Charnel Guard: AKA, My Scions of Sanguinius

[The Unseen]

So, I found these guys, what little official fluff exists for them anyway, and loved their paint scheme and their similarities to the Minotaurs and Carcharodons as being somewhat mysterious, enjoy taking on the traitorous forces of chaos, and seemingly tied in to the High Lords of Terra themselves, which opens up all such of fun ally options. (I've been dying to find a reason to take an eversor assasin, or the new Skitarri)

I had plans since 5th Ed to make my own chapter, but 6th edition dropped and I just lost interest in trying to make BA work. With the new book, I'm excited to put them on the table again.

I'm open to all critique, as this is my first Liber Astartes submission.

Also, anyone who has any advice as to what base color would go well with the color scheme, and tips on painting the dark red color are especially welcome.

This is a work in progress, so I have some material in mind that I haven't yet gotten onto the page properly.

Chapter Symbol:

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/6/6d/Charnel_Guard_Chapter_Icon3.jpg

Example Marine:

Fleet Based: Unique Flagship; Class Unknown: Custos Mortuis

(Translation: Guardian of the Dead)

Current Location: Unknown

Last Known Location: Veiled Region at the edge of the Segmentum Tempestus.

"For the Emperor and Sanguinius! Death! DEATH!"

In Morte Sumus Victorius!

“Who asks whether the enemy was defeated by strategy or valor?”

Rapid and/or Armored Assault, Infiltration, Void Warfare, Planetfall Insertions

The Charnel Guard favor incredibly close ranged rapid assaults, though the method of delivery changes depending on the circumstances, including stealthy approaches by scouts and veteran battle-brothers, fast moving armored columns, drop pod assault, or their favorite tactic; airborne insertion. They disdain defensive operations, and always seek to take the initiative and bring the fight to the enemy in any engagement. If overwhelming resistance is encountered during one of their operations, and no reinforcements are immediately available, the Charnel Guard prefer to disengage, and probe the enemy until a weaker point is located in the enemy. This is due to the slow rate of recruitment and resupply for the individual companies during their extensive fleet based campaigns. Very few enemies can offer the resistance necessary to incite this however, most enemies morale and cohesion is shattered within moments of first contact with the fast moving and brutal assaults of the Charnel Guard.

The exact capabilities of the Charnel Guard's Fleet are not officially known, but they are extensive; comprising at least their unique flagship, 4 battle barges, and over a dozen strike cruisers. This sizable force was the Charnel Guard detachment that took part in the The Witching Moon Incident.

Suspected Blood Angel Successor Chapter, 3rd Founding Chapter

Prone to the degradation common to all Blood Angel Successors, the Charnel Guard suffer under the dual Genetic Curse of the Red Thirst and the Black Rage. As far as is recorded, all secondary organs derived from the gene-seed is currently still functional.

The Charnel Guard are organized according to the strictures laid down in the Codex Astartes, but they use an oft neglected variation known as Predation/Nomad Operational Organization. This form of organization, while recognized by the Codex, is not often seen. But it meshes perfectly with the Charnel Guard's favored forms of warfare and their status as a fleet based chapter. This organizational doctrine disbands all but one of reserve companies, traditionally the 7th-9th, and incorporates them into the battle-companies. This is due largely to the battle companies desire to be self sufficient, as they sometimes go decades before they re-dock in the hangars of the Custos Mortis. With such long periods of time between contact with the heart of the chapter, it was found that the reserve companies could not reinforce the battle companies when they needed to. This lack of readily available reinforcements led to the battle companies being perilously close to being wiped out during particular brutal campaigns, and pushed some larger engagements into the realm of near suicidal impossibility, even for Astartes. This was unacceptable, and so the reserve companies were folded into the battle companies. Honored Guilliman foresaw the need for a form of chapter organization that did not leave nigh 400 Astartes in reserve, in situations where such reinforcements would be difficult, if not impossible, to bring to bear where needed. As such, the Nomad pattern of organization was adopted by the chapter sometime soon after its founding. The single remaining reserve company is permanently assigned to the Custos Mortis itself. Though, given the aggressive tactics utilized by Matraen, the reserve company sees nearly as much combat as the main battle companies; much of that taking place in boarding actions aboard enemy flagships.

Chapter Command: Standard organization according to the Codex Astartes, baring the alterations made by all successor chapters of the Blood Angels, these are the inclusion of the Sanguinary Guard and the Order of the Sanguinary Priests.

A small variation is the esteem upon which the chapter Techmarines, and in particular, their Master of the Forge, Völundr; This is due in no small part to the vital role the Tech-Adepts play in servicing the Charnel Guard's extensive fleet far away from Imperial Re-supply, and keeping the many relics of chapter operational.

The first company is, as normally the case, composed of the Chapters veterans, and the only ones allowed to take the field in vaunted terminator armor, they rarely take the field en masse, but are usually seconded to one of the battle companies as examples for their line brethren to aspire to. Their captain, Bastiano, answers to no one besides Lord Commander Matraen.

The 2nd through 5th companies appear superficially similar to standard battle companies, except they are entirely self sufficient, having attached support units such as Techmarines and Sanguinary Priests, transports, armor, chapter specialists, and fleet capabilities. This leads them to have nearly half again the number of standard battle brothers per company than a standard codex organized chapter. Rather than mixed in an ad-hoc formations comprised of squads from several companies depending on the tactical situation, these companies are free to operate for extended periods of time independently, without resupply.

The 6th Company is designated the reserve company, but it appears somewhat differently than the standard reserve company, having nearly twice the number of active battlebrothers as a standard codex chapter company, but all are always stationed aboard the massive space station/fortress monastery of the Charnel Guard, The Custos Mortis. Battle-Brothers who are noted as having a predisposition for void combat, and close quarters Zone Mortalis operations will usually find themselves seconded to the 6th company, where their lethal skills can be best utilized by defending the fortress monastery in case of boarding actions, or launching their own against enemy ships as the situation demands.

The 7th, and final, Company is where the chapters initiates are found, and is the only company that never fights as a single force. Instead, several squads of neophytes are deployed with the the other battle companies, until their training is complete, and they join the ranks as full battle-brothers.

Despite these alterations, the chapter still only has a nominative strength of around a thousand line battle-brothers.

The Charnel Guard maintain several organizations unique to the successor of Sanguinius, including the Mortuorum, otherwise known as the Death Company; and the Sanguinary Guard, who form the Honour Guard of Matraen himself.

Of note is a group of marines that do not appear in any official recordings, logs, or organizational doctrine. Their leader is known only by the call sign Alucard, and is only ever released under writ of Matraen, and some whisper that the taint of the Red Thirst hangs thick about them...

Notable Members:

Matraen The Lord-Commander, Bringer of the Emperor's Light

Little is known about the Chapter Master of the Charnel Guard, but what few reports exist on his actions are officially classified as nigh-heretically exaggerated rumors. What is known is that he personally commands the Charnel Guard’s Flagship, the Custos Mortis, and has taken the lives of uncountable traitors, heretics, and xenos with the blade of his axe.

Vergil The Favored Son, Shining Exemplar

Captain of the 4^th Company, and is Matraen’s apparent heir to chapter command, as it seems that the master of the Charnel Guard sees vast potential within this young captain.

Kharon The Shepard, Warden of the Lost

The High Chaplain of the Charnel Guard, responsible for safeguarding the members of the Mortuorum, until they are granted the Emperor’s Peace, by his own hand if need be.

Zophiel The Tempted, Fury Unbound

An Epistolary level Librarian attached to the 4^th company, sent to advise and guide Vergil by Matraen himself; a fearsomely powerful psyker, with a seemingly inexhaustible reserve of rage-fueled strength.

Alucard The Vampyre, Unbridled Thirst

This mysterious figure is said to lead a small force of Charnel Guard outside of the normal command structure, designated Perditus, and eye-witness testimony from surviving Imperial Guardsman #1266753F, Battlegroup Gamma states that

Testimony Redacted by order of Inquisitorial Authority: Security Level Sigma++

Hadriel The Mentor, Ancient One

A highly respected scout sergeant, who, if not for his repeated refusals, would be a permanent member of the chapter High Council due to the wisdom found in his counsel.

Bastiano The Duty Bound, Custos

Captain of the vaunted first company, wielder of the hammer Malleus Mortis, he is the rock upon which the enemies of mankind are dashed, broken, and humbled, and whose deeds are legend.

Specialist Formations: The Mortuorum (Death Company);

Sanguinary Guard

Perditus (The Lost)

Primary Company for Gaming: 4^th Company

Preferred Enemy: Excommunicate Traitoris

The Charnel Guard venerate the Emperor as their ultimate Primogenitor, and Sanguinius as their true father; as it is impossible for them to have the blood of that martyred angel in their veins and not feel his influence upon their soul. When compared to their ancestral chapter, the Blood Angels, they seem more insular, but no less noble or ready to do the Emperors Will. As such, they remain humble in the face of their lost humanity, the gifts of trans-humanism tempered by The Flaw, much as it is with the Blood Angels themselves. In particular, the brothers who fall under the baleful influence of the Black Rage are ensured that they do not die in vain, as each is a hero to mankind worthy of a death in service of the Emperor. To this end, any members of the Mortuorum who survive their deployment as line-breakers without peer are allowed to re-board their ships under the careful watch of the chapter chaplains and placed into stasis until another chance for them to seek a glorious end is found. A favored opportunity is to send members of the Mortuorum into the heart of enemy fleets in boarding torpedoes disguised amongst a volley. The close, confined quarters, combined with the nigh endless numbers of enemies, and the suicidal nature of boarding actions lend themselves perfectly to brothers who are already considered dead. Many a void battle has been won by a handful of battle brothers lost to the rage who fight their way to an enemy ships reactor core and detonate it; its explosive end a fitting funeral pyre for such glorious hero's.

The exact details of the founding of the Charnel Guard remain a mystery to the wider Imperium, and are known only to the chapter high command and highly trusted veterans. The reason for this secrecy is unknown, but is rumored to be related to the close ties the chapter apparently has to the High Lords of Terra themselves, as they were redeployed away from the Maelstrom against the wishes of the overall Imperial Commander of the region, Lufgt Huron himself, before his rebellion and fall. Only speculation remains as to what might have happened if the watchful and somewhat distrustful Charnel Guard had remained under Huron's command group when the first signs of heresy began to show.

(Everything below this line is all the official fluff for the Charnel Guard)

The Pentarchy of Blood (860-940.M33) - During the War of the False Primarch, a dark and bloody episode of the Imperium's history, now largely lost to myth and purged from the record, which plunged the Segmentum Pacificus into anarchy, the Pentarchy of Blood was convened by the High Lords of Terra to enact their judgement. Five Chapters; the Charnel Guard, the Carcharodons, the Death Eagles, the Flesh Eaters and the Red Talons are used to systematically destroy eleven Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes judged Traitoris Perdita and lay waste to their home worlds, finally drawing the eight decade conflict to a close.

Great Malagantine Purge (770-791.M38) - The Great Malagantine Purge was an Imperial military operation carried out by 5 Space Marine Chapters collectively termed the Manus Irae ("Hands of Wrath" in High Gothic) who unleashed the Emperor of Mankind's wrath upon the heretical Malagant Sector in the Segmentum Tempestus. The details of this operation have been kept secret from the Imperial Adepta, including the Inquisition, with the records of the campaign sealed deep within the Celarno Vaults on Terra. What is recorded in fragmentary Imperial records is that the Manus Irae were charged by the High Lords of Terra of that era to "spare none and set a bloody, fearful example to the realm of Mankind." The death toll unleashed by the Manus Irae during the course of this 21-year long campaign is believed to have been enormous and to have reached hundreds of billions of lives. Whole worlds were put to the sword by the Astartes or were wiped clean of all life by Exterminatus orders that unleashed a hideous, flesh-dissolving virus upon their inhabitants. The Black Fragments of Cardinal Bloch the Reviled, one of the few remaining heretical sources which contain information concerning the Purge of Malagant, explains that the Manus Irae consisted of 5 Chapters, but listed only three by name, including the Fire Hawks, Silver Skulls and the Charnel Guard.

Angevin Crusade (322-384.M39) - Praetor Golgenna Angevin, a powerful noble from the Terran Court is raised to the rank of Lord Militant and granted a writ from the High Lords to persecute the Angevin Crusade to liberate and dominate the area of space designated as the Calyx Expanse. His Crusade forces were drawn principally from the Segmentum Solar and numbered over 17 million levied troops divided into four battle groups and a strategic reserve, re-enforced by Titans drawn from the Legio Venator and Legio Magna, as well as the Charnel Guard, Black Templars, Tigers Argent, and Sons of Medusa Chapters of Adeptus Astartes and a significant naval deployment from the Battlefleets Solar and Obscurus. A score of Rogue Trader and Explorator fleets ranged ahead of the main forces identifying targets and providing active reconnaissance in this dangerous region of space. Swelling the Imperial forces' already vast ranks were tens of thousands of "pauper warriors" of the Frateris Militia whipped up into a frenzy of holy zeal by the Ecclesiarchy and innumerable petty hangers-on, opportunists and logistical transports, with supply trains leading back whole sectors away from the front. With their final victory achieved in 384.M39, the Angevin Crusade officially ended, giving rise to the birth of the Imperium's Calixis Sector.

The Death of the Witching Moon (013.M41) - The Forge Moon of Keziah, in the strategically vital Agathon System, falls into an unnatural eclipse which its population is driven to murder and madness in an endless night of horror. The dread forces of the The Tenebrae and Company of Misery reign as dark kings amid the nightmare, and the baleful light of the "Witching Moon" that Keziah has become spreads calamity and warp-tainted phenomena wherever it now falls, threatening the entire star system. The first Imperial attacks by the Astra Militarum, squadrons from Battlefleet Ultima and the Inquisition are hurled back in tatters by the madness of the black light and the warp-fuelled savagery of the defenders. It is only by the unexpected arrival of the Charnel Guard Chapter, accompanied by a sacred band of Adepta Sororitas Order of the Black Sepulchre bearing the holy relic known as the Book of Tears before them, that the imminent loss of tens of billions of lives on Agathon Prime is prevented, and the insanity-inducing radiance of the Witching Moon is held back. The Charnel Guard lead a fresh assault as further Adeptus Astartes, including the Iron Hands, Storm Lords and Angels Porphyr, and Adeptus Mechanicus reinforcements arrive, fighting a brutal battle of tank and gunship clashes across the soaring metal canyons which raze the moon's surface and chamber-by-chamber Zone Mortalis actions to purge Keziah of the shadow that has befallen it. When the Charnel Guard launch their orbital assault of Keziah's Moon each of their Storm Eagle attack waves are accompanied by a rare Fire Raptor gunship to provide additional fire support, the largest deployment of these vehicles observed in at least the last three millennia. Of note, several different variations of this formation have been observed by the Charnel Guard. The Chaos Astartes inflict fearful losses on their besiegers before they are driven into the deeper darkness of the Warp. In the wake of their retreat, all life is purged from Keziah before it is given back to the hands of the Machine Cult for tech-exorcism and eventual reclamation.

Maelstrom Warders (587.M41) - In direct response to the numerous dire predations from the Maelstrom an Edict Imperialis was pronounced by the High Lords of Terra and the order was given to permanently base several Space Marine Chapters in the Maelstrom Zone in order to protect the Imperium's interests and pacify the region. The Astral Claws Chapter, in recognition of their past glorious service to the Imperium, was given the high honour of commanding the newly formed Maelstrom Warders task force. This force also included the fleet-based Charnel Guard and Lamenters Chapters, who were specifically charged to patrol the Maelstrom's outer regions, and was also to incorporate the Mantis Warriors who were already based in the nearby Endymion Cluster within its command.

Scourge Campaign (640-651.M41) - The Scourge Campaign was one of the largest Imperial operations conducted in the Maelstrom Zone, in which the Maelstrom Warders carried out a series of major combat operations, striking deep into the heart of the Maelstrom itself and taking the battle to the Renegade servants of Chaos, the first Imperial force in centuries to do so. Despite the Space Marines' numerous successes, their efforts were suddenly curtailed when the Charnel Guard Chapter was abruptly withdrawn from the Maelstrom Zone entirely. By direct intervention of the Adeptus Terra, the Chapter's ties to the Warders were severed and they were dispatched on the Thanatos Crusade into the Veiled Region at the edge of the Segmentum Tempestus.

[Olis]

First off, I am surprised no-one has commented yet. I would not have expected a full week to pass without a peep from the rest of the Liber.

 

Secondly. Taking a crack at the Charnel Guard is a brave move. If I was one of the staff at BL or FW, they would certainly be on my list for Chapters to provide a story for. In that regard, expect official canon to conflict with your Chapter at some point in the future (even if it happens years from now).

 

Now, onto critique. We'll keep it short, and focus on one part that I have an issue with - why does the chapter operate at only seven companies strong? Granted, you specified that they use a form of 'nomad-predation fleet' structure but I don't think that excuses them of sticking to ten companies. What is the explanation here?

 

Also, now that I think of it, you haven't mentioned the Chapter's extensive use of stasis for their battle-brothers not in combat. To me this would be an ample opportunity to provide a difference to the usual BA successors. With the use of this technology, I think the Death Company (or the Charnel Guard's version) would be a much rarer sight, given that marines won't age as much as their counterparts and probably meet death much earlier in their chronological lives.

 

Besides this, I believe you have a strong article here. I don't think it can be considered a final draft, yet, but it does show promise. Keep going. :tu:

[The Unseen]

Woo! A reply. And I'm not super worried about it, if GW creates contradictory stuff years from now, I doubt it'll bother me overly much. If its cool, won't mind adopting it and incorporating it in. If its as bad as the clan rauken supplement, I'll just ignore it. Universe is plenty big enough.

 

The company thing is that I wanted them to remain roughly codex adherent, but I wanted to make them have slightly oversized companies, as I wanted to play them as almost entirely self sufficient, and therefore, instead of having reserve companies, those battle brothers are instead assigned to one of the 5 battle companies. So each company has at least a battle barge+support ships comprising a mini fleet.

 

Anyway, your right, I completely forgot about the stasis thing. I had in mind something about that and death company... The number of marines that fall to the black rage is lower, since they spend a good portion of their time in stasis, the brothers that do fall, if they don't fall in battle and still have enough self-control, they are allowed to re-board the ship and put into stasis, until another battle worthy of their death occurs. Was going to use that as basis for using DC as a boarding wave in the void. No idea how I left that off. Will edit shortly.

[Olis]

The company thing is that I wanted them to remain roughly codex adherent, but I wanted to make them have slightly oversized companies, as I wanted to play them as almost entirely self sufficient, and therefore, instead of having reserve companies, those battle brothers are instead assigned to one of the 5 battle companies. So each company has at least a battle barge+support ships comprising a mini fleet.

 

Okay, so how are you going to support this in the article? What reasoning will there be to justify a divergence from the codex like this? 

 

Anyway, your right, I completely forgot about the stasis thing. I had in mind something about that and death company... The number of marines that fall to the black rage is lower, since they spend a good portion of their time in stasis, the brothers that do fall, if they don't fall in battle and still have enough self-control, they are allowed to re-board the ship and put into stasis, until another battle worthy of their death occurs. Was going to use that as basis for using DC as a boarding wave in the void. No idea how I left that off. Will edit shortly.

 

You could go one of two ways with the stasis/death company deal. Either there'll be less of them than usual, a much rarer sight - I like this option as it separates this Chapter from their fellows in a neat manner - or it just means the overall treatment of the death company will change, which'll require delving into chapter beliefs, chapter organisation and chaptic tactics. Definitely not the lazy option. ;)

[The Unseen]

Ehh, why bother with easy?

 

I edited the red highlighted area's, for ease of identification, in response to your questions.

 

Edit: Currently working on a selected battle honours section.