The Lions of Sparta - WIP

[Sigvard]

Lions of Sparta

Origins:

The origin of the Lions is one that has not lived that long in the grand history of the Imperium of Man. Founded in the late 37^th Millennium as a direct response to the fall of the Jericho Sector.  Whilst  the wider knowledge of the Jericho Reach is that it is left only to the Deathwatch to defend, the High Lords were beseeched by the Ordo Xenos , for should the Deathwatch be overwhelmed and the chaos and xenos  forces held within the Jericho were to break out the evil contained there would reap a terrible toll on the Ultima Segmentum.

The Lions of Sparta are taken from the Dark Angels genestock, the High Lords wanting to make use of the legendary Dark Angel resolve against overwhelming odds, for it is widely known within the Imperium of Man, Dark Angels will stubbornly refuse to yield ground even when death is a certainty. So the chapter was born and given a planet on the fringe of the Jericho Reach named Lacedaemonia after an ancient city from Terran history.

The chapter was founded and trained and sent to Lacedaemonia with the mission clear. The High Lords made sure that the training program was carried out under the watchful scrutiny of high ranking members of the Deathwatch, if the chapter was to a be contingency they would not be unequipped to deal with the horrors of the Jericho Reach. Within their new realm the then ‘Scions of the Lion’ carried out their duty with great honour and stoicism. However the chapter’s promising start was to soon be tarnished by their very own progenitor.

 

Never forgiven - The 300 Spartans

It was not long before an envoy of the progenitor of the new chapter arrived, showing a great bond of solidarity and great expression of pride at the efforts the chapter was to bring to the sons of the Lion El’Johnson. The bonds between the Scions and the Dark Angels was no different to that of any of the successors and the introduction of the Inner Circle and unique format of the Dark Angels combat doctrine was introduced to the Scions battle tactics. Yet the easy relationship would not last long. The Scions of the Lion were introduced to the concept of the fallen which they accepted and even hungered for a chance to earn themselves great honour by putting down some of their tainted brothers, yet it was less that 200years into the chapters inception when a conflict that turned the chapter from the darkened path of the son’s of the lion and would leave them irrevocably changed.

 

In the early dawn of the 38^th Millennium the Dark Angels pressed the Scions of the Lion more and more for tithe to hunt the fallen across the stars, almost a full battle company was dedicated to helping their dark brethren keep the terrible secret of the Dark Angels. The leaders of the chapter decided that the ties with their progenitors were too great to ignore, within a further ten years over half of the chapter was seconded to the far reaches of the galaxy hunting the fallen and fighting the enemies of the Dark Angels. It was at this time that the chapter was called upon to fulfil its duty by the Ordo Xenos, to defend the Imperium in the stead of the Deathwatch. A full 6 Deathwatch outposts fell silent simultaneously across the borders of the Jericho Reach all within short warp jumps of Lacedaemonia.

The message from the Ordo was clear, full chapter deployment was authorised, a show of overwhelming force was required. It was at this point that the leaders of the chapter realised that the pursuit of the fallen and the title of ‘unforgiven’ had lead them from their sacred duty of protecting the Emperor’s realm and his subjects. They had in pursuit of secrets and treachery under the guise of heroism had left the Deathwatch and the Imperium sorely shorthanded.

The decision was made and a galaxy wide transmission was issued, every Astartes amongst the stars was to return to the chapter monastery, this was issued from the chapter master himself and sent with the highest level encryption to every Astartes of rank that lead the forces away from the fortress. With that the chapter deployed leaving a single battle company to defend the fortress should the mission fail. 400 Astartes deployed, including the Chapter Master, Chief Librarian and High Chaplain. Only one returned. The captain of the veteran first company, a member of the elite Deathwing. When he returned to Lacedaemonia he found his battle brothers had returned from the stars, and what he told them sickened them to pits of their stomachs. The Chapter Master lead the brave 300 who went into the reach and met their deaths. Every Astartes of the force met glorious death in battle and fought until their very last breath, all but the Captain, who the Chapter Master sent home to play a message to those of his brothers that returned from the stars.

The battle that followed the vid-log left the entire force that went into the Jericho Reach destroyed. The Ordo Xenos sent a huge reclamation force into the area lost in the incursion and discovered only ruins of the chapter that had been deployed. They discovered only 100 bodies and each was destroyed beyond any reclamation, and so the Chapter was declared destroyed and faded from the Imperium and forgotten.
 

* * * Video Log – Chapter Master Leonidas –Scions of the Lion * * *

“Brothers, we have failed you, we have failed our sacred duty to the Emperor. We have been defeated at the hand of the true enemy. A enemy of sleepless malice and hunger that can devour the stars. In our determination to fall in line with our progenitors we have neglected our very purpose for existence. I say to you now my brothers with the ending of my life the secrets and the shadows that have fallen upon our chapter must die. It is my last act as Chapter Master of the  Scions of the Lion renounce our progenitors and blood line and declare ourselves a new to the Imperium as loyal servants and will give our lives to spare a single drop of the people of the Emperor’s Realm. I Leonidas of the blood of the lion rename our chapter ‘The Lions of Sparta’ and declare that Dilios, Captain of the First Company shall take my place. With him I have left a doctrine and destiny for you my brothers that I believe will make our chapter great once again. Fare well my brothers - For the Emperor, for Sparta, to the death.”

 

* * * Transmission Terminated – Last communication of Chapter Master Leonidas * * *

Rebirth

 

As the 40^th Millennium was born the Scions of the Lion returned to the Imperium of Man, under the name The Lions of Sparta they first appeared on a fringe world on the Segmentum Obscurum that had come under attack from a splinter of Hive Fleet Gorgon. The world was a hive world with a dense populace numbering in the billions. The Imperial Guard regiments fell quickly to the Tyranid onslaught and all that remained were a token force of the Disciples of Caliban. The force numbered no more than 100 Astartes and they were running short on time and supplies.

Their salvation came at the hands of the Lions of Sparta, drop pods descending from the sky. The Lions deployed in such force that the Tyranids were scourged from the planet’s surface in a number of days, whilst the battle in the void was won much sooner.

The Disciples of Caliban named their saviours heroes and attempted to make contact with the rescue force. They were met with steely silence except for a single transmission,

“The is no such thing as innocence only degrees of guilt, in the eyes of the Emperor your guilt is assured. Yours secrets are secrets no more heretic.”

 

With that the Lions withdrew without giving the name of the chapter or engaging in any communication with the Disciples of Caliban.

Within it two centuries every chapter of the unforgiven had a similar story to tell of this unknown chapter and at that very council of chapter masters it was decided that something must be done to quash the knowledge this chapter had and also bring them to heel for such blatant disrespect of the first legion.

 

Unveiling the Shadows -  WIP

I am unsure of what to do about bringing the Lions of Sparta out of the shadows and into the light once more. I want there to be an event that is unknown to all but the highest ranking members of the Dark Angels and the Lions of Sparta.

 

Chapter Organisation.

In its founding days the chapter functioned as you would expect a successor of the Dark Angels to function, even to the naming of the Death Wing and Ravenwing. However after the event of the 300 Spartans the chapter went dark and upon their return they were  vastly different chapter.

 

Eschewing the veil of secrecy that held their progenitors, the Lions of Sparta almost fell completely into Codex Astartes compliance. The plans Chapter Master Leonidas laid down, spoke of honouring the Codex but for one difference. Their first company whilst fully intact would never function as an autonomous company, looking to rid the chapter of its Inner Circle the veterans of the first would be divided amongst the chapter imparting their knowledge and skills on the all the chapter’s battle brothers. There would be in each Company a veteran squad who would advise the Captain and each be assigned to a squad in the company and offer council and deploy with the squad during its missions.

 

The High Command of the Chapter is a living presence throughout the companies and unless bound to duties of an administrative nature many of the chapter’s leader will accompany squads regularly on missions of varying importance, to the High Command the tenets of scripture laid down by the first Chapter Master was as holy as the Codex Astartes itself, for in it Leonidas has said that whilst divided by rank the chapter would not be divided in knowledge and responsibility in protection of the Emperor’s subject.

 

The rank of interrogator chaplain was expunged from the chapter instantly with all who held this rank required to go through hypno-indoctrination detailing the art of being a Codex Chaplain and bringing the fury of the Emperor to his enemies. No more the torture of the fallen, no more relentless hunts of those who had no bearing on the mission given to them at the very birth of their chapter. The litanies these re-educated warrior-priests would cry out would be for the death of the traitor and the xenos who threatens the sanctity of the Emperor’s realm and the safety of his subjects.

 

The chapter is once again geared towards the reason for its inception, combating the threat of xenos in the stead of the Deathwatch should a calamity befall them. As such the Ordo Xenos has made sure they are well equipped for confronting any xenos threat they should encounter. Exotic plasma and flamer weaponry is in no short supply within the chapter, neither is ancient Tactical Dreadnought Armour – each veteran squad member has access to his own suit which often is worn when the squad deploys as a whole.

 

Furthermore the chapter has a wide variety of vehicles at their disposal; Rhino’s and Razorbacks are the chapter’s mainstay for transporting themselves into combat, accompanied by Storm Ravens and Talons for aerial operations. They also a have strong contingent of bikes for the assault marines who operate within the chapter. The one thing the chapter finds itself short of is Land Raider’s, the venerable vehicle of the Imperium are in very short supply, in fact the chapter boasts on two, ‘The Spear of Sparta’ and ‘The Shield of Leonidas’. Though many request for more of these ancient war machines have been made the answer is always the same.

 

Combat Doctrine

The chapter now follows the tenets of the Codex Astartes for the majority of its combat operations. The words of Roboute Guilleman many have found restrictive with its rules and restrictions, yet the Lions of Sparta have discovered when taken as a set of guidelines applied to the fluidity of combat its merits create a formidable fighting force. The chapters’ squads are aligned almost completely to the Codex except for the Veterans who are ever present in the chapter.

 

Tactical squads are the main stay of the army, the mighty phalanx with which to draw the enemy in close which bolter fire rains down upon them, then once in close the weapons specialists in each squad step forward. Each marine armed with a deadly exotic weapon – the chapter favours Flamers, Melta-Guns and Plasma for they are in abundance due to their ties with the Ordo Xenos. When the enemy is in range of these deadly weapons the Emperor’s fury is unleashed upon the foe. With the enemy now truly beleaguered the Assault Squads are used as a decisive spear thrust into the throat of the enemy charge. Bikes armed with Melta-Guns strike enemy lines, burning jets fire rip through armour and bone followed by chain blade and bolt pistols mete vengeance in the name of the Emperor. Jump Packs roar through the sky and deliver deadly close combat marines into the fray to strike the head from the shoulders of the enemy advance.

 

Unlike many other chapters the chapters drop pods are used with mighty Devestator Squads. Guided in by far reaching scout squads who are tasked with finding enemy armour, the pods fall from orbital strike cruisers and spew forth Devastator Marines armed with heavy weapons. The heavy weapons squads are ordinarily armed with Multi-Melta’s for the destruction of the nearby battle tanks and Heavy Bolters to reduce the reserve squads of the enemy formation to nothing more than bloody mist.

 

Finally when death has been dealt to the enemy in untold amounts and the killing blow is to be struck, the chapters’ veterans who are not with their squads deploy on mass with their Captain. Wearing either beautiful suits of Artificer Armour or ancient Terminator war plate they strike at the very heart of the enemy formation, seeking out the leader of the vile foe. The chapters’ Captains court glory as a matter of course and will often seek the enemy leader and challenge them to single combat whilst the veterans with keep the enemy at bay.

 

Once the Captain and his squad are deployed, the rest of the army like the Phalanx from ancient terra pushes out into the enemy lines. They will hold taking punishment from the enemy whilst in cover and then move forward is a forceful push up the battlefield, this will be repeated until the company has linked with Captains’ squad and slowly like an inexorable tide they clear the battlefield of their foes.

 

This is a work in progress - Any comments and critiscism is more than appreciated.

 

Share with me your lore brothers -  for knowledge is power -  guard it well

[Bryan Blaire]

Entire battle companies wouldn't be dedicated to the Hunt, not without some seriously good cover stories as to why. For the Unforgiven, only the 1st Company and those that have progressed upward through it actually knows the story behind the Fallen, the rest are clueless, or in the case of the Ravenwing, mostly clueless/told an "alternate truth" to allow them to work without fully understanding. The Dark Angels/Unforgiven wouldn't press a Chapter to use those that aren't supposed to be included in the Hunt as part of it.

 

As far as the separation, it's likely, IMO, that the Dark Angels would use their pull as a First Founding, especially of they had more high ranking Unforgiven (such as the Angels of Absolution and Vengeance) to assist, to have the Chapter declared Hereticus and subject to destruction. They are not going to leave the secret out there and potentially exposed for two millenium.

 

Also, why the view that the Unforgiven wouldn't act as loyal sons of the Imperium? They very much are, but with an additional agenda point, and that only overrides their duty to the Imperium when both the Imperium and the Hunt can't be served. They don't ignore the Deathwatch, they have members that willingly serve (and in my opinion, act as information sources, searching through Inquisition files for evidence on the Fallen, securing it and removing it then filtering it back to the Unforgiven, etc). The worst thing the Unforgiven could do would be to respond to requests as if they have something to hide. They don't want to key up the Inquisition's suspicions.

 

I'm not sure any of that really helps your story though, and it is an interesting story, I'm just not that sure it jives as well in the greater Unforgiven storyline (at the very least as I see it). Then again, I'm a huge proponent of the multi-sand box idea for story telling, so it is a very interesting tale to flesh out.

[Veteran Sergeant]

First thing that pops into my head that I tell people is don't beat a trope over the head. Lions of Sparta that happen to have 300 against many as their historical event? It's important to remember that if you're taking inspiration for a chapter from other things, take it. 40K is built on that kind of thing. But your guys are Space Marines in 40K Universe. You're making your guys Sparta in 40K Universe, all the way to Leonidas, and it breaks the immersion if you're shoehorning that hard. I'd choose either the 300 reference (though maybe not so blatant), or the Sparta name (I'd go against the latter because it's a reference to a place that would be long forgotten by the time of 40K). At this point it just reads like you've watched that really long Calvin Klein ad with the dudes in diapers and capes one too many times. It has all the subtlety of a thunder hammer and it's pretty quick to pull the reader out of the setting.

 

You don't really need to refer to the Codex as a set of guidelines. That's how it's actually written in any fluff not authored by Graham McNeill. Being "Codex Adherent" just means you arrange yourself into 10 companies of approximately 100 dudes, and follow the guidelines for recruiting and training new Marines. it doesn't have anything to do with strategy or tactics.

 

En masse, not on mass. It's French, means in a big group, or "in a big mass".

 

In the absence of the Chapter Master, whose authority forced the reeducation of the Interrogator Chaplains? Seems like there might be some room for drama if there's a power struggle between the traditionalists led by the Chaplains and those wishing to honor the last wishes of the Chapter Master. That's a pretty significant change, one that a lot of members of the chapter might not like.

 

A lot of your wargear descriptions are extraneous (we don't need to know that they ride in Razorbacks and Rhinos, that's what Marines do. And the presence of plasma guns or flamers isn't really noteworthy either). A lot of your combat doctrine is redundant. Tactical Marines doing what Tactical Marines do; Assault Marines doing what Assault Marines do, etc.

[Hemal]

Its just "too".  too derivative.  300 + Leonidas + Phalanxes + Spears etc etc

too superlative. Heavy bolters turning enemies into a bloody mist? Another Astartes force hailing drop podding reinforcements heroes?  I doubt it, and anyone calling Dark Angels or successors Heretics would have been attacked straight away.  How does a chapter readily take on a force of Tyranids which a Guard army on a teeming world of billions could easily deal with (you are talking literally millions of PDF bolstered by a full company of marines - the addition of an extra 100 marines is going to be a good thing, but the Guard armies shouldnt be being "torn to pieces"

too much emphasis on "stuff".  All Chapters use drop pods with Devestators when required. All Chapters have Tactical squads as a bulwark.  All chapters fight almost the same, even divergent ones.. Every marine chapter ought to have 10 Rhinos per line company,  and a few Razorbacks. No point in belabouring the point.

too much rebellion.  37th Millenium sucessors to the DA would almost certainly NOT know about he Fallen.  If word got out EVERY DA geneseed successor would be annihilated.  Azrael would personally lead the Rock into the Jericho reach, send in the whole Deathwing and drag the chapter kicking and screaming into the Rock's dungeons.  The DA would of course have rounded up the posse of 2nd FOunding unforgiven to do a disappearing act on the errant marines.

 

 

Apologies if my critique was too critical.  I would make the following suggestions..
There are many examples in 40K of the Thermopylae pass.  Just as there is Rourke's Drift or Stalingrad or D-Day or Tobruk.  It can be identifiable as another "300" but probably carries more weight as the Chapter Master and 1st co or anotehr elite formation, heading to the breach to stop teh enemy, allowing the remaining chapter to muster a decent defence.  I would use a tangible foe - perhaps a feleet of demon ships.  Perhaps teh Chapter needs to try and rally Imperial troops from many different regiments to teh fight, perhaps Titan Legions are incoming and teh Chapter Master needs to buy days/weeks/months, possibly with the lives of his men?

As for teh Hunting teh Fallen. maybe teh CHapter Master is influenced by a Fallen who wasn't swayed to Chaos, and determined that whilst the secret would be kept they would no longer attend the beer keggers at the Rock, nor answer calls for to join the Hunt from the Supreme Grand Master?  I would go as far as to make them a 3rd Founding chapter as one from the a mid Imperium founding ISN'T going to receive info on the fall.  The Grand master, his command cadre and all the Deathwing can perhaps be killed taking the knowledge and burden of the fallen with them. He could perhaps have taken a task force of everyone with knowlegde of the Fallen (Company Masters, 1st co, Dreadnaughts etc etc)  The remaining command staff might not have been inducted to the Inner Circle, or might decide to honour the last vidcast (which doesn't need to be carried by anyone in particular)

Perhaps the Chapter uses the opportunity afforded by this massive invasion and the confusion it caused to disappear, near to the warp gate to the Jericho Reach, that allows them reinvent themselves as an M37 chapter, fleet based of course.  They can leave a trail of devestation and lots of their own armour in their wake?  Maybe they even assaulted and captured a marine manufactury ship beforehand (belonging to some random chapter - perhaps an ex Lamenters or Scythes of the Emperor ship infested with Stealers) ?  Thus allowing them to bypass the normal issues with losing materiel as tehy know they have replacements ready in the new heraldry?

[NightrawenII]

Ahem, all successors of Dark Angels are privy to the Fall of Caliban and Hunt of the Fallen.

 

That being said, I agree with what has been already said with some additional comments.

 

#1 There is only War.

The Imperium of Man is beset by the enemies on all sides and engulfed in flames of war of survival. There is always war to be fought, battle to be won, threat to be vanquished, planet to be saved. All in all, the space marines cannot afford to stay at their fortress-monastery and poke in their noses. This means that the Chapter is rarely assembled in one place. In fact, Leonidas can call himself lucky that he could gather such force and it really doesn't make any difference where the rest went.

 

#2 The strike force

Hundred space marines can conquer planet. 300 marines is freaking powerful armada which can change fate of entire sector, not to mention it's one third of the entire Chapter. Therefore there is NO connection between their situation and battle of Thermopylae... at all.

 

#3 Fade in black

Yeah, yeah... no.

Unless of course, the planet of Lacedaemonia disappeared too and even in the W40k the planets have this habbit of not disappearing, at least not too often. Also, I don't see any reason why they should be sulking for 2,000 of years. That's too emo for Space Marines.

 

 

~ NightrawenII

[El Ancieno]

I like most of what you've done here, but it is a bit too historical and there's no way an Unforgiven chapter would forsake their sacred duty to hunt down the Fallen, unless they joined the Fallen themselves. Other than that, good job so far.

[Quozzo]

I'm not so fond of Dark Angels giving up everything that makes them Dark Angely, If you want a codex adherent chapter there are plenty to chose from.

 

That said, Your "Unveiling the Shadows" section could have the Lions of Sparta peruse a fallen, and when they are on the brink of capturing him they receive a message to aid their fortress monestary (or something to take them away from the pursuit, but something big) They make the decision and leave the fallen in order to save their chapter, a clever back-up plan from the chaos marine to secure his escape. Afterwards the Dark Angels do indeed capture him, and he lets the cat out of the bag on how the Lions failed in their quest. This gives the DA motives to hate the LoS whilst also only allowing the inner circle (of both chapters) to be privy to the events.