The Dragons of Oricalcos: Step-by-Step DIY Creation

[fivepointedstar]

Welcome to the Cult of the Dragon. :)
As you can see by my signature I too have taken upon the image of dragon as a symbolic beast my warriors in red ride to battle. I look forward to seeing more of your lore.

[Andurin Marvak]

Aaaand, I'm back from the dead! Look for teeny updates here and there, once or twice a week, and major updates when possible. Things will be a bit dicey due to the new puppy that came into my home out of the blue, but I'll do my best to keep up and not let this project die out!

[Messor]

Fact: puppies fuel creativity.

[Lord-Captain Cepinari]

Fun fact for you:

 

"Orichalcum" literally means "mountain copper." Back before we had chemistry to figure these things out, the Ancient Greeks thought that the copper mined out of a certain mountain was special compared to copper mined elsewhere. This was because it had different impurities in it that gave it, and alloys made from it, different properties then normal copper, brass, or bronze.

 

 

Here's another fun fact:

Fenrisian wolves aren't actually wolves. Fenris was first colonized back during The Dark Age of Technology, and the colonists kept using technology now lost to the Imperium to alter their forms to better suit the environment. Eventually they turned themselves into giant versions of the Wolf found back on Earth, and their civilization collapsed because they no longer had hands and weren't quite as smart as they had been before Turing themselves into animals. The still human inhabitants of Fenris came later.

[Andurin Marvak]

THERE ARE NO WOLVES ON FENRIS. *ahem*

 

There! I added the final paragraphs on the Chapter's Conception. Next, I'll be fleshing out their early history, and explaining the why behind the creative decisions I've made so far..

[Andurin Marvak]

Now, it's time for some explanation and elaboration. 

 

There are dozens of reasons why a new chapter of space marines might be founded; a new threat, the resurgence of an old enemy, the filling of gaps in the defense network, the securing of recently reconquered areas of Imperial space...the list goes on and on. However, with all of these, you have to keep in mind that chapters are a rare thing, and that the Imperium's greatest resource is manpower. Nine times out of ten their needs can be covered by creating another regiment of Imperial Guard, or a strong PDF force on the planet(s) in question. If the Mechanicus is involved, they usually not only have their own military resources, but often have detachments of Guard ready to fight at a moment's notice. The outpost at Tyran, where humanity first battled (and lost horribly to) the Tyranids, is a perfect example of this. Forgeworlds are even more heavily guarded.

 

Of course, this information suddenly throws a lot of questions my way, as both the Mechanicus and the PDF are present in the Oricalcan system.

 

This is where the planning comes in. The Mechanicus forces had to be insufficient for the job at hand, as did the PDF/Knights, etc. They also had to be in a position resource-wise that would make simply funneling men and guns their way unreasonably difficult. Making the Oricalcan System pretty much on the galactic fringe solved this problem and many others. I chose the Northeast specifically because there were also not many known Astartes chapters in the area, and it would be possible to have a little more creative leeway with the surroundings and the xenos/non-imperial elements of the area. This setup also made it easy for me to write in some corruption to make the military presence there even weaker. But, you might ask, if it's such an insignificant place and it's so hard to get to, why bother going there in the first place? Well, the mining operations were one way around that problem. It also helps that I wrote the area in such a way that if it fell, assorted xenos forces would further encroach on Imperial Space. With the general large gaps in military presence already in canon fluff for that part of the galaxy, this would not be any kind of good. So, why not go about bolstering the surrounding area with a new chapter?

 

Again, the key to making a new chapter necessary is a combination of resource management and strategic positioning. There has to be just the right amount and right kind of need to allow for Astartes to exist.