Some help creating my chapter, Angelus Justicia

[chapter master 454]

So title being minded, my chapter has so far been through about 3 colour schemes, 5 names and a whole time of not being anything concrete. Main issue is a lot of the fluff makes me lose my bearings as I have a hard time finding where I can slip my chapter in and in the way I would like. So if people could give me a hand and push me in the right directions that would be great. Also getting told if any of my concepts for my chapter may be too outlandish and stupid (something in the past when younger I would do with glee and in hindsight now are sources of embarrassment)

 

The name I want for them is the Angelus Justicia (Angels of Justice) with their warcry/motto being "We cannot be judged for we are justice itself" (Anyone know the reference because I LOVE that scene so much!). The main drive of them is a sense of deliverance and constant vigil while also retaining a slight sense of stubbornness/arrogance vs. certain other organisations (nothing violent just maybe more friction when inquisitors start questioning their loyalty).

Wanting to most likely draw their gene seed from the Ultramarines or Imperial Fists (stability being the key here. Imperial Fists if possibly because of their far greater stubborn nature towards delivering justice to the xenos and traitors).

 

However I want to expand my chapters command structure. I personally don't like only have 10 captains and that's that. Doesn't sit right with me as it seems too narrow. After all I assume every time any battle is involved the captain would be required in some fashion and I don't think if an entire company comes down on someone there isn't just one fight happening and to be honest even captains can get overwhelmed. I would like to kind of dig into the old idea of 'Force Commanders' and adding the idea of 'Vice-Captains' (maybe name them something else but that can be discussed. Maybe even some form of position renaming). The idea being the captain has his second who can add in his stead elsewhere or be a way of extending his will without him needing a land raider popping wheelies everywhere. On top of this there is then 2 designated 'Force-Captains' who answer to their company's Captains. These are the 'Here's a small force of marines, go sort this out while we keep the main bulk in check' so rather than have the captains running around having to do all the work. This also would lead into having more reasonable method of promotion rather than 'random vet gets captain spot'.

 To become a captain you must of been of vice-captain beforehand and to become a vice-captain you must of been a force-captain (and to note: who becomes Vice and Force captains is up to the company's respective captain). These individuals replace the normal command squads that other chapters have, instead each captain would have a 'regular' squad they lead or have with them (Eg. 1st Company Gregor Finn is normally seen leading his terminator squad of chainfists and a cyclone missile launcher while Vice-Captain Andrew is seen leading Tactical Squad of the same name (Sarge shares name but not related).

 

I do currently have a list of characters of the chapter however not sure I should mention them until I get some feedback first, may need to reorganise where they go.

That's for now. Any help would be great.

 

Edit: summary of things noted for my sake and anyone else for reference

 

Dark Angel being their gene seed is looking like a solid choice. They are not part of the Dark Angel personal quest to capture and kill the unforgiven however friction between them and their other successors of dark angels who do hunt the unforgiven is common. This comes down to the chapters beliefs in that they are Justice, they punish those who have done crimes against the Imperium and the Dark Angels and related chapters to the matter refuse to fully disclose all details for they refuse to be part of anyone's plans unless solid evidence is present. This also means they have a lot of issues with the inquisition (who doesn't) and thus enforce their position as the Adeptus Astartes, unless the Inquisitor can provide proper evidence and fully disclose their intentions. If Chaos needs a good ol' purging then this chapter is in. They aren't just for Chaos however, they also often intercept and engage Orks as they are just by default evil xenos who need purged however the chapter has noted that whether or not intended or just a good cover to work under, Chaos often uses the orks as a mask for their more insidious plans so where orks are found suddenly having a waaagh my chapter gets to it. More commonly it's nothing but the 'often is' is the chapters point of view...they just want a reason to roast some xenos!

 

A note on organisation: the chapter doesn't have standard command squads but instead additional leading figures. Each position within often has a head and vice-head. In this chapter that is the following:

Chapter-Marshal = Chapter Master

Chapter-General = second to chapter master

 

Major-Librarian = Chief Librarian

Lieutenant-Librarian = Second to chief librarian

 

Forge-Master = Master of the Forge

Forge-Apprentice = Second to Master of the Forge

 

High-Chaplin = Head Chaplin

Honoured-Chaplin = second to head chaplin

 

from here there are then the Company ranks, each are formally refered to as a 'Company-X' so replace X with the appropriate rank

Brigadier = Captain

Colonel = Captain's second

Captain = Answer's to the Brig and Col, 2 per company and act as extensions of the brig will in essence when he can't be there for whatever reason

 

after that there is no further changes other than each company has 2 of each leader, so 2 librarians, 2 chaplins however only 1 techmarine. 10th company is the exception as they only have 1 librarian (as to detect others of his kind) but instead have 3 chaplins to look after the neophytes.

 

Further to this naming will have strong but not 100% consistent convention of using scottish names. More of a general guideline.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The statement "We cannot be judged for we are justice itself," is arrogant, making me think of the Dark Angels instead of the Ultramarines or the Imperial Fists. The name "Angelus Justicia" also remind me of the Lion's sons. Your desire to go beyond the Codex Astartes mandated structure will be easily justified with a Dark Angels successor, whose secretive nature allows the Lion's sons to hide such deviation.

[chapter master 454]

The statement "We cannot be judged for we are justice itself," is arrogant, making me think of the Dark Angels instead of the Ultramarines or the Imperial Fists. The name "Angelus Justicia" also remind me of the Lion's sons. Your desire to go beyond the Codex Astartes mandated structure will be easily justified with a Dark Angels successor, whose secretive nature allows the Lion's sons to hide such deviation.

 

Curious idea there. Not sure I am a fan of Dark Angels but I suppose it is a nice option, would even allow me some choice in new toys...though not sure. Could be interesting to play with the idea of how people suspect them or possibly the idea of them distancing from their Chapter of origin (in essence trying to hide their past to try and distance themselves from the Dark Angels but yet doing so pushes them more to how they acted).

 

Interesting idea, need to think on that. Certainly appealing but not the biggest fan of Dark Angels

[Claws and Effect]

You could have them be a Dark Angels successor that isn't among the Unforgiven.

 

For example, they know the Lion is their genefather, but they are unaware of the existence of the Fallen. Because of that there is friction between them and other successors (who will abandon a battle for reasons they don't know).

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Proposed amendment to the Chapter motto: "The Emperor alone may judge us, for we bring His justice! We are the executioner's axe, the hangman's noose- the instruments with which He punishes evildoers!"

[Doctor Perils]

First off, I've never been a great fan of faux-Latin chapter names (at least as the primary name), but if you want to keep it like that, at least make it plural (iustitiae angeli or something, can't remember my declentions but this is real Latin anyway)

 

What you have described is too long to be a warcry, but it can still be their motto, and their warcry could be a simple "we are justice!" Or even "Justice!!!". These are space marines, so they are *meant* to be arrogant ;)

 

For the chapter hierarchy, I can't see a problem with that - I'd go with "lieutenant" rather than "vice-captain", and perhaps "first sergeant" instead of "force captain", which seem to both have precedent in the fluff.

 

For the geneseed, you could reasonably envisage anything apart from salamanders (possible but more complicated) or space wolves (even more annoying) - if anything, corax also has some strong "justice" themes, but really that's up to you (also not best known for gene stability, but you'll have to give me a reason why you want particularly strong stability). However, ultras and fists would be the easiest options as they are supposed to have the largestnumber of successors

[chapter master 454]

First off, I've never been a great fan of faux-Latin chapter names (at least as the primary name), but if you want to keep it like that, at least make it plural (iustitiae angeli or something, can't remember my declentions but this is real Latin anyway)

What you have described is too long to be a warcry, but it can still be their motto, and their warcry could be a simple "we are justice!" Or even "Justice!!!". These are space marines, so they are *meant* to be arrogant

For the chapter hierarchy, I can't see a problem with that - I'd go with "lieutenant" rather than "vice-captain", and perhaps "first sergeant" instead of "force captain", which seem to both have precedent in the fluff.

For the geneseed, you could reasonably envisage anything apart from salamanders (possible but more complicated) or space wolves (even more annoying) - if anything, corax also has some strong "justice" themes, but really that's up to you (also not best known for gene stability, but you'll have to give me a reason why you want particularly strong stability). However, ultras and fists would be the easiest options as they are supposed to have the largestnumber of successors

Latin is always a really odd language. Name could change but the general theme won't. Reason for geneseed stability is to help reinforce the beliefs in justice and being right (beyond what is normal for marines) and thus having any instabilities could be seen as being unpure or not just.

Would be interesting having that friction between the chapter and other DA successors.

One point I did forget to mention if I do want the chapter to largely fleet based but not in a typical nomadic way: they patrol an area of the imperium and deal with problems largely in that area. Originally I had thought of somewhere in the south of the imperium where I think there was Orks and some chaos causing hassle (not sure who it was, likely alpha legion or night lords when I checked). However with the new Warp Wall of Wailing Woes dividing the Imperium having them patrol along this divide would make sense. They keep an eye of it, trying to minimise the amount of chaos getting out of it while also keeping anyone else from trying to take advantage of planets nearby in the wake of this new event (possibly they did patrol a region in the south then after the eye of terror spread they shifted their patrol to act like a form of border police in a sense).

Reason for chosing Orks and Chaos is I feel it's fitting as story wise they often feel if orks appear somewhere, often chaos like to take advantage of the mayhem orks bring to do whatever they like under the cover of the waaagh.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

You could have them be a Dark Angels successor that isn't among the Unforgiven.

 

For example, they know the Lion is their genefather, but they are unaware of the existence of the Fallen. Because of that there is friction between them and other successors (who will abandon a battle for reasons they don't know).

In the Dark Angels and their successors, only the Inner Circle know of the Fallen's existence. The First and Second Captains (Deathwing and Ravenwing Commanders) know, but the Third and consecutive Captains might not.

 

Possible explanation for why a Dark Angels successor is ignorant of the Fallen's existence: a decapitation strike wipes out its Inner Circle in a battle, forcing the burdens of leadership onto a Master (Captain) who's not of the Inner Circle. This Master, now Acting Grandmaster (Chapter Master), decides to continue the war and "exact justice" for his predecessors.

 

Then a Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain comes and says the Successor Chapter must abandon this war, obey his orders, and join him in hunting some vague "threat" he refuses to define for the Successor Chapter's Marines. The Interrogator-Chaplain's attempt to "pull rank" on the Successor Chapter's Acting Grandmaster ends up insulting him and all his men, who remain determined to "exact justice for our fallen brothers" (remember, the Successor Chapter no longer has any members of the Inner Council, so they misinterpret the term "Fallen Angel" to mean "battle-brother who fell in battle). The Acting Grandmaster refuses even the orders of the Dark Angels Supreme Grandmaster, leading the latter to judge him unfit as a candidate for the Inner Circle, and cutoff all ties to the Successor Chapter.

[chapter master 454]

Interesting. I would believe that they never would of been part of the inner circle to begin with, their friction being with how their other successor chapter brothers seem to be running around on what seems like a fleeting dream and finds the lack of clarity unsettling or even downright disgusting, their beliefs being rooted in Justice being on the side of truth and those who don't answer the question are automatically considered suspect.

 

I would think if the Dark Angels ever tried to pull rank on my chapter the response would be along the lines of the original motto, something about 'You talk of deliverance, Justice and retribution for those who have done wrong but yet refuse to tell me their crime. I have no more reason to trust you as I would to trust them as it stands.' More of their have a strong sense of there needing to be evidence and precedence for actions being performed which would likely also rub a lot of inquisitors wrong and it could be fun.

 

As for ranks, I am looking at real world ranks (surprised, captain ain't very high!). Thinking they may need re-naming in general as I would like to use UK ranks (mainly British Army/Royal Marines) along with noting that my chapter retains a theme in naming by using Scottish references (Hence Gregor Finn, Derek Andrews along with how I name my tanks).

 

So far, gathering some good information...certainly got a much better idea now. Think I will begin drafting some ideas for them.

Not sure but also to note: their colour scheme is Blue, Gold and Silver with their emblem being a hammer (in reference to a judge's Gavel. Their strike forces being the final sentence).

 

Thanks for the help.