Writing to and against Legion/Chapter type

[Inquisitor Kravin]

A recent discussion of Damnation of Pythos in the Age of Darkness section revived a long running puzzle for me. How like/unlike their archetype should marines be?

I don't have the exact wording but with regard to the shattered legions force the general feeling was that it would go something like:

Iron Hand: I'm ruthless. Metal is da best!
Raven Guard: Sneaky McSneaky

Salamander: Think of the children!

 

In order to give themes and fit with a limited range of models different chapters are close to different archetypes. It gets predictable and dull if all members of one legion are pretty much interchangeable (unless they're Alpha Legion of course, then it's the whole point). Conversely if you have a story that includes a brutally ruthless Salamander, a really sneaky Iron Hand and a compassionate Raven Guard it feels like a new author has got mixed up. I wondered what examples people felt were good or bad examples of handling this balancing act.

For me Chris Wraight's Blood of Asaheim is great. All seven of the Wolves are clearly Wolves but they clash because their philosophies are sufficiently different without feeling forced.

I also like Betrayer where we see the rift that opens between the Librarians of the World Eaters and the rest of their Legion.

I can't think of any particularly bad examples. I did find that in the short story about Ferrus Manus in the Primarchs anthology all of the Iron Hands were pretty much interchangeable except Bion Henricus who was noticeably divergent from the common attitude. I think though that was a case of the author having to work within a limited word count as it was a short story and a lot of space was taken up with Ferrus's personal storyline.

[mc warhammer]

Terran vs home world philosophies can create schisms in character (Scars and Death Guard). And aren't some 30k Iron Hands a bit cautious about the "metal da best" mentality currently trending on their twittersphere?

[Legatus]

I can't think of any particularly bad examples.

 

 

Graham McNeill has written an entire series about an Ultramarine who thinks the Codex Astartes isn't all that great, and who consequently runs into situation after situation where following the Codex would lead to death and defeat, and where only the progressive Ultramarine who goes against the Codex can prevail. How the Ultramarines Chapter was able to survive to this date, let alone consistently be one of the most successful Chapters, inspite of their insistance to strictly adhere to the Codex is a mystery as of yet unexplained.

[Aegnor]

Nick Kyme's Salamander serious features a couple of Sallies who are definitely not "think of the children" but are actually ruthless jerks.

 

The Ragnar Blackmane novels had a sophisticated, cultured Space Wolf who ended up going to the Wolf Blades on Terra because nobody in the chapter knew what to do with him.

 

Talos in ADB's Night Lord series is a man out of step with the rest of his legion.

 

The thing is, all these characters get fleshed out well enough that you can still see how they are still products of their chapter/legion and that having some different quirks to them doesn't mean they don't fit as believable characters.

[Artein]

I't hard to maintain balance between cliche and special snow flake.