IA: Black Judges

[FunkyMonkey]

Purity of Purpose
Black Judges Space Marine Chapter

Origins

Throughout the Imperium’s ten thousand year history, nearly a thousand chapters of the Adeptus

Astartes have risen to pledge their blades in service to the Emperor upon the Golden Throne. Many chapters, such as the Black Templars and White Consuls, have had hallowed lineages, tracing their lines through the ages to their very first chapter master’s initiation in a progenitor chapter. The Black Judges is not one of those chapters. The Adeptus Astartes chapter known as the Black Judges was recorded to have first appeared in the service of the Imperium in the 32^nd Millennium. Whether or not it was founded in that millennium, which would have placed it in the Third or Fourth Founding, is unknown. However, regardless of whatever its history comprised, by the time the Black Judges had completed their first campaign of service to the Emperor, there were those who within the Imperium who already clamored for its destruction.
The Black Judges began their recorded history of service with a stain so black that even millennia later, there are those who would refuse to forget or forgive. In what would be called the Astyages Incident, the unthinkable happened: brother fired upon brother as the Astartes of the of the Secutors chapter found themselves suddenly assaulted by those of the Black Judges; the Secutors’ crime: defending their chapter’s honor upon the battlefield of their home world. The Black Judges accused the Secutors of obstructing Imperial justice when the they refused to allow the Black Judges to end for them a long-lasting rebellion by the planetary governor of their home planet; a most devastating humiliation. As the conflict escalated, there were those from within the Imperium who cried foul. This engagement had been the first time Astartes had fought Astartes since the cataclysmic Horus Heresy, and even worse was the seeming preparedness and proficiency with which The Black Judges brutally attacked the Secutors, overwhelming squad by squad, company by company. Had the High Lords of Terra intervened early on in the conflict, the damage and implications could have been minimized. However, their silent condoning only allowed the incident to escalate from a chapter dispute to a full inter-chapter war, and even worse, as other chapters began to argue who had right in the struggle, it threatened to drag other chapters into the conflict. For a while, a civil war loomed.
The first millennia after the Horus Heresy had begun with hope – hope that the nightmares of the past, when the great legions of old clashed, had ended and that though the Emperor no longer walked among his subjects, His ascension to the Golden Throne would have marked a new era of human destiny and unity. The Astyages Incident had shattered that hope, and in the minds of many, the Black Judges were to blame. The beginning of their long, grim service was a sad prediction of the future of the Imperium, in which wars between brothers were to be far from the exception.

A Chapter Reviled
The Black Judges had long been associated with the High Lords of Terra, and they became known as the black fist of the Inquisition amongst Astartes chapters. Whatever rebel proclaimed

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independence from the Imperium met swift judgment at the hands of the chapter. Even those whose crime consisted of simply vocally disagreeing with the High Lords were forced to answer to the Black Judges. The Black Judges gained the reputation that it had shed more blood of Imperials than it did of legitimate traitors. Fate was soon to reinforce this image. The Black Judges were tasked to the Nyx system in the galactic east, the Ultima Segmentum. An Adeptus Astartes chapter, the Crusaders Eternal, had been declared Excommunicate Traitoris, and it fell to the Black Judges to make them answer for their sins through the cleansing fires of war. The brothers of the Black Judges did not hesitate, nor did they question why the Crusaders Eternal needed to be exterminated. The Black Judges vowed to scour their name from Imperial records just as their bodies would be scoured from the galaxy. The Astartes gathered in the sanctuaries of their ships and gave their supplications to the immortal Emperor, who, silent though he may be on the Golden Throne, forever watched over his favored sons.
When the Black Judges fleet exited the Warp in the Nyx system, Chapter Master Malchor Brakken gave a courtesy warning to the errant chapter, announcing to them their ordained fate. The Crusaders Eternal refused to bow and instead repeated the claims that had led to the High Lords excommunicating them: the rule of Imperium’s theocratic arm, the Ecclesiarchy, was illegitimate. This reply satisfied Brakken; heretics did not deserve the Emperor’s mercy. The Black Judges' fleet engaged that of the Crusaders Eternal. It was an unfair fight, for the Crusaders Eternal fleet had been severely damaged in a prior battle with a Night Lords warband. As the Black Judges's ships approached Nyx's orbit, their batteries opened fire upon the dark world, bombarding the fortified position that the Crusaders Eternal had made their makeshift fortress-monastery after defeating the Night Lords warband prior to the chapter's excommunication. Drop pods followed. The Black Judges devastated the Crusaders Eternal In only a week, the renegades were in complete disarray, left to the mercy of Black Judges marines, who, like sharks having tasted blood in the water, butchered isolated elements pitilessly. Crusaders Eternal command struggled valiantly to coordinate counterattacks and defensive efforts, but in the end, it could only watch as its chapter scattered like chaff to the wind.
Chapter Master Malchor Brakken met the Crusaders Eternal chapter master, Saphoris Isa in single combat on the final day of the Nyx campaign. Isa was exhausted from incessant combat over the previous days while Malchor Brakken was fresh and rested. Isa bellowed for a final time that they all served a false Imperium, far removed from and a corrupt abomination of the Imperium of the Emperor. Brakken spoke naught beyond proclaiming judgment in the name of the Emperor. By the end of the duel, only Brakken stood standing, at his feet lay the body of Isa, alive but broken. What few Crusaders Eternal Astartes remained laid down their arms, expecting an honorable chance to surrender. They were slaughtered to the man; traitors did not deserve surrender.
The Black Judges salvaged what they could from the Crusaders Eternal’s armaments and vehicles to repair their own before calling for Adeptus Mechanicus forces to reclaim and re-sanctify what remained. The chapter prepared drag Saphoris Isa back to the halls of the Adeptus Terra to meet judgment for his heretical views. As the voidcraft opened a Warp rift to make the long voyage back to Terra, a small fleet composed of elements of three Astartes chapters: the Steel Hearts, the Crimson Nemeses, and the Void Hunters met them. Before its fall, the Crusaders Eternal, a descendant of the Ultramarines, had been a very highly regarded chapter and was an exemplar of honor and humility. Though few knew that they were declared excommunicate traitoris, many chapter masters had pledged oaths of moment with Saphoris Isa in past campaigns, and when the Crusaders Eternal appealed to others for aid against the Black Judges, a number were more than willing to defend their battle brothers against those they long thought have been true renegades. The elements of the three chapters, having seen the Crusaders Eternal annihilated, vowed to make the Black Judges pay in kind, and they powered up their weapons. As the three chapters did so, a small black ship exited the Warp behind them. It bore no heraldry but for the rosette of the Inquisition. The Black Judges appealed to Inquisitorial representative to order the other Astartes to stand down. It equivocated, maintaining that it had no business in the feuds of Astartes chapters. The Black Judges were not traitors, but message was clear: they were on their own. Yet Malchor Brakken was undaunted. The Black Judges had just finished destroying a chapter and though trans-human, its marines needed to recuperate, yet helmets were being donned and weapons were being activated. There would be no rest for the Emperor’s chosen.

The Black Judges were able to fight off the elements of the three chapters, but after the Nyx campaign, their position in the Imperium became difficult. Despite their long, faultless service with the Inquisition, the chapter found themselves no longer able to draw upon their unconditional protection as had once been the case. The Black Judges remained in good standing with many inquisitors as the Astartes were still willing to drag even the most defiant Imperials to justice, but it seemed as if the extreme legalism and fanaticism with which the Black Judges interpreted their orders was becoming too difficult for the Adeptus Terra to defend. The Black Judges suddenly found themselves exposed in an Imperium full of vengeful enemies.

Home World

The Black Judges do not have a home world, as they are a fleet-based chapter. Though the Black Judges continuously travel the Void in their warships, it would be inaccurate to call them a crusading chapter. Though the chapter’s journeys are long and arduous, Imperial scholars have tracked their voyages throughout the millennia and have discovered that the Black Judges travel from segmentum to segmentum, stopping at the same worlds in each segmentum every time they pass them. Savants have theorized that the Black Judges are, in fact, making rounds, seemingly patrolling the interior of the Imperium, only deviating from course when their routes bring them near an internal disturbance severe enough to warrant swift, ruthless judgment from the Black Judges.

Beliefs

A Prayer to the Emperor

Some say that we Astartes of the Black Judges are cruel, that we are hateful, that we are accursed. They abhor us for the task that we do, for they themselves are unable to look themselves in the mirror, seeing as they do our visage facing them, judging them. I pity the fool who stares back and blinks. We can never stop; we can never rest. We fight to the death, and we purge those that stand against the Imperium: mortal, Astartes, or unborn. As long as the Emperor weeps as the sight of heretics, our gun barrels will always burn red, for we are his favored, chosen to see to it that His word remains the word of humanity.
The enemy is demanding. They demand our surrender; they demand our deaths; they demand our oblivion. Some day, brothers, we will give them precisely that, our bodies broken and lifeless. I guarantee it. But what we will never give is our purpose, for our purpose comes the from the Emperor, Himself, delivered first to founding chapter master and passed down the millennia to each and every one of us, pathetic as we were in the wretched necropoli of the underhives. No, we keep our purpose until the day when the Emperor arises from the Golden Throne and calls upon our service again, and only He can discharge us of it. Until that day when we go to meet the Emperor, we will be guilty, guilty of being misers, willing to only give to those who ask for our destruction the pittances of holy bolter fire and merciless chainblade.
Reflect upon what you are now and that which you once were. Everything you are, you owe to the Emperor. Remember this debt. It is greater than a vow of the word; greater than an oath of moment, and greater than a debt of blood, for this is the obligation of purpose, and it is our pleasure to repay it. Let us praise the Emperor.

My immortal Emperor, my lord and protector,
Blessed be Your word;
Your will unfolding,
Your wrath unleashing,
Upon the galaxy as upon the Golden Throne;
Fill our brothers, today, with righteous anger,
And suffer not our inadequacies,
As we suffer not the xenos, the heretic, and the Unborn.
And leave us not on the battlefield, but strengthen our unyielding hands.
For our purpose is eternal, and Your Imperium everlasting,
Watch over us.

- High Chaplain Malthus Galba, sermon before battle

[/clearfloat]

To those unfamiliar with the chapter, the Astartes of the Black Judges chapter appear to be zealous fundamentalists persecuting all those that deviate from Imperial Law. However, this is not entirely the case. The Black Judges are indeed true believers in the birthright of mankind to rule the galaxy, but they are also keenly aware of their status as trans-humans, granted extraordinary power in exchange for extraordinary responsibility to protect humanity, even from itself.
As Astartes, the Black Judges know that they are the blessed creations of the Emperor and for this reason, and because they owe their existence to the Emperor, it is their duty to fulfill the purpose granted by Him. Thus, it is held absolutely that the first and greatest virtue of any Astartes is his duty to the Emperor. This sacredness of duty extends to all of the Emperor’s subject, Astartes and mortal alike. With the Emperor silent upon the Golden Throne, purpose can be derived by proxy from the Imperial Law and the dictates of the High Lords of Terra, and this forms the basis for the Black Judges’ fanatical legalism. For the Black Judges, the failure to adhere to Imperial Law is the failure of duty. The failure of duty is the failure of purpose, and the failure of purpose is the sin of heresy. There is no exception.
It is thought by Imperial experts that because the majority of the chapter’s recruits come from underhive gangs where Imperial Law is all but nonexistent, the Black Judges’ beliefs would prove inconsistent with the history of its Astartes. However, the Black Judges’ strong belief in duty and law arise precisely from an appreciation of what its recruits lacked in their harsh childhoods. They know that in being elevated to be an Adeptus Astartes, members of the Black Judges have been given a second chance in life to prove their worth and their right to have been rescued from the sinful life of underhive depravity. Such second chances are extraordinarily hard to come by, especially in the underhives, and as such form a bond of debt to the Emperor that transcends simple blood debts into debts of purpose. Chaplains do try to channel the worst of the culture, the callous attitudes towards murder, into hate against the enemies of the Imperium, though inevitably, elements of the underhive gang mentality persist, most notably in the form of the a tribalistic pecking order of status based on exploits in battle and the intra-chapter rivalries the result as subgroups constantly seek to outdo one another in demonstrations of duty to the Emperor.
The chapter's concern for the upholding of Imperial Law where it applies leads the chapter to be violently and particularly hateful of renegades, criminals, and mutants. Even those of timid inertia or those who would allow such trivial matters as perceived honor, pride, expediency, or ambition to get in the way of duty are not safe from the Black Judges’ wrath, as was so pointedly demonstrated in the Astyages Incident. Because of this singular and absolute primacy of legalistic duty that leads to even complete willingness to kill brother Astartes, there are some chapters that accuse the Black Judges of being bereft of honor. However, the Black Judges do not care to respond to such accusations, for they bear the pride of being the first among the Emperor’s sons, chosen to ensure His law remains the guiding light of humanity. This pride can sometimes manifest itself as arrogance in the belief of their own superiority that stems from their chosen status, resulting in a self-perpetuating cycle of arrogant pride, fanatic legalism, and realization of purity of purpose. Following the Nyx campaign, this arrogance, which before had been barely tolerated, draws outright animosity from other chapters. Yet the Black Judges remain firm in their beliefs. Those that would take offense to the Black Judges’ acts are those that would take offense to the purpose granted by the Emperor, and those that would take offense do not measure up and are wastes of the Emperor’s beneficence.

Combat Doctrine

The Black Judges have always carried the view that combat, like Imperial Justice, must be characterized by sudden, total, and swift action, smashing apart all sin that the enemy provides sanctuary for.
As a result, the chapter’s combat doctrine revolved around three principles: overwhelming force, rapid dominance, and combined arms. These three principles, when coordinated together, are given the name ‘shock and awe’ – the use of all available assets to strike decisively such that the enemy is caught off balance and the perpetuation of their inability to respond through a constantly advancing battle line leading up to brutally battering the enemy into submission. Highly coordinated and concentrated strikes to maximize pressure in localized areas allow for the rest of the chapter to sweep through enemies caught in the wake of the shocktrooper’s continuing piercing strike. Area denial and scorched earth via bombardment is used to control the flow of battle and dictate where enemy may and may not advance pinning them for terminator veterans to engage crucial elements of enemy command in pitched battle, tearing out the enemy’s throat and completely shattering whatever remnants there were of the enemy’s organization in a single decisive strike. The constant mutability of battle lines as dictated by the chapter is a core tenet of the Black Judges’ combat doctrine. In order to break the will of enemy, no respite and no chance for foes to reorganize and reestablish lines of logistics and communications can be allowed. Every asset at the Black Judges’ disposal is used to create a combined arms approach that overwhelms the enemy before closing in for the bloody, vicious kill.
On a tactical level, the average Astartes of the Black Judges favors flanks, encirclings, and the use of feints against the enemy in short-ranged firefights as they themselves constantly shift from cover to cover. Black Judges are well versed in fire saturation techniques and seek to apply constant gunfire from as many different and disparate angles as possible in order to thin the enemy and keep them off balance. Once an enemy has been satisfactorily picked apart, the Black Judges close in for melee with a brief but brutal ferocity, reminiscent of the incessant underhive tribal gang warfare of the Black Judges’ recruiting worlds.
The Black Judges have garnered a reputation as an internal force, much like a secret police, due to an overwhelming high proportion of their chapter’s engagements being against traitorous planetary defense forces, Imperial Guard regiments, an even other Adeptus Astartes chapters. Such is their frequency that the Black Judges have been considered to be expert anti-Imperial and anti-Astartes (including Fallen Astartes) soldiers by members of the Ordo Hereticus and are so frequently requisitioned by them. As a result, the Black Judges rarely get exposure to and can be caught off guard by the forces besieging the Imperium from without – xenos forces – though they are nonetheless more than willing to undertake campaigns against such vile enemies of man should Imperial mandate or situations require.

After the Nyx campaign, the Black Judges, already unpopular amongst the Astartes chapters to begin with, tend to avoid fighting alongside potential Astartes comrades. Though still unhesitant in striking non-compliant forces, the abandonment at Nyx by the Inquisitorial representative revealed to the Black Judges that they would be no longer enjoying the unconditional protection of the Inquisition and that they would have to be careful to see if their old allies indeed remain allies.

Battle Honors

Captain Oef Soebek dipped his finger into paint. He reached for helmet and set it on the table. Carefully, he drew the brass-colored numerals, ‘X’, ‘V’, ‘I’ upon the side of his helmet, near the temple. “My lord, pardon my outburst, what is it that you draw, and would you like me to do such a menial task instead?” Saerin, his serf, stood behind him, holding a brazier for illumination.
“No need. This is a battle honor, and I prefer to do it by hand.”
“Such an insignificant mark is hardly an honor for you, my lord. What is it?” The captain paused. He looked at the rest of his armor, resting on a rack. The numerals certainly were small details. Hardly anyone would notice them, especially when his armor bore numerous spiked studs on the pauldrons and lower greaves, and his helmet bore a topknot as well as the handprinted, alabaster-white Hand of Honor. Such adornment was highly favored among the notables of the chapter. Many other chapters, particularly those of the First Founding who suffered in the Drop Site Massacre, take particular offense to their choice in armor ornamentation; Soebek could care less.
“They are numerals, Saerin. The numerals sixteen in High Gothic.” Saerin shifted the brazier to his other hand.
“Sixteen? What is so significant of this number. You are captain of the Third Company, and there only ten in the chapter.” Soebek paused again and leaned back. The number was special among chapter leadership, but none, not even the chapter master knew why. They only knew that it was special. If it even had meaning was something Soebek did not know.
“I do not know, Saerin.” Soebek closed his eyes. Despite all of the mind wiping and indoctrination that initiates endured when joining the chapter, it was hard to forget the bloody memories of his childhood. Details were fuzzy, and Soebek even forgot the name of his planet, but the constant fighting among the underhive gangs was vivid as ever, so burnt into his memories they were. “Among my people, back on the planet where I am from, the number sixteen had meaning. I was just a boy when I left to join the chapter, and I did not learn this meaning. All that I remember was that the underhive scum, as uncivilized and degenerate as they were, all respected this number and organized their gangs around its multiplicity. Whoever bore it was marked as a special man. It was prestige. It was power. It was the counting of the wolf."

[clearfloat]

Chapter Organization

Since its first recorded engagements, the Black Judges chapter, though respecting the insights of the Codex Astartes, do not follow the standard codex organization in order to better adapt its forces to the rapid dominance doctrine the chapter favors. The Black Judges do not maintain scout or reserve companies, believing instead in using all available resources to effect a total victory. Most companies are formulated like standard codex battle companies, though in place of non-terminator armored veterans in the first company, the chapter employs shocktrooper veterans specializing in rapid penetration, disrupting formations, and eliminating high priority targets. A second company forms a breaching company fighting at the forefront of assaults on fortified positions. Several other companies of varied sizes that are devoted to more specialized roles, such as orbital and airborne assault, raiding reconnaissance, dedicated cohesive armored assault, and combat engineering, that facilitate overwhelming force strategies.
While formally, every element at every level of command is referred to by their numerical designation, companies and specialized squads are sometimes granted informal names. Often depending upon their exploits and those of their section leader, the informal names are a sign of favor both in the eyes of the Emperor and that of the chapter. Though the various companies and sections are nominally equal in standing with the exception of the veteran company, the use of informal names is an important indicator of prestige and precedence helping to create an informal hierarchy across elements at the same level of organization.

Gene-Seed

The Black Judges are known to be a fleet-based chapter, but at times, the chapter fleet makes extended stops at certain worlds within each segmentum. It is believed that these, in fact, are stops to recruit new initiates. It has been noticed that each planet chosen harbors violent hive gangs, survival among which is all but impossible for the young males taken. The sheer force of will and drive to survive that is common among the survivors of these underhives are what makes them desirable candidates for recruitments. Through training and mental indoctrination, that force of will can easily be molded into unyielding fanaticism and faith in the rule of law that characterizes the Black Judges, especially when the initiates are exposed to the belief that their survival and elevation into Astartes is purely by the grace of the Emperor.
As with records of the Black Judges’ founding, information on the chapter’s gene-said parentage is sparse. Attempts to identify the Black Judges’ progenitor chapter are based off of painfully slow comparisons of the chapter’s gene-seed markers to those of the nine First Founding chapters. Adeptus Mechanicus genetors have found the Black Judges’ gene-seed to be pure, suggesting descent from the Ultramarines. However, Black Judge gene-seed is also noted to be rather potent, compared to the gene-seed of other chapters. A number of Black Judges marines develop an appearance marked by wide-spaced eyes and a long, straight nose. This phenomenon, known as the Judge’s Visage, is said to trace its roots to the chapter’s founding chapter master and his resemblance to his primarch, though few, if any, know who these figures are, so such a claim cannot be validated. Those with the Judge’s Visage are looked favorably within the chapter, but it is no guarantee of advancement with the chapter, and plenty of brothers with it have been passed over in promotion in favor of those without the visage who have more consistently proven themselves in battle.

Battle-Cry

“My purpose is eternal; my duty is forever!”
















Well Here is my chapter The IA weighs in at about 4K words including the excerpts. I read Octavulg's Octaguide 2.0 for advice, and with average IAs being around 3800, I figure this would be ok. Obviously, mine won't have the same hold on attention as those other IAs do because this is for fun, and the others are for legitimate lore, but oh well.



There aren't really any particular specific cultural influences, by any particular culture real or fictional, like how the Space Wolves, White Scars, Ultramarines, or even Blood Angels are, though some of the first founding legions, as well as a couple subsequent founding chapters are definitely influences in themselves, though I tried to give enough distinctions to significantly distinguish. Instead I wanted to create a chapter that would bring emphasize the dystopian conception of the Warhammer 40K universe. I tried to make the chapter act like a militarized secret police that would show up all of a sudden, give a brief “warning,” then persecute someone by suddenly bash his or her head in for their noncompliance. I suppose that to create the dystopian effect, there was a varying degrees of influence taken from real world police state forces such as Soviet NKVD, militarized Chinese Red Guards, and even some German Waffen-SS and SA, primarily because they had that brutally oppressive ideological true believer (though not religious fundamentalist level of true believer) feel that I really wanted my chapter to be based around.

As did every one of the organizations listed, the Black Judges will have to pay a price for their fanaticism. Enemies build over time over blood believed to have been wrongly spilt. These enemies are ones that the High Lords of Terra and the Inquisition cannot, or perhaps will not, defend the chapter against.

In terms of tactics, German WWII blitzkrieg tactics are most obvious, though American rapid-dominance doctrine as seen in the 1991 Gulf War was also heavily influential.

[Chronotonic]

I was thinking this was a dark angel chapter for awhile there then I thought...no this has to be a dorn chapter...the total compliance to the law...maybe ultramarines

 

then 16

 

...

 

You son of a gun you...

[Veteran Sergeant]

A few thoughts. Some of your language is very wordy. Big words where little words would suffice. There's a lot of jargon in the Combat Doctrine section which makes it inaccessible to the layman.

 

Some curious bits of your origins sections:

 

Surrender or death? Previous paragraph says they went there to scour them from living record.

 

"This reply satisfied Brakken; " Usually a reply satisfying someone is a positive thing. I think something like "convinced" or other synonym would be better.

 

Where is this Crusaders Eternal fleet? Orbital defenses? Why can the Judges just bombard their planet unopposed? And if they can, why stop?

 

"made their makeshift fortress-monastery after defeating a Night Lords warband prior to the chapter’s excommunication." - Sentence doesn't make sense. Whose excommunication? CE's? Reads like it was the Night Lords' excommunication.

 

"mercy of Black Judges marines, who, like a shark" Analogies should retain plurality. "Marines, who, like sharks"

 

" body alive but broken at his feet." Reads awkward.

 

"They were slaughtered to the man; heretics do not deserve surrender." Tense conflict.

 

"The Black Judges scrapped what they could" Scrapped tends to mean threw away. Salvaged?

 

What do they do about these three angry chapters that show up?

 

 

Some awkward sentences here and there you should be able to ferret out by reading it back to yourself. This one however, could be said in a far more succinct sentence. "Those with the Judge’s Visage are looked favorably within the chapter, but it is no guarantee of advancement with the chapter, and plenty of brothers with it have been passed over in promotion in favor of those without the visage who have more consistently proven themselves in battle."

[FunkyMonkey]

Hmm.

Origins:

1.  Yeah, I didn't really think that out well enough.  It seemed like standard procedure in my mind to give one chance.  Scour it is.

 

2.  I chose to use satisfied to show Brakken's preference for destroying the Crusaders Eternal.  I suppose it would be somewhat moot once it's changed to scour on sight.

 

3.  Good point.  I think I mentioned it somewhere in my rough draft and it must have gotten deleted when going through some preliminary thinning.  I intended the Crusaders Eternal to be a fleet based chapter that responded to a legitimate distress call from Nyx asking it to help fight off a Night Lords warband.  The fleet was thinned out a bit by Nyx's orbital batteries, which were captured by Night Lords, and which had to be rendered no longer operational.  I'll just mention that their fleet was severely damaged in the initial battle and allowed for the Black Judges to run down their fleet afterwards.

 

4.  I assumed that we always referred to groups of Chaos Space Marines, with the exception of the Word Bearers, as warbands.  So, I then also assumed that chapter would be understood to refer to loyal or recently-turned groups of space marines. 

 

5.  Noted, thanks for catching that.

 

6.  Hmm.  I see what you mean.  i'll say "while Isa's body lay at his feet alive but broken."

 

7.  I'll change that grammatical error.  I think that was a originally a combining of two sentences that I neglected to make tense-compatible.

 

8.  Definitely, salvaged is a better word.

 

9.  Well, the IA stops there to attempt a cliffhanger, but it's implied that the three chapters are going to fight the Black Judges.  Haven't really thought about the outcome of that battle.  The Black Judges are oversized for a chapter while the other chapters have come in elements.  How big those elements are, I haven't quite thought about.

 

Yeah, I'll look into those awkward sentences.  I've always been a verbose guy accustomed to studying political thought, so I guess reading too much of their philosophy rubbed off on me.

 

 

Thanks for all the input, though.  It'll definitely improve the IA.

[Madwolf Shadowmane]

I like your IA, it reads well except where already noted by others. There is a good hook that kept me reading. The problems I see are more with the Chapter itself. I personnally believe both the High Lords of Terra and other Chapters of Adeptus Astartes would have made it a mission to erradicate your Chapter a long time ago. They do not have the Primarch as patron which kept other old Chapters safe when they deviated from the Imperial creed and They don't seem to have any powerful allies to protect them in their self appointed task, i.e. ther High Lords, Adeptus Mechanius. They also appear a little too "awesome". They give pause to the Minotaurs? they give the impression of being above Imperial law/able to give any First Founding Chapter pause and I feel that's just a little overboard for a DIY Chapter. I do like the way you reveiled the mystery of their possible origin. It is very well thoughtout and is plausible in my opinion.

 

Madwolf

[FunkyMonkey]

Hmm.  Yeah, about the Minotarus.  That should be deleted.  You are right.  That bit was actually a left over bit from when I wanted the chapter to be descendants of the Iron Warriors through the loyalist contingent of Lesser Damantyne that fled with Barabas Dantioch back to Terra.  So, obviously, there would have been a parallel, but yeah, it's not quite right with the IA as it is now.

 

I don't know about the High Lords necessarily gunning for the destruction of the Black Judges, but yeah, most other Astartes Chapters, particularly descendants of the Mary Sues and the chapters descended from the honor-based chapters like White Scars and Space Wolves would definitely be going for it.  That's what I intended.  I tried to make it so that because the Black Judges are so strict in adhering to imperial law and the dictates of the High Lords, the HLoT would see the Black Judges as a useful tool, which is what I hoped to achieve with comment about being requisitioned frequently by the Ordo Hereticus.  If it's not clear, I'll try to think of something to draw a greater distinction.

 

Like I mentioned in the very last bit after the IA, I tried to make these guys fanatical true believers that you see only in the paramilitary organizations of the most brutal fascist and communist regimes.  They were, at their heyday, the most powerful and devoted organizations and could only be ordered around by the absolute top of party hierarchy.  In a sense, they become so involved with the law that they become the law, and the law just becomes a vague set of ideologies, which fits the theme of 40K well.  Of course, the flip side is that eventually, those organizations create enough enemies among regular forces and party members outside of the inner circle that the apex of the party has to sort of disown them or let them be dissolved.  I suppose that could be a basis for the High Lords going for the destruction of the Black Judges.  But given the grimdarkness of 40K, that is not this day....no actually, I planned for the High Lords to start gradually abandoning them, starting in the battle with the other three chapters in the later half of origins.  The High Lords won't declare them excommunicate traitoris, and some inquisitors might still prefer to requisition their aid, like how the Ordo Xenos likes to draw from the Crimson Fists in ork-infested sectors, but they'll leave the Black Judges to suffer the wrath of the others, and it's up to the chapter to find allies (i'm thinking Iron Hands with their absolute hatred of weakness, and perhaps Black Templars) and a means of survival.  

[Madwolf Shadowmane]

I think you are conveying exactly what you intended. My point is that I feel the High Lord would have seen your Chapter as a threat long ago and or the Space Wolves, Dark Angels, Imperial Fists, and or White Scars would either smacked the Black Judges down or declared them renegade long ago. While an old Chapter, the Black Judges exist without the protections the First and Second Founding Chapters have. They have assumed a role in the Imperium without proof that they were appointed to the task. I also think Inquisitors would repeatedly have tried to manipulate your Chapter for their own ends throughout history.

[FunkyMonkey]

Yeah, the last bit a little to reflect my comments that I edited into the previous post regarding the gradual abandonment by the High Lords

[Chronotonic]

Actually with some many years of doing what they do other branches of the Inquisition would be snooping around wanting to use them for that exact purpose that they clean house so well...Probably a few sent to the Deathwatch and none came back because they were with Ultramarine second founding...clashed...ended up dead from lead poisoning like so many commissioners do on the battlefield...

 

But at the sametime they would have a small shield and they know by now to be somewhat careful on who they pick a fight with..

[Banelord]

When I first seen the name and obsession with Imperial Law I thought of The Adeptus Aribites, the Imperial intergalactic police force. Having them as close allies might just be enough for the Black Judges not to get excommunicated, seeing how they would have helped keep law and order over the years.  They could be considered the Adeptus Aribites go to guys, A “Swat Team” so to speak, when the things get too big for them. But my fluff is a bit rusty to I’m not sure how much influence, if any, these guys really have.  

 

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Adeptus_Arbites#.UjNCjdJJ48A

[Veteran Sergeant]

The Arbites aren't really a cohesive force though. You'd have your precincts, and they'd have their duties and chains of command, but they're probably not really "reporting" in to anything higher than a planetary level command.  And Space Marines are drastic overkill for most of the things the Arbites are charged with, lol. I think his aim is more for a group of galaxy level enforcers, and it sounds like they're working more or less on their own agenda.

Though I think the Black Templars would be unlikely allies for them. The Black Templars flaunt just about every law on the books, lol. If they hammered the Crusaders Eternal for refuting the Imperial Truth, they're not going to take very kindly to a Chapter which flagrantly violates the proscriptions of the Codex Astartes on Chapter size, and answers to no authority but their own. The Templars are running an incredibly illegal fleet and military line strength. I don't know if I'd suggest going the route of making them antagonistic with official Chapters, but I think I'd steer clear of suggesting an alliance.

It's important to note that often times, the only things that fanatical groups hate more than whatever is the primary object of their hate, are other fanatical groups, because any time their beliefs diverge, there will be blood. On a tangent, that was my biggest part of the Sisters/Templars Best Buddies and Same Beliefs Retcon. The Sisters and Templars always seemed to me like ideal antagonists for one another, not bestest allies because superficially they both seem like the same thing because they are religious themed.

[FunkyMonkey]

Yeah, I didn't really have Adeptus Arbites in mind.  Since we're talking about the dystopian Imperium, my idea of the Black Judges are pretty well summed up in an analogy of Nazi Germany.  It's not an analogy that I'm particular proud of, because no one wants to be analogous to Nazis, but it's an analogy that many people will understand, given how notorious they were.

 

High Lords of Terra : Nazi party heads :: Adeptus Arbites : regular police :: Inquisitors : Gestapo :: Black Judges : SS/Waffen SS :: Imperial Guard : Wehrmacht :: Adeptus Astartes : the most skilled veteran regiments of Wehrmacht.

 

In this way, you can see the Black Judges are, at the risk of making them sound bad, a mob of paramilitary true believing fanatics that happen to have a lot of power due to their association with upper leadership and Inquisitors and are also generally dismissive of regular forces due to their belief in their own superiority and purity of form and ideology.  I would consider the Black Templars analogous to Waffen SS as well, but as Veteran Sergeant pointed out, fanatics don't get along with other fanatics, and the Black Templars don't generally play well with the Inquisition.  I kind of want the Black Judges to have a close working relationship with the Ordo Hereticus, much as the Crimson Fists have a close relationship with the Ordo Xenos and the Exorcists with the Ordo Malleus.

[Chronotonic]

actually the Abrities once every now and then the top guys meet on terra and go over laws and make new laws as needed...

 

with those connections I am sure that they would be close ties to an Astartes Chapter and could be used as a swat force...just off the top of my head I can see how that would work

[Banelord]

The SS was a complicated beast made up of many departments, several which did the same job and activity competed against each other like The SD and The Gestapo. You could say it was more like this:

High Lords: Allgememeine-SS, Adeptus Arbites: SS-Police Regiments, Inquisitors: The SD/The Gestapo, Waffen SS: Adeptus Astartes (Waffen SS started out as Hitler’s personal guard), Wehrmacht: Imperial Guard/Titan Legions.

But anyway the Adeptus Arbites are more than just basic police, take the Judges for example. I’ll got a few quotes from the Lexicanum:

“Judges care little for personal misdemeanours, leaving those matters to Governors. Rather, they concern themselves with more weighty issues such as bringing the Emperor’s justice to rebels, hunting down enemies of the state and purging Heretics. Their authority extends to within the Adeptus Terra and they are free to execute both Planetary rulers and Adepts if they shown to be committing transgressions.”

“Judges command their own forces of retribution, vast armies of the troops from the Adeptus Arbites spread throughout the galaxy and every vigilant to answer the call to justice. Often it is the Judges who find themselves fighting the first flames of rebellions while mobile Space marine or Imperial Guard forces rush to support them.”

Anyway just a bit of food for thought, this IA is really good so far and i’m looking forward to how it develops

[FunkyMonkey]

Hmm, when you put it like that, then I suppose I'm setting up the Black Judges as analogous to the SA.  If I remember correctly, the SA were too ideologically motivated and were making too many enemies amongst regular German society, necessitating the Nazi party to cast aside the SA in favor of the more personality/party motivated SS.  It seems similar to how I'm expanding the relationship between the High Lords, Inquisition, and Black Judges in the 41st Millennium.

 

At the same time, the SA were seen as a threat because their leader, Röhm, was pretty independent of Hitler compared to the rest of the Nazi party, and thus, he was a rival for party leadership.  I think I don't want the Black Judges to be quite like that, though.  I'm just going for the political baggage aspect and not the super-independence bordering on competitor aspect in relation to the High Lords of Terra and the Inquisition.

[Chronotonic]

not but people in power see rivals in everything...

 

inquisitors...over Chapter Masters that were not first or second founding would see even more...

 

Even High Lords will see rivals in Chapter Masters that are vocal enough

[FunkyMonkey]

Yeah, so that's why I'm intending the Black Judges to be following the orders of the High Lords and the Inquisition closely such that Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus start to see them as reliable allies like the Crimson Fists are to the Ordo Xenos (I know I've used this comparison many times).  It's not that the Black Judges argue with the High Lords or the Puritan Inquisition, because I'm setting them up as super loyal, but they're just too violent and ideological for the political expediency-based tastes of the High Lords.

 

It's like how the Chinese Red Guard were originally started tacitly by Mao to attack political opponents previously considered untouchable by convention, but as the years went by, the Red Guards were getting too unwieldy for Mao's power politics and became a liability for the alienation they caused.