The Emperor's Immortals

[Malthe]

Okay, here we go again :o

I've made quite a few changes since last draft and I'm fairly happy with the result (bar editing which is kinda buggered from my sidebars being too long...).

I am also not quite sold on the img-headers, but I can't seem to get the basicheaders to match the colour of the calsonheader at the top, even though I'm typing in identical colour-codes. If anyone have any suggestions of how to fix this, I'd appreciate it.

However, I'm sure it can be improved, any suggestions would be very helpful!

Cheers!

Name..................................: The Emperor's Immortals

Founding.............................: 20th Founding

Chapter Master....................: Spiro Tyranus

Home World........................: Ithakka

Speciality............................: Hunting traitor space marines

Chapter Motto.....................: Purity in adversity

“They stalk the river and the wind

Like the cruel sun

travels across the heavens

Older than the stars and the mountains

they live forever

Their hides are stone, their wings fire

with weapons of storm

and great thunder

They are kings of both beasts and men

and death does their bidding”

“One by one the others fell, yet we stood true.

When they succumbed to betrayal, corruption or the ravages of war, we held our banners high in defiance.

And when darkness came to test us it found that the light in our souls could not be quenched.”

- Lord Oracle Carjen Zola

W

hen the mad Goge Vandire was overthrown, and his 'reign of blood' finally ended, the victorious Sebastian Thor and his Confederation of Light set about the arduous process of reforging the sundered Imperium. Of the many tasks carried out in the name of justice and progress, none was undertaken with as much vigor and persistency as the persecution of those deemed unable to fit within the new Order Imperium.

Of greatest concern was the culling of those space marine chapters whose loyalty to the new High Lords was in question.

Therefore, in the year 321.M37, the much honored Saint Basillius declared 30 chapters of the Adeptus Astartes to be wanting in the eyes of Him-on-Earth.

Not expected to succeed, nor survive, the chapters were sentenced to embark upon a grand crusade to reconquer the hellish cesspool, known as the Eye of Terror.

Begrudgingly accepting their punishment, the Emperor's Immortals, along with twenty-nine other brotherhoods of the Adeptus Astartes, threw themselves wholeheartedly into the Abyssal Crusade.

Not much is known about the horrid events that transpired during the ill-fated crusade, and most of what is known only exist in the secret archives of the holy Ordo Hereticus, but it is certain beyond doubt that the Immortals were in fact among the battered survivors that emerged from the Eye of Terror in 112.M38, nearly eight-hundred years after their departure.

While some chapters, the Vorpal Swords foremost among them, sought revenge against Saint Basillius and the holy Ecclesiarchy, the Emperor's Immortals quietly slinked back to Ithakka, their ancient home world. Undaunted by the machinations of priests and inquisitors, the Immortals set about recruiting and rebuilding to make up for the horrendous losses they had suffered in their exile.

Since then the Immortals have reestablished themselves and earned a reputation as brutal and efficient enforcers of Imperial justice. Showing a special aptitude for hunting renegades and pirates, as well as an affinity for ship-to-ship operations, the Immortals have become highly appreciated by the sector-command of the southernmost Segmentum Obscurus.

The Trials of Manhood

When an Ithakkan child reaches his twelfth summer, he has already braved more dangers than most Imperial citizens experience in a lifetime.

The Ithakkan culture is a struggle for survival, where each day is a quest for food and security. Thus the children are expected to participate equally in the foraging and hunting that keeps their tribe fed and healthy.

All of this, coupled with the ever-present threats of predator attacks, intra-tribe rivalry and raider ambushes means the Ithakkans are ideal candidates for recruitment into the Adeptus Astartes.

The Ithakkans doesn't distinguish gender among children, boys and girls are all raised the same. However there comes a time where it becomes necessary to discern if a child is meant to become a man and fight at the Spitting Mountain, or become a woman and flay the skulls for Amballaya.

Therefore, when the twelfth summer of an Ithakkan child arrives, just before the tribes gather for the Skull War at the foot of the Spitting Mountain, he or she is driven from their tribe.

Abandoned to survive in the jungle until the tribe returns form the ritual war, this is the first time the child have ever been alone for longer than mere moments.

After thirty days, the child will have proven their mettle or long since become food for the jungle.

It is then that they are approached by the spirits of Amballaya; the Apothecary-chaplains of the Emperor's Immortals.

Sorting first the boys from the girls, the Apothecary-chaplains remove the upper-incisors of the girls thus marking them as females for the Ithakkans. The boys are made subject to a number of tests both genetical, spiritual and psychological, to determine wether they are worthy of implantation.

Those few that are deemed worthy are taken aboard the Sky Beast, the flagship of the Immortals' ancient star-fleet. Here the implantation process starts and the boys begin their transformation into one of the terrible spirits that stole them from their home.

The children who for one reason or another are unworthy of initiation into the holy brotherhood that is the Emperor's Immortals, are returned, scarred but alive, from the tests and will eventually rejoin their tribe as either man or woman; ready to take their part in the Skull Wars of Amballaya.

“This skull I have taken so Amballaya will not end our world, I give it back to your tribe with thanks that you have raised a warrior and pray that he will be reborn stronger in his new life!”

- Ithakkan prayer of appeasement

A

small world of dark unending jungles, Ithakka is rich in nothing but venomous flora and large, equally poisonous predators. The people that dwell on this world are hardy warriors that wage bloody wars for territory, food and to appease their cruel and vengeful god.

The people of Ithakka live in hunting-tribes; a group consisting of a chief and his extended family, numbering somewhere between thirty and fifty people. If a tribe becomes too large it will usually split up, the chief’s son or brother setting off in search of new territory. Because of this it is common for the tribes, especially the older ones, to sustain a network of allies and relatives throughout the deep jungles.

When the tribes do come together, more often than not it is for matters of war.

The many tribes of Ithakka all share the worship of a callous but formidable sun god, known by many names, among them Amballaya; 'He burns the river' and Ngotu; 'No weapon can harm him'.

The tribes believe that in ancient times their forefathers made a pledge to their god, that with each turn of the year, when the great storms of summer subsides and fire rises from the Spitting Mountain, they would send their greatest warriors to spill blood under his terrible gaze, satisfying his thirst for destruction and keeping him from ending the world.

It is because of this pledge that every year during the warmest month of summer, the tribes of Ithakka meet at the foot of the Spitting Mountain to make war upon each other.

For thirty days the tribes set aside all hostility; feasting, singing and dancing according to traditions as old as the beginning of the world. Each tribe brings stores of food to be shared with their rivals, as well as valuables to be shown off and exchanged during the long revel.

Then, at night before the thirtieth day, great bonfires are build and the remains of slaughtered animals burned in great heaps of dried flesh and dusty bone. The warriors paint themselves in frightening patterns of bright colors, clenching their weapons and howling curses at each other.

The next morning, as the sun rises they fall upon each other, hacking, stabbing and tearing to sate their vile god. Inevitably alliances come into play, as brothers avenge their fallen relatives and tribes seek to settle old feuds. Blood-bonds are forged and alliances made and broken between the warring tribes.

When night falls the warriors return to their tents, bearing with them the heads of the enemies they have killed. They next day, when the warriors go to fight again, the women of the tribes will cut the flesh from the skulls taken by their husbands and pile them in front of the entrance to their clearing. When seven days of war have passed, and the skull piles have grown large and horrifying, the fighting ends. The warriors clean themselves and remove the war-markings on their bodies.

Bringing the skulls they have gathered each warrior go humbly to the tribes of those he has vanquished, at each tribe he returns the cleaned skull of the warrior he has killed and offers a small prayer of gratitude to the family of his slain enemy.

After all skulls have been returned the remaining tribes pack up and travel to their homes. Some tribes may have lost so many warriors that they perish shortly after the Skull War, others choose to merge with one of their allies or even, if all it's warriors have been lost, seek out and become a part of the tribe that defeated their own. Such are the tribal bonds of Ithakka constantly renewed and the blood of its people kept strong and pure.

From the people of this world the Emperor's Immortals recruit.

Since they first strode the stars, the Immortals have ever kept a secret watch over Ithakka, defending it from all enemies in exchange for a toll of it's children. Though the Ithakkans weep for the sons they lose in the trials of manhood, it is considered a great privilege for a son to be chosen by the dreaded spirits of Amballaya, and much honor befalls the tribe that have raised such a child.

Above all things it is this unwavering devotion to their god that the Immortals value in the Ithakkans. For while strength and determination can be broken, the Emperor's Immortals recognize that faith is eternal.

War of the Stars

In the beginning there was only darkness.

Darkness crept and slithered and whirled around itself and it was nothing.

Out of darkness rose the Emperor-Sun and with him the first day.

The Emperor saw that darkness shrouded the world and banished it.

Tired from battling the darkness the Emperor slept and thus the first day ended.

But while the Emperor-Sun slept, darkness crept back in the world and with it the first night.

When the Emperor awoke he saw that darkness again had shrouded the world and he was angry.

To guard the world while he slept the Emperor made the stars, his sons, to shine in the night.

Tired from creating the stars the Emperor slept again, and the second day ended.

While the Emperor-Sun slept, darkness crept back in the world, but found the stars keeping watch.

Darkness saw that the stars filled the sky and that it could not defeat them.

But darkness was clever.

For each of the stars, darkness spun a beautiful cloak of riches and sweet promises.

Some of the stars saw darkness for what it was and threw away the cloaks.

But the rest were vain and wore the cloaks proudly, shrouding their light and letting darkness pass.

This is why the night is dark, even though the stars are shinning.

When the Emperor-Sun awoke on what should have been the third day, he saw that most of his sons wore the cloaks of darkness and he knew he was betrayed.

Speaking to those of his sons whose light still shone brightly the Emperor bade them drive away their fallen brothers, while he went dreaming in search of a way to slay the darkness.

Then begun the war of the stars, which have been fought ever since.

In the end, when the long night is darkest, the Emperor-Sun will reawaken with the third day and finally banish the darkness.

“As we have returned, so shall He!”

- Spiro Tyranus, reigning lord-tyrant of the Emperor's Immortals

T

he Immortals, unlike most chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, venerate the Emperor as a true omniscient god; the source of mankind and all light in the universe.

Calling him by secret names of power, many of them synonymous with those of the bloodthirsty sun-god of Ithakka, the Immortals hope to one day reawaken their slumbering father.

Within the chapter lives an ancient tale, passed down from the first Oracle of the Emperor, of how and why the Immortals came into being. It is a secret story conferred through ritual, from mouth to mouth, since times immemorial.

The legend tells that many millennia ago before the age of the Imperium, the Emperor-Sun heralded the first day, battling back the primordial darkness and replacing it with his unconquerable light. However, at the brink of success, when darkness should have been vanquished forever, he was betrayed by his own sons.

The legend goes on that the Emperor left his sons behind to enter the secret world of dreams which men call the warp. As his last act of mercy he created the light of the Astronomican, the great sun, to shine over those of his children who had remained loyal, a guide to aid them against the darkness and a promise of what is to come after his return and final victory.

Over millennia of war a sub-sect has grown within the Immortals, the proponents of which holds that the disappearance of the Father-Emperor was not a result of betrayal, but a deliberate test of humanity's devotion. These battle-brothers, the lord-tyrant himself among them, believe that the Emperor saw the weakness festering in Man and found him unfit for the glories that was to come.

According to the cult, the Emperor left his sons, not because he did not have the power to end the darkness, but as a punishment for their disloyalty.

This lesson of purity in adversity, along with the firm belief that they literally are the mythical sons of the Emperor-Sun, has shaped the Immortals into a chapter that stand out as equally despised for its arrogance and revered for its stoic loyalty.

While some chapters of the Adeptus Astartes are content in defending the realm of the Emperor, thriving in their role as holy protectors, not so the Emperor's Immortals.

Beyond merely waiting for the awakening of their God-Father, the Emperor's Immortals actively seek out mysteries and secret knowledge of the warp that might serve to aid his return. Aware that such a search might see them chastised by their fellow chapters, the Immortals have gone to great lengths to keep their quest hidden from their peers and few outside the chapter suspect that anything is not as it should be. In charge of the search are the inscrutable Oracles of the Emperor, their every action guided by portents and omens from the dreaming Emperor. What secrets their search have thus far uncovered is unknown to anyone outside the chapter, but among those few inquisitors that know of the chapter's search it is rumored that during their exile, the Immortals gleaned many secrets from the tides of the warp.

Whatever may be said about the Immortals and their beliefs, none can deny that to this day the Emperor's Immortals have fought the enemies of the Imperium with faith, fury and unshakable certainty that every servant of darkness they slay, be it alien, heretic or daemonkin, brings them one step closer to the reawakening of their Father-Emperor and the final victory of Mankind.

”I am immortal, the dearest son of a war-god – why should I care for orthodoxy? – my word is law!”

– Kunye Tyranus, first lord-tyrant of the Emperor's Immortals

L

ike with so much else within the chapter, the organization of the Immortals owe much to the traditions of their home world. At the beginning of their exile within the Ocularis Terribus the Emperor's Immortals were known to closely follow the Codex Astartes. This was evident both in the combat doctrine of the chapter, as well as in its use of ranks, titles and heraldry.

However, sometime during the long centuries that the Immortals fought the Abyssal Crusade, the chapter began to revert to a state where more and more of its rituals and traditions resembled those of ancient Ithakka.

The companies became known as 'tribes' and practices of Ithakkan blood-bonds and ritual duels became widespread. Eventually, due to the increasing difficulty in attaining supplies and new recruits, as well as a newfound thirst to uphold their individual honor, eight of the chapter's ten companies entirely lost the focus impressed upon them by the Codex Astartes and instead adopted a form more suited to the unsupported wars in the Eye of Terror and, perhaps more significant; the whims of their respective captains. The only tribes to remain as penned in the holy codex were the veterans of the first and the scouts of the tenth.

The Emperor's Immortals have always been a proud and headstrong chapter. However, during the Abyssal Crusade, many battle-brothers changed from proud into prideful and from headstrong into unruly. When the ruling chapter master disappeared in the brutal battles around the hell-world Styx, the stubbornness of the remaining captains threatened to tear apart the chapter.

Each unwilling to surrender their newly gained independence the captains took their tribes to the edge of inter-chapter war, before they were finally brought to heel.

With the support of the Oracles of the Emperor – the chapter's mysterious librarians – the 1st Company-Captain entitled himself Kunye Tyranus, 'the first tyrant'.

Taking control of the first tribe as well as the tenth, Kunye Tyranus, effectively retained control over the flow of recruits within the chapter, as well as over the chapter's warrior-elite.

Summoning the chapter council he declared that the captains would henceforth organize their tribes as prescribed in the Codex Astartes or renounce their vows and face the wrath of the God-Emperor. Two captains were unceremoniously killed by terminator veterans, when they spoke out against the decree and replacements loyal to the lord-tyrant instated in their place.

Thus empowered, and backed by the Oracles of the Emperor, the first-captain of the Immortals have ever since retained both the title and the complete sovereignty of Kunye Tyranus.

The only body with comparable authority to the reigning lord-tyrant is the Oracles of the Emperor.

Not only does the Oracles see to every responsibility of an Adeptus Astartes Librarium, performing purity-checks, re-invoking the secret history of the chapter, seeing to inter-stellar communications and navigation, but more than this the Oracles are responsible for choosing and initiating the lord-tyrants of the chapter. Already on the same day as an aspirant is promoted to the post of first-captain, does the search for an heir begin.

Through secret trials and rituals the Oracles seek out the will of the Emperor to ensure that only the worthiest candidate is entrusted with the supreme power that being lord-tyrant of the Emperor's Immortals entail.

What would happen in the event that a conflict should arise between the ruling lord-tyrant and the Oracles of the Emperor is unknown. This far both sides have proved willing to compromise, but it is a widely known secret that Spiro Tyranus, the current lord-tyrant, have harbored ill will towards the the Lord Oracle Carjen Zola since the purging of the Cérces Strait where Zola refused to pursue the hated renegade Iron Blades chapter, into the black wilderness space past the Job's Point anomaly. How this conflict shall be resolved, only time will tell.

[]

”To destroy them quickly and utterly, such is my plan for all heretics.”

- Umakhonya Ngutu, lord of the fourth tribe

T

he Emperor's Immortals emphasize a brutal, yet fluid and expeditious doctrine, consisting of crushing strikes of opportunity and rapid dominance.

This combination of speed and brutality became prominent during the chapter's exile within the Eye of Terror, where no other branch of the Imperial war machine could be counted upon for support.

Guardians of the God Shard

The Emperor's Immortals doesn't keep a written history, their's is an oral tradition, therefore it is unsure when the fusion of their Apothecarion and Reclusiam took place.

Nevertheless the unique mixture of the two roles clearly relate to the notion of divinity attributed to the gene-seed or God Shard, of the Emperor's Immortals.

From the recruitment on ancient Ithakka, to the rituals of cleansing after every battle, to the final extraction of the holy progenoids, the Guardians of the God Shard are an integral part of the life and death of every single battle-brother of the Immortals.

Responsible for both the genetic and spiritual well-being of their battle-brothers the Guardians are equal part scientists, alchemists and warrior-priests. It is through their labour that the gene-seed of the Immortals have remained free from corruption no matter how grave the threats against it.

Considering the nature of those threats, the reverence the Immortals afford their Guardians are unsurprising. Having resisted both the warp storm of Dionys that was the pretext of Saint Basillius to launch the Abyssal Crusade, and the crusade itself which took the Immortals through the very Eye of Terror, the Guardians are indeed worthy of high esteem.

However, over the last several centuries the success-rate of the organ implantations required to transform a recruit into a battle-brother of the Emperor's Immortals, have been steadily falling.

Wether this is due to failings in the gene-seed, the quality of recruits, or some third unknown cause is the subject of much experimentation, within the brotherhood of the Guardians, but whatever their conclusion, they are not telling.

Forced to fight without reliance on anything but themselves, the Immortals could ill afford to be bugged down in the wars of attrition, so often employed by Imperial commanders.

Realizing this the chapter began to employ a style of hit-and-run, designed to confuse and demoralize their enemy, as much as it was to destroy them.

Those who dwell within the Eye of Terror, however, cannot all be defeated through such means.

While most of the corrupted 'humans' living within the warp-cursed regions beyond the Cadian Gate, are just as susceptible to fear and confusion as those who live throughout the wider Imperium, the true denizens of the Ocularis Terribus are not.

Many of the wars fought by the Emperor's Immortals, during the Abyssal Crusade, were not against xenos and secessionists, loathsome though they may be, but against the perverted heretics who long ago sided with the traitor-sons, rather than the glorious Father-Emperor.

Made fearless by the horrors witnessed in their prison, these servants of darkness; daemons and traitor-marines both, can be destroyed by nothing but faith, fury and the roar of weapons.

Even to this day, the Immortals take a special pride in their skills fighting those who have given up their vows of loyalty to serve the darkness of Chaos.

However thorough and efficient the Immortals are in exterminating the alien and the mutant, it is nothing compared to the hot, burning rage with which they carry out their pogroms against the forces of the Arch-Enemy.

“The Emperor made us to win his wars, and in his great wisdom he made it so we cannot die.”

- Apothecary-chaplain Lambeya Roha

T

hough the gene-seed of the Immortals was subjected to vigorous examinations, upon their return from the Eye of Terror, no taint was found. By all acknowledged accounts their gene-seed is kept pure and stable through the vigilant efforts of the Apothecary-chaplains of the chapter.

These examinations also established the Emperor's Immortals as descendents of the mighty Jaghatai Khan. In spite of this revelation the Immortals have since maintained that they are sons of the Father-Emperor himself and have refused to honour their Primarch in any notable way. This has caused some animosity to develop between the Immortals and the more bellicose successors of the White Scars, but as of yet no direct confrontation have ensued from this.

Probably more so than any chapter not threatened by extinction or genetic degeneracy, the Emperor's Immortals cherish and venerate their gene-seed.

Tended to by apothecary-chaplains unique to the chapter, whose rituals are as much spiritual as biological, the gene-seed of the Immortals is considered by the chapter to be the very essence of the Emperor-Sun, embedded within them by their God-Father in the first days.

The gene-seed of the Immortals, referred to as the God Shard, is tied to a strong belief in the notion of rebirth. The apothecary-chaplains insist that every novice of the chapter, upon being blessed with the final implant and given his suit of holy armor, is possessed by the spirits of the chapter's fallen who will guard and watch over his soul from that moment onwards. Thereby does the novice become one with those who have served before him, forever elevated as a child of the great Father-Emperor and a hero of the Imperium.

O

ur blood; glory!

Our hearts; vengeance!

Our name; death! death! death!

[Wulfebane]

Love the draft. Extremely rich heritage, both EoT-returned astartes and homeworld recruitment pool.

 

I love the color scheme too, and think the cool gray-blue tubing and aqua lenses compliment the overall orange motif.\

 

Which codex do you intend to use? I'd have thought it was doable with C:SM, til I read the Guardians of the God-Shard bit, which leaves me to think Wolves.

[Malthe]

Thanks man, I'm glad you like it! Always good to hear ;)

As for codex I'm gonna play them as C:SM. The Apothecary-chaplains will just be Chaplains rulewise.

I do like the Space Wolf codex, but I don't feel like the Immortals are quite savage enough for it to be fitting.

Anything you want to point out that needs changing (or just some mending)?

I could really use an outside look ;)

 

Once again, thanks for stopping by mate!

[Wulfebane]

Can't find anything in dire need of changing personally.

 

If I were to be nitpicky, I felt the paragraph in your combat doctrine that mentioned how not all enemies could be defeated through hit-and-run was unfinished. I was left wondering how they dealt with those types of foes.

[Malthe]

Why you're absolutly right. Seems I was a bit overzealous with my editing in that section.

I'll try to add something to make it clearer - thanks for noticing ;)

[Veteran Sergeant]

I enjoyed this. Very good example of how one can bring a uniqueness and thematic flavor to a Chapter without making them too ridiculous. Your sections on the organization and how it came to be, as well as the politics among the Chapter leadership is cool. Very well done.

 

I am stuck, however, on the homeworld. Can't decide whether it's a bit too far over the top, or if, in that way, it is actually perfectly 40K, heh. My thoughts would be to have the big Skull Festival thing maybe every seven years, or every ten years. It seems like if that sort of thing happens every year, there would just be such ridiculous carnage that none of the tribes would be sustainable. Not enough men to make enough babies to replace the losses, and/or too many women having kids by the same small pool of men, haha. I do like the cool back story behind it though. And, for a Chapter that is so Codex compliant and thus needed young children as recruits, I suggest that the Immortals select the sons of the best warriors. It would give the tribes some more incentive for the fighting. The fathers proving their worthiness so that their son can be chosen by the dreaded spirits. Maybe the choice of such a son brings great prestige.

 

I really like the antagonistic relationship they have with their founding Chapter, but the one thing that makes me wonder, is how they'd have gotten so convinced of their direct descent from the Emperor if they are 20th Founding, and thus really "only" five thousand years old? Maybe explore this idea a bit more on how their Chapter has "forgotten" that they were founded from White Scars gene seed, especially given what is commonly understood about newly founded Chapters. I'd think perhaps going further back in the Foundings might work, or at least note what happened to the original Chapter cult that caused it to get supplanted by these superstitions.

 

I've DMed you some small grammar corrections since there's no need to clutter this post with them.