The Kodiaks (DIY Chapter)

[TGrizzly]

Founding:

The Kodiaks were founded by order of the Lords of the Imperium during the dark founding. The only real information remaining from this period is the reason for their founding. The Kodiaks were established as guardians for a semi-important sector on the eastern fringe. Originally founded to combat the increasing amount of Ork waaaghs that were terrorizing the sector, they have been recently put to the test against the ever expanding Tau Empire.

Progenitor:

Unknown to the Lords of the Imperium and the Kodiaks themselves, the progenitor of the chapter remains a mystery, and one that cannot be readily solved due to the lack of records kept by the Administratum and the destruction of the Kodiak's records in the Battle of the Cave. Though many different theories have been put forth by others, the Kodiaks themselves do not hunt for information about him. They view their duty to the citizens of their sector first, and to themselves second. Representatives have been sent to each of the first founding chapters, but due to the nature of their founding, nothing concrete has been revealed. Three have been ruled out, Dorn due to the working bletchers gland, Sanguinius due to the lack of black rage, and Russ.

Organization:

Organized into ten battle companies, each of which is entirely self sufficient. Each recruits from a different world, and makes their home amongst that world. They are spread throughout the sector so that an attack from any quarter may be stalled long enough for other companies to reinforce.

Each battle company is organized in its own way, dependent on the views of it's captain. Most resemble a codex space marine battle company save for the addition of scouts and veterans. Each company is responsible for its own recruitment and training, as well as upkeep of their own armory. This puts the average strength of a Kodiak company at around 150 brothers, 20-30 of which are scouts and 10-20 of which are veterans.

 

Due to their numbers, very rarely do the companies ever assemble anywhere but Gorund, where there are no prying eyes. Though a concerted effort would easily reveal that the chapter is almost 500 marines over strength, thus far no effort has been made. The sector is considered a minor concern to the inquisition, and since no reports have flooded in of a 1500 man chapter, they have paid the Kodiaks very little attention.
 

Recruitment:

 

The Kodiaks recruit from varied worlds in their sector, but mainly from the feral worlds that the companies base themselves on. They are recruited based on strength and courage, and receive the same aspirant and scout treatment as most other chapters. Much like the space wolves, they are allowed to keep their memory, and as such they are more tied to the people of the Gorund Sector than many other chapters that are designated to protect an area.

Once they have served their time as scouts, they are given one final task. Each man must hunt and kill one of the Kodiak's that gives the chapter their namesake. To accomplish this they are allowed their combat knives, but no armor may be worn. Those that successfully kill a Kodiak are elevated to the rank of full battle brother, those that do not but live remain scouts.

Equipment:

Though the chapter is frequently cut off from Imperial dominion, they have a remarkable ability to upkeep and create new equipment. Their gear is generally in good shape, and they are well supplied with everything they need to effectively wage war against the enemies of the Imperium, due to their good relations with the local forgeworlds. Sergeants and veterans prefer to wield combi bolters, with the close combat inclined amongst them bearing power fists or lightning claws. Often these will be adorned with bones, fangs, and claws of the great bears that populate the various worlds of their sector, kept as honorifics indicating bravery, or in memoriam of fallen brothers whose names are carved into the talismans. Their lack of a steady supply line to mars means that each company's motor pool has suffered, with the local forgeworlds unable to produce spare parts for land raiders. They still have a good amount of rhinos and razorbacks, and a decent number of predators. Their fleet is generally in good repair, with four battlebarges standing ready, and enough drop pods to deploy entire companies to the battlefield.

Brief History:

Founded during the dark founding, the Kodiaks immediately found their sector in panic. Somewhat of a backwater by Imperial standards, it provided every resource imaginable, but in small quantities. Thus it did not warrant a large Imperial Guard garrison, and was not seen as a primary concern. The founding of a space marine chapter to defend it was more of an afterthought than a plan, but fortunately for the citizens of the sector it happened. Composed of a mix of industrial and feral worlds, the feral world of Gorund was chosen as the nominal homeworld of the chapter due to its central location. A massive fortress monastery known as the Cave was built, but shortly after its completion, a waaagh! attacked the sector from opposite directions. The chapter divided and after a brutal war, defeated them. A short decade after this, another waaagh attacked, and it was only after heroic actions of the 2nd Company at the Siege of Calta that the waaagh was stopped. Fearing that the centralized position did not allow them to respond to threats quickly enough, each of the companies claimed a feral world of their own and built a miniature fortress monastery there in order to more rapidly respond to ork incursions.

Since this they have been fighting war after war, primarily against orks but also fighting dark eldar raiders and recently tau expansionary fleets. Though no worlds in their own sector have ever fallen for any extended period of time, the worlds around them are not so lucky, and frequently the Kodiaks are cut off from the Imperium for years at a time. Through this the Kodiaks and the worlds under their protection have developed a very independent and rugged attitude. Though they consider themselves Imperial citizens, they are much more concerned with their own defense than any orders of the Lords of the Imperium. The Kodiaks hold the Inquisition in especially low regard, and do their best to avoid them. Though this has led to some tension between the two, frequently it is not a problem as the sector is surrounded and cut off from the Imperium by either the tau or an ork waaagh.

Notable Engagements:

Battle of the Cave:
An Ork waaagh, led by Warboss Smashtusks, managed to penetrate the system defenses and reach as far as the chapter homeworld of Gorund. Once there they began to lay siege to the fortification, not thinking it would be much of a struggle since most of the facility is underground and undetectable. With the majority of the chapter away, it was left to the first company to defend their keep. After weeks of attrition in which the orks measured advances in ground gained by the foot rather than the mile, a flight of blitza bombas managed to crack a hole in the walls of the fortress. By this point the word had spread to other ork units that this was the best fight in the sector, and tens of thousands of orks poured onto the planet. The 1st Company held them for several days at the gap, but were eventually pushed back deeper into their sanctum. Chapter Master Vorlan Ursio made the tactical decision to allow the orks free range of certain parts of the facility and barricade the surviving marines and chapter serfs in the final inner sanctum. There they held for a week until the third and sixth companies returned and coordinated a two pronged assault that crushed the orks between them and the nigh impenetrable sanctum.
Though the Kodiaks had held, and crushed one of the prongs of Smashtusks' waaaagh, it had come at a great price. The 1st company had been devastated, losing half of their total strength. The Cave was little more than a burned out husk, with years of repairs needed to bring it back to its former glory. And in another blow the librarium was destroyed, and with it every last scrap of chapter history beyond when it had first arrived in the Sector. Only the Inner Sanctum and the Armory, locked down by the techmarines when the first order to retreat was given, managed to survive relatively unscathed.

Notable Characters: Coming Soon

This is my first DIY chapter, normally I play Black Templar but with the release of the new codex I felt the need to collect a full battle company of something of my own creation. Going off of my high school nickname, the Kodiaks were created. So far they consist of a single half painted tactical squad, but eventually I hope to grow them into a full battle company plus as I have described above. C&C welcome, I have thick skin. I have a little trepidation about creating a sector out of thin air, but if that's the norm I'll edit to add in a sector name. I realize that dark founding chapters are tough to do, but I feel that I have at least a passable explanation for them. Normally they are played as Iron Hands, simply because it fits with the Grizzly Bear theme to have models with feel no pain and characters with it will not die. This is an ongoing project, and hopefully I'll have some pics up of the first tactical squad soon.

[Wolvar]

Just wondering; at the end of the organisation stage you say 'Each Chapter is responsible for it's own recruitment and training' do you mean Company?, other than that it reads well and sounds like a great back story. Good luck with it, I know it takes me forever to paint my own guys and they only have three primary colours.

[TGrizzly]

Thank you, and yeah, painting is a bit of a chore sometimes. Good catch on the typo.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The fluff is well done, so far. As the Kodiak bears that are your Chapter's namesake, themselves use the Kodiak Archipelago as a namesake, I looked up the word's original meaning, and found this article stating:

 

The Kodiak Archipelago has been home to the Alutiiq for over 7000 years. In their language, kadiak means "island". In 1763, the Russian explorer Stephan Glotov discovered the island, calling it Kad’yak (Кадьяк). He was followed by the British captain James Cook fifteen years later, who first penned "Kodiak" in his journals in 1778.

It may be better to elaborate on the name, e.g., "Sons of Kodiak" instead of "Kodiaks," though it's up to you- the Black Templars' namesake were the Knights Templar, NOT the Knight Templars (emphasis mine), yet no one ever gave Games Workshop grief for the grammar error.

[TGrizzly]

I was going for more that they are the bears, rather than they are from the same place. That is much more research into that name than I put into it though. Thank you for the input.

[TGrizzly]

Updated the recruitment segment.

[Prefect Apollyon]

Hello there!

 

Do not take the following critique as an insult, more a few ideas to help the Chapter sound more realistic and less snowflake/mary sue. You don't have to follow any of the below:

 

Firstly on the Founding. Good start, just be careful to not over-emphasise the "Dark Founding." I did this, this forum is bored of it (and the Cursed Founding), and will tell you so. Otherwise a nice premise.

 

Progenitor; They will care who there Founding Primarch is. These are warrior monks who worship their own war-gear.

 

Organization; It's fine, except having ten Companies of 150 Marines. The Inquisition and fellow Chapters will be all over your Chapter like a rash if this is the case. Space Wolves get away with it because they are a First Founding Chapter which has considerable political clout. Black Templars get away with it because they are divided into many separate fleets in opposite corners of the Galaxy. Your Chapter has neither of these advantages.

 

Recruitment; Absolutely fine.

 

Equipment; Bordering on "Special Snowflake Syndrome" (along with the Brief History section, more below). Being occasionally cut off is fine, coming through it completely unscathed in the Grimdark Universe is not believable. They would have lost some equipment, be it some of their tanks, weapons, armour, or fleet. Maybe they go periods with limited ammunition, so must resort to CC? The totems are fine.

 

Brief History; A fledgling Chapter took on two Ork invasions of a Sector (a massive region of space) at the same time, won and had the Marines in condition to take on another invasion instantly after? With little help from other Imperial organizations? I know they're superhuman, but they aren't that good. Secondly being split off from the Imperium on occasion is fine. Snubbing the Inquisition? I urge you to read up on the Celestial Lions Chapter to find out what happens to Chapters that so much as look at the Inquisition funny (that aren't Space Wolves), cut off occasionally or not. "Ork Snipers..."

 

Recent History; It sounds a bit too similar to the Battle of Macragge, just green-washed. That and it flies in the face of your earlier assertion that no world in the Sector had ever fallen.

 

I like the name, and the draft has potential!

 

Read this; http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/132379-guide-to-diying/ < Great advice here.

[TGrizzly]

Thanks for your comments.

 

I can see your point on the brief history and the equipment areas, as well as wanting to know who the primarch is. as far as the Dark Founding, i'm beginning to question whether that's the route I want to go. I know I play them as Iron Hands, and i'm wondering whether I could say they are simply Iron Hand descendent with an emphasis on strength of the flesh rather than metal over flesh.

 

With regards to snubbing the Inquisition, i'll alter it to be more specific, but its mostly a local gaming group thing. My chapter refuses to participate in deathwatch.

 

And I never drew the parallel between Macragge and Gorund. I might just be a little too close to it, but I don't particularly see it. Would you care to explain?

 

And the numbers I would explain by them being spread out over an entire sector. Much like the Black Templar. Only 150 of them ever show up in one place unless its a special case like the Battle for the Cave. If its stretching it a little too much, I can always modify it down, its not like i'll ever field all of them at once anyway.

[Prefect Apollyon]

Thanks for your comments.

I can see your point on the brief history and the equipment areas, as well as wanting to know who the primarch is. as far as the Dark Founding, i'm beginning to question whether that's the route I want to go. I know I play them as Iron Hands, and i'm wondering whether I could say they are simply Iron Hand descendent with an emphasis on strength of the flesh rather than metal over flesh.

With regards to snubbing the Inquisition, i'll alter it to be more specific, but its mostly a local gaming group thing. My chapter refuses to participate in deathwatch.

And I never drew the parallel between Macragge and Gorund. I might just be a little too close to it, but I don't particularly see it. Would you care to explain?

And the numbers I would explain by them being spread out over an entire sector. Much like the Black Templar. Only 150 of them ever show up in one place unless its a special case like the Battle for the Cave. If its stretching it a little too much, I can always modify it down, its not like i'll ever field all of them at once anyway.

By Macragge, I mean you've put a swarm of xenos against the 1st Company fighting to defend the Fortress-monastery. Only difference being Orks instead of Tyranids and that a part of your first company survive (with no mentioned aid from a Titan Legion or PDF).

You could definitely go down the "snubbing the Inquisition" route, but that almost always has dire consequences for your Chapter. Its just incredibly unlikely that you'd get away with the constant snubbing without consequence. And snubbing the Inquisition, while at the same time having a Chapter of 1200/1500 Marines... "Ork Snipers." EDIT: As a side note I've only just realised I share the name of the Inquisitor the Celestial Lions fell out with.

Still not bad for a first attempt. My first attempt was ripped apart for similar reasons.

And not a problem

[TGrizzly]

Tweaked several things to make it a little better. No more snubbing Inquisition, just avoiding. Too many ork snipers around. Also tweaked the brief history and the organization to explain how they get away with their abnormal amount of marines.