Index Astartes: Acolytes of Zeal

[Wargamer]

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Acolyte of Zeal, 2nd Company

 

The Acolytes of Zeal are a Chapter renowned for their faith and the ruthless persecution of Heretics. Created from the genetic legacy of Rogal Dorn, the Acolytes display traits of both the Black Templars and Imperial Fists; the latter in their methodical, meticulous approach to war, the former in the fury with which they dispatch their enemies.

 

Homeworld:

 

The Acolytes were founded on the world of Dioce, a Cardinal World within the Segmentum Pacificus. The world is a harsh one, devastated by atomics during the Diocean Iconoclasm, a civil war over whether depictions of the Emperor should be considered Heresy. The great cathedrals were all that survived, transforming first into fortresses, then miniature hive cities. Very few live outside the walls, although the endless nuclear wastelands make excellent proving grounds for soldiers.

 

Born and raised in the grasp of the Ecclesiarchy, the people of Dioce are deeply spiritual and devoted to the Imperial Cult, traits they have invariably passed onto their Chapter. While the Acolytes may draw from anywhere on the planet, large numbers of their recruits come from the planet's schola progenium - the orphans of war heroes and battle priests.

 

Organisation:

 

The Acolytes of Zeal adhere closely to the Codex Astartes, albeit with some unusual deviations. Most notably, their ties to the Ecclesiarchy have resulted in an extremely large Chaplaincy. This, combined with their close links to the Ecclesiarchy has been a cause for concern within the Inquisition, who are watchful for any signs of the Acolytes becoming a Chapter Militant of the priesthood. Thus far, this is not happened, and indeed the Ordo Hereticus have found the Chapter to be a reliable ally to call upon when heavy firepower is required.

 

Unlike normal Chapters, the Acolytes of Zeal have two rank structures - military and ordained. The ordained ranks represent progression through the Chapter Cult, and proceed as follows: Friar, Preacher, Bishop, Pontif, Cardinal, High Cardinal. These ranks are independent of military rank, and are typically combined when referring to the ordained, leading to ranks such as "Cardinal-Captain" or "Father-Sergeant". Father is the typical term used to refer to Friars and Preachers within the Chapter.

 

Ordained Marines are expected to be well versed in both the Chapter Cult and Imperial Cult, able to act as a Chaplain for their fellow Marines, and a priest for the lay peoples. To this end, higher ordained Marines often spend a great deal of time with the Diocean priesthood, debating ecumenical matters or interpreting religious texts.

 

In place of a regular Chaplaincy, the Acolytes of Zeal maintain a Confessionary. Confessors act as warriors of faith, often working closely with the Ordo Hereticus, and are empowered to call a Crusade in order to protect or expand the Imperial Faith. When such a Crusade is called, the leader of the Crusade adopts the title "Confessor-Marshall" and will be given overall command of the forces involved, which can range from a few squads to the entire Chapter.

 

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Ordained Ranks. From left to right: Friar, Preacher, Bishop, Pontif, Cardinal, High Cardinal.

 

Battle Cry:

"Imperator Vult!"

[Zhiv]

Being raised in grasp of Ecclesiarchy kind of violates Decree Passive noting that Ecclesiarchy cannot gather, train, promote, sustain or in any way command any force of men under arms. Perhaps you could detail how this is circumvented?

[Wargamer]

The Decree Passive has never been enforced within the Imperium, and never will be, as evidenced by the existence of the Adepta Sororitas, the Frateris Militia, the numerous armed clergy and the Schola Progenia. The Ecclesiarchy most certainly can and does train and maintain men under arms, they simply do so (ostensibly) on behalf of other branches of the Adeptus Terra.

 

But pretending for a moment the Decree Passive actually exists, an Astartes Chapter is an autonomous entity and can do whatever the hell it likes. As mentioned, the Ordo Hereticus do keep an eye out, but so long as the Chapter is not acting as a Chapter Militant of the Ecclesiarchy then there's no issue.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job so far.

[Servant of Dante]

The Decree Passive has never been enforced within the Imperium, and never will be, as evidenced by the existence of the Adepta Sororitas, the Frateris Militia, the numerous armed clergy and the Schola Progenia. The Ecclesiarchy most certainly can and does train and maintain men under arms, they simply do so (ostensibly) on behalf of other branches of the Adeptus Terra.

 

But pretending for a moment the Decree Passive actually exists, an Astartes Chapter is an autonomous entity and can do whatever the hell it likes. As mentioned, the Ordo Hereticus do keep an eye out, but so long as the Chapter is not acting as a Chapter Militant of the Ecclesiarchy then there's no issue.

As an Astartes Chapter they can probably do what they want.

 

But the Decree Passive is enforced. The Frateris Militia are not a formal fighting force, they're just mobs raised in the moment by the local preacher. The Schola Progenium is a place of education. They are not "men under arms" even though they are trained to some level of martial skill. The Ordo Hereticus lets Cardinals and what not get away with having bodyguards as long as it doesn't get out of hand (as stated in the 2E Sisters codex). The Sisters themselves are not technically subject to the Decree Passive, because people are silly, and Thor was able to convince the High Lords not to change the wording so as to allow the Ecclesiarchy to have a real fighting force. Plus, the Sisters are supposed to do basically what the Ordo Hereticus does, just for the Ecclesiarchy.

 

So, a flagrant violation of the Decree Passive would bring the Ordo Hereticus down on your head, even if they allow the Ecclesiarchy some leeway.

[Doctor Perils]

So, this can be an interesting start.

 

As Zhiv and Servant of Dante have suggested, the Decree Passive is enforced, and the likes of the sisters of battle, the Frateris Militia and armed clergymen are only allowed to exist based on technicalities of the decree passive:

• The sisters are not "men"
• The Frateris Militia are not formally associated with the Ecclesiarchy - they follow the same faith and so will naturally follow clergymen, but there is no hierarchical structure that actually makes them follow the priests. They aren't an army (as opposed to the Frateris Templar who don't exist after the Decree Passive)
• Clergymen are not soldiers either, and so are not "men under arms"

However, the idea shouldn't be scrapped, just reworked slightly in order for your chapter to not have any formal ties with the Ecclesiarchy (except maybe for the training of the Chaplaincy) - this will allow your chapter more leeway as well to do as they want, even if they are mainly influenced by what the priests say.

An example of how the chapter's zeal could be seen is how they could be one of few chapters that takes part in "Wars of Faith"

 

Exploring why your chapter become so close to the Ecclesiarchy could be very interesting, and would probably form a large part of the Origins section :)

 

 

I do have two minor concerns however, that you may want to address soon. Of course, it's all up to you, all I'm asking is you ponder my points a bit :)

• Your colour scheme uses a lot of black, as do (it seems), many other chapters of the Adeptus Astartes (4 of the main chapters have used black as their main colour at some point of their history: Raven Guard, Iron Hands, Dark Angels (pre-heresy) and Black Templars) - as such, a minor rework may be interesting? Red is also a common colour, but the shade of red you use is only used as a main colour by the Word Bearers, so perhaps using more of it in your colour scheme would be nice? The colour scheme also lacks contrast to a certain extent, so perhaps adding a dash more white could signify the purity of mind of the chapter, give a bit more contrast, and separate them visually from the word bearers?
• The name of the chapter may be a bit repetitive, as both "Acolyte" and "Zeal" indicate that your chapter are fervent in their faith - that's not a problem per se, but replacing one of them with a different virtue/quality they hold dear may make the name more catchy? A couple of fast examples are "Warriors of Zeal" and "Acolytes of War", to show that their other virtue is still to wage war?
  • To go a bit deeper however, the use of the particle "of" is not usual in the naming conventions of space marine chapters - "of" is only used to signify that a chapter comes from somewhere or someone (examples are the Praetors of Orpheus (of the Orpheus Salient) and the Sons of Dorn). Generally, the name of a chapter includes two elements, one descriptive (virtue, quality, material, colour etc.), the other one a noun that in the singular could describe a single space marine even when used without the descriptive term (so you have a "Wolf" from the Space Wolves chapter, or an "Warrior" from the Iron Warriors legion) - following this convention, the descriptive element can be a "belonging term" like the Emperor's Children or the Praetors of Orpheus.
  • The naming convention is a bit complicated, so here's an example of what your chapter name could be following it and the examples shown earlier: "War Zealots" - A "Zealot" is a space marine who shows zeal, both to the Emperor and to "War"

As mentioned earlier, these are really only suggestions.

 

Good luck :)

[Servant of Dante]

The Frateris Militia isn't even a formal organization. It's just whoever answers the call of the Frateris Clergy during a War of Faith. Another interesting note is that many times Wars of Faith are also Imperial Crusades, though not always. There are Crusades that the Ecclesiarch doesn't declare a War of Faith, and there are Wars of Faith the Ecclesiarch declares in his own without a preixistibg Crusade.