The Grail Wardens: a Liber Astartes Group Project

[EesiOh]

 

 

 

So, founding members:

 

Sanguinary Crusaders, Carmine Cardinals, Knights resplendent, and Crimson Knights?

 

Sounds pretty red to me.

 

better be red than dead? 

 

Don't let the 1950's hear you say that.

 

 

Moving swiftly on, the 'modern' (well M38) version of the Grail Wardens currently comprise of:  

• Sanguinary Crusaders
• Crimson Host
• Sir Perfluous' Chapter (Brother, do you have a name in mind, yet?)
• Crimson Knights
• Red Sentinels
• Silver Sons
• Archangels

 

That's it so far, right?

 

yeah I think thats it. And I will have you know that I dont fear the 1950's 

[Arkangilos]

So far. 

 

Alright:

 

So far, we have the Red Crusade (or whatever we end up calling it. Red Crusade is fine, or something different is fine).

 

Towards the end of the crusade, Librarians of the Sanguinary Crusaders, Carmine Robins, Crimson Knights, and Knight's Resplendent sacrifice themselves to seal a breach in real space that daemons and chaos used to manifest and launch an invasion.

 

In doing so, an object was made the vessel for their souls, and was placed into the handle of a grail. The chapters involved all poured in their blood, as an oath that they would always protect it (or maybe it's the blood of the librarians?). 

 

However, the artifact attracted unwanted attention, and corrupted the wildlife on the world it resided on. Raiders, mutants, off world warbands etc would attack to try and steal the grail. The chapters therefore each sent a squad to protect it. That would be half a company. 

 

Also, there would be a Sanguinary Priest, a chaplain, and a librarian (or more than one?) to help watch for taint.

 

 

 

Years later, for whatever reason, and unknown to us (in universe), the Knights Resplendent turned. They either stole the grail, or helped someone else steal the grail. All defenders were killed.

 

The Sanguinary Crusaders (and the other surviving founders) set out to bring in the blood line of the chapters that are dead, in order to fulfill the blood oaths.

 

And now we are at the campaign.

 

The OpFor would be chaos warbands and armies, and two notable war bands that are leading them: The Knights Resplendent and the Black Hands. And anything else that poured out from the breach in warp and space.

Edited September 16, 2015 by Arkangilos

[Sir Perfluous]

 

• Sir Perfluous' Chapter (Brother, do you have a name in mind, yet?)

I'm working on it. I have pored over endless thesauruses (thesauri?) but, of yet, to no avail. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Olis]

 

 

• Sir Perfluous' Chapter (Brother, do you have a name in mind, yet?)

I'm working on it. I have pored over endless thesauruses (thesauri?) but, of yet, to no avail. Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

 

Do you have any particular preferences? Are you leaning towards more knightly or more angelic themes?

[Sir Perfluous]

 

 

 

 

• Sir Perfluous' Chapter (Brother, do you have a name in mind, yet?)

I'm working on it. I have pored over endless thesauruses (thesauri?) but, of yet, to no avail. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Do you have any particular preferences? Are you leaning towards more knightly or more angelic themes?

Knightly. I think there are enough BA successors with the word Angel in their name.

[Kelborn]

So what is contained? A rift? A daemon? Another entity unknown to the present Wardens?

 

To think about what corrupted the Knights Resplendent it would help to clarify what we are holding back.

 

Would it be a greater daemon or a powerful daemon prince, we could create a cult or a warband who acts in the background, deceiving and manipulating everything.

[Sir Perfluous]

So what is contained? A rift? A daemon? Another entity unknown to the present Wardens?

 

To think about what corrupted the Knights Resplendent it would help to clarify what we are holding back.

 

Would it be a greater daemon or a powerful daemon prince, we could create a cult or a warband who acts in the background, deceiving and manipulating everything.

I don't really know if this would be how rifts work, but I've always envisioned it being one which is slowly widening. When it was first discovered, it was fairly large, and could let through large hordes of Chaos things, but it was slowly getting bigger. The Crusade had to fight their way to it as quickly as possible to seal it, because behind the rift lurked a greater daemon/prince who was straining to break free. Once the Grail was lost, the rift tore open, allowing the big nasty through. He ws responsible for the destruction of the lost chapters. The hordes were fought back, and a temporary solution was found to "reset" the rift, though now it is slowly widening again. The Grail has to be recovered before the rift widens to the point where Mr Nasty can return.

 

Just some thoughts - I don't know if they'll work.

[Kelborn]

I think this would work quite well. It remembers me of what I had in mind a couple of pages before.

 

The temporary solution could be some librarians connecting their forces or their sacrifice to hold off the opening.

 

Would the main antagonist be a specific daemon waiting on the other side of the rift, pulling it's strings to reopen the rift by manipulating characters, chapters and warbands? Or shall we have several antagonists, each handling on their own?

 

OR shall we first set the frame by clarify all of your content, the region where all this masterpiece will be set, etc.?

[Doctor Perils]

I think these latest ideas are really good (I also like the nickname Carmine Robins could they be turned by a force of Night Lords ? )

 

I think the rift being contained might be the best option, because I think the combined might of the Librarians could overcome one daemon, even if it is particularly powerful.

However, in the rift, there may be a specific daemonic entity, or a set of daemons from different gods, who are trying to get through. These daemons however could be unknown to the modern Grail Wardens, whichever you choose.

 

Now, going from Cesar's fluff that he is being manipulated by an eldar spirit, and Slave's fluff of his warband falling to Slaanesh (you'd expect that coming from him ), I think it might be pretty easy to say that the daemon(s) are of Slaanesh. I know that the Crimson Host is also going to be manipulated by a Daemon, but I haven't got a specific god chosen in advance, so I could easily run with Slaanesh.

 

However, if we do want to include the Black Hands, it might be necessary to have some Khornate fun.

 

What do you guys think ?

 

 

EDIT: I've just been thinking: since the Knights Resplendent are also looking for the Grail, could the Grail be stolen by a loyalist in order to prevent it falling into the wrong hands ?

Edited September 17, 2015 by Lord Thørn

[Sir Perfluous]

For Blood Angels successors, Khorne would probably be the easiest of the Chaos Gods to succumb to, the Black Rage being such a core part ov the BA fluff. I like having one greater daemon pulling strings, though. Having one insanely powerful nemesis seems much cooler to me than a host of lesser ones. We'd want the daemon hordes still, of course, but as footsoldiers, not the generals.

 

I think the Knights Resplendent should have tried to sieze the grail, drawing attention from the Rift and allowing the daemons to emerge, at which point the Grail was lost in the confusion - we have no idea who took it, but we need it back fast. If a loyalist force took it, why not tell us where to?

[EesiOh]

is the daemon prince affiliated with anyone or is it just a deamon prince? because if its just a daemon prince I would totally dig it being a prince of Malice coz that guy needs more love 

[Doctor Perils]

For Blood Angels successors, Khorne would probably be the easiest of the Chaos Gods to succumb to, the Black Rage being such a core part ov the BA fluff. I like having one greater daemon pulling strings, though. Having one insanely powerful nemesis seems much cooler to me than a host of lesser ones. We'd want the daemon hordes still, of course, but as footsoldiers, not the generals.

 

I think the Knights Resplendent should have tried to sieze the grail, drawing attention from the Rift and allowing the daemons to emerge, at which point the Grail was lost in the confusion - we have no idea who took it, but we need it back fast. If a loyalist force took it, why not tell us where to?

 

Yeah I hadn't thought of that XD (need more cofffeee)

 

Khorne would be obvious for BAs, but wouldn't it be too obvious ? I think Aurelius Rex did really well making the Angels fall to Nurgle rather than Khorne, because it breaks from the obvious.

 

Also, we shouldn't look at which god it is easy to fall to, but which god(s) would make sense in the setting ? Sure, Khorne will probably want to make some of the Grail Wardens fall to him, but I think Slaanesh fits with more of the stories.

 

 

Also, I found this thing about the "thirteen treasures of Britain". Perhaps our chapters could go on quests for these (obviously modified) to help us in the main quest ?

Otherwise, Sir Perfluous's "Grail" could be modelled after the Cauldron of Rebirth ?

 

 

EDIT:

is the daemon prince affiliated with anyone or is it just a deamon prince? because if its just a daemon prince I would totally dig it being a prince of Malice coz that guy needs more love 

The Problem with Malice is that he would more likely leave the Grail in loyalist hands, or even make more of them to stop chaos even more   But he definitely needs more love

 

Should the enemy be a Daemon Prince, a Herald, or a Greater Daemon ?

Edited September 17, 2015 by Lord Thørn

[EesiOh]

Khorne is of course highly obvious but its good fun because you can play with ideas like my(highly original I swear) death company being used as beserkers instead of a band of world eaters. At the same time though I am inclined to agree with Thorn. Why not something fun and new? BA's are said to rarely have librarinas but that they tend to be more powerful than the average librarian so why not make it a daemon of Tzeentch? or It could even be a deamon prince of undivided (those are a thing right?) idk, just spitballing here 

[Kelborn]

I thought Malice is sitting on the golden throne.... *runs away before someone can shoot at him*

 

Well, Khorne would be obvious. Maybe to obvious as nearly everyone chooses him as patron.

 

Slaneesh, well I'm happy I don't have to write something about him/her/whatever, cause I hate Slaneesh. ^^

 

Tzeentch would be cool. His minions pull on the strings leading to the stolen grail, etc.

 

We don't have to use the Black Hands if they don't fit. For me that would be ok. I'd rather create a new one instead of changing all of their plot just to fit in.

 

By the way what am I suppose to write? Shall I wait a bit longer until we find a something useful?

[Olis]

 

 

 

 

• Sir Perfluous' Chapter (Brother, do you have a name in mind, yet?)

I'm working on it. I have pored over endless thesauruses (thesauri?) but, of yet, to no avail. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Do you have any particular preferences? Are you leaning towards more knightly or more angelic themes?

Knightly. I think there are enough BA successors with the word Angel in their name.

 

How about:

 

Knights Sanguine

Champions of Baal

Crimson Paladins

Blood Barons

Lords Vermillion

Marines Rubicund

Red Brotherhood

Praetors of Avalon

[Arkangilos]

 BA's are said to rarely have librarinas but that they tend to be more powerful than the average librarian so why not make it a daemon of Tzeentch?

Actually, it says the opposite of rare for the Librarians. When it says incredibly rare, it means rare in the sense that psykers are rare. Not in the sense that they are more rare in this chapter.

 

Personally I never understood Nurgle. For me, it would be Tzeentch or Slaanesh, and I'll explain why:

 

Khorne wants to spill blood to spill blood. The Blood Angels want to spill blood to *drink* it. They clearly have an addiction to it, and Slaanesh is all about addictions.

 

The Blood Angels (and their successors, usually), have an eye for perfection. They can live a long time, they bling out their stuff, etc. Once again, Tzeentch.

 

The Gene-Seed of Sanguinius carries a huge amount of pyschic potential in it. The Codex goes so far as to say that the Blood Angels (and successors), have more Librarians than most chapters. 

 

One of the staples of Sanguinius (and those with is blood), is the power of prophecy, which fits right in with the Fate Weaver. 

 

 

Also, iirc, the Knights Resplendent are a slaaneshi warband. 

 

 

But there doesn't have to be any one entity. It can be a whole bunch of them, which increases the threat.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Arkangilos

[Sir Perfluous]

Khorne would be obvious for BAs, but wouldn't it be too obvious ? I think Aurelius Rex did really well making the Angels fall to Nurgle rather than Khorne, because it breaks from the obvious.

 

Also, we shouldn't look at which god it is easy to fall to, but which god(s) would make sense in the setting ? Sure, Khorne will probably want to make some of the Grail Wardens fall to him, but I think Slaanesh fits with more of the stories.

 

 

Also, I found this thing about the "thirteen treasures of Britain". Perhaps our chapters could go on quests for these (obviously modified) to help us in the main quest ?

Otherwise, Sir Perfluous's "Grail" could be modelled after the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pair_Dadeni]Cauldron of Rebirth.

Alright, so maybe Khorne is a bit too obvious.

 

And I did consider the 13 treasures when creating my chapter, but rejected it because I thought it might be a bit ridiculous having 13 McGuffins for one chapter. But now that there are more of us involved, I might. The Cauldron idea is a good one. Maybe the afflicted has to be bathed in the Grail, rather than drink from it? That would certainly help differentiate between it and all the other grails going around. Can Marines be removed from their armour? Because if they can, I might use that. And it would be good to get some Welshness in here, both because thet's where the Arthurian legend originated (a fact often forgotten) and because I myself am Welsh, and therefore would know how to pronounce the words. :p

[Doctor Perils]

 

 

 

 

 

• Sir Perfluous' Chapter (Brother, do you have a name in mind, yet?)

I'm working on it. I have pored over endless thesauruses (thesauri?) but, of yet, to no avail. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Do you have any particular preferences? Are you leaning towards more knightly or more angelic themes?

Knightly. I think there are enough BA successors with the word Angel in their name.

 

How about:

 

Knights Sanguine

Champions of Baal

Crimson Paladins

Blood Barons

Lords Vermillion

Marines Rubicund

Red Brotherhood

Praetors of Avalon

 

 

I really like Praetors of Avalon ! I also quite like Marines Rubicund, but I'm afraid it makes me think of an alcoholic

Blood Barons could also work (though I'm trying to create part of a Night Lords warband dedicated to aerial warfare that is lead by the Bloody Baron )

Lords Vermillion is quite nice, and I like Paladins.

 

Champions of Baal seems a bit weird, owing to them not coming from Baal, and Red Brotherhood sounds more like a cult. Sanguine Knights probably sounds a bit much like Blood Knights, an official chapter, but that's not a huge problem...

 

 

 

 

 

And I did consider the 13 treasures when creating my chapter, but rejected it because I thought it might be a bit ridiculous having 13 McGuffins for one chapter. But now that there are more of us involved, I might. The Cauldron idea is a good one. Maybe the afflicted has to be bathed in the Grail, rather than drink from it? That would certainly help differentiate between it and all the other grails going around. Can Marines be removed from their armour? Because if they can, I might use that. And it would be good to get some Welshness in here, both because thet's where the Arthurian legend originated (a fact often forgotten) and because I myself am Welsh, and therefore would know how to pronounce the words.

 

 

Space Marines can definitely be removed from their armour (how else could they put Terminator armour on when they are promoted ? ) That possibility could work, it would definitely be quite different from all the Grails and Chalices. The process could be Baptism of Blood or something ?

 

So you're Welsh boyo ?

Edited September 17, 2015 by Lord Thørn

[Olis]

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Sir Perfluous' Chapter (Brother, do you have a name in mind, yet?)

I'm working on it. I have pored over endless thesauruses (thesauri?) but, of yet, to no avail. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Do you have any particular preferences? Are you leaning towards more knightly or more angelic themes?

Knightly. I think there are enough BA successors with the word Angel in their name.

 

How about:

 

Knights Sanguine

Champions of Baal

Crimson Paladins

Blood Barons

Lords Vermillion

Marines Rubicund

Red Brotherhood

Praetors of Avalon

 

 

I really like Praetors of Avalon ! I also quite like Marines Rubicund, but I'm afraid it makes me think of an alcoholic

Blood Barons could also work (though I'm trying to create part of a Night Lords warband dedicated to aerial warfare that is lead by the Bloody Baron )

Lords Vermillion is quite nice, and I like Paladins.

 

Champions of Baal seems a bit weird, owing to them not coming from Baal, and Red Brotherhood sounds more like a cult. Sanguine Knights probably sounds a bit much like Blood Knights, an official chapter, but that's not a huge problem...

 

That's the beauty of throwing a good selection of choices at a wall. Some of them will stick, some of them won't. If any of them catch brother Perfluous' fancy, then that's great, although I won't be sad if none of them do. ;)

[Sir Perfluous]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Sir Perfluous' Chapter (Brother, do you have a name in mind, yet?)

I'm working on it. I have pored over endless thesauruses (thesauri?) but, of yet, to no avail. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Do you have any particular preferences? Are you leaning towards more knightly or more angelic themes?

Knightly. I think there are enough BA successors with the word Angel in their name.

How about:

 

Knights Sanguine

Champions of Baal

Crimson Paladins

Blood Barons

Lords Vermillion

Marines Rubicund

Red Brotherhood

Praetors of Avalon

I really like Praetors of Avalon ! I also quite like Marines Rubicund, but I'm afraid it makes me think of an alcoholic

Blood Barons could also work (though I'm trying to create part of a Night Lords warband dedicated to aerial warfare that is lead by the Bloody Baron )

Lords Vermillion is quite nice, and I like Paladins.

 

Champions of Baal seems a bit weird, owing to them not coming from Baal, and Red Brotherhood sounds more like a cult. Sanguine Knights probably sounds a bit much like Blood Knights, an official chapter, but that's not a huge problem...

That's the beauty of throwing a good selection of choices at a wall. Some of them will stick, some of them won't. If any of them catch brother Perfluous' fancy, then that's great, although I won't be sad if none of them do. ;)

None of them are bad ideas, but I just don't think they fit the chapter as well as I'd like them to. I feel like there's the perfect name out there somewhere, just waiting for me to blunder across it. Thank you for the suggestions though. It seems I'm going to continue to have to force you to write "Sir Perfluous' chapter". Sorry. Though I also fully sanction the use of SPC if you want.

[Olis]

None of them are bad ideas, but I just don't think they fit the chapter as well as I'd like them to. I feel like there's the perfect name out there somewhere, just waiting for me to blunder across it. Thank you for the suggestions though. It seems I'm going to continue to have to force you to write "Sir Perfluous' chapter". Sorry. Though I also fully sanction the use of SPC if you want.

 

No problem. Sometimes names just don't feel right until you find one and it all just clicks. 

[Doctor Perils]

Carmine Cardinals Knights Resplendent Sanguinary Crusaders Sir Perfluous' Chapter Archangels

|

V

Red Sentinels

|-------------------------------|

V V

Crimson Host Silver Sons

Edited September 17, 2015 by Lord Thørn

[Arkangilos]

Those are some cool symbols

[Sir Perfluous]

Is there a symbol-maker somewhere on the web that I've missed, or do you make all these in Photoshop or something, Thørn? (If you do, then you are a magician, and I will have no choice but to turn you over to the Imperium.)

 

And that cross with blood drops is awesome.

 

 

If we get back to the story, though, we might want to work out whether our chapters keep in touch or not. Do they hold a Round Table-style gathering, possibly in the ruins of the fortress containing the Rift. Or have they all gone their seperate ways, splitting up after experiencing conflicting ideologies, possibly over the nature of the Grail?

Edited September 17, 2015 by Sir Perfluous

[Arkangilos]

That isn't my symbol, though xD

 

Mine is a grail with wings. 

 

If you open the spoiler you will see some.

 

Some are good, others are... well... not good.

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/304810-sanguinary-crusaders-wip-i-lied-battlebarge/?p=3999017

Edited September 17, 2015 by Arkangilos