The Draconian Sons - bouncing ideas about an IH successor

[Welcheren]

Just an idea that I think might be ready for critique from the Liber.

 

Hope the intro isn't too cheesy. The basic premise was to think how an IH successor might emerged with a less pronounced inclination towards bionics.

 

So here goes.

[Welcheren]

[skullheader#000000]The Draconian Sons[/skullheader]

 

 

011M37

 

Year following the explosion of the red giant within the Maxil Beta system

 

Brothers, sisters – all who labour selflessly in the name of the Lord of Man, hearken. Take a moment’s respite from your eternal duty, and remember the order of the Draconian Sons – for they are no more.

 

Here follows the only account thus far collated: it is an alchemy of recorded fact and much conjecture.  

 

 

[skullheader#000000]Overview[/skullheader]

 

 

 

“It is a crutch, this silver. A day will come when I will strip it from me, lest I lose the power to master myself forever.” (The Neimerel Scrolls - Attributed to Ferrus Manus.)

 

 

Chapter name: Draconian Sons

Founding chapter: Iron Hands

Founding: Third Founding in M32

Home world: GDR

Fortress Monastery: The Chapel of Correction

Strength: Believed to be extinct as of late M34 following the tragedy of the Pale Wasting  M37, following the Maxil Beta incident

Organisation: Codex-adherent

Speciality: Frontal assault

Gene-seed: Stable to the same level as their progenitors

War cry: Traditionally, the Sons waded into battle in silence; but when facing their enemues’ elite, they have been known to cry: Salvation through strength!

Chapter badge: A stylised set of weighing scales

 

 

For endurance, the sons of Manus are renowned. For a brand of resilience that outpaces even many of their fellow brotherhoods among the Adeptus Astartes, they are known. The resolve to pursue efficiency regardless of cost or bloodshed marks them. The Draconian Sons partook of this heritage.

 

 

[skullheader#000000]Introduction[/skullheader]

 

 

 

“The body of a Space Marine is the most perfect human form ever created. Even our skitarii, given every agumetic aid known to us, do not compare to it in power and facility. You can imagine what degree of mental trauma would be required for a human to give up such a gift, to mutilate himself and replace his priceless gene-forged heritage with mechanical parts.” (Magos Ys of the Adeptus Mechanicus, speaking to Lord General Nethata on the subject of the Iron Hands – taken from Chris Wraight: Wrath of Iron)

 

 

Born during the Third Founding, the records speak of a chapter that zealously preserved the memory of the Drop Site Massacre. With alacrity, they took up the vendetta against Chaos, bequeathed to them by their parent Legion. And throughout their existence, showed no signs to neglecting their founding Legion’s ceaseless purge of weakness.

 

 

Legend adds that there emerged among the Sons an Iron Father who read the Neimerel Scrolls and took to heart what he perceived as the sacred quest of their gene-father.

 

 

“Already my Legion’s warriors replace their shield hands with metal in my honour, and so they too are learning to doubt the natural strength of their bodies. They must be weaned off this practice before it becomes a mania for them. Hatred of what is natural, of what is human, is the first and greatest of the corruptions.” (The Neimerel Scrolls - Attributed to Ferrus Manus.)

 

 

In the annals of the chapter, Iron Father Marell is recorded as preaching against the voluntary amputation of functioning limbs and the surgical excision of operational organs in favour of mechanical simulacra. It is likely that this legend attributes the cumulative dogma and reformative deeds of many Iron Fathers to a single, possibly fictitious character. Whatever the case, the Draconian Sons are distinguished from other descendants of Ferrus Manus for the cult inspired by the Marellean Catechisms, in which distrust of the flesh and reliance on bionics is repudiated.

 

 

In practice, however, some warriors among the battle companies of the Draconian Sons, and certainly its veterans, differ little in appearance from the Clan companies of the Iron Hands or other successors of the Iron X. For the Sons cast their warriors into the teeth of war as eagerly as their progenitors, and pursue victory as directly and methodically as any Clan company. This style of warfare demands the resourceful and concentrated application of force. Although the post-human brothers of the Astartes are better suited to survive this strategy, its brutality nevertheless incurs many horrible wounds. The Draconian Sons will not remove operative body parts for the sake of strength – but equally so they will not wait for the slower process of vat-grown replacements before returning battle brothers to the fray.

 

 

And so their bodies are still often married to agumetics. But if the rumours are true regarding Iron Hands veterans who cannot be removed from their Terminator plate, this is certainly not the case with the Draconian Sons, and as already stated, they will not succumb to the psychological itch of enhancing strength through piston and gear.

 

 

[skullheader#000000]Purge the weak[/skullheader]

 

 

 

“So I record it here: when the time comes, I will strip my hands of their unnatural silver. I will instruct my Legion to recant their distrust of the flesh. I will turn them away from gifts of the machine and bid them relearn the mysteries of flesh, bone and blood.” (The Neimerel Scrolls - Attributed to Ferrus Manus.)

 

 

Despite this apparent difference, the Draconian Sons remain dogged in the war against weakness. The threat of it still haunts them. For the mental scars of Istvaan persist. The chapter cult of this brotherhood, in which the Marellean Catechisms play a central role, has developed a range of interlocked doctrines aimed at excising frailty and unreliability.

 

 

During their initial campaigns into the Segmentum Obscurus, to complete the Great Scouring, the world of Geryka-Deras-Raikan (commonly abbreviated to GDR) was given to the dominion of the Draconian Sons. Here the Sons developed a deeply monastic and insular culture, aimed at combating weakness and to hone their capacity to advance the interests of the Emperor. The everyday basis of this lifestyle centred around meditation, prayer, as well as forge-craft and mechanical construction – for these are purgative pursuits that refine the soul through physical and mentallabour. Additional strictures were enforced during times of military inaction – for example, when in transit through the warp, or when awaiting orders, or when marshalling for war.

 

 

In such times, all brothers were required to submit daily to conversation with an Iron Father, during which they would confess whatever forms of weakness they had uncovered within themselves. Confessions could cover anything from vague suspicions that emerged during meditation, or to sterner matters such as a professed lack of efficiency during the last combat opportunity.

 

 

Iron Fathers are trained to interrogate any brother who appears guilty of concealing misconduct – regardless of rank. In practice, however, this is rarely necessary – given the demeanour of the chapter, and especially their self-imposed intrapersonal campaign against inefficiency.

 

 

Owing to the unpredictability of war and the need for constant vigilance, the demand for daily confessions are suspended during conflict. Nevertheless, as a result of an ingrained cult, brothers may be counted upon to keep a tally of signs and symptoms of weakness - and to seek the council of an Iron Father when these threaten to become serious.

 

 

Often such confessions might seem to outside ears like minor and permissible infractions – that is, if any outsiders have ever borne witness to a confession. To the Draconian Sons, however, any detraction from efficiency must be dealt with as their Primarch would have required had he lived and could judge for himself.

 

 

A record is maintained of all individuals’ breaches. Each brother retains a slate on which these are engraved, and the Iron Fathers that are assigned to each company store an exact copy. These are guarded where only the Fathers can access them. Legends and rumours surround the most exalted heroes and veterans of the chapter - suggesting that some among them have either extremely short lists, or have expunged their guilt through extraordinary acts of retribution against the enemy.

 

 

Depending on the nature and severity of the crime, Iron Fathers prescribe a penance. Some are as insignificant as extended sentry duties, or being sentenced to provide menial support to lower-ranking Techmarines. However, in other cases, brothers are required to exculpate their guilt through combat. They are instructed to watch closely as a battle develops, and to seek opportunities to purge their souls through perilous acts of valour. As is the case with the claves of the Iron Hands, the squads of the Draconian Sons are required to operate independently under the overall strategic guidance of its company captain. This entails that the search for redemption will not detract from overall combat efficiency, but will instead contribute to it. For they do not seek forgiveness through rash and prideful acts, but by seizing objectives favourably to the overall mission.

 

 

If the brother in question survives, he is required to report to an Iron Father after battle and to recall his deeds. The Iron Father will then decide whether the infraction has been compensated.

 

 

In the case of more severe infractions (at least in terms of what the Draconian Sons would deem severe), offending brothers are formed into special cohorts. To these, company command assigns the most hazardous and arduous objectives of the coming battle. This tradition is nevertheless pursued with logic and planning, in keeping with the temperament of the scions of the X.

 

 

In theory, these special cohorts are treated with honour – for they voluntarily admit their weakness and sanctify themselves through the trials of conflict. But to outsiders, it would hardly seem as though they are treated any differently. For the Draconian Sons do not expend energy on the frivolities of emotion.

 

 

Apart from these battle-time laws, other habits and traditions are also practiced on their home world.

 

 

[skullheader#000000]Fortress Monastery and home world[/skullheader]

 

 

 

“When my father’s Crusade is over, this shall be my sacred task. When the fighting is done, I shall cure my Legion, and myself.” (The Neimerel Scrolls - Attributed to Ferrus Manus)

 

 

Perched within the greatest mountains overlooking one of the many wide valleys upon the lush world of GDR, looms the Chapel of Correction – the Fortress Monastery of the Draconian Sons. The planet GDR and the Chapel of Correction in particular, play hosts to strenuous rituals of exculpation.

 

 

The Sons arrived on GDR having spent the first two centuries after their founding in a fleet-based capacity during the Great Scouring.

 

When they landed in order to assert ownership over its verdant canyons and rugged peaks, a xenos threat which had lain dormant in subterranean caverns emerged to contest them. Once victorious, however, the Draconian Sons did not utterly destroy the xenos species. Instead, Apothecaries managed to tranquilise a brood of the creatures. Since then, a small number of the xenos has been imprisoned under close servitor-guard within the bowels of the Chapel of Correction. Having studied their production cycles, Apothecaries are able to maintain the beasts’ numbers through artificial means.

 

 

As a penance for signs of weakness (probably of a roughly medium nature), brothers at the monastery are sent into a special chamber designated: the Bowl of Cleansing. Extremely high temperatures rouse a prearranged number of master-crafted servitors, hideous creatures bonded together from arcane amalgamation of metal and flesh, and designed to carry a wide array of weapons. The brother in question proceeds into the Bowl, armoured only by the blessing of the Mucranoid gland and armed with a combat knife. The architecture of the Bowl allows for an audience to observe his progress. The brother is not allowed to exit the chamber until all the servitors set out for him have been destroyed until all captive xenos have been exterminated.

 

 

A similar arena has also been constructed in the shadow of the Chapel of Correction, among the foothills of the mountains. Chapter serfs who have offended the chapter in some grievous manner or (more likely) those who wish to demonstrate their devotion to strength are taken to this arena along with a single servitor where they engage in single combat in order to exculpate their sins of demonstrate their devotion. Although in the moderate climate of GDR, the beast cannot fight as fiercely as in acute heat, it is nevertheless a daunting opponent for an unenhanced human. Like the serfs of the Iron Hands, those of the Draconian Sons are often heavily augmented to compensate for the fallibility of normal flesh. The fleet is maintained and staffed by such humans – in appearance not unlike skitarii troops.

 

 

[skullheader#000000]Recruitment[/skullheader] 

 

 

 

“For if fighting is all there is, if we may never pause to reflect on what such devotion to strength is doing to us, then our compulsion will only grow.” (The Neimerel Scrolls - Attributed to Ferrus Manus.)

 

 

GDR is not inhabited by any humans save the keepers of the Chapel. For neophytes, the chapter looks to the three moons surrounding GDR. In ages past, the xenos on the planet had driven human colonisers to the three moons. After years of internecine conflict, the inhabitants reverted to a feral state. The Sons maintain this state of affairs, preferring the brutal simplicity of the moons’ peoples for recruits.

 

 

These people have lost all knowledge of the wider Imperium and are, in fact, unaware that the other two moons are also inhabited. They observe a cult of ancestor worship. The Sons present themselves as the shades of the ancestors. When young warriors are chosen for acts of courage (mainly against the hostile wildlife that share each moon with its human inhabitants), these men are thought to have joined the tribes’ forebears on GDR to prepare for the apocalypse.

 

 

[skullheader#000000]Last campaigns[/skullheader]

 

 

 

“Already I see the madness that path leads to, and so I shall excise the silver from my hands. In doing so I shall weaken myself and my sons, but nonetheless it must done.

The hands are strong, and have created great things, but they are not mine.” (The Neimerel Scrolls - Attributed to Ferrus Manus).

 

 

The years 900M34 to 929M34 saw the Draconian Sons participating in a series of campaigns instigated by one Inquisitor Hocken. Subsequent investigation into this once-exalted figure, exposed controversial methods of combating disobedience among Imperial worlds. Based on the testimonies of former Throne agents, it has come to light that Hocken had developed a habit of creating false rebellious sects upon worlds suspected of treason. Operating especially in the far south of the Segmentum Pacificus, these sects were meant to determine how readily citizens of one world or another may be swayed to secede from the Imperium. Some agents became martyrs, killed by zealously loyal inhabits. Those who were arrested were returned to Hocken mainly unharmed by his own machinations. On other less fortunate worlds, however, the false sects found a ready audience. Where dissent spread rapidly, and popular leaders rose to give shape and direction to the discontent, Hocken called down severe punishment.

 

 

The Draconian Sons bore the brunt of the majority of Hocken’s suppression operations – persuaded as they were of the necessity to guard against threats within Imperial boundaries. Most evidence suggests that the rank and file were completely unaware of Hocken’s role in initiating many of the revolutions the Sons were tasked to quell. There is some indication, however, that several Iron Fathers were aware, and endorsed this test of faith. Those among the company captains who, over time, became appraised of the strategy (mainly through the work Scout squads who observed the role of the Hocken’s sects), were indifferent.

 

 

Hocken was eventually tried and executed when one of his sects was usurped by a Chaos cult, resulting the widespread destruction across the border regions between Pacificus and Tempestus.

 

 

The Sons were officially declared above suspicion in absentia, as the chapter had already deployed to other war zones. It is, however, quite likely that they have been a target of Inquisitorial observation ever since. 

 

 

In the years between 930M34 and 934M34 the Draconian Sons were spread across a wide battlefront. Across the stars that mark the border systems between the Segmentum Obscurus and the Segmentum Pacificus, their fleets made war. The fifth battle company engaged in a protracted series of cat-and-mouse sorties against elusive strike forces from unidentified Eldar craftworld, ranging around a dense asteroid field. The second and fourth companies were contesting an Ork WAAAGH! The third suppressed rebellions deeper within the Pacificus region, while the veteran first and reserve companies were deployed and redeployed as circumstances demanded and as the perfidious ways of warp travel permitted.

 

 

As the tides turned interminably in the Imperium’s favour, the year 934M37 drew to a close.

 

Victory over the Orks, Eldar and would-be secessionists heralded a time of grief, as a mighty red giant within the Maxil Beta system exploded into waves of damnation and warp-flame. The repercussions of this catastrophe is recorded elsewhere, noting the selfless sacrifice of heroism of millions of the Emperor’s servants. The Draconian Sons were forced to regroup when fingertips of the warp-fire touched the stars around GDR. The moons, source of the Sons’ recruits, had abruptly been turned from savage purity to slavering mutants. Worse still, cultists arrived to part the tenuous veils of reality, allowing a horde of daemons to descend upon the Chapel of Correction.

 

 

Still battered and recovering from their earlier campaigns, the Sons arrived over their embattled world. During the cataclysmic battle that followed, Chief Librarian Kalai perceived that the Sons could not prevail. Through telepathic means, he instructed the Lord of the Serfs, besieged within the Chapel, to detonate prearranged charges that would ignite the atmosphere of the planet. Kalai’s last act as Chief Librarian was to infuse the world-fire that followed with the searing purity of his own soul, long enough to banish every daemon upon the surface back to the Immaterium.

 

Still battered and recovering from their earlier campaigns, the Draconian Sons deployed the entire brotherhood in response to desperate calls for aid against the eldricht threat emerging from the Ghoul Stars - the threat that would in time become know to those few who have heard of it at all as The Pale Wasting (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Pale_Wasting). Much that was once recorded about this event has since become lost, or (more likely) archived under the near-impenetrable seal of Inquisitorial secrecy. Exactly how it transpired that the chapter of the Draconian Sons met their demise is one such piece of lore. I have petitioned the Master of the Librarium of Arcanus for access to what I believe will cast more light on the subject, and await a response. 

 

At present [010M335] the Chapel of Correction stands fallow. The surviving servitors maintain its empty halls as best they can. Its fate has yet to be determined. 

 

 

[Olis]

Pretty good but there are a couple of issues. Firstly, the xenos. Why did the Chapter keep them alive? Unless I missed something, there was no explicit reason given for sparing the hostile xenos brood. Short of something extraordinary, those xenos would be killed outright rather than kept alive. The value of keeping them is far outweighed by the inherent hatred of aliens in the Imperium and the chances of them escaping for whatever reason.

 

Secondly, the end of Maxil Beta. To be honest, I would prefer this to be a simple supernova (if a supernova can be described as simple) rather than something warp induced. It would explain the end of the chapter without over complicating things and would leave the door open for a little something called 'Maybe they did actually escape?'

 

Basically, warp engines don't work as planned in gravity wells. They often malfunction and implode, iirc, or at least the ships destroy themselves from the forces involved. Let's say the chapter, who were all present during the calamity, attempts to escape. They have two things working against - one, warp drives take several minutes to spool up (at least) so they would be racing against time to jump into the warp before the expanding wave of superheated matter catches them. Two, they would have no time whatsoever to relocate away from their world/moons so that they could make a safe® jump. Therefore even if they did get the warp drives running in time from a cold start, they would stand a good chance of having their ships torn apart on entry into the warp as the stresses between the immaterium and material-dimension gravity would tear their ships asunder.

 

But, and this is a big one, no-one would ever know of any success unless the Draconian Sons were spotted again. They would simply be listed as missing, presumed destroyed.

[Welcheren]

Pretty good but there are a couple of issues. Firstly, the xenos. Why did the Chapter keep them alive? Unless I missed something, there was no explicit reason given for sparing the hostile xenos brood. Short of something extraordinary, those xenos would be killed outright rather than kept alive. The value of keeping them is far outweighed by the inherent hatred of aliens in the Imperium and the chances of them escaping for whatever reason.

 

Secondly, the end of Maxil Beta. To be honest, I would prefer this to be a simple supernova (if a supernova can be described as simple) rather than something warp induced. It would explain the end of the chapter without over complicating things and would leave the door open for a little something called 'Maybe they did actually escape?'

 

Basically, warp engines don't work as planned in gravity wells. They often malfunction and implode, iirc, or at least the ships destroy themselves from the forces involved. Let's say the chapter, who were all present during the calamity, attempts to escape. They have two things working against - one, warp drives take several minutes to spool up (at least) so they would be racing against time to jump into the warp before the expanding wave of superheated matter catches them. Two, they would have no time whatsoever to relocate away from their world/moons so that they could make a safe® jump. Therefore even if they did get the warp drives running in time from a cold start, they would stand a good chance of having their ships torn apart on entry into the warp as the stresses between the immaterium and material-dimension gravity would tear their ships asunder.

 

But, and this is a big one, no-one would ever know of any success unless the Draconian Sons were spotted again. They would simply be listed as missing, presumed destroyed.

 

Wow. Thanks this is a pretty good idea.

 

My first idea was to have the chapter destroyed in the Pale Wasting - I am attracted to that event for the known destruction of several chapters, but its otherwise opaque nature since info is under Inquisitorial seal.

 

But since this happens in M34 I was worried about not having enough time... then I picked Maxil Beta since it is listed as involving warp energies and subsequent mutation.

 

I could still return to the Pale Wasting, or the warp drives as you mentioned.

 

My idea with the xenos was to show how even when the Sons reduce (officially) a reliance on bionics, they remain anxious over weakness. So it is supposed to be something of a shock that they would go as far as keeping xenos alive as a means of combatting weakness.

 

Perhaps this does not come over well enough, or perhaps it is simply not feasible?

 

Things are a fraction tough at work just now. But I will definitely pay some attention to these points; and you have gratitude (again).