30k Chaplain Question...

[Apostle of the 30th Host]

Lately I have been spending a bit of time thinking about what I'm going to do with the Betrayal at Calth box once I get my hands on it. I decided on a Word Bearers themed force, set around Calth as that is when we start to see their true allegiances. I'm a big fan of the rich background, in particularly that of the Word Bearers and so like my 40k army, I want to try and stay true to this where possible. However I have encountered a problem which I'm hoping a someone on here can clarify for me...

 

I was always under the impression that Chaplains only started to wear black/skull masks after the Codex Astartes was written as it was a representation of mortality and the fall of the Emperor and Chaplains before that (so 30k Heresy Era models) wore Legion colours. This is supported by how the Betrayal at Calth Chaplain is painted/modelled and the fact that the Dark Apostles of the Word Bearers are in Legion colours - they had not adopted the black armour at that point and so that was how it remained following the Heresy.

 

However, there are numerous passages in the Word Bearers background section of the Horus Heresy Book 2 which refer to black clad warriors in skull helms being an ever present in the Legion until the role of Chaplain was adopted universally having been inspired by the Word Bearers.

This has caused a bit of confusion for me as it has totally disregarded what I thought before that?

 

What do you guys think? If possible, please have some background to back up your point as I want to actually know what has been written to explain this.

 

 

I have a few possible reasons for this change - and counter arguments:

 

- Forge World just messed this up: It was a mistake based on the current 40k incarnation of Chaplains included without knowledge of the previous fluff, or to make it clear who they were referring to for those who may not be aware of the previous fluff so as not to confuse people over why Chaplains don't look like they do in 40k.

Forge World are normally pretty good for fluff so I would be surprised if it was a mistake, maybe done to better illustrate their description.

 

- The previous fluff was cut and replaced with them always wearing black to make it simpler.

Again, I doubt this was the case as if it was, they would have modelled and painted the Calth Chaplain like that.

 

- The use of black armour was pioneered by the Word Bearers, but not universally adopted like the Chaplain rank until the Codex Astartes.

I don't think Guilliman would enforce anything that would so closely resemble the hated Word Bearers if that was the case. Were Chaplains not so useful, I don't think he wold have even kept them - saying that, the entire Imperial Cult is almost of copy of what Lorgar was trying to create before the Emperor put a stop to it so maybe...

I still think that armour would have carried over to 40k if that was the case though as they have barely changed in organisation since the Heresy so I doubt it.

 

 

To be honest, I'm leaning towards it just being a mistake, but I haven't read any of the Heresy novels so maybe someone with a better knowledge of this period could chip in as I kind of need to know what colour to paint him.

 

Cheers

[Jareddm]

Or another possibility, the symbolism of the black armor and skull helm has simply changed over the centuries. The same way symbols throughout history have had their meanings changed, with the belief that the new meaning was what it always was.

[Kol Saresk]

Hehe, actually this popped up once in a discussion about Erebus. In the first three BL books, we see him first show up wearing the stone grey, but then over time he transfers to the blood red with silver highlights we see in 40K. But then in the First Heretic, it was pointed out that at Monarchia, his armor was black that was being greyed by the falling ash. Since then, the Dark Apostles have been showing up either or depending on the author IIRC. Not to mention the Emperor's Children Chaplain in Galaxy in Flames was also wearing black with a Skull Helm, as well as Nemiel in Fallen Angels.

 

So it could easily be argued that while the tradition had started with the Word Bearers, it had expanded to all of the other Legions to some degree or another and when Guilliman decided to officialize it, he simply took a practice Chaplains within the Loyalists had already been practicing and just made it uniform.

[Conn Eremon]

Following right after Nykaea, Malcador passed an edict that formed the Chaplains into the institution that Guilliman later immortalizes within his Codex Astartes. The edict's Chaplains are based off of the Word Bearers model, the irony not lost on the already traitor Word Bearers.

 

This marks the birth of Chaplains as we all know them, the start of their 40k identity, but many Legions maintained pre-existing formations that served similar, if not identical, functions. Such as the Dark Angels or Blood Angels. Stands to reason that at least some of these Legions merely restructured these existing formations to better follow the Sigillite's decree, if st all, and that these proto-chaplains may have had different color schemes.

 

Primary source being, if I am recalling correctly, the Visions books.

[Theredknight]

In Galaxy in flames chaplain charmosian is described as being 'bedecked in purple battle plate, trimmed with black instead of gold'

Warden annellus in know no fear is described in all black.

Thousand sons as far as we know, didn't have them.

So I guess each legion does it differently.

[Apostle of the 30th Host]

Thank you so much for that guys, it has really helped!

 

I have re-read some of the Word Bearers passages in the Horus Heresy rulebooks too and I think that combined with your points, I have a pretty good picture of how the Chaplain armour changed over time. Here is a brief 'timeline', please let me know what you think.

 

Pre-Lorgar - The Imperial Heralds already had 'Chaplains' of a sort, although not under this name, that acted as heralds of the Imperial Truth to the worlds that stood against the Emperor's conquest.

'Where enemies stood against the Emperor because of their belief in gods or the superstitions bred by Old Night, it would fall to the XVII^th Legion to deliver the Emperor's ultimatum: recant or be destroyed. To the fortresses of demagogues, and the enclaves of cults, a lone warrior of the XVII^th Legion would come. Clad in black armour, his face hidden by a skull helm and bearing the eagle-winged mace, the herald would speak of the truth offered by the Emperor and the futility of resistance. These bearers of the word and death were chosen from those who had shown supreme devotion to the Imperial Truth.​'

- A quote from HH Book 2 before the coming of Lorgar.

 

This would suggest that Chaplains were NOT an invention of Lorgar, but were a unique position already present in the Legion due to their specialised role and their black armour and deathly visage were to cause fear in the enemy and represent the death that would fall upon them should they refuse. This would explain why Erebus had not adopted the black armour at first as it would have taken some time for the intake from Colchis to integrate within the Legion.

 

Post Lorgar - Following the coming of Lorgar, these individuals were named Chaplains and took on a greatly different role due to the religious influence of Colchis on Lorgar.

'One of the tangible changes that came with the return of the Primarch Lorgar was an increase in the importance of ceremony amongst the warriors of the XVII^th. The black clad and skull helmed heralds of the old Legion were given new authority to ensure the moral strength of their brother Legionaries. These new Legion officers, called Chaplains, would be the core of the XVII^th Legion's strength, showing the way of truth through word and deed, not just to the conquered but those who held the sword. When a city burned or a people were put to death, the deed was done with the solemnity of a rite. The death notice of enemies were spoken in ritual phrases by a Chaplain, as he scattered the ashes of dead and defiant worlds over the bowed heads of warriors​.'

 

The reference to their presence in the 'old Legion' again suggests they existed before Lorgar was reunited with the Imperial Heralds.

 

During this time, a great many changes were brought about by Lorgar including the belief in the Emperor as a god. This eventually culminates in the fall of Monarchia where Kol stated that Erebus is noted as wearing black armour by this point, suggesting that the practice had become standardised by the Legion.

 

***I would imagine that it is this template that was put in place by Malcador at Nikea, one that was present before Lorgar, but later adapted by him (which is why Guilliman kept it) and used to ensure strict observance of the of the Imperial Truth (similar to their post-Lorgar role as Heralds) but combined with the more positive changes set by Lorgar into the now used Imperial template - a fact that was a source of irony to Lorgar as they were no longer loyal at this point as mentioned by Conn Eremon.

 

Outbreak of the Horus Heresy - At this point most Traitor Legions killed their Chaplains in defiance to the Emperor, whilst the Word Bearers kept theirs. I believe it was from this point that they also changed their armour from grey, to the red of the Serrated Suns Chapter.

 

I would therefore suggest that the Word Bearers Chaplains would adopt the red of their fellow Legionaries, rather than maintain the now standardised black to show their break from the Imperium - this could be why Erebus is then described as wearing red (as Kol mentioned) and from this point on, red or black armour for Dark Apostles vary by author as it depends on whether they were yet to adopt the new Legion colours or the personal preference of the Apostle.

 

 

Hopefully all that makes sense, thanks a lot for your input in helping me piece this together.

 

To summarise my answer in terms Chaplains wearing black armour:

 

Pre-Heresy - Word Bearers: Yes. All Others: No (until the Council of Nikea)

 

Heresy Era - Word Bearers: Increasingly No. Loyalist Chaplains: Yes

[Sandlemad]

 

To summarise my answer in terms Chaplains wearing black armour:

 

Pre-Heresy - Word Bearers: Yes. All Others: No (until the Council of Nikea)

 

Heresy Era - Word Bearers: Increasingly No. Loyalist Chaplains: Yes

 

That looks solid. I have to second Jareddm here, by the 41st millenium the skull mask has definitely come to be seen as a symbol of the Emperor's sacrifice and any knowledge that it can ultimately be traced to a unification-era Terran custom is long since buried.

 

Conn Eremon points out that the irony was not lost on the Word Bearers but in fairness I doubt it was lost on Guilliman either. We already have examples of him redefining 'negative' features of iconography, e.g. making the UM red helm of censure (which I think might have derived from Night Lords' red gauntlets? He's such a magpie!) into the mark of the sergeant. Moreover he was happy enough to codify another significant astartes office, the librarius, despite that being founded in part by a primarch who turned traitor, even if not as whole-heartedly as Lorgar. It's the practical thing to do and established political officers were probably even more important in the wake of the heresy.

 

The wearing of the black is an interesting feature. So FW has it now as an original feature of the XVIIth legion heralds but there was an old bit of fluff in one of the White Dwarf compendiums about Sigismund preparing for battle at Terra* where the chaplain that was armouring him states that black livery is a sign that as Champion  Sigismund serves the Emperor directly, just like the chaplains. Which works pretty well even with the new FW background: the XVII heralds were there to give a direct offer of quarter on behalf of the Emperor.

Similarly (might be reaching here) the Ist legion, who we know served under the emperor for a long time at the start of the great crusade, wore black. So it would be pretty fitting that the WB would gradually drop it as the legion turned.

 

That said, we know that the Blood Angel's own proto-chaplains, the Wardens, also wore black before the office of chaplain was instituted across the legions by Malcador. So, y'know, take this with a grain of salt. Black's a good colour, it can mean a lot to a lot of different warrior cultures.

 

* The idea behind this bit of fluff was that the Black Templars drew their colours from Sigismund's own, which he was granted right on the eve of the siege of Terra. It is called into question now that the HH novels show the heraldry of the IF templar brethern and Sigismund as black at a much earlier date but I like it enough to chalk the whole muddle up to 10,000 years of confusion.

[Slips]

A Brief Aside, I remember reading somewhere that the Black & White with Maltese Cross was either Dorn or Sigismunds own Personal Heraldry. Or Something.

[Conn Eremon]

It's the heraldry of the Templar First Company, of which Sigismund is the last Captain of, but not the only Captain they have ever had.

[Corsovitt]

If I recall correctly I'm sure there is mention of a Night Lord 'Warden' or Chaplain in the 'Dark King' which is set a good while before Nikaea so perhaps it was initially there to ensure that the Legions maintained their secular nature... 

[Kol Saresk]

Maybe, although in that story the "Warden" in question served more as an executioner of prisoners IIRC.

[Calas Typhon]

I have a question about The World Eaters chaplains that has been driving me mental for a couple of days.

 

It seems to be that there are a few occasions of Chaplains within the World Eaters, however Angron and his sons simply did not care for the Edict from what has been given out by Black Library on the World Eaters. I just simply do not see why they would have them brought into the Legion from a fluff point, yet there are occasions where they come in. If they work like the Wardens of the Blood Angels in the later years of the Heresy up to 40k with the Red Thirst and Black Rage, but for the Nails lost such as the Red Butchers and Caedere then surely that position could have been taken by the Techmarines, which it was,  as shown by only real occasion a "nails lost" Legionary is actually featured in Khârn: Eater of Worlds, which was a brilliant short.

 

The XII after Angron are a legion who would not really have the lack of soul or a care for the duty of the Emperor, for they knew they had a soul, for they had something in common in the nails and a solid brotherhood until the ascension of the Primarch , and they knew they were doing the duty of the Emperor, for they believed in every conflict they were doing it.

 

So is there really a solid point in Chaplains of the XII, or are they only really there for the coolness effect and to be used on the table?

I have a feeling this is the case, but I just wish to know if there was an actual reason for them being in the legion.

[Kor'Vesh]

Not that this is especially relevant, but it is worth mentioning that the Igniax of the Salamanders also wore black - they we're essentially the proto-chaplains of the Salamander Legion, well versed in Vulkan's promethean cult. I've no idea if their colour is derrived from the Imperial Heralds, or an independent origin of the black armour. Their black is certainly not tied the service of the emperor though.