Brotherhood of the Sun

[feuer_faust]

Howdy, folks. I'm back on the loyalist wagon, so now I can play both sides of the conflict! This here chapter originated as an excuse to paint marines gold (Tamiya TS-21 Gold spray, specifically), and I began to work some other stuff in (including some obvious Dark Souls influences). What we have here is the skeleton of a chapter, and hopefully the seed of a good Index Astartes once all is said and done.

I tried to use the DIY templates, but the code isn't taking? Anywho...

Chapter Name: Brotherhood of the Sun

Founding: M38.322

Homeworld: Lordran III, Ultima Segmentum

Dispotion: Majority of chapter in fleet ships patroling the Ultima Segmentum

Chapter Master: The Knight Solaire (an anonymous position)

Progenitor Chapter: Imperial Fists

Descendant Chapters: None known

Status: Loyalist

Battle Cry: "Jolly co-operation!" (This is a joke! Actual battle cry in progess)

EDIT: The following fluff is under development, and will likely change.

General Notes: The chapter heraldry is gold and red, said to represent the brilliance and fury of the stars themselves, more specifically the suns of the Imperium's worlds. They are Codex Astartes-compliant, organized into ten companies of roughly 100 marines each, and often employing the standard tactics proscribed within the hollowed tome. The sole exception is that the Chapter Master is an anonymous appointment: the goal of the Knight Solaire is to direct the chapter to places it is needed most, regardless of the glory involved. The Brotherhood of the Sun does prefer plasma weaponry over most other firepower available, the broiling plasma being the thing that stars are made of.

Origin: The autonomy and fierce independence of most Space Marine chapters is one of the things that sets them apart, and some say beyond, the Imperium. Most chapters support their allies through a complex, millennia-spanning web of debt, honor, and favor. Navigating this web can take years, and even if one can discover all the one needs to call for aid from the Astartes, they may always be embroiled in war, on crusade somewhere, or may simply refuse. With this in mind, the High Lords of Terra approved the founding a chapter whose sole purpose is to provide immediate aid to the Imperium's interests.

The benighted world of Lordran III was the ideal homeworld: isolated near the Eastern Fringe, the local populace was in the path of both the Tau and Tyranid menaces. Then, while the Brotherhood was in the process of recruiting and training, a bizarre plague swept the system, one that would reanimate the dead to a ravenous mockery of life. The people survived for decades by virtue of the relentless purification efforts of their planetary Imperial Cult, but the organization lacked the resources to launch any sort of decisive operations to find and eliminate the undead threat once and for all. One by one, cities began to fall, overrun by the restless dead. Fearing Exterminatus, the Imperial Cult prepared the citizenry for the Emperor's final judgment.

The short version of this part is the Brotherhood of the Sun descended like gleaming golden angels of the Emperor's wrath, saving what remained of the people over years of brutal warfare. The population decimated and the purity of the remainder in question threatened to doom the Brotherhood before they ever really started, but purity trails and inquisitorial oversight proved to be brief and uncharacteristically merciful. The chapter also found itself endowed with extra support from the Imperial Fleet, and spent the next century scouring the local area for new worlds from which to draw recruits, all the while providing what limited support it could to other besieged worlds or Imperial offensives that needed the extra kick.

By the time chapter was back up to full strength centuries later, it had already built its own web of obligation and honor and support, selflessly coming to the aid of systems its patrol-fleet passed by and always maintaining a steady presence among the people of Lordran III. And, of course, it continued to owe a massive debt to the High Lords themselves, whose string-pulling kept the fledgling chapter from oblivion in its earliest, most vulnerable days.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Not bad for a first draft. I like the Chapter colors. The story background you wrote, however, contradicts itself.

 

 

The autonomy and fierce independence of most Space Marine chapters is one of the things that sets them apart, and some say beyond, the Imperium. Most chapters support their allies through a complex, millennia-spanning web of debt, honor, and favor. Navigating this web can take years, and even if one can discover all the one needs to call for aid from the Astartes, they may always be embroiled in war, on crusade somewhere, or may simply refuse. With this in mind, the High Lords of Terra approved the founding a chapter whose sole purpose is to provide immediate aid to the Imperium's interests.

The High Lords will understandably see their own interests as the Imperium's best interests, but if they actually wanted a Space Marine Chapter to serve their own- I mean the IMPERIUM's best interests (services the Minotaurs currently provide), they'd take measures to ensure this Chapter's interests do not supersede their own. That means there will be some kind of leash to prevent the Brotherhood of the Sun from opposing the High Lords.

 

What kind of leash do the High Lords have to restrain the Brotherhood of the Sun, should this Chapter oppose them? Maybe that's why the Brotherhood of the Sun provides services the Minotaurs already provide, i.e., if the Minotaurs oppose the High Lords, the Brotherhood of the Sun will be tasked with destroying the renegade Chapter, and vice versa?

 

 

By the time chapter was back up to full strength centuries later, it had already built its own web of obligation and honor and support, selflessly coming to the aid of systems its patrol-fleet passed by and always maintaining a steady presence among the people of Lordran III. And, of course, it continued to owe a massive debt to the High Lords themselves, whose string-pulling kept the fledgling chapter from oblivion in its earliest, most vulnerable days.

The High Lords will NOT be happy the Brotherhood of the Sun has its own web of obligation and honor and support- they will want the Chapter to support, honor, and be obligated to the High Lords, and ONLY the High Lords. Logically, the Brotherhood of the Sun will either be fleet based (as the Minotaurs are), or be based on a planet in the Solar System (as the Imperial Fists are), so the High Lords can keep a close eye on the Marines.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

As for a battle cry, how about "We bring you the High Lords' light!" considering you're describing the Chapter as the personal army of the High Lords of Terra? If you want to obscure the link between them and the Chapter, how about "Burn them [the enemy] with the fury of the sun!"

[feuer_faust]

Hmm. I had thought that I was being sort of original with a chapter basically being funded by the High Lords etc, but thanks for telling me of the Minotaurs. While the Sunbros aren't supposed to be as frankly scary as the Minotaurs (specializing in fighting loyalists, yikes) the High Lords thing was partially to justify the neat Betrayal at Calth stuff I intend to get, since older what is very precious.

 

I think I might make them older, drop the High Lords angle, but keep their fleet-based nature and perhaps make them Salamanders descendents... although isn't there some problem with Salamanders gene seed? I suppose I could keep the High Lords thing, as you did bring up an interesting idea, Bjorn: what if the Minotaurs scare the High Lords a little, and they do want some insurance?

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Imperial Fists records list Holy Terra itself as the Chapter's homeworld; although they're actually fleet based, they're probably allowed to recruit from Holy Terra's populace. Why crowd the ranks of the High Lords' armies with three separate Space Marine Chapters, whose leadership are notoriously independent and strong-willed? A justification may be to think of the Fists as the Iraqi Army (they can and will call upon their successor Chapters for aid, and did so in the War of the Beast), the Minotaurs as the Republican Guard, and the Brotherhood of the Sun as the Special Republican Guard.

 

Naturally, this means the three Chapters will have a fierce rivalry with one another, each trying to prove they're more loyal to the Emperor than the other.

[feuer_faust]

OK, did some more thinking and decided to work on the chapter piecemeal, as opposed to bottom-up or top-down. I came up with a few things:

 

Chapter Master and the Captaincy

 

In the founding days of chapter, their homeworld of Lordran III came under attack by a scourge of the undead. Chaos cultists of Nurgle had infiltrated key strategic positions across the globe, and within weeks the entire populace was facing oblivion, or worse: exterminatus. Only the timely arrival of the newly-born Brotherhood of the Sun turned the tide against the servants of decay, and in those horrendous first weeks of warfare many of the Brotherhood's traditions were born.

 

It is said that the original chapter master, simply named Solaire, was consumed by a greater daemon of Nurgle sword and all. The gold used for the marine's power armor had protected them from the corrosive substances exuded by the Plaguefather's minions, but even it yielded to the abominable stew within the Great Unclean One's gut. Legend says that he cut his way clear of the monster's insides, although his armor was scoured clean of all color and marks. The now silver-clad warrior went on to lead his men to victory, the sight of his indomitable will rallying the flagging Imperial forces.

 

Other legends, more secret legends, say that although Solaire did cut his way free of the monster he succumbed to the plagues within moments later. As the chapter master lay there, dying, a single marine approached him, and with handfuls of nurglitch bile scrubbed his armor silver. He took up the fiery sword of his fallen chapter master, and the name Solaire, and led the Imperial Forces to victory. After the campaign for Lordran III ended, the chapter master's armor was refurbished, but this time clad in platinum to better resist corrosion and to stand as a symbol of purity.

 

Thus is the born the tradition that the Chapter Master and Captains shall be nameless, known only by their titles and platinum armor. Each man willingly sacrifices his own personal honor and glory to better lead his battle-brothers to greatness, for without an army a single captain can only accomplish so much.

 

The chapter master is known as the Knight Solaire, in honor of the first (short-lived) master of the Brotherhood. I'll get the captain titles up later, got some research to do.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Interesting background for the Chapter Master and Captains sacrificing their names. I take issue with the following line, though:

 

 

Other legends, more secret legends, say that although Solaire did cut his way free of the monster he succumbed to the plagues within moments later. As the chapter master lay there, dying, a single marine approached him, and with handfuls of nurglitch bile scrubbed his armor silver.

I find it silly a loyalist Space Marine would scrub his own armor with a Daemon's bodily fluids, risking corruption in the process. A better explanation would be this "single Marine" was a member of the Chapter Master's Honor Guard. When the Daemon ate his charge, the Honor Guard hacked at the Daemon's ankles in an unsuccessful effort to rescue Solaire, and was drenched in the Daemon's bile when the Chapter Master cut his way free- the bile failed to kill the Honor Guard, as much of its potency was lost when its source (the Daemon) was banished back to the Warp. In penance for his failure, the Honor Guard renounced his own name and took up Solaire's- his Battle-brothers do know the truth, but kept it a secret, so the legend of an "Immortal Chapter Master" will damage enemy morale.

[feuer_faust]

I like that: much more in character for marines and adds a bit more heroism and tragedy to the tale.

[feuer_faust]

Time for some more stuff!

 

The Warrior-Cult of the Sun

"Just as the light of the sun touches everything as well as everyone, so too must we. Just as the heat of the sun heals and warms as well as scorches and purifies, so too must we. Just as the sun rises after it has fallen, so too must we." -Declaration made by the Warriors of Sunlight. (Addendum: The final line was meant to be metaphorical, originally, as the Warriors strove to never let any obstacle keep their order down. It later proved to be woefully prophetic, as the mightiest of the risen dead during the plague of undeath were former Warriors of Sunlight.)

 

On Lordran III, there has existed since time immemorial a cult that revered the sun. While the cult was primarily composed of regular humans around the world, it boasted a high number of warrior-mystics, psykers specializing mainly in pyromancy (the Sun without) or biomancy (the Sun within). Even the most sober of these warriors, however, claimed to see a distant, greater sun, a shining beacon of power and purity calling out across the vastness of space. Also notable was the insistence that, despite their individual power, they never aspired to rule Lordran III, only provide council, spiritual, and martial assistance to those that needed it. This made them at once very popular and very controversial as their reach was limited only by their humility.

 

With the arrival of Imperial missionaries in early M36, there was immediate concern that a bunch of psykers were running around unchecked. Unable to bring sufficient force to bear on the threat, missionaries went about trying to convert the Warriors of Sunlight instead, reasoning that a bunch of psykers working for the Emperor was much better than the current state of things. Surprisingly, much of the cult transitioned to the Imperial Creed with ease: the emphasis on serving the whole of society rather than the individual resonated with them. Furthermore, they learned that the distant, powerful sun was the Astronomicon, a psychic power they were told emanates from the Emperor himself.

 

There were, however, those that resisted this change. (More to come)