IA: Valiant Templars

[Thelionheart]

The Valiant Templars

 

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Imperial records first mention the Valiant Templars in M36 during the Dark Marches Crusade where they battled alongside the Aurora Chapter. The chapter is believed to have been founded in M34 as part of the 8th founding, but as many of the records of this founding have been lost it is not known whether this is indeed true.

 

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     Located in Segmentum Tempestus, Carseld is a feudal world, predominantly covered in plains and rolling hills, rocked by constant struggles between the various kingdoms found upon the world. These kingdoms exist and are propped up by the Valiant Templars, who use the noble children as recruits. The nobles on Carseld train and condition their male children from birth in the ways of war, as they are to lead the kingdom's armies in the never ending wars that rage on the planet. Such recruits are selected for trials at the annual Congress of Dúnbold, which calls for a truce between all kingdoms for one week. At this congress every noble that has a child of the appropriate age is required to accompany his son to the various tournaments and challenges the Valiant Templars put on to determine the most capable potential recruits. Those who are determined to be good enough to enter the trials and challenges are taken from their parents and are immediately forced through deadly and challenging trials. Those who pass these trials are then considered ready and capable of becoming a Valiant Templar. They are then subjected to the standard processes and surgeries that are necessary to create a space marine.

     The Valiant Templar's fortress monastery is Dúnbold, whose largest section is by far the vehicle bay which houses all of the vehicles that are in need of repair or are not currently deployed.

 

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     Known and respected for their devastating armored assaults, the Valiant Templars are masters in the use of both mechanized infantry and armored warfare. As such they heavily favor situations where they can best make use of their tracked vehicles.

     The Valiant Templar's love for armored warfare leads to them owning a considerable number of Rhinos and Predator main battle tanks. The chapter owns less Land Raiders due to their slow speed, and are generally only deployed when resistance is heavy enough to slow down an assault, or in difficult terrain such as cities or mountainous regions. Vindicators are deployed similarly to Land Raiders. Razorbacks are also in much lower numbers due to the compromising nature of the vehicle. It seen as being a worse troop transport than the Rhino and does not have the firepower of the Predator, leading the chapter to believe that it is best to have dedicated vehicles for each role on the battlefield. Whirlwinds are tasked with laying down heavy fire support and artillery barrages in order to soften up positions before an armored assault.

     Every squad in the Valiant Templars has access to at least one Rhino and one Predator. The Predator is tasked with destroying heavily armored vehicles and gun emplacements so that the squad in the Rhino can safely advance. Once heavily armored threats have been neutralized it supports the infantry squad by destroying enemy infantry. The infantry squad is tasked with swiftly advancing into enemy fire and destroying the enemy as quickly as possible, often rushing into range where fully automatic fire is effective. In this way the chapter acts as a highly mobile and efficient mechanized infantry force with substantial armor support so that both infantry and armor work together to promote each element's strengths and eliminate weaknesses.

     Terminator armor, used by the first company, is only employed either when defending or when quick advances or movement is not possible, such as when bogged down in street to street city fighting or boarding a space hulk. When these conditions are not met the first company tends to prefer it's regular power armor. Dreadnoughts are used similarly but are generally deployed via drop-pod.

 

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     The Valiant Templars do not adhere to the Codex Astartes in full, but they do view it as a valuable document on tactics. Instead of following the Codex Astartes the Valiant Templars follow the Way of the Knight, believed to be written by the first Knight Grand Master.

     The Way of the Knight dictates combat doctrine, chapter organization and chain of command, how power armor is to be worn and painted, and the chapter cult. The Way of the Knight breaks the chapter up in to 10 companies with ten squads in each company. The first company consists entirely of highly skilled veterans who have access to terminator armor and highly valuable chapter relics. Despite having access to terminator armor, most Valiant Templars in the first company still prefer wearing normal power armor because it allows for more mobility and only wear terminator armor when resistance is heavy enough that swift advances are not possible. All other companies consist of five tactical squads, two assault squads, two devastator squads, and one scout squad.

     Power armor is painted red with the chapter symbol on the left shoulder pad, the company number painted on the right shoulder pad, and rank is denoted by either a white stripe on the wrist for Knight Commanders or a gold stripe for Knight Grand Commanders. All shoulder pads are trimmed with gold. In the case of combat veterans the company number is not painted on the right shoulder pad, instead veterans are denoted by the crux terminatus on the right shoulder pad. The squad number is painted on the right kneepad.

     Unlike other chapters, the Valiant Templars give their ranks unique names, the Codex Astartes equivalents for each rank is as follows:

Neophytes: Page

Space Marines: Knight

Squad Leaders: Knight Commander

Company Commanders: Knight Grand Commander

Chapter Master: Knight Grand Master

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     The Valiant Templars place high emphasis on loyalty and honor. To disgrace a fellow battle brother's honor is to disgrace the entire chapter's. In cases where this occurs the offending party must face the disgraced in a duel of honor. This is carried out to the exact rules and regulations that the offended party puts forth. Whoever loses the duel is believed to have lost favor with the Emperor and is required to join a crusading squad for 50 years as penance.

     The Way of the Knight discourages bionic replacements of limbs and other organs except when damaged body parts cannot be saved. The Way of the Knight dictates that the human element of a Valiant Templar is sacred, as it is the way the emperor made them. The Way of the Knight argues that by preserving the natural space marine form and physique the Valiant Templar is better able to follow the Emperor's example, as he himself was fully flesh. This rule is relaxed for techmarines since they are primarily tasked with maintaining vehicles and machinery.

 

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     Due to a mutation in the Catalepsean Node the Valiant Templars are unable to field the usual number of psykers seen in other space marine chapters. This dangerous mutation causes most psykers to inadvertently use their powers while unconscious. Instances of this happening have caused casualties and the loss of several battle brothers. After an incident in M36 involving a Librarian accidentally killing two whole tactical squads, the Valiant Templars instated an extremely rigorous testing and training regimen to weed out all but the most powerful and stable psykers. This new recruiting method has since greatly reduced the power and number of accidents involving sleeping or unconscious psykers. Accidents since this new recruiting method was introduced have been greatly diminished in both number and power; the worst of which caught a barrel of fuel on fire which was quickly put out by some nearby servitors.

 

History

     The current Knight Grand Master of the Valiant Templars, Eadric Mansel is a veteran of 500 years of grueling, unrelenting warfare. Master in all aspects of warfare, Eadric bravely leads the Valiant Templars into battle wherever the Imperium is in most need. Renowned for his ability to plan and carry out quick and devastating mechanized spear heads, Eadric is often asked to take command of larger military operations that require such tactics.

 

     Eadric was born to one the ruler of one of the various kingdoms on Carseld. During the trials at the Congress of Dunbold he handily beat the other participants in almost every category, from Regicide to wrestling he outclassed all of them. The training was hard, but Eadric was one of only two pages to finish the training alive.

 

     Talk about scout company days

 

     Talk about tac squad + dev squad + assault squad days

 

     Talk about knight commander, tank commander, etc days

 

     Talk about knight grand commander days

 

     Talk about chapter master days

 

     Eadric Mansel is entrusted with the power armor of the first knight (write about it here) He also is in possession of his power sword (write about it here) His bolter was crafted himself over many years in the chapter's forge, and is awesome (write about it here)

 

 

[Thelionheart]

Hey all, so this is my first post on the B&C and I wanted to get some feedback on my custom chapter. I've based it off of a medieval / fuedal society. I'm wondering if I've maybe gone too far with that theme. As for detail I'm coming up short as I haven't read any Black Library books and have only (thoroughly) read the lexicanum. I plan to make this my Space Marine army when I buy my first models (the space marine strikeforce) in a few weeks.

[Captain Juan Juarez]

Greetings and welcome to the board and the Liber.

 

Critique time!

 

The thing with veteran knights as recruits is counter, unless I massive retcon, to how the recruiting process actually works. Marines have to recruit from children, I believe in the age range of 10-14, for there to be a chance of getting a fully fledged Battle-Brother out of the process and so a veteran knight in his thirties has got no chance - enhanced, yes, but not Marine material.

 

If every squad has a Rhino and attached Predator, you not only match and if not exceed the Aurora Chapter but you have basically taken their schtick. I get that you want to go with the armour-heavy doctrine but I think you can do it in a way that isn't quite so.. Aurora Chapter.

 

The Valiant Templar’s love for armoured assaults comes from the way warfare is waged on Carseld. Carseld, consisting mostly of plains and rolling hills, is perfect for heavy cavalry and as such battles are usually won and lost depending on how effective the heavy cavalry is that day. Since wood is scarce on Carseld, archers are used sparingly, but are extremely effective when employed. Because of the effectiveness of archers on Carseld, the Valiant Templars greatly prefer rhino variants over other forms of transportation such as land speeders due to
their ability to withstand small arms fire.

 

You need to go beyond simply saying "this is how war is wage on the homeworld.." when you talk about why a Chapter fights in a certain way, if you want to make it one of their particular characteristics. To a Chapter of Space Marines why does it matter how the humans they recruit from wage war? Also, the latter part of that reads almost as if you're saying the Chapter prefers Rhino transports because archers are effective on their homeworld and to be honest that doesn't really make sense, although I do get where you are trying to go with that.

 

To be loyal to the Emperor, to the chapter, and to your commanding officer is necessary to be a Valiant Templar Space Marine.

 

With regards to bionics, why is it seen as trying to better the work of the Emperor? What the Iron Hands do could fall in to that category but for most Chapters it's simply a case of getting a valuable asset back in to the fight.

 

Which Chapter does the geneseed come from? You never actually say which Primarch.

 

My final note is that you use the word "knight" too much in my opinion. In terms of the ranks, I would say that Page (or Squire), Knight, Commander, Lord Commander and Grand Master (or Lord Marshall even).

 

That's what I have for you this morning, apologies if it comes across harsh but I live to serve!

[Madwolf Shadowmane]

How did they lose their records of their birth and their father?  What does the absence of this knowledge contribute to your chapter's character?

[Thelionheart]

 

Greetings and welcome to the board and the Liber.

 

Critique time!

 

The thing with veteran knights as recruits is counter, unless I massive retcon, to how the recruiting process actually works. Marines have to recruit from children, I believe in the age range of 10-14, for there to be a chance of getting a fully fledged Battle-Brother out of the process and so a veteran knight in his thirties has got no chance - enhanced, yes, but not Marine material.

 

If every squad has a Rhino and attached Predator, you not only match and if not exceed the Aurora Chapter but you have basically taken their schtick. I get that you want to go with the armour-heavy doctrine but I think you can do it in a way that isn't quite so.. Aurora Chapter.

 

First of all, thank you for taking the time to read and critique my post!

 

Now that I know that SMs are recruited as children I'll have to come up with a different way of recruitment. Maybe noble children on Carseld are raised from birth to fight, and the chapter plucks the most talented children to see if they can pass the trials to become a Valiant Templar.

 

As for the amount of armored vehicles my chapter has, I've made sure to keep it realistic, as the lexicanum entry on predators says this:

Construction of Predators remains restricted to a Chapter's Armoury or allied Forge World, with most Chapters fielding between twenty to thirty of all types.^[1] However, some Chapters are known to contain several hundred battle tanks, though that number includes Land Raiders as well.^[4]

 

As for the combat doctrine, I recently read Panzer Leader by Heinz Guderian who was the Chief of Mobile Forces for the Wehrmacht, and really liked the tactics and strategies he promoted. The chapter's tactics are based on panzer corps which were an amalgamation of mechanized infantry and tank divisions. Is there anyway more specifically that I can differentiate my chapter from the Aurora Chapter?

 

 

 You need to go beyond simply saying "this is how war is wage on the homeworld.." when you talk about why a Chapter fights in a certain way, if you want to make it one of their particular characteristics. To a Chapter of Space Marines why does it matter how the humans they recruit from wage war? Also, the latter part of that reads almost as if you're saying the Chapter prefers Rhino transports because archers are effective on their homeworld and to be honest that doesn't really make sense, although I do get where you are trying to go with that.

 

How about a devastating defeat caused the chapter to rethink its tactics, which lead to a preferance for mechanized movement based warfare?

 

With regards to bionics, why is it seen as trying to better the work of the Emperor? What the Iron Hands do could fall in to that category but for most Chapters it's simply a case of getting a valuable asset back in to the fight.

 

From what I understand the Space Marines are genetically engineered humans who were designed by the Emperor himself. If someone were to come along and say the emperor's greatest work is flawed and can be improved then wouldn't he be saying the Emperor himself is flawed? That's what I have right now, but I'm not sure if that makes sense with the lore. Bionic implants are still allowed, but only when the organic body parts are beyond saving.

 

Which Chapter does the geneseed come from? You never actually say which Primarch.

 

I've left the primarch ambiguous as I don't want to tie myself down. As you can see my gene seed doesn't really fit with any primarch (that I'm aware of). As for establishing why they don't know, I'll have to think about it and look at some other chapter's reason for not knowing.

 

As for naming everything knight, I took the rank names from the Soverign Military Order of Malta, AKA the Knights Hospitallers. I'm also not sure if I like knight in every rank, I'll have to think about it more.

[Captain Juan Juarez]

Lexicanum shouldn't be considered a trustworthy source unless you can corroborate from another source - that doesn't mean any particular article is wrong but as a sole source of data it can be.. ambiguous is being generous.

 

In terms of differentiation from the Aurora Chapter it is kind of hard to say as massed armoured columns are their thing, in the same way the organisation and discipline is the hallmark of the Ultramarines or savage fury that of the Space Wolves. When you think of armoured warfare massed armour is what comes to mind but maybe try researching real world nuances of armoured tactics for a further niche?

 

If you go down the route of having some kind of defeat alter their way of fighting then you need to consider: how they fought before, who they fought and why they lost so badly, other than a defeat what was the big motivation behind defeat? One thing you might want to consider here is the use of the Craftworld Eldar, generally favouring speed and agility over strength and power, and you could say that during the early campaigns they fought most of their skirmishes and battles against the Eldar. That they found that, whatever they were, the tactics in use were not sufficient and that even their victories came at too high a cost, forcing a rethink.

 

The Iron Hands believe that the Flesh Is Weak, rather than the Emperor's work is flawed and that aspect works for them in part because of tradition but also because the implication is that the Emperor did his best with the tools he had and it is not His fault if the flesh is too weak for the grandness of his workings. That said, I've never come across a Chapter where there was wholesale replacement of limbs because they consider they Emperor's work is flawed - hell, that could be an interesting angle to explore and work with!

 

Not stating the geneseed can be a difficult task to write and unless the mystery really adds to the IA then it is usually best just to decide. Do remember that if you pick one of the more "bland" progenitors, such as Dorn or Guilliman, then you can do almost anything you want without being hidebound too much.

[sitnam]

When it comes to armor tactics, you don't have to be the Aurora Chapter to be a mechanized war chapter. You can still have massed armored warfare be part of your schtick imo. Just because the Aurora are some of the more famous mech marines doesnt mean they are the only ones.

 

The Aurora is supposed to have three time the typical number of predators and land raiders then a normal chapter. The BA codex lists the chapter as having 20 normal predators and 18 baal predators. The 5th edition SM codex lists the Ultras as having 25 Predators. This puts the Aurora chapter as having 75ish Predators in their inventory. You could come reasonably close to that number yourself with Predators.  Remember another part of the Aurora is that they use large numbers of Land Raiders, so perhaps maybe your chapter favors a combination of rhino + predator instead of the schizophrenic Land Raider chassis that tries to do everything, or  maybe they use such tactics because they don't have near as high a proportion of Land Raiders to properly employ the tactics the Aurora are famous for.

 

From what I can gather it seems your interested in more of a combination of mechanized infantry and armor instead of just a mass of armor. I'd expand upon that, and try to differentiate your usage of tanks to support infantry as opposed to  how other tank centric chapters seem to just mass a bunch of land raiders together to smash face. 

 

My own chapter  is also an armored war chapter similar to yours. I dont have it on the article, but my ideal company (mind you that I have a divergent chapter with four double-strength clans as opposed to companies) would have 2 razorbacks to every 1 rhino in the tactical squads, the razorbacks acting as fire support while the rhino squads take objectives, similar to your idea of one predator giving fire support while rhino advances. I felt my idea  represented something similar to yours (a armored chapter that relied on something other then mechanical brute force). 

 

I agree with the Captain in that picking a primogenitor is almost always a better choice then leaving it to question. Remember that even if you dont really like any of the various First Founding chapters, your own guys dont have to act like their primogenitors given the amount of time the setting allows them to evolve into something else. Dorn or Guilliman is always a safe choice; the others fit you tighter into themes you might not want.

[Thelionheart]

Thank you to both Sitnam and Captain Juan Juarez, your guys feedback has been very helpful so far. I've expanded on and edited the combat doctrine section to flesh it out and give the chapter some unique tactics, I've made the primarch Rogal Dorn, edited the belief about bionics, changed the way recruits are selected to be lore appropriate, and possibly some other things that I've forgotten about.