+++ BROTHERHOOD OF ANGELS 2015 +++

[Olis]

Chapter submitted to the Tabula. :)

[Conn Eremon]

Ditto (always forget, I'm terrible).

[Epher]

BLADES OF OBLIVION

GENE-SEED (PREDECESSOR): Dark Angels, Angels of Ablsolution
FOUNDING: 23M28
CHAPTER MASTER: Grand Master Vengen, Keeper of the Grave of Caliban
CHAPTER WORLD: Iodofax Prime
FORTRESS MONASTERY: The Ghost of Caliban
MAIN COLOURS: Black, Blood and Bone
SPECIALITY: Fast Attack, Combined Assualt
BATTLE CRY: For Caliban you die!
CURRENT STRENGTH: 933 Battle Brothers

Origins

In 973M37, the planetary systems due north of the Segmentum Obscurus in the galactic vicinity of the ruins of old Caliban were seeing an increase of Chaos activity. Raids were reported with increased frequency. Contact had been lost from some colonies. A call for help was sent out. The Dark Angels, compelled by their desire to destroy the forces of Chaos and to avenge the loss of their home world, answered the distress calls. The Dark Angels fought for 50 years but their enemy was relentless. Raid after raid came to greet them, all originating from what used to be their home system. The decision was made to found another chapter in the image of the Dark Angels. This chapter would protect these systems and lead the purge of the ruins of their beloved home world from evil of any form.

The process was started; the people of colonies that they saved were more than willing to bring the fight to their previous oppressors. The colonies swore their allegiance to the First Legion as their protectors and saviors. A fine stock of healthy men, seasoned through hardship of labour and defending the colonies from monstrous beasts, would be more than sufficient to provide the basis for this fighting force. The Dark Angels used their own gene-seed and the process began. So in 23M38, this successor was founded.

Scout ships where sent into the Caliban system. Azrael received reports of a massive buildup Chaos fleet units, a force too large to be handled by the Dark Angels alone. A call went forth to successors of the First for assistance in purging the Caliban system and for marines and equipment to build the initial fighting force of the newest successor. Detachments from the Angels of Vengeance, Angels of Absolution, Angels of Redemption, Guardians of the Covenant and other successor chapters soon arrived.

Azrael gathered all of the chapter masters to discuss the details of this founding. Acquired fleet assets included one battle barge and three strike cruisers and chapter present offered a company’s strength of marines. The result netted 60 suits of Tactical Dreadnought Armour, 70 bikes and sufficient marines and equipment to bring the chapter up to three quarters of normal strength. There was much debate amongst the chapter masters as to who was worthy to become the leader.

A tournament was held to determine who would be the founding Chapter Master of this new successor. A champion from the Dark Angels and each of its successors fought against each other friendly rivalry. In one unfortunate case a blow of a thunder hammer ended the life Gramius, the Captain of the 4th Company of the Angels of Vengeance. The final battle was between Librarian Cephas, Second in Command of the Librarium in the Guardians of the Covenant, and Vengen, the Company Master of the 3rd for the Angels of Redemption.

The two combatants faced each other in the arena before the Inner Circles of eight chapters. Reflections from the flaming torches glimmered off Vengen’s ancient Articifer Armour as he held his Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield firmly in his hands. Cephas across the ring, with force sword in one hand and the other hovering over an antiquated storm bolter, faint traces of his displacer field phased in the fire light. Azrael stood to his feet and addressed the crowd. “Many have fought in this arena to bring glory to the Dark Angels, to the Lion and all of his successors. But now, only two remain. To victor goes the command of a thousand battle brothers and a place amongst the centre of all of the Inner Circles. For the Lion!”

The klaxon rang, Vengen seized the initiative and raised his storm shield for the charge. Cephas unleased a volley bolts before sidestepping the advance. The bolter rounds merely ricocheted off the expertly crafted armour. Vengen in an instant heard a sound like no other and then felt a wave of energy pass over, his arm holding the storm shield felt shaken as it absorbed the impact of the psychic shriek. With his ears still ringing Vengen heard the faint crack of a force sword being charged. His storm shield met the arc of the Cephas’ blade and was able to deflect it. Vengen thrust his thunder hammer forward and with the flicker of the displacer field Cephas disappeared. Looking over his shoulder, Vengen caught sight of his opponent and quickly turned to face him. He braced his shield as another wave of psychic energy crashed into him but this time Cephas’ psychic shriek tore into him. Shaken but ready, Vengen charged in deflecting a hail of bolts with his storm shield. The thunder hammer arced downwards towards Cephas’ left pauldron but was met with a parry from the force sword. Vengen shouldered in a thrust with the massive shield pushing the librarian back. The thunder hammer arced but was once again deflected, Cephas slipped past the company master’s extended arm and readied his blade. Using the momentum of the hammer, Vengen spun around and crashed the shield into the librarian. The displacer field flickered but Cephas remained. The upward arcing hammer was not seen as it was hidden by the shield. The next sound Cephas heard was the deafening crack of thunder as the hammer collided with his leg. Ceramite shattered, bones snapped and Cephas was thrown across the arena from the force of the impact.

On his approach to the wounded librarian, Vengen noticed that Cephas was chanting healing prayers to control the bleeding. Cephas looked up to his battered battle brother and said, “By the Lion and the Emperor, you will be a fine Master of this new successor.”

Vengen reached his hand down to Cephas, “Never have I met any librarian as fierce as you. I would be honoured to name you Chief Librarian.”

“The honour will be mine.” Cephas replied. Their hands met and Vengen pulled him up. Apothecaries ran to meet them and helped Cephas away.

Azrael silenced the cheer of the crowed to address them. “My fellow Sons of the Lion, here is the Chapter Master of this new successor, Vengen! By what name shall you be known?”

“To the edge of oblivion we shall go to reclaim what is ours, the home from where the Lion was raised and made his mark. And from this edge and this darkness we will maintain our vigil. We then shall emerge and be known as the Blades of Oblivion!”

Home World

The Iodofax system includes the largest and most developed colonies that the Dark Angels rescued during the initial purge in 973M27. Iodofax Prime is the largest in habited planet in the system. The surface of the planet is mostly land with Isolated oceans. Due to the planet’s distance from the sun, it has a cooler climate with forests around the equator with large polar regions. Most of the water on this planet is at the poles in the form of ice. Most of the population is in the forested areas with mining centers in the vast grasslands and tundra planes. The planet has excellent elemental resources but with limited manufacturing capabilities. The colonists on the planet are well established and have been there for several millennia.

The wildlife on the planet is diverse. Some species of grazing animals have been domesticated as part of the colony’s food supply. At the top of the food web, before the colonists arrived, were many large and fierce predators. Winged creatures the size of Storm Talons soared the skies and beasts capable of toppling a dreadnought roamed the lands. This resulted in the construction of fortified settlements within the safety of the forest and culture forced to tame the planet.

The ruling aristocracy soon found itself overwhelmed with the hostile of the planet. Brave and courageous men stepped forth to protect the developing colony. As they learned about the predators, they turned the hunters into the hunted. The greatest warriors were able to tame some of these beasts. Few were suitable as steeds but most were use with guards and the hunt. The elite of the culture soon became the warriors, the protectors of the colony, and the aristocracy was then replaced. Now the inhabited land is much safer. Since the hunt has been ingrained into the ruling culture, wild life preserves have been created with large walls separating man from beast. All cities have armed towers to ward off the flying predators.

Fortress Monastery

Their fortress is hidden amongst the debris field that was formally known as Caliban, where they keep vigil over the remains of the home world of the Dark Angels. The fortress, the Ghost of Caliban, is similar to the Rock where it is a mobile asteroid. However, the Ghost of Caliban is still under construction and is not capable of leaving the system. The asteroid is not a fragment of planetary crust but a dense metallic globule of cooled planetary core. The smooth weathered surface has the appearance of ferrous oxide. Clever construction techniques maintained the exterior of the asteroid while keeping the massive fortress hidden beneath.

The purpose of the fortress is to watch over what was once their glorious home world, capturing any of the Fallen that feel compelled to return and to monitor the Ocularis Terribus providing an early warning for any forces of Chaos that may find their way out.

Chapter Colors

The colors of the Blades of Oblivion are black, bone and red. Tacticals, Assaults, Biker Squads are all black with red crests on their chests. A bone stripe comes down their helmets. The blood on their hearts for the blood of the Fallen. The bone on heads for the bones of the Caliban and their Brothers lost. Some elites will have a bone colored sword painted in place of the stripe on their helmets.

The Deathwing equivalent bear the bone colored armour with the red crests on their chests. The bone paint is mixed with a particular mix of minerals mined from the cooled core of Caliban. This mixture gives the TDA an eerie glow that causes them to appear to be as ghosts or spectres. This appearance gave rise to the "Wall of Spectres" battle formation and tactics.

The Black Lancers, like their Ravenwing brethren, wear the armour of black. The standard Black Lancers will have the bone right shoulder pad but the elites will have both shoulder pads in black but with a red lance on the right.

Blades of Oblivion Space Marine

Scout Armour

Deathwing Terminator Armour

Jedrus - Company Master of the Shadow Ravens

Organization

The Blades of Oblivion shares similarities with their founders, the Dark Angels. As with most chapters, there are ten companies of one hundred strong.

First Company maintains the Deathwing name. The Tactical Dreadnought Armour is painted in a similar manner but minerals taken from the core of Caliban are added to the paint. This paint mixture causes an eerie to the armour and gives them a ghost-like appearance. Functional TDA suits are limited and the Blades of Oblivion can only field 6 ten man squads. The remaining numbers are veterans.

The Second Company is known as the Black Lancers and is comprised of bikes and land speeders. They are all skilled in the hunt but the elites, like their Dark Angel cousins, are known as the Black Knights. Second Company works very closely with the Librarium. Neophyte librarians spend as much time in their studies as they do on bikes. There are four full squads of Black Knights, each trains closely with their Librarian Master and will never deploy without him. The rest of the company are full bike squads with attack bike and land speeder support. There are also several squads worth of heavy land speeders.

The Third Company sets the Blades of Oblivion apart from other Dark Angels successors. The third company is known informally as the Shadow Ravens and every one of them has a jump pack. Chapter doctrine places heavy emphasis on mobility and the hunt; therefore, assault marines will always accompany the deployment of the first and second companies.

Fourth, fifth and sixth are battle companies and the rest are reserves with the exception of tenth company, which is scout units.

Combat Doctrine

Mobility above all. First on the ground are always the Black Lancers, who are ready to bring the fight by bike or by land speeder. The Shadow Ravens will be called in as support or as part of an ambush.

When the Deathwing deploy, so do the Shadow Ravens. The Shadow Ravens will time their jump deployment with the teleporting terminators so that their arrival is masked. The bone TDA glowing eerily in the twilight visually shields the assault marines from their foes and in one moment as a wall of terminators fires and closes in the Shadow Ravens will vault over and behind giving their prey no chance to survive or escape.

Fleet Assets

2x Battle Barge

5x Strike Cruisers

Undisclosed number of Thunderhawks and landing craft

Beliefs

The Blades of Oblivion, like the rest of the Unforgiven, keeps its secrets within circles. The recruits choose to join to bring honour to their family and to protect their home world. The battle to purge the Caliban system held no significance to them other than to defeat their foe. As the elite become part of the Inner Circle, the secrets are slowly shared. But what makes the Blades of Oblivion different from rest of the successors is that they deemed forgiven as they had proven their worth by releasing what was formerly the Dark Angels’ home world from the control of Chaos.

Heroes of Note

Vengen Grand Master of the Blades of Oblivion
He is the first Chapter Master and was appointed to this position by winning a tournament to prove his worth among the Dark Angel successor chapters. A master tactician and fierce in battle, he is a true leader worth of the Lion.

Cephas, Masater of the Librarians
As the Master of the Librarians and a member of the Inner Circle, Cephas actively participates in the hunt for the Fallen. In order to maintain mobility with his Librarius Conclave, he rides upon a modified Dark Shroud land speeder. Instead of a relic from the remains of Caliban, there is a platform where he stands and from this vantage point he can oversee the battle and guide the four librarian riders with their Black Knights to ensure the capture of any quarry.

Notable Battles

23M28 – The battle to Reclaim the Caliban System
Grand Master Vengen lead the Blades of Oblivion with support from the Dark Angels and successors into the Caliban system. The Blades, along with the Guardians of the Covenant and Angels of Redemption, took heavy losses but with the combined effort and excellent tactics the forces of Chaos were purged.


Present Activities

The Blades of Oblivion maintain half of the fleet near the Ghost of Caliban to watch over the Caliban System and their home world. The other half of the fleet patrol the systems further out in the galactic north. They are always ready to assist the Unforgiven at a moment’s notice.

Edit: Added pictures.

Edited August 4, 2015 by Epher

[Epher]

I want to say thanks to Grand Master Belial and Conn Eremon for helping me get my successor chapter reposted to the thread!  I will get the pictures up later today!

[Volt]

*silently screams in helmet*

 

Well part of the reason why I dropped off was not only due to depression, but right before the B&C went under maintenance my modem was (and still is) randomly dying and popping back to life. This children is why you write your Index Astartes article in Microsoft Word, and not in a forum's text box. Feth.

[Father Mehman]

Ah, Volt, I'm so sorry ! You could always rewrite it better than before. We can rebuild it. We can make it stronger, more readable. Light-hearted joking aside, consider it a first draft and this next go will be your second draft !

[Grand Master Belial]

I agree with Mehman. You are under no time crunch now and you can go ahead and make a new version that could be tweaked and modified to be even better. I try to help out when I can and notice a person building a DIY chapter.

 

Something that may help a bit is be sure to subscribe with daily notifications of what has been posted. Yeah, it will fill up you e-mailbox but at least you grab all of the text of things posted within the last 24 hours on a topic. I recently grabbed all of the final articles from the previous BoA Comps and the big thing I noticed is those of us who link photos from another site like Photobucket, take down the photos after a while. So I have a bunch of articles with no photos because the links are broken.

 

I plan to start grabbing these this weekend so I'll keep a Word Doc record for posterity. I just don't have the publishing skills to make a fancy PDF book of all of the submissions.

[Volt]

Photobucket in general is just terrible- it fowls up constantly for me thanks to my browser and they do wipe old images. Just use the B&C's photo storage or use a site like IMGUR.

 

I also might be able to get my article finished by the weekend. Eye of the Tiger montage powers don't fail me now!

Edited July 23, 2015 by Volt

[Grand Master Belial]

I got everyones' completed IA saved on my drive in a Word format. I know have to modify the formats and compile them into a uniform document. I'll try to get the Roll of Honor posted to reflect completed IA's from all the prior competitions. 

[Grand Master Belial]

ROLL OF HONOR - Past Submissions 

2012

1. Akatriel - Angels Penitent
2. Artemid - Angels Ardent
3. Avon Rekaes - Knights Immaculate
4. Balthamal - Star Knights
5. Bohemond - Angels of Caliban
6. Brother Arkley - Blades of Altena - Angels of Exculpation - Angels of Castigation/Sons of the Occulus - Zealots of the Emperor - Jade Ravens - Angels of Excess (Traitor)
7. Bryan Blaire - Stoneburners
8. Cpt_Reaper - Angels of Shadow
9. facmanpob - Guardians of the Covenant (Non-Canon)
10. Grand Master Belial - Saints of the Angels - Questing Brothers - Adamant Angels
11. Master Gabriel Macleod - Angels of the Storm
12. recon0321 - Knights of the Ebon Blade
13. Spaced Hulk - Night Watch

 

2014

1. Archangel - Avenging Angels
2. Arkley - Blades of Altena
3. blood hounds - Blood Hounds
4. Bohemond - Angels of Caliban
5. BrotherLibrarianGiles - Harbingers of Repentance
6. Brother Bahram - Angels of the Lion
7. Brother Tyler - Angels of Vigilance
8. Brule the Spear-Slayer (Brasidor) - Throne Knights
9. cod_lover - Angels of Revelation
10. Grand Master Belial - Saints of the Angels - Questing Brothers - Adamant Angels - Raptors of Caliban
11. Grotsmasha - Heralds of Devastation
12. Harlan Skorus - Angels of Contrition
13. Spaced Hulk - Night Watch
14. swartsengagger (Caym) - Shadow Angels

 

2015

1. blood hounds - The Blood Hounds (Thread)
2. Brother Arkley - Blades of Alaric - Sons of Thanatos
3. Brother SP - Lion Warriors
4. Conn Eremon - Knights Sovereign (Thread)
5. Epher - Blades of Oblivion (Text from before the Purge)
6. Grand Master Belial - Brooding Swords, Blood Swords - Fortress Updates: Angels of Mercy, Angel Guard, 
7. Grand Master Raziel - Night Angels
8. jaxom - Lightbringers
9. Knurd - Obsidian Lions (Thread)
10. LIBER FORUM - Blades of the Lion LIBER WIP
11. Moiamania - Tempest Sons
12. Olis - Brotherhood of the Lion
13. Sindiferous - Sentient Angels
14. teh_stwnerer - Scions of the Forest