IA: The Dragons

[Rex rgis of bellum]

Formation:

Oral legends, that circulate amongst the clans, of both the formative years of the Dragon Warriors and even of DrukYul are the only information available to the common solider. These state that the first Space Marines arrived on DrukYul during M34 seeking a rest and refuge from a failed campaign, finding the locals to be hardy and strong these Marines then returned in M35 to form the chapter. The clan recorders that work with the Consul Council have more details, showing that the first Space Marines on DrukYul where a company of Salamanders who landed in the north of the planet after their Thunderhawk lost fuel in early M34 & then later a team of Iron Hands who survey the system whilst doing to another campaign. Terran records show that both chapters then indepedantly proposed that DrukYul be used as a Chapter world, the Iron Hands geneseed was selected and teams of both chapters started work in M35 to form a few chapter.

Homeworld:

• Homeworld:  DrukYul
• Location: Segmentum Tempestus
• Geography:  Mountainous mineral rich world, majority of the world has a cold climate, with a few equatorial regions seeing longer (half year) warm snowless periods.
• Homeworld affected on Chapter: The world of DrukYul originally suffered great tribal conflicts before being discovery by the founding members of the Dragon Warriors chapter. The chapter installed or captured local significant dzongs (fortress) in the major regions of the world. Over the millennia since, many smaller regional dzongs have been built, operated by the, now more constitutionalised, locals. The caste system that developed from the tribal origins has been adopted and utilised by the Dragon Warriors, alongside the local belief systems. The main Tashdzong, the largest dzong on the planet, formally owned by the largest tribe was translated, almost in one go, from its former site to the planet’s only moon, when the Dragon Warriors was founded. This display of strength has designed to establish the chapters position over the planet. The Tashdzong and the moon have since been reinforced and strength, the whole moon operating as the chapter’s main fortress monastery and base of operations.

Combat Doctrine:

• Chapter tactics: Ranged combat and utilisation of environmental features.
• Why: The original tribesmen of DrukYul where skilled bowmen, using them to hunt food and to wage war. These hunters used the environment around them to close in on their enemies and strike from concealed positions, but where also able to quickly move in to fight at closer ranges against their opponents. During the first recruitment moves by the young Dragon Warriors chapter, brave or desperate tribesmen where know to try to use the tactics that they had used against each other, against the patrols of Space Marines, a great number where lost, however the strongest tribesmen where nearly always hoisted into the air by the Marines that they charged, more cunning tribesmen who flitted though the forest, trying to place an arrow shot on the Space Marine patrols, would find themselves hunted by the scouts working with the patrols. These practices are no longer common place, most of the recruitment is none annually when local leaders, Ecclesiarchy or Mechanicus representatives arrive at the nearest Dragon Warriors dzong with their best hopefuls. 
• Chapter's battle-history: Clans of the Dragon Warriors have fought across the Imperial galaxy, mainly in situations where beleaguered Imperial defences need to bolstered against attacks from the Orks and Tyranids, there their preference of ranged combat is used to destroy the enemies as they push towards the Imperial defences. Some of the more skilled clansmen of the Dragon Warriors have been tasked to hunt down and kill leaders of the enemies and even heretical traitors, utilising the skills based though generations of DrukYul tribesmen and now Dragon Warriors Space Marines.

Organisation: 

The founding members of the Dragon Warriors took much from the social set up of DrukYul. The Dragon Warriors chapter is preceded over by the Druk Gyalpo (King of the Dragons) and made up of 6 self-contained clans, each name after one of the mythical ‘dragons’ of DrukYul. With this clan structure there is a Consul Council represented by the senior most member of each Clan, the Librium, Chaplaincy and Mechanium (the chapters armoury and motor pool). Each clan has it’s own council (Tshogdu) made of the Clan’s representative, (senior most) Librian, Chaplin, Techmarine and the veteran members.  Dragon Warriors utilise the DrukYul tribesmen’s distinguishing dress code, the colour of owns’ cloth (traditionally a scarf worn left to right across the body) is dependant on your rank:

• White for the common solider,
• White with Red stripes of squad leaders (a Thrompon),
• Blue for veterans, can be combined with Red strips for veteran leaders (a Mangmi),
• Green for Chaplains, Liberians and Techmarine, with Red stripes for senior members (a Gup),
• Orange for the Clan representative (Dzongdag)
• Red for Consul Council members, only worn for events with the Druk Gvalpo,
• Saffron for the Druk Gvalp

Within each Clan, Warriors are split in to squads dependant on the specialism. Therefore, unlike

other chapters, a Warrior starts in the སོ་པ Sopa (Scout) squads, progresses to a  བྲུག་པ ‘Brugpa (Tactical) and if shows a special development or leaning towards them is moved to either གྲི Gri (Assault) or མདའ Mda’ (Devastator) squads. After an extended service a Warrior is classified as a རྒན་པ Rgan Pa (Vetern) and allowed access to wargear, equipment and responsibilities it holds.  

 

Beliefs:

The DrukYul tribesmen venerated the largest of the native reptilian ‘dragons’, this mighty beasts

could not be tamed or controlled by any man. There are 6 different varieties of ‘dragons’ each with unique features and skills:

 

• The Druk འབྲུག (of which the land is named after) are the oldest and wisest of the dragons. A long snaking land based reptile with white scales, it has been venerated by all the tribes though their lifetime.
• The Gnam གནམ are odd creatures, serpentine without any limbs and generally grey in colour. Though wingless, are capable not only floating in the air, but though serpentine movements can move slowly against the wind. Normally found in high mountain passes, known to hassle travellers trespass into the wrong areas.
• Gser གསེར are dark scaled large four legged reptiles with a range of fins across its back. Normally found within cavernous structures within the mountains, there are know to venture out of their caves to eat or to collect jewels and items of preciouses materials, which they would keep in their mouths until returning to their caves.
• བབས་ཆུ Babschu are similar to the Gnam in appearance, yet are jade in colour and are found in the lakes and rivers in the mountains, it is seen as a good omen to witness one work its way up a waterfall into to a higher mountain lake.  
• དུག་ཕོག Dugphog are another limbless serpentine reptile, found in lowlands. These are usually yellow in colour and can breathe a poisonous cloud to attack its prey or attackers.  
• མེ་གཏོང་ས Megtongsa are multi-headed reptiles with short squat legs that are found in hot lava flows around volcanoes.   
• ཕ་རན་སིའི་མི Pharansi'imi is quick moving , long legged dragon that is normally found in flat plains, these are know to make lighting raids on livestock or other prey.

When the first founding Space Marines arrived on DrukYul, their craft arriving from space sounded like the roar of multitudes of these dragons. Legend has it one of the first craft to arrive collided with a number of Gnam and that when the nearest tribesmen was the Gnam on the craft they knew that whose who had arrived in them where great powerful beings. It is said that as these Space Marines travelled throughout DrukYul, even the greatest Druk ‘dragons’ would fear them

and hid.  As the Dragon Warriors have no records of which chapter they draw ancestry from, nor which Primarch they draw their genetic heritage from, they have adopted some of the practices of the DrukYul tribesmen into their chapter cult. The lack of a Primarch means that they hold the Emperor as the highest being, with the Primarchs as highest the man can achieve, with each Dragon Warrior striving to achieve this level of humanity.

 

Geneseed:

With knowledge of their geneseed heritage, it is worth noting that the characteristic shortness and dark skin colouration of members of the chapter is more likely to be due to the same characteristics found in the DrukYul tribesmen than any flaw or mutation to their geneseed. The only geneseed divergence are heightened Preomnor and Neuroglottis functions, meaning that a Dragon Warrior can consume any food as well as track their prey with heightened ease. 
 

Battle Cry:

All members of the Dragon Warriors will end prayers and devotions with ‘By the Dragon for the Emperor!’. Each clan seems to also have a complex overlapping vocal chat that is used both to encourage their fellow Warriors but also to confuse and disorientate the enemy, especially when amplified through vox grills. 

Battle Colours/Colour Scheme:

The standard colour scheme is shown below. There the Space Marine is not wearing any ropes or tunic, therefore his rank colouring is on the chest piece. 

http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp22/Ben_Parslow/Warhammer%2040K/Dragon%20Warriors_zpsphcbz8im.jpg

[Ecritter]

So ... the High Lords of Terra, the AdMech and the chapter itself just happen to forget all about when and why they where created?  It adds nothing reasonable to the chapter at all, just pick a founding ...  its that easy.

[Chronotonic]

or...

 

the chapter was made in secret to repair a chapters gene seed flaw...that worked with but with this it introduced more genetic elements from the population that the gene seed is used on...

 

so that would cover any number chapters or even legions of chaos if you wanted to do that

[Uprising]

I am going to sound like a jerk, but name taken by traitorous salamanders:  

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Dragon_Warriors#.UwLfWZGaLwI

 

Beside that, its an ok start.  

[NightrawenII]

the chapter was made in secret to repair a chapters gene seed flaw...that worked with but with this it introduced more genetic elements from the population that the gene seed is used on...

... which was attempted once, in 21st Founding, and with terrible results.

 

Second, even though the GW/FW does it, the chances of Chapter forgeting its Primarch are almost non-existent. He embodies spiritual and physical link with the Emperor, their past and genetic legacy. Nothing short of true disaster could deprive the Chapter of this knowledge.

 

Also, the SM homeworlds are off-limits to Ecclesiarchy; discrepancy of doctrine.

 

 

~ NightrawenII

[Ecritter]

The problem is that when you do things to simply make your chapter look cool, they never do.

 

If something adds to the chapter, by all means do it. But as written now, I don't see any reason for the "special" things.

[Beta galactosidase]

Each clan seems to also have a complex overlapping vocal chat that is used both to encourage their fellow Warriors but also to confuse and disorientate the enemy, especially when amplified through vox grills. 

 

 

Any input into this would be great, will work on the colour scheme over the next few days.

I like this part a lot. I think this part is the best out of the blatant insertion of whatever culture this is supposed to be.

 

I think if you are not going to have a primary, then you should put in a sentence or propositional phrase like "unlike chapters of the early founding, the Dragon Warriors cannot trace their gene seed to a primarch, so the Emperor is the only object of their loyalty." It's a good thing this way.

 

Chapters are founded when the Genetors pick a zygote that works well, pick zygotes for the other seventeen organ that work well with that, copy them several times, and then implant the copies into the first thousand marines. It would be weird if the new chapter ever did know which primarch theirs is.

 

I like the six clans. Usually when people do anything other than ten companies I think it is silly, like the fellow who does three battalions of three companies. However, one hundred sixty seven marines per clan is not too different from one hundred marines per company.

 

I really like it, it's great.

 

*Tibet, sure.

[Rex rgis of bellum]

Well thanks for all the quick feedback. So my 'shoehorning' hasn't gone unnoticed, need to add even more flexibility:

- Haveing the chapter aware of its pregenators seems to be the key factor,

- Maybe change the chapter name, or a fluff campaign to promote their loyalty?,

- More explanation as to why

the "special" things.

(What is "cool"?)

-

Also, the SM homeworlds are off-limits to Ecclesiarchy; discrepancy of doctrine.

As it is key to the chapter's makeup there needs to be one organisation/group that it drew support from in its early years (AdMech so far) and one that wants to enforce its own will and desires on the chapter and planet, so if the Ecclesiarchy are off limits, who then, the =][= or a more Codex chapter?

[NightrawenII]

Chapters are founded when the Genetors pick a zygote that works well, pick zygotes for the other seventeen organ that work well with that, copy them several times, and then implant the copies into the first thousand marines. It would be weird if the new chapter ever did know which primarch theirs is.

You should expand your knowledge of gene-seed. Any manipulation with gene-seed is pretty big deal for both Imperium and Astartes.

 

Moreover, who do you think trains the new Chapter? Hint: It has something to do with their pedigree.

 

 

Also, the SM homeworlds are off-limits to Ecclesiarchy; discrepancy of doctrine.

 

As it is key to the chapter's makeup there needs to be one organisation/group that it drew support from in its early years (AdMech so far) and one that wants to enforce its own will and desires on the chapter and planet, so if the Ecclesiarchy are off limits, who then, the =][= or a more Codex chapter?

I don't quite understand your intention(s) but...

 

Keep in mind the favoured, and enforced, policy of Imperium is separation of power (and thus balance of power). The Space Marine Chapters are supposed to be independent entities and while Imperial organisations seek their aid and friendship, anyone who would try to gain influence or even control over the Chapter will meet resistance either from the Chapter itself and other organisations.

 

That being said, the real situation is far more complex and complicated. Most of the old Chapters are bound by web of honour debts, ancient pacts, oaths of duty and bonds of friendship.

 

 

~ NightrawenII

[Reinholt]

A few quick thoughts on the "not knowing the primarch" situation:

 

1 - For later founding chapters, it's possible they never knew in the first place. This seems more likely to me than "they knew, but forgot". Something like the admech having mixed up the records ("According to our database, your primarch is Arch Magos Geartoes. Oh dear, that can't be right."), being founded in a batch where it simply wasn't tracked, or because the people who knew were killed in some disaster (deliberate or not). In this case, I can see the Emperor being in place of the primarch in terms of loyalty, sort of a double-bond, if you will. Or it being a gnawing source of uncertainty. Who knows?

 

2 - It was known, but some kind of massive fallout with other chapters led to the knowledge of it being repressed. Of course, this may mean others know, but that the chapter itself does not.

 

3 - They do know (or others do and the knowledge was deliberately withheld), but it's a terrible secret that the primarch is accidentally Mortarion (or some such) because of a horrible mix-up during their founding and which gene-seed stocks were used...

 

So there are many possible explanations. I think the trick is having one that is not "these great warriors who venerate past heroes and are trained to do so from day one totally forgot about their most important past hero".

[Rex rgis of bellum]

So I have finally found my old post and updated a few things, hopefully answering a few of the above comments.