing their supplies as much as possible, then depart. The best and youngest of the PDF trainees are are taken with them, to be inducted into the Chapter at a later date.

The youngest SM recruits should be about fourteen.  That's young for PDF.  Also, hanging around sounds long-term, not quick.  Quick would be gone immediately.  

Because of their nomadic nature, the Stallions suffer from a severe lack of armored vehicles or Terminator armor, with much of the wargear and vehicles they do posses being ramschackle and cobbeled togather in nature. Many times, they are forced to utilize scavenged light Imperial Guard/PDF mark vehicles like the Chimera instead of Astartes brand vehicles like the Rhino and Land Raider.

Marines don't really fit in the Chimera, as I understand it.  

Why would being nomadic hamper them that much?  Do they not have Forge ships?  Can they not requisition supplies?  Being fleet-based doesn't hamper the Fists or the Templars...

Because of the vast territory they are expected to patrol, the Stallions are used to operating with a very loose chain of command, with officers selected for their capabiltiy at independent action. Said independent nature, along with a very strong humanitarian streak cultivated by the Chapter is it's role as shield for the forgotten worlds at the Imperium's frontier, has lead to them butting heads with other Imperial organizations and even other Astartes chapters on occasion.

And, perhaps, amongst themselves?  

Criticisms of the Stallions include a tendency to spread themselves too thin, with scattered forces bleeding and dying tying to save multiple worlds instead of focusing on one single theatre of conflict for an assured win a common litany in the Chapter's histories. Likewise, their fanatic drive to save everyone often leads them to push their vessels to the very brink of destruction as they race from system to system.

Pshaw.  If you want to talk about how awesome they are, just do so.  Criticizing them for being too dedicated is the equivalent of "Oh, my weakness is that I'm a perfectionist."

The Stallions also constantly seek to "upgrade" themselves so they can better protect those under their care. Bionics are not uncommon among Stallion officers (even Astartes flesh requires more "wasted" time for eating, sleeping,etc than machines) and there are verified instances of their Apocetharies constantly brewing ever more powerful and addictive combat drugs to keep Marines in the field and fighting heedless of little things like horrible wounds or a lack of food and water. And those aren't even the most disturbing rumors about what avenues the Chapter Masters may have pursued to make their warriors more perfect protectors.

Marines can already do that, though, at least to a very large extent.  Catalepsan Node, and all that.  

Marines who are genuine white hats who want to protect women, children, and kittens FOR THE NINE! FOR THE EMPEROR...and it is slowly killing them, both at individual and a Chapter level, as they race from one hot zone to another, never able to save every world from raiders or heretics, while mainling combat drugs and using their neophytes as child soldiers just to stay in the fight while their equipment is held togather by duct tape and prayers to Vulkan and Ferrous.

I like the concept.  However, since this is to some extent what all Space Marine chapters do, I'm kind of at a loss for how you could best express it.  

Bikes and whatnot are going to be talked out once I hammer out their combat doctrine. I can certainly see them having a large number of Bike Squads...it fits in with the theme that this Chapter stays mobile, running from place to place to put out fires. I almost gave them genetically modded horses, sort of like what Krieg or Steel Legion rough riders use (representing Bike Squads on table top), but then I figured the Stallions are probably spend a lot of time on their ships moving between systems...Bikes can be locked in the hold and forgotten about. Horses, even death world gene mod cyborg horses require considerably more upkeep.

Depends.  You need to do a lot of maintenance on any combat vehicle, even rugged and simple ones.  

That said, bikes don't make more sense for a mobile force.  Aircraft make more sense for a mobile force.  This isn't the nineteenth century.  

To be honest I'm wavering on having them be Codex compliant or not...depending on how much I want to play up the "drugs and crazy Apocetharies doing crazy science" they might be better off represented as Space Wolves (with Grey Hunters, Wolven, etc. representing "successes" in the field of bionics, drugs, and mad surgery) or Blood Angels (Good news everyone! Thanks to the new injections, Squad Primera is now much more furious in combat! Unfortunately, most of their higher brain functions are offline) With the Chaplains/Sanguinary Priests now being Apocetharies in charge of keeping them juuust drugged enough.

The Codex, however, is expedient - following it means they don't have to waste time figuring out what to do instead.  I think Codex-compliant makes more sense than not (or, at least, Codex-non-compliant due to lack of resources rather than by choice).  

I'd also avoid the Iron Hands as a geneseed source.  The Iron Hands are, frankly, far too unpleasant to be this concerned with tiny outposts of people.  Remember Contquall?

For a chapter battle cry, I'm wavering between a sort of generic "For the Nine!" or a block paragraph that lets them use various themed battle cries for various Primarchs depending on the situation.
Ex: "Dorn, be my armor!" "Vulkan, kindle my fury!" "Lion, guide my blade!"
And a bit on how Officers might use their Chapter cult to instruct and counsel their troops: "Gentlemen, since we hope to outflank the traitor scum without them realizing it, perhaps we might let our souls be guided a bit more by Primarch Corax, and a bit less by Primarch Russ".

I like the last bit, though not for the battle-cry section.  I always like to have the battle-cry section close on a strong note that encapsulates the chapter.  Something simple.  If you write more than a sentence, you've done it wrong (IMO).  None of the cries you're proposing seem to quite capture who the chapter is.  

* * *

I like them, and I like the concept, but (as I said earlier), it's basically being a Space Marine.  And being a Space Marine already consumes so much time and effort that adding more on top of that just doesn't seem entirely practical or possible.  Spreading themselves thinner makes some degree of sense, but in that case you'd expect to see somewhat different tactics, or expect them to try and accumulate enough supplies to balance these difficulties out.  

It might be worth focusing on how they went from normal chapter to what they are - perhaps a gradually expanding region of responsibility?  Other chapters fall or move on, Guard worlds are corrupted, so their list of responsibilities keeps increasing while they have declining resources.  it also might make sense if they're trying to drum up support for a Crusade to take some of the pressure off, or if they expanded the size of their Scout Company to deal with their presumably higher-than-normal casualty rates.  

I'm surprised they don't just requisition supplies to some extent.  Or that they haven't dedicated some effort to securing a new source.  It just seems weird.