DA Successor Chapter Idea

[IronDragon66]

Ok so here it goes,

I came up with a starter idea for a DA successor chapter and want to get some opinions/ideas from other DA players. So the idea is that shortly after the Emperor was reunited with Lion El'Johnson he asked him to use his marines to create a special group of marines for him. This group would act as a special courier service between the Legions. A system of passing high security messages the old fashioned way, with specially chosen well protected couriers. These couriers operated in squads of five, 4 highly trained guards and one marine who was specially chosen to be the courier. This courier was specially chosen because high was a psychic null and unable to be probed by psychics. There was one squad for each of the Legions. This special unit of couriers was called the Archangels.

The Archangels were the first ones to pick up on the swaying of loyalties within the different legions. The Primarchs had gotten so used to their couriers and they were only one small squad that they didnt see them as a potential threat until it was to late. The Archangels who always held loyalty to the Emperor quickly took flight to Terra. They informed the Emperor of what rumblings they had heard. The Emperor told the Archangels to remain silent and tell no one else of their findings. He allready knew that Horus would betray them all, but it was inevitable, it was destined to happen from the beginning.

The Emperor gave them a new task.....they were to watch over all of his "angels", his space marines. There were hard, dark times ahead and he would need a group of marines to remain in the shadows but to always keep a watchful eyes on his most prized creations. They were to always protect the institution of the Adeptus Astartes, never let it fail or waver in its task to protect humanity, but they were do this in the shadows.

The Archangels accepted their task and returned to Lion El'Johnson and the Dark Angels. Johnson welcomed them back and continued to use them as a special operations unit for secret missions. After the Battle of Terra and the splitting of the legions into chapters the Archangels were an obvious easy chapter to create. They continue their mission to this day.

 

 

Now this is just the basic idea i have going and needs much more filling out. What do yall think???

[puck]

I like it, whats the paint scheme?

[Phoebus]

A few thoughts... Right off the bat, there will always be some resistance to Successor Chapters that are obviously "special". Remember, this is a competitive game... For some players, this kind of concept won't be an issue at all; for others, it might be a minor annoyance. Remember how people reacted when Matt Ward's Codex: Space Marines was interpreted as putting Ultramarines on a pedestal that sat higher than all other Space Marine Chapters? Beyond that, though, let's look at how this concept works.

 

To begin with, what is the mission of this Chapter? To keep an eye on the Adeptus Astartes? OK. To what aim, though? That takes us to my second question...

 

Who do they keep an eye on the Adeptus Astartes for? It's all well and good for the Emperor to bequeath onto these Space Marines a special duty... but how has this worked since he got placed in the Golden Throne? For instance, the Grey Knights, Exorcists, and Red Hunters are able to do what they do because they work within the boundaries of the Inquisition. Your Archangels can't exist within a vacuum.

 

Thirdly, how do they accomplish this? Consider that there are roughly a thousand Chapters out there. The Imperium has a hard time keeping track of all of them. How do your Archangels accomplish this? We're talking about a logistical nightmare; they'd need to stretch their numbers across five Segmenta and forget having dozens of ships like a lot of large, fleet-based Chapters... they'd need hundreds of warships. Finally, what do they do if they see something amiss with a Chapter? Do they call in other forces? Do they summon their brethren and try to take down the guilty Chapter on their own? There is already one Chapter that is heavily implied to be serving the High Lords of Terra as a "disciplinary force" against other Space Marines... the Minotaurs.

 

As far as the background goes, I'm not sure what to tell you. I think it's a stretch for him to raise a unit meant to serve all the Legions... from one Legion. Remember the contingent of representatives of the Crusade who were posted on Terra in "The Outcast Dead"? I think any "special courier" unit would be drawn from pretty much all Legions. More importantly, though, I think it's unrealistic that the Emperor would be given such shocking news and would opt to stay quiet about it. Even more importantly, why on earth would he let those who reported these incredibly sensitive news (that he wanted kept secret) go off on their own? In "Descent of Angels", the Emperor ordered Zahariel and Nemiel to be mind-wiped just to contain knowledge of some third-rate Calibanite nobles trying to pull off an assassination.

 

The basic concept - a Chapter that keeps tabs on the Adeptus Astartes - can work. For it to work, though, they either have to report to the Inquisition or some other faction - or perhaps the High Lords as a whole. This Chapter, and its is mission, has to be differentiated from what it is that other Chapters (Grey Knights, Minotaurs, etc.) do or are rumored to do. That last part is going to be the trickiest. Reporting potential renegades on its own doesn't make for a very compelling mission set. It's not very Space Marine-ish to be, like, "Well, we sent off the Astropathic message... everyone will now know that the Marines Malevolent Chapter has gone renegade... Well, we'll leave it up to the Inquisition now - time to go check out the next suspect!" But if you want your Archangels to be taking down the renegades as well, the High Lords already have a Chapter that's mean to handle rogue Space Marines (the Minotaurs), so now you have two Chapters vying for the same thematic role. Either way, I'm not sure this is a concept that would benefit from being a Dark Angels Successor specifically.

 

These are just my opinions, though. Run with it and have fun however you like! :)

[Aerixis]

Sounds pretty damn good I'd say.

 

I imagine them being a super-old school squad, so you could use the Legion Praetor and command squad rules from HH:Betrayal, stick em all on jetbikes and have them as the only remaining high-mobility squads left in the imperium.

 

Fair play, they'd be fscking expensive, and you'd need some troop's options to back them up F'organisation wise, but I really like the idea. Imagine they got called to Titan with Garro and the Eisenstein and had a hand in training the Grey Knights in combat when they were in the warp!

 

You could even name the jetbikes Ironstone pattern jetbikes in honour of him.

 

*ideas*

 

EEeeeee!

 

EDIT: But as Phoebus above mentioned, give a little thought into the 'hows' and 'whys'. Using the D.A codex wouldn't be as effective (in my eyes) as the Betrayal book, because like he said I would imagine a squad from every Legion, so then, a squad would be twenty marines (a 'courier', bodyguard, and consorts).

 

Limiting the possibilities to a 'dex that, to me, seems very specialist, may hamper what you could achieve!

[IronDragon66]

The one in my avatar.....

Dark Brown w/ DA Green shoulders and knees, and burnished gold on all the eagles, skulls, and crux terminatus type stuff.

 

Im reading over alot of the DA history fluff in hopes of refining my chapter idea some more. Maybe the watchers in the dark and the archangels are some how connected. Maybe the watchers are some how connected to the missing Johnson and the spirit of the Emperor? I just really like the idea of a chapter that secretly watches over all the others.....They arent like the Minotaurs where they take out rogue chapters, they have a deeper more overarching purpose. The Minotaurs are controlled somehow by the High Lords, Im thinking my Archangels have a deeper, spiritual, philosphical purpose.

[Phoebus]

Have you read "Descent of Angels"? The Watchers in the Dark certainly play a role within the Dark Angels Chapter, but I'm not sure they are what you imagine them to be.

[IronDragon66]

Thanks Phoebus,

- These are all the points that Im thinking about as well, thats why maybe I was thinking of linking them to the Watchers in the Dark somehow? How Im going to do that is the question, because even in the current lore no one really knows what the Watchers do. Maybe they arent even a seperate chapter but a smaller 100 man company type unit that specifically reports to the Interogator Chaplains. Like how Vulkan He'Stan's mission is to search for the lost artifacts of the Salamanders....well the Archangels could be on a mission to do nothing but gather intel on the fallen?

- Now all of the DA and their successors gather this intel, but they have to do their regular duties as well. What if the Archangels are the CIA of the DA's? A secret, spec ops unit that operates on its own. That I guess would be much more feasable.

[Phoebus]

I agree, that does sound much more feasible. Or, at least, easier to reconcile with! :)

 

And in all honesty, a formation that serves the larger Inner Circle - that is, the members in all of the Chapters of what was once the Dark Angels Legion - exclusively is something that has been missing for quite some time. They sky's the limit as far as what their mission set could be. Finding Fallen, ensuring the loyalty of other Inner Circle members, etc.

[Avon Rekaes]

They could be like their own Mini-Inquisition among the Inner Circle, ensuring that all Grand Masters are on task and reporting any deviations back to the Supreme Grand Master.

 

I also like the idea of working with Interrogator Chaplains. Like that rumoured "PA quasi-chaplain" squad.

[IronDragon66]

Phoebus, Avon thats awesome!!!!

- the inquisition/spec ops unit of the entire DA/DA successor inner circle, now thats an idea that has alot of potential. Archangels are the highest in the hierarchy of Angels so that would work out perfectly. They could hunt for fallen, make sure DA successors are towing the line, act as the DA's liason between the Inquisition, Grey Knights, Ordos Assassian, etc. Thanks alot for the feedback, I think thats a perfect start for a back story, and certainly more workable than trying to link it all back to before the Heresey.

[Upstartes]

Here's another idea for who they report to: they don't. At least, not yet.

 

What if they collect information, archive it, and are waiting for some prophesied day when someone will come to collect the information and use it to judge the unworthy.

 

They could have a believe in a future second coming of the Emperor. Or, they could be waiting for the Lion to awaken. Maybe they don't know he's asleep in the rock, but have a prophecy that he'll return that just happens to be true.

 

The advantages of this idea are a few:

1. No need to do any additional monkeying with the fluff of the larger 40k setting.

2. It goes hand-in-hand with the nature of the Imperium--things are running down. No one knows how to run things. This order of marines has a sacred duty, but they no longer have anyone for whom they perform this duty. Instead, they continue as they always have, recording their findings, explaining it through sacred teachings handed down from the past, and believing fervently that they are doing the Emperor's good work.

[Avon Rekaes]

I don't think they'd quite be a liaison between the Dark Angels and the Inquisition/etc. That would just be even more suspicious to the actual Inquisition that the Dark Angels have something weird going on. Inter-Chapter organizations are a huge No-No with regards to keeping the Adeptus Astartes power in check. The Imperium of Man does NOT want another Horus Heresy or even Badab War, with multiple chapters going rogue and answering to one tyrant.

 

The existence of the Inner Circle itself, and especially if there's some secret lines of communication, duty, and authority shared between the DA and their successor chapters, would have to be one of their highly kept secrets.

 

In other words, if the Inquisition found out that Azreal held even nominal authority over even ONE successor chapter, there would be Hell to pay. Possibly even all-out war launched on the DA with the goal of launching an Exterminatus on the Rock.

[IronDragon66]

Nice one Upstartes.

I never thought of that downside of the Inner Circle, but its totally true. If the =][= got word of the inner circle they would go bonkers. Still doesnt mean it wouldnt be possible or something that the inner circle would do....have a spec ops group like the Archangels. If they were a different chapter though that had their own kooky prophecy/belief that they were called to gather info on other chapters for when the Emperor/Johnson returned......

My only problem with that though is it could create this chapter that is super paranoid and kinda Marines Malevolenty, like in the Tome of Fire books. I guess its just how I write the fluff though. All great ideas guys thanks alot, keep em coming.

[Phoebus]

One note: I think the last thing these guys should be doing is hanging out with Inquisitors. In fact, I think the last thing Inquisitors should know (other than, you know, the whole Fallen thing) is that there is an Inner Circle that exists across the entirety of Dark Angels-based Chapter, and that they have a unit of elites that ensure all the Successors toe the line set by said Inner Circle.

 

Just saying! ;)

 

EDIT: beaten to the punch by Avon Rekaes!

[IronDragon66]

oh yeah totally agree....my original inquisitor idea was not thought through at all and would not work at all. I think its cause ive been on an Eisenhorn/Ravenor novel binge lol. Having the Archangels acting as a spec ops crew for the Inner Circle makes alot more sense, and it still allows them to act all secretly and shadowy.