IA: Fire Badgers

[Captain Mike]

​Time for these raiding and racketeering ratels to get some background! 

​This is only a WIP, so I'm not doing all the fancy titling just yet! I'm also not entirely sure how to make a nice, flame covered picture of these guys yet so that will have to wait too. I'll update this first entry as we go along, so if you read below and get confused you'll know why! 

 

​As this is about a non-standard, "rogue" chapter there's a strong possibility of it going off the rails as I write, so be honest and constructive with the feedback y'all. If anything I think it may be too long?

 

 

​Index Astartes: Fire Badgers

​++Take what you can. Give bullets back++

 

 

Origins and History

 

The Fire Badgers were the product of a fairly recent founding in the late M41. By this point the bio-engineers of the Adeptus Mechanicus were realising the extent of the degeneration of their gene-seed stock, but persevered in trying to keep them stable and found new Chapters. The Fire Badgers were born of the Space Wolves’ gene seed, but immediately some superficial differences were noticed. Compared their Space Wolf brothers their fangs were underdeveloped, and even by the standard of Leman Russ’s sons they seemed disobedient and poorly disciplined.

 

The main defect in their gene-seed would not be noted until later, when all chances to rectify the issue had long since past. The Fire Badgers were incredibly resistant to the psycho-indoctrination that gave other Astartes their sense of duty to the Imperium, the God-Emperor and Humanity. Over time their sense of duty eroded and the many vices of mortals, like greed and lust, started to re-assert themselves. Whilst the full extent of the problem was not known, it was noted that the Fire Badgers would need a strong hand to whip them into an effective fighting chapter for the Imperium. As such the three Captains from other chapters who would begin their officer ranks were picked for their ability as masters of discipline and inspiration. Brahd Patten of the Aurochs chapter, Hielti Tznagi of the Cobalt Raptors, and Areus Balthano of the Astral Knights, who was appointed Chapter Master.

 

For a while these three held the chapter together, although it was a mighty effort. The Fire Badgers found the drilling, the sermons on duty, the declarations of honour, little more than annoying. Some success was found with the more willing of the new chapter, who saw themselves promoted rapidly to sergeants and captains. For the most part the Fire Badgers respected Balthano, but had little​ time for Patten’s harsh disciplone or Tznagi’s glory seeking. For the first few years of active duty the Fire Badgers made a good name for themselves as a ferocious fleet based chapter. They conducted multiple successful raids on fleets of the Great Enemy, Orks, Eldar and Tau. But underneath discontent brewed, and the influx of new recruits from savage planets strained the already fragile chain of command Balthano had built.

 

Then tragedy struck. The Astral Knights were destroyed in a final, desperate attack against a Necron Worldengine. Balthano, who was at this point the only man keeping the Fire Badgers together, started to resent the chapter that had denied him a place at his brothers’ side in their final hours. He would communicate only through his Tznagi, Patten and a few chosen Fire Badgers captains, and was never present on the battlefield for two years. At this time the Fire Badgers also found themselves thrown into multiple futile wars against the Tyrannid menace, which further sapped their morale and destroyed any confidence they had in Patten and Tznagi.

 

The Mutiny

 

Inevitably, a flashpoint came and the discontent and anger felt by the Fire Badgers spilled out. The second and third companies, under Tznagi and a young Captain named Edvard Tiech were ordered by the withdrawn Balthano to Virsek’s End, an agri world that was being devoured by the Tyrannid menace. Their orders were, if the situation was beyond saving, to extract an Adeptus Mechanicus explorator team that was planetside and claimed to have made an important discovery. The Adeptus Mechanicus provided a macroclade of Skitarii to aid the Fire Badgers, but both Tznagi and Tiech realised the chance of success was slim. Tiech advised that they withdrew, reasoning that no discovery was worth the lives of two full companies of Space Marines and however many thousand Skitarii. Tznagi ordered the more junior officer to attack regardless, reminding him of the glory he would achieve for his men if they succeeded.

 

This Tiech could not do. He had once been a favourite of Balthano and Tznagi, but the events of previous years had sapped him of any loyalty. He ordered the third company to withdraw, and sent a coded vox message to the second advising they do the same. If Tznagi would not let them, he added, the third would aid them in their self preservation. Tznagi, predictably, ordered the second on regardless. All the battle brothers and even a few of the sergeants refused. Tznagi found himself outvoted and outnumbered, especially when half of Tiech’s third company boarded the ship. Tznagi and his few remaining loyal sergeants were imprisoned in their own ship, and the Fire Badgers fleet retreated from Virsek’s End. The Skitarii attempted their rescue anyway, and were wiped to the last man and cog.

 

Tiech rendezvoused with the other Fire Badgers fleet distributed along the front of the Tyrannic Wars, telling them to withdraw. Eventually, the remaining force of the chapter met in an uninhabited system known as Sol de Muerta. The grand battle barge Blood’s Sett, the command ship of Balthano himself, was the last to arrive. Tiech and his fellow mutineers informed Patten and Tznagi that they were stripped of their command, and could either leave the chapter or find themselves in the brigs until the Fire Badgers found a suitable rock to abandon them on. Patten opted to return to his chapter, his patience with the unruly Fire Badgers at its end. Tznagi challenged Tiech to a dual to the death, which Tiech refused. When he decided to attack Tiech anyway, he quickly found a few hundred muzzles and chainswords aimed at him. In a rage, he accepted that he would return to the Cobalt Raptors. Tiech still held some small respect for Balthano, and made an offer to the suddenly and democratically demoted Chapter Master. He had heard there was a shrine dedicated to the Astral Knights on the graveyard world where the World Engine had been stopped. The Fire Badgers’ first company would provide him with a ship and honour guard to escort him there, along with the few remaining Fire Badgers captains and sergeants still loyal to him. Balthano accepted with a nod.

 

Tiech had achieved a bloodless mutiny, and for the first time the Fire Badgers were commanded entirely by their own. The question was what to do next. There were calls for Tiech to assume the mantle of Chapter Master, but he refused the role. Instead he formed a council of Captains and they withdrew to decide the future of the chapter. The most obvious decision was to withdraw from the Tyrannic Wars that had cost them so much. The survivors of the chapter would be divided into new fleets, each under the command of a captain, and be allowed to choose their own battles and terms. They also resolved to defy the chains of duty and honour that Patten and Tznagi had imposed on them. From now on they would fight for whatever a Captain deemed a suitable price. No Imperial governor could rely on the charity of the Fire Badgers, but they could buy their services if they had the resources.Nor would any Captain throw away his men in the name of pride or glory, only for the prize or to honour a deal.

 

Over the next month the Captains wrote down these ideas and others into a charter, which they presented to their brothers. With stamping feet the Fire Badgers voted unanimously in favour of it. With the decision made, the chapter split into 7 individual fleets; one for each of the  remaining Captains. The brothers of the seventh and ninth companies, whose Captains had remained loyal to Balthano and had gone with him to the Astral Knights shrine, were offered places in the new fleets. The first company, whose Captain had also remained loyal, said they would elect their own leader after they had completed their duties to Balthano. The Captains also decided they would hold council again in a decade, at Sol De Muerta, if they were able.

 

And with that, the chapter split and each fleet went its own way, independent of each other and Imperial rule.

 

The Ire of the Adeptus Mechanicus

 

For the most part, the Imperium was indifferent to the Fire Badgers mutiny. Tiech had sent a message to governors of inhabited systems near Sol De Muerta informing them of the mutiny and how the chapter would now operate, but also affirming the Fire Badgers enduring loyalty to the Emperor. To many governors, the apparent indifference of a space marine chapter to their suffering was nothing new. When Inquisitors demanded access to their fleets they found themselves welcomed, and whilst the greed of the Fire Badgers concerned them they thought it no more a barrier to their assistance to Imperial worlds as the nebulous portent reading of the Silver Skulls or the insufferable pride of the Cobalt Raptors.

 

One Imperial organisation was much less charitable. The Adeptus Mechanicus were furious that the Fire Badgers had denied them an important discovery and cost them thousands of Skitarii. They refused to supply the Fire Badgers with anything so much as a bolt shell. The Fire Badgers claimed this was a minor inconvenience. Even under Balthano they had become largely self sufficient, as their method of war often led to greatly stretched supply lines. They met the ire of the Adeptus Mechanicus with apparent indifference, although it was to cause them troubles in the coming decades.

 

Running the Rackets

 

Cut off from the Adeptus Mechanicus supply lines, the Fire Badgers had to develop new ways of maintaining their stocks of armour and armaments, not to mention the repair of their ships and the acquisition of new ones. It was here that the new ethos of the chapter started to make itself known to systems around Sol De Muerta, which were in the lawless far east of the Imperium.

 

A Captain’s fleet would present itself to a backwater world unannounced. The brothers of the chapter would then lock down the planet’s capital, spaceports and more in rapid drop pod assaults, to expose the weakness of the planet’s defenses. This was little more than violent theatre, as Fire Badgers would avoid as much bloodshed as possible and aim simply to overawe the populace. Decoys would also be used to overstate the size of the fleet, taking advantage of these primitive world’s lack of adequate sensors that would otherwise pick up that many of the ships approaching were merely merchant vessels or even just corralled asteroids. The Captain, or one of his chief officers, would then present himself to the Imperial governor. With a mixture of concern and threat this spokesperson would point out how easily the world could be taken, and that reliable protection was needed. And then the spokesperson would offer a deal to gain the protection of the Fire Badgers. They asked only for payment, both in practical resources like men and metals but also in their best meats, finest wines and meads, most stunning performers and most precious jewels. If the governor refused the offer, more brutal methods would be employed. To most, though, this was just another Imperial tax which they accepted begrudgingly. Some more forgotten planets simply welcomed any form of protection, and returned with even more generous offers to their new gods and saviours. As the Fire Badgers were more likely to honour their deal than most other chapters, who made more nebulous reasons for war like pride or destiny, these rackets actually became a source of comfort for some.  

 

For ships, the Fire Badgers would often find themselves commandeering alien or Chaos ships they boarded. Some Captains even took to hunting down and retrofitting space hulks. The pursuit of “The Prize” became a primary concern for the Fire Badgers, and they filled the hulls of their Prizes with racketeered weapons, armour, meats, wines and luxuries and from across the Eastern Fringe.  

 

But no backwater planet, and few ships, contain the armour and weapons of the Adeptus Astartes. Whilst the Fire Badgers were adept at picking their battles to reduce casualties and recovering the armour of lost battle brothers, some suits of power armour inevitably got lost or damaged beyond repair. Each captain had with them a few techmarines, and whilst they could improvise or patch up their brother’s weapons they couldn’t magic whole suits out of nowhere. It was because of this that the Fire Badgers fleets found themselves scavenging on worlds of great Imperial defeats for their survival. Worlds devastated by the ork menace proved to be the most useful, as orks rarely settled for long and were often sloppy in their looting of Space Marine corpses. Over time, the act of building ones armour from “salvage worlds” became a rite of passage for Fire Badgers recruits.

 

And so, equipped with battered and rusted equipment and sailing the stars with converted merchant ships soaring alongside their battle cruisers, the Fire Badgers racketeer and raid across the Eastern Frnge of the Imperium. No gods, no masters, just greed, alcohol and blood.

 

Organisation

 

The Fire Badgers are roughly organised into fleets, which contain around a hundred or so space marines and thousands of human auxilia. How many fleets exactly is not known, as they often splinter and reform over the years as their captains are killed, elected or deposed. The lack of clear organisation has led Imperial scholars to class the Fire Badgers more as a collection of Imperial friendly warbands, rather than a chapter. Each fleet has its own unique composition, traditions and armour designs. Whilst most retain the Fire Badgers original grey armour, they are decorated with flame motifs and each fleet can be distinguished by their unique helmets.

 

Each fleet is led by a Captain (although some take the moniker “commodore” if they think their fleet is suitably large). Whilst some Captains remain from the Fire Badgers initial mutiny, the majority have been killed or replaced. Fleets elect their Captains democratically, with no established chain of succession. Any space marine is also welcome to challenge for the Captain’s role if he can gather enough support. The result is layers of political intrigue and infighting within a fleet, although the Captain’s authority is total whenever they are in combat. Another way to take command of a fleet is to challenge the Captain to a duel, usually against the Captain’s champion. Unlike a democratic challenge, a direct challenge has a more serious penalty for failure; if the would be mutineer survives he is marked with the black spot and sent on a suicide mission in the next raid.

 

A Captain cannot keep track of all the political intrigue that occurs in his fleet. This duty falls to his Commissar-Chaplain. Commissar-Chaplains grew out of the early chapter’s chaplaincy, but over time took on a role more like a political officer. At the second meeting of the Captains Council their role was solidified, and it was also written into the charter that once a brother takes the mantle of Commissar-Chaplain he renounces any ambition of fleet command. This allows a Captain to trust his Commissar-Chaplain much more fully than any other battle brother. It is the Commissar-Chaplain’s duty to monitor the infighting and scheming in the fleet, and to make sure spats between individuals or cetes don't negatively affect their combat effectiveness. It is the general view of all the Fire Badgers that some political maneuvering is good and healthy; Commissar-Chaplains make sure it stays healthy through diplomacy, threats or outright violence.

 

A Captain will also have a champion to fight off any direct challenge. A champion is chosen for his fighting skills but also for his loyalty (or lack of ambition). Whilst it is not forbidden for a champion to seek command, they can generally be trusted not to do so. A Captain’s champion will also likely be his First Mate in the fleet, and will have second command in any raid.

 

The remainder of the space marine contingent of the fleet is divided into cetes, roughly the size and function of a squad. Cetes can be fluid in composition, with space marines leaving or joining for political reasons, as part of a deal or simply to gain experience in different forms of raiding. Cete leaders, of which the terms sergeant, boss, cetearch, cete leader or cete alpha can all refer to, are often ambitious and charismatic. Whilst some are happy in their position, most will be eyeing up the Captain’s chair. Very few are actually disloyal, and most would follow their Captain to the warp and back if he asked. Nonetheless a Captain always knows that he is just a few failed missions away from a challenge from his cete leaders. Cete leaders also jostle for position with each other, creating a fluid hierarchy of favour, renown and riches in the fleet.

 

At the very bottom of the space marine fleet structure are the pledges; young men who have started the bioengineering needed to turn them into space marines. Pledges go on scavenging expeditions for the fleet, visiting the sites of old battles to bring back anything useful. Once they have developed enough, both physically and in their combat skills, they form a mob of pledges colloquially known as 'Rust Claws’. Here they attempt to impress cete leaders during raids, charging into battle with little regard for their own safety and wearing patchwork armour the colours of many different chapters. If they do impress enough to be chosen by a cete leader they will be allowed to “take the Grey” and paint their armour in the Fire Badgers colours. They will then be inducted into their new cete with some kind of ritual, which varies from fleet to fleet and cete to cete, but usually involves copious amounts of mead.

 

Not all members of a fleet are the superhuman space marines, however. The Fire Badgers also make extensive use of human auxilia, as well as mercenaries both human and alien. Raiders permanently aligned with the fleet are known as the settgard, and have their own lesser ships in the fleet. These raiders are recruited as part of rackets, and generally consist of prisoners of racketeered worlds. However, there is also no shortage of the treasure seeking or the bloodthirsty to be found on these planets. Maniples of settgard develop their own tactics and identity much like Imperial Guard regiments do, and have as much internal and external politics as the Fire Badgers they assist. The Fire Badgers will often have set agreements for the partition of plunder with their settgard auxilia, and for the most part require little of them but to fight. The only other stipulation is that no settgard officer can take the term “Captain” as their title, and so each settgard has their own way of referring to their leaders.

 

Chapter Tactics

 

Even in the early days of the chapter, the Fire Badgers were fleet based and primarily focused on ship to ship combat. They would target supply lines or space docks to disrupt the enemy's supply chains. These tactics would prove ineffective against the Tyranids, who derived their resources from devouring planets, meaning the Fire Badgers will illsuited to the Tyrannic Wars they were lead into by Balthano.

 

Since the mutiny, each fleet of the Fire Badgers is still adept at ship to ship combat, and will carry out raids on xenos and Chaos ships they can take as a Prize. Whilst this can benefit Imperial wars, this is a secondary benefit and not the reasons the Fire Badgers make their raids. Generally the Fire Badgers pick safe targets, like Tau merchant fleets or splinters of ork warbands to raid. Tau and traitor ships are prized most of all, as the Fire Badgers can salvage much usable technology from them.

 

The greatest Prize for a Fire Badgers Captain is a space Hulk. Properly taken and tamed, these can be converted into roaming fortresses, and their bounty can be used or traded with the few rogue Adeptus Mechanicus the chapter has links with. Space Hulk fighting is, however, incredibly brutal. A fleet may find itself fighting an entire ork warband, a genestealer infestation or one of many horrors from the past the galaxy has to offer. Settgard auxilia form a crucial part of space hulk raids, as they are generally too massive for a hundred or so space marines to cover by themselves. Settgard are capable of taking on masses of Orks by themselves, but have to call in support for genestealer or worse.

 

Given the close confines of ships and space hulks, all Fire Badgers are accustomed to close quarters combat. Their usual armaments are testimony to this, as they favour flamers and meltaguns weapons, and all battle brothers carry a chainsword or even more brutal close combat weapon.

 

If a planet under a protection racket calls for aid, the Fire Badgers always deliver. Again the settgard form a crucial role, as they bring much needed mass to the Fire Badgers response. The space marines of the fleet are then freed up to attack the invading forces high command, cutting off the head of the enemy in brutal strokes. The Fire Badgers do possess a few tanks for the purpose of planetside fighting, though nothing near the armouries of most chapters. As a result, the Fire Badgers are simply not as effective planetside as they are ship to ship, and are often glad if an Imperial fleet manages to show up.

 

If a planetary defense or space hulk raid is too much for one fleet, they will request help from other Captains. These requests don't rely on brotherly loyalty or affection, but on deals and favours. The requesting Captain will make an offer to his fellows, and if a suitable agreement can be reached then help will be provided. Any deals struck in this manner are binding, and all Captains involve know there will be swift and brutal retribution from the other fleets if anyone breaks a deal.

 

Fleets also engage in mercenary work, if it comes around. Inquisitors in particular are good business, as the Fire Badgers don't ask questions so long as they are paid. Many a maverick Inquisitor has found their indifference useful when they need to engage in arcane rituals or summon warp-demons to their service. Some more puritanical Inquisitors have tried to demand service from the Fire Badgers without having to pay. They quickly find it's easier to shakedown an entire planet to procure the necessary funds than to haggle or threaten a Fire Badger.

 

Beliefs

 

A Fire Badger believes in one thing above all others; himself. He believes that any man, mortal or superhuman, should be able to value himself, and that nothing should be done for so the so called virtues of honour or duty. Everything is done by deals, favours and arrangements, with no man expecting anything from anyone else unless he trades for it. This leads to a brutally meritocratic system in the fleet, which extends to the auxilia as well. Once a man is a settgard his previous history is forgotten and he can make his own way. In theory there is nothing stopping an auxilia leader become Captain of the fleet, although given a space marines many advantages this is highly unlikely.

 

The Fire Badgers respect the necessity of the Imperium, as much as it's totalitarianism disgusts them. They also respect the achievements of the Emperor, and in many ways see him as a very successful pirate who feathered himself a good nest on Terra with the blood of millions. They do not, however, see themselves as subjects of the Imperium and feel they owe it nothing, unless it pays well.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 29, 2017 by Captain Mike