Advice for New Space Marine Chapter Lore

[Arven_Kar]

Hey everyone,

 

I have a small force of traditional Space Marines I'm looking to finally get around to painting and developing and would appreciate some insight on the beginnings of the fluff I'm writing for them from the community.

 

The chapter (yet unnamed!) hails from a world, Bahari IV, the landscape of which is dominated by a world-spanning ocean dotted with numerous archipelagos. It's on the dark side of the warp rift separating one half of the galaxy from Holy Terra, on the edge of human-occupied space. The people there are nearly tribal and warlike, dividing their time between exploration of their vast aquatic realm, inter-factional warfare and the hunting of strange xenos fauna that inhabit the landmasses of the planet. Their demeanor among those who they do not consider enemies is jovial and welcoming, and they have an appreciation for the arts in their society (song, complex ritual masks, music). The Emperor's light was brought to the world countless generations past, and the Imperium's Emperor-worship manifests itself here as reverence to the Emperor (by a different name in their tribal tongues) as a sailor of the stars, the god that dwells in the light of the heavens and brings bounty and protection.

 

The fortress world of the chapter is located on Bahari IV's only moon, an alien and inhospitable place covered in jagged, violent ravines shaped of the planetoid's unearthly, silicon rock. The valleys within are consumed by thick jungles and the moon is in every sense of the world a Death World. Nestled in the shadow of the largest mountain is the fortress-monastery of the chapter.

 

The chapter descends on Bahari IV when necessary to draw its recruits from promising youth amongst the population of the warring tribes. The people are aware of them and their protection, and consider the chapter to be void-born messengers of the Emperor. The chapter's demenaor inherits much from their recruits. They consider themselves above "mere mortals", but have been recorded going to great lengths to aid normal humans in their plight against the encroaching darkness, a relationship born not out of kindness but a sense of superiority or pride drawing on their duty (contrasting to say, the simple humanity of the Salamanders). 

 

Marines are known for exulting in the thrill of combat, approaching warfare with surgical precision and a sense of pride or arrogance born of their chapter's short (founded not long in 40k timescale before the Ultima Founding) but rich history waging war against various Xenos threats (suggestions?). Their preferred method of warfare involves a two-handed approach combining ascertaining of the situation and strong reconnaissance/ambush tactics (think patient hunters, Scouts, well placed Tacticals) combined with rapid assaults by aerial and grav-related technology (Storm Talons, Storm Ravens, Land Speeder Storms, (the new Inceptors!) etc.) to overwhelm the enemy at a critical point. I don't see them favoring heavy tanks or other siege/support systems, though obviously those means are available when called for as in every codex-compliant chapter.

 

 

So, a couple of questions for everyone: 

 

1) Do you think in order to allow for Primaris reinforcements to expand the army as it grows, I should incorporate a major loss/high attrition rate on this distant, sort of unsupported chapter? And do Primaris marines just come ready to go or is there a 'scout;' equivalent?

 

2) The overall "theme" of the army is a rapid response force that focuses all of its efforts on a critical point. Their culture and demeanor is supposed to be influenced by a mixture of early mediterranean seafaring cultures (see: Carthage, Grecian City States) mixed with a bit of Polynesian islander. I like the pride/arrogance angle because it seems like a good flaw and secretly reminds me of Emperor's Children.

 

          I am really stuck on both a name and a chapter symbol that would be suitable for these guys.

 

3) Genetic lineage. I originally wanted these guys to be my "good guy" force who actually cared about your average human guardsmen, but I think it is more interesting to have them be protective but for non-altruistic reasons. They were going to be Salamanders successors, but I think those are rare or unknown prior to the Ultima Founding. Who would be a good fit for the chapter in terms of where their geneseed comes from?

 

 

Thanks in advance for any replies. I know it's a bit of a long post. Below is an image of the tentative color scheme of the marines.

 

http://i.imgur.com/K2IWcFN.jpg

 

 

[Conn Eremon]

So, a couple of questions for everyone: 

 

1) Do you think in order to allow for Primaris reinforcements to expand the army as it grows, I should incorporate a major loss/high attrition rate on this distant, sort of unsupported chapter? And do Primaris marines just come ready to go or is there a 'scout;' equivalent?

 

According to the Black Library novel, Dark Imperium, those Primaris that were not formed immediately into new Chapters became the Unnumbered Sons, or Greyshields, the primary force of the Indomitus Crusade. Throughout the Crusade, Primaris Marines would permanently reinforce existing Chapter's in need. When this happens, it could be whole companies to a few units at a time. So how many Primaris do you want? Considering the time period, it would be sensible to have your Chapter in dire straits. They don't need to have suffered a disastrous defeat, severely depleting their numbers, but they probably at least begin to show stress under the strain. The Primaris can help relieve that pressure.

 

The Primaris were originally created 10k years ago, during the Scouring era. Since then, the tech magos Cawl has been developing and testing them far from the limelight. It's certainly implied that he continued creating Primaris during those years, and not all would be from the Scouring. So these Primaris Marines can cover a wide range of ages, though all will have spent 99.9% of that time in stasis. In addition, Chapters are given the ability to create more of the Primaris. According to Cawl, it's suspected that 5 out of every 6 Chapters has fully switched over. Now, while no Primaris initiates have been as yet described, they may exist.

 

So: You can have as many Primaris as you want, and they can be as old or young as you want them to be.

 

2) The overall "theme" of the army is a rapid response force that focuses all of its efforts on a critical point. Their culture and demeanor is supposed to be influenced by a mixture of early mediterranean seafaring cultures (see: Carthage, Grecian City States) mixed with a bit of Polynesian islander. I like the pride/arrogance angle because it seems like a good flaw and secretly reminds me of Emperor's Children.

 

          I am really stuck on both a name and a chapter symbol that would be suitable for these guys.

While reading your background, I though Pacific Islanders would be a shoo-in. Adding Mediterranean cultures is also appropriate. The distinctions can highlight the differences between the home world and the Chapter, or the Chapter and the Primaris. Polynesians recruited by Carthaginians, reinforced by Hellenes. Considering Carthage was originally part of the Phoenician Empire, the III Legion link works.

 

3) Genetic lineage. I originally wanted these guys to be my "good guy" force who actually cared about your average human guardsmen, but I think it is more interesting to have them be protective but for non-altruistic reasons. They were going to be Salamanders successors, but I think those are rare or unknown prior to the Ultima Founding. Who would be a good fit for the chapter in terms of where their geneseed comes from?

Salamanders is still an option. There are no confirmed successors, but a few suspected. The Liber welcomes Salamander successors, and they don't have to be as "nice" as their parent Chapter. It does come with some genetic baggage. Their Melanochrome Organ, I believe, malfunctions. While the Ultramarine lineage will have shifting skin tones to protect against to persistant background radiation, the Salamanders' over-reacts and is permanent. Their black skin and red eyes is because of this organ reacting to their home world's severe radiation, and the change is permanent. A Salamander successor would, logically, have a similar dysfunctional organ. While their appearance doesn't need to be exactly the same, they would all veer toward an extreme appearance.

 

Otherwise, virtually all gene-seed origins is available, including simply unknown. Based on your real world themes, either the Imperial Fist or Ultramarine gene-seed would fit. As you describe the Chapter itself, they could be a White Scar successor. But nothing would stop them from being one of the Angels, a Raven or an Iron Hand successor.