IA: Ebon Hunters

[Chiv]

IA: Ebon Hunters 

 http://i823.photobucket.com/albums/zz157/Chiv4lry/spacemarineCAPY9SRF_zps1d5dc431.jpg

 Ebon Hunter

 

"Brothers of the black and white! Tonight we drag them to the watery hells reserved for our most treacherous enemies!"

~ Captain Blackfoot, 3rd Company Ebon Hunters, on campaign.

Origins of the Ebon Hunters

 

Believed to have been founded during the 13th (Dark) Founding, due to an overwhelming lack of any chapter histories or founding information.

 

Beliefs

 

The Ebon Hunters have long operated in the far reaches of space beyond the support of their brother astartes, this isolation leads to an intense brotherhood within the chapter and a deep-seeded suspicion of all others.

 

While the chapters Gene-Sire may not be known, the Ebon Hunters are abnormally obsessed with ancestry and personal lineage. Each marine is able to trace his pre-astartes lineage to one of the Matriarchs and her accociated clan. After induction into the chapter the marine learns the recorded history and actions of his forebears via vast recorded histories written by chapter serfs and stored in the chapter Librarium.

 

The chapter as a whole sees itself as descendants of the Holy Emperor rather than sons of the Primarchs.

 

Organization

 

The Ebon Hunters began as a fully codex complaint chapter, but over the millenia isolation and tribal warfare tactics has driven the chapter into its own orginization.

 

The chapter is divided into 12 Companies each holding roughly 50 - 75 Marines with the Chapter master at its head. Each company is commanded by a Captain who then divides his astartes into smaller formations, called Pods, at his discression.

 

Each company varies widely, and is generally designed to be self-sufficient for mission and campaign purposes. Each company claims its origins from a different clan and matriarch, and therefore tactics tend to differ from company to company.

 

The first company, the only tribally diverse company, is a veteran unit usually consisting of astartes who may someday lead. The 1st is generally small and usually operates in conjunction with other companies as an elite strike force. Atleast one tour as Pod Sergeant is usually a prerequisite for induction into the 1st Company.

 

The Council of Orcinus is a grouping of all 12 Captians and the Chapter Master and is very rarely convened, usually only for large scale chapter deployments and chapter-wide decision making.

 

Homeworld

 

Ma'Kah II, the second planet and only habitable one of the five, was colonized late in mankinds ascention to the stars, is on the outer fringes of the Imperium. It was selected for strategic purposes as a base of operations for a Chapter Astartes. The Ebon Hunters were assigned and have adapted well to this sparse oceanic planet.

 

Several large islands make up the majority of the useable land mass, and is divided up between clans. Food and other resources are generally gleaned from the ocean and its orbiting moons.

 

One of the moons, Thunderbird, houses the chapters small fleet and armoury. Named after a local mythological bird, this has long been the chapters base of operations.

 

The indiginous culture prevailant upon the planet seemed to be matriarchal clans. The clan's worship of local fauna, who bear a striking resemblance to the Terran creatures for which they are named, isn't a new phenomina. This practice, however, has been largely abandondoned in favor of the worship of the Emperor. Small sects of warriors and clan leaders still place a high regard for the animals which they claim represent lost ancestors.  

 

The clans reverence for ancestry has taken hold within the chapter in the form of company individualization. Each company represents a clan from which they draw aspirants to astartes-hood. These clan members are descended from the clans Matriarch. Each matriarch is a respected pillar of strength and fortitude even amongst the astartes.

 

Men having long been the protectors and warriors of each clan, and have a shorter lifespan than that of women. This treacherous environment leads to prime candidates for replenishment of chapter ranks, but otherwise lends itself to trouble within clans. After many centuries of taking only the best men to become Ebon Hunters, the women left behind have come into power. These wizend crones would become the Matriarchs, who are much celebrated to this day for bringing stability to clans and planet as a whole.

 

Rite of the Hunter

 

Rites of Indoctrination are common among Astartes, the Ebon Hunters are no different. Before a scout may recieve his black carapace, the aspirant must venture out into the treacherous ocean on a hunt. Aboard a raft or canoe of the aspirants own making he must slay one of the larger denizons of the deep and return it to a feast held in honor. Usually sharks and dolphins are brought back, but the aspirant recieves special honors should he claim an Orca. The Orca's skin is usually made into a cloak which the newly made brother is allowed to wear in the field of battle.

 

Few can claim this honor, amongst the current astartes only the Chapter Master and a handful of Captains currently wear the skin of the blackfish.

 

Combat Doctrine

 

The few who observe the chapter in battle liken them to the Sons of Russ or Khan. The Ebon Hunters ferocity and non-Codex like tactics seem to have been adopted from the local clans, favoring smallers hunting groups or Pods. The hunters are viscious in close combat leaving swaths of corpses in their wake. The chapter's prowess in hunting allows for stealthy outflanking or hit and run type approaches to warfare.

 

The clan style warfare has also made an appeareance in weaponry. While standard chapter weaponry remains the norm, a few marines have adopted the local Whaling Harpoon in favor of a chainsword. Designed to attach floats deep within the whales flesh, this weapon wielded by a marine can tear even the toughest of foes into pieces.

 

Chapter Relics also tend to be tribally influenced, and are rarely seen on the battlefield.

 

Geneseed

Battlecry

For the Matriarch's and the Emperor!

 

All information regarding gene-seed has been lost. Suspected progenitors include the White Scars, Raven Gaurd, and Dark Angels. It has also been whispered that the Space Wolves may also be gene-sire, however this is unlikely.

 

Heraldry

Chapter Symbol

http://i823.photobucket.com/albums/zz157/Chiv4lry/logo_zpsdda1c34a.png

 

The Ebon Hunters' chapter symbol is an Orca, otherwise known as a killer whale. This beast resembles the Terran mammal for which it is named, although Ma'Kah II's Orca is vastly more carnivorous and violent. Once a source of food a fuel, the Orca's are now highly reverent and only hunted ritually.

 

Ebon Hunter Battle-Plate is given to each astartes in plain chapter colors with the intention that each marine personalize his own armor. Generally the battle-brothers paint their armor to resemble clan alliegiance adding in stripes and tribal markings. Clan symbols denote which company the astartes belongs to, instead of the usual numerals.

Interaction with the Legio

 

Orcinus' operating on the fringes of the Imperium, very seldom have company on their compaigns. The Ordus Orcinus prefer it this way and would view any help from a brother chapter as a niusance at best.

[Chiv]

UPDATE: Edited a bit, and after some research of looking about on the web my name seems to be less original than I had hoped. Any suggestions?

[baldur27]

do you want another wolf based name or were you looking for any hunter style name?

[Chiv]

I'm open to suggestions. This is going to be a more native american inspired chapter, if it wasn't noticable, so really any hunter/predator/tribal things. Thanks!

[baldur27]

if you want distinctive pack hunters how about something orca inspired?

[Chiv]

oooo, interesting. Very interesting.

[Lord-Captain Cepinari]

Spoilers:  They're Space Wolf Successors.  They didn't want to admit it because then they're just Space Wolves painted beige and with everything Scandinavian replaced with more instances of the word "wolf".

 

"Remember, Young Wolf, to always wolf the wolf when wolfing the wolf, and never wolf the wolf-wolf when wolf-wolfing, lest you wolf the wolf and completely wolf the wolf in doing so.  However, when wolfing the wolfing-wolf you may do so without fear of wolf, but only of you wolf-wolf the wolf wolfer first, and take the time to wolf-out the wolf, wolf and wolf at least a wolf before-wolf.  Wolf wolfwolf.  Wolf wolf.  Wolf wolfy-wolf.  Wolf."

 

And now the word 'wolf' is a meaningless jumble of letters to me.

 

Go with the Orca idea.  Make it an Ocean planet and do tons of Pacific Northwest stuff, like name the planet "Starbuck."

[Messor]

I'd third the notion of going with the Orca theme. I would make up a name besides Orca, of course, but taking the Chapter in that direction will save it from falling into the near-homogenous blog of wolf themed Chapters/would-be Space Wolf successors. While I'm certain something interesting and original can be done with the Wolf theme, given enough thought, it's much easier to be original with an original idea. Orcas are that.

[Chiv]

Yeah, I realize the wolf theme has been played out. If I do Orca's however I can't thematically ride them into battle like the spacewolfs do their fenrisian mounts, and so I think I'm going to invent a pack hunting creature, since in the grim darkness of the future anything is possible :P. Maybe a sand orca or shark evolved to operate on land or perhaps a tiger/lion altered to no longer resemble their terra counterparts perhaps, I'm not sure. Guess I should of just waited on posting an IA until my idea was more fleshed out.

[Lord-Captain Cepinari]

Most Space Marines are perfectly fine with riding motorbikes and APCs into battle, I don't see any reason your guys can't do the same.

 

If you want your Chapter to have a tribal theme, you can have them custom painting their vehicles and covering them with Pacific Northwest style glyphs. Making bits that look like totem pole figures is also a lot easier then making giant rideable animals from scratch.

[Olis]

Yeah, I realize the wolf theme has been played out. If I do Orca's however I can't thematically ride them into battle like the spacewolfs do their fenrisian mounts, and so I think I'm going to invent a pack hunting creature, since in the grim darkness of the future anything is possible .

Meh, I'm not a big fan of marines riding into battle on actual mounts rather than bikes of some description. It just feels wrong to me. It's bad enough that the Wolves do it, let alone prospective DIY's. However, personal opinion and all that. :P

Having 'pets', though, that's something I can dig.

Maybe a sand orca or shark evolved to operate on land

Like a smooth skinned version of a Cold One?

Also, on the subject of 'tribal' space marines; how about including markings similar to the White Scars? I think those might work.

[Chiv]

Most Space Marines are perfectly fine with riding motorbikes and APCs into battle, I don't see any reason your guys can't do the same.

 

If you want your Chapter to have a tribal theme, you can have them custom painting their vehicles and covering them with Pacific Northwest style glyphs. Making bits that look like totem pole figures is also a lot easier then making giant rideable animals from scratch.

 

I suppose your right, and modifying vehicles is much more fun.

 

And so I have edited my IA, I do like it much better than the previous iteration. Modifying the paint scheme in MS Paint was also fun. Just a quick sample of what personalized plate might look like.

[Veteran Sergeant]

Latinized, the name is really cumbersome sounding. And really, in the end, it's still the Orca Order.

 

While I'd never tell you what to do with your chapter, and I nearly fell into the same trap, but until Forgeworld decided to snowflake the Space Sharks, there were literally zero Space Marine chapters with Latin names. A few had some Roman titles derived from Latin (Praetors of Orpheus, for example), but they were even the English translations of those titles. Anatanos Iratos are still the Angry Platypi. If you don't like the name in English, it doesn't help to write it in a dead language.

 

 

That said, the first things that stick out to me reading your early notes are that you seem to be trying a bit too hard. It's important to remember that being a Codex Chapter really only means the Chapter organies itself in 10x100 companies and uses the prescribed methods for recruitment and training. You don't really have to work very hard to come up with a Chapter that has strayed from those principles. If you plan to use Codex Space Wolves for your army, you don't need to come up with some reason they were descended from or trained by the Space Wolves. You can just say that over time, the Chapter strayed from the Codex formations due to dimished numbers in the pods. Could even chalk it up to some kind of event in their history, or a particularly headstrong and fearsome Chapter Master, or even just their distance from other Chapters. But like I've often suggested to people who want to make DIY Black Templars (another chapter with no successors), there's no reason that you have to imitate everything about the chapter just to use the rules on the tabletop, or play games with the 13th Founding or unknown geneseed to justify the fluff.
 

[Messor]

I'm just going to chime in, because I feel obliged any time the Space Sharks are mentioned, to say that Carcharodons Astra sounds way better than Space Sharks, and it's a retcon I'm totally okay with. Orcinus does, however, lack subtlety. I'm gonna throw my hat in for blackfish (yes, if I was in a boat and heard that a pod of "blackfish" was coming towards me, concern would be my first reaction) or a variant thereof. Maybe the name could reference their place as apex predators? I've never seen that reflected in a Chapter name.

[Veteran Sergeant]

I'd even just say pair up Orcas with something. Steel Orcas. Orca Lords. Orca Warriors. Orca Fists (j/k).

 

Hell, taking Messor's idea, it doesn't even need to be Orca. Black Hunters is pretty accurately descriptive.

[Lysimachus]

Gotta agree with the guys above (except for Messor's crazy idea that Carcharodons Astra sounds better than Space Sharks), Black Hunters sounds good.

Really like the new colour scheme, it's very Rogue Trader Badab War style which is cool.

[baldur27]

yeah I quite like blackfish as well, or steel orcas, black hunters is also growing on me

[Olis]

How about Ebon/Ebony Hunters? Just a thought. 

[Chiv]

 

there's no reason that you have to imitate everything about the chapter just to use the rules on the tabletop, or play games with the 13th Founding or unknown geneseed to justify the fluff.

 

So your saying that I should choose another founding, and claim descendance from a more stable geneseed like say ultramarines or dark angels? Then due to isolation on the outer fringes of the imperium, the chapter has become non-codex compliant?

 

Or is there a better way to write up what I currently have perhaps add in more chapter history to explain my non-codex compliance like a long war against dark eldar / Orks and after completion of the war the chapter returned to home-planet with severe losses to where the chapter master reordered the companies to two full companies and the original ten undermanned began recruiting like crazy?

 

As for the name, I picked it after reading up on Orca's and well, decided against Blackfish so used the species name. I think Black Hunters or Ebon Hunters could work quite well. I've just come up with the ritual ceremony for recieving the black carapace and it does involve hunting so...

 

Thanks for all the input, much appreciated. :D

[Disruptor_fe404]

Ebon Hunters gets my vote!

 

Black Hunters sounds a bit... unfortunate... as a name in the real world.

[Lord-Captain Cepinari]

Compared to what you've got now, yes it is a step up.

[Chiv]

*Edited what I orignally had a bit and added in a few new sections.

 

Now including the 'Rite of the Hunter'

 

And we are now the Ebon Hunters!

[Messor]

It's coming along nicely. Your marine design looks great! One recommendation (disclaimer: based largely on personal preference) would be to remove the reference to the Chapter symbols being tied to Terran creatures. I, personally, find it hard to believe that many native species have survived on what is left of Earth/Terra, particularly if they were of no benefit to humans. Similarly, I don't think there's much history by which to remember what pre-Crusade Terra was like. After all, it was over 10,000 years ago, and there's an additional 30,000 to play with after that. I think it's easier to justify a completely unique species that for all we know, is the only one of its kind in the galaxy.

[Chiv]

I dunno, somebody must have a reference chart for 'ancient' terran creatures maybe highlords of terra? Space Wolves, Space Sharks (Carcharodons), Raven Gaurd, Luna Wolves, Mantis Warriors, etc these are all Terran animal names I haven't read too much up on any of these but are all these cases of unique to planet animals that bear no resemblance to earth counterparts?

 

Not trying to be snarky just curious as I'm a chaos guy myself and just trying to get into being a loyalist scumbag :P

[Messor]

No, it's fine. Like I said, it's more a matter of personal preference than anything. That aspect of those names always annoyed me for being so overt, but there is nothing inherently wrong with them.