Imperial Heralds

[Qai]

Hi everyone,

 

This is my first post on these forums. But I have been lurking around for a while. I'm a huge W40K fanatic and I've been working on my Chapter for quite a while now. There are still some minor gaps to fill in, but the majority of the Chapter is done, which I'd like to share and get your feedback on. Things marked as <...> just mean I haven't yet decided on what they should be vs "Unknown" in the sense of absence from Imperial records.

 

Also, some of the replies in the thread might not make sense as I edit this head post to incorporate feedback.

 

Based on the feedback it looks like the Chapter needs a re-write, so pardon the sparseness in details for the moment. From the comments, you can get a sense of what the earlier ideas were.

 

*****

http://imageshack.us/a/img822/7051/8tym.png

 

- Founding Chapter: Imperial Fists

- Founding: <...>

- Chapter Master: <...>

- Homeworld: None

- Fortress Monastery: <...> (Fleet-Based)

- Colour: Astronomicon Grey and Burnished Gold

- Specialty: <...>

- Strength: <...>

- Codex Astartes Compliance: Complete

- Chapter Badge: Vergina Sun

- Battle Cry: Embrace the Emperor, Embrace the Imperium, Or die!

 

The Chapter is most often tasked by the Imperium to focus its efforts in eliminating specific renegade and traitorous Chapters.

 

With regards to the Chapter's badge, the sun in the middle symbolizes the Emperor, while the sun's rays symbolize the Imperium emanating from the Emperor.

 

Unlike other Chapters, the Scout Company bears exactly the same colours as the veteran First Company. In addition to being trained by the Tenth Company Sergeant, Scouts are also readily trained directly by the First Company, accompanying veterans as they join/leave the various other Companies. Therefore, a Scout will be directly exposed to several Companies throughout training. This serves to help better integrate the Scout into the Chapter given the widely diverse origins of its members.

[FunkyMonkey]

The name sounds good...but it's the pre-heresy name of the Word Bearers.  You're going to have to change that, unless you want to make them a loyalist successor of the Word Bearers, but that would be unlikely because it seems the Word Bearers probably did the best job out of the traitor legions to purge loyalists from its ranks.

[Qai]

*MASSIVE sigh*

 

That sucks. Was completely unaware of that. Thanks for pointing it out. The chances of something like this happening... wow. I might have read that about the Word Bearers long ago and it just stuck in the back of my conscious all this time. Curse you Chaos!

 

The initial name I was using was Imperial Consuls, but liked Imperial Heralds better. I know there is the Black Consuls from the Ultramarines. So, unless Imperial Consuls has also been taken (?), I could go with that.

 

EDIT 1: Just thinking about what you said with regards to the Word Bearers, it could be possible that the Founding Chapter is "officially" Unknown, but that is suspected to stem from the Word Bearers gene-seed kept in stasis within the Imperium (along with all of the other traitor legions' gene-seeds). This could explain the Grey armour reminiscent of pre-heresy Word Bearers, the lack of a homeworld, and the zealotry for the Emperor and Imperium. I honestly wanted to make a successor to the Imperial Fists, but the Word Bearers route might be more logical. Also, the pre-heresy Word Bearers worship of the Emperor and the modern day Imperium in that regards.

 

Hmmm...

 

EDIT 2: Yeah, I like the Word Bearers idea. I'm going with that.

[Demus Ragnok]

First let me say welcome to the B&C. Bear in mind that I am far from the best critic so take what I say with that in mind.

- Founding Chapter: Officially Unknown, but suspected to be of the pre-Heresy Word Bearers, also known as the Imperial Heralds. It is thought that the gene seed used is from the Imperial archives and not from a surviving loyalist Word Bearer.

Someone else on the board wrote a loyalist Word Bearers successor, so they are not unheard of.

The Chapter readily fights alongside and coordinates with the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard. It collaborates more closely with the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard moreso than all other Chapters as a result of the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard providing the majority source for new Chapter recruits. The Chapter is replenished from probiters (i.e., the children of Imperial Guard families). However, it is not unheard of to find Vostroyan firstborn and citizens of worlds under Imperial Guard control among the ranks of the Chapter, but the numbers from these sources are low as these sources are sought after only as a last result. Despite its close ties to the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard, the Chapter remains fiercely independent from them and is in no way answerable to them; their autonomy is just as any other Chapter of Space Marines.

This has the potential to be complicated. There are many fleet based chapters and they all recruit easily enough without being too close to other Imperial institutions. For me this almost seems to be different for the sake of being different. It's not really about the character of the chapter so much as it just differs from the norm.
Also the Vostroyan Firstborn recruit first born sons, how long they serve I don't know but young men recruited to military service are usually past the age of most space marine recruits. Space marine recruits are usually taken around age 12-13.

The Chapter's psykers must be sanctioned by the Grey Knights as stable to serve the Imperium. These psykers are not Grey Knights, nor are they required to meet the more rigid standards of a Grey Knight. It is just enough that the Grey Knights deem them relatively safe from being taintable by Chaos.

If this is on account of the traitor geneseed it could be possible. But it seems a stretch. Among space marine chapters the Grey Knights are unique, they technically don't exist and don't really have time to screen psykers for random DIY chapters. Chapters screen their own psykers but given the nature of your chapter's geneseed perhaps they are forbidden to have psykers. Or have a self imposed restriction on psykers.

As a preventative measure for the safety of the Emperor and the Imperium, the Chapter selflessly chose to exile itself from Terra. This exile is for the sole purpose that absolutely no renegade or traitor under the guise of the Chapter can ever infiltrate Terra. There are only two exceptions that permit the Imperial Heralds to set foot on Terra:

1) The Emperor himself orders them there;

2) The Grey Knights deem that Terra needs to be defended on its soil.

Many chapters serve the Emperor in the far reaches of the galaxy never coming near holy Terra and would only travel to Terra if the call went out to defend the Emperor.

The Imperial Heralds will readily rely on the judgement of the Grey Knights because they have proven their devotion to the Emperor and the Imperium as not one of their members has ever fallen to Chaos. Despite this "reliance" on the Grey Knights, for the most part the Imperial Heralds do not actually fight alongside them.

Why would your chapter need the "judgment" of the grey knights?

When in isolation away from the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard, the Chapter focuses its efforts to eliminate renegade and traitorous Chapters. Notwithstanding this, the Chapter also fights any xenos encountered, but they do not normally go out of their way to seek out the xenos.

All space marines fight renegades, traitors and xenos whoever, whenever and wherever they may be.

With regards to the Chapter's badge, the sun in the middle symbolizes the Emperor, while the suns rays symbolize the Imperium emanating from the Emperor.

The Scout Company bears exactly the same colours as the veteran First Company. Scouts are trained directly by the First Company as veterans join/leave the various other Companies. Therefore, a Scout will be directly exposed to several Companies throughout training. Also, the fact that the colours of the Scout Company are identical to that of the First Company serves as a constant reminder to the Chapter's Space Marines to treat the Scouts with the same courtesy as they would the First Company; the Scouts are not the servants of Space Marines just because they aren't Space Marines. They are in every respect Battle Brothers with the Space Marines. Any Space Marine that mistreats a Scout is directly held accountable by the First Company. This method of inducting the Scout into the Chapter is actually there primarily to serve the Scout: it is meant to erase regional prejudices from the Scout for when he becomes a Space Marine since the Chapter recruits from all across the Galaxy and not a particular (homogenous) homeworld like most other Chapters. Nonetheless, courtesy is not the same as respect. Respect is something that the Scouts will have to earn.

Again, there are many fleet based chapters. They all recruit and train scouts. The methods of training and "indoctrination" of space marines are tailored specifically to remove the traces of the neophytes past life and make him a brother of the chapter. Among many chapters the scout sergeants of the tenth company are the most senior and experienced of the chapter. It is the tenth company sergeants that are responsible for making scouts into battle brothers.

The Chapter is thought to be of the pre-Heresy Word Bearers given that the name of the Chapter is the exact same as the pre-Heresy Word Bearers, the grey armour, the lack of a homeworld, and the zealotry for the Emperor and Imperium. There is also speculation that the exile from Terra was in fact not originally self-imposed, but was a true exile by the Imperium in order take precaution against the Chapter given what happened to the Word Bearers. The Imperium saw it necessary to use the pre-Heresy gene seed of Lorgar within the Imperial archives given the religious tendencies exhibited by the gene seed and the usefulness it could play in keeping the Imperium together. Without explicitly stating it, some in the Imperium believe that the corruption of the Word Bearers could have been completely averted had they been commended and encouraged instead of scolded and scorned. Moreover, the more-or-less constant presence among the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard ensures that there is enough firepower to subdue the Chapter should it go rogue; also, the reliance on the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard for Chapter recruits would make it extremely difficult for the Chapter to further recruit should it go rogue. Finally, the manner in which Scouts are inducted into the Chapter does help to eliminate regional prejudices so that the Chapter can function efficiently. However, ultimately the brothers are united in purpose, but not substantially in blood, unlike most other Chapters. It is speculated that allowing the Chapter to recruit throughout the entire Imperium will significantly hamper the Chapter as a whole uniting against the Imperium as their resolve is more of purpose (i.e., the Imperium) than it is about blood loyalty (i.e., the Chapter).

If the chapter went rogue they could recruit wherever there are live humans. Most renegades and traitors do just that.

Regional prejudices are something that the process of making a space marine naturally removes. Unique scout training isn't needed. For marines the chapter is his brothers, the chapter is the Imperium, his brothers are the Imperium, and the Imperium is his brothers. Were he was born is most often of no consequence.

[Qai]

Thanks a lot for the feedback Demus Ragnok. All of your points merit I reexamine the Chapter's lore.

 

Vostroyan are out. Completely overlooked the age that they actually go into service.

 

Thinking about what you wrote, It might be better to prohibit psykers from the Chapter altogether, and completely remove the connection to the Grey Knights. It is a far stretch and out of character for GK to involve themselves with other Chapters in the way I proposed. I submit, that was a really dumb idea on my part.

 

The other points that are in common with what other Chapters do, I could just remove those points altogether and focus on the stuff that makes this particular Chapter unique.

 

With regards to Scout training, I didn't mean to exclude the 10th Company's Sergeant, just enhance the Scout's training to have the First Company directly involved. I'll work on rewriting this section.

 

However, I would really like to keep the close connection of the Chapter to the IN+IG. Using the idea about keeping a close eye on the Chapter given its gene seed (this obviously isn't common knowledge), is there any mechanism you can think of that would "naturally" foster such a close relationship between a SM Chapter and the IN+IG without hinting that the real reason is because of the gene seed?

 

EDIT: I made several changes that should address the issues raised. With regards to Fleets being able to recruit "easily", I'm not quite sure what that means. I would think that if someone else provides you with a steady source of recruits Galaxy-wide leaving you to simply screen for viable candidates would significantly lift the initial burden (mainly time and effort) of searching for and/or maintaining the recruitment sources all yourself. Therefore, I would imagine it would be quite appealing if all your potential recruits are practically everywhere surrounding you essentially wherever you go.

[Reyner]

Keep the name, noone will remember who the Imperial Heralds were (I thought it was the old name of the Emperors Children not Word Bearers but whatever). Plenty of Chapters have come and gone in ten thousand years and a few will have shared a name.

[Qai]

I'm going to keep the name. I was initially upset because I wanted something unique. However, I really like the way this lead to the Chapter being connected to the Word Bearers. Also, I remember reading in the new Space Marines Codex that cases of two different Chapters bearing the same name and badge is actually not unheard of. I can't remember exactly where in the Codex it was, but I'll edit the post with the specific info when I come across it on my next read-through.

 

EDIT: Page 73 of the 6th edition of the Space Marines Codex:

 

 

A LEGACY REFORGED

Over the millenia, some Space Marine Chapters have been annihilated, only for a new Chapter to be founded with the same name, heraldry and traditions of their forebears, continuing their legacy. On one notable occasion, two Chapters were founded with identical names and heraldries - the Celestial Swords. Such is the labyrinthine bureaucracy of the Administratum that the blunder was not realised until two centuries later when both Chapters were wiped out holding back Abaddon's 9th Black Crusade and the bodies of nearly two-thousand battle-brothers were recovered in the Cicerine system.

[NightrawenII]

- Founding Chapter: Information withheld, but suspected to be from the gene-seed of Lorgar. It is believed that the gene-seed used is from the Imperial gene banks and not from any Imperial Heralds and/or surviving loyalist Word Bearers. Therefore, it has not been exposed to the taint of Chaos.

This is not going to work. There are notions scattered throughout the lore that the Great Crusade was actually too big project and the Legions were bleeding out in order to keep the pace of conquest, thus the demand for new marines was going sky high. Which means all available gene-seed was used for production of marines and it still was not enough.

 

Second, by Imperial logic the Traitors have fallen to predation of Chaos because their genetic was flawed and the mass production at high speed just exacerbated it. The Imperium would not risk creating a 'flawed' Chapter, which can turn renegade at every moment.

 

Third, the Imperium actually has traitor's gene-seed stored, but it's under time-lock, which means no one is going to open it until the expiration.

 

Fourth, you don't need to be WB to be fanatical, just look at Black Templars.

 

- Chapter Master: Qai

Don't do this, bad things happen.

 

The Chapter readily fights alongside and coordinates with the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard. It collaborates more closely with the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard more so than any other Chapter as a result of them being the sole source for new Chapter recruits as the Chapter is replenished from probiters (i.e., the children of Imperial Guard families). Having steady and galaxy-wide access to new recruits from the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard is magnitudes more efficient for the Chapter instead of maintaining its own source of recruits, especially since the Chapter does not have a homeworld from which to readily recruit. Despite its close ties to the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard, the Chapter remains fiercely independent from them and is in no way answerable to them; their autonomy is just as any other Chapter of Space Marines.

Guardsmen have children, only when they are given planet for settlement, which happens once, perhaps twice per millenium, ie. it's quite rare. It's much easier to come to some random planet, 'harvest' the youth in the thousands and test them to see if they are suitable for implantation. Works fine for fleet-based Chapters.

 

Since the recruiting grounds for the Chapter are among the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard, no psykers are recruited into the Chapter as any psykers discovered remain within the jurisdiction of the Adeptus Terra and/or Ordo Hereticus.

You will get the psykers from Scholastia Psykana then.

 

While the vast majority of Chapters will never set foot on Holy Terra as they are constantly at war throughout the Galaxy defending the Imperium, the Imperial Heralds have it as explicit doctrine forbidding them to ever set foot on Holy Terra no matter the circumstances unless commanded otherwise by the Emperor himself. As a preventative measure for the safety of the Emperor and the Imperium, the Chapter selflessly chose to exile itself from Holy Terra. This exile is for the sole purpose that absolutely no renegade or traitor under the guise of the Chapter can ever infiltrate Holy Terra or that a member of the Chapter travels there while unknowingly under the influence of Chaos.

You know, the Imperial Palace on Terra is place of pilgrimage... and then you have these Adeptus Custodes around here.

 

With the necessary precautions in place, the Imperium saw it advantageous to use Lorgar's gene-seed within the Imperial gene banks given the religious devotional tendencies exhibited by it and the usefulness it could play in keeping the Imperium together. Without explicitly stating it, some in the Imperium believe that the corruption of the Word Bearers could have been completely averted had they been commended and encouraged instead of scolded and scorned.

This reasoning is too enlightened for Imperial mindset, imho.

 

 

~ NightrawenII

[Qai]

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I really appreciate it. I'm not rigid in terms of the Chapter's lore and I don't mind changing it around until I get something coherent within general W40K lore.

 

At this point, the only elements that I really want to hold onto are:

 

- The colour schemes as shown in the image;

- The badge;

- That the Chapter is fleet-based; and

- Complete adherence to the Codex Astartes.

 

Notwithstanding the name Imperial Heralds was pre-Heresy Word Bearers, I really would like to keep that name. But I would consider changing it if I can think of something else. I do have Imperial Consuls in mind, but I don't think it sounds as good.

 

Initially, I made the Founding Chapter to be the Imperial Fists as they are my favourite loyalist Chapter and then changed to Word Bearers based on a suggestion. I thought this might work, but as you are pointing out there seems to be significant flaws to using the Word Bearer's approach.

 

Also, about the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard connection, I don't mind scrapping that altogether. I was just looking for something unique. I would like to hold onto that connection if possible, but it's looking more and more like an untenable connection.

 

Thanks a lot for your feedback. Back to the drawing board!

[Conn Eremon]

You could go with the 21st Founding. A few Chapters from then are believed to have traitor gene-seed. The Sons of Antaeus, Carcharadons Astra, Minotaurs and another I can't think of. I would recommend either changing the name and no mentioning the Word Bearer gene-seed, just insinuate it, or keeping the name and choose a different gene-seed, like the Fists.

[Ace Debonair]

*Puts on Heraldry Dept. Hat*

Hmm. Having company denoted by soft armour/lens colour is a novel idea. But why are the only 'hard armour' bits that change colour the shoulder trims and the crotch plate?

Seems like an odd choice.

Oh, also, your scout is missing any skin/hair colour. Is that intentional?

I was going to go with the whole 'Hey, it's the Word Bearers!' thing as well, but that's already kinda been covered, so... here's a pirate?

[FunkyMonkey]

Personally, I don't think the Word Bearers will work just because it seems likely that the Word Bearers would have purged their loyalists so completely that they were all exterminated.  I mean, we have mentioned instances of loyalists from every traitor legion except the Night Lords and Word Bearers, and keeping in mind that the Word Bearers, when they conquered planets, were super thorough so as to create planets with almost absolute loyalty, it seems reasonable to believe they would do the same within their ranks.

 

With that said, even if there were Word Bearers successor loyalists, their heritage probably would need to be kept secret.  I mean, if there's one legion that could be hated as much as the Sons of Horus/Black Legion, it'd probably be the Word Bearers.  After all, the particular red color they wore was named "traitor's red" in remembrance of the infamy of their sudden attack on Calth and Ultramar.  With Ultramarines accounting for the ancestry of the majority of SM chapters, it's safe to say that the intense grudge against the Word Bearers was probably passed down the line, and after the Ultramar Campaign, it became one of those grudges that rivals Iron Warriors/ Imperial Fists and Thousand Sons/Space Wolves in intensity.

 

I guess, if you really want to keep the Word Bearers heritage, then you'd need to go with a secret heritage from the 21st Founding as was said by Cormac.  Just insinuate the details like I insinuated the heritage of my IA chapter.

[Qai]

With regards to the Scout's skin/hair colour, I left that out on purpose for the time being. I was just focusing on the armour colours at this point and didn't want to insinuate any particular "heritage" or "race" for the Chapter. By being a Fleet-based Chapter, recruiting would be throughout the entire Galaxy, so you would get all sorts of looking Scouts.

With regards to the hard armour colouring, I initially excluded the crotch plate from changing colour (leaving it Astronomicon Grey), but the incomplete symmetry of the colour scheme just didn't look right. I'm not saying that the colouring scheme *should* be symmetric, as many Chapters that have non-symmetric colour schemes are quite awesome. It just didn't look right for this particular colour scheme not to be symmetric. I then tried to have the crotch and the lower portions of the armour (knee protectors, greaves, thigh protectors) also change colour (tried all sorts of combinations), but then my marines started to look more like a football team and quite comical. So I went with the current scheme which I think is a good compromise.

With regards to the Chapter's Founding, initially I wanted the Chapter to be an Imperial Fists successor, the constant burnished gold reminiscent of this heritage. In fact, I started the colour scheme with the gold in mind of the Imperial Fists and then experimented with what would look good to accompany it as a base, of which I settled on the current grey. The initial name I chose for the Chapter was Imperial Consuls. Had I gone with that in starting this thread then it is highly, highly likely that mention of the Word Bearers would not have occurred. However, I was googling for Roman offices and positions, and it was through this that I stumbled on Heralds, which I thought sounded better. So, just simply from the name, Word Bearers was mentioned. As has been pointed out, going the Word Bearers route would be cool, but really brings with it too many problems given the kind of prominence I would like my Chapter to have within the Imperium (not super-star status, but not aloof either). Having the Chapter specialize and specifically tasked by the Imperium in eliminating renegade and traitorous Chapters, and the zealousness of their beliefs, I think fits well with the Imperial Fists / Black Templars. In fact, the grey colour of the armour could even be thought of Black Templars lite If the Chapter's history stems from the Word Bearers or the 21st founding, then the role the Chapter plays within the Imperium could become quite problematic and tenuous at best, especially since the Codex states that those Chapters of the 21st founding readily keep their contact with the Imperium at bare minimum or non-existent altogether.

At this point, having pretty much exhausted the idea of Word Bearers, I'm inclined to go back to my original Imperial Fists connection, but altogether get rid of the IN and IG connections. That connection had just as many problems as did the Word Bearers.

With regards to the Chapter name, Lorgar was the one that changed it from Imperial Heralds to Word Bearers long before the Heresy. It is highly, highly unlikely that anyone in the Imperium except a relatively few in the high offices of the Administratum even know of this history, especially given the quote above from the Codex demonstrating duplicate Chapters with the same name, heraldry, etc. I think the name Imperial Heralds fits very well with the Chapter's theme. I don't think that the name's very brief use 10,000 years ago among the Word Bearers should be problematic in its use today. In fact, given that Lorgar changed the name relatively early on in the Legion's history, it's unlikely that anyone that knows of the pre-Heresy Word Bearers knows them by a name other than Word Bearers anyways.