IA: Broken Arrows

[Firepower]

BROKEN ARROWS

The Unabated Storm

THE BREAK OF DAWN: ORIGIN

A

ttempts to discern the Broken Arrows' origins by Imperial investigators have yielded little concrete information. Even the Chapter's own records are almost entirely a matter of oral tradition which tends to eschew the tedium of dates and other minutiae. Exact details are seen to have value in planning, not retrospect, and accounts are considered tools for imparting lessons rather than simple information. Consequentially, pinpointing exact years, locations, and even names from the Chapter’s vast collection of narratives is a rare achievement for even the most dogged investigations. Even basic details of the Broken Arrows' founding, or their establishment of a headquarters on their chosen home world of Lacrum, can only be estimated to have taken place in the early years of the 34th millennium.

Chapter lore has it that the Broken Arrows, as successors to the White Scars, were founded with the purpose of hunting the ancestral enemies of all the Great Khan's sons: the Dark Eldar. Elusive though the quarry was, the Chapter’s oldest stories recount a successful campaign of detecting, repelling, and running the xenos raiding parties to ground from system to system, until the hunt brought them to a nexus of their foes' activity on the world of Lacrum.

Orbital observations depicted a world with a single jaggedly mountainous super continent carved out by complex river systems and surprisingly fierce winds, unexpectedly hosting the dilapidated remains of a pre-Imperial human cityscape near its center. Almost as remarkable was the presence of a sizable human population, spread thin across the land mass at what appeared a curiously deliberate distance from the long dead city.

The story of first contact with Lacrum’s Tribes is an account of the highest reverence among the Arrows, and the first memorized by every aspiring initiate.

‘Our first brothers were amazed to find the Tribes alive on a world of our enemies. They asked to know our names. At that time, our title had two meanings. One was written in our birth, when we first stood one thousand strong. We took the name as a symbol of all the Great Khan's sons. We are incomplete so long as the dishonor done to us by the Dark Eldar in the old times remains- they separated the Great Khan's warriors from his guiding wisdom, no different from an arrow without a shaft from head to nock.

As we took to the hunt, we saw the truth of things. No matter the dedication or the will, our task is impossible. We can never kill enough. We can never restore what was taken from us along with the Great Khan. We could kill every last one of the xenos, but the hole left in our souls by that shame is bottomless. We knew then another meaning of a broken arrow. It is ill fortune, a promise of failure the moment it is pulled from the quiver.

We told the Tribes our name, but nothing more. They nodded and smiled, as if they saw something else in the words. They did not explain, but instead told us of the ruins, and how the Tribes hid and wandered the mountains to avoid notice by the shadow things that called the dead city home. Our arrival was a threat to that. The hungry shadows would not ignore our trespass.

The devils came that first night on shrieking wings and screaming airboats, and the Tribes' fears seemed vindicated. They fought beside us, using bows crafted from the bone and sinew of Mother Lacrum’s beasts. They loosed arrows into our Mother's breath, and she spat them into the hearts of the devils. Our heavier guns of blessed metals met their tally tenfold. By the night’s end, the xenos fled back to the ruins. The Tribes tended to their fallen and wept for those less fortunate, those dragged off to the devils’ home. Some among those still standing regarded us with venomous glares and whispered curses for the disaster we brought down on them. Others solemnly repeated our name to the weeping, as though it was medicine.

The hunt had to continue, and anger lent a sharpened edge to our duty. We set off for the ruins, and the bravest of the Tribes were allowed to fly with us. They guided us to the quarry's haven, and we walked side by side into the ruins and the caves beneath. The aliens burst forth from their ghostdoors to defend their foothold, and the Tribes fought with us to put them into the ground for their trouble. With the devils in retreat, we prepared to crush the tunnels and seal their foothold away. The Tribes stayed our hand, wearing that strange smile they wore when we first met.

"Are you not as you claim to be?" they asked us. "Are you not broken arrows?"

We saw the final truth in our name then. If your enemy breaks your arrow, he has handed you a dagger. To be a broken arrow is to find victory in the face of failure. It is to turn ill fortune on itself. It is to meet doom and beat victory out of it. If there is nothing left of us but blood and hate, we drown our enemy in both until they are spent.

We are the Broken Arrows, a single title for three truths. Our honor is forever slighted by a failing long passed. We can never hope for absolution. And still we fight, from our second birth to our second death.

It is why we live in these tunnels now. We live in our foe’s former lair, we make hunters of their former prey, and we await them with smiles and blades. We took their own fortress, their pathway into our galaxy, and turned it into a bulwark against their return. Our home is a testament and a challenge: there is nothing we cannot turn and wield against our enemies.'

The narrative is archetypical form for the Arrows’ oral traditions. Its historical precision is questionable at best. But more importantly, it teaches that the Chapter's union with Lacrum and her Tribes was predestined, that all three are of a single purpose: unyielding retribution for the uncountable sins of the Dark Eldar.

BLACK HORIZONS: RECENT HISTORY

In recent centuries, the Arrows have witnessed an unnerving trend within their protectorate.

The first signs came from Lacrum’s immediately adjacent systems. The worlds of Taravar, Simul and Raa were attacked within the span of a single year. The Guard and PDF forces stationed on Taravar sent urgent distress calls, and were found days later crippled and disordered in the aftermath of a lightning raid the Dark Eldar. Civilians on the agri-world of Raa were discovered horrifically mutilated across their fields and homes, flayed, butchered, dismembered and violated in unspeakable ways to form terrible alien sigils and symbols. Simul’s population rose up in panicked revolt when they heard the news of their sister worlds’ fates, before suffering a costly attack of their own.

The attacks became a pattern. The regularity of the raids steadily increased, pulling the Arrows farther and farther from their home. When a foothold was discovered and purged, raiders would emerge from yet another as yet unseen. Moments that should have provided periods of respite and reorganization were punctuated with revolutions and crumbling governments born by the terror the dark menace left in its wake.

Not a single company aside from the reserve forces stationed in the Howlhalls remains within a year’s travel to Lacrum now. A hundred marines and less than a thousand serfs are all that stand guard within its tunnels.

The dark claws of sneering shadows scratch at the walls of the Howlhalls. They probe for purchase and weakness, lending lamenting wails and pained moans to the breaths that thrum through its arteries.

The challenge made six thousand years hence is answered.

SPIRIT OF THE ARROW: BELIEFS

Unlike most Chapters, the Arrows have a familiarity and rapport with their mortal kin, and unlike most mortals the Tribes know some truth of the galaxy's hostility. With mutual respect and frequency of contact, it is little wonder then that local customs and the Chapter’s customs have gradually come to mirror one another. Bone whistles and tokens of feathers created from their home world’s most revered and spiritually significant fauna are common fetishes among the Arrows. Iconography and symbols adorning the Arrows’ armor and flesh are echoes of the tattoos seen among the Tribes. Even preferred methodologies and tactics are loosely analogous to the fundamental strategies of hunting that Arrows learn as humans.

The Broken Arrows believe their identity lies in a philosophy of relentless determination in the face of the impossible. The Chapter’s core mission- the eradication of the Dark Eldar- is ultimately unachievable. The Imperium which they are sworn to defend is indisputably in its twilight years. For every enemy of man put to the sword, a dozen more wait to fill its place. It is the knowledge of these truths that lends honor to the Arrows’ resolve. By their measure, only fools, unthinking zealots, and the delusional need to know that victory is guaranteed before taking up arms.

But regardless of motivation and belief, humans who die without blood on their hands are wasted lives. Station and place within the hierarchy of the Imperium, training and background, the weapons and armor available, all are seen as irrelevant. If an opportunity to fight in defense of the Emperor’s domain is presented, the Arrows accept no excuse to do otherwise. Even as child savages, the Arrows learn that life is won by taking it from others. Those who cower in the face of such a reality are left to the terminal rewards of their own inaction.

Such an uncompromising credo has led to ‘diplomatic issues’ on more than one occasion. The Arrows have a particularly notorious tradition with which to browbeat allies that they find wanting, rooted in another piece of Chapter lore pertaining to a war waged alongside a brother Chapter, the Throneguard, against an Ork incursion.

‘They failed. The Throneguard were honored with a chance for glory when we crafted our strategy, and they did not seize it. Were the shame their own to bear, that would be enough. But in failing, victory was jeopardized.

Our Master, Cayowakan the Stonesoul, to be Cayowakan the Openhand in soon coming days, approached them at the battle’s end. He sought their Champion, and threw dispersion and curses at the Throneguard, each one with a piece from his holy bolter. He named them cowards, weak and unworthy of the Emperor, until he stood with nothing but his weapon's splintered stock in his fist. When their Champion accepted the challenge, Cayowakan speared it through his skull.

Shamed by themselves and by our lord, Cayowakan offered them redemption. A final assault, with not a step backward, until either they or the Orks were dead. They accepted, and we saluted with pride over their dead in the days that came.

And so we make the same offer to all those that forget their purpose. We teach them of the broken arrow in honorable combat. If shame does not find their spines for them, then let them fall dead in graves where He does not see them. We do not share the glory of the hunt with those who will not earn it.’

Official Imperial records of the battle recount how the contingent of Throneguard, numbering only 30, was unable to join the battle as planned when their Drop Pods drifted several kilometers from their designated landing sites.

Similar circumstances throughout the Arrows’ history have invariably been met with an honor duel challenge, with more than a few champions and generals killed by shattered weapons, detritus from the battlefield, and on one particularly infamous occasion the victim’s own discarded rations tin.

MOTHER LACRUM: HOME WORLD

Lacrum (or 'Mother Lacrum' to its inhabitants) is an inhospitable planet, but not of the caliber of a true Deathworld. Fourth from the suns

The Perfect Weapon

On Lacrum, the art of crafting the perfect arrow is an ageless past time. Arrowheads for bleeding, for piercing, for splintering within a hide or rending innards are matched to fletchings specialized for every type of crosswind, air pocket and turbulence imaginable. The Broken Arrows in turn obsessively labor over their own weaponry in what precious few moments of peace they find, modifying range, recoil, and sights of their guns, and the payload, rifling and warheads of their ammunition. For every prey there is a perfectly suited weapon, and the Arrows’ battle-brothers take great pride (and no small amount of amusement) in slaying powerful opponents with their lovingly modified bolters where most would deploy special and heavy weapons.

of a binary star system of six worlds, it is given to radically polarized climate and oppressively constant and erratic winds. A single super continent covers roughly one fifth of the globe, composed of desolate, scorching hot flatlands surrounded by punishingly cold mountain ranges. Between the two, only the mountains have sufficient resources to support human life, and even then only in enough quantity to allow for a nomadic lifestyle. Foraging for food in shrubs and hunting the specially adapted predators of the mountains is easily preferable to a slow death by heatstroke and starvation in the utterly empty flatlands.

The Broken Arrows’ fortress monastery, the Howlhalls, resides under the wind scoured remains of Lacrum’s ancient civilization, and atop the Dark Eldar webway portals that first brought the Chapter to their home world. The ruins themselves were pilfered, eroded and crumbled into empty husks long before the Broken Arrows’ arrival. The labyrinthine tunnel complex underneath them, dug by unknown hands (and subtly reinforced into a formidable fortification by the Arrows), has proven a useful home for the Chapter. The winding, miles long tunnels exit out from dozens of cave mouths peppering the neighboring mountains’ rock faces, each guarded by the impaled skulls of Dark Eldar champions facing inward: a spiteful ritual leaving the dead fiends to stare upon their failures into eternity.

The subterranean fortress earned its title from the otherworldly howl it emits, which echos through the adjacent mountain ranges for dozens of miles. The wailing's pitch, volume and duration change with Lacrum’s mercurial air currents. In essence, the complex of caves serves as an enormous wind instrument, creating a constant dull vibration throughout the center holds before building to a deafening howl at the exits. The Arrows regard the phenomenon as a manner of communion with Lacrum, interpreting their world’s wills, omens, and portents by its breath passing through their home.

Lacrum's wildlife is predominantly avian or reptilian. Faunal adaptation to the planet's turbulent winds typically follows two directions: either bulk and strength to resist the currents, or grace and nimbleness to flow with them. These creatures, made up of diverse species such as the centipede-like Whipbird and the immense Mammogoth, supply the majority of the raw materials Lacrum's natives use to survive; bone, pelt, sinew, meat, scales and feathers.

The human population has adapted over the millennia in a subtler manner, a combination of the smallest of mutations lending them an evolutionary edge known colloquially as Lacrum’s Whisper. Primarily a product of an altered inner ear, a slightly enlarged nasal cavity, and a general heightened sensory sensitivity, the Whisper has allowed Lacrum’s natives to effectively function in the turbulent environment. Specifically, the population shares an abnormally acute sense of physical balance and sensitivity to temperature and barometric pressures. Using these talents, the Tribes have what looks outwardly like an unnatural gift for utilizing Lacrum’s winds in their marksmanship, employing a combination of advanced fletching techniques and the natural sensitivities of the Whisper to curve shots along every sort of turbulence imaginable. Among the Tribes, even an average hunter's arrow may change course several times in flight before striking its target.

The natives consider this evolution a spiritual matter, given the lack of scientific measures or incentives to understand the phenomenon as a product of natural selection. It is known as the Whisper because Lacrum’s people, particularly the hunters, are taught from childhood to focus on the subtlest sensations to effectively utilize their higher level sense perception. Or, in native terms, to listen for Lacrum’s Whisper.

TRIBES ASCENDED: ORGANIZATION

The Broken Arrows' organization is adherent to Codex guidelines in the broadest sense, ordering the Chapter into ten Companies of roughly one hundred Marines. There are however some significant differences unique to the Arrows. Firstly, the Arrows employ a smaller than average number of aircraft and Landspeeders. Flying in Lacrum's unpredictable skies is a daunting, nearly prohibitive challenge, but those whom manage to perfect the art regardless make for pilots of exceptional caliber. The Arrows do not, however, share the White Scars's affinity for bikes. Lacrum lacks both the beasts of burden and the hospitable plains of Chogoris, and so sons of Lacrum do not carry a love of riding from their first lives into their second.

The exceptional divergences are known as the Lodges. These are formalized cliques of Arrows with peculiar dispositions, led to pursue fixed careers as shock troopers or heavy weapon experts. After arduous trials, Arrows of the former variety are adopted into the Lodge of the Talons, and form the Arrows relatively small reflection of an Assault company. The latter form the Lodge of the Long Bows, likewise serving as the Chapter’s Devastator company. The Talons’ reputation is one of brutal, barely restrained savagery, while the Long Bows are known for intransigent stubbornness and a coldly analytic demeanor second only to (or sometimes even including) the Techmarines. While unorthodox personalities guide Arrows into these cliques, the Lodges encourage their members to nurture those features, to better fulfill their new roles.

The Lodges are not strictly analogous to Devastator and Assault companies of other Chapters. Rather, they are amorphous bodies, distributing small kinships across the Arrows’ other companies as they and the Arrows’ leadership sees fit: sometimes as dedicated units, and sometimes as individual veterans charged with training brothers serving their due years as Assault and Devastator troopers. Fraternities in their own right, the Lodges hone and pass on their cumulative knowledge and specialties to new generations of Talons and Long Bows, with beliefs, structures, ranks and rituals of their own. Both factions even have appointed representatives among the Arrows’ leadership, lending voices of fervor and detachment to balance the guidance of the Chapter.

Although most Arrows revere the ubiquitous bolter as the weapon above all others, none question the value of the Lodges’ presence on the battlefield.

The most unique divergence from Codex organization comes in the form of individuals known as the Whisperkin. These Marines are the rare few for whom the gene-seed does not override, but rather interacts with the evolutionary anomalies collectively known as Lacrum’s Whisper. The phenomenon, known as the Whisper’s Ghost, never quite expresses itself the same way, though generally the subject’s senses, dexterity, coordination and balance are heightened by varying extremes to a state superior even to fellow Astartes.

These rare individuals form a corps d’elite within the Arrows, entirely autonomous but for direct commands of the Chapter’s highest ranks. Given the variance in effect of the phenomenon, the Whisperkin almost never work in tandem as a singular unit, but rather play to their individual strengths. Some may exhibit extraordinary reflexes and situational awareness, and choose to follow the path of an assault specialist or master pilot. Others demonstrate remarkable intuition and synchronicity with environmental conditions, making for marksmen of incomparable caliber which may perform duties as anything from a scout sniper to a heavy weapons expert. Regardless of specialty, they typically choose to deploy alongside the rank and file of their brothers, joining units of their choosing and acting as force multipliers and icons of the Chapter. There have never been more than thirty at any one time, and service alongside a Whisperkin is viewed as a great privilege.

WAYS OF THE HUNT: COMBAT DOCTRINE

The Arrows utilize tactics not far removed from the hunting traditions of their home world, expanded to accommodate tools not available in their former lives among the Tribes. Typically, this revolves around precise rapid deployment, before digging into largely static, mutually supportive firebases. In essence, it is no different among Lacrum’s mountains- mobility is limited on such harsh terrain, and so hunts are coordinated efforts between carefully positioned, stationary archers.

The most common tactic is one of dividing the enemy forces, as a huntsman or predator would scatter a herd to pick off prey at leisure. In the most ideal circumstances, airstrikes and deep striking assaults as well as inserted Scout squads are normally given the role of dissecting enemy formations, creating disorder and chaos. Outriders typically in the form of aerial support funnel any panicked or separated targets into kill zones, where they are bracketed by the ranged firepower of Longbows and Tactical squads.

When on the defensive, the Arrows will often employ forward elements which remain hidden until in the midst of an advancing enemy, springing ambushes to cripple the enemies’ momentum and target the highest priority enemy assets while reserve forces attack from without to exploit the confusion. It is a dangerous tactic, and creating an escape route for the advance elements by weight of fire is as high a priority as elimination of the enemy. The Arrows will also employ deep striking Assault squads when available after a trap is sprung, landing far from the entrenched forces to increase the disruption and confusion before falling back to friendly lines.

Under any circumstance, it is an extraordinary event when a Broken Arrow commander deems a situation a lost cause. Unless there is an immediate and far superior use for their resources elsewhere, the Arrows are loathe to quit the field of battle while the enemy remains. This is not simply a matter of pathological stubbornness. Commanders avoid retreat at all costs not to just sell their lives dearly, but because the Arrows consider it an obligation to practice what they preach to allies- that duty as a human of any sort or station demands ill fortune be met with firmly planted feet and ready fists.

Although the Arrows are meticulous in the application of force, war is an inexact science. Squad leaders are expected to take individual initiatives when circumstances demand it, whether by advancing on targets of opportunity or moving to buttress weakened lines. However, the Broken Arrows are loathe to admit when a cause is lost, and so only the most dire circumstances or strategic breakdowns permit withdrawal.

GIFT OF THE GREAT KHAN: GENE-SEED

Whisperkin Taeo-Tahako, the Gargoyle

Although his fellow Whisperkin have always striven for glory and a place of their own in the Broken Arrows’ stories, Taeo-Tahako was a grim and distant soul from the moment his unique gifts manifested. He saw himself as different and disconnected from the fraternity, a mutant given honors by convenience of his uses. He deployed and fought alone rather than with his brothers, acting as an unparalleled sniper, sometimes assassinating enemy commanders before the main force could even catch sight of the target. It was on Haratus Hive that he earned his moniker, where he stalked the skyline's ravaged infrastructure in a private hunt of invading Orks. Forays out from the defensive lines of the Hive came across his handiwork regularly- pockets of greenskins riddled with bullets and shredded by explosive traps.
After a campaign of two weeks, the WAAAGH! shattered. Taeo-Tahako was found perched atop ruins well behind what were moments before enemy lines, idly tossing spent bullet casings down into the brainpan of the the Orks' slain Warboss. Not once throughout two weeks of stalking the war zone did Taeo-Tahako touch the ground or make contact with the main Broken Arrows force, and he (much to his discomfort) found himself showered with laurels and praises. He declined them all.
'I am simply your gargoyle,' he said. 'Your monster to fend off the monsters.'

The Broken Arrows’ gene-seed is relatively stable, with only the slight degradation to be expected after hundreds of generations of recipients. The one exception, being the mutation responsible for the Whisper’s Ghost, is neither strictly a product of Lacrum’s genetic pool or the gene-seed itself. After millennia of study and limited coordination with the White Scars, a theory has been developed among the Apothecaries. It posits that the Great Khan’s gene-seed may be prone to internalizing a host’s traits to a larger than normal degree, and thus lays a platform for interaction with deeply rooted genetic tendencies. This theory presents a danger then, in that the effect of Lacrum’s Whisper on gene-seed could potentially be cumulative, increasing the chance of the Whisper’s Ghost with each new host.

Due to the unique biochemistry involved, the Whisper’s Ghost over adapts gene-seed to the individual’s physiology, leaving it unsuitable for implantation in a successor. As a result, Whisperkin strive to utilize their gifts to the fullest, performing acts of insane bravery and prowess, driven by the determination to gain in the Chapter’s legends the legacy they are denied in flesh.

If the Whisper’s Ghost is indeed more likely to appear with each new generation of the gene-seed, it could effectively render the Chapter incapable of reproduction, given enough time. Though there are on average more Whisperkin within the Chapter than its earlier years, the rate of their appearance is still low enough as to not put any significant strain on the Chapter’s stock of progenoid glands.

For now, the Whisperkin are a much greater boon than they are a burden, and so no research into a preventative measure during gene-seed implantation has been pursued.

SONG OF THE KILL: WARCRY

When going into battle, the Broken Arrows hoot, shout, and howl, just as Lacrum's hunters do to flush out and scatter a quarry. Through the voxgrills of their Power Armor, these cries are given a brutal mechanical edge, and develop a deafening, almost concussive force.

[Aqui]

So after some encouraging words elsewhere, I decided to subject this latest brainbaby of mine to the gauntlet of Liber peer review. Currently things are in a rough post-outline stage, and in need of fat trimming at the very least.

This is going to be something of a wall of text, and I am sorry for that. But for now I'm a bit too scatterbrained about the concept to put any sensible or coherent formatting into it.

ORIGIN:

Currently leaning towards White Scars or Iron Hands successor, founding undetermined as of yet. Both lend towards tribal/clan nature, with a huntsman theme in the former and a fun potential theme of mechanical advantage versus human capability for the latter.

HOMEWORLD:

Name: Lacrum

Environment- A single mountainous super continent, and globe spanning nearly constant winds ranging from simply harsh to lethal vortices. Wildlife is adapted, most commonly by flight to go with the winds or massive and dense size to resist them. Almost all native species are either avian or reptilian.

Native humans- Culturally tribal nomads, though remnants of pre-Imperial civilasation dot the mountain ranges in the form of delapidated, abandoned superstructures. Plant life is rare thanks to the turblence of the environment, so the population is nearly entirely dependant on hunting for food. Few animals are slow and weak enough to be killed up close, and so the tribes have over the millenia mastered the art of archery. Whistles, feathers and bones of unique wildlife fletched into arrows, and natural talent are used to overcome and even use the planet's winds in hunting. The title of Broken Arrow comes from this culture: it is a custom to snap an arrow that delivers a kill shot, and wear a piece as a token of accomplishment. The more broken arrows a native wears, the more accomplished he is as a hunter and a marksman.

A very slight inner ear mutation/evolution of the population is one potential reason for exceptional marksmanship as well, which would neither interfere with or likely gain any new or heightened function because of geneseed implantation.

The current working premise for the Broken Arrows' original arrival and decision to claim Lacrum revolves around the Chapter discovering these people, and in a customary competition with the new arrivals, the natives win respect for their extraordinary talents. Specifically, the notion of hitting some beast with an arrow that a bolter round did not, by virtue of the former working with rather than trying to plow through Lacrum's winds.

CHAPTER TRAITS:

Initiates carry into the Chapter their natural talent for marksmanship, and tend to prefer ranged combat over all. There is a preference or reverence for precision, which carries into religious weapon customization and application of 'the right ammunition for the right job.' Most of the Broken Arrows' heroic tales and legends revolve around stories of seemingly impossible shots; killing an enemy champion with a single shot, from incredible range, curved around a wall by impossible trajectory or intuitive skill, that sort of thing.

Tokens of whistles and feathers, and a deification of wind carry into the Chapter's customs. A potential trick could be the use of whistles, possibly made from Lacrum's wildifes' bones for a special resonance/frequency, as a means of combat communication, range finding, or judging windspeeds/environmental balistic factors. Or they could just be simple tokens.

Close combat weapons are often viciously barbed and jagged. This reflects the hunter's strategy of 'bleeding out' anything that can't be brought down with a single hit.

Likely organized into tribes or clans as their parent chapter (either WS or IH) and Lacrum's native culture are.

Possibly a dislike for laser, beam, plasma and/or fire weapons, due to the lack of projectile flexibility they can manipulate with solid ballistics.

This is the main category where I feel I need to trim some fat and make some things a bit more generic. Take it down from 'gimmicky' to 'quirky idiosyncracies.'

Appearance:

Metal trim and wind-etchings, symbols of bent/jagged arrows in turquoise. Behold my clumsy (lack of) photoshop skills!!!

CHAPTER SYMBOL:

I've only got vague ideas for characters and battles of note. I figure these are best hammered out after pinning down the nature of the Chapter itself.

Welcome to the Liber mate!

Personally, I'd go with Iron Hands, not that I'm biased by a fairly recent appreciation of that Chapter However, as I said before I love the concept and haven't seen anything similar that I can recall, so it's quite original too (to me at least).

Whilst I haven't got much in way of critique (you've still got things to add in before I can fairly do such a thing), but I am curious, assuming you do go with Iron Hands as being the "Parent" Chapter, as to their feelings on targeters etc. Do they use them? Do they feel they are anathema to their sensibilities/abilities? (i.e. do they think using such tech makes them feel they are letting their teachings down, and/or their skills as warriors falter if they rely on that tech? Or are they simply a tool and nothing more?) Are they of a similar mindset as the IH themselves, i.e. "The flesh is weak!" and replace as much of themselves as is possible, or are those beliefs tempered by a more...liberal view that such practices are only to be considered in extreme circumstances?

Just had a thought (and please feel free to use or ignore ) Perhaps the Broken Arrows are conflicted by what they learn in their Tribes and what they are indoctrinated with "TFIW". Collectively, perhaps they have a terrible time of reconciling said beliefs, some leaning to the tribes' way whilst others are more keen to embrace the teachings of Ferrus. Perhaps, if you are going to adopt the IH's organisation then some Clans are for one type of belief, whilst others adopt the other...

(And another thought) Perhaps the name of the Chapter, is a literal one - the "arrow" must be broken and remade so that it flies "true" (as a Marine). In this sense, whilst the teachings of the Tribe are replaced by Ferrus' they still have a hugely uncanny ability to shoot at targets that even the most experienced Marines of other Chapters are unable to.

Food for thought and in any case I'm looking forward to what you come up with!

[Olis]

ORIGIN:

Currently leaning towards White Scars or Iron Hands successor, founding undetermined as of yet. Both lend towards tribal/clan nature, with a huntsman theme in the former and a fun potential theme of mechanical advantage versus human capability for the latter.

For the Broken Arrows I think that, by the 'feel' of the them, I get the impression of White Scars heritage, tbh. I kind of like that sort of connection, as opposed to an Iron Hands link. It's certainly more tribal that mechanical. Just my tuppence on that.

A very slight inner ear mutation/evolution of the population is one potential reason for exceptional marksmanship as well, which would neither interfere with or likely gain any new or heightened function because of geneseed implantation.

This mutation - does it relate to balance or hearing? I think you need to clarify what exactly this inner ear mutation is and what it does, otherwise it will feel like information is missing.

The current working premise for the Broken Arrows' original arrival and decision to claim Lacrum revolves around the Chapter discovering these people, and in a customary competition with the new arrivals, the natives win respect for their extraordinary talents. Specifically, the notion of hitting some beast with an arrow that a bolter round did not, by virtue of the former working with rather than trying to plow through Lacrum's winds.

Hmm. Would not a marine also compensate for wind? Perhaps some kind of demonstration of ability might be a better idea, rather than direct competition, as the latter would diminish the marines in the eyes of the reader, otherwise.

CHAPTER TRAITS:

Initiates carry into the Chapter their natural talent for marksmanship, and tend to prefer ranged combat over all. There is a preference or reverence for precision, which carries into religious weapon customization and application of 'the right ammunition for the right job.' Most of the Broken Arrows' heroic tales and legends revolve around stories of seemingly impossible shots; killing an enemy champion with a single shot, from incredible range, curved around a wall by impossible trajectory or intuitive skill, that sort of thing.

Be careful not to get too carried away, brother. It's starting to feel like shades of Wanted are hanging here. :P

Possibly a dislike for laser, beam, plasma and/or fire weapons, due to the lack of projectile flexibility they can manipulate with solid ballistics.

I would have thought weaponry that's not affected by wind (presumably plasma and las weaponry) would be valued quite highly for a Chapter that has a background in having to always compensate for the wind. Maybe flamer weaponry could be seen as a useful tool but not a ubiquitous weapon like some chapters see it, owing to it's fallibility in windy conditions. Not sure on melta weaponry though. Maybe the emphasis on ranged combat simply negates it's usefulness and relegates it to tool status, like flamers. Feel free to make of this what you will. This is mostly spitballing. :D

Appearance:

Metal trim and wind-etchings, symbols of bent/jagged arrows in turquoise. Behold my clumsy (lack of) photoshop skills!!!

Very nice. Subdued but individual. Looks like a little Celtic influence has managed to worm its way in there.

CHAPTER SYMBOL:

I've only got vague ideas for characters and battles of note. I figure these are best hammered out after pinning down the nature of the Chapter itself.

Although the chapter symbol is unique, it does seem a wee bit simplistic. Perhaps that's just because of the way it's been drawn as opposed to the full concept in your head. I dunno.

The flavour text that I have snipped out here and there sounds good and it shows real character - it's a good foundation for building a truly unique Liber Astartes chapter. Keep it up. :tu:

[Messor]

Glad to see the Broken Arrows here! They look just as awesome as they did in Greyall's thread.

 

I think Aquilanus and Olis have made excellent and valid points, so I don't have much to add at the moment, except to throw in my lot for the White Scars. The tribal influence and appreciation for hunting strike that chord in me. I openly admit I have a personal bias for the Iron Hands, but the impression I get from the Tribes of Lacrum feels like they would be very wary about sacrificing their flesh when it clearly serves them so well. If my tribesman were master archers, and I were chosen as a candidate for the Arrows, I'd have misgivings about something like removing my hand, like I was cutting away a piece of that human instinct that makes them such amazing shots. Then again, that could possibly play into some of the interesting conflict Aquilanus mentioned.

[Firepower]

Glad to see the Broken Arrows here! They look just as awesome as they did in Greyall's thread.

That was my thread actually. Though I'm considering offering them up for the DIY contest he's running.

The thought behind the Iron Hands would be, as I did a poor job of explaining before, a sort of reconsideration of their primogenitor's philosophy. Namely, that instinct and talent of the Tribes of Lacrum, when honed to proper levels, would rival any technological aid that simple equipment and prosthetics could offer. Not that they would renounce biotics entirely, but simply that they would have a new reason to appreciate the possibilities of the flesh, and potentially strive for a balance between the two as their pesonal ideal. Essentially, they would come to conclude that flesh was simply a (fragile) machine in itself, and attempt to synergize rather than replace it with synthetics. They would also be better suited for the religious customization of weaponry and ammunition.

Meanwhile, the Scars fit much better with the tribal theme and the huntsman theme. I like that they make for a savage-but-not-quite-space-wolfy sort of group. So, they are a more natural fit for the chapter, but the Iron Hands offer an interesting twist. Or rather, the Broken Arrows would offer an interesting twist for the Iron Hands.

If I can do the former well enough, I definitely lean towards the Hands. If I can't make it work, the Scars are a natural and well suited default.

-I just noticed the edit by Aquilanus, and that is certainly an interesting conflict! It could be that conflict between beliefs would make for a more interesting identity. Rather than synergizing with the flesh, it would still be improving upon flesh. The stock would just be better material to work with than average humans...

Olisredan- I know, I'm trying very hard just to skirt along the edge of Wanted territory. The wrap-around shot is a tricky bit, but I think in the proper environment it could be done. Not with a dumb flick of the wrist maneuvre mind you, or something so dramatic as a huge change in trajectory, but more like turning a shot 2 degrees rather than making it go all corkscrewy. Rather it would be by using specialised ammo, environmental favor like wind or unique gravity or something to that nature. It's easy to slip from "They're in cover? Interesting..." into "Hurhur I can shootz you anywheres!!!" I must be careful.

As for the special weapons, the way I see it is that the Broken Arrows and the Tribes would have a philosophy around working with and utilising wind as an ally (in literally an anthropomorphic religious perspective) rather than seeing it as an enemy or a force to be overcome. So ballistics would be more fitting than lasers and such.

As for the Chapter symbol, it is quite simplistic, but it looks goofy partly because of how thin and absent of context the drawing is. If you think about it though, flip it upsidedown, round it out, and you have the Ultramarine's logo...so simple can be fine It will also look more natural when there are other similar images around the armor, as in the picture.

The inner ear mutation...I'm still kinda vague on that myself to be honest. It could affect balance and coordination, it could affect hearing in a way that would help 'translate' or comprehend the movement of air around them. It's sort of a band-aid job: environment or no, it is hard to sell the idea that humans could survive in that sort of manner purely by skill. With the intensity and erratic patterns of wind on Lacrum, and specialised fletching skills, I am literally thinking of archery that could turn arrows at a (curved) right angle. Note that a Bolter could never do anything so dramatic as that, of course, but an uncanny instinct for ballistics would give them a talent for accuracy and marksmanship that outstrips most other marines.

Obviously still a lot to hammer out, and I appreciate the input so far! I see a lot to reflect on here already. But I'll be sure to properly think things over before I go revising things and asking for more.

[Messor]

Ah, that's right! Your sketches thread! My mistake, I think I just went from perusing one to the other and mixed them up. They should definitely get an entry, though!

[Octavulg]

This is going to be something of a wall of text, and I am sorry for that.

Boy, in my day, our walls of text were nine times this long. And with no pictures. And, somehow, uphill .

Currently leaning towards White Scars or Iron Hands successor, founding undetermined as of yet. Both lend towards tribal/clan nature, with a huntsman theme in the former and a fun potential theme of mechanical advantage versus human capability for the latter.

I'd actually push you toward Ultramarines or the like, just for the unexpectedness. Salamanders have a close relationship with their home world which would justify adopting so many of the practices.

gallery_38474_6917_32897.jpg

I do NOT like that green. Too green. Something more tan or just simple brown would be better, IMO.

CHAPTER SYMBOL:

Angle it, and I think it will look better.

I've only got vague ideas for characters and battles of note. I figure these are best hammered out after pinning down the nature of the Chapter itself.

You figure correctly.

 

There's an opportunity for a neat Fortress Monastery here, I think. Also, you might want to consider the level of interaction with the populace.

[Firepower]

Huh...angling the arrow.  Good call!  Much more dynamic and lightningy :)

 

As for the green....what green?  Nothing here is green.  I suppose the primary armor color could be seen as Raptor-ish green, but it's more of an earthy brown (on my screen at least).  I wouldn't try putting blue details on a green base anyway.

 

I don't care much for the Ultramarines as a primogenitor personally.  I just find them to be too much of a tabula rosa.  And I've already done a Salamander successor, so they're out :D

 

As for the Fortress Monastary, I'm still in the spitballing stage.  You're right in that there are quite a few options.  There's the classic Axis Mundi concept, which given the environment would likely be a mountain.  But that's a bit too Fang-ish for me.  There's potential for some sort of base in the ruins of the planet's first civilisation, full of ancient mystery and technologies.  There's also the possibility for an immense cave complex, which thanks to a number of entrances and exits, could function like a gigantic wind tunnel and to some degree a musical instrument in itself (like the whistle tokens they carry about).

 

When it comes to interaction with the populace, I'm leaning towards the Blood Angel approach: they know the Chapter exists, but the only interaction they have is when a tournament/event/challenge is issued to the tribes for recruitment purposes.

 

I'll be posting up a rough draft some time today I think.  Thanks again for all the help so far, and in advance for future critique :tu:

[Octavulg]

Huh...angling the arrow. Good call! Much more dynamic and lightningy

Lightningy and dramatic if you angle it down, asipirational and tragic if you angle it up.

As for the green....what green? Nothing here is green. I suppose the primary armor color could be seen as Raptor-ish green, but it's more of an earthy brown (on my screen at least). I wouldn't try putting blue details on a green base anyway.

It's a very green brown, at least to me. It's pushing into olive.

What's the hexcode?

I don't care much for the Ultramarines as a primogenitor personally. I just find them to be too much of a tabula rosa. And I've already done a Salamander successor, so they're out

Fists, maybe, then? The Scars just seem too speed-focused, and the Iron Hands are, well, dicks who spend too much time sucking up to the Ad Mech.

As for the Fortress Monastary, I'm still in the spitballing stage. You're right in that there are quite a few options. There's the classic Axis Mundi concept, which given the environment would likely be a mountain. But that's a bit too Fang-ish for me. There's potential for some sort of base in the ruins of the planet's first civilisation, full of ancient mystery and technologies. There's also the possibility for an immense cave complex, which thanks to a number of entrances and exits, could function like a gigantic wind tunnel and to some degree a musical instrument in itself (like the whistle tokens they carry about).

I'd go with cave complex through a series of-wind worn rock spires, with the wind tunnel functions you mention. Call it the Howling Gate or something like that.

When it comes to interaction with the populace, I'm leaning towards the Blood Angel approach: they know the Chapter exists, but the only interaction they have is when a tournament/event/challenge is issued to the tribes for recruitment purposes.

The images you posted in the other thread (and the name) would suggest more involvement to me. The BA aren't really that connected to their home world - they're all about overcoming and abandoning it. That doesn't seem to be what your boys do.

[Firepower]

Hm, I never really thoguht of the Blood Angels as scornful of Baal.  At least back in the early days they were written with quite a bit more humility and humanity than that.  That's the idea I had for the Arrows: not quite as close to the people as the Salamanders, but not as aloof and mythical to the tribes as the Space Wolfs are to Fenrisian tribes.  So basically, the tribes know they exist, and the two interact only periodically for cases of recruitment challenges/events/celebrations.

 

On the White Scars note, I think it could be an interesting twist of the original combat doctrine.  Lacrum's tribes have no beast of burdens, and maneuvering through mountain ranges at high speeds is nearly impossible.  So rather than being the speedy guys, it's more of a custom to instead cripple the enemy's mobility.  Or simply by virtue of the wind theme, a fondness for Speeders and air support could replace typical bike-based White Scaryness.  Or maybe a mix of both: rapid deployment, precision shooting to disect enemy units and cripple cohesion/mobility.chain of command, and redeploy when necessary.  Sort of like Tau...with spines.

 

But I need to find a way to establish a strong link between the Arrows and the Scars, without straying too far from the connection between the Arrows and the tribes.  A way to delicately slip the Chapter as it began into the Chapter as it stands today, without them just arriving on Lacrum and going 'Wow this is way better than what we used to do!'

 

I've been tinkering with the nature of Lacrum's tribes and their unnatural adeptitiude, and I think the tiny inner ear mutation is becoming necessary if it's going to be palatable.  Since I'm seeing these guys as more shamanic than sciencey, they wouldn't regard it explicitly as a mutation, a biological function to be exploited.  What I like is the idea of simply calling it Lacrum's Whisper, something they recognise as a gift of their homeworld (rather than a basic, tiny bit of natural selection).  Rather than affecting balance, which wouldn't really matter considering Astartes physiology as it stands, I think it'd be handy as increasing sensitivity to frequency and air pressure, perhaps making it instinctive for the tribes and the Arrows to filter out and isolate those all important ballistic factors like wind, barometric pressure and the like.

 

Aside from those gray areas, I'm in the stage of laying out a proper bullet point outline and getting the thoughts in order for a proper, organized submission. With some luck I'll have it up by the end of the day.  :)

[Octavulg]

Hm, I never really thoguht of the Blood Angels as scornful of Baal. At least back in the early days they were written with quite a bit more humility and humanity than that.

Not necessarily in attitude, but definitely in theme. Baal exists to be horrible and show how amazing the Blood Angels are. The practices of Baal itself don't really seem demonstrated in the Blood Angels. Which fits with the heavenly/angelic theme, if you think about it.

So basically, the tribes know they exist, and the two interact only periodically for cases of recruitment challenges/events/celebrations.

That feels incompatible with the whole archery theme permeating the chapter, at least to me (and with the level of theme demonstrated by your illustrations). Then again, the Wolves and the Scars are quite thematic without being that involved with their home worlds (then again, they're also not as well put together as some other chapters).

On the White Scars note, I think it could be an interesting twist of the original combat doctrine. Lacrum's tribes have no beast of burdens, and maneuvering through mountain ranges at high speeds is nearly impossible. So rather than being the speedy guys, it's more of a custom to instead cripple the enemy's mobility. Or simply by virtue of the wind theme, a fondness for Speeders and air support could replace typical bike-based White Scaryness. Or maybe a mix of both: rapid deployment, precision shooting to disect enemy units and cripple cohesion/mobility.chain of command, and redeploy when necessary. Sort of like Tau...with spines.

Speeders and air support would be liabilities on a super-windy world, I would think. Though I like this.

You seem to be moving forward well.

[Firepower]

Okiedokie. So I did some reflection, and I couldn't get the bad taste out of my mouth that this idea was still simply a gimmick. There wasn't any character to the idea beyond some symbols and 'We're Marines+'

So I decided to work on their motivatoin. Purpose first, then build the stuff like culture and special skills around that. This is what I came up with (I may be going against lore with the last bit about Dark Eldar, but I really hope not)

ORIGIN:

The Broken Arrows’ history is almost entirely a matter of oral tradition. Matters of exact specifics are seen to have value in planning, not retrospect, and stories are considered tools for imparting lessons rather than simple information. Consequentially, pinpointing exact years, locations, and even names from the chapter’s vast collection of narratives is often a herculean task. Were anyone to take the time to actually attempt such a task in interest of finding the Broken Arrows’ founding, the date of their arrival on their homeworld of Lacrum, or the date on which they took up their namesake, best estimates would put all three somewhere in the early 34^th millennium.

Chapter lore has it that the Broken Arrows, successors to the White Scars, were founded on the purpose of hunting the ancestral enemies to all sons of the Khan: the dark kin of the Eldar. Illusive as the quarry was, the Arrows’ oldest stories speak of a successful campaign of detecting, repelling, and running the xenos raiding parties to ground from system to system, until the hunt brought them to the world of Lacrum.

Initial scouting of the world revealed unexpected results. Remnants of seemingly human civilization from an age before the Imperium itself were centralized towards the middle of the world’s single supper continent, dilapidated and skin-stripped by Lacrum’s winds, but whole. The Arrows’ investigation also turned up a sizable native human population, though far from the ruins and spread thin amongst nomadic tribes.

The stories of first contact with Lacrum’s tribes are among the closest to the Arrows’ core philosophy, and the first that aspiring initiates into the Chapter learn.

"The Tribes explained that the ruins were to be avoided. They played host to dark hunters that had plagued the world for as long as anyone knew: life was harsher hunting and wandering in the mountains, but nearing the ruins would awake the demons. The Tribes had oracles and shamans with stories of their own, one which came with the unsettling ring of potential truth; stories of saviors from the sky, of sons of lightning and thunder, steel men that brought a duplicity of doom and salvation for Lacrum. But oddest of all was the title the Tribes used, each and every one calling us Broken Arrows, a term they considered self evident and refused to clarify.

The hunters came the first night on shrieking wings and screaming airboats, and we knew we had found the quarry’s home base. The Tribes fought beside us, using Lacrum’s winds to bombard the skiffs and knock wingriders from their mounts with dancing arrows, though our heavier guns put their tally to shame. The night ended with bloody losses on both sides before the xenos retreated. The Tribes tended to their fallen and wept for those less fortunate, those dragged off to the hunters’ homes, and we couldn’t help but feel the term the Tribes used suddenly came with a venomed edge. Our presence brought the devils out, and we learned the meaning of a broken arrow- a sign of ill omen, a symbol of failure.

But we had a hunt to complete, and our guilt sharpened our anger. We set off for the ruins, and the bravest of the Tribes convinced us to allow their presence on the gunboats. They guided us to the targets, and we walked side by side into the ruins, into the caves beneath, and to the gate. The aliens burst forth to defend their foothold, the device they used to cross from their hell into Lacrum, and Tribesmen and Marines put them into the ground for their trouble. We stood before the gate, its vanguard dead, blood hot, but the Tribesmen stayed our hand. They called us Broken Arrows again, but through warm smiles of brotherhood.

Understand now. A broken arrow cannot fly. To have the quarry in sight and reach into the quiver to pull an arrow with its shaft split is a sign of ill fortune. But the warrior does not see a broken arrow. He sees a dagger. To be a Broken Arrow is to find victory in the face of failure. It is to turn ill fortune on itself. It is to meet a doomed fate and beat victory out of it. If there is nothing left of you but blood and hate, use it to drown your enemy.

It is why we allowed the gate to stand. We live atop it, and we wait. We are the patient hunters of Lacrum now, letting the foul devil kin keep their foothold. We are bait for our own trap, daring them to come and meet death again. They must come up to feed, and we are here to punish them for their wicked hunger.’

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sooooo, chief concern: are Dark Eldar footholds/gates actually constructs like the Eldar webway portals? If it's not stationary, things kinda fall apart towards the end there. :teehee:

Also, I couldn't make it sound interesting without actually quoting narrative, so sorry if it's not as analytic as the first half of the entry.

[Messor]

I think there's an awkward timeframe/context in the beginning for a Chapter called the Broken Arrows to be founded, then find Lacrum, a world whose human population are skilled archers. You might be better served by a nameless Chapter finding Lacrum, perhaps beginning its crusade against the Dark Eldar by defending its people, and discovering a commonality in mindset that leads to them taking their new name.

[Firepower]

I didn't mean for them to be Broken Arrows before the campaign hit Lacrum. I originally had a line about them being known as the Stormsons before then, but it seemed tacked on and arbitrary. I thought the note in the narrative about finding it peculiar how the Tribes kept calling them that implied enough how they were known as something else at the time. Guess I was wrong.

The campaign against Dark Eldar seemed natural enough of a founding purpose for sons of the White Scars, but if that's a bit forced too, your way sems plenty plausible too.

[Messor]

No, their founding purpose doesn't seem forced, its fine; I only suggested that in order to ensure they found Lacrum before taking the name. Honestly, what you had before about them being Stormsons serves that exact purpose, though with no name instead of a different name. I think that would be easier simply because it strikes me as strange that they would change their name due to a philosophy, or even adopting a homeworld. But if they had no name to begin with, it very natural that they would choose the noble, and meaningful name by which the natives already know them. That I missed your allusion to the different name in the first place was my fault, you wrote it just fine.

[Firepower]

Can a Chapter not have a name?  I mean, foundings are kinda blurry in detail as far as official fluff goes, but it seemed to me that naming is something that would happen at inception.  If not, well, having them nameless when they reach Lacrum will work just fine, and should be easy to incorporate with just an extra sentence or a bit of clever editing.

 

It would certainly be a lot easier than explaining how, like you pointed out, they would go 'You know, I never really liked "Stormsons," but this Arrow thing is pretty catchy!'

 

Sweet :)

[Messor]

I'm fairly certain that a founded Chapter is given a designation, but generally speaking, its the Chapter Master who names it, and in his own time. Sometimes they consult the Tarot, sometimes he waits for distinguishing moment, sometimes he just comes up with something suitably epic on the spot.

[NightrawenII]

I'm fairly certain that a founded Chapter is given a designation, but generally speaking, its the Chapter Master who names it, and in his own time. Sometimes they consult the Tarot, sometimes he waits for distinguishing moment, sometimes he just comes up with something suitably epic on the spot.

Citation needed.

 

The only material which deals with this is, unsurprisingly, Insignium Astartes. According to this book, the Chapter is named at the founding with strict rules to guide entire process. At the same time the Chapter Master chooses livery and heraldry of the newly established Chapter.

 

Additionally, there is issue with the founding purpose and the homeworld. - This Chapter was founded to pursuit and hunt the Dark Eldar. Considering the attacks of DE are rather erratic and not tied to one area of space, it will be neccessary to stay mobile and be ready to go out, so to speak. The Chapter however ties itself to one place (planet), moreover it's sitting here in wait. It resembles the situation, where cat awaits near mouse-hole, while the mouse uses other exits to loot the larder.

 

 

~NightrawenII

[Firepower]

I was wondering when the dreaded logic-fist of Nightrawen would visit

On the nature of the Chapter: the original hunt leading to Lacrum is a bit tenuous, admittedly. It works off the notion of following the trail of breadcrums (in the form of ravaged planets and what raiders they might catch in the act) when a particular DE faction finds a region of space to be ripe pickings and uses the gate on Lacrum as their beach-head.

The Arrows are not meant to sit in their entirety on Lacrum, waiting for the Dark Eldar to forget that someone's sitting at the door. Rather, there is a token force, likely a reserve company, that stays or rotates out of guarding the homestead, while the rest of the Chapter scours the region for more incursions. A rotating reserve force on a homeworld is fairly common practice anyway, if I'm not mistaken. I just haven't gotten far enough into the article to explicitly point that out. I felt that detail would be more relevant in the upcoming Organization section.

Sitting on Lacrum and leaving the gate intact doesn't make 100% tactical sense. That is not the point, so much as it is a gesture, partly for the Chapter as a demonstration of philosophy, and partly as a taunt/warning/challenge to their enemy of choice.

And in the case that it wasn't noticed, I'm using the nebulus, purpose-built nature of oral history to cheat a bit on exact specifics. Particularly in the form of what would, by Space Marine standards, qualifiy as an origin mythology (in the same sense as Adam and Eve), the precise nature of the decision to rename the Chapter is secondary to the notion that the title 'Broken Arrow' was a natural, or even predestined fit that ties them to their purpose as well as their homeworld. So basically, 6000 years after the fact, and with the nature of oral history, what they were before becoming the Broken Arrows is almost irrelevant to them.

It may be cheating, but I think it's at least clever cheating (also known as 'poetic license') and one that I don't intend to abuse throughout the rest of the IA. Current tactics, practices, rituals, organization, and other necessary items are present concerns, so the 'the details don't matter so much as the story' excuse won't work anyway

[Messor]

 

I'm fairly certain that a founded Chapter is given a designation, but generally speaking, its the Chapter Master who names it, and in his own time. Sometimes they consult the Tarot, sometimes he waits for distinguishing moment, sometimes he just comes up with something suitably epic on the spot.

Citation needed.

Pois é, I only have my opinion on that. I take it that you do still mean that the Chapter Master names them?

[Aqui]

One can avoid the whole issue of renaming a Chapter all together, by saying that the official designation is X, but the Chapter is known colloquially as Y.  E.g. Carcharadons/Space Sharks, Vlka Fenryka/the Rout/Space Wolves etc, etc.

 

I used it myself with Legio Spectra/Rainbow Warriors (except in that case, it's the other way around) ;)

[Octavulg]

One can avoid the whole issue of renaming a Chapter all together, by saying that the official designation is X, but the Chapter is known colloquially as Y. E.g. Carcharadons/Space Sharks, Vlka Fenryka/the Rout/Space Wolves etc, etc.

Ick.

 

Please don't.

[Firepower]

Huh.  I thought I did fairly well at sidestepping the whole issue with the oral tradition spin.  It's starting to look like I was wrong. :teehee:

 

It seems like something of a dangerous pitfall.  Spending more time on the Chapter's nature prior to becoming the Broken Arrows makes it significantly harder to actually convincingly make them the Broken Arrows, while only filling what seems like a small crack in the narrative.  What I mean is, with all I want to do with this Chapter, that detail seems like more of a minor irritation that deserves a couple of sentences at most than a major plothole.

 

But then I am submitting this for public opinion :D 

 

So, does the question of 'Who were they before that?' after reading the origin story set your collective teeth grinding?  Or is it more of an after thought?  I'm trying to get a feel for the minimum of attention the issue should receive.

[NightrawenII]

Well, the rule of thumb in any narrative is to know what exactly happened, ie. to have a plausible scenario at hand. What do you tell your audience is another thing.

With that in mind, the solution could be: The allegory of broken arrow is not native to Lacrum - it can be native to Chogoris, for example. So the story is not accurate account of history but an artificial story made to enlighten. Therefore the challenge here is to convey the artificial nature of story to your reader.

(Yes, I'm saying that the Broken Arrows were Broken Arrows before coming to Lacrum and the native tradition has nothing to do with the name of the Chapter. Deviously clever, huh? )

[Firepower]

So the story is not accurate account of history but an artificial story made to enlighten. Therefore the challenge here is to convey the artificial nature of story to your reader.

...this is what I've been doing all along.

If I have to make it more fantastical and exaggerated to make it a clearly fictional account, I can do that. But I did explicitly point out several times that I was dodging this exact issue in that exact way.