[IRON GAUNTLET 2017] Kraxan

[NightrawenII]

I'd rather avoid the baggage of the Chapter trotting around the Galaxy hunting down heretics (Perhaps they could still send out task forces in the 2000 years that the conflict lasted). Perhaps a particularly Forge World dense Sector where the Moirae cult took hold in whatever arbitrarily designated area of space I can pick as my playground. I don't think I need to stretch that far to have even twenty or so to play with. If this map is anything to go by, the Calixis Sector from the Dark Heresy games has thirteen. Establishing the Chapter in a region of space also lets me more easily have a homeworld. So, instead of being founded to fight in the Moirae Schism, they could be founded to reaffirm the Adeptus Mechanicus Hold on Sector Whatever that has been deemed at risk for heresy. The Magos that finds Patuger can even be from one of those Forge Worlds.

Sounds fine.

 

 

The swamp people are still a thorn though. Do you think they don't provide enough and would be easier chucked?

That's something for you to decide, it's your lore after all.

 

It would be good if someone else made a comment, so KHK could hear potentially different opinion on this one.

 

 

~ NightrawenII

[Dizzyeye01]

What could be done with the swampland is have it be a land that is used by potential bandits or something of the sorts (If the swamps are a big trade route for the other clans). The Astral Reavers could then use the area to their advantage very much like how the Space Wolves do so: they keep an eye on any battles or ambushes that take place within the swamplands. Any who prove to be worthy are taken away by the Reavers and are then put through the trials of becoming a true space marine. It can be a running myth amongst the local clans that those that disappear in the swamps are elevated to the place of gods or taken to whatever hell awaits their people depending on their point of view. It wouldn't have to be the only way the Reavers' recruit the locals but then again it prove to be a fruitful place to get them from.

[Draakur]

Re: swamp people and why bother going through the swamps/near them, I don't think untraversible, permanent ocean rips/currents that block off large areas of the oceans has been explored yet? It smacks slightly of Deus Ex Warp Storm, but yeh...

[Donkey Kong]

Thank you for your suggestions Dizzyeye and Draakur. I think your suggestions could work, but I think they've more clearly shown that the swamp is another idea that doesn't quite fit and is ultimately too much writing for too little pay off. The swamp was never intended to be a focal point, but it doesn't function unless it is one. For that reason, I'll be removing it.

 

On the bright side, the removal of swamp forests and a ready supply of timber makes it an easier decision for me to increase the technology level on the world and make the raft platforms some specially built or modified anti-grav tech.

 

I've made a few more changes to the second post in the meantime. I've added my first rough draft of the origins that place the Astral Reavers in a more fixed location in space. In the Chapter Cult, "The Astral Reavers do not ritually replace limbs with bionics" and "Patugains are adverse to the idea: Metal sinks." Combat Doctrine, Chapter Organization, and the associated aesthetic are still bare and something that I think I should prioritize.

[Draakur]

Roger roger. Reading now.

 

+edit+

Yep enjoying this so far. I like how the planet's history is evolving - the idea that the Patugains likely come from the wealthier upper-hivers who might have survived a planet-wide flood runs well. All coming together nicely.

 

Re: the aesthetic, are you pushing in any specific direction here?

[Donkey Kong]

Draakur in regards to the aesthetic, I like to adhere to the adage "form follows function." For better or worse, in my mind, the Chapter's aesthetic is intertwined with the Combat Doctrine, and to a lesser extent the Chapter Organization and the Chapter Cult (because if reason fails, it can be explained by faith).

 

I want the Chapter to specialize in voidborne combat, or boarding actions. I first thought of MKIII Iron Armor, which funnily enough has been a small topic of discussion in the News and Rumors subforum with the Prospero Burns announcement (how effective was it, which legions used it, how widely available was it in M31 and then in M41). Dosjetka made the point that MKIII wouldn't be widely available to a Chapter founded in M35, and suggested a spin on Forge World's Legion MKIV Destroyers with modified MKVII Aquila Armor. The Destroyers were armored with MKIV suits modified and reinforced with heavier armor. I like the idea, but I don't know whether it makes more sense for the Astral Reavers to have access to old and specialized suits or to modify suits. I also thought of weapons and wargear suited for boarding actions: Meltaguns, Shotguns, Heavy Bolters, Multimeltas and Boarding Shields and Melta Bombs, and close combat weapons, swords and axes, that were shorter or more compact. 40k often makes the comparison between cramped quarters and city fighting, so I believe that this specialization can translate over to planetside conflicts.

 

NightrawenII made a suggestion that I liked about the Chapter operating in a hunter killer, seek and destroy capacity to track down Moirae cultists in Ravenwing-esque fashion. I like this idea as well, with a focus on mobility, jump packs, bikes, and land speeders. I imagine these marines in MKVI Corvus Armor for increased mobility. I don't imagine weapons would be different. But, here's where the first disconnect hits. The first idea of a boarding actions and city fighting chapter in heavy armor sounds very slow and monotonous, deliberate in their actions where the latter sounds more fluid, mobile, and adaptive. I want to capture the latter tone while retaining the voidborne talent. Of note, the Legion MKIV Destroyers could also deployed with jump packs, so that's an argument in favor of the modified MKVII.

 

Other characteristics that I like that I can't really reconcile, my favorite helmets are MKIV and MKVI, and I've always liked the red accents on the White Scars Chapter. I've conceded that I don't want to arbitrarily have the Chapter in MKIV. I don't know if I can reconcile MKVI and boarding. And I don't know if I should even bother trying to justify random red markings on armor, and if I did it would have to fall back on the Chapter Cult.

 

Finally, there's striking a balance between Clan Company and Chapter, with my scale falling somewhere between the Space Wolves Great Companies, where each Great Company wears its own heraldry and Company markings, and the Iron Hands Clan Companies, where Chapter Heraldry is on the left, Clan Heraldry is on the right replacing a codex roman numeral, and otherwise the Marines are distinctly Iron Hands. The Red Talons are far more unified than the Iron Hands, so the Astral Reavers falling back towards the Space Wolves end of the scale looks like regression, even if it's something that I think I would aesthetically like.

 

On reflection, this post is a glimpse into my stream of consciousness. It's terrifying.

[Guest Mordray]

Some chapters are still capable of producing MKIV Maximus armor or at least have access to forge worlds that can. IIRC the Red Scorpions are one such example.

[NightrawenII]

I want the Chapter to specialize in voidborne combat, or boarding actions. I first thought of MKIII Iron Armor, which funnily enough has been a small topic of discussion in the News and Rumors subforum with the Prospero Burns announcement (how effective was it, which legions used it, how widely available was it in M31 and then in M41). Dosjetka made the point that MKIII wouldn't be widely available to a Chapter founded in M35, and suggested a spin on Forge World's Legion MKIV Destroyers with modified MKVII Aquila Armor.

I can't be bothered to wander into News&Rumours subforum, but Dosjetka's opinion is moot:

 

"Even their [Fire Hawks] Tactical and Devastator squads prefer to engage at point blank range wherever possible, and they utilise extensive stocks of Mk III 'Iron' pattern power armour, particulatly for use in boarding assaults."

~ Imperial Armour IX - The Badab War

 

Btw, the Fire Hawks are 21st Founding.

 

Plus:

Void Hardened Armour [gear]

.... This unit has been equipped with specialised additional armour and life support systems...

~ Imperial Armour IX - The Badab War

 

NightrawenII made a suggestion that I liked about the Chapter operating in a hunter killer, seek and destroy capacity to track down Moirae cultists in Ravenwing-esque fashion. I like this idea as well, with a focus on mobility, jump packs, bikes, and land speeders. I imagine these marines in MKVI Corvus Armor for increased mobility. I don't imagine weapons would be different. But, here's where the first disconnect hits. The first idea of a boarding actions and city fighting chapter in heavy armor sounds very slow and monotonous, deliberate in their actions where the latter sounds more fluid, mobile, and adaptive. I want to capture the latter tone while retaining the voidborne talent. Of note, the Legion MKIV Destroyers could also deployed with jump packs, so that's an argument in favor of the modified MKVII.

Do you realize you could do exactly that... the Ravenwing-esque company, which is dedicated to the hunt of Heretek.

 

You have 10 independent co's and 5,000 years of history. Use it.

 

 

~ NightrawenII

[Dizzyeye01]

If the companies are acting independently of each other then what you could have is the each company tends to have a tactic or way of battle than they specialise in due to the battles they have. One example being that say [x] company tends to be more engaged with void combat and so tends to make adjustments to their armour to help them with void combat whereas [Y] company are more known for using bikes, land speeders and so on for hunting targets on worlds due to having done more hit and run tactics. Since you have your chapter being made to deal with the Moirae cultists, the companies could gain their prefered tactic of war during this time when they're still rather fresh so to speak.

[Commissar Molotov]

KHK, 

 

It is pleasing to see you continuing to work on your Space Pirates. You've shown a brave willingness to strip your Chapter back to its core concepts to see if it still holds water. 

 

 

I'm not sure that tying your Chapter so closely into the Moirae Schism is truly that beneficial. You describe a tranche of space dominated by Mechanicus space - with, as you say, Knight worlds and associated forces - and I can't help feeling that the High Lords wouldn't have a Chapter founded and bound from inception to the whims of the Mechanicus. The Adeptus Mechanicus have plenty of internal checks and balances in place to hunt for hereteks. The only way I can see it really working is if your area erupts into a full-blown (and very destructive) civil war, which then requires outside forces to stamp down on it. Something that requires the status symbol of the Astartes. Perhaps they could even been installed as Wardens of the Sector. You mention that they've taken spoils from forgeworlds. They shouldn't stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Adeptus Mechanicus, and shouldn't be their pawns, but partners. 

 

 

I'm also of the opinion that your Chapter's homeworld is - currently - not grimdark enough. In your later posts you talk about the "rafts" the citizenry occupy being ancient technology, and that works somewhat. But equally the Adeptus Mechanicus have documented examples of underwater technology, and could (and, in my opinion, should) be able to discover any ruins underwater. I don't know if it's the recent depiction of the planet Scarif in Rogue One, but I imagine a tropical paradise rather than a sea roiling with unnameable monsters. Does it truly seem like a planet that breeds the physical specimens that the AStartes would want? I also think that you don't really have much reaving in a chapter called Reavers I'd say that you need the various people on the planet in a state of near-perpetual warfare, raiding. Having daring sea-captains that are able to navigate and battle would at least give you someting. It could breed some of the pirate/buccaneer idea.  

 

You put too much of a focus on specific marks of armour. My personal view is that, particularly as the Dark Millennium draws to a close, things aren't as clear-cut as that. Forgeworld can describe CHapters wearing particular marks of armour because they want to sell particular marks of armour. But something that separates 40k from 30k is the mish-mash of armour - on particular marines and within squads. It's easy enough to just say "void hardened armour" as Nightrawen mentions, without being specific about the particular mark. That's not what makes a Chapter characterful.

[Donkey Kong]

Thank you all for taking the time to comment! Mol it's always a special treat to hear from you!

 

Mordray, NightrawenII, in regards to power armors, I think Mol is right in saying that character does not come from arbitrarily putting marines in a particular pattern of armor, and I'll table that for the time being. Given that 40k is told first through a visual medium, I think there are more liberties that can be taken with power armors in pictures or miniatures and I'll be putting more thought into how my Chapter can have a more unique look later down the line, I just need another few years to learn how to draw. I will be taking note of void hardened armor.

 

NightrawenII, Dizzyeye, I'll put more thought in specialized companies. I think one or two, three at most, of the mounted hunter seeker companies would be interesting. I'd rather the Chapter didn't diverge too greatly, so I won't be having each Company with their own unique preferred combat styles. For now, the majority will fall back on the close quarters, void combat, boarding actions and city fighting.

 

Mol

The Moirae Schism comes with its ups and downs. I think that tying the Astral Reavers to a set event in the 40k timeline grounds the Chapter better. But, I agree that tying the Chapter to that event as a whole was a bigger mistake. I changed the origins from the Schism in its entirety to a select sector of space for that reason. putting the sector in more open conflict sounds like a move in the right direction to convince the High Lords of Terra that a Space Marine Chapter is needed, and Wardens of the Sector also sounds good. I agree that the Chapter shouldn't be the Adeptus Mechanicus's pawns, are they coming across as such? The Iron Fathers and Machine Cult beliefs follow the Iron Hands and the Red Talons Chapter practices, so I thought those fit nicely. Also, I don't understand, isn't standing shoulder to shoulder a part of being partners?

 

I want the Chapter's 'Reaving' to come from the Marines, not the homeworld. As you've already recognized, the Chapter took spoils from the Heretek Forge Worlds in the Moirae Schism. I don't want large maritime age of sail ships on Patuger, and I don't think that having them would add very much. I don't think the world would have the resources available to build them either. But overall, I agree the homeworld isn't grimdark enough. I had to look up Scarif now that you've mentioned it and I couldn't find very much beyond the same images used on the first promotional posters. That's not a bad thing, the scenery is beautiful, which I want, and does remind me of the real world atolls I first took inspiration from, and (As I contradict myself by taking inspiration from Pirates) the latter half of the Battle of Isla Cruces in Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (with decidedly less comedy). I think working back the water world aspect enough to have land masses that look like that, small sand banks and shallows anywhere from ankle to knee deep, would be a gorgeous image and a more malleable starting point. There could also be a few larger buildings there, Clan castles or something similar. The rafts would be an extension of that livable land, outskirt territory where people could defend more valuable farming and true land. I don't want to have seas roiling with unnameable monsters either (I don't think it makes sense on what was a Hive World). An idea I've been toying with is that the Patuger does not have krakens and Patugains don't know what a Kraken is, they simply know that it was the heraldry worn by an old hero or it's what the hero's heraldry morphed into over time. I also think I can make Patuger more obviously an old hive world, with the old hive ruins readily visible from the remaining land. The Magos's search is not necessarily for the hive but for the remnants of a Forge or STC in the ruins.

 

How does this sound for grimdark: Spire family grudges and politicking so deep rooted and long lasting, they've survived past an apocalypse as they continue to make power plays however many millennia later.

 

I still have to iron how how the timeline works for the world, whether it was a Dark Age of Technology Forge World that had an apocalyptic event and was never discovered by the Imperium until recently, making it over 15,000 years old from the time it was first settled to the time it was discovered (assuming DAoT was around M20) with the apocalypse happening somewhere in between, or a world that was rediscovered by the Imperium in the Great Crusade, was thought destroyed in the Horus Heresy making it 5,000 years after the world's apocalypse, although that too has baggage. I'd like a scenario in which the people are comfortable being explored by the Adeptus Mechanicus and then again by being honored as an Astartes recruiting world. I also still don't know if it makes sense for the world to have a Tech-cult presence.

[Guest Mordray]

Didn't think I was advocating for the use of artifacts as personality traits... I was merely providing information about the production of a rare mk of PA. I try to only provide information and not an opinion on what works or doesn't.

[Dosjetka]

I can't be bothered to wander into News&Rumours subforum [...]

...to tell me that my point is moot? :P

 

To me the Fire Hawks are the exception, not the rule. I mean they also have a Ramilies-class star fortress as their main base and then become the Legion of Damned. Nothing about that Chapter is "regular". ;)

 

Good point about the void hardened armour. That's probably what I meant with the reinforced MK VII armour.

[Donkey Kong]

Didn't think I was advocating for the use of artifacts as personality traits... I was merely providing information about the production of a rare mk of PA. I try to only provide information and not an opinion on what works or doesn't.

 

Nor did I intend to imply that you did. However, the question I was asking was about power armor in regards to characterization. I still think it's more relevant than Mol does (otherwise I, and probably many others, wouldn't associate Raven Guard with MK6), but I agree with him that it's not something that should be taking priority at this point in time.

 

Updates: More edits have been made in the second post. I've swapped my notes and drafts, so now I'll be moving the things up instead of down. It's debatable whether I should have started that way in the first place, but now there are enough notes that it doesn't look particularly threadbare. Homeworld is still lacking, but that's probably going to take the longest just because of detailing and a more narrative bent, and I'm down both a Combat Doctrine and Chapter Organization.

 

On the Homeworld (which I really should try to get away from to focus on Doctrine and Organization, but that's a given at this point) I'm started moving backwards to figure out how I'm getting to my desired M35 starting point (water world, small sandy islands and atolls, rafts, and warring peoples in both a man v. man and man v. nature environment), which has sent me digging into what little there is of pre Imperial history. The DAoT is from M15-M25. During the DAoT, Patuger is discovered and colonized. Patuger survives from that point through the Age of Strife in M25-M30, goes unrediscovered by the Imperium until M35. It is also known that during the Age of Strife, Mars sent out Expeditionary Fleets when there were breaks in the Warp Storms. There has to be some factor that would lead the Patugains to accept an Imperial, or more specifically an Adeptus Mechanicus, envoy, and I think it makes sense if one of those fleets reached Patuger.

 

Major points that need to be hit: 1. Patuger is discovered and colonized in the DAoT M15-M25. 2. Patuger becomes a Hive World. 3. Patuger experiences an apocalyptic flooding event. 4. Patuger is rediscovered by the Imperium in M35. Somewhere between 1 and 3 is the Age of Strife where Patuger is cut off from humanity with violent warp storms.

 

Onto Combat Doctrine and Organization, I'm trying to get a good balance between Chapter unity and cohesion and the semi-independent Companies. I think that the Chapter should have a definitive Chapter Master given that the Red Talons did not follow the Iron Hands in forming separate Clan Companies. From there it's a matter of how closely I would like to follow the Space Wolves in having independent companies but a Chapter Master with an honor guards taken from the Chapter as a whole.

Then it's a matter of how many outrider hunter seeker companies there should be (I'm thinking 2 or 3), and then how the voidborne/ city fighting companies differ.

[Warsmith Uveron]

This is good stuff.. 

 

I want to say I have a visualization of Land speeder Storms, flying down bayou's. 

 

 

As far as chapter Unity, TBH I think having the semi-independent companies makes things very complex. Maybe a better way to do it would be having different 'Political Groups/Cults within the chapter, lets you develop a few different personality's but keep a level of cohesion.  

[Donkey Kong]

Thank you Uveron! Unfortunately, I'm not sure what I'll be doing with the bayous and swampland at the moment, if I keep it at all.

 

I don't think the idea of differences in faith would work given the circumstances surrounding the Chapter's founding. But, I do like the idea of political differences. The first thing that sprung to my mind was how close marines believe the Chapter should be operating with the Machine cult, on a scale from think that the Chapter was founded to keep the Forge Worlds loyal and want a healthy distance and those who frequently conduct joint operations with Adeptus Mechanicus forces, Chapter sworn skitarii or knight households.

 

I did another run through the second post, moved a few of my musings that I liked and no one seemed to find problems with into my notes, and I got around to finding a name I liked for the Fortress Monastery: Endigur. On the topic of the Fortress Monastery, I can't really seem to move away from the image I have in my head of a more grimdark verson of Vekta City from Killzone Shadow Fall. I don't know if I want the Chapter to play host to a massive city around their Fortress as opposed to an alternative right of passage for a patugain to reach the Fortress Monastery, or if it should maybe be a Planetary Defense Force base. I'm also not sure how to describe a grimdark fortress built on or around and powered by an artificial waterfall hydroelectric dam.

[Donkey Kong]

Hello everyone, I've made a few more edits to the second post. I added a bit to the homeworld, mostly in regards to the people. I separated the origins and homeworld narratives into their own section which I hope to write out in the future in an in universe context, which will take the form of the unnamed Magos's journal entries and planetological surveys. I moved up my rough timeline to to the homeworld narrative.

 

I'm still not entirely sure how to fit the Fortress Monastery in or how it should be operated, how much the patugains are used to operate the planetary defense force, how modernized they are under the Astral Reavers with lasguns or left to use whatever they have. I'm still thinking about how to fit the Adeptus Mechanicus conspiracy into the story, I still think it's interesting, but I don't know quite how I would like to balance the mis/trust between the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Chapter or the agents that are still hunting based on the unnamed Magos's hypothesis.

 

Thank you all again!

[Draakur]

I like more where your Homeworld and population are, now :) Doing well here.

 

Re: the Mechanicus conspiracy etc (which I like too, though which I think shouldn't be a major defining feature for the Chapter), is this likely to show up big time in their history or timeline at all? Do you foresee coming to serious blows with their forces if they try to force (or sneak) their way on to the home planet?

[Messor]

It's nice to pop in and see some familiar IAs right away, and more than a little reassuring to see the Astral Reavers still going strong. Really great work, KHK :)

[Donkey Kong]

Draakur, My intention was for the conspiracy theory to be background noise. Uveron had suggested political differences within the Chapter, which is an idea that I've adored since reading Commissar Molotov's Castigators and their internal split between radicals and moderates. My first inclination was to go to a stance on the Adeptus Mechanicus, and a spectrum from those in the Astral Reavers who see the Forge Worlds and Mars as brothers in arms to those who see the Astral Reavers role as keeping the Forge Worlds in line. I think that I would like this conspiracy to be a point of contention between those voices inside the Chapter instead of something that would actually impact the Chapter or Patuger.

 

Hello again, Messor! Thank you for the compliment. I suppose I'm slowly joining the Old Guard after all. That's a frightening thought.

 

I've moved up the Conspiracy to my narrative notes. All good conspiracies have a name, so that's something I'll have to get around to. I have a draft for my Gene-seed section. It's all of two sentences long, but there's nothing much else to say. I settled on a codex chapter organization. The independent clan companies was honestly more trouble than it was worth, and I didn't have enough material or ideas to make it work. The only one that I had settled on was that I wanted a "lightning bolt tentacles Kraken" heraldry, so right now that's going to my Raven Wing-esque Second Company. I started cutting down on my bullet points, so they're more concise and digestible for when I start drafting the sections. Hopefully that'll make it easier to read as well.

[Donkey Kong]

Progress report. I made a few edits to the first post. My Chapter table is mostly filled out, missing descendants and Chapter Master. I redid the Chapter Cult and Gene-Seed sections. I'm very satisfied with the latter, but my Cult feels threadbare, taking two sentences to say Machine Cult and Iron Fathers. In my second post, I've got my notes in order. Right now I'm bouncing around ideas to get my origins in order, finalizing probably the most critical part of the homeworld as it relates to the Chapter, and expanding on the faith.

For the Origins I still need to decide where the homeworld is located. I also need to work out how much influence the Red Talons have on the Chapter as their training cadre. I don't know if it's more interesting for the Red Talons to take a sincere interest in training the Chapter or treating the Reavers as a chore to be completed so they can return to the Red Talons and purge the ranks.

Sector (________) needs a name. What planets are in Sector (________)? How many Forge Worlds are in Sector (________)? Sector (________) needs a location. I want the Astral Reavers to fight Orks, Chaos, and Tyranids. I don't want the Astral Reavers to fight Tau, no Eastern Fringe, Segmentum Ultima. Segmentum Pacificus? North or South, Segmentum Ultima?

Who were the Red Talons in the Astral Reavers Chapter’s Training Cadre? What influence do the Red Talons have on the Astral Reavers Chapter? Organization: Codex. Combat Doctrine: (________). Chapter Cult: Martian Orthodox faith & Iron Fathers. Would those Red Talons be focused on their mission to lead the Astral Reavers or be eager to complete their task and return to the Red Talons and purge the ranks?

 

 

For the cult, I would like the Chapter to somehow embody the Iron Hand successor hatred of weakness, although I'm not sure how to convey that idea here. The Iron Hands themselves do it through their self mutilation, but I've already decided that that's something I'm not interested in.

 

And for the Homeworld, I want to finalize the Fortress Monastery. I posted a link to a video in post 41 in this thread of the dam city from Killzone Shadowfall. I don't know how separate or accessible the Fortress should be. I don't know whether it should be a city and commerce center or entirely a military base with the Chapter and planetary defense forces of what locals may be and the Adeptus Mechanicus.

 

Help with these areas or any commentary on the Chapter in general would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all again for reading!

[Dizzyeye01]

It might be interesting seeing the chapter viewing cybernetic replacements as being a mark of shame amongst the chapter since it shows that the battle brother wasn't strong enough to stop the injury from happening.

 

You could take it further and have any form of scars or wounds from battle be viewed as a sign of weakness on the space marines' part that also fuels their hatred since not only did a foe of the Emperor strike out towards an Angel of Death, a crime by its own right, but also it showed weakness.

 

It could also be played on that these wounds serve as reminders for the chapter that they are not invincible and must strive towards giving it all whether its through equipment maintenance or on the battlefield itself.

[Donkey Kong]

Well, it's been more than a month. I'm still somehow on the front page (I suppose I should know by now that time doesn't work in the Liber, that's on me).

 

I don't think that suggestion works, Dizzyeye, considering how reliant the Patugains are on technology, hating prosthetics doesn't mesh well. I think I'm going to take a more faith approach with hatred for hereteks.

 

Now, progress! I've finally started working on my fear of naming things. The five characters I have listed in my Dramatis Personae all have nice, complete names that I'm satisfied with. Chapter Champion Leigh-Jean Proulx, Second Company Captain Gauthier Thussaud, Second Company Champion Killian Mercer, Fourth Company Captain Roche Filoux, Brother Sebastien Dameron. I still have to name the Sector the Chapter is charged with Warding (as well as decide where it is), as well as the other characters that dot the Chapter's history, but baby steps.

 

I've done a bit to tackle the IA itself in the first post. It's still lacking in more than a few places, but I think it feels a lot less bare than it did before.

 

I'm tearing more into the narrative side of things to piece everything together. The story beats I've established beforehand are all more or less the same. An Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator Fleet under the leadership of Magos (________) rediscovers Patuger in the Wilderness Zone of the Sector. Meanwhile, the Moirae Cult has been creeping throughout the Sector, leading the the worlds therein drawing their secret alliances. An Orthodox leader reaches out to the High Lords of Terra, in particular the Fabricator General of Mars, calling for aid leading to the call for a Chapter creation (enter the Astral Reavers). As circumstance would have it, the Patugain people are selected for recruitment stock under the leadership of a cadre from the Red Talons Chapter. When civil war breaks out, the Astral Reavers have their strength present.

 

And now we go to ideas I'm kicking around just because.

1. The sector beforehand serves as an Imperial bulwark against Orki incursion, when the civil war breaks out, the bulwark is weakened and Orks want in on the fighting anyway, bringing another enemy into the mix.

2. The Chapter's origins take place before the Age of Apostasy, and I don't have the first idea what the Ecclesiarchy looks like at this point in time. There is a local sect of the Imperial Faith whose leadership is looking to capitalize on what they interpret to be the goal of the Moirae Cult to unite the Martian Forge Worlds and the Ecclesiarchy under a singular Imperial faith. The sect fights alongside the Moirae Hereteks. In the aftermath of the Schism (possibly even the aftermath of the Age of Apostasy), the sect is (posthumously? Is is till posthumous if it's an organization and not an individual?) declared excommunicated traitors and their actions are denounced by the more contemporary Ecclesiarchy, but the Astral Reavers continue to have a rough relationship with the Ecclesiarchy, possibly even more so than other Chapters that worship the Machine God.

3. The Astral Reavers have a less than perfect relationship with the Forge Worlds they watch over. The (slight?) majority of Forge Worlds adore the Astral Reavers, with a few outright sworn to the Chapter's service. The other's are more fearful and distrusting having seen the Astral Reavers sack Forge Worlds, destroy sacred war machines and lineages and seize their treasures as trophies and weapons. I imagine the Astral Reavers to have similarly sacked the Churches, Temples, and Shrines of the aforementioned Imperial Cult Sect. To what extent does it make sense to have Mechanicus forces sworn to a Chapter? Factories? Skitarii? Knight Houses? Titans? To what extent does it make sense to have Mechanicus forces distrust the Astral Reavers? Refusing aid? Undermining the Chapter?

4. Why do the Astral Reavers have a seek and destroy biker Ravenwing Company? Did the Red Talons want to return to the Chapter to purge the ranks and decided to drag a Company of their new Chapter along with them? Did a Heretek leader seek to run away and a Company was sent in pursuit?

[Draakur]

Good to see his still moving.

 

The premise still seems solid.

 

1. At first glance this seems like a "sure, why not?" situation, though also makes me ask "why at all?" too. Is the idea to take this and run with it somewhere?

 

2. I'm clueless on the time period specifics too, I'm afraid. Though I like the general shape of it. It's not exciting, but as we know we need some of that - not all history is dramatic, and this adds more layers to, and colours the history of, the primary relationships in their neighbourhood.

 

3. See above, adds subtle,character and shape to the story, and no obvious "why not"s. Would they actually have sacked/destroyed ancient relics and war machines, though? I hadn't seen these guys like this - commandeering and repossessing, sure, but not destroying. No idea of realistic possibilities of those various forces swearing fealty/loyalty to a Chapter, sorry.

 

4. I'm aware this branches out from your current concept a bit, but my first thought was that they had general "extra reach" and autonomy etc, but also were secretly purposed to defend against specific encroachments on the planet by the Mechanicus, who they've discovered might be looking for the potential secrets. And to hunt down info on it, etc.

[Donkey Kong]

The Iron Gauntlet is upon us again, so, this mess might actually see some progress.

 

Thanks Draakur

1. Variety. That's it, really.

3. Not necessarily intentionally destroying war machines that can be seized and salvaged, but destroying ones in battle.

4. I would think the defending against encroachment would be something that the Patugain Machine Cult or the Iron Fathers or both working together would sort out. That would be more guarding secrets which doesn't translate to mobile strike force in my mind.