Index Astartes: The Unfettered (third draft!)

[j31c3n]

The Unfettered

 

http://i.imgur.com/khQeiVF.jpg

 

"Anything..." - The Hanged Man, Fleetmaster

 

Origins

 

"My men endured five days upon deployment outside the hive spire gate. They accounted for four thousand two hundred and eighty one enemy casualties. I alone remain to bear witness." - Veteran Sergeant Achava, of the Strike Cruiser Ourang Medan

 

The Unfettered have reported several conflicting stories of their origin. The most accepted by Imperial scholars is that they are a successor to the Salamanders. Other stories lay claim to the Iron Hands or Raven Guard as primogenitors. A small but vocal minority of the Unfettered maintain that they are descended from more than one genetic source. Others claim to be a splinter of a Black Templar crusade fleet. All agree that their actions now are far more important than their lineage. The date of the chapter's founding is currently unknown.

 

The first report of an Unfettered flotila entering an Imperial system dates to the middle of M37.  The heavily-modified Strike Cruiser Skíðblaðnir, with its accompanying frigates and fightercraft, entered the Lethara system, in the Kiltor Sector, in response to an all-frequencies distress call.  Lethara, an agri-world and the sole inhabited planet of the system, bore invasion by a fleet of Dark Eldar pirates.  The cruiser made a mad rush for planetary orbit, all guns running hot, and deployed a landing force two companies strong.  Despite their superior firepower, the Unfettered were totally outnumbered and outmatched.  Thunderhawk gunships landed at key population centers and the inhabitants were shocked when the silver-clad Space Marines opened the bay doors and shepherded them inside.

 

The assembled Space Marines fought a brutal rearguard campaign to evacuate as much of the civilian population of agricultural laborers as possible, goading the Dark Eldar into chokepoint bloodbaths in an attempt to keep the fighting far from the innocent.  All told, the Unfettered rescued roughly 40% of the world's labor force, including most of Lethara's key agribiology staff, fragments of the planetary government, a rough regiment of the planetary defense force, Lethara's Imperial governor, and a large portion of the planetary garrison's munitions.  Pirate corpses were stacked shoulder-high at the landing zones, four full squads of Battle Brothers perished in the effort, and at least one Thunderhawk gunship was shot down as it used its armored hull to shield civilians from oncoming fire.  The planet's survivors were pressed, most willingly, into the service of the chapter.

 

The current commander of the fleet, known only by the sobriquet "the Hanged Man," has called for a cessation of investigations into the origin of the chapter, decrying such action as a senseless waste of the Emperor's precious time. The Hanged Man has been criticized for his willingness to negotiate with Tau septs, Eldar craftworlds, and other groups of the Imperium's enemies to buy time to evacuate civilians from imminent combat zones. His detractors in other Astartes chapters and the regimental command of the Imperial Guard have described this tendency as a "dangerous precedent" and "ultimately pointless."

 

The Hanged Man

 

"No ration did I have remaining nor a drink from a canteen,

downwards I peered;

I took up the gauntlets, screaming I took them,

then I fell back from there."

- The Hanged Man, Fleetmaster

 

The Hanged Man earned his name after returning alone from a tour with the Deathwatch.  The Kill-team he had been assigned to was tasked with neutralizing a then-inactive Tomb World, situated dangerously close to the Forge World of Dantis III.  After making planetfall, the larger-than-average Kill-team and its leading Inquisitor tunneled into the labyrinthine corridors of the Necron infrastructure, a massive fusion warhead in tow to place at the heart of the Necropolis' power systems.  The skeletal forms of the Warriors, Immortals, and other Necrons lay dormant in the face of their incursion.

 

Resistance from the tomb's automated defense systems was light near the surface but intensified as the Kill-team plumbed the cthonic depths, and as testament to their skill, only a single casualty was suffered until what passed for the facility's reactor chamber was breached.  A techmarine seconded from the Sons of Medusa was tasked with wiring the fusion warhead, and the rest of the team, including he who would become the Hanged Man, were set to defend it.  At this moment, a skittering horde of Tomb Spyders and their Scarabs poured from the corridors leading to the reactor like a body's immune system responding to a dire infection.

 

Many were cut down in the waves sent to stop the Kill-team, intent on preventing the warhead's detonation, but many more Canoptek abominations littered the floor, circuits fizzling out and wires cut, arcs of lightning crisscrossing the chamber's floor.  The warhead, protected by interlocking reactive plates, was primed.  The response of the Tomb World grew beleaguered, the nearby defense systems had been largely depleted.  It was at this moment that a hitherto unseen portcullis ground open in the ceiling, accompanied by an otherworldly shriek.  A twisted form of screaming liquid metal wrenched itself out of its hibernation and threw itself upon the remnants of the assembled Deathwatch.

 

Knowing they were its target, and not the warhead, the Kill-team made a disciplined retreat from the reactor chamber, trusting the armored plating of the warhead and the bomb's timed fuse to ensure the success of their mission.  The Deathwatch fell, one by one, to pull the attention of the Tomb World and its guardian of flowing steel away from the critical fusion bomb, which had itself gone largely unnoticed in the assault.  They found themselves trapped, alone with the fragment of a Star God, in a curious room ornamented with strange Necron hieroglyphs and stocked with arcane and unknowable devices and weapons.

 

The glowing iron touch of the Shard melted through the ceramite plating of the remaining Marines, though it took many devastating hits from plasma and melta weaponry.  As the Deathwatch thinned, it seemed to take almost sadistic joy in prolonging their suffering.  It had shredded the powered armor from the torso and arms of the Marine who would be the Hanged Man, and grasped him one leg, holding him aloft and upside-down in the air.  He looked down and found himself hanging above a strange pair of glimmering xenotech gauntlets, and grasped them as his last hope of survival.

 

As the ancient gauntlets were donned, a smoothly humming power field enveloped them, and he made a desperate attack, swinging wildly at the cold adamantine form of his assailant.  It was at this moment that his last surviving Kill-team Brother fired a well-aimed shot from a plasma cannon into the core of the Shard.  This act saved the Hanged Man's life at cost of his own, for the cool molten gaze of his attacker turned to the Marine who had fired the fateful shot.  What passed for one of its arms stretched out as if to grasp the offending Space Marine, projecting a beam of eldritch green energy directly into his chest, disintegrating his entire upper body.

 

Sensing his chance as the behemoth was distracted, the now-Hanged Man reached up to grasp the limb which held him aloft.  Upon making contact, the liquid metal arm vaporized from the outside in, dropping the Hanged Man to the dusty tomb's floor.  He took advantage of the surprise of his tormentor, and with a mighty warcry, delivered an armored punch directly to the Shard's face.  A blade extended itself from the wrist of the gauntlet, cleaving the Shard's face in twain.  Upon impact, the flowing steel form of its body shuddered, groaned, and melted away into the floor.  The Hanged Man, now alone, fought his way past the meager remaining Scarabs to the surface with mere seconds to spare before the warhead detonated, destroying the complex's reactor and collapsing the cavernous Necropolis upon itself.

 

 

Recruitment

 

"Some men are born great. Some men achieve greatness. Some men have greatness thrust upon them." - Brother-Apothecary Abd-al-Qadir, of the Strike Cruiser Skíðblaðnir

 

As the Unfettered are a fleet-based chapter, they recruit constantly and from any source available to them. Records indicate a heavy reliance on war orphans and other young victims of conflict, with the chapter occasionally inducting recruits that other chapters might deem too old, injured, or sickly. All the willing from every warzone the chapter deploys to who pass basic screenings for mutation are enrolled.

 

The children are sent to the nearest Strike Cruiser and placed into the academy there. Most will become chapter serfs. Only the candidates that show promise for genetic modification and implantation are selected for further testing and mental screening by the Apothecarion and Librarius of the Strike Cruiser. Of those who have passed the first test, dozens more trials are demanded, and only the handful that meet every challenge are allowed to undergo the surgeries and therapies required to begin the path of the Astartes.

 

Once the recruits have accepted all implants and reached full maturation, they will be assigned to the recon teams based on their Strike Cruiser, and will be deployed into combat under the watchful eye of a seasoned Veteran Sergeant. Upon proving themselves in a reconnaissance role, each new Battle-Brother is assigned to a Tactical squad, where they learn the basics of frontline combat. Every new marine is assigned to either the path of the Vanguard or the path of the Sternguard, based on their combat aptitudes measured by their Sergeants, and are placed in either an Assault or Devastator squad when such a position becomes available, with the most able taking priority.

 

Each Battle-Brother, before being elevated to Veteran status, must complete a tour of duty with the Deathwatch of the Ordo Xenos. As a result of this policy, the Veterans of the Unfettered are each a wealth of knowledge on facing certain alien foes, with their voice of experience always given the ear it deserves. On the eve of battle, Veterans will tell the tales of their conflicts with the foe about to be engaged, always in a crisp and terse style with little flourish.

 

Doctrine and Organization

 

"Persons taking no active part in the hostilities ... shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race ... religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria." - Burnt and damaged parchment of unknown Terran origin, archives of the Strike Cruiser Vladislav Volkov

 

The Unfettered treat the organization of other Codex Astartes compliant chapters as polite suggestion at best, preferring a more decentralized structure that permits each of their flotillas to function more or less autonomously. Each flotilla has its own favored approaches to battle and preferred combat style. Their organization in this regard is informal enough that approaches vary even at the squad level.

 

Where other chapters maintain veteran's companies, battle companies, reserve companies, and scout companies, the Unfettered maintain eight battle-ready flotillas, each based on their own extremely modified and heavily-armed Strike Cruiser with full command and support staff, including detachments from the Apothecarion, Reclusiam, Librarius, and Armory. Each flotilla maintains their own veterans, scouts, and vehicle pool. This decentralized organization effectively makes each flotilla a very small chapter.

 

Each Strike Cruiser is accompanied by a small detatchment of various Astartes frigates, each loaded with a sizable compliment of gunships, boarding vessels, and fighter craft. An Unfettered flotilla is a welcome addition to an Imperial Navy battlegroup in any engagement. As a fleet-based chapter, the Unfettered are well trained in boarding action and ship-to-ship naval combat, though their nature as Astartes necessitates that their chapter serfs fill most shipboard positions in a protracted naval battle.

 

The Unfettered are constantly on the move, and rarely have the opportunity or the time to pause for resupply at a Forge World or similar source of Imperial matériel.  As a result, the amount of manufactorum-specification wargear the chapter holds is extremely limited, with most equipment and supplies heavily rigged with field repair.  The chapter relies greatly upon war spoils and the gratitude of the systems they aid to replenish their stocks of gear and ammunition.  Their choice to operate primarily in the most beleaguered and undefended Imperial systems necessitates such operation.  Each of their Strike Cruisers routinely engages in acts of outright piracy against hostile xenos forces and even barters frequently with passing Rogue Traders.

 

The chapter routinely salvages xenos equipment for raw material, which is then melted down and reforged by the Armory into weapons, armor, spare parts, ammunition, or whatever the Strike Cruiser may require.  The wargear of any given Battle-Brother is unrecognizably modified by field repairs, though it suffers no loss of function.  True innovation, as always, is practically unheard of - but using this method, the Unfettered are able to continue their tireless crusade.

 

Beliefs and Practices

 

"None have greater love for the people than this, to lay down one’s life for them, though they know not even your name." - Brother-Chaplain Kaneonuskatew, of the Strike Cruiser Arabella

 

The Unfettered barely pay lip service to even a secularized version of the veneration of the Emperor, preferring an extremely subdued interpretation of the Emperor as the greatest man to ever live, and studying his methods and achievements. Even this is sometimes regarded as a distant priority - protecting the innocents of the Imperium takes precedence. Each and every Unfettered marine would cross any line in any sand to safeguard the innocent, for all of them were once innocents unsaved, recruited into the service of the Emperor to pay forward the righting of the wrongs visited upon them.

 

Perhaps uniquely, the Unfettered train their Chaplains to take on a diplomatic role alongside their traditional activities of tending to the spirits of the chapter's Battle Brothers.  They who wear the skull-helm of the Chapter's most faithful are paradoxically the most flexible for this.  Where Chaplains of other chapters might tally their armor with a score of mighty enemies felled, these who wear the colors of the Unfettered mark their gear with a tally of battles averted and successful negotiations.  They are not men of peace, however, and will eagerly threaten conflict as a punishment for failure to comply with their demands.  Most hope the enemy will not attempt to call their bluff, for a bluff it is not.  As the chapter is often understrength and undersupplied, each warzone unfulfilled represents a future opportunity to lay their lives on the line for the citizens of the Imperium.

 

Any from this chapter would leap onto an unexploded grenade, or stand in front of a volley of plasma bolts, or accept the oncoming swing of an enemy power weapon to safeguard an innocent in a combat zone. It is this often foolhardy selflessness that lends itself to the chapter's extensive use of bionics and augmentation - it is a rare Battle-Brother of the Unfettered who does not have at least minor bionic implants, each the result of voluntarily taking risks that other chapters might consider tactically unsound. Each blow accepted for the sake of Humanity removes each Battle-Brother further from the people they have sworn to protect, as they become ever more augmented and mechanical, ever more cold.

 

Each Strike Cruiser maintains within its Reclusiam shrine, in the heart of the most heavily-armored portion of the ship, a wall of great deeds - recording the sacrifices each brother Astartes has made in the service of the Emperor. Wounds and deaths suffered in the defense of the unwashed masses of the Imperium of Man are recorded on these walls of ceramite plating for all eternity, and there is no higher honor among the Unfettered to be listed among such heroes. The names on the walls are venerated with a fervor usually reserved among the citizens of the Imperium for the Emperor himself.

 

As an unfortunate result of the chapter's tendency toward dramatic heroic displays, the eight flotillas of the Unfettered are chronically reported as being under maximum strength, with an average of around ninety Astartes - including scouts and veterans - in each. The Unfettered's relatively loose recruiting standards lend themselves to frequent deployment of scouts, and many do not survive battle for long.

 

Geneseed

 

"For he today that binds his blood with mine shall be my brother." - Brother-Librarian Tangaroa, of the Strike Cruiser Hahnchen Maru

 

As far as can be ascertained, the gene-seed of the Unfettered appears to be stable, but it seems to contain a persistent mutation of unknown operation: every Battle-Brother's eyes glow in an electric blue color, like a plasma bolt. No explanation for this mutation is on record, but similar ocular effects are present in the Salamanders, most widely assumed to be their progenitor.

 

The Unfettered are reclusive and difficult to find due to the exhausting pace of their crusade and the decentralized structure of their fleet, but either the slightness of their mutation or their unwavering service to the Ordo Xenos has prevented even the most cursory of investigations from launching.

[JeffTibbetts]

EDIT: I forgot to say "WELCOME TO THE B&C," and the Liber at that. Spend some time reading IA's and commenting on them. It can get rough in here but don't take it personally.

Well, I for one found this to be an interesting read. You will almost certainly find lots of folks who will tell you to add more grimdark… I'm usually one of them. However, what you're going for here is altogether different and laudable. While on the surface the chapter appears to be doing what nobody else in 40K's Imperium has been able to do: be human and humane in a world of , there are actually hints at something entirely different going on behind the scenes. The strange relationship (sponsorship) of potentially radical inquisitors, the high rates of mutation, the fact that the chapter master was 'let go' (deliberately, as was strongly hinted) all make for interest, mystery and intrigue. Perhaps there's a reason they seem too good to be true. Perhaps nobody who operates with these sorts of ideals can avoid the corruption the rigid dogma is intended to keep at bay…

Maybe you didn't mean half of that, but that's part of the fun. As a long-time Dark Heresy game master, I want to use this chapter myself.

I'll be watching. As for suggestions, I think this serves as a first draft, really. You would be well served to read it out loud to yourself and correct some bits that sound a bit amateurish or awkward. It's a great start! Let's get some spit and polish on there and see how it shines.

[j31c3n]

Perhaps there's a reason they seem too good to be true. Perhaps nobody who operates with these sorts of ideals can avoid the corruption the rigid dogma is intended to keep at bay…

Maybe you didn't mean half of that, but that's part of the fun. As a long-time Dark Heresy game master, I want to use this chapter myself.

You've grasped the gist of what I was trying to convey exactly. Thanks for the compliment!

I'm going in and re-arranging sentence structure every so often to improve readability, but I'm glad I was able to convey the basic concept of the chapter on my first try. I'm actually pretty honored that you'd like to use the chapter in a DH game.

I like the idea of heroic marines (my first army was the Salamanders) so exploring what it'd actually mean to "be a hero" in the world of 40k is my intent with this IA and this chapter.

[JeffTibbetts]

I hear you, man. The Inquisitor in our game is stuck on this idea that the Imperium's status quo needs to be shaken badly. He would love these guys at first blush, and he's pretty darn radical as-is. He's actually in the process of hiring a Rogue Trader to test some of his theories with new colonies in the Koronus Expanse. Do you have a location pinned down for your marines yet? If you put a company in the Calixis Sector I'll use them! But, of course, you'd need to tell me their seeeeeeecret.

 

** rubbing hands together and grinning like an idiot, waiting to hear the juicy gossip ** 

[j31c3n]

I hear you, man. The Inquisitor in our game is stuck on this idea that the Imperium's status quo needs to be shaken badly. He would love these guys at first blush, and he's pretty darn radical as-is. He's actually in the process of hiring a Rogue Trader to test some of his theories with new colonies in the Koronus Expanse. Do you have a location pinned down for your marines yet? If you put a company in the Calixis Sector I'll use them! But, of course, you'd need to tell me their seeeeeeecret.

 

** rubbing hands together and grinning like an idiot, waiting to hear the juicy gossip ** 

 

They're fleet-based, so they're not pinned to a single place in the galaxy.  I've deliberately left the date of their founding vague, so they could be used at any point, really.  My idea for how they travel is that they basically orbit the galactic center and send off flotillas to problem zones as they come up, with the flotilla meeting back up with the rest of the fleet when the job is done.  Very "rapid reponse."

 

I'll tell you the seeeeeecret in a PM.

[JeffTibbetts]

Haha. Cool. I'll see what I can do. The Expanse is WAY out rimward, though, just so you know. 

[j31c3n]

Haha. Cool. I'll see what I can do. The Expanse is WAY out rimward, though, just so you know. 

 

Well, there's plenty of reasons to explain why a flotilla might be there.  Maybe they're accompanying a Magos or something.

[Gorkimedes]

I agree with what Jeff said, really solid for a first draft. I like how other chapters call them out for wasting time rescuing civilians. Highlights how a more humane chapter would seem like a nice guy in a room full of jerks in the bigger scope of the Imperium.

[j31c3n]

brotastic, on 14 Jan 2014 - 23:25, said:

I like how other chapters call them out for wasting time rescuing civilians. Highlights how a more humane chapter would seem like a nice guy in a room full of jerks in the bigger scope of the Imperium.

Yeah, I'm trying to keep the "hero" theme firmly grounded in the 40k canon.

[Sergeant Lowe]

I like these guys - they have just the right mix of mystery to me.

[Veteran Sergeant]

Hopefully you don't take any of this as too harsh, but...

The Unfettered eschew the methods of the Codex, ... in favor of a more fluid and reactive approach to each battle.

That is the Codex Astartes, lol.

 

The Codex was not described as being rigid, only that some chapters faithfully adhere to its tenets. But those references are made in terms of the organization (10x100 companies). It's important to note that the Codex has multiple parts. A part that describes how Space Marines should be recruited and trained, a part that describes how chapters should be organized and how the rank structure should work, as well as parts on less glamorous stuff like religious instruction, etc. Then there's the part on strategy and tactics, which is thousands of pages on how battles are supposed to be fought in every clime and place. Being a Codex Chapter just means that you organize yourself 10x100 with all the normal parts, not that you follow some ridiculous "If A, Then B" instruction manual on warfighting. Guilliman was described as a strategic and tactical genius. The "Everybody who was ever a great general ever" all rolled up into one. And the Codex is like taking the advice and wisdom of every great general from Sun Tzu to 28,000 years from now and rolling it up into one massive tome. There's a reason why Marneus Calgar was one of only two characters in 2nd Edition who had a Strategy Rating of 6 and is talked about as one of the Imperium's greatest generals to ever live. And it's not because he works off a "flow chart", lol.

Please don't write IA's continuing on with this ridiculous idea that seems to percolate around that the Codex Astartes is this stupid and restrictive summary of combat operations. Chapters that disregard the Codex Astartes are ones like the Space Wolves and Black Templars who organize their Chapters however they feel like. It's not that somehow they figured out ways to fight battles that Guilliman never thought of.

 

 

The Unfettered maintain extremely close ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus.

So does every third DIY IA Chapter posted here, lol. Why?

 

To be honest, while some of your background concepts are interesting, you've basically written the Iron Ravamanders with a little Black Templar Dragons mixed in for good measure. Your guys are heroic, humanistic, mutated, high-tech, xeno-tolerant, mechanicus-friendly cyborgs with a mysterious origin, eight massive fleets, and who routinely murder Inquisitors and get away with it, or the Inquisition just decides it's not worth investigating for some reason (maybe they always catch them on laundry day). I know it can be easy to see a lot of things you like in the fluff and want to utilize them, but you've basically used almost everything in the fluff, but with an asterisk that says "No Ultramarines Allowed" lol. The Raptorus Rex of the Firehawks was a giant space monastery, and it was their signature vessel that most Chapters didn't have, and it wrecked face everywhere it went. Your chapter apparently has eight of them or something similar that's larger than a battle barge (which it apparently has at least 8 of too). The Mechanicus is closed off and supersitious, but works closely with your chapter, gives them extra stuff, and apparently turns a blind eye to the fact that they are mutated and utilize xenotech (a combo that would set off every alarm bell possible in the Imperium), while being unbothered by the extra scrutiny from the Inquisition that accompanies them.

 

All of the special dispensations, bizarre immunity from prosecution/persecution, extra toys, etc, drain away all of the intrigue that would otherwise make them interesting. I mean, all this IA needs is for their dark secret to be that they were actually created from chimeric Traitor geneseed. It's your IA, but honestly, I think you may need to dial it back for them to be a little bit less... special. I feel like I'm reading a blizzard. This is a universe where the Chapters who break the rules and get away with it are fairly rare, but there's a trade off typically. Your chapter has no tradeoffs and it also has no political capital to get away with it like, say, the Space Wolves do as a First Founding chapter. The Celestial Lions pissed the wrong people off, and they nearly went extinct. The Relictors were destroyed by the Grey Knights for messing with the Inquisition. The Black Templars avoid persecution by spreading themselves out and being too hard to track down. What's the caveat that your Chapter has? Where did they get more spaceborne power projection than 5 or 6 chapters combined? If it was one or two "Hey that's odd that they get away with this" it creates an interesting mystery. When you combine all of these elements together, it just sounds like you've created another bland superchapter.

 

The part about being humanistic, but many of them being tortured by slowly losing that humanity due to prosthetics? That's really cool. It's a great nuance. But then the same paragraph suggests they're doing it intentionally, and people think they might be Iron Hands successors. I'd suggest leaving that part out. It's extraneous and distracts from the overall message of the paragraph.

Why does the Ordo Hereticus care about their wall of deeds and names? How do they even know about it? This mention seems extraneous too, and it's another mention of the Inquisition "letting stuff slide" which just calls attention to how many times this immunity is mentioned in the article.

[j31c3n]

Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

Hopefully you don't take any of this as too harsh, but...

No, responses like this are why I posted in the first place. If I was 100% happy with the chapter I'd just print out the IA and paste it to my wall.

Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

Please don't write IA's continuing on with this ridiculous idea that seems to percolate around that the Codex Astartes is this stupid and restrictive summary of combat operations. Chapters that disregard the Codex Astartes are ones like the Space Wolves and Black Templars who organize their Chapters however they feel like. It's not that somehow they figured out ways to fight battles that Guilliman never thought of.

Fair enough point about the tactics. I admit I've always had a slight distaste for the Ultramarines (I think they're not very interesting - nothing to do with Ward) but I shouldn't let that personal opinion color my IA. Though, they aren't a codex chapter, they don't follow the organizational rules set down within the Codex Astartes.

Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

So does every third DIY IA Chapter posted here, lol. Why?

Why wouldn't a chapter of Space Marines want to get in good with the AdMech? That's where all their toys come from, traditionally.

Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

To be honest, while some of your background concepts are interesting, you've basically written the Iron Ravamanders with a little Black Templar Dragons mixed in for good measure. Your guys are heroic, humanistic, mutated, high-tech, xeno-tolerant, mechanicus-friendly cyborgs with a mysterious origin, eight massive fleets, and who routinely murder Inquisitors and get away with it, or the Inquisition just decides it's not worth investigating for some reason (maybe they always catch them on laundry day).

You're right, it is an awful lot for one chapter. I'm going for Iron Hands (clans in spaaaace!) meet the Salamanders, turned up to eleven. The similarities to the Black Dragons are coincidental and not intended. You point out the Raven Guard references and on closer inspection I've decided those references are basically 100% extraneous, so I'll be removing them with my next revision.

Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

The Raptorus Rex of the Firehawks was a giant space monastery, and it was their signature vessel that most Chapters didn't have, and it wrecked face everywhere it went. Your chapter apparently has eight of them or something similar that's larger than a battle barge (which it apparently has at least 8 of too).

What would be a more appropriate sized fleet for a spacefaring chapter? I want them to be able to send off a decent sized fleet detachment to tackle a problem. Would a roughly company-sized force of Marines plus vehicles fit comfortably on a Strike Cruiser? I admit to some unfamiliarity with the Astartes Navy. I've just read that the Exorcists chapter has 3 Battle Barges, and that's considered a lot.

Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

The Mechanicus is closed off and supersitious, but works closely with your chapter, gives them extra stuff, and apparently turns a blind eye to the fact that they are mutated and utilize xenotech (a combo that would set off every alarm bell possible in the Imperium), while being unbothered by the extra scrutiny from the Inquisition that accompanies them.

Yeah, I'm thinking about taking out the "uses xenotech" thing entirely and just go with the chapter tithing their found xenotech to the AdMech and Ordo Xenos. I want them to have close ties politically to those two groups to be able to explain the lack of full-scale investigation into their mutation by the Ordo Malleus.

Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

This is a universe where the Chapters who break the rules and get away with it are fairly rare, but there's a trade off typically. Your chapter has no tradeoffs and it also has no political capital to get away with it like, say, the Space Wolves do as a First Founding chapter.

What do you think an appropriate trade-off would be? Off the top of my head, I just thought of describing the chapter as chronically understrength due to their insane desire to leap upon unexploded grenades, etc.

Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

The Celestial Lions pissed the wrong people off, and they nearly went extinct. The Relictors were destroyed by the Grey Knights for messing with the Inquisition. The Black Templars avoid persecution by spreading themselves out and being too hard to track down. What's the caveat that your Chapter has?

Again, what would a good caveat be?

Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

Where did they get more spaceborne power projection than 5 or 6 chapters combined?

That's from an error on my part about the size of a typical Astartes fleet, and it will be toned down in the next revision.

Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

The part about being humanistic, but many of them being tortured by slowly losing that humanity due to prosthetics? That's really cool. It's a great nuance. But then the same paragraph suggests they're doing it intentionally, and people think they might be Iron Hands successors. I'd suggest leaving that part out. It's extraneous and distracts from the overall message of the paragraph.

Which line, exactly, gives the impression that they're doing it intentionally? (Unless by "it" you're referring to throwing themselves in front of bullets and so on, because yes, they are doing THAT on purpose.)

Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

Why does the Ordo Hereticus care about their wall of deeds and names? How do they even know about it? This mention seems extraneous too, and it's another mention of the Inquisition "letting stuff slide" which just calls attention to how many times this immunity is mentioned in the article.

That's a very good point. I suppose here I was just trying to highlight more ways that the Chapter isn't entirely codex-adherent. The reference to the Ordo Hereticus does seem out of place and nonconstructive, so I'll probably remove it in the next revision.

[Messor]

I'll take a stab at it while Veteran Sergeant is warming up. I liked this Chapter, but as Jeff indicated, it's a good first draft, and Vet hit on pretty much all of my concerns.

Fair enough point about the tactics. I admit I've always had a slight distaste for the Ultramarines (I think they're not very interesting - nothing to do with Ward) but I shouldn't let that personal opinion color my IA. Though, they aren't a codex chapter, they don't follow the organizational rules set down within the Codex Astartes.

Then I'd suggest describing a simple deviance from the codex, rather than saying the Unfettered eschew it. What they have done is essentially integrated specialist companies with battle companies, which is what any given battle would dictate anyway. I'd term it a small difference. Try not to think of the Codex as Ultramarine. That's what I do.

Why wouldn't a chapter of Space Marines want to get in good with the AdMech? That's where all their toys come from, traditionally.

I'm sure everyone does want to get in goof with the Mechanicus, but tithing Xenos tech to the radical Inquisition faction that bandies in that kind of thing won't appeal to the AdMech's better nature. Your best stance is that of routinely accompanying Magos fleets, also a good reason for them to be spread far and wide.

You're right, it is an awful lot for one chapter. I'm going for Iron Hands (clans in spaaaace!) meet the Salamanders, turned up to eleven. The similarities to the Black Dragons are coincidental and not intended. You point out the Raven Guard references and on closer inspection I've decided those references are basically 100% extraneous, so I'll be removing them with my next revision.

Do look long at hard at what adds character, and what's just cool. You'll be off to a good start with the edits you've suggested here.

What would be a more appropriate sized fleet for a spacefaring chapter? I want them to be able to send off a decent sized fleet detachment to tackle a problem. Would a roughly company-sized force of Marines plus vehicles fit comfortably on a Strike Cruiser? I admit to some unfamiliarity with the Astartes Navy. I've just read that the Exorcists chapter has 3 Battle Barges, and that's considered a lot.

As a fleet based chapter, 3 Battle Barges is reasonable. Two is easy to swallow. The Navy and Mechanicus just won't put that many ships of such power in Astartes hands. Note that a Strike Cruiser(Standard Astartes fleet material) could easily accommodate a company, maybe more given the proper supplying. Something to consider also(and this might be useful foil for the Chapter) is that while they may be quite humane, that doesn't mean everyone considers them human, even among those they protect.

Yeah, I'm thinking about taking out the "uses xenotech" thing entirely and just go with the chapter tithing their found xenotech to the AdMech and Ordo Xenos. I want them to have close ties politically to those two groups to be able to explain the lack of full-scale investigation into their mutation by the Ordo Malleus.

You don't need political ties to avoid investigation. All a Chapter needs for that is to do it's job and keep its nose clean. If they don't showcase corruption, it won't be found.

What do you think an appropriate trade-off would be? Off the top of my head, I just thought of describing the chapter as chronically understrength due to their insane desire to leap upon unexploded grenades, etc.

Sounds like a good solution. Give them a mind for it, a level of concern. Spread out as they are, logistics are sure to be hard. Strike fleets are left to wonder "Will we risk over-recruiting and in turn bringing the Chapter under Inquisitorial scrutiny?"

Which line, exactly, gives the impression that they're doing it intentionally? (Unless by "it" you're referring to throwing themselves in front of bullets and so on, because yes, they are doing THAT on purpose.)

If that's not what Vet reffered to, I will. Their augmentation due to mutation is lost under the references to their self sacrifice. I hardly picked up on it at all. But you can use that. The injuries and ensuing bionics sustained in normal operations can be a cover up. You just need to find a balance in portraying them so one doesn't overshadow the other.

[j31c3n]

Good points and advice all around, there. I'll make each flotilla based on a Strike Cruiser type vessel instead of a Battle Barge or 'Fortress Vessel,' to start.

 

Their augmentation and mutation are meant to be two entirely different problems. The augmentation is meant to be the natural consequence of heroic behavior, and the mutation is meant to imply something darker, which is why I want to find a good fluff reason for the Ordo Malleus to leave them alone, hence the "good relations with Ordo Xenos and Adeptus Mechanicus" angle.

[Messor]

This would be easier to understand with a clearer depiction of the mutation. The only mutations you've used as examples can easily be hidden beneath a suit of power armor. Are the Apothecaries reporting mutation? What's bringing the Ordo Malleus to their doorstep in the first place? If it's important to the story, then we need to know it, or a hint of it. If it's not important, it's enough to simply mention that they suffer mutation without involving the Ordo Malleus.

[j31c3n]

This would be easier to understand with a clearer depiction of the mutation. The only mutations you've used as examples can easily be hidden beneath a suit of power armor. Are the Apothecaries reporting mutation? What's bringing the Ordo Malleus to their doorstep in the first place? If it's important to the story, then we need to know it, or a hint of it. If it's not important, it's enough to simply mention that they suffer mutation without involving the Ordo Malleus.

Hmm, alright. I'll figure something out - the mutation is a consequence of bad decision making, basically. It's evidence of the totally insane things this chapter does to save the innocent. I'll come up with something to indicate that while keeping it in veiled Index Astartes territory.

[Veteran Sergeant]

Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

So does every third DIY IA Chapter posted here, lol. Why?

Why wouldn't a chapter of Space Marines want to get in good with the AdMech? That's where all their toys come from, traditionally.

>Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

The Raptorus Rex of the Firehawks was a giant space monastery, and it was their signature vessel that most Chapters didn't have, and it wrecked face everywhere it went. Your chapter apparently has eight of them or something similar that's larger than a battle barge (which it apparently has at least 8 of too).

What would be a more appropriate sized fleet for a spacefaring chapter? I want them to be able to send off a decent sized fleet detachment to tackle a problem. Would a roughly company-sized force of Marines plus vehicles fit comfortably on a Strike Cruiser? I admit to some unfamiliarity with the Astartes Navy. I've just read that the Exorcists chapter has 3 Battle Barges, and that's considered a lot.

Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

The Celestial Lions pissed the wrong people off, and they nearly went extinct. The Relictors were destroyed by the Grey Knights for messing with the Inquisition. The Black Templars avoid persecution by spreading themselves out and being too hard to track down. What's the caveat that your Chapter has?

Again, what would a good caveat be?

Veteran Sergeant, on 15 Jan 2014 - 13:16, said:

The part about being humanistic, but many of them being tortured by slowly losing that humanity due to prosthetics? That's really cool. It's a great nuance. But then the same paragraph suggests they're doing it intentionally, and people think they might be Iron Hands successors. I'd suggest leaving that part out. It's extraneous and distracts from the overall message of the paragraph.

Which line, exactly, gives the impression that they're doing it intentionally? (Unless by "it" you're referring to throwing themselves in front of bullets and so on, because yes, they are doing THAT on purpose.)

Too lazy to break the B&Cs weird quote system up.

1. Not really an issue of the Chapter wanting to get all the goodies. Why does the AdMech want to give them all the goodies? There has to be some kind of give and take. What's the AdMech getting out of supplying this Chapter with all sorts of rare and hard to make stuff? The real thing is that "close ties with the Mechanicus" just shows up so often in these IAs, and it seems like it's just a vehicle for "Look at all this awesome stuff these guys get to have."

2. Honestly, 2-3 Battle Barges is probably fine. Iit's hard to tell just how many the Ultramarines have (perhaps someone who's a UM expert can clarify), but it looks like 5 or so. And that's definitely going to be on the upper end in the realm of "Well, we've had these for like 10,000 years" (a pretty impressive operational lifespan on those hulls, lol). Nobody is going to be nitpicking too badly. The thing is, a Battle Barge can simultaneously deploy three companies of Marines. So once you get past three, it becomes a question of "Where are all of these ships coming from and what are they doing?" Especially since a Strike Cruiser can deploy a company as well. A Battle Barge is huge, and given that it's the top level hull for most Space Marine navies, it probably can handle most of the incidentals of Space Marining. Don't let me disuade you from coming up with some kind of cool ship for them to have. The last thing I want to do is make you compromise on your vision. But come up with a story for it. What is this cool ship? The Fire Hawks had the Raptorus Rex. The Relictors had an ancient star fort they towed around the galaxy. So if your chapter has something cool, come up with a story for it.

The reality is, the Codex broke up the Legions for the exact reason that a Chapter can't just go around the universe will-nilly blowing stuff up and conquering anything they feel like. Writing a Space Marine IA can be challenging in that regard. You want your Space Marines to be able to do awesome stuff and have all kids of cool gear, and big space fleets, etc. And why wouldn't they, right? But that's not really how 40K works obviously. So when you're describing a Chapter's assets and fleet, it always has to be with the idea in mind of "Nobody really wants these guys to have too much power." Space Marines need to be awesome and capable of applying overwhelming force to specific targets. But not too awesome so that if they get out of control, we can stop them. Even though Space Marines going rogue is quite rare (the fluff suggests 50ish Chapters at the most in the 10,000 years since the Heresy), the last thing you want are crazy wacky Space Marines on the loose, and then have them wandering around with a giant fleet.

3. How to get around the "We're doing something bad" is tricky. The easiest way to do it is to stay under the radar. Your first draft was seeming to create a chapter that was both curiously close to the Inquisition (lots o' Deathwatch, etc) but also hiding from them ("Lost your Inquisitor? Nah, never saw him. Hope you find him"). Remember, it's a big galaxy, and the Inquisition doesn't know nearly as much as they'd like to. Especially about something as mobile and autonomous as a fleet-based Chapter. If the Chapter just wanders around fighting battles and leaving afterwards, it's unlikely they'll attrack much attention. Heck, even just sending a lot of Marines to the Deathwatch (carefully picked to be poster-boys even) can actually work in your favor ("These guys seem fairly normal, and they're always helpful; everything must be cool"). The problem is you have created a chapter that people think are up to something, and then not explaining how or why nobody seems to actually do anything about it.

Was referring to the notion that it's not entirely clear if they're heavy on cybernetics because they tend to get wounded, or they are heavy on cybernetics because they're loonies like the Iron Hands and think that flesh is weak. (Have you seen Imperial tech? None of it screams fast and efficient. )

[JeffTibbetts]

I favor the idea that the augmetics are used to replace mutated limbs when they get too noticeable, but they lie about it and say that it's because of how hard they fight… I mean, I'm sure some of the bionic limbs are from their will towards self-sacrifice. 

 

Also, the Inquisition is riven with in-fighting and game-making political moves between warring factions. It's not at all hard for me to believe that they have both close and strained ties to them. Perhaps they have fairly radical sponsors who try very hard to keep the puritan fire-brands at bay, and help the chapter to cover things up in return for military support. I feel like deals like that are very common when you are talking about the upper echelons of organizations where people are allowed to know things that the lesser are not. 

[j31c3n]

Three questions before I start on the second draft, here:

 

1. Would it be ridiculous for the chapter to have a highly modified and perhaps slightly oversized strike cruiser per "company" and eschew battle barges entirely? I'm trying to give an impression of a decentralized command structure, so I don't want them to have 1 or 2 big huge ships where all the veterans hang out or something.

 

2. Would a chapter that was in really good with the Ordo Xenos ever be given like "clearance" to use a few xenotech items? I'm mostly asking this not because I want that to be an important part of their background, but because I really like to do a xenotech conversion here and there (I especially want to make the Hanged Man's sword look decidedly non-Imperial.)

 

3. I want the first draft of this IA to still be visible, so that people who read the thread later can see the progression between revisions and understand what early thread commenters are talking about. Would it be kosher to put the whole first draft in "spoiler" tags at the end of the post or something?

[Messor]

1. Seems like a fair trade. A modified strike cruiser might (snugly) accommodate two companies, accounting for the persistent attrition.

 

2. Probably not. Are the Ordo Xenos part of the background? If not, just attribute it to isolation. They're divided and spend long stretches of time fending for themselves. Some impromtu repairs/ "seamless innovations" come with the territory.

 

3.Perfectly fine, and probably more convenient than having the first draft in a separate post in the thread.

[JeffTibbetts]

In regards to #2, I might offer the RPG fluff to support the idea that xenostech would not be 100% unheard of. I know it's not canonical for 40K (but probably should be, as Fantasy Flight handles the IP with extreme respect in most cases, which can't always be said for GW).

 

While exceptionally rare, those with the highest levels of authority could potentially use some. Of course, they would have to be very careful who they show it to. It's not unheard of for Rogue Trader vessels to sport xenotech components, for example. That being said, they do operate literally outside the Imperium most of the time. Inquisitors of the Ordo Xenos also make use of proscribed weaponry and technology, but who's going to tell them not to besides, well, each other? 

 

So, I think you need to be REALLY careful how you handle it, but I think in your example that relic sword could for SURE be of dubious origin. Just don't brag about it. 

[j31c3n]

I went ahead and made some revisions, so now we're officially on the second draft. Let me know what you think!

 

I've deliberately made the mutations the chapter suffers vague, so that the reader can draw their own conclusions. I've removed references to the chapter using xenotech freely and without outside concern. I've removed the idea that the Witchhunters would care about something as benign as a memorial wall. I've deleted references to the chapter getting away with murdering Inquisitors.

 

I've changed all references to "fortress vessels" to "strike cruisers," and explained in the text that each cruiser is highly modified and heavily armed for its class. The fleet has no battle barges now, which is fine, because I've always felt it was dumb to call a warship a "barge" purely for alliterative reasons.

 

I've changed the nature of their predictable chapter mutation to something more uniform and cooler, and removed references about various things fueling rumors about their genetic heritage. I've changed the "most accepted" primogenitor from Iron Hands to Salamanders, because that's now the chapter they most resemble genetically (glowing eyes - there's lots of radiation in space).

 

I've made a very small change to the story of the Hanged Man to imply something sinister there. Finally (I think this is the last of it), I've added a reference to the chapter being chronically understrength. Ninety marines per flotilla doesn't sound that understrength, but they only have eight flotillas. That's 720 marines in the chapter, instead of 1000. About 75% of a full strength Codex chapter.

[j31c3n]

For the sake of posterity, here is the aforementioned second draft.  Unfortunately, it looks like the first draft has been lost to the sands of time.

 

 

The Unfettered

http://i.imgur.com/khQeiVF.jpg

"Anything..." - The Hanged Man, Fleetmaster

Origins

"My men endured five days upon deployment outside the hive spire gate. They accounted for four thousand two hundred and eighty one enemy casualties. I alone remain to bear witness." - Veteran Sergeant Achava, of the Strike Cruiser Ourang Medan

The Unfettered have reported several conflicting stories of their origin. The most accepted by Imperial scholars is that they are a successor to the Salamanders. Other stories lay claim to the Iron Hands or Raven Guard as primogenitors. A small but vocal minority of the Unfettered maintain that they are descended from more than one genetic source. Others claim to be a splinter of a Black Templar crusade fleet. All agree that their actions now are far more important than their lineage. The date of the chapter's founding is currently unknown.

The current commander of the fleet, known only by the sobriquet "the Hanged Man," has called for a cessation of investigations into the origin of the chapter, decrying such action as a senseless waste of the Emperor's precious time. The Hanged Man has been criticized for his willingness to negotiate with Tau septs, Eldar craftworlds, and other groups of the Imperium's enemies to buy time to evacuate civilians from imminent combat zones. His detractors in other Astartes chapters and the regimental command of the Imperial Guard have described this tendency as a "dangerous precedent" and "ultimately pointless."

The Hanged Man

"No bread did they give me nor a drink from a horn,
downwards I peered;
I took up the blade, screaming I took it,
then I fell back from there."
- The Hanged Man, Fleetmaster

The Hanged Man earned his name and rose to lead the chapter's fleet after avenging the capture, torture, and death of the previous holder of that office - the venerable Fleetmaster Olanrewaju, who had successfully lead the Unfettered for many centuries - at the hands of a coterie of Tzeentchian daemons on the outskirts of the Maelstrom. Olanrewaju had mysteriously vanished several weeks prior, and his location had only just been uncovered by the chapter's Librarius. Then, the Hanged Man was Chief Librarian, so he quietly took a small flotilla and detachment of the Librarius to mount a surgical rescue operation, both to recover the Fleetmaster and to retrieve the massive relic weapon Tyrving - the chapter's highest badge of office.

Some weeks later, he returned, missing a leg and an eye, and carrying with him only two chapter Sternguard, a single Apothecary with a cryo-sealed crate of recovered progenoid glands, and Tyrving. He briefly related his tale: His strike team navigated a terrifying fleshmaze within the Maelstrom upon making planetfall, the Chief Librarian incinerating scores of lesser daemonic pests along the way with psychic baelfire, with his men doing the same with coordinated bolterfire. At the center of that place, Olanrewaju lay dead and vivisected, obviously slain some time ago - right next to the heirloom blade Tyrving.

The Chief Librarian and his small rescue team were suddenly ambushed by hordes of daemons that emerged from the fleshy walls of that place. Most of the Astartes were immediately slain by the talons and warpfire of Tzeentch's daemonic servants, and the small remainder were imprisoned in the very walls themselves, held in place by great fleshy tentacles and disembodied claws, before even a single bolter shot was fired.

He had been hung, upside-down from the ceiling, by a great tentacle wrapped around his left leg, and he had suffered a grievous wound through his ossified ribcage from the daemon-wielded Tyrving, which continued to bleed despite the efforts of the Larraman's organ implanted within him. Barely within reach below him, impaled into the fibrous floor, was the massive blade he had come to reclaim in lieu of the slain Olanrewaju. After what his armor's internal sensors measured as nine standard days and nine standard nights of ceaseless torment, including the slow and agonizing loss of his right eye at the sadistic pleasure of a Lord of Change who wore a necklace of glowing blue eyes, all of the daemons, suddenly and without warning, vanished into the fleshy and squishy floor of the chamber.

Seeing and sensing none watching, but yet knowing this must be a lie, he seized the opportunity so carelessly offered to him and took hold of the blade Tyrving, which had been driven into the flesh-floor beneath him. The blade refused to cut the daemonic tendril which secured his leg to the ceiling. Seeing no viable alternative, the Hanged Man used his recently acquired blade to sever his own left leg above the knee and dropped to the floor. He dragged himself over to the nearest marine with detectable lifesigns - fortunately, an Apothecary - and cut him free of the disgusting wall.

The Apothecary was able to stabilize the lifesigns of two Sternguard and administered the Emperor's mercy and a terse Last Rite to the remaining Battle-Brothers present, carefully extracting and preserving their progenoid glands in the process, including the progenoid of the late Fleetmaster Olanrewaju. The two Sternguard retrieved what little of their fellows' wargear they could, giving priority to functioning equipment, and the four Astartes departed that place with very little resistance.

Upon returning to their fleet in a single Thunderhawk, the Hanged Man added the names of those who had fallen in recovery of the mighty relic to the nano-inscribed list of names on the massive blade. He chained Tyrving to his armor as is the custom of its bearer. He and those who returned with him were tested and proofed against the influence of Chaos by the Ordo Malleus and fitted with bionics and augmentations. Though the Hanged Man was curiously completely unable to use any of the vast psychic ability he had been able to display prior to his capture, as the wielder of Tyrving, he was named Fleetmaster. Chapter Apothecaries confirmed his gene-sequencing and in turn his identity, but the Librarius no longer found a single trace of psyker ability within him.

Recruitment

"Some men are born great. Some men achieve greatness. Some men have greatness thrust upon them." - Brother-Apothecary Abd-al-Qadir, of the Strike Cruiser Skíðblaðnir

As the Unfettered are a fleet-based chapter, they recruit constantly and from any source available to them. Records indicate a heavy reliance on war orphans and other young victims of conflict, with the chapter occasionally inducting recruits that other chapters might deem too old, injured, or sickly. All the willing from every warzone the chapter deploys to who pass basic screenings for mutation are enrolled.

The children are sent to the nearest Strike Cruiser and placed into the academy there. Most will become chapter serfs. Only the candidates that show promise for genetic modification and implantation are selected for further testing and mental screening by the Apothecarion and Librarius of the Strike Cruiser. Of those who have passed the first test, dozens more trials are demanded, and only the handful that meet every challenge are allowed to undergo the surgeries and therapies required to begin the path of the Astartes.

Once the recruits have accepted all implants and reached full maturation, they will be assigned to the recon teams based on their Strike Cruiser, and will be deployed into combat under the watchful eye of a seasoned Veteran Sergeant. Upon proving themselves in a reconnaissance role, each new Battle-Brother is assigned to a Tactical squad, where they learn the basics of frontline combat. Every new marine is assigned to either the path of the Vanguard or the path of the Sternguard, based on their combat aptitudes measured by their Sergeants, and are placed in either an Assault or Devastator squad when such a position becomes available, with the most able taking priority.

Each Battle-Brother, before being elevated to Veteran status, must complete a tour of duty with the Deathwatch of the Ordo Xenos. As a result of this policy, the Veterans of the Unfettered are each a wealth of knowledge on facing certain alien foes, with their voice of experience always given the ear it deserves. On the eve of battle, Veterans will tell the tales of their conflicts with the foe about to be engaged, always in a crisp and terse style with little flourish.

Doctrine and Organization

"Persons taking no active part in the hostilities ... shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race ... religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria." - Burnt and damaged parchment of unknown Terran origin, archives of the Strike Cruiser Vladislav Volkov

The Unfettered treat the organization of other Codex Astartes compliant chapters as polite suggestion at best, preferring a more decentralized structure that permits each of their flotillas to function more or less autonomously. Each flotilla has its own favored approaches to battle and preferred combat style. Their organization in this regard is informal enough that approaches vary even at the squad level.

Where other chapters maintain veteran's companies, battle companies, reserve companies, and scout companies, the Unfettered maintain eight battle-ready flotillas, each based on their own extremely modified and heavily-armed Strike Cruiser with full command and support staff, including detachments from the Apothecarion, Reclusiam, Librarius, and Armory. Each flotilla maintains their own veterans, scouts, and vehicle pool. This decentralized organization effectively makes each flotilla a very small chapter.

Each Strike Cruiser is accompanied by a small detatchment of various Astartes frigates, each loaded with a sizable compliment of gunships, boarding vessels, and fighter craft. An Unfettered flotilla is a welcome addition to an Imperial Navy battlegroup in any engagement. As a fleet-based chapter, the Unfettered are well trained in boarding action and ship-to-ship naval combat, though their nature as Astartes necessitates that their chapter serfs fill most shipboard positions in a protracted naval battle.

The Unfettered are constantly on the move, and rarely have the opportunity or the time to pause for resupply at a Forge World or similar source of Imperial matériel.  As a result, the amount of manufactorum-specification wargear the chapter holds is extremely limited, with most equipment and supplies heavily rigged with field repair.  

 

The chapter routinely salvages xenos equipment for raw material, which is then melted down and reforged by the Armory into weapons, armor, spare parts, ammunition, or whatever the Strike Cruiser may require.  The wargear of any given Battle-Brother is unrecognizably modified by field repairs, though it suffers no loss of function.  True innovation, as always, is practically unheard of - but using this method, the Unfettered are able to continue their tireless crusade.

 

Beliefs and Practices

"None have greater love for the people than this, to lay down one’s life for them, though they know not even your name." - Brother-Chaplain Kaneonuskatew, of the Strike Cruiser Arabella

The Unfettered barely pay lip service to even a secularized version of the veneration of the Emperor, preferring an extremely subdued interpretation of the Emperor as the greatest man to ever live, and studying his methods and achievements. Even this is sometimes regarded as a distant priority - protecting the innocents of the Imperium takes precedence. Each and every Unfettered marine would cross any line in any sand to safeguard the innocent, for all of them were once innocents unsaved, recruited into the service of the Emperor to pay forward the righting of the wrongs visited upon them.

Any from this chapter would leap onto an unexploded grenade, or stand in front of a volley of plasma bolts, or accept the oncoming swing of an enemy power weapon to safeguard an innocent in a combat zone. It is this often foolhardy selflessness that lends itself to the chapter's extensive use of bionics and augmentation - it is a rare Battle-Brother of the Unfettered who does not have at least minor bionic implants, each the result of voluntarily taking risks that other chapters might consider tactically unsound. Each blow accepted for the sake of Humanity removes each Battle-Brother further from the people they have sworn to protect, as they become ever more augmented and mechanical, ever more cold.

Each Strike Cruiser maintains within its Reclusiam shrine, in the heart of the most heavily-armored portion of the ship, a wall of great deeds - recording the sacrifices each brother Astartes has made in the service of the Emperor. Wounds and deaths suffered in the defense of the unwashed masses of the Imperium of Man are recorded on these walls of ceramite plating for all eternity, and there is no higher honor among the Unfettered to be listed among such heroes. The names on the walls are venerated with a fervor usually reserved among the citizens of the Imperium for the Emperor himself.

As an unfortunate result of the chapter's tendency toward dramatic heroic displays, the eight flotillas of the Unfettered are chronically reported as being under maximum strength, with an average of around ninety Astartes - including scouts and veterans - in each. The Unfettered's relatively loose recruiting standards lend themselves to frequent deployment of scouts, and many do not survive battle for long.

Geneseed

"For he today that binds his blood with mine shall be my brother." - Brother-Librarian Tangaroa, of the Strike Cruiser Hahnchen Maru

As far as can be ascertained, the gene-seed of the Unfettered appears to be stable, but it appears to contain a persistent mutation of unknown operation: every Battle-Brother's eyes glow in an electric blue color, like a plasma bolt. No explanation for this mutation is on record, but similar ocular effects are present in the Salamanders, most widely assumed to be their progenitor.

The Unfettered are reclusive and difficult to find due to the exhausting pace of their crusade and the decentralized structure of their fleet, but either the slightness of their mutation or their unwavering service to the Ordo Xenos has prevented even the most cursory of investigations from launching.

 

 

[j31c3n]

After two and a half long years of thought and evolution, I present for the pleasure of the B&C the third draft of the Index Astartes article for the Unfettered!  Please, pick it to shreds.  I decided to refocus the chapter on fighting Xenos, removing all the references to Chaos and Daemons.  This makes them a little more straightforward, and managed to focus the strength, weakness, and selling point of the fluff presented to a single point: the chapter's tireless crusade to defend the defenseless.

[Nineswords]

Three questions before I start on the second draft, here:1. Would it be ridiculous for the chapter to have a highly modified and perhaps slightly oversized strike cruiser per "company" and eschew battle barges entirely? I'm trying to give an impression of a decentralized command structure, so I don't want them to have 1 or 2 big huge ships where all the veterans hang out or something.2. Would a chapter that was in really good with the Ordo Xenos ever be given like "clearance" to use a few xenotech items? I'm mostly asking this not because I want that to be an important part of their background, but because I really like to do a xenotech conversion here and there (I especially want to make the Hanged Man's sword look decidedly non-Imperial.)3. I want the first draft of this IA to still be visible, so that people who read the thread later can see the progression between revisions and understand what early thread commenters are talking about. Would it be kosher to put the whole first draft in "spoiler" tags at the end of the post or something?

I'd say keep a battle barge or two as the core strength of your chapter and have modified strike cruisers to house your companies. The obvious trade off here is that some of its void capable weaponry is diminished to accommodate the extra marines but that also means you have space for more Thunderhawks and Droppods for planetary strikes. Strike Cruisers of the Carcharadons are fitted with mass teleportation arrays if I recall correctly.

 

Xenotech items could actually solve some of your relationships with the Admech and Inqusitiion. On one hand you have good relations with a branch of Mechanicus explanators who specialise is the study of Xenotech to further the Imperium and Mars. Such exploratory fleets need some additonal Astartes backup for when things feth up. Of course, this would draw the unwanted attention of the Ordo Xenos...

 

The point is, you can put in all this stuff, but it's not a case of 'there's this and this and this!' But rather, 'this which means this which means this'. The trade offs are far more interesting and characterful. Your constraints make the chapter. For example, my own chapter:

 

- Has good relationships with some factions of the explarator fleets as the chapter works in very small numbers across all four segmentums. This does not mean the chapter has access to all sorts of weird no wonderful weaponry. Far from it.

- Operates more like Deathwatch kill teams in terms of numbers as they don't have the operational strength to muster more than two companies for a particular campaign. Therefore they must work with other Imperial forces and act more like commandos.

- Eschews the codex tradition of battle companies altogether in keeping with their martial tradition

- No battle barges. Only strike cruisers (rare) and hunter class destroyers

 

All of these things that make a chapter culture simply follow the question, 'what would a space marine chapter look like if they couldn't access XY and Z?'