My DIY and the Badab War

[Leardinal]

So, I have recently been inspired to start working on the background for the most recent incarnation of my DIY chapter, and I have run into a bit of a snag.  When I first started writing down ideas for my chapter, I put them fairly close to The Maelstrom.  The location worked well because most of the people I played against had armies that could be located there, and let me get some inspiration for combat doctrines when working out the rest of the background.

 

Now that I know more about the Badab war, I have run into a small problem: What did my DIY Chapter do while the war was going on?  From everything I have read, the chapters involved in the War are set in stone, and I know its a big "no-no" to try and shoehorn a DIY into an event like that.  On the other hand, my chapter is close enough that they would have been affected by it, and it seems odd to me if I said "They just didn't take part."

 

I have thrown a couple ideas at the wall, and bounced the question around among my friends.  So far, the ideas include just outright ignoring the war, just glazing over it without going in depth, say that most of the chapter was deployed and away from home during the war, or that they gave the smallest amount of support to the Lamenter's chapter, (My DIY is a Blood Angles successor chapter.)

 

Any Suggestions?

[Astral Pathfinder]

As you say, they could have send the major part of their forces to some place far far away, leaving just enought to keep the homeworld secured.

 

If you make your chapter helping the secessionists, beware of the inquisition i say...

[Heru]

Their relationship with the Lamenters could have come into conflict with their belief that the Loyalist forces were right. This conflict of interest could have easily kept them on the sidelines.

 

Or they could have been conflicted in regards to the Lamenters in general. They might be family, but they are from the Cursed Founding and thus the black sheep of said family.

[Mr Yellow]

Interesting conundrum. Here's my thoughts:

When was your chapter created?? If it was after the Badab War then no problem. You could even say they are no part of the new maelstrom warders with the Star Phantoms?.

Having said that, BA gene seed isn't used much for chapters so they might have been around for a while.

If they were created before then it is a bit harder it would make sense that they are part of the warders if they were in the general area, unless they had a falling out with the Astral Claws (make up some reason).

The maelstrom is a pretty big place, you could be on the other side to Badab and some sort of expansion of the maelstrom temporarily blocked your chapter from communicating, a good excuse for defending your planet from some sort of daemon army invasion perhaps. (Maybe Huron made some dark pacts to cause this to happen)

Or you were just too far away.

The high lords of terra decided they wanted your marines where they are to prevent other factions profiting from the internal conflict.

 

Hope that helps with the old brain juices.

Cheers

LM

[Octavulg]

There are no Foundings after the Badab War as yet.

 

I'd just have them be out of the way/not really want to get involved. Somebody had to keep all the usual problems under control, after all, and as the other chapters neglected their duties in favor of beating each other up, that'd leave a lot more work on your boys' shoulders.

[Aqui]

I think that your Chapter might have seen what was going on, but honestly didn't know how to react.  This might have been due to the sheer amount of confusion and limited information available, the charisma of Huron and bonds of brotherhood to some of the Chapters involved, perhaps bonds to Chapters on both sides of the conflict.  So rather than take sides, perhaps your Chapter decided to act as wardens for the whole area, making sure that the conflict was contained and didn't spill out of the Badab system, until what was going on was clear?  When what was going on was established, they could have been involved in supporting one of the Chapters that were getting mauled.

 

Which side did you figure your chapter ended up supporting?  If they were like the Lamenters (forgiven with conditions), did they have to pay penance?  Were they like some of the Chapters on both sides and were left with reduced numbers?  It could be possible to put them in and not conflict with established events too much, one just have to put them in the right place ;)

[Hyaenidae]

It was noted in IA 9 and 10 that there were a number of incursions around the Maelstrom during the Badab War, as oportunistic aliens, raiders, pirates and renegades attacked while the Astartes were busy slitting each other's throats. In some places, it got so bad that even the Astral Claws were forced to intervene, lest the ork hordes became uncontollable. You could use this to your advantage, say that your Chapter was dealing with constant attacks on their homeworld / Chapter ship all throughout the War, leaving your boys out of the conflict entirely as they attempted to save their Chapter from extinction.

[blackoption]

My way around this issue is that my chapter stayed out of the conflict.  They moved to cover the "gaps" as more marine forces were diverted to the war.

 

Though I haven't written it in my IA article yet,  I intend to have my chapter prefer to remember the Astral Claws for what they were before Huron... as they hunt down the one responsible for perverting a noble chapter.

[Conn Eremon]

I'd go for that at as well. There is plenty for your Chapter to handle in that area without getting involved with the Badab War. If you need something more, use the Lamenters. They may be the black sheep of the family, but they're still family. So while you're on the side of the loyalists you don't commit any forces to the war effort. While other Chapters may leap onto renegade brothers with great fervor, you refuse to attack a fellow son of Sanguinius. Perhaps because you just see the as wayward, confused and not actually traitors.

[Leardinal]

Thanks for all the help!

 

@ Astral Pathfinder: I was leaning more towards the "being elseware" as it seems the most plausible. As for throwing in with the secessionists, I imagine the marines are fairly attached their homeworld and it was just an idea that came up.

 

@ Heru Talon: Bad blood does lead to some good naritive possibilities. Even my chapter just sat on the sidelines, I'm sure the Lamenters wouldn't take it very well. And with the Blood Angels calling their successors, they are bound to run into each other.

 

@ Lamenter Marine: As Octavulg said, the last founding happened a while before the war happened, so I do have to deal with it. I could put their homewolrd on the opposite side of the Mealstrom, just to add some distance.

 

@ Octavulg: Good point, though some of the Chapters involved in the war pulled back to deal with a good deal of these instances, so it couldn't be the whole reason, but maybe if a good portion of the force was away, and what was left was given the task of dealing with these other problems, that might work.

 

@ Aquilanus: I plan on them supporting the Loyalists at this point. Honor bonds on both sides is interesting idea, though sitting on their hands because they are unsure what to do, though.

 

@ 1000heathens: I am really starting to like this theme.

 

@ blackoption: I think I need to do some more research on the Astral Claws, all I know about is what they turned into during and after the war.

 

Maybe if the Maelstrom shifted a bit and released a few planets, the Chapter moves in to purge the planets and reclaim them for the Emperor, the War breaks out, before the task force can pull back and take part in the war, they are cut off by another shift in the Maelstrom, and what forces left at their homeworld are tasked with dealing with non-Astartes threats in the area.

[exetus]

Leardinal, the Astral Claws were, until they decided to do their own thing, as honorable a Chapter as you could find, but were fleet based on the Eastern Fringe.  Their record was laudable enough to be given the honor of leading the Chapters assigned as Maelstrom Warders.  They really only began to deviate once Huron was appointed Chapter Master.  He made numerous requests to increase the number of Chapters guarding the Maelstrom, but was denied and then set about turning the systems under the protection of the Maelstrom Warders into his own little empire, increasing both the size of his Chapter and expanding the miltiary capacities of pretty much everything.

 

The best repository of information is in the two book Badab War series by Forgeworld which has a ton of info about everyone involved and, in particular, the rise and fall of the Astral Claws.