IA: Astral Swords

[kenshivalion]

Index Astartes

The Astral Swords Space Marines Chapter

Founding Chapter...Ultramarines
Founding................23rd Founding
Chapter Master......Alistar Roland
Homeworld............Aix
Chapter Symbol.....Maltese cross
Main Colours..........Royal blue, silver Aquila and chapter symbol, white tabards, company color shoulder trim as per codex standard (silver for 1st, gold for 2nd)

Origins

The Astral Swords were created during the 23rd founding, a founding preceded by a millennium of strife for the Imperium. Their charge was to pacify the Aachan sector in the Ultima Segmentum, a resource rich collection of systems that had become increasingly destabilized from xenos incursions and internal rebellions. This was a trying time for the young chapter, as they were plunged into battle again and again, without the proper time to rest or rebuild their numbers. The chapter emerged triumphant, though severely under strength. In recognition for their efforts, the High Lords of Terra granted the Astral Swords the feudal world of Aix as their homeworld and recruiting ground. The chapter set up their fortress monastery on an orbiting moon, to oversee their new home from afar, and began the rebuilding process.

Notable in their campaign was the liberation of the forge world Malagi, under siege by Orks who hoped to plunder the wonders of the factory world. While the Orks fought on the planet’s surface against the Mechanicum’s Skitarii, the Astral Swords engaged the Orks in space, pounding the Ork hulks with their fleet’s cannons while conducting boarding assaults. In recognition for their aid, the Mechanicum of Malagi, renowned for their production of masterfully crafted personal weaponry, presented the chapter with a power sword made of a material unknown to the Astartes. The Astral Swords’ Chapter Master took the finely crafted sword as his personal weapon, naming it Durandel. The bronze tinted blade has proven extremely durable, having never been broken and remaining in use by the chapter masters of the Astral Swords to this day.

The Weeping Tear

In 754.M38, word reached the Astral Swords that all contact with shrine world of Roncevaux had been lost. An informal request from the Ecclesiarchy requested the Astral Swords to investigate, and Chapter Master Carolus decided to comply at the urging of Chief Librarian Ganelon and in accord with their following of the Imperial Creed.

The Astartes arrived at Roncevaux with weapons bristling, only to find a seemingly peaceful planet and the resident Adepta Sororitas convent, the Order of the Amber Tear, quite surprised. Carolus descended to the planet with his personal guard, Ganelon, and the 2nd company to investigate. After speaking with the Canoness of the order Carolus was prepared to leave but Ganelon insisted that the relic of the shrine world, the so called Weeping Tear, be inspected. The relic was kept inside a sealed room that hadn’t been opened for centuries, but Ganelon was so adamant that it be opened that the Canoness reluctantly agreed. In a solemn ceremony, the seals were opened and Astartes and Sororitas looked on the relic for the first time in generations.

The moment the Astartes on the planet entered the relic room, Chaos warships exited the warp and vox communication with the planet was severed. An intense firefight ensued with the Astral Swords fleet, but after only a mere half hour, sensors detected a small transport docking with a Chaos battleship and, as quickly as they had come, the Chaos fleet vanished back into the warp.

After the battle, the Astral Swords tried to piece together what had happened. The Astartes and Sororitas on the surface had been forced to fight off daemons that had emerged from several warp rifts. Three librarians had been on the planet as well as Ganelon, though the disposition sheets could find no record of why so many had been sent; all were missing. It was clear in hindsight that the trap had been orchestrated by Ganelon, seemingly to capture the relic. Carolus and several of his personal guard now possessed the power to temporarily enhance theirs and their allies abilities. The monastery that had held the Weeping Tear was in ruins.

Though many mysteries still surrounded the Battle for Roncevaux, a pact was forged with the Order of the Amber Tear that would have lasting effects for the Astral Swords.

Home World

Aix is a feudal planet with a long tradition of war between the various kingdoms. Even in times of peace, the planet’s inhabitants prefer to engage in war-like contests to prove their dominance. This emphasis on martial prowess can be seen in the chapter, as there are several traditions of trial by combat. When a captain’s position is vacant, it is through ritual tournament that his successor is chosen. The elite honor guard of the Chapter Master are called The Peers; named such because they can only attain that position through mock duel with the Chapter Master, having their combat prowess judged worthy. In this way, members of this group literally become the Chapter Master’s peers on the field of battle.

The chapter has taken to wearing tabards over their armor like the different factions of Aix, though they display the singular iconography of the Astral Swords.

Combat Doctrine

The Astral Swords fight along codex lines, though there is a strong emphasis on martial prowess. Commanders lead from the front, frequently attempting to single out the enemy general in the swirl of battle for single combat, though the honorless xenos do not always comply.

Organization

The Astral Swords are a Codex Astartes chapter at its core, but break from the codex in two main ways.

The first is that it has no librarium. After the fallout from the Battle of Roncevaux and the 100% failure rate of librarians in the Trial of Faith, the Astral Swords refuse to recruit psychic neophytes, believing them to be too easily corrupted. The task of recording the chapter’s history falls mainly to serfs but is overseen by the Reclusiarch.

The second is the disposition of their companies. The 1st and 10th company are still the veteran and scout companies respectively, but the other 9 companies are all battle companies. The Astral Swords have two distinct fleets that operate independently and the 8 battle companies are typically split between the two: the home fleet of the Aachan system, known as the Seneschal Fleet, and the crusade fleet, known as the Errant Fleet. The 1st and 10th companies are dispersed where needed. The chapter has two masters of the fleet: the 4th company captain is Master of the Seneschal fleet and the 8th company captain is Master of the Errant Fleet.

Paladins

Carolus and a number of his Peers developed psychic like powers after the Battle of Roncevaux and became the first of what would be known as the Astral Swords Paladins, the creation of which seems to be tied to the mysterious Weeping Tear. Thanks to ancient pacts forged with the Order of the Amber Tear, Astartes from the Astral Swords who have proven themselves pious even above their fellow brethren are selected by the chapter’s chaplains to undergo the Trial of Faith. They make a pilgrimage to Roncevaux and are locked in the relic’s chamber for a month, where they are expected to pray to the God-Emperor, fast, and reflect on their faith. After the allotted time, the aspirant emerges, either imbued with his new powers or, most often, unchanged. Not manifesting the powers attributed to Paladins is not considered a failure; having been marked for their exceptional piousness already, the aspirant is an excellent candidate for chaplaincy. The only aspirants to outright fail the Test of Faith appear to be those gifted with the psyker gene, discovered to the chapter’s dismay by the few remaining librarians after the Battle of Roncevaux. Psykers appear to become immediately corrupted upon contact with the Tear. Since the purging of the natural psykers from the ranks of the Astral Swords, no aspirant has been possessed from contact with the Tear.

Unlike psyker Librarians of other chapters, Paladins can hold any rank within the Astral Swords, from a battle brother up to the Chapter Master, of which it has become tradition for only Paladins to achieve. Paladins are not shunned by their brethren, and are considered the pinnacle for all Astral Swords. Paladins who have achieved the rank of Captain are given the honorific of Knight-Captain, though it should be noted that this rank does not hold a higher authority than Captain.

Many inquiries have been made into the nature of the Paladins. Most outsiders view them as the Astral Swords version of Librarians and nothing more. The Inquisition has examined the chapter for corruption several times, though the Astral Swords willingness to help in Ecclesiarchy matters as well as their friendly relations with the Order of the Amber Tear and certain Inquisitors has sheltered them from some of the more stringent tests. For their part, the chapter has always submitted to such probes without complaint; their gene-seed has been proven uncorrupted and there has never been a Paladin who turned to the ruinous powers. Though some Inquisitors look on the chapter with dubiousness, their service to the Imperium cannot be denied. It is clear that the source of the Paladin’s power seems to come from the Weeping Tear relic, though it is unknown why it has no effect on non-Astartes physiology. The Order of the Amber Tear are fiercely protective of their namesake, however, and requests to remove the relic for further analysis have been denied. It is likely that trying to remove the relic by force would force a confrontation with both the Order of the Amber Tears and the Astral Swords, a showdown that the Inquisition has not deemed worth pursuing for now.

Other psykers have noted that while Paladins give off a psychic signature in the warp, it is not in the same “frequency” as normal psykers. It is possible that this is the reason that Paladins do not seem susceptible to possession. For their part, Paladins do not possess “witch sight” and cannot detect other psykers. They also are unable to manifest any powers that cause direct harm to others. The Astral Swords believe that their powers are gifted to them from the God-Emperor himself for the protection of mankind, though few others share this view.

Beliefs

The main driving force of the Astral Swords chapter is their belief that the Emperor is a God and that he has divinely charged the Adeptus Astartes with the protection and expansion of the human empire. This sometimes brings them into conflict with other Astartes chapters of which the majority are fiercely secular. The Astral Swords do not try to convert other chapters to their way of thinking and are satisfied as long as the chapter does their duty, for in their service they are still adhering to the God-Emperor’s will. Chapter’s that decide to disagree with the Astral Swords beliefs too loudly and persistently will find themselves challenged to an honor duel. Though there may be bad blood between the chapters, the Astral Swords would never shirk their duties over rivalries. Conversely, the Astral Swords have an above average relationship among Astartes with Guardsmen and planetary defense forces because of their shared belief in the Imperial Creed, as well as members of the Ecclesiarchy, Adepta Sororitas, and some members of the Inquisition.

It has been noted that the Astral Swords have a certain arrogant streak in battle, refusing to retreat from overwhelming odds when a more level headed commander would make a tactical withdrawal. For the Astral Swords’ part, they simply believe xenos and traitors are incapable of victory against the faithful, and this had led to both devastating defeats and spectacular triumphs.

Gene-seed/Geneseed

The Astral Swords are founded using the Ultramarines gene-seed. Current tests show that their gene-seed stocks fall within acceptable purity levels.

Battlecry

“In the name of the God-Emperor!” (frequently shortened to “In His name!”)

[Aegnor]

Have you posted part of this before? I swear some of this is familiar.

 

Just so I understand, are these guys meant to be a DIY version of the Grey Knights? Or BT regularly fielded with Grey Knight allies (who wear the same livery as the primary force?) Is that what the description of the Paladins etc is aimed at explaining?

 

A few specific things - you mention the Test of Faith without ever explaining what it actually is. This includes an initial mention in the bit regarding why the chapter has no psykers well before any of the associated ideas are raised.

 

Also, I don't quite know why but the idea of the Chief Librarian being the traitor doesn't sit well. A rogue Inquisitor or similar would seem a better fit. You could still have the Abhor the Witch element by having psykers always fail the Test of Faith.

 

Saintly/faith based powers like those of the Sisters of Battle are always an interesting thing in 40K. I don't see aby reason why a sufficiently devout group of marines couldn't have similar powers. In this regard I think it's a nice explanation of why they have squad based powers and/or psykers without them actually being exactly like Grey Knights.

[Gripharius]

I think there are a lot of good elements here.  I especially like the incorporation of the Song of Roland and Charlemagne/Carolus aspects.  I thought you explained the Test of Faith well in the Paladin section, but I think you may have some issues with your counts-as Librarians being empowered by an ancient relic of unknown origin.  Ultimately, I don't know what it adds to the Chapter.  It seems like a counts-as just to be different.

 

I think you can get the same result by going the opposite direction.  Instead of the Chapter rejecting the warp-power of Librarians, have them embrace it as a communion with the God-Emperor that they worship.  Librarians are granted the "divine" ability to act as the Emperor's disciples and wield the warp in His name, etc. Chaplains are still the ministers of the faith, but the Librarians are His holy warriors, something like that.

 

The Test of Faith could work essentially the same way: the worthy become Astral Swords but some few are specially Chosen by the God-Emperor to become Librarians.  The Weeping Tear isn't the source of the Paladin's power, it merely triggers the latent psychic ability in the Astral Swords' gene-seed.  Make it some quirk of the Astral Swords gene-seed that their psychic powers are latent until "activated" in the Test of Faith.  This gene-seed quirk could also explain the lack of "witch sight" and other things unique to the Paladins.

 

I'd have some lore that the Weeping Tear is believed to have some early association with the Emperor, if I were doing it.  In fact, I'd rewrite the Weeping Tear as Roland's oliphant horn and have the Emperor have supposedly blown in it some pre-unification battle.

 

Just some thoughts.

[Aegnor]

Ah, yes apologies I see the explanation of the Test of Faith now - must have inadvertently skipped over that in my reading. Please disregard that particular comment.

[kenshivalion]

Thank you both for your critiques.  I will do my best to address them in turn.

 

 

Have you posted part of this before? I swear some of this is familiar.

 

This is my first IA.  I apologize if the work is derivative in some way, but I have been lurking the forums for a while and haven't seen anything similar.

 

 

Just so I understand, are these guys meant to be a DIY version of the Grey Knights? Or BT regularly fielded with Grey Knight allies (who wear the same livery as the primary force?) Is that what the description of the Paladins etc is aimed at explaining?

 

Honestly the fluff came before the army.  The true reason I decided to start my own chapter (previously I played DA and BT) was so that I could play any codex I felt like.  Currently I've been fielding blue book armies led by a librarian (paladin) but as a happy coincidence my fluff doesn't rule out Grey Knights (probably more as allies than main army).

 

 

Also, I don't quite know why but the idea of the Chief Librarian being the traitor doesn't sit well. A rogue Inquisitor or similar would seem a better fit. You could still have the Abhor the Witch element by having psykers always fail the Test of Faith.

 

The biggest reason for the traitor is actually because of the allusions to the Song of Roland (as Gripharius astutely pointed out).  Roland is killed because Ganelon betrays his position to the enemy.

 

 

I think there are a lot of good elements here.  I especially like the incorporation of the Song of Roland and Charlemagne/Carolus aspects.  I thought you explained the Test of Faith well in the Paladin section, but I think you may have some issues with your counts-as Librarians being empowered by an ancient relic of unknown origin.  Ultimately, I don't know what it adds to the Chapter.  It seems like a counts-as just to be different.

 

I think you can get the same result by going the opposite direction.  Instead of the Chapter rejecting the warp-power of Librarians, have them embrace it as a communion with the God-Emperor that they worship.  Librarians are granted the "divine" ability to act as the Emperor's disciples and wield the warp in His name, etc. Chaplains are still the ministers of the faith, but the Librarians are His holy warriors, something like that.

 

The Test of Faith could work essentially the same way: the worthy become Astral Swords but some few are specially Chosen by the God-Emperor to become Librarians.  The Weeping Tear isn't the source of the Paladin's power, it merely triggers the latent psychic ability in the Astral Swords' gene-seed.  Make it some quirk of the Astral Swords gene-seed that their psychic powers are latent until "activated" in the Test of Faith.  This gene-seed quirk could also explain the lack of "witch sight" and other things unique to the Paladins.

 

I'd have some lore that the Weeping Tear is believed to have some early association with the Emperor, if I were doing it.  In fact, I'd rewrite the Weeping Tear as Roland's oliphant horn and have the Emperor have supposedly blown in it some pre-unification battle.

 

Just some thoughts.

 

Wow, you know I never thought of going in the direction you've suggested even though it seems pretty obvious now.  Honestly the original thought was to tell a sort of GW codex style story that spreads over three fluff backgrounds (Astral Swords, Order of the Amber Tear, and an unnamed Chaos warband lead by Ganelon the Betrayer), where each one reveals more about the situation that the others don't know.  For instance, the Sisters of Battle one would reveal more about the Weeping Tear and how their patron saint wielded it in the name of the Emperor.  Meanwhile, the background of the Chaos warband would reveal that the relic is actually a Chaos artefact whose history had been perverted by the church (think Saint Ajora and the Zodiac Stones from Final Fantasy Tactics).  In reality it's questionable that I would ever write the other two parts (I certainly am not planning to build a SoB or CSM army at this point).  I will truly have to consider whether to abandon the current direction and go for a more traditional background as you suggest because it actually appeals to me quite well.  I especially like using the Oliphant and making its ties to the Song of Roland even stronger.

 

I'd like to avoid making the relic tied too directly to the Emperor however, seems too "I'm more special than everyone else" to me.  In terms of Paladins being counts-as just to be different, I just have a thing for the paladin archetype and this is my attempt to incorporate them into 40k (on an individual level as opposed to army wide as in Grey Knights).

 

Again, thank you both for your comments.

[Aegnor]

Hey kensivalion - certainly not saying you've copied someone else. Maybe the answer is that I've read someone else's DIY who used the Song of Roland as an inspiration and source for names. I'm not familiar with the Song of Roland - it was some of the names and terminology that in particular seemed familiar. My apologies for any offence.

 

Regarding Ganelon, again didn't realise the specific reference you were seeking. As it's currently written, the rebellion of the Chief Librarian seems... maybe glossed over is the word I'm looking for. It is obviously huge for your chapter but a bit by the way in the article. Without wanting to sidetrack you on an elaborate tangent, maybe this needs to be fleshed out a little - maybe in a sidebar?

[NightrawenII]

I'd like to avoid making the relic tied too directly to the Emperor however, seems too "I'm more special than everyone else" to me.

But you are already here, honestly.

Your Chapter owns special mojo artifact which turns SM into psykers without usual drawbacks associated with this gift or curse. Moreover, chaos corrupts, the Chaos Gods are called Ruinous Powers for reason, as it stands now the weeping tear is too convenient to be chaos artifact.

 

IMO, the power of Paladins should be more mysterious rather than "We have this (chaos) artifact duh".

 

Also, "weeping tear" is oxymoron.

 

 

~ NightrawenII

[Aegnor]

Tautology rather than oxymoron?

[Gripharius]

 

I'd like to avoid making the relic tied too directly to the Emperor however, seems too "I'm more special than everyone else" to me.

 

I understand where you're coming from, but at least in my opinion, having your Paladins wield their own unique brand or "frequency" of pseudo-warp power given off by an obscure relic is more "I'm more special than everyone else" than them just having an artifact that they claim once belonged to the Emperor.

 

The important thing to stress would be that the Chapter's cult and the SoB Order believe this to be true, but it has never been verified by anyone in the Administratum, Ecclesiarchy, Inquisition, etc.  If one of those organizations believed it to be a relic of the Emperor, it'd be locked up in a vault under the Imperial Palace or something.