Deathwatch: black shields

[Jacques Corbin]

I would still put a distinctively Space Wolf head on my otherwise plain Blackshield, to represent a Lone Wolf constantly denied an honorable, glorious death. Found, howling alone in knee-deep snow at the edge of madness, by a Deathwatch Kill Team. He initially refuses their offer to join, and rushes at the Watch Captain. He is subdued, after a prolonged, and brutal duel, and drafted to serve the Imperium with honor once more.

 

A time-lost Fallen with only a hooded head as a clue to his origins is almost obligatory. Almost trope-worthy. Troll DA players with him.

 

The Fallen would get a hooded head and power sword from the DA upgrade kit, and a fancy plasma pistol. What do I put on my Lone Wolf Blackshield? Power Armor or Terminator? Power Fist or Axe, or what?

[Nomus Sardauk]

I did say aren't many credible reasons rather than none...

 

Though I would question how lone marines from loyal Chapters go about leaving their company/Chapter and arriving at a Watch Fortress without the consent of Chapter command. If their crime was so egregious as to warrant banishment/self-imposed exile and not being able to show colours, how would they secure that consent? Summary execution would seem more likely as an outcome.

I imagine it would all depend on the severity of the crime and the attitude of the Chapter towards Deathwatch service, and that's assuming the would-be Blackshield even gives enough of a damn to stop & ask for consent rather than just abandon his wargear, nab a shuttle and head for the nearest Inquisitorial establishment.

[sockwithaticket]

 

I did say aren't many credible reasons rather than none...

 

Though I would question how lone marines from loyal Chapters go about leaving their company/Chapter and arriving at a Watch Fortress without the consent of Chapter command. If their crime was so egregious as to warrant banishment/self-imposed exile and not being able to show colours, how would they secure that consent? Summary execution would seem more likely as an outcome.

I imagine it would all depend on the severity of the crime and the attitude of the Chapter towards Deathwatch service, and that's assuming the would-be Blackshield even gives enough of a damn to stop & ask for consent rather than just abandon his wargear, nab a shuttle and head for the nearest Inquisitorial establishment.

 

I just can't see a marine being able to simply 'nab a shuttle' and take off without anyone noticing/trying to stop him, which is why I think they'd have to go to Chapter Command. What would be serious enough that a marine would be permitted/told they can no longer wear the colours and be exiled, but isn't enought to get them executed? If it's a step below execution, wouldn't most Chapters prefer to do things 'in house'?

 

 

Do marines even use Shuttles? They have Thunderhawks and Storm Ravens. How many marines would know how to pilot any aircraft/ship to ship craft that might be around?

[Jacques Corbin]

A Space Marine in full Power Armor would simply have to walk onto a docked ship, and hold on.

[Commander Dawnstar]

I just can't see a marine being able to simply 'nab a shuttle' and take off without anyone noticing/trying to stop him, which is why I think they'd have to go to Chapter Command. What would be serious enough that a marine would be permitted/told they can no longer wear the colours and be exiled, but isn't enought to get them executed? If it's a step below execution, wouldn't most Chapters prefer to do things 'in house'?

You're assuming that the Chapter views death as a more severe punishment than having to live on with the guilt and shame of your failings or crimes and the understanding that you are something less than a Space Marine, fully deserving the scorn and distrust of any other you might call Battle Brother for the rest of your miserable existence. That you are a failure who has shamed not only yourself but all of those who have ever borne the blood of your Primarch, and for that should be stripped of any claim to your history and genetic legacy at the very core of your identity. It's tantamount to having a piece of your soul torn away.

 

At least execution lets you die as one of your Chapter, however dark the stain on your honour.

[Canadian_F_H]

That's pretty much it. There are a bazillion 40k quotes about death in the Emperor's service being a good thing especially verses heresy, betrayal, and failure etc.

[Lysere]

That's pretty much it. There are a bazillion 40k quotes about death in the Emperor's service being a good thing especially verses heresy, betrayal, and failure etc.

 

Pretty much this. Also the reason a black shield would hide their chapter colors could be personal. Perhaps they failed in some way that the chapter might not view as something to heavily punish them for but they might. So when a chance to serve in the Deathwatch presents itself they could agree to go, but on arrival show up as a Blackshield so their actions aren't tied back into their chapter. Serving in the Deathwatch itself could be seen as atonement due to the nature of the missions they are used for but some might not see that as enough and so may instead hide their chapter markings until they feel worthy of wearing them once again.

 

I mean not every Blackshield is going to be an ex traitor in disguise, that would be too simple for 40k.

 

The beauty of the Blackshields fluff is the reason can be pretty much anything. No one will probably ever find out the reason a black shield chose such a path but this leaves even more room for creativity.

 

As I believe I mentioned before I have a blackshield character I've designed for the RPG. Their chapter is highly secretive and is a chapter that very few imperial factions are even aware exist as they operate far out from Imperial planets most of the time. (Similar to Carcharodons) As I have their actions tied into part of the plot I've laid out I don't want the marine in question to spoil anything, (But I also need a simple but versatile marine who could fill in for missing players as needed and would have a reason to serve in different kill teams,) so he arrived as a Blackshield out of a need for secrecy and will maintain his cover until such a time as I deem necessary. This may be a bit different than the normal Blackshield but that is part of the joy of 40k, there will always be an exception somewhere.

[jeremy1391]

If the rules supported it I'd love to see a "suicide squad" of black shields from the Badab insurrectionists and cursed founding chapters, led by a stalwart marine from a noble chapter such as the imperial fists.... I may have to make this now

[KJB]

Or another, an iron warrior, many never really fought for chaos. But only out of spite because their emperor had foreskin them for so long, but realized that his warmaster, and primarch had been duped by the chAos gods....

Hah, that's some harsh treatment from the Emperor right there...

[Reyner]

If the rules supported it I'd love to see a "suicide squad" of black shields from the Badab insurrectionists and cursed founding chapters, led by a stalwart marine from a noble chapter such as the imperial fists.... I may have to make this now

I can suddenly hear Bohemian Rhapsody. Do it. Do it now.

[Nomus Sardauk]

 

 

If the rules supported it I'd love to see a "suicide squad" of black shields from the Badab insurrectionists and cursed founding chapters, led by a stalwart marine from a noble chapter such as the imperial fists.... I may have to make this now

I can suddenly hear Bohemian Rhapsody. Do it. Do it now.

Kill Team X is a unique Deathwatch Kill Team assembled under the orders of Lady-Inquisitor Amanda Waller, for the sole purpose of taking some of the Imperium's worst and shaping them into something useful, sending them into Xenos hotspots and on missions usually dealt with by full Kill-Companies. Inquisitor Waller is of the belief that although her recruits are misfits, abominations and outcasts, she can forge them into a powerful, if uncooperative, blade against Mankind's many foes.

 

Uniquely, Kill Team X includes several non-Astartes members, including a Imperial Xeno-Archaeologist possessed by the spirit of an ancient Psyker [Callsign: Enchantress], a crazed former Hive Ganger from House Escher [Callsign: Harlequin] and a fiercely honourable and Emperor-devoted Death Cult Assassin [Callsign: Katana], all of whom were picked up throughout the course of the Team's duties and "recruited" into the squad by order of Inquisitor Waller (shivers), who declared they had seen too much to just walk away and were capable enough to be of use.

[Indefragable]

Sometimes people just....don't fit.

The fun of Black Shields is that they can have any backstory you want.

It's not always going to be SM from renegade or traitor legions. I imagine a few Black Shields are well-respected warriors whose Chapters very badly want them back....and that's why they are Black Shields: they feel their work for the Ordo Xenos is too important (actually finding weaknesses of the Necrons vs putting down yet another backwater insurrection) and so they ask the Watch Master to be listed as "KIA" so they can stay on longer. That brings its own pseudo-dishonor, but the Deathwatch seem like just the organization that can appreciate that drive. And make use of it.

Historically the French Foreign Legion (even into modern times) was known to find "ways" to get a recruit on board if he had proved himself. I think of it kinda sorta like that.

Maybe there's a White Scars techmarine who wants to fix up a Corvus as opposed to always changing flat tires and rotating mufflers on a bike...

Maybe there's an Iron Hands SM with a sense of humor...

A vegetarian Flesh Tearer...

A Ultramarine who wants to escape the Mary Sue-ness

[Canadian_F_H]

 

Or another, an iron warrior, many never really fought for chaos. But only out of spite because their emperor had foreskin them for so long, but realized that his warmaster, and primarch had been duped by the chAos gods....

Hah, that's some harsh treatment from the Emperor right there...

 

WOW. Autocorrect servitor fail! Call the text-priest!

[Spinsanity]

 

 

their emperor had foreskin them for so long

Hah, that's some harsh treatment from the Emperor right there...

WOW. Autocorrect servitor fail! Call the text-priest!

I'm now sad I had missed it the first time round. Thank you both for the good laugh!

[Blindhamster]

I played a black shields in the rpg. He was quite stealthy and very pale skinned, but had fangs. The group were unsure if he was a raven guard or a blood angels for quite some time. Eventually it transpired he was a blood angel but also technically just a fragment of a real character (blood angels librarian) that had been captured by a daemon... my character was eventually drawn back into the librarian in a very gory manner before I got to play the character that had been intended all along. But good fun to see the looks on people's faces (naturally I knew what the GM was planning)

[noigrim]

weren't the last emperors scycthes in the deathwatch in kryptman's fluff?

[FerociousBeast]

The only reason we are even discussing veterans from the HH is because (if I'm remembering correctly) a fluff blurb from codex DW explicitly mentions them. It was in one of atia's photodumps.

I'll look for it.

Ok. Not so explicit. ..

It's the line about legendary few lost in time...

I suppose that open to interpretation... also, it does take away a bit of the specialness of the fallen angels being cast forward in time not necessarily being traitors and hunted down etc... but that was only remarkable because it happened to a particularly large and distinct group, the setting always assumed it happened to every now and then to a lesser degree...

That line doesn't take away the specialness of the Fallen Angels, because... it's a direct reference TO the Fallen Angels :p

The idea of Fallen Angels joining the Deathwatch was heavily implied to be the original inspiration for the Black Shields, back when the Deathwatch RPG book was released.

[Brother Captain Kezef]

To my way of thinking, a Blackshield is like a Dwarf Trollslayer. He is seeking redemption in battle, one of the core beliefs of the Astartes is "only in death does duty end", they literaly can not just curl up and die like a broken human being.

 

The cause for a Blackshield to leave may not even be one that the Chapter considers that bad, but on a personal level it is tearing at the soul of the astartes in question. These guys may be superhuman in many ways, but in others they are only too human and that fact can be overlooked. The Deathwatch is an honoured and respected institution and allowing an astartes to leave the chapter to join as a Blackshield may be much better than to allow him to stay with the chapter and suffer, it could be a recommendation of the Librarians or Chaplains that sends him on this personal quest for redemption.

 

I have played three Blackshields in Deathwatch RPG (Mostly i prefer Blood Angels or Space Wolves) and they where all from loyal chapters and only one was exiled from his chapter, the other two left for very personal reasons.

[Bronze Beast in the Dark]

the 40K universe is so huge, and filled with so much possibility I see no reason to limit the who and why of a Blackshield. Im adding to some of the reasons that have been listed earlier.

 

It could be simple, like a Howling Griffon who failed a vow.

 

Or as complex as a Dark Angel (or other Unforgiven Chapter) who doesn't like the single minded focus of the hunt for the Fallen and left after an attack on allies who had learned too much.

 

A Red Scorpion who decided to use camouflage.

 

Feel free to add more reason, lets see how many we can get.

[Brother Captain Kezef]

the 40K universe is so huge, and filled with so much possibility I see no reason to limit the who and why of a Blackshield. Im adding to some of the reasons that have been listed earlier.

 

It could be simple, like a Howling Griffon who failed a vow.

 

Or as complex as a Dark Angel (or other Unforgiven Chapter) who doesn't like the single minded focus of the hunt for the Fallen and left after an attack on allies who had learned too much.

 

A Red Scorpion who decided to use camouflage.

 

Feel free to add more reason, lets see how many we can get.

 

It could be worth doing this as a seperate thread perhaps? A thread just for Blackshield origin ideas. Build a large collection as a resource

[hivey]

Is it possible for a black shiled to survive and end up becoming a watch master?

[Lysere]

Is it possible for a black shiled to survive and end up becoming a watch master?

Considering what the deathwatch is like not likely. Blackshields would constantly be on assignment, not a good position for a captain.

 

They could advance to other positions though or arrive as a highly skilled individual. Nihilus in the deathmasque set is a ven dread and a blackshield.

[Commander Dawnstar]

The Deathwatch Core Rulebook mentions a Black Shield called Israfil who went on to become a Watch Commander and held the role for around thirty years.

 

It's certainly not impossible but extremely unlikely.

[Canadian_F_H]

Wasn't there fluff in the rpg about a black shield being redeemed and taking a chapter icon from where they store the icons of fallen DW members and 'return' to that chapter? I read it some where in the wiki. Please confirm.

[blackoption]

Wasn't there fluff in the rpg about a black shield being redeemed and taking a chapter icon from where they store the icons of fallen DW members and 'return' to that chapter? I read it some where in the wiki. Please confirm.

Sounds like you are mixing a few items.  Black shields can be redeemed in the eyes of their parent chapter (and thus allowed to wear their chapters colors again), but that is immaterial if the black shield is a loyalist from a fallen or tainted chapter that the imperium would destroy on sight anyways.

 

The DW does return the affects of fallen marines to their parent chapter of record.