Silver Hearts

[Oriken Silverheart]

So this is my first post though i've been a long time lurker who has thoroughly enjoyed some of these articles. This is my own attempt at  DIY chapter and as of right this instant its in a very nascent state with only the barest outline and concept. I plan on adding more as real life permits.

 

 

 

Silver Hearts

 

http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/t588/Oriken/heart2_zps5ba94d29.png

 

 

 

               

 

       The Silver Hearts are an Ultramarines successor of the 19^th Founding. Created from Doom
Eagles gene-stock, the Silver Hearts are a proud and forthright chapter known
for their furious assaults and the sheer tenacity with which they prosecute
their campaigns. The chapter’s propensity for throwing themselves whole-heartedly
into whichever battle they find themselves has led to them garnering a
reputation as bold crusaders and honorable allies.

[Oriken Silverheart]

A little about their organization, an important battle from their past and some info on their homeworld.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Name: . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Silver Hearts

 

 

Gene-Seed . . .

Ultramarines via the Doom Eagles

 

 

Founding . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . 19^th Founding (M36)

 

 

Homeworld . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Percivinius

 

 

Fortress-Monastery .

. . . . . The Argent Fastness

 

 

Known Descendants . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . None

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter organization:

 

 

Heavy deviancy from the Codex Astartes. Companies are self

contained units each with its own armory and support apparatus; additionally

each company possesses its own strike-cruiser. No specialist or reserve

companies. Only the tenth company remains codex compliant with scouts mustering

out to other companies upon elevation to full battle-brother during a rite

known as the (?). Battle-brothers remain with their company for life thus

ensuring each company has a core of elite veterans. Sternguard and Vanguard are

the norm as far as vets go with terminator suits being rather rare within the

company armories. Reason behind deviancy from codex:

 

 

During the chapter’s early history they answered a call for

aid from a trinary forge-world known as the Anvils of Cador. The Anvils and

their vassal holdings were under constant peril from chaos renegades made up of

various traitor legion warbands and their mortal chattel. The dominant faction

within this pirate consortium was an Alpha Legion warband led by (?). During their

fight against the consortium, for which the Silver Hearts deployed their full

strength, They were picked apart piecemeal, company by company. Though they

succeeded in scattering the consortium with the aid of the local mechanicus,

the Hearts suffered severe losses leaving only 200 odd astartes alive at the

campaign’s close. Believing the organizational tenets of the codex to be the

cause the chapter master of the day, Oriken the Lesser declared that never

again would a single company be unable to meet the threat posed by the enemies

of mankind and thus reorganized the chapter along new lines emphasizing

autonomy and self-sufficiancy amongst the companies. This is also the origin of

the Chapter’s homeworld.

 

 

Homeworld:

 

 

The Chapter has as its homeworld the feudal world of

Percivinius. The world lies within the Cador system and was once a vassal-world

of the Anvils of Cador. Percivinius was given to the Silver Hearts in gratitude

for their valiant defense of the Cador system from the renegade pirate

consortium. The Adeptus Mechanicus further honored the chapter by fortifying

their new homeworld and building for them a glorious and imposing

fortress-monastery upon the planet’s northernmost continent. The fortress is

known as the Argent Fastness. Percivinius is ringed by potent lance

emplacements and further defended by well-hidden surface-to-void missile silos

and a truly massive minefield. Only vessels properly cleared by the Silver

Hearts may enter close orbit around their homeworld without fear of utter

destruction.

 

 

Percivinius itself is a verdant world whose society is kept

in a perpetual dark age. Technological and cultural development of any kind is

ruthlessly eradicated by the Silver Hearts. The world is covered in hundreds of

warring kingdoms and city-states which produces a hearty, pragmatic people who

make ideal astartes recruits. The Silver Hearts retain a number of enclaves

deep within the most inhospitable regions of Percivinius, this ensures only the

strongest and most worthy youths even make it to stand before the Apothecaries.

Those found to be genetically incapable of becoming astartes are taken in as

serfs and a select few are inducted into a special order known as the Argent

Speakers. To the peoples of Percivinius the Silver Hearts are their gods. It is

the job of the Argent Speakers to reinforce this reverence. It is the gravest

of crimes to kill a Speaker and they are afforded the greatest respect wherever

they tread.

[Firepower]

I feel like I have heard of the Cador system in someone else's writings.  Not sure though.

 

I'm not quite seeing the reasoning behind the abandonment of the Codex Astartes.  If you are meaning that once each company was splintered from the rest, they were easily destroyed because they lacked their own autonomous reserves/supplies etc., I'm pretty sure that's incorrect.  

 

If their near-death is a result of Alpha Legion tomfoolery, they may instead decide that the Codex as it stands leaves them vulnerable to those with a cunning to use it against them.  Instead they would come to praise freeflow, outside the box, seat of the pants improvisation as a tactic of unpredictability and display of martial prowess.  Learning to think this way may become all the more important as they struggle to survive and regrow after being reduced to 200 marines.  Even if this was the case, bear in mind that the Codex Astartes is huge, and covers warfare and tactics about as comprehensively as any text could, not just organizational structure.  As such, they likely wouldn't toss the whole thing to the wind. 

[Oriken Silverheart]

I took Cador, as well as Percival, the root of Percivinius from two of the Knights of the round table so i'm sure they have been used before. As for their abandonment of the codex, its probably not my strongest idea and it'll probably change later. its just a very very rough concept at the moment. I'm all ears for suggestions, thats what this place is for it seems. You guys are the fluff lords and i defer to greater wisdom than my own.

[Firepower]

Actually Cador rung a bell with me because he's a character in Helsreach :teehee:  Took me a little while to remember.

[Octavulg]

There was a Macbeth-themed chapter that had a Thane of Cawdor (for obvious reasons). Though that might have been an early draft of the Lions of Alba.

 

EDIT: DAMN IT, FIREPOWER. :TIDE

 

The Silver Hearts are an Ultramarines successor of the 19th Founding. Created from Doom

Eagles gene-stock, the Silver Hearts are a proud and forthright chapter known

for their furious assaults and the sheer tenacity with which they prosecute

their campaigns. The chapter’s propensity for throwing themselves whole-heartedly

into whichever battle they find themselves has led to them garnering a

reputation as bold crusaders and honorable allies.

Another Hearts chapter! Huzzah!

 

So they're going to be enthusiastic, basically?

Organization

Just because they're organized into companies doesn't mean they deploy in lone companies unsupported. Reserve companies are broken up into support elements all the time. Hell, it's basically what they're for. Battle Companies are well-rounded, Reserves are for breaking up and supporting the Battle Companies.

 

Everything being a Battle Company always makes a certain degree of sense (you trade no reserves for flexibility and the ability to operate individually), of course. But I don't think the problem you describe is one that would/should actually arise.

 

I like the home world.

 

Anything in particular you're trying to get across? Themes you want to explore? Neat things you want to refer to? Blatant pop culture references you wish to shoehorn in? Cool quotes?

[Oriken Silverheart]

What about making the area of space they defend so vast that necessity forces a higher degree of independence within the companies? I had also considered making the chapter something of a 'mercenary' force, lending their companies out to crusades, explorator or rogue trader missions in return for materiel and future favors which would naturally evolve into the kind of company organization i'm striving for. but that would cause problems with the concept of a homeworld as attrition would force the need for recruits and they couldn't very well return to Percivinius in the midst of an explorator mission in the deeps of the Ultima Segmentum.

[Firepower]

I think the fluff was retconned, but the Mentors had a thing for splitting themselves up across the Imperium and siding with other loyal forces. I dunno if that was done in full companies or smaller units though.

 

As far as I know, Companies are already fairly self sufficient as a norm, barring consolidated items like gene-seed supplies and the like.

 

As far as the mercenary element, I am once again unsure. Given their rank in Imperial society, I don't know what the Marines can commandeer/liberate/steal on a whim, and what they would have to wheel and deal for. The most common alliance of reciprocation I see in these things is with the Ad Mech, as they are an equally autonomous branch of Imperial society with inviolate sovereignty and much needed goods (or in simpler terms, they have good stuff but are too big and too strong to just take it from). I wonder what rogue traders could supply in that same vein. Maybe if the traders are going somewhere or looking for something that the Hearts have an particular interest in? Joining other Crusades could have mixed results, depending on who they join, what they fight against, and what role the Hearts provide.

[Octavulg]

What about making the area of space they defend so vast that necessity forces a higher degree of independence within the companies?

Sorry. Got distracted and tired. That'd work.

I had also considered making the chapter something of a 'mercenary' force, lending their companies out to crusades, explorator or rogue trader missions in return for materiel and future favors which would naturally evolve into the kind of company organization i'm striving for. but that would cause problems with the concept of a homeworld as attrition would force the need for recruits and they couldn't very well return to Percivinius in the midst of an explorator mission in the deeps of the Ultima Segmentum.

True enough. I did that with the Marines Tenebric a little (I should get back to them...) and with the Stone Hearts (in another sense). It's a bit tricky to make it work, not least because to some extent every chapter's going to work that way a little.

 

I wouldn't bother having them be mercenaries unless you really want to emphasize it. If you just want it to justify the organization, do the "large area of responsibility" thing.

[Oriken Silverheart]

I've actually come up with a way of justifying their Company(Henceforth called 'Brotherhoods') organizations. It ties into their psyche as a chapter, specifically their quest for glory. 

[Oriken Silverheart]

Also is there a tutorial somewhere for using those nice headers and sidebars in a chapter bio?

[Octavulg]

I wouldn't recommend sidebars these days, since the BBCode is a little wonky.

 

Punching BBCode Guide into the search engine should turn up the B&C official one.

[Oriken Silverheart]

Ok, so i'm finding myself at a loss on how to go about my 'origins' section. I don't really wanna get into details about their training cadre, how much time they spent building strength and i don't really wanna focus on exactly why they were founded in the first place. It really doesn't matter to the overall current identity of the chapter as nothing really major happened to them during this time. It also goes without saying that each and every chapter was created to fight. I may be over-simplifying but as far as i'm concerned, at least for the Silver Hearts, its an unimportant distinction. They were basically formed, trained and then sent east to shore up Imperial power along Ultima's frontier.

 

What I do want to focus on is establishing their relationship with the region of space that the chapter eventually settled. They entered the Weave around six centuries after their founding, functioning as a crusade chapter up until that point. This gives the chapter some time to forge the roots of its eventual identity as glory-worshipping warrior brotherhoods on a constant quest to find themselves worthy of the Emperor. I don't know if i want to go into any great detail about what, during those six hundred years led to that burgeoning mindset or if i want to leave it somehow ambiguous. The reason they came to the weave in the first place was to answer an aide request from the Forges. A rough draft of that campaign and what came from it can be found in an above post. (Much of the specifics have since changed but the basic gist is still there.) Basically the point of the 'origins' section as I see it is establishing the chapter's basic character as well as their relationship with the inhabitants of the weave, specifically the Anvils and their almost symbiotic relation to that forge-system.

 

My problem is i dont know what approach to take to convey that information. any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

[Ecritter]

So ... replace the Origins section with a History section.  You can but a short blurb in there about the founding, and move on to what you really want to tell.

[Octavulg]

That IS the Origin of the chapter. Origin is "how they came to be". That can include a remarkable span of history - it's not just their founding (or doesn't have to be). That, or just have a short "Origins" section where you explain their founding and how they crusaded, then another section explaining how they entered the Weave and what happened there.

 

If the above isn't an answer to your question, I'm not really sure what you mean by being uncertain of what approach you should take.