Word Bearers Chapters

[Emperor's Furor]

Apart from the ones announced in Massacre, does anyone know of any others and what their specialisations are? Is there a ship boarding chapter mentioned elsewhere?

[Barabbas Sogalon]

The Quillborn seem to specialize in ship boarding.

[Kol Saresk]

Although they were lost with all hands when the Furious Abyss was sunk.

 

But there were a few Chapters mentioned in that book. I know the Chapter of the Void was mentioned and described as only being 700 strong and was filled with the Librarius detachment and was basically the Word Bearers Warp-Magick R&D department, producing and testing everything from rituals to expiremental technology, like the warp mines they used to destabilize the warp-route they were traveling through.

[Emperor's Furor]

Were they lost, could you really lose an entire chapter on just that one ship, especially when there were others present to.

[Kol Saresk]

The other Chapters were mentioned, but they were with Kor Phaeron in the fleet headed towards Calth.

 

And there are no recorded survivors of the Furious Abyss and it was destroyed in the orbit of Macragge with no support and the entire Chapter was said to be present. Any and all survivors would be at the mercy of the Ultramarines present.

[Emperor's Furor]

Ah ok, then maybe they're not for me then. Didn't particularly like Battle for the Abyss either.

[Marshal Traben]

HH: Massacre has info on some Word Bearers chapter and their tactics.

 

The Serrated Sun:

Tactical Drop Strikes

 

The Tri-fold Crown:

Attritional Warfare

 

The Star of Judgement:

Scorched Earth Assaults

 

The Osseous Throne:

Infantry Wave Attacks

 

The Broken Scythe:

Infrastructure Reduction.

[Emperor's Furor]

I just found more reading through the organisation, the Crescent Moon, The Weeping Hand, The Coiled Lash, The Exalted Gate, The Twining Rune, The Scold's Bridle, The Night's Chalice.

 

Do you think any of them would fit a chapter that's been paired with the mechanicus much.

[Marshal Traben]

You could always create your own Word Bearer chapter.

[Kol Saresk]

Or use one that's already been named that has no background and add to it.

[Demus Ragnok]

Slightly off topic but is there any info in Massacre about how the WB organized their companies into chapters?

[Conn Eremon]

Squads were larger, with an average of twenty. Companies tended to be about a hundred men and are where you see specializations. Rather than assault squads, you have assault companies. Chapters tend to be about five hundred to three thousand in size.

[Demus Ragnok]

Squads were larger, with an average of twenty. Companies tended to be about a hundred men and are where you see specializations. Rather than assault squads, you have assault companies. Chapters tend to be about five hundred to three thousand in size.

One thing I noticed in The First Heretic was that the companies assigned to chapters weren't in numerical order. Like Argel Tals 7th assault company and the 50 something company were both part of the Serrated Sun chapter.

[Conn Eremon]

It mentions nothing that I have noticed about the numbering system.

[Hyaenidae]

One thing I will say; the Night's Chalice Chapter tastes really good when I say it aloud. Like a fine, aged, single barrel whiskey on a warm summer night, in front of a bonfire.

 

The images in my head of unique imagery and heraldry of such a Chapter is pretty damn cool too.

 

Personally, I'd run with that.

[Khalus]

Is there a difference between Hosts and Chapters? I recall A D-B mentioning both in his fantastic "life of a chaos marine" post.

 

Know No Fear refers to a Host commander.

[Kol Saresk]

Is there a difference between Hosts and Chapters? I recall A D-B mentioning both in his fantastic "life of a chaos marine" post.

 

Know No Fear refers to a Host commander.

Yes and no. The Hosts are what the Chapters will eventually become. It is apparent that by the time we reach Calth, some of the Chapters have started referring to themselves as Hosts is all.

[Emperor's Furor]

Yeah, I also Like The Night's Chalice, I can imagine the constellation the name is based on a lot easier than the Exalted Gate.

[Conn Eremon]

There was a thread about whether Monarchia was due to their rate of conquest or their religiosity. Can't find it, so I'll post my finding here.

 

Massacre delves into this, on pages 139-140. Forgive the lack of quotes, it's difficult enough on the phone.

 

Apparently, Lorgar hid his faith rather well. There was no scene on Colchis, because the Emperor just didn't notice. Doesn't delve into the specifics on that one.

 

Anyway, Lorgar converts the Imperial Heralds to Emperor worship, over a really freaking long time. When all the old Iconoclasts are gone from decades of attrition and the Legion is full faithful, he renames it to the Word Bearers.

 

Rumors begin spreading about this, but the War Council and the Emperor ignore them as false hearsay. But what he doesn't ignore is their slow crawl. When that comes to his attention, he investigates and finds that the reason why is this faith.

 

Then he hesitates. Possibly he met with Lorgar personally and felt the matter settled. Or maybe he simply didn't want to punish a(nother) son. Much of happens here was lost. But eventually, the Ultramarines were unleashed upon Khur's Perfect City.

 

Then the fateful kneeling in the ash scene. And what is said? Only this: ". . . the Word Bearers knelt before their Emperor. He was no god, and would suffer no such belief in his realm. The Emperor departed . . ."

 

That's it. So neener neener, I was right. Monarchia was all about the Emperor worship, not their slow rate of conquest. That was just what brought their faith to the Emperor's full attention, that convinced him the rumors needed verification.

[Kol Saresk]

Actually that was a side branching of the Night Lords Fall thread, but that two-day's worth of memory loss wiped it out. Basically what it came down is that in the midst of all the "You shall not make religion", there was an effort made to point out "You are too slow in conquering planets".

 

Which reminds me. I could find sources in False Gods where the Titan Moderati was told by his buddy he needed to be careful because mentioning his faith in front of the wrong person could end badly. But in Galaxy in Flames, we find out that one of the "wrong people" referred to, already knew about his faith but allowed it to continue.

 

We also see Nathaniel Garro find out about his huscarl and not really say anything and we see Flight of the Eisenstein ending with a prayer from Garro. Garro is also a Terran who had fought under the Emperor, so if anyone should've known better...

 

But there was mention of there being raids against Lectitio Divinatus Cults. I can't seem to find out, so could you point me in the right direction?

[Conn Eremon]

I'd have to re-read the books to find out for sure, which I honestly don't want to do. I've reached my cap of re-reading the opening trilogy.

 

What I remember was when you started to follow certain characters into the cult, raids were something they feared and did happen.

 

Can't really remember specific points, but I do have to say, hopefully without sounding insulting, that it boils down to common sense. Why enforce atheism, root out and burn all forms of religion,and espouse science and reason as the only forms of belief allowed within the Imperium, which is intended to encompass all of humanity, if you allow religious forms to legally exist? It'd be like outlawing homosexuality but allowing same-sex marriages. Burning gay literature while waving cheerily at Chuck and Dave. Spouting inflammatory anti-LGBT rhetoric while helping Karen and Katie with their adoption paperwork. It'd make no sense.

[Kol Saresk]

I'd have to re-read the books to find out for sure, which I honestly don't want to do. I've reached my cap of re-reading the opening trilogy.

 

What I remember was when you started to follow certain characters into the cult, raids were something they feared and did happen.

 

Can't really remember specific points, but I do have to say, hopefully without sounding insulting, that it boils down to common sense. Why enforce atheism, root out and burn all forms of religion,and espouse science and reason as the only forms of belief allowed within the Imperium, which is intended to encompass all of humanity, if you allow religious forms to legally exist? It'd be like outlawing homosexuality but allowing same-sex marriages. Burning gay literature while waving cheerily at Chuck and Dave. Spouting inflammatory anti-LGBT rhetoric while helping Karen and Katie with their adoption paperwork. It'd make no sense.

Trust me, I understand the whole common sense behind it. It's kind of like personally, if I was the Emperor, and I had already burned entire civilizations for just holding onto superstitions and not actual religions, I wouldn't have let the Ultramarines neither evacuate Monarchia nor stop at just one city. At least teh whole planet would have burned and it would have been done at the merest rumor. No tolerance.

 

But I think that's the thing. We are seeing a tolerance policy.

 

I think an analogy can be drawn from the early days of Christianity(sorry, it is the example I am most familiar with; apologies if there are others).

 

When Christianity first came about, it was persecuted relentlessly by the Pharisees and Sadducees. Even Paul the Apostle was someone who once was an avatar of the persecution. Christianity wasn't technically illegal yet(wouldn't be until Judaism was outlawed by the Romans; Romans saw Christianity as a sect of Judaism). But it was heavily hated to the point people where being killed.

 

I think this is a similar standing within the Great Crusade Era. The Imperium at large, doesn't support the Divinatus Cult. And until it presents an overwhelming problem to the Great Crusade(Like causing the Word Bearers to linger on worlds for years instead of spreading the Crusade), the Imperium is kind of like "Well at least their loyal and we can tolerate them. Zealots do have their uses after all." But then when we get down to the people-level of the operation, we do see a true persecution, such as the raids that were most likely a true concern. I can certainly see Pre-Heresy Abaddon scuttling an entire civilian carrier if he thought the whole thing was filled with Divinatus believers.

 

So I think that is where it is being drawn.

 

I could entirely be wrong as it is all speculation.

[Conn Eremon]

I wouldn't call it a tolerance policy, but tolerant people.

 

And while the history nerd in me finds that interesting, the analogy isn't all that apt. Rome at this time was very tolerant, if prejudiced. Legally, so long as you paid your dues you could believe whatever the Hell you wished. The Imperium doesn't fit with that. It didn't want you to believe whatever you wanted. It wanted you to believe in its Truth. And in the act of conquering worlds, this was violently and oppressively stamped upon them. A Compliant world was an atheistic world. Which means it was a requirement of the Compliance. Which means it was a requirement to be a part of the Imperium. Which makes it an Imperial law.

 

Demus: I found a bit on page 144 that says that the 5th Company was forwarded to the Serrated Suns Chapter by Kor Phaeron's command, to be his eyes and ears. Though the purpose of being forwarded was singularly clandestine in nature, in this case, it's possible that it was something normal to the Legion, forwarding companies.

[Kol Saresk]

I wouldn't call it a tolerance policy, but tolerant people.

 

And while the history nerd in me finds that interesting, the analogy isn't all that apt. Rome at this time was very tolerant, if prejudiced. Legally, so long as you paid your dues you could believe whatever the Hell you wished. The Imperium doesn't fit with that. It didn't want you to believe whatever you wanted. It wanted you to believe in its Truth. And in the act of conquering worlds, this was violently and oppressively stamped upon them. A Compliant world was an atheistic world. Which means it was a requirement of the Compliance. Which means it was a requirement to be a part of the Imperium. Which makes it an Imperial law.

 

Demus: I found a bit on page 144 that says that the 5th Company was forwarded to the Serrated Suns Chapter by Kor Phaeron's command, to be his eyes and ears. Though the purpose of being forwarded was singularly clandestine in nature, in this case, it's possible that it was something normal to the Legion, forwarding companies.

The analogy was more for the persecution of the Christians by the Jews, rather than the Romans(They are two separate persecutions). I just used the Romans in the analogy to point out that Christianity wasn't illegal yet during the persecution by the Pharisees and Sadducees.

 

Analogy: The Lectitio Divinatus came from the Imperium just as the Christians came from the Jews. Neither was officially illegal at the time of persecution, but both were persecuted by the very things they came from at large while only being tolerated by the minority.

 

Huh, so was Kor Phaeron spying on the Gal Vorbak, or the Custodes? Or was it part of a general information network in the Legion at large?

[Conn Eremon]

No further extrapolation made, aside from the fact that this company was not to become a part of the Gal Vorbak.