My Custom Space Marine Chapter (aka Heretical Tau Marines)

[EmberlordofFire]

Shadow's Hunters

 

 

 

Chapter Name: Shadow's Hunters!

Status: Labeled Heretics by some, though still technically loyal

Color Scheme: Black, Orange Shoulder Pads, Orange Details

Icon: Black or White Falcon

Battle Cry: For the Greater Good!

Founding:22

Primarch: Corax

Genetic Mutations:low psychic abilities

Home World: T'gris

Fortress Monastery: Destroyed

Active Marines: 847

Recruitment: Mostly from Gue'vesa, also others.

Chapter Master: Ra'van Al'la

Title of Chapter Master: Shas'o

Sworn Enemies: Black Legion,

Rival Chapters: Iron Hands,

Chapter Relics: Corax's Final Gift: A vial of uncorrupted Primachs Geneseed.

Perception of Humanity: Regards the Imperium as misguided. Believes that all humans serve a part in the workings of the Imperium and that all (except those tainted by chaos) should be forgiven and given second, third etc chances.Aims to convert as many humans as possible to the Greater Good!

 

HISTORY:

 

Shadow's Hunters (as in: the hunter's of shadow) are a Space Marine chapter created during the 22 found to help enforce the Blockade of the Eye of Terror.

They came into conflict with the Iron Hands after the Exterminatus was declared on a battalion of Imperial Guard, just to keep the position of a Demi Company of Iron Hands secure. The argument escalated until Gethur Soulfist, Captain of the 3rd company of Shadows Hunters, attacked, and killed, an Iron Hands battle brother. The Shadows Hunters then fled, leaving the Eye of Terror and embarking on a Crusade across the Galaxy to redeem themselves in the Eyes of the Emperor.

 

The Shadow's Hunters spent many centuries fighting on behalf of the Imperium. Many victories were claimed by the Chapter, but not without cost. The Shadow's Hunters valued human life, and in time, they they clashed with the Inquisition. For some time, their humanism earned them a reputation as saviors to many worlds... and then they were claimed by a warp storm.

 

Their ships were spat out onto T'Gris V, an unpopulated world on the Eastern fringe, and the gravity of the world pulled their warships into crash-landings. Without resources to leave and their chaplain dead, the Shadow's Hunter were left in the most ignaminous position a Space Marine could be left in- they farmed. For a hundred years, nearly a thousand of the Emperor's Chosen were forced to till earth and he rd animals to provide their own sustenance. The world itself lacked any remotely heavy metals- there was no way off. In time, though, they had a brief turn of luck. Other settlers arrived on the world- human colonists from a region that was unknown to the Imperium. The Marines helped the colonists, taught them the truth of the Emperor, and protected them from the beasts that inhabited the world. For fifty years, this peace held.

 

It was many years later, that the planet came under attack by the Last Sons of Tagrion, a warband of Chaos Space Marines. The inscription on the Rock of Tolan tells of the battle that ensured. Thousand and thousands of Chaos Cultists, marines, Summoned Daemons , and unholy machines ran rampant across the sands of T'gris.

Unfortunately for Chaos, they were not the only force to arrive at this world. Tau scouts had detected several strange presences, and due to their disconnect from the warp, the strange gravitational fields did not affect the Tau warships. As the Marines fought a losing battle with Chaos, the Tau arrived in orbit and opened fire on, destroying many of the demented, unholy vessels orbiting T'Gris. After deploying troops against their foes, the Tau warriors encountered the Space Marines attacking the same enemy.

Continued

 

"The cresent shaped ships drop upon the battlefield, weapons firing repeatedly. The heretics, surprised by this new shift in their sure victory, where slow to reconise the new threat, and many where cut down by blasts from the ships, or else quickly dispatched by our brothers. Those who survived the first onslaught stood in shock as all they had accomplished in the name of their dark gods crumbled. The battle was over within minutes."

 

Captain Devan, 6th Company.

 

 

 

"As the last cultist lay dying, the ships descended. The smallest [actually an Orca dropship] landed just meters from our Chapter Master. The bay dors opend, and from its hold came Xenos. The foremost, obviously the leader, halted, and without signal, the rest formed colums behind him. He spoke, surprisingly, in near perfect Low Gothic. 'I am Por'ui T'ren Resh'ur, envoy from the venerable Shas'el Kel'shan An'ir, Veteran of the 1 sphere expansion and She Who Walks Alone."

 

 

The Water Caste agreed to leave the world to the Shadow's Hunters, but kept up dialog. In time, the Hunters began to view the on their world as their dependents, and trade with the Tau showed them that perhaps the Inquisition was wrong about all xenos as well. A working relationship developed between the two groups, and slowly Tau influence spread through the world, including into the Chapter.

 

In time, the Shadow's Hunters, thanks to the Tau, where able to rebuild there fleet, and became the true Space Marine chapter they had been

[Leif Bearclaw]

OK, a few specific things you've got wrong, some major, some mistakes in terminology.

 

Tau ships would not be immune to the gravitational effects you describe. They aren't a massively psychic race, but they're also not a species of blanks. Even if they were, gravitational anomalies will affect them the same as Imperial ships, whatever the origin. They'd even probably be more susceptible to Warp Storms and other Warp/Void hazards, as they have inferior Warp Drives to any other faction in the game, and don't have Navigators for easy course correction.

 

The we have the name of the world. Sorry, but it stretches credulity that your Chapter landed on a world that already had a Tau naming pattern. IA3 shows us the Tau will change the names of worlds they conquer/assimilate by replacing letters with apostrophes, so Taros became T'ros, you should probably consider something similar.

 

Next, the Chapter you describe here is not loyal. No technicalities, it's just not. They recruit from Traitors and Heretics, have adopted Xeno ranking customs and have embraced a heretical xenos belief that is in direct opposition to the Emperor's Will. They are Renegades and would be purged by any true Imperial task force which encountered them.

 

You also don't declare Exterminatus on a troop formation. Exterminatus kills planets, not men. Also, the IG were killed to keep the IHs 'secure'? This is strange wording that makes very little sense. How does killing your allies make the IHs position more secure? Also, it's unliekly a Marine Chapter would spontaneously flee from a disagreement with another Chapter and spontaneously declare a penitent Crusade. Marine Chapters tend to be highly wilful organisations, and it's strange that one would back down so drastically over such a minor issue (not even an IH officer killed, just a line trooper). All that's likely to come out of that is beef between your guys and the IHs, maybe ending in some honour duels to settle the matter.

 

That Chapter relic doesn't make sense. Even if such an item as 'uncorrupted' Corax gene-seed existed, it would surely have been used to correct the degradation issues inflicted n the RG gene-line post Istvaan V. Plus, if such an item did exist as a Relic, it'd be in the hands of the RG or maybe a 2nd Founding Successor, not a 22nd Founding Chapter.

 

Lastly, we have the framing conceit, a Marine Chapter which goes Tau. This is a very shaky idea at the best of times. At its simplest, the Tau have nothing special to offer a Marine force. A Marine is an indoctrinated post-human zealot war machine. Even the 'nice' Chapters are still unrelenting in their belief in the supremacy of humanity. Central to the Imperial doctrine which permeates a Marine's being is 'Suffer not the Alien to Live'. Abandoning the Imperium for the Tau involves breaking with a fundamental pillar of Marine psychology, all for a very slight change in totalitarian ideology (For The Emperor or the Greater Good, both are 'surrender or die' deals with certain populations not even getting the choice). The reason why Marines going Renegade almost always leads to the Dark Gods, is that the Warp offers Marines something the Imperium doesn't provide. A chance to reclaim something of their lost humanity and the opportunity to fight for themselves for a change rather than a distant, uncaring ideology. Therefore the closest you'll get to the Tau is maybe a mercenary arrangement. A Chapter, declared Renegade and cut off from the Imperial resource/logistics system take a contract from the Tau Empire, being paid in the resources required to sustain their existence as a Chapter. But that's a far cry from calling the Chapter Master Shas'o and embracing Tau ideology.

 

Sorry, but overall it's not worth it trying to go this off reservation with a DIY Chapter. You inevitably end up with a mess of canon-contradictions, awkward questions and the inescapable 'special snowflake Mary Sue' aura.

[Raven6826]

However, as an ardent reader of sci-fi, I found the concept highly enjoyable.

 

It's a fun concept, play with it. History is full of unlikely allies ... Hitler's best buddy before case blue opened in 1941 was... Stalin and comunist Russia.

 

 

Unlikely aliances do happen....

[Brother Tyler]

Just a word of caution on this topic from a forum rules perspective.

 

Having a DIY Chapter aligning with the Tau is acceptable (within the rules - maybe not within many members' views on the lore), but the discussion of the Tau will be strictly limited in accordance with the forum rules. The topic should remain firmly focused on the Space Marines, with Tau discussion coming up only where relevant and only to a degree necessary to further the Space Marine discussion.

 

Also, with the above reply, steer away from real world political discussion.

 

=][=

[Olis]

Even though I try to operate under the idea that 'No' or 'Can't' is not the right way to foster DIY Chapters, there's much to be said for Leif's critique. He makes some valid points.

 

Your main hurdle is the inherent xenophobia in the system. Space Marines don't favour aliens well. The Tau know this. The Imperium and their blue-skinned rivals (who are squishy and taste good on toast) have been at logger-heads for quite a while. Long enough for your Chapter to know of them, if only distantly. What they, as veterans of fighting at the EoT, would probably prefer is to back the Imperium and it's doctrines to the hilt. In this case that Por'ui fella would have likely been gunned down as the best opportunity. Suffer not the alien to live, after all. And if not, well, the Chapter would not likely have kept any sort of dialogue open with them - they would have left any messages sent by the Tau unread. Battlefield necessity is one thing but maintaining relations with an enemy species? That's grounds for a purgin'. ^_^

[Tankman131]

Just in case it hasn't been done yet... I'll go get the Ordo Xenos...