Brainstorming for Two Custom Chapters

[Volt]

I figured I might as well work out my two custom chapters on a forum, as I personally find it better to work with support and constructive criticism/advice before writing an Index Astartes article.

 

Now, the idea I've been working on is for two Chapters, one of which I've already worked out the name for the Chapter- the Brotherhood of Normant. Their backstory that I've worked out so far is that the Brotherhood were a Chapter of Dark Angels dispatched during the Great Crusade to conquer the most North-Western reaches of the galaxy. Near the end of the Great Crusade and as the warp grew violent under the influence of Chaos, the expeditionary force sat upon the edge of the void- before them lay the alien controlled systems of the Halo Zone. Long story short, after debate over their purpose and sworn oaths, the Chapter jumped in head-first. What they found was humanity shattered and routed- Orks controlled much of the habitable systems not under assault of supernovae and radiation clouds, any surviving human populations were either scavenging pirates (who were Chaos Cultists that the naive force did not understand) or stuck in a feudal society that had regressed beyond the industrial age.

 

The Chapter took it upon their charge to restore and fortify all these shattered worlds, building a small empire of systems on the brink as they subdued rebellious populations that refused to comply- installing themselves as the direct rulers of the systems with the Legion Praetor serving as king by (literal) divine right. All of the systems underwent immediate and dramatic industrial development, with the Dark Angels building and setting up star-fortresses on every planet they seized, fortifying them against the Ork hordes they knew would return to challenge these new warriors.

 

Long story short, the Horus Heresy happened, the warp went to hell, and the expeditionary force was stuck in the Halo Zone for around a thousand years. When the storms calmed (somewhat, you could now use warp travel without immediately dying, but they were still outside the range of the Astronomicon), they found themselves in the end of M31 with the Second Founding in the works. Years were spent while the Praetor and his council communicated in secret with the rest of the Dark Angel's legion Command, learning of the fallen, the disappearance of the Lion, and the destruction of Caliban. When the Second Founding was announced, the expeditionary force split, christening themselves the Brotherhood of Normant after the ancient warrior-lords of Normandie, and took to rebuilding their small holdout in what would be later called the "Reconstruction". During their years of silence, they had been hit hard by multiple Ork WHAAGHS!, which eroded their holdings and destroyed many of their fortresses until the Praetor slew the Warboss responsible in a duel.

 

Their castles in orbit and on the surface of the worlds they held were repaired rebuilt, and their numbers bolstered. During this time they also discovered a secret on some of the sectors they claimed- adamantium. This resource was hailed as a gift from the Emperor himself, and lead to a trade-route being forged with the Adeptus Mechanicus, shipping out adamantium ore in exchange for more ships to increase their fleet, power armor, and resources to build more star-forts.

 

By M32, the Chapter, now numbering over five-thousand began to suffer fractures in leadership. The Praetor was dead, his life unnaturally long after being placed in a dreadnought for wounds suffered over many campaigns, pleaded to be euthanized as he grew to injured for combat. With none other capable of equaling his charisma and unquestionable zealotry, two factions formed in the Brotherhood. One, the largest, wished to continue in the Praetor's footsteps- maintaining supreme power over the sectors they controlled for the good of the people and acting as Kings and Lords of the land. The second however, what would later become the Chapter know as the Marines Hospitaller*, wishing to instead to help the Imperium in ways beyond military might and sever all personal wealth, believing the way to true righteousness was to release oneself from all materialistic pleasures.  By M32.377, these factions split officially, a thousand of the five thousand leaving to form the Marines Hospitaller.

 

The Hospitallers are an odd duck. Compared to virtually all other Astartes Chapters, the Hospitallers instead prefer to serve a support role- to them combat is secondary to healing, which they consider to be the most noble and righteous of all pursuits. As such, every Marine Hospitaller is trained in the basic arts of the Apothecary, with every Veteran, Captain, and specialist being full graduates of the study. While they do occasionally embark on campaigns, the Hospitallers have set up hospices across the space controlled by the Brotherhood of Normant, and work to cure all afflictions- be they normal plagues or horrible Nurglite abominations- the Hospitallers have sworn to destroy all ailments to mankind. They also maintain a star-fort on the edge of the Halo Zone right where the light of the Astronomicon ends, serving as escorts for ships coming and going through the space controlled by the two chapters in the western-most fringe.

 

++

 

*Temporary name. I'm hoping to find something better that still refers to the real-life Order of Malta. Also, yes, the Brotherhood of Normant are indeed space Normans.

 

Also for further notes, both chapters more or less believe the Emperor to be a god by M41. Due to being surrounded by the warp on nearly all fronts, both the Brotherhood of Normant and Marines Hospitaller have seen....things.... that can only be described as angelic. Angels of fire that have saved their brothers and space-stations on more then one occasion. As such both Chapters are more then welcoming to the Ecclesiarchy, with the Marines Hospitallers being extremely cooperative with the Sisters whenever they meet (however rare it is).

 

As for rules, I'm, the Brotherhood would be organized like the Dark Angels, while due to everyone being a qualified Surgeon in the Marines Hospitaller, Iron Hands would probably be fitting due to FNP.

 

 

http://imgur.com/B1MrHRg,uMZdRsS#0

 

Here's the two schemes. The first is for the Brotherhood of Normant, which is based off the personal heraldry of my own family, while the second is based on the colors used by the Order of Malta after the Crusades.

[Olis]

Personally, I think the origin story needs some work - the Praetor installing himself as king of his own domain sounds off to me. That being said, a cut-off expeditionary force being the basis of a second founding could be interesting depending on how they re-contact the Imperium and what the Imperium makes of their actions. 

 

The colour schemes look fine to me btw, no critique to be had there. Will they still follow the knightly theme from the HH DA or will they deviate by the time of the 41st millennium?

[Volt]

Personally, I think the origin story needs some work - the Praetor installing himself as king of his own domain sounds off to me. That being said, a cut-off expeditionary force being the basis of a second founding could be interesting depending on how they re-contact the Imperium and what the Imperium makes of their actions. 

 

The colour schemes look fine to me btw, no critique to be had there. Will they still follow the knightly theme from the HH DA or will they deviate by the time of the 41st millennium?

As the Brotherhood are space Normans, they'd emphasize the knightly theme. Their MO is to conquer territory through fast "cavalry" charges comprised of the Ravenwing and Rhinos focusing on mobility above all else, along with support from air units. Upon establishing control, they anoint their own as regional governors while quickly building fortresses to allow them to both defend new territory from external threats while also suppressing rebellions. Much in the manner of how Normans turned Britain into roadkill with Knights backed up by men-at-arms, and then built castles wherever they went. When I actually get around to making them on TT (as in if I ever start to bother painting, thus justifying the cost of buying kits again), I'd probably be using from Black Templar boxes for kitbashing or third party models as I'd want to make them closer to GC era DA's then the modern ones running around in Aquila.

 

Truly, I'd want to replicate this kind of looking armor, if you can offer any tips to a third-party company that makes bits that would aid in creating such an appearance. Otherwise I might just buy Forgeworld for Corvus and MKII/III armor given that they look like Hounskull Bascinets and Great Helms.

 

http://www.blacklibrary.com/Images/Product/AlternativeBL/xlarge/collected-visions-2.jpg

 

 

For combat, I was definitely thinking a heavy emphasis on melee for them. They'd also excel at boarding actions in space, and due to their connections with the Admech and being an old Legion force as well, possess a lot of MK III armor for their Assault Companies along with shields.

 

 

As for the Praetor, I'm still working stuff out. He's going to be based off William I of Normandy (for obvious reasons), but I've been debating on his origin. The first one is as posted, he was the original Praetor of the Dark Angel expeditionary force. The other is, during their travel to the Halo Stars through warp storms in the area, they came under daemonic assault. Boarded by hordes of daemons that teleported onto their ships, in combat the original Praetor and all of the council save the chapter's champion was slain. The Champion took up his master's sword and cut down those opposed and led a counter-assault that drove the daemonic hordes to the portals from where they came, and the Librarians shut out the daemons while the gellar fields were raised.

 

 

Oh, that reminds me. Due to being outside of the astronomicon, the Brotherhood and Knights of Malta use Librarians to guide their ships through the warp. The region is too volatile, and navigators more vulnerable to daemonic assault then the Librarians who are steeled against such mental attacks. Even when communication was reestablished, no navigator house dared supply the Chapter (and later Chapters) with their number, for they believed it suicide.

[Conn Eremon]

Oh, that reminds me. Due to being outside of the astronomicon, the Brotherhood and Knights of Malta use Librarians to guide their ships through the warp. The region is too volatile, and navigators more vulnerable to daemonic assault then the Librarians who are steeled against such mental attacks. Even when communication was reestablished, no navigator house dared supply the Chapter (and later Chapters) with their number, for they believed it suicide.

 

Hm, minor quibble about this, and I apologize in advance if this comes across as harsh. In 40k lore, there are two separate mutations that leads to these two functions. There is a Psyker Gene and a Navigator Gene, and the one is not the other. While they both have some connection to the Warp, the two mutations do not overlap in function. A Navigator cannot shoot lightning from his hands or scream nightmare messages across the Warp, but he can "see" the Warp from the inside in a manner that allows him to navigate its currents. Likewise, a Psyker can shoot lightning or send astrophic messages, but would be unable to navigate the Warp with any accuracy, even with the Astronomican. And while the Psyker Gene appears to be something that any population of mainstream humanity (you never, for instance, hear about an Ogryn Psyker [though now I really, really want to]) can randomly mutate, the Navigator Gene is something selectively bred for and seems to appear solely within the Navigator Houses (which exists before the Astronomican and includes among their number those who regularly operate outside of it, albeit certainly not the Terran Houses but those aligned with renegade forces). This makes it sound like the Librarian would need to be a recruited Navigator who happens to manifest the Psyker Gene as well in order for this effort to have any potential for success, which is skirting well into the realm of special snowflake.

 

So attempting to use Librarians for navigation feels like a recipe for disaster, a surefire method for a Chapter to commit suicide through death-by-warp within a very short timeframe.

 

I think this sort of idea would be better represented not as an established organizational 'truth' of the Chapter, but as a singular example of just how desperate the Chapter once had to be. Having that sort of instance, a sidebar depiction, would make for an interesting read. There was one time when, momentarily bereft of an available Navigator, one Chapter force decides to risk their lives, their ships and all valuable resources contained within, in order to go meet some worthy threat. It does not end well.

[Volt]

 

Oh, that reminds me. Due to being outside of the astronomicon, the Brotherhood and Knights of Malta use Librarians to guide their ships through the warp. The region is too volatile, and navigators more vulnerable to daemonic assault then the Librarians who are steeled against such mental attacks. Even when communication was reestablished, no navigator house dared supply the Chapter (and later Chapters) with their number, for they believed it suicide.

 

Hm, minor quibble about this, and I apologize in advance if this comes across as harsh. In 40k lore, there are two separate mutations that leads to these two functions. There is a Psyker Gene and a Navigator Gene, and the one is not the other. While they both have some connection to the Warp, the two mutations do not overlap in function. A Navigator cannot shoot lightning from his hands or scream nightmare messages across the Warp, but he can "see" the Warp from the inside in a manner that allows him to navigate its currents. Likewise, a Psyker can shoot lightning or send astrophic messages, but would be unable to navigate the Warp with any accuracy, even with the Astronomican. And while the Psyker Gene appears to be something that any population of mainstream humanity (you never, for instance, hear about an Ogryn Psyker [though now I really, really want to]) can randomly mutate, the Navigator Gene is something selectively bred for and seems to appear solely within the Navigator Houses (which exists before the Astronomican and includes among their number those who regularly operate outside of it, albeit certainly not the Terran Houses but those aligned with renegade forces). This makes it sound like the Librarian would need to be a recruited Navigator who happens to manifest the Psyker Gene as well in order for this effort to have any potential for success, which is skirting well into the realm of special snowflake.

 

So attempting to use Librarians for navigation feels like a recipe for disaster, a surefire method for a Chapter to commit suicide through death-by-warp within a very short timeframe.

 

I think this sort of idea would be better represented not as an established organizational 'truth' of the Chapter, but as a singular example of just how desperate the Chapter once had to be. Having that sort of instance, a sidebar depiction, would make for an interesting read. There was one time when, momentarily bereft of an available Navigator, one Chapter force decides to risk their lives, their ships and all valuable resources contained within, in order to go meet some worthy threat. It does not end well.

 

 

Actually no, you're wrong. Psykers can indeed function as Navigators (if not superior), as the Night Lords books and The Talon of Horus clearly demonstrate, psykers can navigate a ship without disaster, if not even being superior. Navigators lack the mental strength of Astartes Librarians especially, and going beyond the Light can lead to madness in them. Especially a zone of space as violent and perilous as the Halo Zone/Stars.

 

Which also makes sense as well, as Psykers can catapult their souls across the entire galaxy and observe beyond their body, something a Navigator is incapable of.

[Conn Eremon]

I'm sorry, I don't remember any psykers providing that role in those books. I remember Navigators, such as Octavia. I'd be happy to be proven wrong by a source, though.

[Volt]

I'm sorry, I don't remember any psykers providing that role in those books. I remember Navigators, such as Octavia. I'd be happy to be proven wrong by a source, though.

 

Ruuven I believe was the name of the Sorcerer who used to serve as a pseudo Navigator for The Covenant.

[Conn Eremon]

I'll see if I can look into it. Do you remember which book?

[Conn Eremon]

Aha, so I found what you are referring to.

 

You are correct. Ruven, a Night Lords Chaos Sorcerer, did for a brief moment navigate the Covenant while their sole Navigator was on a second ship. However, it's heavily implied that it was something specific about Ruven, and not necessarily his psychic talent, that made him the preferred choice. Since the act of beginning his Navigator duties involved something that sounds a lot like Enuncia, that 'something specific' might be Enuncia, or something like it. Either way, all Ruven was doing was using his talents, empowered by Enuncia(ish), to latch onto Octavia, who was Navigating from another ship. It's possible there might be more to it than that, but as Ruven dies directly after this single attempt at playing Navigator, it's hard to tell.

 

So all in all, I don't think this example of a Chaos Sorcerer, using Enuncia (or something very like it) and not, necessarily, doing a full Navigator job, changes my earlier point. It's certainly of interest, but I don't see any correlation to how something similar can be done by those less capable (comparing general Librarians to Enuncia-empowered Chaos Sorcerers) on a much more massive, long-term scale (as it's something the whole Chapter is doing as its norm) to a greater degree (being the sole replacement to Navigators, rather than relying an a Navigator on another ship to do all the work).

[Lysimachus]

I haven't read either series but I have heard of Sorcerers being used to as Navigators. I think it works because they're already deeply connected with the warp, and some even have pacts with the entities that live in it, thereby making them capable of guiding a ship through it.

 

Everything I've seen regarding loyalist Librarians trying to do the same implies that it's highly risky for them.

 

 

On the Chapter(s), looks ok so far. The expansion to 5k Marines after being rediscovered at the 2nd Founding is odd, they'd be subject to the same restrictions placed on all the new Chapters and limited to approx 1k? What does it add to them to make them that much bigger?

 

On the 2nd Chapter:

 

The Hospitallers are an odd duck. Compared to virtually all other Astartes Chapters, the Hospitallers instead prefer to serve a support role- to them combat is secondary to healing, which they consider to be the most noble and righteous of all pursuits. As such, every Marine Hospitaller is trained in the basic arts of the Apothecary, with every Veteran, Captain, and specialist being full graduates of the study. While they do occasionally embark on campaigns, the Hospitallers have set up hospices across the space controlled by the Brotherhood of Normant, and work to cure all afflictions- be they normal plagues or horrible Nurglite abominations- the Hospitallers have sworn to destroy all ailments to mankind.

These things really don't fit with the established fluff. A Space Marine is specifically designed to be a super soldier, thrown into the worst possible scenarios against the most horrific opponents imaginable and still come out on top. Then do the same thing after lunch. A warrior of such abilities is utterly wasted in any other role, particularly one that could be equally well performed by a regular human.

 

Furthermore, the Marines are an expensive and very limited resource, their number stretched extremely thinly across the Imperium. A Chapter that wasted the majority of the time and energy of its brethren on anything other than fulfilling their primary purpose, the role given to them by the Emperor himself, would likely receive censure of some kind and be told to get back to what they should be doing, killing the Emperor's foes. (In fact, much like how the WB were censured for wasting time building monuments during the Great Crusade)

[Volt]

They're the only Imperial Force in the entire region, they initially built up their numbers from anticipated threats that later rolled in (and nearly crushed them). A single command is far more efficient and competent then five, and as such they just remained at around 5k until the Knights Hospitaller split off, and now number around 4k. However they haven't increased their company sizes. The extra marines are largely just needed to make sure planets aren't conqered by enemy forces before they can even respond. Due to being outside the Astronomicon's light and not having effecient means of FTL, they just need a lot of Companies on constant patrol covering large swaths of space. If the Rak'Gol, Orks, and Chaos all decide to launch simultaneous attacks on multiple fronts, you're kinda screwed unless you have the numbers to equally respond to all threats and fight them off.

 

They would have a PDF private military garrison that they personally train, but due to their remote location, any militias would be poorly armed and armored compared to other PDF/Guardsmen regiments, and the best units they may have are some Baneblade variants. There's no reinforcements in this part of the galaxy, or at least any coming in a timely matter.

 

The best analogy I can think of is imagine instead of conquering England, William I of Normandy sailed off to North America and conquered territory the size of Maine, and now they're under constant attack by Native Americans trying to push out the intruders, and the Normans have an absurdly low chance of ever getting reinforcements. Plus even if they sent reinforcements, they might get swallowed up by the Atlantic Ocean and never heard from again.

 

Also, that gives me an idea for the Marines Hospitallers- what if they were sworn enemies of Nurgle? Like launching crusades into a warp storm in search of a cure of some metaphysical chaos plague or assaulting worlds tainted by Nurglite zombies? Literal warriors fighting disease.

[Gorkimedes]

There are chapters that choose to participate in the imperial war-machine through unconventional methods, such as the Mentor Legion

[Banelord]

Personally, I would make the “Hospitallers” a sister of battle order, it sounds more fitting. The split could then be just a simply case of one group wanting to defend the territory that they currently have ,seeing it as their duty, and the second group could want to continue the great crusade in the name of the emperor, believing that was their primary mission.  

[Arendious]

Maybe rather than being tied to this remote region, the 'Hospitallers' send squad-sized delegations to the hottest warzones across the Imperium. Sort of like "Doctors without Borders", but for Astartes who might otherwise be beyond reach of their own chapters apothecaries.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

An Avenging Sons Librarian substituted for a Navigator in 'Renegades', Gav Thorpe's story in the 'Heroes of the Space Marines' anthology.

 

The Chapter colors are great, its Chapter symbol serviceable. As for what happens when they reestablish contact with the 41st millennium's Dark Angels, I don't think it'll be good. Your Marines will only acknowledge the Emperor and Lion El'Jonson's authority as being above their own leaders, and tell Supreme Grand Master Azrael to take a hike. Azrael will take this hike, because he does NOT trust your Marines with the 41st millennium's Dark Angels' secrets, i.e., regarding the "Fallen Angels." Younger and more impulsive Marines on both sides, may end up fighting.

[Banelord]

An Avenging Sons Librarian substituted for a Navigator in 'Renegades', Gav Thorpe's story in the 'Heroes of the Space Marines' anthology.

 

The Chapter colors are great, its Chapter symbol serviceable. As for what happens when they reestablish contact with the 41st millennium's Dark Angels, I don't think it'll be good. Your Marines will only acknowledge the Emperor and Lion El'Jonson's authority as being above their own leaders, and tell Supreme Grand Master Azrael to take a hike. Azrael will take this hike, because he does NOT trust your Marines with the 41st millennium's Dark Angels' secrets, i.e., regarding the "Fallen Angels." Younger and more impulsive Marines on both sides, may end up fighting.

 

I think any Dark Angel chapter master would be suspicious if a unknown chapter of marines were found, after a 1000 years, “Claiming” to be of Dark Angle decent. The Fallen were scattered throughout time and space, so these guys would be prime suspects. They would at least want to investigate them, before any details were revelled by the Unforgiven. The question would be: Would the Brotherhood allow it? They could see as a taint on their honour to be suspected. Best case scenario, just a bit of mistrust between them, a worst case could lead to all out war.

[Volt]

An Avenging Sons Librarian substituted for a Navigator in 'Renegades', Gav Thorpe's story in the 'Heroes of the Space Marines' anthology.

 

The Chapter colors are great, its Chapter symbol serviceable. As for what happens when they reestablish contact with the 41st millennium's Dark Angels, I don't think it'll be good. Your Marines will only acknowledge the Emperor and Lion El'Jonson's authority as being above their own leaders, and tell Supreme Grand Master Azrael to take a hike. Azrael will take this hike, because he does NOT trust your Marines with the 41st millennium's Dark Angels' secrets, i.e., regarding the "Fallen Angels." Younger and more impulsive Marines on both sides, may end up fighting.

Uh, they established contact around the end of M30, not M40- they're a Second Founding Chapter of the Dark Angels.

 

EDIT

 

Looking into heraldic meanings, it appears my heraldry is most suiting to the Dark Angels without even knowing it. The primary color- Sable, signifies grief and constancy, while the main secondary color, Or, signifies generosity and elevation of the mind.

[Volt]

Bumping this, as I need some help coming up with names. Due to the amount of territory and the time it takes to patrol and protect said territory, crunching numbers for company size. For now what I'm calling Deathwing and Ravenwing each number 350 total combatants minus support to either run campagins completely cut-off from support, or for combined arms engagements against Xenos such as Orks to wipe out with minimal Guard aid.

 

But I also am planning on having the Second Company be bloated as well, as they would be focused on void warfare. Are there any Dark Angel names from the HH (Voidwing or what-not) that they called any force that specialized in space battles? And are there any examples of other Dark Angels successors that have different names for 1st and 2nd company? I know the Angels of Absolution have a fairly funky organization that includes Sternguard, but they still have the same companies.

 

I'm also trying to pick through Norman history to look for something that would be a more suiting name to replace Ravenwing and Deathwing, but "Chevaliers" just sounds weak in comparison.

[Volt]

Bumping this for a quick question- which name sounds better? Brotherhood of Normant or Paladins of Nourmaundie? Trying to think of a different name, as I'm just not all that satisfied with the Brotherhood of Normant. Plus Paladins more accurately fits the job description of the Chapter.

 

In other news I found a perfect reason to justify them having around three thousand members and doing a bit of empire building themselves (albeit indirectly, the Chapter Master controls the capital of the human civilization in the local sector(s), but outside the control of Nourmaundie itself, his word is merely advice), I looked at the old Ork population map and holy throne.

 

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/6/6c/Orks_activity.jpg

 

They're smack dab in the middle of a massive Ork concentration of more than fifty Ork worlds per subquadrant. They certainly would be in a state of constant warfare with no true means to get heavy reinforcement in a timely matter. 

[Olis]

Personally, of the two, I prefer the Brotherhood of Normant. That said, do you think naming them the Paladins of Normant might help?

 

It looks like you've found your catalyst for exceeding codex restrictions. Now you must find a way of making it sound plausible and having it stick. Increasing numbers to such a large degree would clearly be in breach of the Codex Astartes - there will have to be a way around this. For example, perhaps the Chapter is operating under emergency procedures and maybe the distribution of recruits across the Chapter isn't reported on a regular basis, if at all. With elements operating independently, for whatever reason, the Chapter officially remains within Codex stricture (and each of these elements are under the impression that the others are not faring well). Realistically, however, they exceed the limit by a large margin. Essentially, they'd be acting similarly to the Black Templars.

 

Of course, there is another example to follow - the Astral Claws. This route involves the command cadre fully knowing they are exceeding stricture. The problem there is that if they get caught (and why not) then they will have to face censure. In all likelihood it'll lead to them going on a penance crusade unless they can stand up to the relevant authority well enough. Question is - what specific circumstance will lead to the command cadre to risk censure? Extinction? A greater threat than anything they have seen before, by orders of magnitude? Cold, hard facts?

 

Short of spinning your own story for them, I know of only two other examples off the top of my head that you could, in theory, utilise as a basis for your story - Firstly is the Space Wolves. They never gave a monkeys about the Codex to begin with. The fact that they are a first founding chapter does give them a weight that your own will not have, mind you. But starting out as a Chapter with little regard for certain passages of the Codex might be an interesting turn. Secondly, is a DIY chapter of my own making - The Untaken. They had already gone renegade before they ditched the Codex. They were pirates and reavers for a long time before being able to boost their numbers way beyond Codex limits. By the time that mattered, they had ceased to care for such restrictions for a long while. How that exactly helps you formulate your own story is a little beyond me at this late hour but you never know. Maybe you can see something in that example that escapes me right now.

[Volt]

The reason for the increased numbers is that they live in the Halo Stars, either on the edge or fully outside the light of the Astronomicon. They require extra numbers simply to keep everything nailed down and support the local Guard/PDF Regiments while Xenos such as Orks rampage about. But due to their distance from Terra, their FTL rates would be an utter crawl making responses slow. As such they need increased numbers simply for patrols and keeping everyone up to strength.

 

Organization-wise, I've nailed it out as such-

 

Deathwing: 300 Astartes total with logistical support. Split into three detachment groups that work in conjunction with other companies or detachments of Ravenwing and Voidwing.

 

Ravenwing: 300 Astartes total with logistical support. Split into three detachment groups that work in conjunction with other companies or detachments of Deathwing and Voidwing.

 

Voidwing: 300 Astartes with logistical support. Naval wing dedicated to boarding enemy ships and commanding fleets. Split into three detachment groups that work in conjunction with other companies or detachments of Deathwing and Ravenwing.

 

Companies 3 through 10: Battle Companies consisting of your usual Greenwing mixture of Tactical Marines, Devastators, and Assault Marines.

 

Companies 10 through 17: Assault auxiliary companies, largely focusing on bikes over jet infantry.

 

Companies 17 through 24: Devastator auxiliary companies. Nothing too unique, they pack the larger tank formations compared to the other companies, along with lots of Razorbacks.

 

Depending on the current situation, the Chapter is split into different groups spread across the local sectors engaged in separate Campaigns. A bit like the Templar's Crusades, only these formations are a lot more fluid and change rapidly over time and are a lot closer to home. The only consistent deployment is the split of the Deathwing, Ravenwing and Voidwing, which are almost always organized in three groups of 50/50/50 each. The other Companies rally to each commander as they are needed, or in dire times will split to cover even more territory. There's no scout company, instead every company, including the three specialized wings, each retains twenty or so scouts to serve as dedicated snipers and replace any losses on the fly.

 

The "Greenwing" companies are also cycled continuously. Whenever one starts to run out of resources or sustains heavy losses, it peels away to return to the nearest imperial world uncontested by greenskins and other Xenos while another Company steps up to replace them for the time being.

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

If you're still looking for a name, I hear Purifiers is pretty good.

[Olis]

If you're still looking for a name, I hear Purifiers is pretty good.

 

:lol:

 

It has been too long since I heard that old chestnut. :D

[Doctor Perils]

I'm sorry, but I'm never such a fan of huge chapters. Then again, the others are ok with it, and you at least have a plausible explanation for these numbers, so...

 

Since you are offshoots of the Dark Angels right from the end of the Heresy, since you have big numbers and are isolated, you might want to consider using the 6 "wings" of the Dark Angels, as hinted by the Unremembered Empire and co.

 

For the hospitalers, I feel this is a somewhat weird way of doing things: that doesn't mean bad mind you. I think you'd be safer using red scorpions rules, with apothecaries as sergeants.

 

Don't know how I feel about the librarians as navigators, I feel they'd be trying to do too many tasks at the same time (warriors, record keepers, psykers AND navigators ?), but at the same time I had been thinking about using the Navigator Gene as mutation for the Dread Lords at some stage (I've since abandoned this idea). I still think that using psykers to guide ships through the warp is more a matter of doing it if and when they have to, rather than replacing the Navigators. After all, Navigators are literally bred to only to this task, and if psykers could do it just as well or better, than there would be no need for Navigators: as it is, the Navis Nobilite has an immense amount of power, because they are the only ones able to do their job well enough, and they are much less numerous than psykers.

[Erasus]

Librarians can be used as Navigators, there's instances in The Night Lords trilogy (as mentioned) and in the Path of the Eldar trilogy where a renegade Astartes group use their Librarian to navigate since they have no other way. As far as I know though it comes with a lot of daemonic attention. For Navigators it's more like looking into the Warp and guiding the ship through the rough currents while for a Librarian it involves using their psychic powers which attracts daemons making them far more likely to be possessed than Navigators, the only reason chaotic marines are more successful is because they are usually aligned with one of the Greater Powers that protects them with their influence. So if your Chapter wanted Librarians as Navigators then fair enough but by the sounds of it loyalists are targeted by daemons more often than Navigators.