Persecutors - redraft

Iron Hands Fanatic · October 9, 2013

These guys have gone through a couple of iterations, but this is their first as a cursed founding chapter. There is a "Notable Conflicts" section, but I've currently witheld it due to the massive wall of text factor involved - if there's enough interest later I may well add it.

C&C is certainly welcome, especially if you have any opinion on whether they need a major flaw, I've tried to make their history sound particularly grim, as befits a Cursed founding chapter, but I'm not sure if they need a distinctive flaw as well.

Quote

Persecutors: "The Soulless"

Tactical Marine:

Symbol:

As a Chapter of the 21^st Founding, the Persecutors are marked by a long and troubled legacy, a legacy conceived by censored practices and baptized in the blood of kinsmen. Their genetic material manipulated by the agents of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Persecutors are both valiant defenders of the Imperium and abhorred perversions, 'Soulless' psychic Blanks created to destroy their own kind, purging those Astartes who have turned from the Emperor's light. Closely monitored by the Inquisition, the Chapter has often suffered for its associations with the shadowy organization, struggling to be at peace with fighting for an empire as internally corrupted as those they oppose.

ORIGINS:

"And when our bolters ran dry, when our grenades were spent by the slaughter, we drew our blades and strode forth, nameless headsmen who had come to finish the genocide of our home. I cut my own father down with my chainblade as he fled our wrath, because our Inquisitor masters had demanded it, and they keep short leashes indeed." - Relic Contemptor Drednought Oraka, 'The Last Charybdian'

In the sixth century of M35, Charybdis Secundus , the second habitable planet of the Charybdis system ( found in the Western edge of the Segmentum Obscurus ), was annihilated as an Imperial Navy orbital bombardment detonated chaotic energies accumulating on the planet’s surface at the climax of a ritual intended to thrust the planet into the hands of the Ruinous Powers. The death of Charybdis Secundus unleashed a massive warp storm upon the system, isolating the inhabitants of its twin planet, Charybdis Prime, from the wider Imperium for almost three centuries until, eventually, the storm would dwindle into a localized rift known by Prime's inhabitants as the Abyss.

As the warp storm abated, Adeptus Administratum officials approached Charybdis Prime with an Imperial Guard battle force, eager to reclaim the planet and harvest tithes unobtainable during the planet's isolation. Descending to the planet’s surface, they discovered a population that had adapted surprisingly well to the ravages of the chaotic energies unleashed upon their system, with Adeptus Mechanicus techpriests eventually discovering that almost a full quarter of Prime’s population possessed the 'Blank' strain of the Pariah gene, reducing their vulnerability to the warp's power by causing a much reduced presence in the Immaterium.

Sensing great potential, the agents of the Inquisition quarantined the system, and immediately sent for Genetors to begin experimentation with the goal of finally isolating the Blank gene, allowing for gene therapy which could create hordes of humans resistant to the powers of Chaos. Thousands of mass-haulers landed on the planet’s surface, and the human populace was screened in its billions, with all detected psychic blanks being corralled onto the void craft like cattle. The vast fleet then departed for the forge world of Rasmet, where Magi Biologis had began preparing vast laboratory-complexes for experimentation. Soon Charybdians would be sacrificed in their thousands in increasingly brutal attempts to unlock the secrets within their flesh.

Meanwhile, the mass-extradition of nearly a quarter of the populace, as well as the quarantine imposed upon them had lead to wide-scale civil unrest across Charybdis Prime, with riots and clashes with the occupying Imperial forces a daily occurrence. The raw power of the emotions unleashed had a profound effect on the Abyss, with the Immaterium seething and raging, releasing sporadic bursts of power dancing through the void like wraiths.

Almost 20 years after the Charybdians arrived in Rasmet, the lack of progress had resulted in increasingly desperate measures by the Genators involved, as the patience of the Inquisitorial sanctioners waned, resulting in more and more 'collateral damage', with many of the surviving test subjects suffering from ailments or injuries. With rumors of the upcoming 21st Founding and its associated objectives whispered amongst the higher-ranking magi, Biologis agents sent samples of Charybdian genetic code to the secret facility on Inculaba, where the forbidden work of “improving” on Astartes geneseed was taking place. Eventually, a Mechanicus lab-ship arrived at Rasmet, bearing drastically altered Excoriators geneseed, which now incorporated the 'Blank' strain of the Pariah gene. Even as the genetors' experiments reached a new barbaric low, a final success had been achieved, and the sanction was given to initiate the founding of a chapter.

However, the unrest on Charybdis Prime had reached new levels, with then energies of the Abyss beginning to influence some of the populace, and the emergence of heretical cults amongst the most deprived citizens. Believing that a planet with such potential for heresy was inadequate for an Astartes Chapter, the Inquisitors involved decreed the slate wiped clean, with exterminatus ordered and the Life-Eater unleashed upon the planet's hapless citizens. With all the physically adequate second generation abductees assigned for the new Chapter’s founding, the remaining survivors were dispatched to repopulate their sterile homeworld, severe prefabs and nutri-vats their only refuge on the smoldering carcass of the once-verdant planet.

The high attrition rates of the implantation process for the new geneseed almost doomed the founding attempt to failure due to the flawed nature of the secondary organs which had resulted from the Mechanicus' tampering (although the casualty rates were significantly lower than those later experienced by the Chapter, as the existing psychic blanks did not have to undergo the 'soul-rending' of later neophytes). Just enough candidates survived to form 5 Companies, and after three years of training under Imperial Fist and Excoriators supervisors, the newly christened Persecutors were sent to demonstrate their proficiency in combat by putting down a traitorous Imperial Guard Regiment which had captured a space installation along a vital Imperial trade route, with a detachment of observers from various branches of the Imperium present to judge their merit.

Deemed ready after succeeding in retaking the station with minimum casualties, the Persecutors were ordered to set foot on their homeworld of Charybdis Prime, to oversee the construction of their new fortress monastery and begin special training in fighting Astartes warriors. As their transports made planet-fall upon pillars of incandescent flame, the new Chapter was not greeted with the regard they had expected. The locals, who had suffered greatly at the whim of Mechanicus Genators, whose families had been brutally slaughtered by the regime that had claimed to be their saviors, whose homeworld had been reduced to a lifeless waste so that it could be repurposed to the Imperium’s needs, did not see these new visitors as the brothers they had survived incarceration alongside, who had with them endured the terrors of the past. Instead, looking upon the faceless giants who set foot upon the corpse of their world, they saw only more tools in the hands of those who had beaten them down, more monstrosities to haunt their nightmares. Mobbing the transports, the civilians beat their fists bloody upon the ceramite plate of the superhuman giants, whose entreaties fell upon deaf ears as a generation of rage was unleashed with what weapons the Charybdians could gather.

Seeing the hostility of the populace as the last straw in a legacy of corruption and treachery, the Inquisiton craft in orbit, sentinel to the Chapter's planned future, broadcasted a single order to the Persecutors below: extermination. The Chapter was born from the blood of their kinsmen. Not a single child was spared.

HOMEWORLD:

After the 'Purging of Charybdis', the Chapter's homeworld became a desolate wasteland, scoured by the horrors of virus bombs unleashed during the Exterminatus action ordered by the Inquisition, and then by the hands of the Persecutors themselves. After the brutality committed to end the unrest of its populace, Charybdis Prime is completely devoid of life, a true Death World, barren and hostile. The Chapter forbids any but its own Battle-Brothers from descending to its surface, even resorting to opening fire on ships attempting to crash-land upon the planet's surface.

The Persecutor's space-borne Fortress Monastery - The Crucible - is an orbital station that hangs above the skies of Charybdis Prime. Carved from Peregrinus, Prime’s second moon, The Crucible acts not only as the chapter’s sanctum and base of operations, but also as the core of its intelligence network.

Amongst the most censored data on the Persecutors involves that which resides in the Crucible’s dark heart. Within the chapter's Reclusium complex resides a zone known as the Profundum. Housed within are repositories of data on renegade warbands and Legions. Accrued over millennia, obtained from first hand data and the records of other Astartes chapters, this information forms the basis of almost all the Persecutors’ tactical doctrine. The Profundum also contains recovered traitor wargear, and these features make it one of the highest security areas within the Crucible, but its true secrets are more closely guarded still. Overseen by the High Chaplain and Chief Apothecary, within the depths of the Profundum reside unknown numbers of captured renegade Astartes. With precise knowledge of Space Marine physiology, Persecutor Apothecaries extract every possible scrap of information from the twisted minds of the Profundum's heretical inhabitants. Although deaths from torture are rare, each captive usually devolves into madness, years of constant abuse pushing their minds to breaking. It is even whispered amongst the few that know of the prisoners’ existence that there is one whom has resided in the Profundum since the Chapter's creation.

Repair work in light of the Word Bearer attack on the Crucible has only recently been completed, with a new monument to the Fortress-Monastery's valiant defenders raised upon Charybdis Prime's sterile surface in memory of their sacrifice.

Because of the fact that their home system has no habitable planets, the Persecutors recruit from multiple sources within the Segmentum Obscurus. This mainly consists of Imperial planets the Chapter’s forces are active on: at the end of a deployment, appropriate youths will be brought forward, sampled for purity by the Apothecary present, and selected for further testing onboard the ancient mass of the Crucible. Because these new recruits are drawn from warzones, orphans are common, which is considered an advantage amongst the Chapter: having fewer attachments means the new neophytes can more readily devote themselves to the Persecutors' creed.

BELIEFS:

Like all Chapters of the so called “cursed founding”, the Persecutors are grim and mysterious, their outlook forever altered by the brutality of their conception. With the annihilation of their homeworld, the Persecutors were shown the true corruption at the heart of the Imperium. They see the Emperor’s valiant Great Crusade as the “golden age” of the Imperium, which has gradually decayed and stagnated over the Millennia. They believe this corruption allows the vile taint of Heresy to take root, viewing their role of purging the Traitor as a delaying measure, a last-ditch fight doomed to futility without significant change within the Imperium. Because of this viewpoint, they have built a number of associations with Recongregationist factions within the Inquisition. However, this has lead to conflict – it is not uncommon for Puritan members of the Inquisition to involve themselves in the Chapter’s operations, and they do not often look favorably upon such beliefs, desiring the Persecutors be mindless tools in their intricate machinations.

Another major factor in the outlook of the Persecutors is their nature as Psychic blanks. They see the transition to a being with the dimmest of warp presences as a great sacrifice. Indeed, it is a dangerous and grueling process, testing their minds and willpower as much as the initiation trials test their physical endurance. However, the sacrifice that sits so heavily upon their psyches is a permanent one - by trading their existence in the Empyrean for a means to better fight their traitorous brethren, they sacrifice their immortal souls. Not for the Persecutors, an eternity of glory at the Emperor's side, but pure oblivion. For the mighty power they wield against those Astartes who have turned from the Emperor’s light, they surrender their afterlife, destined only to fade to nothingness – without a 'soul' remaining in the Warp, with the destruction of their physical forms, they are undone. With this ominous sacrifice, they tend towards a morose and morbid outlook, as they know the only thing that awaits them is oblivion.

The fact that they are Blanks also has a profound effect on their interactions with the other bodies of the Imperium. Their dim Warp presence creates and uneasiness within those around them, a subtle discomfort that is accentuated by the distanced approach they take towards their allies. Indeed, their “soulless” nature can even bring them into direct conflict with other agents of the Imperium - one example is their record of hostility towards the Exorcists Chapter, who they regard as tainted by the Daemonic Possession involved in their initiation rituals, as well as their willingness to use Daemonhosts and other such devices against their enemy; who in turn, regard the Persecutors as abominations for the fact they do not have 'souls'.

GENESEED:

As a Chapter of the 'Cursed' 21st Founding, the Persecutors' geneseed was subject to manipulation by the Adeptus Mechanicus, where they attempted to integrate the 'Blank' strain of the Pariah gene into Excoriator geneseed - resulting in Astartes with almost no detectable warp presence - who are effectively 'soulless'. However, this prevents the Chapter from maintaining Librarians, and also results in a number of associated risks with the Geneseed implantation process.

This implantation process has extremely high mortality rates, as gifting an individual with the blank form of the pariah gene is a gruesome task: draining a person's presence in the warp - their 'soul' - is brutally painful, physically and mentally, driving many to insanity, for whom only summary execution awaits. Others it kills outright, their body and mind torn asunder by the forces being manipulated. For those that do survive, it is an experience that extinguishes any trace of their former personality that may have remained, as the silver-eyed, pupil-less giants that remain are forever changed.

Like all of Rogal Dorn's sons, the Persecutors feature a lack of the Sus-an Membrane and Betcher's Gland possessed by other Chapters.

COMBAT DOCTRINE:

Throughout their lives as Space Marines, Persecutors hone their art of warfare to combating their own kind, Astartes. They train to fight every known renegade Marine fighting style, learn the strengths and weaknesses of their own, enhanced physiques and are equipped with the very best weapons suited to destroying Traitor Marines, ruthlessly and efficiently. They do still school themselves in more Codex teachings on warfare, as they must always be prepared to fight any opponent, even though they focus on Chaos Space Marines.

Unlike their progenitors, they do not view the Codex Astartes as a prescriptive tome, and have gathered information from many sources, including other Space Marine Chapters to compile their own tactical volume: the Liber Excommunicatum, which details precise tactical doctrine for dealing with Traitor Marine warbands on an individual basis, as well as general strategies for fighting Renegades. The Persecutors practice swift, brutal surprise attacks, as it is of utmost importance that their often elusive prey does not know of their presence or intention before they attack. To do this they depend on reliable, up-to-date intelligence. Fortunately, they have a very close relationship with the Inquisition, and have access to their spy networks for the purpose of intelligence gathering. However, this relationship works both ways, as the reason for the Inquisition's keen interest is that they represent a very dangerous potential threat: despite their enhanced resistance to the influence of Chaos, they are trained to eliminate Space Marines. If they ever turned renegade, they would represent a terrible prospect, a force specifically designed to destroy the most elite warriors the Imperium possesses.

On the battle field, the Persecutors practice combined arms with incredible precision. They centre their battle-lines around a core of infantry, providing suppressing fire and attrition specialization. These are supported by long-range fire support, which works to whittle down the enemy and keep them pinned in place. Flanking fast attack units harass the enemy and keep them distracted, whilst heavy-hitting assault forces teleport or attack via drop-pod. Infiltrating units that have previously been sabotaging supplies, enemy compounds and vehicles attack from the rear, whilst air support units eliminate enemy fliers and provide withering aerial firepower, as simultaneous precision orbital strikes from the Fleet decimate enemy positions. This basic combat pattern anchors the Persecutors' battle formations, but each deployment will vary depending on the specific Chaos Warband they are fighting, as prescribed in the Liber Excommunicatum.

Almost all battles are engaged immediately after a Warp-jump, to retain the element of surprise. This means even the Chapters heavy support ground vehicles have to be very mobile, and large numbers of drop-pods, Thunderhawk transports and gunships alongside dropships are maintained by the Persecutors.

ORGANISATION:

The Persecutors are generally codex adherent, but the unique nature of their operation has resulted in a number of deviations in the Chapter's secondary structures.

The Chapter maintains no Librarius, as the conversion to psychic blanks that occurs during the geneseed implantation process prevents any psychic ability, and no neophytes considered possess any psychic talent, due to the grisly death that has awaited any such neophyte attempting to undergo the process.

The high attrition rates of the Chapter’s geneseed implantation process means that the Chapter tends to require a higher number of scouts than is normally laid out in the Codex Astartes, the 10th company counted at up the 3 times normal size at times. This also serves the information gathering requirements of the chapter: without the precognitive powers of Librarians, the Persecutors rely extensively upon intelligence gathering, the foremost role their neophytes fulfill. This role is so vital to the combined arms, preemptive-strike approach the Chapter takes to warfare that the 10th company captain has an elevated position above his peers, acting as both the Master of Recruits and Operator Primaris, the head of the Chapter's intelligence networks. This Lieutenant Commander also acts in a role that harks back to the Battalion formations found within the Space Marine Legions during the Great Crusade - whenever the entire chapter (or a large portion) is deployed together, he leads one half of its Companies, whilst the other is under the leadership of the 1st Company's Commander Regent.

Approximately one millennium after the Chapter’s founding, the Persecutors had acquired enough suits of Tactical Dreadnought Armour to fully equip its 1st Company as 'Terminators'. However, the Lord Harbinger at the time found this to have an unsatisfactory consequence: those promoted to veteran status had no combat experience within their higher priority operations before being equipped with Terminator armour. This resulted in the formation of 'second-tier' veteran units: the Chamber Veterans. Each Company maintains a division of veterans who are promoted from the best of the Company's marines, and who can subsequently compete in the trials that occur when a new brother is required by the 1st company, usually numbering between 7 and 15 brothers in each company.

The final major divergence of the Persecutors Chapter lies within the structure of their 7th to 9th Companies. Due to the extremely specialized nature of the combat the Chapter engages in, the specialist units of the 8th and 9th companies are deemed to be better deployed in 'Echelons' consisting of 1/2; companies. In this way, each of the non-reserve companies can receive detachments of specialized units appropriate to the Renegade forces they are deployed against. This results in a more tactically flexible fighting force for the two respective companies, allowing their autonomy, but ensuring their function as a cohesive whole during larger engagements. The 7th Company is similarly sub-divided, but mainly for ceremonial purposes: one Echelon acts as the Chapter's pilots, whilst the other consists of drivers for its ground vehicles. Although the company is practically never fielded together, they are combined as a Company for traditional purposes, and their Captain appropriately acts as Master of the Fleet.

The heavy losses the Chapter has sustained, both in the Defense of the Crucible and at the whim of the Inquisition during the Lanthir Incident means that the 3rd and 4th companies have only recently been restored to combat duties following their complete reconstitution.

BATTLE-CRY:
"Purity in Death!"

Veteran:

Captain:

Hrvat · October 11, 2013

Where did the rest go? I started reading this twice but stopped due to other stuff, so I come this morning to print it out and read on my bus ride to work and now it is gone.

Cheers

Iron Hands Fanatic · October 11, 2013

Where did the rest go? I started reading this twice but stopped due to other stuff, so I come this morning to print it out and read on my bus ride to work and now it is gone.

Cheers

Well, I saw it and just thought - awh c*** thats way too much for anyone to want to trawl through, so I edited it out in the hope of increasing my chances of feedback

But, against my better judgement, here it is (it may well be a lot more boring than the rest of the AI, and contains what are possibly incredibly awful names I fabricated whilst concious purely through caffiene - don't say I didn't warn you)

Thanks fer lookin'

NOTABLE CONFLICTS:

The Orechan Cleansing (062.M36)
During the first century of the Chapter’s operation, the Persecutors were called upon to purge a traitorous uprising from the hive worlds of the Orechan system, centered around a marauding Warband of Chaos Space Marines mainly consisting of World Eaters Traitor Astartes. Accompanied by a cadre of Imperial Fist observers, the Persecutors took the fight to the heart of the Traitor Marine forces. At the height of the fighting, at the base of Orechan’s primary Hive, a Contemptor dreadnought from the Imperial Fist contingent was laid low by a demon weapon wielded by a World Eater Warlord, penetrating its ancient sarcophagus and killing the veteran inside. Whilst they had no tactical advantage or obligation to do so, Persecutor marines formed a spearhead, forcing their way towards the stricken Dreadnought at no small cost. Eventually they reached the great metal hulk, creating a ring of ceramite and steel through which no traitor passed. Eventually the combined forces of the majority of the newly founded Persecutors Chapter and a number of Imperial Guard Regiments managed to cleanse the taint of the traitor forces from the system, with the crazed bezerkers of the World Eaters fighting to the last. For their valiant and courageous sacrifice in rescuing the machine-corpse of the Ancient Contemptor, the Imperial Fists rewarded the Chapter with this so venerable of Dreadnoughts, which would later go on to house the Chapter’s first Lieutenant Commander within its steadfast hull, the oldest remaining Persecutor, and the last living human to have been born upon Charybdis Prime, later titled the “Last Charybdian”.

Conflict for the Odin (501.M37)
The Persecutors’ 2nd Company was involved in a boarding action against the recently emerged space hulk Odin, having pursued an Iron Warriors’ warfleet from the sacked Cardinal World Xasstrum. The Odin was a Cult Mechanicus mass conveyor, lost in the tumultuous Warp storms that marked the opening stages of the savage Horus Heresy, and was carrying armour, weaponry and vehicles bound for an unknown Space Marine Legion at the time of its disappearance. Upon discovering the Iron Warriors’ destination, Captain Desolum ordered that the Hulk be purged, for whatever technologies the ancient craft housed were likely corrupted by extended transit in the Warp, and could not be allowed to fall in to the fallen Legion’s hands.

The 2nd Company subsequently engaged in a series of brutal skirmishes across the enormously damaged length of the colossal Hulk, each side racing to find the Odin’s cargo before the other. In the end, the Iron Warriors were forced to withdraw with the arrival of reinforcements from the Persecutors chapter, as their opponents now possessed enough spacecraft to vanquish their Warfleet and leave them stranded upon the Hulk, which could only result in their eventual annihilation.

To the surprise of the Chapter’s techmarines, the Odin’s cargo had remained uncorrupted by the warp, although much of it had been lost in the depths of the void as the Hulk sustained continuous damage over the millennia. Claiming the ancient equipment as their own, the Persecutors’ taskforce escorted the wargear back to the Crucible to be reconsecrated and inscribed with their iconography. The majority of the recovered equipment is still fielded by the Chapter in the 41st millennium, resulting in the Persecutor’s possessing a larger number of older-pattern equipment than would be normal for a Chapter of their age,which is supplemented by wargear liberated from their traitorous opponents and sanctified by their First Artificer.

Lanthir Incident (714.M41)
Heavily classified by the Inquisition, the Lanthir incident is a dark stain on the Persecutors’ history. Participating in the subjugation of apostate Governor Shallahn Frax, the Persecutors were engaged in fierce combat against the armoured regiments of the Lanthir Heavy Dragoons outside the planet’s primary Hive. The conflict was directly overseen by Lord Inquisitor Naxim Phyrol, and the Persecutor’s 4th Company was deployed alongside 3 more companies, each of a differing Chapter, the identities of which remain shrouded in secrecy almost 300 years later. Along with almost 100,000 Imperial guardsmen, the taskforce was steadily pushing the Lanthites’ armoured divisions back towards the Hive walls.

Throughout the conflict, relations between the Persecutors and their allied chapters had been tense at best, with the Persecutors frowning upon many of the practices they observed in their compatriots. This unease had been continually enhanced by the interactions between Phyrol and the 4th Company’s headquarters – he had regularly supplied Captain Ahrlax with high priority mission data he deprived the other Commanders of, and unbeknownst to them, had persistently disclosed details - many of which are retrospectively considered false by those close to the Lord Inquisitor – of the degenerate nature of those Chapters and their conduct.

What precisely sparked the incident is unclear, but at some point during the Lanthite retreat back towards their primary Hive, fighting broke out within the ranks of the Imperial Guard forces. Although the Guardsmen were drawn from many separate regiments with varying allegiances, it has been suggested that pockets of Inquisitorial Storm Troopers placed within these formations initiated the conflict, whereupon there was universal consent amongst the other Space Marine Commanders to open fire upon the Guard regiments, punishing their disobedience and turning their attentions back towards the Lanthites in fear of further retribution from the Angels of Death.

With the contradictory reports broadcast over the vox-network providing no explanation, the Persecutors lay witness to an atrocity: deployed as a rearguard against forces still entrenched in the Hive’s bunker network, all components of the 4th Company confirmed their sightings; an unprovoked attack by the other Space Marine forces upon their Imperial Guard allies. Duty bound to act; Captain Ahrlax ordered a full assault on the three Companies - better to sacrifice their lives punishing traitors, than stand as idle witnesses to a savage massacre.

At first, the Persecutors had the upper hand, with their surprise attack scything into the rear of their opponents, who could not focus their entire strength upon the 4th Company due to continued resistance from the mutinous Guard Regiments. However, soon a bitter stalemate ensued, with the Persecutors’ prowess at engaging Astartes opponents countered by the number they faced, with most combat consisting of short hit and run attacks from or against the bunker complexes the 4th company had retreated to soon after their initial pre-emptive strike. Eventually, deciding that attrition would only see them a lackluster defeat, Captain Ahrlax ordered a suicidal charge, so that he and his brothers could be recorded in their Chapter’s history as valiant martyrs.

The ensuing melee was as short as it was bloody, and at its end, only 6 surviving, badly wounded Astartes warriors were reported by those guardsmen that dared venture onto the corpse-strewn killing ground. Swiftly afterwards, a detachment of Phyrol’s Inquisitorial Storm Troopers arrived on Lanthir’s surface to retrieve the Space Marines for treatment. Despite the guardsmen claiming that the Astartes were in stable conditions upon their discovery, all were reported dead on arrival at the trauma unit aboard Phyrol’s flagship.

In light of the supposedly mutinous nature of the soldiers involved, once the conquest of Lanthir was complete, Lord Inquisitor Phyrol enacted an Order Exterminatus, annihilating all forces - Imperial and otherwise – planetside, and veil of secrecy and censure fell over the campaign. Those who had first-hand knowledge of the Inquisitor’s dealings during the incident have confided that Phyrol appeared to purposefully manipulate Ahrlax into engaging the other Astartes forces, and some have even speculated – in the strictest confidence – that Phyrol performed such a heinous act to test the Persecutors’ potential to act as a “kill-switch” for other Astartes chapters who could interfere in his machinations. However, with the trail of death that stalked the conflict, many such individuals remained silent – or were silenced. It is unlikely that any of the Chapters involved discovered the “truth” of the incident, and violent grudges remain on all sides. The only evidence that suggests any of the Astartes did discover a causative link between Phyrol and the tragedy is the nature of his death, three decades later. The Lord Inquistor was discovered in his quarters with a single astartes-pattern bolter wound to his chest. There were no known space marine forces, loyalist or traitor, deployed within 7 systems of Phyrol’s flagship at the time, although psykers on board claimed a distinct feeling of unease around the time of his death, a peculiar “absence” in their subconscious connection with the warp.

Defense of the Crucible (923.M41)
In the 923rd year of M41, the Abyss began to undergo unprecedented fluctuations. The Vigilant, a modified escort craft designated to monitor the warp anomaly sent out an immediate warning message to Captain Uvenkh of the 6th Company aboard the Crucible, reporting that the instability could lead to a daemonic incursion. However, this was an elaborate ploy by a conclave of Thousand Sons sorcerers allied with the leader of the Sable Tongue warband of the Word Bearers traitor Legion, one Dark Apostle Wur Ghalenth.

The conclave had cast a powerful spell to destabilize the Abyss, drawing the attention of the Persecutors’ forces deployed in and around the Crucible. As the battleships of the 6th Company sped towards the rift, the far greater threat of the Sable Tongue raced through the Immaterium towards the vast bulk of the Crucible. The warband’s fleet divided into two splinters, one – planning to engage the Persecutors’ flotilla hanging above the Abyss – making haste for the inner system, the other – carrying hordes of zealous Word Bearers – preparing to engage the Crucible’s formidable defenses.

No Sable Tongue vessel reached the Crucible unscathed, for although the vast majority of its shield-fleet had been drawn towards the Charybdis system’s inner reaches, it carried enough firepower to engage a fleet alone, and had the Word Bearers’ ships not hastily unleashed their cargo upon the fortress monastery and then withdrawn, they would have surely been sundered. Almost 600 Word Bearers astartes managed to board the ancient station, and with only a handful of 6th Company troops left to garrison it, and the 9th Company’s second Echelon rearming onboard they had approximately 100 Space Marines opposing them. However, the 6th Company - known as the Paladins for their role in defending the Crucible and the surrounding space – was trained for ship-board combat, and the Fortress-Monastery’s internal defenses served as a formidable obstacle to the Sable Tongue’s advance. Within the first hour, the 9th’s second Echelon, the Eradicators, had been reduced to 20 men, valiantly defending the main tunnel into the Crucible’s dark heart. They were only saved from further losses by the timely arrival of a large detachment of Battle-Brothers from those members of the 6th Company who had been trapped around the Abyss, escaping in a pair of Thunderhawks when one of the Persecutors’ gunboats rammed the Sable Tongue’s rearguard cruiser, Bane of Ignorance, leaving the Persecutors’ shield fleet to fight on without their Astartes masters.

Bolstered by the large Armourium, Chaplaincy and Apothecarium presence on the Crucible, Captain Uvenkh rallied what troops he had, placing each squad under the command of a Battle-Brother from one of these branches, and committing them to ambush actions across the front that had been formed against the Sable Tongue. By using the Crucible’s defenses and their flawless knowledge of its layout to their advantage, Uvenkh’s warriors successfully forced a stalemate, preventing the Sable Tongue from advancing further into their Fortress-Monastery’s depths.

However, the tide would soon turn with the arrival of Wur Ghalenth and his warband’s terminator elite, the Condemned. Peeling off from the fleet that had been blockading the Persecutor’s void craft, Ghalenth’s flagship, The Irreverent, unleashed a precision lance strike into the Sable Tongue’s boarding zone, the incandescent energy beams tearing through the wounds in the Crucible’s super structure and into the heart of the ancient station. Having created an entry point straight to his target, the Dark Apostle deployed the Condemned at the front of the defense, tearing through the front line of Persecutors warriors, which were spread thin trying to hold the vast stretches of the Crucible. However, the 6th Company would not bear the true front of the Sable Tongue’s attack.

The 3rd Company, en route back to the Crucible following a successful campaign against a Red Corsair battlegroup, was struck by unusual fortune as they travelled through the warp, arriving at the Crucible almost three months earlier than was expected, just as The Irreverent delivered its passengers into the Crucible’s wounded flank. Determining that the only way to effectively stall the Sable Tongue’s assault into the heart of the Crucible was to use their own boarding vessels, Captain Rourke led the 3rd Company’s Assault Rams into the midst of the Sable Tongues’ forces, with him and his veterans landing directly amongst the warriors of the Condemned. Ordering the less experienced marines of the 6th Company to fall back and flank the Sable Tongue’s deployment, Rourke formed a new battle line as well as he could, but the 3rd was fragmented, with a number of squads surrounded by Word Bearers warriors.

With the Forge-Brothers of the Armorium and their ancient Dreadnought brethren sending fire scything into the massed ranks of their enemies, Captain Rourke, alongside approximately 30 battle-brothers from the 3rd and the remnants of the Eradicators devastator Echelon, faced off against the corrupted might of Dark Apostle Ghalenth and his terminator Condemned. Fighting with martial precision, Rourke demonstrated his reputation as a swordmaster as he battled his way towards the dark apostle, felling a trio of brutish terminators to reach his quarry.

As the warriors of the 3rd fought desperately to survive the grim odds they faced, Rourke clashed with Wur Ghalenth, skewering the ancient horror on his greatsword even as the Dark Apostle’s twisted Crozius smashed the life from his body. Seeing his liege-lord martyred so brutally, the 3rd’s standard bearer, Valkarius, let loose a cry of anguish, thrusting the banner he had safeguarded for a decade into the hand of Lord Reclusiarch Droyas, who had joined the fight wielding ancient relics in defense of the Chapter’s home. Charging towards the corpses of the two mighty warriors with no regard for his own life, Valkarius heaved the Dark Apostle’s terminator armored cadaver off the body of his Captain. Rising to his feet, the Standard Bearer lifted Rourke’s savaged form high on his shoulder, unleashing a storm of bolter rounds with his free hand as he marched back towards the Banner he had so suddenly discarded.

Despite suffering ghastly losses, the Persecutors fought with the fervor of heroes, using their unique Astartes-fighting skills to reap a bloody harvest from the horde of their attackers, knowing full well that their inferior numbers most likely spelled their doom. But doomed they were not, for with their leader dead, their momentum shattered, inevitable enemy reinforcements drawing closer, and their only viable exit transport, The Irreverent, taking heavy fire from both the Crucible and the 3rd’s battlefleet, the Sable Tongue knew they could claim no victory. With screams of rage and dissent, the Word Bearers scattered, flocking back to The Irreverent in massed waves, the surviving Condemned remaining behind to sell their lives on the grave of their master.

Peeling off from their engagement around the Abyss, the Sable Tongue fleet immediately engaged their warp drives, their Thousand Sons allies manipulating the Warp rift to shield their escape even as the remaining Persecutors craft made full burn to reach their beleaguered allies above the Crucible.

After almost three years interrogating the last crippled Sable Tongue traitor, first Apothecary Hierax determined that the Traitor force had assaulted the fortress monastery in order to retrieve a Chaotic artifact the Chapter had retrieved almost a millennia before, The Tome of Malediction. Although incredibly difficult for an individual to decipher with their sanity intact, a chaos psyker with enough power can use the grimoire to predict major conflicts throughout the galaxy.

Although the Sable Tongue ultimately failed in their task, they did cause significant damage to the ancient Crucible, decimating a swathe of its defenses as well as a large proportion of its shield fleet. The 3rd Company was reduced to less than 20 marines, whilst the entire 9th Company echelon stationed aboard the Fortress Monastery was wiped out, with the 9th Company was halved in numbers and seven specialists from the Apothecarion, Chaplaincy and Armorium were lost, as well as three of the Chapter’s Ancient Dreadnoughts. It has also been suggested than one of the Profundum’s inmates, who had been a captive since late M37, managed to escape amongst the fleeing Word Bearer’s forces when his cell was ruptured by the precision lance strike Ghalenth had hoped would provide a route straight to The Tome of Malediction.

13th Black Crusade (999.M41)
Having returned their 3rd, 6th and 9th Companies to full strength, the entire Persecutors chapter took part in opposing the forces of chaos during Abbadon’s 13th Black Crusade, deploying individual companies alongside outmatched Imperial forces engaging traitor Astartes in order to give them a tactical advantage, which saw them deployed alongside many Guard regiments and Space Marine Chapters. Unusually, the Persecutors were not deployed under Great Wolf Logan Grimnar’s command, as with other Chapters, but were directed by Inquisitorial agents throughout the conflict, often arriving unannounced in a battlezone, and operating according to undisclosed plans, which garnered them a reputation for mystery and unpredictability amongst other Imperial forces.

Perhaps the Persecutor’s most notable engagement during the 13th Black Crusade was the deployment of the entire Chapter in destroying the Corpse Tide Chaos Space Marine Warband upon the former Agri-world of Ohnar. In order to prevent the Warband from ravaging essential supply routes and naval installations crucial to the re-supply of the Cadian system, the Persecutors engaged the Corpse Tide (which consisted of approximately 3,000 Traitor Astartes and tens of thousands of mortal auxiliaries) in a massive pre-emptive strike, effectively neutralising the Warband’s non-astartes component within an hour of arrival in-system by destroying the transport craft preparing to extract the assembled forces of the Warband upon the plains of Ohnar in a massive orbital bombardment. The resultant atomic detonations, radiation bombardments and toxic fumes massacred the mortal troops before a single Persecutor had made planet fall, and the impenetrable smog resulted in an initial fragmentation of leadership within the Warband, allowing the Chapter-strength Persecutors to destroy a large number of the separate Traitor Astartes factions piecemeal before a unified resistance could be assembled. By the time the Corpse Tide had formed a unified front, their numeric advantage had been reduced enough that the Persecutors’ nature as Psychic Blanks and their specialised anti-Astartes doctrine ensured them victory. The campaign was so effective that not a single transport from the Corpse Tide flotilla succeeded in escaping Ohnar’s atmosphere.

After sending the 4th, 6th and 8th Companies back to the Crucible due to their significant losses, Lord Harbinger Lykos redeployed the remaining companies across the conflict zone to further supplement Imperial Forces in their resistance to Abaddon’s 13th Black Crusade.

Hrvat · October 11, 2013

Not bad.

Writing all that must have been quite an effort.

I am intrigued by the theme but as far as I know psychic blanks can't be created only born.

JeffTibbetts · October 11, 2013

They do call it a Pariah Gene, and that makes me think it could be isolated. I think it's a stretch, but honestly it's pretty intriguing. As for gameplay, I doubt anyone would let you make up rules for it so the best you might get is that you can't run Librarians... Do they have an alternate class of folks maintaining their records and history or do they have non-psychic Librarians?

Also, I'm a little confused that they are not used to combat daemons as opposed to traitors. The Inquisition would make much better use of them in that way. Why would they need to be blanks to fight Astartes? The Exorcists are like this: they have a special defense agains daemons and they are totally pawns of the Inquisition. Speaking of whom, I don't really feel like they would have issued Exterminatus against this planet without something much more imminently dangerous. It's a very, very rare thing. I LOVE the bit about them ordering the marines to kill their kin. That is grim-dark brilliance. These marines are so removed from everything, so fatalistic and cold without a soul that they just do it without question. So bleak. I think you should tweak it so the genators and inquis lorded over an increasingly rebellious and agitated population until they had enough marines to unleash on them. Maybe the scouring came later or the situation escalated to the point that the population reached out to Chaos to save them from their oppression, tried to open a warp rift, and that's when the virus bombing happened.

Overall, while it's a crazy stretch that they've managed to unlock the Pariah Gene (which they've been trying to do for ages) it does make for a really cool concept. I really want this to work.

Iron Hands Fanatic · October 11, 2013

Not bad.

Writing all that must have been quite an effort.

I am intrigued by the theme but as far as I know psychic blanks can't be created only born.

Well, the original fluff was that the the Pariah gene was created by the 'crons in order to fight against those with psychic powers, and with the blanks having a strain of the pariah gene, I thought this might be logical.

They do call it a Pariah Gene, and that makes me think it could be isolated. I think it's a stretch, but honestly it's pretty intriguing. As for gameplay, I doubt anyone would let you make up rules for it so the best you might get is that you can't run Librarians... Do they have an alternate class of folks maintaining their records and history or do they have non-psychic Librarians?

Also, I'm a little confused that they are not used to combat daemons as opposed to traitors. The Inquisition would make much better use of them in that way. Why would they need to be blanks to fight Astartes? The Exorcists are like this: they have a special defense agains daemons and they are totally pawns of the Inquisition. Speaking of whom, I don't really feel like they would have issued Exterminatus against this planet without something much more imminently dangerous. It's a very, very rare thing. I LOVE the bit about them ordering the marines to kill their kin. That is grim-dark brilliance. These marines are so removed from everything, so fatalistic and cold without a soul that they just do it without question. So bleak. I think you should tweak it so the genators and inquis lorded over an increasingly rebellious and agitated population until they had enough marines to unleash on them. Maybe the scouring came later or the situation escalated to the point that the population reached out to Chaos to save them from their oppression, tried to open a warp rift, and that's when the virus bombing happened.

Overall, while it's a crazy stretch that they've managed to unlock the Pariah Gene (which they've been trying to do for ages) it does make for a really cool concept. I really want this to work.

This is all for pure fluff, the only thing I could do gamewise is take as many vengeance rounds as I can and just shove the libbies :P

Yeah, I just assumed that the record keeping is done by their serfs etc, as you don't really need to be a power-armoured post-human to document things, although I suppose some of that could be incorporated into the Lieutenant Commander & his cohorts, as the 10th company is heavily involved inintelligence gathering.

On the traitors over daemons front, I figured the Imperium allready has the Exorcists and the Grey Knights, who can both wail on demons better than these guys, so if the situation was so dire they had to call in specialists, why go for the second rate ones? Also, I kinda wanted to give them a unique niche, and the IA does mention that these guys don't get on with the Exorcists, so them both fighting these guys probably wouldn't end well, especially with the Exorcists having Librarians. On the other hand, a lot of the time the Persecutors would be fighting against Traitor Marines AND demons, because the most corrupted chaos space marines are going to be the ones other astartes are least well equipped to deal with.

On the point of the exterminatus, I could probably just word it in a manner that makes it sound like the planet is in the grip of a proper rebellion, and hell - the cursed founding was almost heretical, so giving a really poorly trusted chapter a planet with a corrupted populace probably wouldn't go down too well, and the the system was already quarantined, so who cares what happens to one measly planet (in the eyes of the inquisition anyway).

The bit about the populace's genocide was probably the most interesting part to write, as it cements the chapter's personality - I wanted to give the feeling that they accept they're small fry, they don't really matter, being just tools. I like the idea that they almost hate the corrupt, decadent Imperium they serve, which gives a great sense of irony considering they specifically kill disloyal marines.

In terms of them being blanks, the cursed founding is really the only way I can get away with this, becuase they basically dabbled in the forbidden arts, and tried to hide it from the wider Imperium. I also included their failure to use gene therapy to reproduce blanks, becuase otherwise that would be a whole other can of worms.

I also hope it comes across that the blank thing is a double edged sword. Lots of their allies distrust / dislike them, because blanks are supposed to give off an aura of "wrongness". Also, being cursed founding they're cursed. Literally. An inquisitor killed of a whole company cos he thought it would be fun. Two companies worth of marines were killed when their fortress monastery was attacked (this was also an attempt to counter mary-sueishness - every time I show them beating down traitor marines, they do super good considering the odds, but get mauled in the process - when it comes down to it, there's only 1000 of them). I think I might also add an edit sugesting that the high casualty rate of the implantation process makes it very difficult / slow to replenish their losses - although the rate isn't given, maybe only 1 in a 100 survive. Partly becuase of poor secondary organs becuase of the cursed founding, but also soul-rending. Besides, these are grim guys, they basically sacrifice their supposed afterlife in an extremely risky process to become pawns of an organisation that is wholly prepared to kill them out of whimsy.

Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the feedback.

JeffTibbetts · October 11, 2013

It sounds like you've already worked out a fair bit of this. That's great! I think 1 out of 100 is worse than the Exorcists though? That's pretty rough. I wonder if you might mention who they recruit in more detail? Do they basically abduct people (kind of in keeping with their general sinister nature) or what?

As for Exterminatus, I think you should stick with the marines doing it all instead of the Inquisition. It's more characterful. I think if it's an official quarantine from the Inquis they can treat it like it belongs to them and all the people on it don't mean anything other than genetic material to be used. There's really no need to even issue Exterminatus at all, is there? Maybe you should apply Occam's Razor and keep it simple.

Quozzo · October 11, 2013

I really like the concept, the writting style and a somewhat believable explanation of a chapter of blanks. However (I think you knew this was coming) The Ecclisiarchy has the highest authority of hunting traitors, but due to Vindicare they signed a decree forbidding them from commanding any "men at arms" so the Persecuters can have a close relationship with the Ordos Hereticus but cannot carry out any orders from them. Why would they though as blanks would be better suited at fighting daemons, maybe having a rivalry with the GK instead of the Exorcists.

Also you used the phrase "any scraps of information" which is rather informal in an otherwise beautifully written piece.

Oh and I think the Exorcists are soulless too, that's why they have a small presence in the warp. I'll have to check imperial armour 10 again, but if im right they wont hate the Persecuters for such a thing, glass houses 'n' all.

JeffTibbetts · October 11, 2013

I really like the concept, the writting style and a somewhat believable explanation of a chapter of blanks. However (I think you knew this was coming) The Ecclisiarchy has the highest authority of hunting traitors, but due to Vindicare they signed a decree forbidding them from commanding any "men at arms" so the Persecuters can have a close relationship with the Ordos Hereticus but cannot carry out any orders from them. Why would they though as blanks would be better suited at fighting daemons, maybe having a rivalry with the GK instead of the Exorcists.

Also you used the phrase "any scraps of information" which is rather informal in an otherwise beautifully written piece.

Oh and I think the Exorcists are soulless too, that's why they have a small presence in the warp. I'll have to check imperial armour 10 again, but if im right they wont hate the Persecuters for such a thing, glass houses 'n' all.

The fluff I've read on the Exorcists is that they are deliberately made daemon hosts or possessed and then exorcised as initiates. In 40K fluff, the "illuminated" (people who have fought off or had daemons exorcised from them) have a special resistance to the creatures of the warp.

I don't actually think "scraps of information" is particularly informal or takes away from the writing at all, for what it's worth.

Iron Hands Fanatic · October 11, 2013

It sounds like you've already worked out a fair bit of this. That's great! I think 1 out of 100 is worse than the Exorcists though? That's pretty rough. I wonder if you might mention who they recruit in more detail? Do they basically abduct people (kind of in keeping with their general sinister nature) or what?

As for Exterminatus, I think you should stick with the marines doing it all instead of the Inquisition. It's more characterful. I think if it's an official quarantine from the Inquis they can treat it like it belongs to them and all the people on it don't mean anything other than genetic material to be used. There's really no need to even issue Exterminatus at all, is there? Maybe you should apply Occam's Razor and keep it simple.

I like the abuction idea, but I'm not really sure exactly how it would work - perhaps the Persecutors could issue an order to a hive governor (backed by inquisitorial mandate) that the local custodes bring forward all healthy males of the right age to the Persecutors' deployment zone at the end of the conflict, where psykers seconded from the Inquisition can check their minds for corruption, and the apothecaries can test them?

On the exterminatus thing, Im tempted to leave it as is, not that I don't appreciate your input, but becuase of the following points:

*If the Persecutors did the entire purge, they'd be fighting against corrupted / traitorous citizens - the whole point of the scourge is that it was almost entirely unjustified - the persecutors did it because they were ordered to, and feel incredibly bitter becuase of it

*I want the (abducted) Charybdians to be justified in their rebellion, so absolutely destroying Prime before the arrival of the chapter I think is quite important

*the fact the citizens the Persecutors kill are the same ones they undergoed incarceration with makes it more poignant, if they were "just" putting down rebellious civilians, it wouldn't have such a profound effect on their psyche (plus, I really like the quote at the beginning of the AI :P )

*Charybdis being a dead world, with tresspassing forbidden is also something I wanted, after all, why would they commit exterminatus AFTER killing everyone?

*With the Inquisition doing it whilst the chapter os absent / the abductees haven't returned, it gives a sense of helplessness to the chapter

I really like the concept, the writting style and a somewhat believable explanation of a chapter of blanks. However (I think you knew this was coming) The Ecclisiarchy has the highest authority of hunting traitors, but due to Vindicare they signed a decree forbidding them from commanding any "men at arms" so the Persecuters can have a close relationship with the Ordos Hereticus but cannot carry out any orders from them. Why would they though as blanks would be better suited at fighting daemons, maybe having a rivalry with the GK instead of the Exorcists.

Also you used the phrase "any scraps of information" which is rather informal in an otherwise beautifully written piece.

Oh and I think the Exorcists are soulless too, that's why they have a small presence in the warp. I'll have to check imperial armour 10 again, but if im right they wont hate the Persecuters for such a thing, glass houses 'n' all.

I thought the Ecclisiarchy was seperate from the Inquisition (inquisitors have stormtroopers, & deathwatch)? Otherwise, I don't think I explicitly state the Persecutors recieve orders from the Ordo Hereticus apart from just after their founding, at which point they've just created a chapter in a founding which used banned techniques to manipulate geneseed, so I doubt they would be too bothered.

Thanks for pointing that out, I'll change the wording.

I thought the Exorcists got their resistance from their daemonic posession rituals? Either way, the Persecutors won't look too kindlyon the fact they openly allow themselves to be posessed by demons - also, don't the Exorcits use demonhosts? If so, the chapter isn't going to like that either.

On reflection, I might adjust their specialisation to fighting the forces of chaos generally: demons, psykers & chaos space marines, as their "gifts" will be ineffective.

Thanks again for the feedback (and the compliments)

JeffTibbetts · October 13, 2013

Okay... So it might seem weird but I was thinking about this when I was getting ready to go out this morning and the idea of the rebellion and exterminatus was bugging me. And then... right there in the shower it hit me. This story is interesting to me because it's tragic. The people are (as you pointed out) justified in their anger over being oppressed. However, if they are simply driven to chaos worship that in some way vindicates the Inquisiton for being dicks. I have run a Dark Heresy game for years and this is one of my favorite themes. One of my all-time favorite adversaries for my players? Mutants. Now, hear me out because mutants are boring to a lot of folks. Okay, Twists are the ultimate unwitting victim. They didn't do anything wrong, and yet they are viciously persecuted, put to death, and once in a very great while they MAY be tolerated as second-class non-citizens. What if Prime had adapted to the flood of chaotic energies by mutation? What if the Pariah gene was just one of many adaptations, sometimes in concert with others? Perhaps there could be gangs of abhumans like beastmen hiding in the plains? Maybe they don't immediately kill their children who bear physical corruption? It's heretical in the eyes of the Ecclesiarchy but it leaves room for a lot of sympathy.

This idea has a number of benefits. You see, the blame for all the twists can still be traced back to the chaos cultists of Secundus. They're the ones who started the fire. You can still freely hate those bastards for what they've done. Second, it gives the Inquisition a ton of "throw-away" test subjects that are too far gone, but still have the Pariah Trait and can be vivisected, tested , and rendered down by the Genators. While that's happening the Inquis decides that the population is too riven with mutant genes and is so corrupt of body that exterminatus is ordered to wipe the slate clean, as you say. After the Genators go through the worst of the mutants, they still have a pool of able-bodied people with the gene. This pool is used to recruit into Astartes and sent back to repopulate just as you said with only the Pariah mutation. That's kind of intriguing on its own. Of course, the repopulated folks end up producing even more twists and the rates of mutation are double what they were. The Ordos have had enough and send the new marines down to commence to slaughtering.

It just seems like it has so much more of a tragic feel to me and that's what I really like about the story in the first place. Everyone is a tool as heck the Ordos, and it allows the marines to be even more bitter as they are all mutants as well. Imagine slaughtering a peaceful population just because they didn't conform to what the Imperium decides is normal and acceptable, through no fault of their own. They then quarantine the planet and the marines have to look down at it from their badass orbital moon-monastary and think about how messed up that really is. Mutants are the ultimate collateral damage of chaos and in 40K they don't get much attention.

What do you think?

Iron Hands Fanatic · October 13, 2013

Okay... So it might seem weird but I was thinking about this when I was getting ready to go out this morning and the idea of the rebellion and exterminatus was bugging me. And then... right there in the shower it hit me. This story is interesting to me because it's tragic. The people are (as you pointed out) justified in their anger over being oppressed. However, if they are simply driven to chaos worship that in some way vindicates the Inquisiton for being dicks. I have run a Dark Heresy game for years and this is one of my favorite themes. One of my all-time favorite adversaries for my players? Mutants. Now, hear me out because mutants are boring to a lot of folks. Okay, Twists are the ultimate unwitting victim. They didn't do anything wrong, and yet they are viciously persecuted, put to death, and once in a very great while they MAY be tolerated as second-class non-citizens. What if Prime had adapted to the flood of chaotic energies by mutation? What if the Pariah gene was just one of many adaptations, sometimes in concert with others? Perhaps there could be gangs of abhumans like beastmen hiding in the plains? Maybe they don't immediately kill their children who bear physical corruption? It's heretical in the eyes of the Ecclesiarchy but it leaves room for a lot of sympathy.

This idea has a number of benefits. You see, the blame for all the twists can still be traced back to the chaos cultists of Secundus. They're the ones who started the fire. You can still freely hate those bastards for what they've done. Second, it gives the Inquisition a ton of "throw-away" test subjects that are too far gone, but still have the Pariah Trait and can be vivisected, tested , and rendered down by the Genators. While that's happening the Inquis decides that the population is too riven with mutant genes and is so corrupt of body that exterminatus is ordered to wipe the slate clean, as you say. After the Genators go through the worst of the mutants, they still have a pool of able-bodied people with the gene. This pool is used to recruit into Astartes and sent back to repopulate just as you said with only the Pariah mutation. That's kind of intriguing on its own. Of course, the repopulated folks end up producing even more twists and the rates of mutation are double what they were. The Ordos have had enough and send the new marines down to commence to slaughtering.

It just seems like it has so much more of a tragic feel to me and that's what I really like about the story in the first place. Everyone is a tool as heck the Ordos, and it allows the marines to be even more bitter as they are all mutants as well. Imagine slaughtering a peaceful population just because they didn't conform to what the Imperium decides is normal and acceptable, through no fault of their own. They then quarantine the planet and the marines have to look down at it from their badass orbital moon-monastary and think about how messed up that really is. Mutants are the ultimate collateral damage of chaos and in 40K they don't get much attention.

What do you think?

I like this idea a lot (partially becuase it bears a strange resemblance to a much earlier version of the AI).

The three centuries of isolation could have created a large proportion of mutants, but with out the Imperium to look over their shoulders their culture becomes WAY more tolerant - at the same time natural selection increases the numbers of blanks exponentionally cos of all the wierd chaos-enduced deaths going on. The Inquisition arrives to discover a population integrated with abhumans, but harvest the blanks. The civil unrest unsues, which imperial forces stationed on the planet deal with in a pretty heavily-handed manner. When they decide to use the planet as the chapters homeworld (just selecting another wont do, the system is already quarantined and they don't want knowledge of the Persecutor's true nature / founding process to spread any further), a mutant-heavy population would be intolerable for recruitment, so exterminatus is issued.

The only problem I have with what you've suggested is the idea of the blank abductees being mutated as well. With almost all of the mutations caused by the warping chaos energies of the Abyss, I've always assumed that blanks resistance to psychic powers would also make them resistant to the mutating effects of chaos.

JeffTibbetts · October 14, 2013

That's weird. I've never considered that a blank couldn't have other mutations... Maybe because to me it's a genetic thing as opposed to corruption that's bestowed as a 'gift' from the dark gods.

I'm glad you like the idea though!

Iron Hands Fanatic · October 15, 2013

That's weird. I've never considered that a blank couldn't have other mutations... Maybe because to me it's a genetic thing as opposed to corruption that's bestowed as a 'gift' from the dark gods.

I'm glad you like the idea though!

Yeah, I think that by all means Blanks could have mutations, its just that they'd be resistant to the warp energies that caused the mutations in this case, so they wouldn't be able to currupt their DNA. Rather than being resistant to the mutations themselves, they're resistant to the cause of the mutations.

On the IA overall, I'm probably gonna add a sidebar detailing the blank strain of the pariah gene itself and its relationship with the Chapter - as the most far-fetched, yet integral trait of the Persecutors, explaining its background without having to read the whole IA might be useful, as I can understand a lot of people reading the intro, going "a chapter of blanks,pfffffffft, yeah right" and loosing all interest. If I can detail its downsides, the fact that the AdMech didn't really unlock its secrets, and its precise effects, I could counterbalance this somewhat.

Quozzo · October 15, 2013

I thought the Ecclisiarchy was seperate from the Inquisition (inquisitors have stormtroopers, & deathwatch)?

After some research I found that the Ordos Hereticus is indeed separate from the Ecclesiarchy, my misconception was due to the fact that the Ecclesiarch is one of the High Lords of Terror so I assumed he was also responsible for the Ordos Hereticus, but the Ordos Hereticus only uses the Sisters of Battle as they share similar goals. The Persecutors could then be another militant arm of sorts, similar in many ways to the Exorcists relationship to the Ordos Malleus.

"Some believe that these trials may even include controlled exposure to taleful entities of the Warp to armour the souls of the Exorcists brethren by building up some form of tolerance to the unholy..."

If they do have souls then why would they have such a small presence in the warp that lesser daemons cannot even "see" them? a rhetorical question for another topic I'm sure.

tl,dr: ignore everything I previously said

JeffTibbetts · October 15, 2013

I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be "baleful entities of the warp" in that last bit Quozzo quoted. I didn't even notice it before.

Iron Hands Fanatic · October 16, 2013

I thought the Ecclisiarchy was seperate from the Inquisition (inquisitors have stormtroopers, & deathwatch)?
After some research I found that the Ordos Hereticus is indeed separate from the Ecclesiarchy, my misconception was due to the fact that the Ecclesiarch is one of the High Lords of Terror so I assumed he was also responsible for the Ordos Hereticus, but the Ordos Hereticus only uses the Sisters of Battle as they share similar goals. The Persecutors could then be another militant arm of sorts, similar in many ways to the Exorcists relationship to the Ordos Malleus.

"Some believe that these trials may even include controlled exposure to taleful entities of the Warp to armour the souls of the Exorcists brethren by building up some form of tolerance to the unholy..."

If they do have souls then why would they have such a small presence in the warp that lesser daemons cannot even "see" them? a rhetorical question for another topic I'm sure.

tl,dr: ignore everything I previously said

Haha, no worries - thanks for taking the time to trawl through all this is all I can say :P

Sooooo, on response to feedback ( mainly from you @JeffTibbets - thanks for the dedication ), I've got a list of edits to mak:

*Detail some non-librarian librarium stuff

*Move the specialisation toward the general "denziens of Chaos" - I may even add a little bit of fluff on Chaplains being special demon-killers, cos, y'know, faith n' prayers n' stuff

*Detail the recruitment process

*Specifics on the geneseed implantation casualty rate

*Alter Charybdis Prime to be populated by mutants - abhumans, psykers, all sorts as accepted minorities

*Add a little bit of interaction with the Sisters of Battle maybe?

*I might also add suggestions that a Chapter like the Persecutors had been planned long before the re-emergence of Prime, as more Puritan members of the Inquisition seeked to possess a force to counter the Exorcists, founded almost a millenium before and associated with Radical Inquisitors (this emphasises the fickle nature of the Inquisition and roots ther relations with the exorcists)

*I might change reference to "the souless" to "darksouls" / "faded" - because the blanks have a reduced presence in the warp, and aren't completely souless like pariahs

However, at the moment, I'm working on a sidebar to detail the blank nature of the chapter, to increase feasibility.

Also, I've started on some lineart for a Persecutor character, to flesh out the look & feel of the chapter somewhat, so here's a "teaser":

JeffTibbetts · October 17, 2013

No problem. I've always loved the idea of the Pariah Gene or blanks. Be careful about aligning them with Puritans, though. Those guys are no damn fun and most likely wouldn't even be interested in anything related to mutants, gene manipulation, or anything else remotely interesting. Anything new or interesting will be done by radicals. Believe me, there is enough division and rivalry within the Ordos to leave plenty of room for that sort of thing just within the radical ranks. The factions that created the Exorcists are likely the Xanthites or even Oblationists and they are WAY out there compared to most. There are many other less radical inquisitors who would make good use of blanks, however. I think, in fact, that you should invest just a bit of time in crafting a particular inquisitor who was, as you suggest, obsessed with the idea of creating a chapter of his own perhaps to counter the Exorcists or even out of jealous covetousness. Is that even a word? Whatever. Perhaps he had been sniffing around leads related to blanks for this very reason and negotiated the information from a fellow inquisitor who discovered the system. Maybe he made some political promises or sacrificed some important asset to gain possession (no pun intended) of the system so he could bring a centuries-long plan to fruition. That would help explain why he cared enough about them to deal with the mutants and the money and complications that would ensue. It gives your chapter more of an excuse to exist, as the whims of the most powerful in the Ordos are hard to resist, and harder to decipher.

I was also thinking, I wonder if your chapter wouldn't maybe downplay Imperial iconography? Out of resentment or bitterness? Maybe fewer purity seals, aquilas, etc. You know? Not absent, just less than other chapters. I really like clean marines myself but in your case it makes some sense. Based on your artwork, I'm guessing you're not totally on the same page there? ;)

Iron Hands Fanatic · October 17, 2013

No problem. I've always loved the idea of the Pariah Gene or blanks. Be careful about aligning them with Puritans, though. Those guys are no damn fun and most likely wouldn't even be interested in anything related to mutants, gene manipulation, or anything else remotely interesting. Anything new or interesting will be done by radicals. Believe me, there is enough division and rivalry within the Ordos to leave plenty of room for that sort of thing just within the radical ranks. The factions that created the Exorcists are likely the Xanthites or even Oblationists and they are WAY out there compared to most. There are many other less radical inquisitors who would make good use of blanks, however. I think, in fact, that you should invest just a bit of time in crafting a particular inquisitor who was, as you suggest, obsessed with the idea of creating a chapter of his own perhaps to counter the Exorcists or even out of jealous covetousness. Is that even a word? Whatever. Perhaps he had been sniffing around leads related to blanks for this very reason and negotiated the information from a fellow inquisitor who discovered the system. Maybe he made some political promises or sacrificed some important asset to gain possession (no pun intended) of the system so he could bring a centuries-long plan to fruition. That would help explain why he cared enough about them to deal with the mutants and the money and complications that would ensue. It gives your chapter more of an excuse to exist, as the whims of the most powerful in the Ordos are hard to resist, and harder to decipher.

I was also thinking, I wonder if your chapter wouldn't maybe downplay Imperial iconography? Out of resentment or bitterness? Maybe fewer purity seals, aquilas, etc. You know? Not absent, just less than other chapters. I really like clean marines myself but in your case it makes some sense. Based on your artwork, I'm guessing you're not totally on the same page there?

I love the political intricacies of the Inquisition, and some of the ideas you've suggested are really cool. I think the latter day Persecutors would readily ally with recongregationist inquisitors, as their view of political and social change in a corrupt Imperium would be very in line with the Chapter's views - I might write some fluff about associations between the Lord Harbringer (chapter master) and a group on recongregationist inquisitors. After the Lanthir Incident, which cements his views, members of this sect are seen accompanying Persecutors forces, with the inquisitorial mandate granted by these figures allowing them to follow their own agenda, outside the influence of those Inquisitors who would normally dictate their actions.

On the idea of an individual inquisitor who masterminded the chapter's founding, I'm thinking perhaps a Thorian (as the most "radical" puritans), who deems Exorcists as tools of the Xanthites. After their founding he dissapears from the galaxy at large, only to re-emerge a millenium later (somehow), claiming to have knowledge of dark forces at work within the Imperium - its the Persecutor's chance to shine. There's a massive crusade against seemingly unrelated targets according to a plan of the Inquisitor's own devising. Turns out he's hunting down members of the Illuminati, cos he thinks their former possesion has corrupted them. So the Persecutors fight against loads of different human forces, from cults genuinely corrupted by traitorous inquisitors to loyal guard regiments. They even engage the eldar (because of known associations betwen them & the Illuminati - plus, turns out the fancy eldar psykers aren't too fond of blanks), alongside killing a load of different inquisitors (horusians, polypsykana etc.) and fighting a few different marine chapters who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Things finally come to a head when they turn up on a planet where demon-cults have taken root, and Imperial forces are fighting off chaos lead by a cabal of xanthites, and guess who, the Exorcists! So the blanks engage the former posessed, eventually reaching a stalemate. Meanwhile, the re-emerged inquisitor is murdered by an imperial assasain taskforce, and a group of very senior inquisitors arrive, accompanied by a few of the special shinies in grey.

The Persecutors are ostricised for basically pursiuing one man's vendetta against an organisation that is only rumoured to exist (maybe their lord harbringer is executed?). After the whole crusade - which lasted almost a century, there are about 170 remaining Persecutors. Due to the high attrition rate of their implantation process, they're given a decade to recover from their losses as best they can, before being sent on a century-long penitent crusade (they store all their relics on the crucible, knowing they'll probably mostly just die) with maybe 400, 500 marines. About 80 return to reform the chapter.

On the aquilla thing, I want the chapter to have quite a baroque, gothic look - so I love the whole eagle thing, however, I could have them not wear the full aquilla as they see it as representative of a corrupt and decadent Imperium, instead wearing a single headed eagle (representative of the Emp during the great crusade era, which they revere) and the skull/wings version? Just of note, this guy is the High Chaplian (in relic cataphractii armour) so he'll probably have more eagles than normal - thanks for all the ideas :P

JeffTibbetts · October 18, 2013

Dude. This IA just became epic but in a non-fluff destroying way. Most folks aren't even aware of the shadow war. I love this shiz... The idea of them being pawns in the Inquisition's shadow war is just way too fun to pass up. Plus, making them some kind of anti-Illuminati task force is amazing because, if the rumors are true, EVERY exorcist would fall into that category and their handlers would surely be complicit or Illuminati themselves. You can make your Thorian obsessed with the idea that perhaps those who are once possessed represent same hidden weakness or vulnerability or corruption (most likely imagined), despite the apparent benefits. As for making him appear at a much later date, he could either be a member of the Ordo Chronos or simply have been on a bad warp jump that resulted in a major temporal distort (which is how Chronos started I think so maybe it's both...)

You rightly point out as well that this would all probably be put to an end at some point by someone high up and powerful, and the penitent crusade is a nice touch that brings them back into line for tabletop 40K. It's not really their fault, but they did fight 'loyalist' forces at the behest of someone else. I think you'll have to make pains to show that they are still loyal and obedient. I can see a lot of inquisitors deciding they should be killed. The one saving grace here is that all of this would have been conducted within a shroud of secrecy so it's not as likely that other leaders of the Imperium would have a clear understanding of their targets and missions. That's where it would get really sticky.

I think bringing them down to just 170 survivors is WAY too harsh, though. Maybe just a couple companies worth were killed, which is still a lot for SM standards. It takes a long time to recruit and train marines for battle readiness.

Anyway I think this just kicks ass. Keep it up!

Iron Hands Fanatic · October 19, 2013

Dude. This IA just became epic but in a non-fluff destroying way. Most folks aren't even aware of the shadow war. I love this shiz... The idea of them being pawns in the Inquisition's shadow war is just way too fun to pass up. Plus, making them some kind of anti-Illuminati task force is amazing because, if the rumors are true, EVERY exorcist would fall into that category and their handlers would surely be complicit or Illuminati themselves. You can make your Thorian obsessed with the idea that perhaps those who are once possessed represent same hidden weakness or vulnerability or corruption (most likely imagined), despite the apparent benefits. As for making him appear at a much later date, he could either be a member of the Ordo Chronos or simply have been on a bad warp jump that resulted in a major temporal distort (which is how Chronos started I think so maybe it's both...)

You rightly point out as well that this would all probably be put to an end at some point by someone high up and powerful, and the penitent crusade is a nice touch that brings them back into line for tabletop 40K. It's not really their fault, but they did fight 'loyalist' forces at the behest of someone else. I think you'll have to make pains to show that they are still loyal and obedient. I can see a lot of inquisitors deciding they should be killed. The one saving grace here is that all of this would have been conducted within a shroud of secrecy so it's not as likely that other leaders of the Imperium would have a clear understanding of their targets and missions. That's where it would get really sticky.

I think bringing them down to just 170 survivors is WAY too harsh, though. Maybe just a couple companies worth were killed, which is still a lot for SM standards. It takes a long time to recruit and train marines for battle readiness.

Anyway I think this just kicks ass. Keep it up!

Haha, to be honest I didn't really know all that much about the Illuminati until today, and my research certainly showed how close these guys are to the Exorcists. I think using the chapter as effectively a pawn in the manipulative games of the Imperiums internal conflicts is a good way to counteract the potentially over-powered nature of their blank nature.

In terms of the dissapearing inquisitor, I doubt a blank chapter would be planned, but Thorians would certainly have been looking to redress the balance after the xanthites got their new puppy in the form of the Exorcists. When the opportunity arose to create the Persecutors arose, they jumped at the chance, knowing the forbidden nature of the Admech's involvement would keep them quiet about the Thorians true intentions. When the Inquisitor re-emerges, its not like they specifically spearheaded the chapter's conception, because I don't want it to look like the Persecutors were made specifically to beat the Illuminati. In fact the idea of the Inquisitor's dissapearance is that he began chasing rumours of this secret organisation, and became obsessed with it, and with the time-altering warp shizz going on, he's been finding out as much as he can. Perhaps his hatred of them stems from jealousy? Whatever, he thinks they're all corrupt, and basically bends the Persecutors to his will.

On the topic of losses, perhaps at the end of the anti-Illuminati thing, there are 4 companies worth? I wanted the chapter to really suffer, because there are numerous examples of chapters recovering from the brink of oblivion (which the Persecutors will do after the penitent crusade), and these guys are cursed, and it felt like I was making a big deal out of them loosing effectively three companies at the end of M41. Maybe the 170 should be all that remain after the Penitent crusade - on a sidenote, the progenoids of all the marines are harvested and their geneseed put in stasis aboard the crucible - I want it to look like they fully expect to all die.

This also paves the way for the distrust for the chapter I mention in the AI, their motives are constantly questioned in light of this conflict. You make a good point in terms of proving their loyalty - but I'm not entirely sure how to do this in addition to the penitent crusade? I might also have the chapter master at the end of the conflict, after all the charges have been laid out, challenge the leader of the grey knights present to an honour duel, dying in the attempt to restore a modicum of the chapter's lost honour. The Persecutors will be the only chapter to side with the Inquisitor in the conflict, but there will also be guard regiments and navy forces under his command, becuase he'll be a fringe lord inqisitor, relatively isolated within his order, but incredibly powerful, because you basically have to do whatever he says.

Just a side note, I'm really not sure on the aquilla thing - it goes with the gothic theme (which is kinda intended to tie themin with existing sisters of battle & inquisition iconography), and if I ever model these guys, remodelling every aquilla would be a pain in the ass. They don't despise the Imperium, their later actions certainly show they believe its worth saving, but I can understand if they didn't use it.......it might also have something to do with loosing the aquilla invalidating a lot of the character designs and banner artwork I've planned out :P

Iron Hands Fanatic · October 28, 2013

Well, I've been doing some extra fluff to sustain interest whilst I re-write existing sections (including massively shortening the 'notable conflicts' sections), so here is a chapter datafile, narrative sidebar and Inquisitorial profile for the CM:

ADEPTUS ASTARTES CHAPTER RECORD: “PERSECUTORS”
FOUNDING: 21ST [REF. 991.M35]
PROGENITORS: ++RECORDS SEALED++ [iNQUISITORIAL SANCTION: ORDO HERETICUS]
HOMEWORLD: ++CENSORED++ [sYSTEM QUARANTINED], CALIXIS SECTOR, SEGMENTUM OBSCURUS
ALLEGIANCE: LOYALIST
CHAPTER MASTER: ‘LORD HARBINGER’ URIAH LYKOS
CURRENT STRENGTH: 700-800 FULL ASTARTES, 200+ PARTIAL INITIATES, 11 ‘STRIKE CRUISER’ DESIGNATION VESSELS, 3 ‘BATTLE BARGE’ DESIGNATION VESSELS, VARIABLE SECONDARY & TERTIARY CLASS VIODCRAFT, VARIABLE ARMOURED CONTINGENT [LATEST ESTIMATE – 962.M41- CHAPTER NOTED AS PARTIALLY WITHDRAWN FROM COMBAT OPERATIONS IN LIGHT OF RECENT LOSSES & EXTENSIVELY LETHAL INDUCTION PROCEDURES – SEE REF. ‘CRUCIBLE’]

Sidebar:

Captain Ledran wiped blood from his pasty face, his hands slick with the stuff from trying to help to patch up the more severely injured survivors from the crash. Looking back at the wreckage, he mused upon how appropriate the crumpled remains of his ship were in this wasteland. Ash; grey, brown and red covered the landscape, clustering around the stumps of ruin thrusting up from the rugged surface, twisted columns and shattered pillars pointing up at the rusty sky – in one of his more whimsical moments, he might have said they looked almost accusatory.

The only intact object he could see on Charybdis’ surface stood as a stark contrast to the desolation surrounding him: pale white stone, carved into a huge likeness of a warrior, engaged in a death struggle with a sinuous serpent, its horned body coiled around his limbs even as he tore its jaws apart. Gazing at its immense bulk rising out of the barren waste, he noticed more movement - to the east. Strange. Seeing the void craft land in the distance almost half an hour ago, he had organised the survivors as best he could, forming a ramshackle camp on the outskirts of the wreck to meet the towering figures, their sombre power armour matching the sterile grey of the planet’s surface, flashes of teal the only glimpse of colour on their baroque wargear. Why would they feel the need to send multiple parties to retrieve the survivors from the surface?

The first Astartes to arrive lead the others, both the amber light of the system’s sun and the purple glare from the twisted wound that was the Abyss reflected from the lenses of his helm, a grim iron reliquary rising from behind his sable pauldrons.

“You are the captain of this vessel?” Ledran nodded, his subconscious awe choking an answer in his parched throat. “And these are all the survivors?”

This time he managed a response: “all we could recover, lord – when the engines failed, we had to attempt a crash landing as best we—“ his remaining words were cut short as the colossus raised an armoured hand, as slight flick of the wrist marshalling a group of the hulking figures towards the heart of the wreckage.

It was only then that Captain Ledran noticed the discomfort that had fallen over him since the warriors’ arrival. A subconscious itch, irritation in the back of his mind, a sense of wrongness that emanated from the statuesque post-humans, making his eyes ache if his gaze stayed upon them for too long. His thought was once again interrupted as the leading Astartes stepped forward.

“Charybdis Prime is quarantined by order of the office of Lord Harbinger of the Persecutors, with Inquisitorial sanction granted by the Ordo Hereticus.”

He didn’t have time to process the statement’s meaning before the first bolter round thudded home. His ears rang as boltrifles barked into life, felling his crewmates in waves of explosive mutilation. His knees hit the dirt as the heat washed over him, jets of burning promethium scouring life from those who remained, the stench of burnt flesh making him retch even as the fear emptied his bladder.

The first Angel of Death looked down at his miserable form, lighting crackling along the length of the longsword gripped in one hand.
“The sins of our past are for us to know. Alone. You desecrate this land with your existence, this land that our ancestors toiled to call their own. That our kin wept to see so savaged, that they died to defend. That their bodies coveted when all life was gone.”

“All were ignorant to their suffering then, and so it shall be now. Their judgement is our burden to bear – heavier than the yoke of obedience bestowed upon us by the corrupt and decadent puppeteers who haunt our past, our present, our future.”

“And so you join the dust, for none who stand upon this world may live, save we – the Faded. For what toll can the reaper take from those with no souls to give to the great immaterium, the ghosts of a cruel legacy with no future but oblivion?”

The captain had no answer as his hands scrabbled at the gaping cavern where his throat once was, adding his lifeblood to the waste that had claimed so many before him.

EVALUATIVE PROFILE: URIAH LYKOS – LEADER, ‘PERSECUTORS’ ASTARTES CHAPTER [iNTERNAL DESIGNATION ‘LORD HARBINGER’]
++324 years combat service as a full Astartes Initiate
++116 years service as ‘Lord Harbinger’ [Chapter Master equivalent rank]
++Subject has shown increasing resistance to explicit interference of Inquisitorial assets in Chapter’s operation. This shows similar distrust to preceding Lord Harbinger Mercer Kyrik [Lykos is noted as being the latter’s protégé, having served as Commander Regent of the 1st Company alongside the Lord Harbinger for almost a half-century], whose attitude was altered significantly in light of the ‘Lanthir Incident’ of 714.M41, in which Ordos Hereticus Inquisitor Naxim Phyrol manipulated the Chapter’s 4th Company into engaging allied forces in light of fabricated charges. Although the operation served useful purpose in investigating the Chapter’s malleability – specifically the potential of utilizing it in order to neutralize other Astartes chapters prone to inhibiting or interfering with the Inquisition’s operation, censorship campaign failed, despite ensuring entire Company and all opposing Astartes forces [approx. 300 individual] killed in action, and subsequent exterminatus purge of warzone. Persecutors’ discovery of Inquisition involvement initiated gradual decline in relations with usual Inquisitorial contacts. Within the past 3 decades, Lykos has been noted as building contacts with Recongregationist factions of this organization – with their extremist agenda, this may indicate that a further divergence from our influence is possible – tendency to damage Imperial assets in order to achieve perceived ‘positive’ political change could impede general operation, and compromise operations and interests in several areas. Note: these activities could be used as justification for sanction in order to assert control over the chapter, and wrest influence from the hands of such Radicals.
++Recommended Action: Chapter still relies upon our intelligence networks for up to date information on targets, guidance on their assigned enemy. Use of misinformation via these channels on carefully selected areas may assist in reducing their contact with Recongregationist undesirables, possibly damage assets of such radicals. Suggest increasing monitoring to levels comparable to those immediately after the Chapter’s censure following participation in renegade Inqisitor Lord Vyrnuss Slake’s personal vendetta. Possible avenues of internal control include replacing the Chapter’s current ‘Lieutenant Commander’ Arenko Vosque with a member of the Chapter more susceptible to our suggestions – the status of this rank as being the ‘Power Behind the Throne’ could be extremely useful if allegiances could be distorted [however, extreme ideological stranglehold of Chaplain system may impede such efforts].

And yes, I am incredibly easily sidetracked

JeffTibbetts · October 28, 2013

I dig, man. I like the fluff piece's tone a lot. I think you could even ham it up by making the beginning more frenetic, and show that they really fought hard to survive. "The Emperor showed his mercy here. We are alive when we should have died." And then they are executed by the astartes. Rock on.

I do like the analysis from the Inquis. It's a nice touch and tells the reader a lot about your chapter while alluding to the way they get messed around by their 'handlers.' I might suggest adding in same mystery --REDACTED-- sections where you refer to previous events. It's a fun way to keep it vague but get the point across. In particular, the names of Inquisitors, the branches, and even campaigns might be concealed.

I was started to wonder what you were up to, so thanks for updating, brother.

Sign In

Persecutors - redraft

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Archived

Recently Browsing 0 members

Important Information