Index Astartes: Praetorians

[Sigismund229]

​Founding Chapter: I​mperial Fists

​Founding: ​4^th

Known Descendants: Blades of Bassilea.

​Chapter Master: ​Guillem

Homeworld: ​Ymgarl

​Colours: ​Silver(primary), Gold(helmets), Purple(shoulder pads).

​Strength: ​N/A, C.200-300

​Organization: Semi Codex compliant

​Battle Cry: ​"In Terra's name we stand! In the Emperor's name we die"

 

Early History
Created during the 4th founding, the Praetorians are descended from the Imperial Fists genus of the Adeptus Astartes. They were founded in the immediate aftermath of the war against the Ork warboss known only as the Beast. While the threat was defeated, it was only at great cost and it was a stark reminder of the threats that dwelt beyond the borders of the Imperium. It was because of this threat that the High Lords sanctioned the 4th Founding, both to replace the losses taken by the Adeptus Astartes in fighting the Beast and to expand the Imperium's defences. Many of the Chapters which were created in this founding were, like the Praetorians, successors of the Imperial Fists, a reward for the Imperial Fists stalwart defence of Terra and the losses they took in doing so.

As with many scions of the line of Rogal Dorn, the Praetorians began their service as a Crusading chapter. While their actions during this period are not recorded in any official document, it is likely that many of their early battles were fought against the surviving elements of the Beast's Waaagh which still lingered in the Segmentum Solar. Over several long centuries of war, these last remaining bands of greenskins were gradually annihilated or driven back into the dark regions of space beyond the Imperium's borders. Following this campaign of extermination against the orks who lingered in the Segmentum Solar it is unknown what wars the Praetorians were engaged in, although Chapter legend speaks of a great crusade in the east against a foe of shadow and flame. Quite who or what this foe was is unknown and members of the Mechanicus Biologis theorise that it was a genome of xenos long since exterminated by Imperial efforts.

Another aspect of chapter legend about which records remain silent but by which many a scholar has been fascinated is the tale of the war waged by the Praetorians alongside chapters from every lineage against a threat which goes unnamed. However, according to chapter legend it "Descended from the north as an icy wind, laying waste to all in its path. Only after astartes from every lineage were gathered and only after great effusion of blood was the threat halted. Thereafter, a great muster of astartes took place to guard that place and ensure that never again would the cold winds of slaughter rise from the pale stars". The fact that the foe is unnamed and the statement that it came from the north has led many scholars to theorise that the threat which is referred to is the same foe against which the Novamarines were deployed during the Pale Wasting. The magnitude of the threat would certainly seem to indicate this as well as chapter legend states that barely 200 brothers of the Praetorians chapter survived and of these not one was unwounded.

The first war in which the Praetorians presence is testified by a source other than legend is the 5th Black Crusade. Records show that when the call for aid went out from Elysia the Praetorians responded in full force, bringing every vessel and space marine they possessed to the beleaguered world's aid. Chapter legend speaks of them being deployed to the world of Martarch and doing battle against the hordes of blood and in this case chapter legend is corroborated by Imperial records which record details of the battle fought at the gates of Hive Jurakka between space marines bearing the livery of the Praetorians and chaos space marines of the World Eaters.

Following this battle, the Praetorians vanish from formal record once more until they reappear in records fighting the Hrud in the Gastarak system, present in a strength amounting to five companies. During this war they were deployed alongside the 4th company of the Blood Angels and the 2nd company of the Vorpal Swords chapter. Following the campaign in which all three forces sustained heavy losses, the warriors of all three chapters swear eternal oaths of loyalty and brotherhood to one another(indeed those Praetorians companies involved in the war still bear the blood drop of Sanguinius and the crossed blades of the Vorpal Swordq upon their armour). Scarcely 100 years later, the Vorpal Swords were declared to have been found wanting by Saint Bassilius. Outraged, the Praetorians objected to this judgement and demanded that Saint Bassilius withdraw his judgement and allow the Vorpal Swords to be judged by an assembly of astartes chapter masters. However, Bassilius would not be swayed from his course and while the Praetorians backed down when threatened with censure, the incident cast a dark shadow over the chapter's relations with the Imperium at large.

Following this incident, the Praetorians are reported to have vanished from Imperial space, heading out into the dark void of unexplored space beyond the Imperium's borders. For 600 years this is where they stayed, battling whatever foes they found in those dark regions until finally they returned to Imperial space in the year 943 M.37 to take part in the defence of the missing Vorpal Swords homeworld. Following this incident they vanished into the dark depths of space once more before finally returning to Imperial space for good on the dawn of the 38^th millenium.

When they returned to Imperial space, the Praetorians threw themselves into the defence of the Imperium with renewed fervour, standing their ground upon worlds which other forces had given up as lost to the enemy and often forming part of the vanguard of Imperial crusades. However, when the chapters of the Abyssal crusade returned from the Eye of Terror and Saint Bassilius was declared a false idol by Chapter Master Konvak Lann, the Praetorians gladly took part in the wave of iconoclasm that followed, assaulting and purging the world of Bassilea, the Shrine world upon which the false saint was buried, slaughtering its entire population and tearing down every monument and temple they found on the world. Once they had done so, the Praetorians left the world as suddenly as they had arrived, departing for the frontlines of the Imperium's constant wars, leaving Bassilea a ghost world whose streets were choked by the dead.

In the following centuries, the Praetorians continued to throw themselves into the heat of war, fighting the foes of the Imperium wherever they were found. This meant that they were almost always to be found on the fringes of Imperial space, defending a frontier world or at the vanguard or some crusade or other.

The Arkus Crusade
The Arkus crusade was a war of conquest launched by the Imperium during the 5^th century of the 39^th into the Arkus sector, a sector with which the Imperium had lost contact during the Age of Apostasy. Led by Warmaster Graiath, the crusade consisted of three entire space marine chapters, the Praetorians, Blood Ravens and Excoriators as well as thousands of Imperial Guard regiments and two Titan legions.

The Praetorians fought alongside the Imperial Guard for the entire duration of the crusade, liberating dozens of worlds all across the Segmentum Pacificus. At the end of the crusade, in recognition of their efforts during he crusade, Warmaster Graiath granted the Praetorians the right to select a homeworld from amongst the dozens of worlds the crusade had liberated, and the chapter took the world of Ymgarl as their home, ending the chapter's millenia as a crusading chapter.

The Dawn of the 41^st millenium
As the new millenium dawned, the Praetorians, now operating from their homeworld, continued to fight in much the same manner as before. As in millenia gone by, they could frequently be found at the forefront of Imperial crusades or defending the far flung frontiers of the Imperium. It therefore was no surprise that the chapter committed several companies to support the crusade launched
by Lord Commander Solar Macharius. However, while none could have foreseen it at the time, this.glorious crusade would sow the seeds for much sorrow that would be inflicted upon the Praetorians chapter. The source of this sorrow was to be the chapter's ill fated assault upon Ganak Prime.

The world of Ganak Prime was a fortress world controlled by heretical followers of Chaos and being assaulted by Battle Group Lysander. However, the Imperial Guard had come up against fiercesome resistance in their assault upon the last of the world's fortress hives and requested astartes support, a call which the Praetorians answered. Three companies of the Praetorians chapter launched a drop assault into the midst of the hive's defenders. However, they had badly underestimated the strength of the enemy and they were quickly surrounded by heretic forces. While the warriors of the Praetorians fought and died like heroes from legend(the casualty ratio was somewhere in the region of 328 or 405-1) they were gradually worn down by repeated heretic assaults until finally, as the dawn broke on the third day of combat, General Lysander launched an all or nothing assault which cost him hundreds of thousands of troops but broke the heretic assault and saved the remaining 107 Praetorians. In order to repay the General of the Imperial Guard, the Praetorians swore that should he ever have need of them they would come to his aid as quickly as they were able.

The Macharian Heresy
Upon the death of Lord Solar Macharius, the vast swathes of territory he had conquered for the Imperium fell to infighting between his generals. As each tried to gain an advantage over the others, General Lysander remembered the oath Captain Bayard has sworn to him upon the surface of Ganak Prime. So it was that he sent word to the Praetorians of his need for their aid and, as they had sworn, they answered with five companies. Over the next 50 years they fought to unite the Lord Solar's conquests under a single general who they believed was loyal to the Imperium. However, when an Imperial Crusade came to reassert Imperial control over the sector the Praetorians refused to join with the crusade as they were honour bound to fulfill their oath to General Lysander. So it was that they were attacked by the space marines of the Minotaurs chapter.

While the Praetorians fought bravely and inflicted heavy losses upon the Minotaurs, they were outnumbered and unable to stand against the full might of the Minotaurs. After a battle lasting five hours they surrendered themselves for Imperial judgement, their honour in ruins.

[Sigismund229]

​The Judgement of the ​Phalanx

       F​ollowing the role they played in the Macharian Heresy, the Praetorians were forced to stand trial before both the Imperial authorities and a specially convened gathering of Chapter Masters of those chapters hailing from the bloodline of Rogal Dorn. Over the course of several days they were called to account for their actions by both of these gatherings and eventually the judgement was passed. While the Praetorians had been misguided they had strayed from the Emperor's light and they were to undergo a penitent crusade of 100 years. However, this was not the judgement which most grieved the proud sons of Dorn. The gathering of chapter masters who hailed from the same blood line as the Praetorians decreed that the Praetorians were to be considered outcasts by all true sons of Dorn. By their honouring of their oath to General Lysander, the Praetorians had dishonoured their bloodline and the name of their primarch and so they were to be considered orphans. No longer would they be considered as being of the same blood as the Imperial Fists.

 

     So judged, the Praetorians scoured all marks of the Imperium from their armour and set off upon their penitent crusade. Custody of their homeworld was granted to the Vorpal Swords who swore a solemn oath to stand vigil over it until such a time as the Praetorians returned and took up residence upon their homeworld once more. Then, as the Praetorians fleet entered into the warp, they were swallowed by a vast warp rift. Centuries passed but they were eventually declared to be destroyed.

 

​Hive Fleet Leviathan

​In the year 997 M.41, Hive Fleet Leviathan struck the Imperium. Its two tendrils carved a bloody path through the Imperium's defences upon the Eastern Fringe. In desperation, the Imperium threw all the forces it could muster into the fray, hoping to at least slow or hopefully stop one of the two tendrils. Upon the world of the Asgarth, two companies of the Excoriators chapter were deployed against the Tyranids. However, even the bravery of the sons of Dorn was unable to halt the swarms of Tyranid organisms that were attacking their positions. Gradually the Excoriators were being ground down and driven back. However, as the Excoriators battled for their lives upon the surface, a fleet of space marine vessels burst from the warp.

 

​Launching a seemingly suicidal assault upon the Tyranids, this new force of space marines carved a way through to the what appeared to be the splinter fleet's capital ship. They then destroyed this ship, throwing the Tyranids into disarray, at great cost to themselves. Then, as their fleet wrought a bloody toll upon the remaining Tyranid vessels, they launched several companies worth of space marines towards the world's surface. Once on the world's surface, the silver armoured space marines joined forces with the Excoriators and annihilated the Tyranid's.

 

​When the battle was over and the Tyranid splinter fleet destroyed, the leader of these strange space marines introduced himself to Chaplain Arik of the Excoriators as Chapter Master Guillem of the Praetorians. Where the Chaplain had never heard of such a chapter, Venerable Fortis, who had been alive when judgement was passed upon the Praetorians, told the Excoriators of the judgement that had been passed on the Praetorians. Chaplain Arik then declard that the Praetorians had redeemed themselves in the eyes of the primarch by their actions and would henceforth be accepted back into the brotherhood of Dorn's lineage. In gratitude for the role they had played in halting one of Hive Fleet Leviathan's tendrils, Inquisitor Kryptman then declared the Praetorians had fulfilled the demands of their penitent crusade.  

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good work thus far.

[Kelborn]

Agreed. As always it is very enjoyable. :)

Excited to see the rest (organization and so on).

[Doctor Perils]

Hum interesting start, but there seem to be some issues. As I have seen you produce good pieces of fluff both in canon-verse and botl-verse, allow me to be blunt:

1 - Praetorians seems too generic a name, especially for Astartes who are proud of their chapter's uniqueness. I'd add a qualifier to make them stand out, even if it is as simple as a colour (like the Silver Praetors)

2 - Is this the idea you had for the colour scheme ?

To me, it seems fairly eclectic I have to be honest... (Feel free to contradict me though :) )

3 - Why choose the planet of Ymgarl, both from an in-universe point of view and from a designer's point of view ? It will be quite complicated to move around your chapter not knowing about Ymgarl gene-stealers. You also seem to ignore the link when you speak about the attack of Hive-fleet Leviathan, which seems like a missed opportunity.

4 - It seems like a shame that your chapter is constantly jumping in and out of history, and it is difficult to build a cohesive pattern of how they work. As IAs are generally written from a semi-omniscient point of view, why do we ignore so much of their existence ? For that matter, why do the Praetors ignore so much of their own history, are their Librarians lazy ? As things stand, it reads like you couldn't be bothered to write their history, but you still wanted them to be present at several key times in Imperial History.

5 - Which brings me to my next point: there is too much name dropping! They start off battling it out with the Beast, they come to fisty-cuffs (hehe) with Saint Basileus, they seem to play a relatively major role in the Macharian Heresy and are judged personally for it on the Phalanx, they save Excoriators in extremis from Hive Fleet Leviathan, and to crown it all, they get a pat on the back by Inquisitor Kryptman!

And through this all, they seem to have a link with the Vorpal Swords (who I didn't know about, so thanks for bringing them to my knowledge :) ) that makes them go against the will of one of the most powerful men in the Imperium at the time, then exchange plaenets, just because they might have fought together that one time...

I think that's enough to get started, keep us updated :)

[Sigismund229]

3.(Hits head against wall). Ymgarl was just a name I created in my mind, didn't know it already existed.

 

4. I was trying to write the IA from the point of view of someone who was trying to piece together their history from what he could find out about them from a mix of Imperial records and what he could find out from the chapter itself, meaning that he can only find the most famous and glorious moments in their history.

 

5. Well the first thing I would say is that they don't fight the Beast as they are founded after the Beast's Waaagh is defeated. Their first actions were comducted against the remnants of the Beast's Waaagh, the scattered survivors. Then they don't come to fistycuffs with St.Basileus, they disagreed with him but weren't willing to push it to the point of open war(as I'm fairly sure most SM chapters wouldn't like 30 of them being condemned to a Penitant crusade). As to the fought together that one time, there's examples of SM being that honour bound in the past(BA and Inquisitor Strell to name one) so it's not impossible. And if playing a part in stopping several companies of Excoriators being annihilated and stopping a Tyranid splinter Fleet isn't enough to earn at least some gratitude from Kryptman I'm not sure what is.

[Doctor Perils]

You're missing my point on the Name Dropping. Alright, I might have exagerated their involvement with the famous factions in 40k, but it still comes across as "my boys can play with the grown-ups, nananaaa!"

 

 

 As to the fought together that one time, there's examples of SM being that honour bound in the past(BA and Inquisitor Strell to name one) so it's not impossible.

 

Fair point, but that kind of thing generally doesn't span whole millenia, and is more on a personnal basis than from whole chapter to whole chapter. However, I think their link with the Vorpal Swords can be interesting to explore, but make it a bit more detailed. Perhaps there are often marines exchanged between the two chapters for training purposes. Moreover, the Vorpal Swords, even though they are canon, aren't well known enough for the links to seem marysueish.

 

However, don't add the BAs to the mix, as once again it is name dropping, and you don't actually ever bring up their bounds of honour.

 

 

And if playing a part in stopping several companies of Excoriators being annihilated and stopping a Tyranid splinter Fleet isn't enough to earn at least some gratitude from Kryptman I'm not sure what is.

Oh, I'm sure you're right, Kryptman would definitely congratulate them for this if he ever found out. However, he's pretty much constantly working on his plots and schemes, and he can't be everywhere at once. Don't forget that he is just an Inquisitor. From an outside point of view, he is probably one of the most important characters in 40k. From an inside point of view, he is at best an excentric, at worst a heretic (I believe he is even Excommunicate Traitoris ?), and Hive-Fleet Leviathan is literally popping out all over the Imperium. He simply doesn't have the time to pop up in every single GW publication and DIY project.

Of course, the main question here is, why do you even want some gratitude from Kryptman ? It doesn't add anything to the story, it just worstens the Acute Name Dropping Syndrome.

 

 

I'm not saying that you should get rid of all the references to official GW canon, not even most of them. Just try and tone it down a bit. If we didn't hear of the Chapter Master of the Imperial Fists for a trial of the Judged, then we shouldn't hear of your's doing it either. They might disagree, but in the words of Octavulg:

 

you should be careful to not draw attention to them particularly – do not mention them as too important

(he was specifically speaking of major campaigns, but I believe this holds true of any major event in 40k history in which GW hasn't mentioned your chapter)