DIY Chapter: The Corvus Aureus

[Corvus Aureus]

Hello Everyone,

 

I also posted this on my works-in-progress topic which has pictures of the emerging chapter, but I thought it might get more of a response here.

 

A Word of Caution: I am NO fluff buff. I'm no newbie to science fiction but to be honest I've hardly scraped the surface of Warhammer 40k lore.

 

So having said that here's my stab at some background fluff for the chapter I've been painting up. The background story is sketchy at best... but here it is. I'm sure it'll provoke at least minor outrage in its inaccuracies and so on, but that's the point of me posting it: to learn how to better fit it into the WH40k universe (and maybe learn some stuff myself in the process.)

 

.....

 

Chapter Name: “Corvus Aureus”

 

Chapter Fortress Location: Umbra Draconis, Grigori System

 

Prehistory: Originally, Valentine VI, known now by the name of Umbra Draconis, was a research and development planet for military technology for a stellar principality during the Age of Technology. Its intended isolation worked to its benefit during the Age of Strife, where it remained relatively stable until the revolt of the civilian population against their self-styled overlords: those who had been the military and scientific elite in the original organization. The successful uprising triggered fail safes in a secret, heavily encrypted military grade STS when civilians attempted to interface an AI with the STS in order to break through the encryption and make use of its capabilities. The resulting Armageddon wiped all life from the planet.

 

Recent History: The system was discovered by a rogue trader named Corvus Grigori. Detecting faint EMR signatures from the surface, he landed and traversed a labyrinthine system of tunnels until ultimately coming across a functional but corrupted cybernetic intelligence claiming to possess fragments of military grade STS code.

 

The AI was bound to the planet, its systems and the vast quantities of code encrypted data it had stolen left it unable to transfer to the primitive systems of the Trader’s ship, but, forming a partnership with the AI, the trader fed the computer information about the outside world and offered it protection in exchange for fragments of code, both encrypted and unencrypted. These fragments were sold on the black market for exorbitant sums, and the trader soon had enough money to claim the planet outright. The transactions attracted the attention of the imperial bureaucracy… and through the bureaucracy, the wrath of the Inquisition.

 

An inquisitorial task force, led by Darius Fulcrum and assisted by a several squads of blood angels and companies of Imperial Guard, caught up with the Trader, only to find the planet devoid of human life, its population slaughtered by automated weaponry woken from its ancient slumber. The AI had decided that, from the information it had received from the trader, the presence of humanity on the planet was too much of a liability to its existence to be allowed to continue. When the task force landed it faced the remnants of a powerful, if ancient, robotic defense system. Eventually the Imperial forces managed to destroy these defenders, and their drop ships closed in around the location of the AI.

 

The inquisition fully intended to destroy the controlling machine spirit, which, despite the fragments of decrypted STS code it possessed, was unarguably hostile. However, the AI, hooked up to the communications systems constructed by the colonists, implored the Adeptus Mechanicus and Astartes to spare it, claiming to have access to secret technologies beyond their wildest imaginings.

 

The Blood Angels, having suffered from the Red Thirst for so long, could not let an opportunity like this to pass by. They demanded the machine give them the genetic technology to remove the flaw from their geneseed. The machine told them it would grant them this only if they protected it from the forces of the inquisition. The Adeptus Mechanicus, too were entranced by the promise of hidden technology and were solidly in the camp of the Blood Angels in the dispute between the highest levels of expeditionary command.

 

Sensing that the situation could all too likely develop into an all out war between the Blood Angels and the Forces of the Imperium- a schism too dangerous to even contemplate, the High Inquisitor decreed that the machine, and the force of Blood Angels that had sworn to protect it at all costs, would fall under the joint jurisdiction of both the Imperial Inquisition and Adeptus Mechanicus.

 

Recognizing the threat posed by the machine, the marines- and the enemies of the Imperium such a prize would inevitably attract, the Inquisition came up with a cover story mixing both truth and lies: That the planet was the location of a defunct STS and numerous encrypted code hardcopies, and that a successor chapter to the Raven Guard had been founded to protect them as they were being decrypted. This chapter would be called the Golden Crows and serve as an adjunct force to the inquisition proper.

 

The Chapter is not fully trusted by the Inquisition, who maintain Draconis Umbra as a primary base of operations in no small part to provide a ceaseless vigil over the work that the Chapter Apothecaries and genetic scientists undertake. The AI is imprisoned underneath a massive Inquisitorial citadel. The surrounding worlds work ceaselessly to provide support to their armies.

 

The Corvus Aureus have been emboldened by the what appears to be a partially successful alteration of their gene-seed, and although only a few at the highest levels of chapter command know the whole truth now that almost all of the original Blood Angels from the task force have died, they continuously push the Inquisition to allow them to take greater part in the military affairs of the sector. The Blood Angels themselves remain ignorant of the true nature of the Corvus Aureus, believing their battle company lost in warp.

[Conn Eremon]

Typically, this sort of thing is posted in the Liber Astartes forum.

 

A Word of Caution: I am NO fluff buff. I'm no newbie to science fiction but to be honest I've hardly scraped the surface of Warhammer 40k lore.

 

In light of this statement, I feel that the best aid I can give in C&C is to point out things that break plausibility. More than likely, it's probably just stuff about 40k you don't quite know much yet. As a disclaimer, feel free to ignore what I say. If you like what you got, keep it.

 

Prehistory - Having the reader know of this period is okay, but it is extremely, extremely unlikely that this will be known following the arrival of the Imperium. By 40k, the Emperor's Great Crusade in 30k is the furthest prehistory known.

 

STS - I believe you mean STC's, Standard Template Constructs

 

AIs - These are no-no's to the Imperium. Forbidden by the Emperor and absolutely hated by the Mechanicum. There's some contention about whether Machine-Spirits are actually AIs that are allowed to be, nobody knows that they are actually AIs, or they're not AIs but something different. My suggestion would be to replace with them with Necrons, to keep the AI feel to it. Have this ancient tech-heavy world double as a Tombworld that awoke a little earlier than the others (evidence suggests that some have awoken as early as the Great Crusade itself, but most currently awake Tombworlds awoke late M41). To save the treasures recently unearthed by excavations (this Dark Age of Technology tech), the Mechanicum petitions a Blood Angels force to aid them in removing the Necron threat. Perhaps the Necrons aren't as powerful on this world as on others (a faulty awakening or past disasters/erosion debilitating them) and they succeed.

 

Foundings - Nobody is founded individually. There are Foundings, periods in time in which multiple Chapters are founded. Choose one from which your Chapter was founded, and say that this world was given over to the Chapter as their homeworld. But you'll need a reason why. If this world is important to the Mechanicum, there's no way they'll let a Chapter take it over. So you'll need a reason for why they don't want it anymore. My idea would be to make this tech turn out to be the Necrons themselves. As such, attempts to learn of it or take it offworld would cease. It's xenos tech, and their interests turn out to be based on a lie. So the Mechanicum drops the world, loses interest. The Blood Angels are pulled out, and the world is left alone. Now, why is world worth it for a Space Marine Chapter to be based off of it? Two things could make it important: strategic position in a heavily threatened region or prime recruitment center. First one requires you to expand on the region around the world, describe the danger. Second one requires you come up with a reason why this world's denizens make good Marine recruits. Well, you can say that the Necrons on this world weren't the only ones in the sector, and a Chapter is put in place to hold them off upon awakening. Or there can be any number of threats available. Strong Ork population centers, proximity to Tau space or the Eye of Terror, a propensity for rebellion/secession, so forth. As a recruitment center, you could say that the invasion of the Blood Angels wasn't all that complete. When the Mechanicum found the rumors of tech to be worthless, they left the world to its fate. Though the main threats were taken out, Necrons still abound. This has led to a hardy people holding the metal tide from their last remaining civilizations. Though the newly Founded Chapter would surely eradicate the rest of the Necrons, they may instill institutions and beliefs into the population so that they may retain their usefulness as a recruitment center.

 

BA Red Thirst and the Raven Guard - I'm not sure why the Golden Crows are Raven Guard if their existence is proof of successful genetic tampering related to the Blood Angels. Maybe you don't know that their genetic legacies are very, very different. To summarize it: Each of the original Legions were genetically based off of their own unique Primarch, such as Sanguinius and Corax for the Blood Angels and Raven Guard, respectively. Though there are rumors of certain Foundings mixing or tweaking gene-seed, they are known as being faulty and are called the Cursed or Dark Foundings. Bad things happened when such tampering went on, though you certainly can use it as an excuse to say it's a Blood Angel/Raven Guard genetic mismatch in an attempt to 'cure' Sanguinius' curse.

 

Oh, re-reading, I see. You have the Blood Angel taskforce removing itself from their original Chapter to become the Golden Crows, with the 'Raven Guard' thing being a cover story. Honestly, that idea is cringe-worthy. I really don't think that fits as a plausible idea in 40k. If you want a Blood Angels Chapter that is trying to cure the Flaw, go with the Lamenters. They're an already canon Chapter created for that purpose, to cure the Flaw. Of course, it was part of the Dark or Cursed (can't remember which) Founding and suffers from an almost preternatural case of bad luck and is currently endangered. However, if you want your new 'Golden Crows' Chapter, have the gene-seed by slightly unknown. Having it be a part of one of these Foundings could help explain why it's unknown. Blood Angels are a high possibility, or one of two believed progenitors (the other being the Raven Guard), however the Chapter has never exhibited signs of the Flaw. So it'd be like saying "Some believe, unlikely though it is, that the Chapter was founded from the Blood Angels, perhaps due to their presence on the world prior to the Chapter's founding. However, none of the rumors surrounding the Blood Angels and their successors are present around the Golden Crows and the other possibility, that their progenitors are of the Raven Guard, is far more plausible."

 

Inquisition - Nothing really wrong with it, though it's interesting that you have your Chapter be completely subservient to them. The Chapter doesn't have any autonomy and appears to be restricted in scope. Usually there's a bit of a separation. Though the Inquisition is nominally of authority over the Chapters, rarely is this authority exercised and many of the older, stronger Chapters openly and often defy them. However, if you have the Golden Crows be a suspicious Chapter (and if you use a Cursed or Dark Founding, that could work), it would explain why there's some focus on them. If this was my project, I'd make this situation be a current thing. The Chapter is restricted in ability and subservient to the Inquisition in accordance to their current penitence crusade (something I'd add in to explain why). Following it, they would be allowed their autonomy once more. Or, remove the whole Blood Angels/Red Thirst thing and simply make it a Raven Guard successor of the latest Founding and the Inquisition is exercising greater control until the young Chapter can prove itself.

 

Anyway, take it or leave it!

[Messor]

While I haven't been able to go in depth with this yet, I've seen your models, which look fantastic. I look forward to going into your Chapter's history more thoroughly!