The Knights Raptoris

[Nakuth]

EDIT:

I have moved the original contents of this post further down, and will begin compiling information in IA format in this post.

MODS (or anyone): I have tried to use the BBCode and other formatting tools found here, but cannot seem to get it to work. If anyone could assist with this, please feel free to PM me, or post in this topic.

This is still all brainstorming, but below should give you all a good idea of what I have so far, before I flesh anything out.

***

IA: THE KNIGHTS RAPTORIS

- Created in M.33 or M.34 (to be decided)

- Created to assist with crusade to retake worlds in [x] region of Segmentum Pacificus that had been lost since the end of the Horus Heresy. Part of crusade force. Potential for multiple chapters to have been created for this.

- Chapter number 382 (???); did not take name until finding homeworld.

- more info to create.

- Imperial Fists, via Crimson Fists (assault coy captain as first chapter master?)

- Insert basic info re: Horst here.

- Edit earlier posted narrative for this section.

- Standard 'Emperor is pinnacle of humanity' belief, reverence of Dorn & all loyal primarchs

- Reverence of first chapter master

- Admiration/reverence for native avian predators on homeworld, seen as pinnacle of controlled violence. This flows through to combat doctrine. Also used as symbol of chapter protection for various worlds; release (breeding?) pair of eagles/hawks/falcons on (appropriate) worlds: as long as these, or their descendents live, world is under chapter protection, etc.

- Relatively codex, but evolved over time in line with chapter experience during founding years & warriors beliefs from recruitment world.

- Preference for fast strikes, variations of old Legion 'speartip'; break the enemy's back with ceramite-clad 'talons', feast on the carcass (not literally).

- no drop pods (or minimal - only for real heavy stuff like dreads); preference for dropping from low altitude using thunderhawks (and stormeagles?), jump packs, etc. modified transport craft (i.e. thnderhawks) to allow for high-velocity deployment of predators/rhinoes/vindicators/etc, as well as for deployment of bike-mounted squads. Quick extraction for strike on next target, etc.

- yes, somewhat of a White Scars feel, bit with less savagery, more precision (that is my intent, at least), and willing to muck in, if need be.

- Standard ten companies, but 10th is battle/reserve coy, scout auxillia is seperate coy.

- Very few devastator squads. Although some used, final composition is determined by preference of captain.

- First company still veterans, although number of veteran squads throughout other coys.

- Why? To be determined/justified.

- Regular rotation of coys through active/reserve (aka 'garrison') status. Additional 'crusader reserve' status: full company sent to Veiled Region (or similar), for [x] number of years, fight xenos, train, usually take scount contingent with them.

- Post Age of Apostasy; including relations with Ecclisarchy.

- any changes to chapter

- Selected battle honours

[soddinnutter]

How are they on the solemn/riotous scale?

What is their attitude towards mundane humanity?

 

Being associated with giant birds will, as the generations pass, gradually soak into their own image of themselves. I can see them having a disproportionate number of aircraft and jump-packs and swooping down on their opponents. Also it implies that they hunt rather than march and go in small packs and not great charges.

 

What is the technological level of their home-world? Do they have Iron? Black-powder? Is the chapter trying to raise them out of the dirt or are they happy with a savage world to breed savage men? Are they tribal nutters constantly at war with each for reasons of pride and honour other or noble savages with their differences put aside in the mutual goal of survival? What is the geography of their world like? Is it the moon of a larger celestial body or a planet in its own right?

 

What is their religion like?

 

Are the bones worn in battle or only for ceremonial occasions?

[CantonWC]

Hello

 

I will take a crack at this.

 

 

Clad in the bones of their defeated foes

 

This sounds a lot like the Imperial Fists and the Carcharadons, who are known for the practice of scrimshaw and bone talismans. Either bones taken from their fallen battle brothers and engraved as a way to commemorate fallen comrades, or bones taken from the enemy as trophies.

 

It's actually something I am considering doing with my own Chapter, as they descend from the Imperial Fists. It may be worth remembering that the average Space Marine would probably be personally responsible for the deaths of thousands, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of individual bad guys over the course of his "career." So I would suggest taking bones only when it "really counts" i.e. bones of enemy champions and sergeants, the ones that would really give a Space Marine trouble in a one on one fight, or bones taken to commemorate important battles and campaigns.

 

 

the Knights Raptoris are revered by the feral humans of their homeworld

 

Sounds like a shamanistic or tribal culture.

 

 

warrior manifestation of the great predatory birds that soar the planet's skies

 

Pretty straightforward I guess. The conception of Space Marines as warrior angels borne on wings of fire is pretty common.

 

Giant predatory birds sounds like a totem animal. Presumably they figure into the home world's culture and religion and this gradually bleeds into the Chapter Cult.

 

If I could make a suggestion, could you please not do the cliche thing and have a Chapter initiate hunt and slay a giant bird as part of his "rite of passage"? That sort of thing has been done in other IA's to the point where it nauseates me.

 

-----

 

I suppose the obvious thing to do is to make them a Raven Guard successor, but that is also somewhat of a cliche. It can be more interesting to have an Ultramarine or Imperial Fist successor gradually absorb the preferences of their home world and move away from a strictly Codex doctrine to favor more air assault or whatever it is you have in mind.

 

Hope that helps.

[Nakuth]

EDIT: First post, copied here.

 

After a long time away (albeit stalking the boards here in the
meantime), I felt that the time is right to turn my attentions back to
the noble Astartes. This thread is intended to give me a place to throw
ideas around, see what sticks, and what doesn't.

 

The
initial inspiration for this chapter was to have an excuse to use the
Raven Guard bike poles in a non-DA army. Not a new idea, but one I have
recently returned to. After jotting down an A4 page of random thoughts,
but still not knowing where to start, I was saved when I read this abridged version of the Octaguide. So, allow me to present to you the initial short-blurb about the Knights Raptoris!

 

***

 

Clad
in the bones of their defeated foes, the Knights Raptoris are revered
by the feral humans of their homeworld as the warrior manifestation of
the great predatory birds that soar the planet's skies.

 

 

***

 

Please
feel free to break it apart. As much as I tried, I could not break it
down into multiple sentences, and that, dear brothers (and sisters), is
why I turn to you.

 

 

*******

 

Second post begins here:

 

Thank you for your responses, brothers. I will be brief, as I'm at work.

 

soddinnutter:

1. I was leaning towards a more brutal side of knight, but not as fanatical as Black Templars.

2. You're fairly spot on regarding packs, and tactics. This is something I will expand on later.

3. Pre-black powerd, I think. Need to work this out. However, I have an idea (tied in with the world's religion), that it will have been colonised in a much earlier millenium, but due to some reason, the population has effectively devolved into feral tribes, etc.

4. Human population revere "the great two-headed eagle", which came to their world in generations past. They view the great birds as guardians of their world, sent by The Emperor (although they do not know of Him by that title).

5. Not actual bones. I used poetic license in an attempt to describe the colour of their armour. I have a few ideas as to why, and will expand later.

 

CantonWC:

1. They are intended as a Fists successor. See point 5 above re: bones, although I suppose some of the greater warriors of the chapter may take trophies/tokens of great foes they have defeated.

2. Spot on. I will need to research this further, but see points 3 & 4 above.

3. Yep. I intend to cover the reasons for this later on, but it does tie in with the religion. Also, not to worry, I don't intend to go down that path for initiation. If anything, it would be deemed an executable offence for anyone on their world to do such a thing. I've been using the Deathwatch RPG book Rites of Battle as a bit of a guide, and was considering a combination of the vision/deprivation methods of recruitment. Will cover this later.

4. Thanks for that thought. As above, I do intend it to be a Fists successor, and the natural absorbption of their homeworld's fighting style/aspects of their namesake will assist when I finally come to do fighting doctrine/tacitcs.

[soddinnutter]

They could have been founded back during the First Stellar Exodus, got smashed down during the onset of the Age of Strife and spent until the time of the Great Crusade repeatedly getting stomped by everything bad every time they try to rebuild. Great Crusade visits them and finds a nice world. Intention was to uplift the natives to the point where they can raise regiments for the Imperial Army and have a good tech-base. Then Horus Heresy happens and they fall back off the radar until the Knights rediscover them.

[Nakuth]

They could have been founded back during the First Stellar Exodus, got smashed down during the onset of the Age of Strife and spent until the time of the Great Crusade repeatedly getting stomped by everything bad every time they try to rebuild. Great Crusade visits them and finds a nice world. Intention was to uplift the natives to the point where they can raise regiments for the Imperial Army and have a good tech-base. Then Horus Heresy happens and they fall back off the radar until the Knights rediscover them.

 

I like this. Throw in a bit of internecine warfare, to keep the gene-pool strong, and the people sufficiently experienced warriors, and it would work well. I also considered adding a bit of a 'modern' element to the gene-pool, something like this:

 

Situated near the rim of the galactic south-west, the world of Horst is a lonely planet, but, like countless other worlds, it has known the tread of humanity from a time long before The Great Crusade. While its people are primitive, lacking even the technology of black powder weaponry, they live in the ruins of a once proud civilization. What little of these ruins has been allowed to be studies by its ceramite-clad wardens has been dated by the honoured magos of Mars to the First Stellar Exodus. What caused the downfall of this world is uncertain, but many were the dangers of Old Night, and that any shred of humanity survived this period at all speaks of a hardy peoples.

 

What else can be gleamed suggests that this world was visited by Imperial forces during The Great Crusade, although the only official records from that era that survive to this day relate to a military transport going missing in the vicinity of the Horst system, in the early days of the Horus Heresy. The spoken history of the Horst natives tells of a time when the great, two-headed eagle, on wings of gold, sent His emmisseries to bring them His gifts, and return them to the fold of the world from which they were birthed. Although a warlike people, and scattered throughout the land in numerous tribes, the Horst all shared a common animal worship. They worshipped various animals that were native to their world, and believed that each had power over certain aspects of their lives. Recognising the eagle as the ruler of the skies, and guardian over all the peoples, the Horst naturally saw the emissaries of The Emperor as having been sent by one of their animal totems made flesh, and showed their obesience to these bearers of the Imperial Truth.

 

The verbal histories vary greatly at this point. Some say that this worship please the Great Eagle, and that He sent one of His great sky-boats down to the world, laden with great warriors, who learnt from the Horst, and taught them in return, preparing them for a day when He would call on their warriors to fight in His name. Other histories state that the worship of animals other than He actually angered the Great Eagle, and that He sent a great spear of flame to sunder the planet, destroying many settlements, and ending countless lives of the Horst peoples. These same histories state that it was only after this punishment that He sent His warriors to the planet, and that this was when those warriors prepared the people of Horst to fight in His name. It was at this time that the people of Horst ceased their worship of all animal totems save for the eagle, and this remains their religious focus to this present day.

 

***

 

This is all just initial brainstorming, but from the above, all I really need to add is how the Knights came across Horst, and how the tribes of Horst have influenced the military traditions of the chapter. However, the latter will be included in the Combat Doctrine & Organization sections.

 

That is all I have for now, although I do have a few other ideas about other aspects, but I want to let them mature a bit first. Hopefully I'll have another update in a day or two.

[soddinnutter]

That was fun to read. It also adds the possibility that the Expeditionary Force that found them was of the 17th Legion.

 

Perhaps the chapter knows of this but won't tell anyone. Perhaps the Inquisition has checked their old records and is watching the chapter very closely as a result and the chapter has no idea why. Perhaps the chapter knows and the inquisition knows but neither will admit to knowing because it makes one of them look suspicious and the other look like it has been caught spying on an Astartes Domain.

 

Is the chapter allowing techno-missionaries across the border or do they prefer them in a more primitive state?

[Nakuth]

That was fun to read. It also adds the possibility that the Expeditionary Force that found them was of the 17th Legion.

Perhaps the chapter knows of this but won't tell anyone. Perhaps the Inquisition has checked their old records and is watching the chapter very closely as a result and the chapter has no idea why. Perhaps the chapter knows and the inquisition knows but neither will admit to knowing because it makes one of them look suspicious and the other look like it has been caught spying on an Astartes Domain.

Is the chapter allowing techno-missionaries across the border or do they prefer them in a more primitive state?

The XVII Legion. That would be......awkward. I think this is the sort of thing that is best left 'as is', to keep the mystery there. I may try to work a few more nods & winks into the fluff where I can, though....

No techno-missionaries, although I can see the chapter having a positive relationship with the Mechanicus. It would make sense that, to ensure regular & high-quality supplies, the chapter permits the ocassional visit by an honoured Adept, to study the ruins of the world. Of course, there would be some places that would be off limits even to them.

[p34ce]

Loved the little bit of background there.

I like the concept, but the name is not doing anything for me. 'Knights Raptoris' is a awkward, and doesn't 'look' right (the syllables are unbalanced). The best SM chapters IMO have simple names with simple themes. Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Astral Claws, Black Templars. You could say that in general, I don't like to see the word 'Knights' in a chapter name at all, because it suggests the chapter is haughty, too proud of itself.

When I think of an eagle-themed army, I see violent precision, rather than barely restrained, bloody (tactically unsound) violence like the Blood Angels and successors. Bikes with RW accoutrements certainly sound good, also those nice helmet bits you get for DA commanders.

Had you considered making them a Raven Guard successor isntead? There's a lot of fluffy mileage to be had out of their genetic predicament, and most of the nice DA bits would work too. Perhaps the natives of their recruiting world are forced by circumstance to be exceptionally cunning and devious to survive (a post-apocalyptic death/night world?). Then you could use all sorts of cool themes, 'Hunters', 'Night', 'Dark', 'Sky', 'Shadow' etc. Shadow Eagles? Sky Hunters? Night Talons?

This would stand in good contrast to the World Eaters (recruited from savage gladiators), or the Ultramarines (recruit from warrior nobility), and reflect the values of the Raven Guard. Perhaps, given their desperation for new recruits, they simply went for the first available recruiting world they could find?

After reading your little bit of background, I find myself wishing I'd stuck to C:SM and not gone over to C:BA.

[soddinnutter]

Loved the little bit of background there.

I like the concept, but the name is not doing anything for me. 'Knights Raptoris' is a awkward, and doesn't 'look' right (the syllables are unbalanced). The best SM chapters IMO have simple names with simple themes. Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Astral Claws, Black Templars. You could say that in general, I don't like to see the word 'Knights' in a chapter name at all, because it suggests the chapter is haughty, too proud of itself.

When I think of an eagle-themed army, I see violent precision, rather than barely restrained, bloody (tactically unsound) violence like the Blood Angels and successors. Bikes with RW accoutrements certainly sound good, also those nice helmet bits you get for DA commanders.

Had you considered making them a Raven Guard successor isntead? There's a lot of fluffy mileage to be had out of their genetic predicament, and most of the nice DA bits would work too. Perhaps the natives of their recruiting world are forced by circumstance to be exceptionally cunning and devious to survive (a post-apocalyptic death/night world?). Then you could use all sorts of cool themes, 'Hunters', 'Night', 'Dark', 'Sky', 'Shadow' etc. Shadow Eagles? Sky Hunters? Night Talons?

This would stand in good contrast to the World Eaters (recruited from savage gladiators), or the Ultramarines (recruit from warrior nobility), and reflect the values of the Raven Guard. Perhaps, given their desperation for new recruits, they simply went for the first available recruiting world they could find?

After reading your little bit of background, I find myself wishing I'd stuck to C:SM and not gone over to C:BA.

Chapters of later founding don't always take after their parents. Just look at the Ultramarines and the Mortificators.

Also the Ultramarines don't recruit from warrior nobility. Captain Uriel Ventris started out as a farmer in the agri-caves of Calth.

[Nakuth]

Hi p34ce, I'm glad you like the concept, and thank you for your input. I will be brief, as I'm on my phone typing this.

 

The name comes from both the ancestry of the chapter ('Knights' - this theme seems to run through a number of Fists successors), and from an animal the chapter wishes to emulate (the various specie of raptor on their home planet). I guess it would be translated as 'Raptor Knights', but that sounds a bit cheesy for my liking, so I went with the current name.

 

Violent precision/precise application of violence is the perfect articulation of what I intended for the combat doctrine, & I hope I can do that concept justice. This will be less influenced by the chapter's recruits, though, and more by the raptors, and the ideas of the founding chapter master.

 

I like the name 'Night Talons', and it might give me an associated, or rival, chapter, to add some more colour to this one. However, as soddinnutter indicated, a successor chapter will not always follow it's parent chapter closely. That is something I intended with this chapter.

 

That was longer than I thought. Will hopefully update with more fluff later today.

[CantonWC]

Hello

 

 

Situated near the rim of the galactic south-west

 

....

 

The verbal histories vary greatly at this point. Some say that this worship please the Great Eagle, and that He sent one of His great sky-boats down to the world, laden with great warriors, who learnt from the Horst, and taught them in return, preparing them for a day when He would call on their warriors to fight in His name. Other histories state that the worship of animals other than He actually angered the Great Eagle, and that He sent a great spear of flame to sunder the planet, destroying many settlements, and ending countless lives of the Horst peoples. These same histories state that it was only after this punishment that He sent His warriors to the planet, and that this was when those warriors prepared the people of Horst to fight in His name. It was at this time that the people of Horst ceased their worship of all animal totems save for the eagle, and this remains their religious focus to this present day.

 

I liked reading this. But I was sort of confused. Did the Emperor really try to kill them off for Emperor worship? I'm just saying the verbal accounts seem very contradictory.

 

Also... the animal totem thing seems pretty cool, but will probably piss off the Ecclesiarchy. In general the Space Marines are not on good terms with the Church at the best of times, but animal totems might be interpreted as an extreme interpretation of the Imperial Faith. As I recall at least one Space Marine Chapter was excommunicated by an over hasty Inquisitor because he did not take kindly to their worship of the Emperor as an animal totem. Something you may want to work in your Chapter.

 

-----

 

Oh and if you want to play up the Knight thing consider looking into books on the Knights Templar, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights. And there's plenty of other military orders, but people only ever care about the big three.

 

As I recall the Knights Templar were destroyed almost overnight by the French King and the Pope. I forget the exact details, but I think the King and Pope were afraid of the growing power of the Templars. And they owed them money too I think. So they invented a whole bunch of trumped up charges like worshiping idols and ungodly conduct and tortured false confessions out of the knights. That's something else you could work in if you go with increased tensions with the Ecclesiarchy. I mean not destroying your Chapter (cause I don't know why anyone would want to kill off their writing project), but maybe overtones of heightened tensions, a sidebar on a failed conspiracy against the Chapter which would cause them to distrust the Ecclesiarchy even more and so on.

[Nakuth]

Hi Canton

 

With regards to the contradictions, that is intentional. Keep in mind that this is a verbal history, which has been passed down over many generations, over thousands of years (exact timeframe yet to be established), and some is likely to have become....open to interpretation....over time. My attempt may be a little clumsy (I am no author), but the idea was based around the Imperial Truth at the time of the Great Crusade, and the secular nature of the Emperor and the Imperium, at that time. I could tell you what the truth is, but I would have to kill you rather point you in the right direction, and let you determine for yourself.

 

Note that there is a record of an Imperial transport going missing in the vicinity of the homeworld around the start of the Horus Heresy. Note also the above point regarding the Imperial Truth, and how the Emperor/Imperial agents would have reacted to any form of religion. This should help you work out what the truth of the matter is.

 

***

 

With regards to the animal worship/totem, this is more ingrained within the human population than it is within the chapter. The Knights Raptoris themselves may worship the God-Emperor, but, as with a number of space marine chapters, are more likely to revere Him as the greatest of humankind. Even this could bring them into conflict with the Ordo Hereticus and/or Ecclesiarchy, however, I think your last suggestion regarding the ancient Knights Templar may assist with that. Especially when combined with the chapter's 'agreement' with the Mechanicus regarding the ancient ruins on their homeworld.

 

It would certainly be a shame if a member of the Ecclesiarchy that had suspicions about the chapter's 'spirituality' was killed went missing themselves turned out to be committing techno-heresy, now, wouldn't it?

[Nakuth]

Ok, so I said I hoped to add more fluff today, and here it is. It's not much, but I think it adds a little more colour to the chapter, and points me in the right direction as far as the chapter's political allegiences are concerned:

In the year 137.M38, the already strained relationship between the Knights Raptoris and the Ecclesiarchy came to a head again, when Cardinal Trand Kiamens accused the chapter of 'unclean practices', and claimed that the inhabitants of Horst, the chapter's homeworld, were not 'spiritually pure'. What evidence the Cardinal had is unclear, but he was vehement in his accusations. The charges did not gain any traction, however, as, before members of the Ordo Hereticus could become involved, Trand Kiamens was apprehended by Inquisitor Guylat, of the Ordo Xenos, accompanied by a Deathwatch kill-team. Accused of techno-heresy, Kiamens was found to be in possession of a number of foul xenos artifacts, and was linked to a local Xenarite cult, which Inquisitor had been pursuing.

 

With Trand Kiamens executed for his crimes, his claims against the Knights Raptoris were discredited, and the Ecclisarchy publicly denounced any and all charges of heresy against the chapter. However, it is a matter of record that there have been a number of similar claims made against the chapter in the millenia since, only for those claims to be proven false, or the accuser of such claims to be discredited in some way.

 

.....It should be noted that, in the original draft of this (i.e. the one I typed five minutes before posting), one of the members of the kill-team was drawn from the Night Talons chapter. Then I felt that would be too obvious, but rest assured, p34ce, I do intend to include the name somewhere, and you shall be credited with it.

[Nakuth]

As I'm in a good mood, and my creative juices are flowing, you all get a special two-for-one deal. Here's a bit of info about how the chapter chooses and tests it's recruits:

 

The abilities of those chosen as aspirants by the Knights Raptoris have been weighed long before they make their journey the chapter's fortress monestary, although it is on this journey that they are truly tested, and only the truly worthy survive to become neophytes. Upon being chosen an aspirant will begin having visions in their sleep. This is the first trial. The visions will vary in specifics, but all involve a manifestation of one of the great raptors from which the chapter takes it's name. If the aspirant passes this trial, they will set out on foot to find the location shown to them in their dreams. Depending upon the location of the settlement the aspirant is from, this journey can take them hundreds, or even thousands, or kilometres from their home, although they will not journey alone. Each aspirant will be accompanied by the great raptor from their visions, and it is this they must follow. Those that survive will arrive at a place as ancient as ancient as the life on Horst. A vast, windswept tundra, littered with bones. Despite the obvious presence of death, the only dangers to an aspirant that reaches this distance are the lack of shelter, food, and water. Still, they must journey on, always following their skyborne companion. It is deep within this tundra that journey's end is found, for in the distance, an aspirant will see a great crag. Should an aspirant make it this far, they will be compelled to climb the crag. Those few  aspirants that reach the top will be greeted by a giant clad in armour the colour of the bones littering the tundra far below. It is only after this that the true trials begin.

 

 

[CantonWC]

Hello

 

I liked reading the story bits.

 

 

With regards to the contradictions, that is intentional. Keep in mind that this is a verbal history, which has been passed down over many generations, over thousands of years (exact timeframe yet to be established), and some is likely to have become....open to interpretation....over time. My attempt may be a little clumsy (I am no author), but the idea was based around the Imperial Truth at the time of the Great Crusade, and the secular nature of the Emperor and the Imperium, at that time. I could tell you what the truth is, but I would have to kill you rather point you in the right direction, and let you determine for yourself.

 

Well, I guess what I intend to say is that it's something that you don't have to dwell on for too long. After the interment of the Emperor the Cult Imperialis spread very quickly, so what happened on Horst before is a moot point.

 

 

With regards to the animal worship/totem, this is more ingrained within the human population than it is within the chapter. The Knights Raptoris themselves may worship the God-Emperor, but, as with a number of space marine chapters, are more likely to revere Him as the greatest of humankind. Even this could bring them into conflict with the Ordo Hereticus and/or Ecclesiarchy

 

Well not really. At a minimum, virtually every Chapter believes in the Emperor as master of mankind, but as a man, not a god, and they believe in their Primarch. The "man, not a god" thing is what pisses off the Ecclesiarchy, but they cannot do anything about this fundamental distinction because the Space Marines would kill them all because it would cause too much disruption to have a civil war between the Church and the Space Marines. So they agree to disagree. The main reason the Inquisition/Ecclesiarchy might want to start a beef with a Chapter in this case is if the Chapter practices a belief system that is judged to be particularly extreme or diverging from accepted doctrine.

 

So I guess the real question I was wanting to ask is what are the details of the Chapter Cult? Whether or not you have hostile relations with the Church mimicking what really happened with the Knights Templar is dependent on the details of the Knights Raptoris belief system, whether or not the finer points would be considered kosher, and whether or not these details are even available to outsiders; Space Marines, as is their custom, tend to not share their internal records or the finer points of their beliefs with outsiders.

 

-----

 

As to the suggestion to look into the Knights Templar and others, how far do you want to take the "Knight" part of their name? I'm a firm believer that names are important, that they encapsulate a primary trait or theme of the Chapter. "Knight" for me means going straight to the source that influenced pretty much all depictions of Christian military orders.

 

Like for example, the Dark Angels and Black Templars both take the image of the crusading warrior monks, but as far as I can tell, there is relatively little they actually took from the real history of the military orders. That's just me believing that when you draw on influences from the real world, it's important to do the research so that what you write down is authentic to those influences.

[Nakuth]

Hello

 

 

As to the suggestion to look into the Knights Templar and others, how far do you want to take the "Knight" part of their name? I'm a firm believer that names are important, that they encapsulate a primary trait or theme of the Chapter. "Knight" for me means going straight to the source that influenced pretty much all depictions of Christian military orders.

 

Like for example, the Dark Angels and Black Templars both take the image of the crusading warrior monks, but as far as I can tell, there is relatively little they actually took from the real history of the military orders. That's just me believing that when you draw on influences from the real world, it's important to do the research so that what you write down is authentic to those influences.

 

Well, I inititally intended to keep the 'Knight' part of the theme to a minimum, relying on the obvious comparisons of the Astartes to knightly orders to do that part of the work. After a bit of thought, courtesy of your input, and a bit of research about the Templars (admittedly on Wikipedia, I hope to do more eventually), I thought that I should certainly look to add more to the 'Knight' theme of the chapter.

 

Given that the 'Raptoris' part of the name is clearly influenced by the avian life on the chapter's homeworld, I thought that maybe the 'Knight' part could come from before that, being a statement of intent at the chapter's founding, and evolved over time. The current concept floating through my mind is that the chapter was founded to 'assist' (read: escort) a pilgrimage/crusade to reclaim and rediscover worlds identified during the Great Crusade, but lost in the tumult since. The name Knights of The Way comes to mind, when I consider this. In the beginning, the chapter enjoyed good relations with the Ecclesiarchy, but at some point in time, these soured....

 

Anyway, that's all for now, got to get back to work!

[Nakuth]

So, I edited the earlier piece about Cardinal Kiamens. Below is a companion piece. A 'prelude', if you will:

 

067.M38

The Cleansing of the Tartus System.

The closing of a successful campaign is soured when Lord General Guath Kiamens, along with his household guard, is executed by Preceptor Valen Kar, of the Knights Raptoris 4th company. The ever-paranoid Lord General, haunted by dreams of his death at the mercy of a great, white, eagle, had ordered his men to fire on a large albino eagle as it circled his field HQ. The eagle had earlier been released by Preceptor Kar as a symbol that the Tartus campaign had ended, and the system was now under the aegis of the Knights Raptoris.

[Nakuth]

I have edited the first post, so it is now in a (skeletal) IA style. Work is busy at the moment, and I've hit a bit of a road block, so I thought it might help me keep things moving by setting it up this way. I also have a little something, not (strictly) related to this chapter, but it popped into my head anyway. I figured I may as well add it here, as it may prove relevant eventually:

 

With an emphasis on the guerilla and stealth tactics of their progenitor; Corax; the Night Talons often eschew all visible squad markings and hearldry. Instead, they mark these details onto their armour with specialised checmical compounds visible only to those with the enhanced optics afforded by specially modified power armour helmets.

[CantonWC]

The skeletal IA looks good thus far. Will try to comment later.

[Nakuth]

So, unfortunately, a lot of the posts from this were lost in the recent crash & recovery. While I would normally be happy to re=post the material I have from a back up, I also recently lost the backup files.

As such, I am considering converting this into a Night Talons IA, using some of the fluff currently posted, and going in a different direction with the War Talons/Knights Raptoris, keeping the gold & black scheme that was posted on here (now lost). I'm considering 'Void Angels' or 'Angels of War' for the Dorn successor chapter. The Night Talons will definitely be a Raven Guard successor.