Ultramarines 113th - Patriarchs of Ulixis [Updated 18/02]

[Emperor's Furor]

I'm planning to do a force of Ultramarines based on what would become the Patriarchs of Ulixis Chapter from 40k. To achieve this I figured I would start with some homebrew fluff to explain their actions during the Shadow Crusade and the Ruinstorm. Feel free to give me any feedback on my writing. I was inspired by reading the The Laurel of Defiance in Sedition's Gate. If anyone has any suggestions on how to make it a little more formal and organised I'd be grateful as well. Here's what I've written so far. It starts with a general run down of the planet and it's forces.

 

The Defence of Ulixis

 

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Location - Ulixis / Ultramar Sector / Ultima Segmentum

 

Type - Death World

 

Description - Found to west of Ultramar's core worlds within a system that orbits a small bright star lies a predominantly desert world named Ulixis. A single land mass dominates the relatively small planet with small oceans isolated to the northern and southern poles with the rest made up of rocky deserts and ruins of a previously established human colonisation.

 

Cities are restricted to the coasts of these oceans, and are surrounded by agri fields used to sustain their own city, these in turn are surrounded by shield walls. Significant defences surround the cities, including orbital defence lasers. These cities maintain a PDF drawn from the population that is made up of many imperial subjects drawn to the galatic east from the heartlands of the Imperium. These are supported by elements of 135th Ultramar Solar Auxilia regiment nick named the "Dune Dragons".

 

Elements of the Legiones Astartes are also garrisoned here and whilst they have a noticeable presence they take a hands off approach in regards to governing of the cities, instead offering assistance when needed. These forces are dispersed amongst the largest cities of both poles, Ulixis Prime and Ulixis Secondus.

 

Indications suggest a near apocalyptic event occurred in the planets past which caused a dramatic climate change. High levels of carbon and other dangerous elements in the atmosphere cause incredible heat during the day creating an area known as the dead zone between the two poles. Many Isolated tribes of humans, a remnants of the first settlers that survived Old Night inhabit this zone and recruits for the XIII Legion are often drawn from them. These tribes lead a nomadic life and often travel on established routes through the dunes.

 

A major issue is the dangerous indigenous lifeforms that live throughout the desert and ruins. These vary in size, the primary predator are Scorpid in nature and can grow to be as big as a Rhino APC, whether this is due to natural evolution or due to exposure to radiation because of past events has yet to be determined by the Magos Biologis.

 

Amongst the desert lie several outposts of the Mechanicum that carry out drilling operations, withdrawing large quantities of precious gaseous resources from deep beneath the surface. These outposts come under many attacks by the large Scorpid creatures and in times of strife between warring tribes or when the heat is especially intense as the tribesmen attempt retrive water and other materials. These outposts have their own defence forces made up of Thallaxi Cohorts and other cybernetic automata.

 

Above the planet orbits the Kreus Space Station, here supplies from outside the system are offloaded and shuttled down to the surface. It is also here the primary command operations of the XIIIth Legion are carried out. 

 

The current commander of Ulixis defences and security is Captain Creon Donatus of the 113th Company, 11th Chapter. At his command he has 400 Legiones Astartes as well as numerous support vehicles and Dreadnoughts. He also has overall command of both the PDF and Solar Auxilia forces. 

 

Both the Legiones Astartes and Imperial Army forces have full access to Hazardous environment equipment. There is a high proportion of Mk III void hardened power armour in use. Recent supplies have delivered small amounts of the newer Mk IV Maximus power armour as well as it's variant the Praetor pattern. 

 

Prior to the outset of the Battle of Calth and the subsequent Shadow Crusade, Captain Creon Donatus and 300 of the marines waited on the Kreus station for the arrival of a transport to take them to the Calth muster. Problems with the transports warp drive had delayed it's arrival by a large extent, as such when the treachery of the Word Bearers was revealed the news would eventually reach Ulixis after the damaged transport arrived in system. Attacked whilst making make shift repairs it was followed by a pair of XVII destroyers. These destroyers were driven off by system defence ships and the news was delivered of the full scale of treachery to Captain Donatus who began to plan for a defence of the planet.

 

Acquisition

 

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From aboard the Kreus station, Captain Donatus began to process a theoretical and a practical. From the report by the transport he was told that the Word Bearers had opened fire on the muster at Calth, whether by accident or pre-meditated it had yet to be determined. He knew that XVII Lgion ships had pursued the transport to this system, the most likely outcome being to stop the news of the treachery spreading. Any communications by astropaths on Ulixis had failed and indeed several had died whilst trying to contact the core worlds. The most likely outcome in his estimation would be an attack on Ulixis at an non-designated time in the near future.

 

Captain Donatus's first actions were to call up the PDF reserves and to begin the evacuation of the smaller outlying settlements dotted around the larger cities. Due to the nature of the planet, emergency bunkers had been excavated prior to the construction of both Ulixis Prime and Secundus and the vast majority of civilian population had been moved there but due to the exponential growth of the population there wasn't adequate space, so a large amount of the incoming civilians from the surrounding settlements were forced to take shelter in the legiones chapter forts and other fortified buildings within the centre of the cities. The largest population centre by far was the capital city Ulixis Prime and so it was here Donatus focused most of his efforts, delegating the defence of Ulixis Secondus to his First Centurion Aetius Iovis who he had fought alongside since he took his first step in the Great Crusade.

 

 

Donatus theorised that for a successful defence during a prolonged siege then the agri fields would need to be secured and maintained. These fields were set beyond the city limits close to the shore so they could make use of natural irrigation and the city itself would provide a bulwark for them, however that did not rule out an attack from the sea itself and the only barrier there was a shield wall set up to prevent possible flooding and other climatic events. These defences would need to be shored up and Donatus tasked the 23rd Ornar Engineers that had only recently arrived to help extend the perimeter of the cities due to the growth with the job of adding gun emplacements and reinforcing the wall itself.

 

Donatus had already accepted the fact they would lose the space around Ulixis. Kreus Station had defences and they were capable of withstanding small incursions from the numerous Ork and other xenos raiders that had sporadically entered the system but to withstand the brunt of a Legiones attack was never thought of during it's inception. He had no doubt though that the enemy would wish to board the station and turn its defence lasers against those on the surface as well as to block out communications and so began preparations to counter this. He tasked the captain of the transport to take news of what was happening to other nearby systems, the captain resolutely accepted. The ship would never be seen again.

 

Further work on the land outside of the city's perimeter would begin, and the creation of a secondary perimeter would be put into effect. Replete with gun emplacements, razor wire and mines that were once used to defend the early settlements from the burrowing scorpid were once again put in place and would be triggered by nearby seismic activity once activated. This perimeter line would be manned at first primarily by the PDF forces whilst the Legiones and Solar Auxilia would meet the enemy amongst the dunes. Donatus theorised that the invading forces would not be so accustomed to the hellish climate of the Dead Zone and believed that the orbital defences of the combined cities would force the deployment of troops into this area, that was of course if they didn't simply obliterate them from above. The presence of such a large military force would also act as a tempting target and draw the enemy forces to them rather than the civilians.

 

After three days he received a communication from the outlying system monitors that a moderately sized fleet of Word Bearer ships as well as unidentified civilian transports had translated into the system and were making full steam towards Ulixis. He evacuated the Kreus station leaving a skeleton crew of volunteers to man the stations defences, these names would be the first causalities of the defence of Ulixis that would be added to the roll of honour.

[Frostmourne]

Yes. This. Followed. 

[GhostMalone]

Im eager to see another take on the ultras, ill be watching and very soon I'll start my genesis thread

[Daemon2027]

Wow the 500 worlds will all be represented at this rate!

[Praefectus Invictus]

So many Ultras... at least no one is stealing my Evocatus idea.

[Fire Golem]

All these Ultras is a good thing, more inspiration for mine!

[BFeeder]

Nice to see another XIII Legion log. I think your background is solid, but I have one tiny nitpick.

 

 

The current commander of Ulixis defences and security is Captain Creon Donatus of the 83rd Company, 11th Chapter.

 

 

You can work out which Chapter a particular company belongs to, by dividing the company number by ten.

 

For example, the 3rd Chapter consists of Companies 30 to 39, the 12th consists of Companies 120 to 129 etc. So either Captain Donatus is the 83rd Company of the 8th Chapter, or the 11x Company of the 11th Chapter.

 

This even applies to the First Chapter, though I believe it's special in that it consists of the first nineteen companies (so it's either a reinforced Chapter, or has companies that are smaller in size, but are more "elite").

 

Hope this helps!

[Emperor's Furor]

Thanks for the interest :)

 

 

Nice to see another XIII Legion log. I think your background is solid, but I have one tiny nitpick.

 

 

The current commander of Ulixis defences and security is Captain Creon Donatus of the 83rd Company, 11th Chapter.

 

 

You can work out which Chapter a particular company belongs to, by dividing the company number by ten.

 

For example, the 3rd Chapter consists of Companies 30 to 39, the 12th consists of Companies 120 to 129 etc. So either Captain Donatus is the 83rd Company of the 8th Chapter, or the 11x Company of the 11th Chapter.

 

This even applies to the First Chapter, though I believe it's special in that it consists of the first nineteen companies (so it's either a reinforced Chapter, or has companies that are smaller in size, but are more "elite").

 

Hope this helps!

 

Excellent thanks I'll change the company because 11 is a favourite number of mine :)

[Atia]

Cool! Can't wait to see some models^^ you should use the later PoU heraldic for either your Chapter Master or as Chapter-icon for all your Marines (like the Iron Snakes in KnF)

[GrandMagnus]

Im am definetly going to keep my eye on this. Keep it up brother.

[Emperor's Furor]

Cool! Can't wait to see some models^^ you should use the later PoU heraldic for either your Chapter Master or as Chapter-icon for all your Marines (like the Iron Snakes in KnF)

Yes that's what I'm planning to do, wasn't sure whether to limit it to just my commander or the entire army though. I was thinking of adding a tan stripe down the middle of the red, so that it reflected the eventual colour scheme of the PoU as well.

I've added a second section to the original post called Acquisition, the planning stages of the defence.

[Emperor's Furor]

What are your thoughts on shotgun armed recon squads? I have a 5 man squad ready to be put together but I'm not sure whether to give them shotguns, sniper rifles, bolters or turn them into seekers and give them a combi weapons. At the moment rule of cool is saying 10 man squad of shotgun armed marines would be awesome and fluff wise the idea would be they are a squad used to tracking down the bigger predators causing problems for settlements and so have spent a good amount of time in the deserts and when it comes to the invasion they are sent out to harass the enemy forces. 

[GhostMalone]

I think they look ace and I'd use them for ZM mire than anything but I armed mine with the sniper rifles just to give them a more special ops vibe;

 

http://i1279.photobucket.com/albums/y524/Taron_James_Beer/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-02-12%2018.14.04_zpscygv8gms.jpg

[Emperor's Furor]

I've been thinking of what I'm going to include in my force, it'll be built slowly and I already have a contemptor, apothecaries and 5 of the recon squad ready to be put together (waiting for shoulder pads). The Centurion/Delegatus/Praetor along with the standard is on it's way to.

 

I don't know how many points this is just yet I haven't got the finer details sorted, it's mainly done for what I think looks cool and what I want to paint, but the general composition is to have an advancing line of breachers supported by the Contemptor and Deredeo. The Despoiler squad and Sicaran will advance down one flank and the recon squad will come on behind the enemy via one of the flanks and cause problems.

 

HQ

Delegatus / Praetor with command squad

 

Troops

20 Breacher Squad

10 Despoiler squad in Rhino

10 Recon squad in Rhino

 

Elites

Contemptor with Lascannon and CCW

Apothecary

 

Heavy Support

Deredeo with plasma and pavise

Sicaran

Legion Basilisk

[Emperor's Furor]

The beginnings of Centurion-Delegatus Aetius Iovis and Company Standard Bearer Ludo Severanus. I added a sheathed sword to the back of the Standard Bearer, but it's not quite visible, will get a better shot when I take more pictures. I've left their left shoulderpads off as I'm planning on giving them the Forgeworld Ultramarine pads. I also gave the standard bearer the mk II standard with the eagle on top as it feels more ultramarine like.

 

http://i57.tinypic.com/357h8na.jpg

[Emperor's Furor]

When I originally started this log I made a made showing where I thought Ulixis might be, I've just found an actual official map and I was totally surprised that the location FW put it was actually very near to where I thought it might be, which was to the galactic north west of Calth.

 

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/resources/catalog/product/600x620/60040187045_HorusHeresyBookVTempest03.jpg