Chapters Turning Renegade/Traitor

[No Foes Remain]

Greetings Traitors, Mutants and Heretics. I am No Foes Remain and I come before you with a simple question that is causing me some bother.

 

Why do Chapters turn traitor/renegade?

 

 

Seems simple, yet its proving me a problem. See I have an idea for a group of chapters working together and I want to give them an old ally that turned then disapeared as a new enemy post, Cadia Kabooming, and I have rough notes on most of it apart from on thing. Why. I understand that sometimes Chapters fall on the wrong side of the Inquisition but thats an old hat and I want to avoid that, but despite trawling Lexicanum I am at a loss for a decent reason as to why the turned.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

Edit: After talking with a friend on Steam I figured that I should give you guys and gals a brief on my chapter in mind. They are called the Void Knights and lead by the Dark King, they recruited from penal worlds to turn criminals into Knights which didn't always work. They took pleasure in killing moreso than they should, but were jovial with each other. Thinking about it, Night Lords but not as extreme or stabby with each other. I did also plan on having them turn to chaos and then kill off and loot all the stuff of a former allied chapter.

[Panzer]

The easiest explanation would be slow corruption by the forces of chaos through various ways.

However even without chaos influence there are enough reasons.

For example could they turn to the wrong people for supplies and maintenance for a longer period of time because they lost contact to the rest of the imperium. Once a chapter starts to compromise they are on the path away from the light of the emperor and if they walk that path for too long they might find themselves on the other side of the fence before realising it.

[Tyriks]

Many different reasons. Sometimes a chapter is isolated from the Imperium and need supplies to survive, and heretics are all they have to turn to. Maybe they were declared renegade over a misunderstanding and felt betrayed, with no reason not to turn to Chaos. There is a book I won't name because this would ruin a particular plot, but it has a chapter on a suicide crusade after being decimated by the Imperium for suspicion of treachery. The few survivors join a Chaos warband whose goals temporarily align, but this ends up being what made the Imperium suspect their chapter through timeline shenanigans.

 

I'm working on a traitor warband that fell because they were tricked into attacking other loyalists (thinking they were renegade). It was assumed this was intentional so they were declared hereticus anyway, so they started using Chaos to kill Chaos and ended up being corrupted completely.

 

You could also have a situation like the Badab War, where leaders think they could do things better by foregoing Imperial methods.

[Panzer]

Also important to note that it's not necessarily a case of turning from loyalist to chaos. Chaos warbands and renegade warbands are not in an alliance the same way loyalist chapters are regardless of what the current rules say. They fight among eachother as often if not more often than they fight against the imperium, especially within the Eye of Terror.

Also renegade doesn't necessarily mean traitor either. There have been chapters declared renegade which remained loyal to the imperium after all (Knights of Blood and Celestial Lions would be two examples).

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Sometimes, they are deliberately turned by the machinations of Chaos forces, like what happened to the Emperor's Swords on Ghorstangrad. Sometimes, another Imperial agency does something stupid to drive them over the edge, like what happened between the Soul Drinkers and the Mechanicus. Sometimes, it's not the whole chapter but a few individuals, squads, or maybe a company that falls by letting loose their own inhibitions in the pursuit of what they believe in their sworn duty, like what happened with Sergeant Constantinus. Lufgt Huron and the Astral Claws decided to break from the Codex and was declared renegade, all because he was doing what he thought was best for his chapter and the region of space it protected.

 

Spitball a few ideas and we can help build your narrative.

[No Foes Remain]

Thanks so far guys, so far gradual corruption seems to be the winning thing for me.

 

 

Also I added the concept for my chapter in the First Post.

[WickedJester1013]

It might help to read how the original bad boys fell to chaos, each of the main chaos marine forces all fell for different ways.

For example nurgle used the pride and resilience of the deathguard against them and infected them and waited for them to extend a hand.

So you could ask did they turn to a god? Or just simply away from the emperors “light”.

[WickedJester1013]

Another note to point out is that we as players have an omnipotent view of the setting and most forces have such a limited view of what is really going on. Just think about that giant rift that split the galaxy in two and how if you where a chapter near the rift or on the edges you don’t have any real help

[helterskelter]

The imperium.

Space marine chapter x: this is ours

Ad mech: no it isn't, we'll fight you for it

Space marine chapter y: we're doing this

Inquisition: no you're not

Smcy: yes we are

Inq: no you're not, traitor

[DamnedProphet]

Dawn of War 2 Chaos Rising explores some different reasons as to why some characters would betray the Blood Ravens and the Imperium. Spoilers for those who haven't played/finished.

 

Based on who gains the most corruption, here are the possible traitor and their MO:

 

Tarkus: He tries to right the flaws of the Chapter and turn the tide of battle using a possessed(?) boltgun that easily blasts away even a Dreadnought. However, using the boltgun slowly warps his mind, to the point where he believes himself to be the sole savior of the Imperium from corruption, unaware of the hypocrisy.

 

Jonah: Jonah is ultimately possessed by a daemon, though not all at once. After fighting the Hive Mind during the end of the first game, his mind is weakened and distracted enough to not notice the daemon slipping in, "scratching, growing"...

 

Thaddeus: While facing the endless Tyranid hordes on Typhon, Thaddeus loses all hope in the chance of winning. Rather than accepting this supposed fate, he succumbs to despair. His thoughts go to a miracle to save the sector from being consumed... and Father Nurgle responds.

 

Avitus: As the "canon" traitor, Avitus is arguably the most sympathetic tragic end. Over the course of his career, Avitus saw the universe for what it was: cold, cruel, uncaring, senseless. After seeing the corruption first-hand in his own Chapter, it broke him. He didn't join Chaos so as truly go rogue and fight a one-marine war against senseless existence.

 

Cyrus: Cyrus is embittered after seeing the horrendous defeat of Commander Boreale. He is further frustrated and outraged by the supposed incompetence and/or corruption with the current leadership. Like Tarkus, he took it upon himself to enact a change to this state of affairs.

 

There's an option for Martellus to go traitor, but the writing here seemed weak.

 

 

[Daemon Prince Marbas]

Many Astartes in loyal chapters are resentful of the fact that they have to submit at times to the High Lords of Terra and the Inquisition and Adeptus Mechanicus which is derived of mortals. And many times these organizations display extreme incompetence and corruption so Astartes will take it upon themselves to rectify the situation by taking over a planet or subsector in order to rule a human empire more properly. Very Plato if you ask me.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

That's basically the backstory behind my warband - they were a number of small forces from various chapters who were helping the planetary PDF try to hold off an ork waagh on a shrine planet.  The Imperial forces were being criminally mislead by the local eclesiarch, and the marines eventually had enough, launching a coup to depose the eclesiarch.  Things then snowballed badly from there, as they were unwitting players in a slaaneshi prophecy.  They never had intention of ruling the planet, though.

[Sception]

Common themes include:

 

Trapped in the eye or other warp anomoly with no other option for survival - the anti-chaos conditioning of loyalists isn't nearly all it's cracked up to be, because it seems when push comes to shove they choose damnation over death about 50% of the time. Granted that's 50% better than the pre-heresy legions, but still.

 

Left on their own in defense of remote systems for so long that they stopped seeing themselves as imperial, declared their own separatist dominion, and turned to chaos for survival after suffering the inevitable but slow acting hammer of imperial justice.

 

Chapter Master or other key leadership figures possessed by daemons, seduced by offers of daemonic power, or discovered some dark and terrible secret long hidden by the imperium, causing them to fall to chaos and take their brethren with them.

 

Betrayed by the imperium and turned to their enemies to seek vengeance; with common subthemes including "tasked to wars without necessary support and left to die," "suspected of heresy due to excessive viciousness in the execution of imperial enemies," "suspected of heresy due to insufficient viciousness in the execution of innocent imperial citizens," "suspected of heresy due to accumulation of too much chaos lore, usually as a result of loyally battling against chaos in service to the imperium," "inquisitor found an unacceptable taint of mutation in their geneseed," "radical or outright traitor inquisitor accused chapter of heresy to cover their own actions," etc.

 

 

Regardless of how it goes down, there's generally some severe losses first, and not all of the chapter turns traitor so then there's further losses from fighting within the chapter. Few chapters turn to chaos wholesale. As a result, most renegade chaos chapters start off on a pretty bad foot, in addition to being cut off from imperial resources. Contrary to common impression, raiding is generally not a sufficient replacement for lack of access to imperial supply lines and technical support. The dark powers are among the few functional alternative sources of such support. Additionally, at least up until the Imperium was split in half, there weren't a lot of available refuges from Imperial persecution. Stable warp anomalies like the Eye of Terror or the Maelstrom were among the few options, but taking refuge in such places means significant chaos exposure, with the attendant mutation of mind, body, and armament. Especially without the shield of faith in the Emperor to provide even a modicum of protection from the influence of the malign powers. Heck, such mutation is often welcomed, as, again, without access to technical and material support you may not have options for repairing gear and ships other then inviting daemonic possession and hoping the resulting mutations heal any damage organically.

 

As such, while a Renegade marine chapter may not start out as a warband of explicitly *Chaos* marines, that's generally where they end up in time. At least, those that aren't caught and destroyed by the imperium before they find refuge in warpspace, or forcibly absorbed or killed & plundered by established chaos warbands afterwards.

[Malios]

The Red Corsairs and Crimson Slaughter are probably the more fleshed out loyalists turned traitors and despite some conflicting opinions were both "good falls."

 

Huron and the Astral Claws were eventually forced into damnation when their good intentions turned to ashes through a combination of bad choices and their ruthless opponents. The Crimson Slaughter on the other hand were targeted for damnation and eventually embraced it due to the futility of seeking redemption from an uncompromising Imperium.

[CCE1981]

Loss of Faith in the Imperium or Lords of Terra. Maybe they just got tired of constantly bailing out Imperial Governors. They could have mysteriously stopped receiving supplies and had to somehow replenish losses from the battlefield and their allies took it the wrong way.

[Fhanados]

Personally I'm a big fan of the Scourged warband's fall.

 

They work with the Inquisition, unflinchingly obeying orders and putting entire worlds to death - sacrificing many for the benefit of the whole. But then doubt settles in...

 

Are we sacrificing TOO many... maybe that world seemed a bit more innocent than the last one. Was that last world really beyond redemption? Could we have saved MORE people if we done things a little differently? This inquisitor is far more bloodthirsty than we remember, are HIS motives pure?

 

From that doubt comes desperation. If only there was some way we could prove innocence and guilt without relying on the inquisitor, who they themselves could be guilty? We must find a way. For the sake of the Imperium, we'll do anything!

 

Now the thing here to remember is Space Marines aren't used to doubt, or guilt, or desperation. Those emotions are a burden and can only get in the way of doing what a Space Marine does best - shooting and chopping the Emperor's foes! So it's wiped out of them through indoctrination, psychotherapy, genetic manipulation, chemical treatment and good old religious fanaticism. They don't know how to deal with these "failings" - it is a weakness, and weakness must be purged... with prayer!

 

So they pray and pray, hoping the Emperor will answer their call and grant them the gift they need. But someone else answers.... Good old Tzeentch gives them what they want. You want to know how to tell who's lying? Here - now you can hear EVERY LIE SPOKEN BY MANKIND!

 

Insanity ensues, along with a well justified hatred of the various institutions of the Imperium.

 

You now have a newly turned Renegade chapter!

[Sonoftherubric21]

Personally I'm a big fan of the Scourged warband's fall.

 

They work with the Inquisition, unflinchingly obeying orders and putting entire worlds to death - sacrificing many for the benefit of the whole. But then doubt settles in...

 

Are we sacrificing TOO many... maybe that world seemed a bit more innocent than the last one. Was that last world really beyond redemption? Could we have saved MORE people if we done things a little differently? This inquisitor is far more bloodthirsty than we remember, are HIS motives pure?

 

From that doubt comes desperation. If only there was some way we could prove innocence and guilt without relying on the inquisitor, who they themselves could be guilty? We must find a way. For the sake of the Imperium, we'll do anything!

 

Now the thing here to remember is Space Marines aren't used to doubt, or guilt, or desperation. Those emotions are a burden and can only get in the way of doing what a Space Marine does best - shooting and chopping the Emperor's foes! So it's wiped out of them through indoctrination, psychotherapy, genetic manipulation, chemical treatment and good old religious fanaticism. They don't know how to deal with these "failings" - it is a weakness, and weakness must be purged... with prayer!

 

So they pray and pray, hoping the Emperor will answer their call and grant them the gift they need. But someone else answers.... Good old Tzeentch gives them what they want. You want to know how to tell who's lying? Here - now you can hear EVERY LIE SPOKEN BY MANKIND!

 

Insanity ensues, along with a well justified hatred of the various institutions of the Imperium.

 

You now have a newly turned Renegade chapter!

 

I want a novel for this chapter. Seriously. 

 

That is something BL and GW have not expanded up on enough in recent memory is how the chapters fall into chaos. 

[Panzer]

Personally I'm a big fan of the Scourged warband's fall.

 

They work with the Inquisition, unflinchingly obeying orders and putting entire worlds to death - sacrificing many for the benefit of the whole. But then doubt settles in...

 

Are we sacrificing TOO many... maybe that world seemed a bit more innocent than the last one. Was that last world really beyond redemption? Could we have saved MORE people if we done things a little differently? This inquisitor is far more bloodthirsty than we remember, are HIS motives pure?

 

From that doubt comes desperation. If only there was some way we could prove innocence and guilt without relying on the inquisitor, who they themselves could be guilty? We must find a way. For the sake of the Imperium, we'll do anything!

 

Now the thing here to remember is Space Marines aren't used to doubt, or guilt, or desperation. Those emotions are a burden and can only get in the way of doing what a Space Marine does best - shooting and chopping the Emperor's foes! So it's wiped out of them through indoctrination, psychotherapy, genetic manipulation, chemical treatment and good old religious fanaticism. They don't know how to deal with these "failings" - it is a weakness, and weakness must be purged... with prayer!

 

So they pray and pray, hoping the Emperor will answer their call and grant them the gift they need. But someone else answers.... Good old Tzeentch gives them what they want. You want to know how to tell who's lying? Here - now you can hear EVERY LIE SPOKEN BY MANKIND!

 

Insanity ensues, along with a well justified hatred of the various institutions of the Imperium.

 

You now have a newly turned Renegade chapter!

 

Love it, but a few Chaplains could have prevented it since re-doing the psycho-indoctrination is a thing for Marines. It would at least have kept them sane while deciding how to deal with a potentially corrupt Inquisition. :P

[Furnace Lord]

I've tinkered with a few Chaos chapters over the years, just because I like writing fluff for its own sake. One fell to Slaanesh because their psycho conditioning was altered to make them more resistant to Chaos after recent defections by making them ultra Puritanical and self-denying.....to the point their minds just snapped under the strain and went right off the deep end to excess. Another was a Raven Guard successor with severely damaged Geneseed; when they realized the Chapter would be finished after they were at last unable to grow the Black Carapace they became desperate, and you know who despair brings.

 

Plus despite their augments and conditioning, Astartes are still vulnerable to human foibles. Look at the Iron Warriors, who almost as an entire legion snapped from battle fatigue and lack of recognition for their sacrifice. Marines in modern chapters are still rotated off combat duty for periods of time to avoid such things.

[MegaVolt87]

I always liked the Badab War arc timeline. Huron to me was trying to replicate what Ultramar was, though he thought he needed a Legion sized force on top of that, hence not gene tithing. Not just that, he was trying to do it quickly, modern Imperium, they don't know what quickly is anymore or distrust it.  

[Malios]

There were a couple of instances where you really had to question whether Huron truly was the bad guy at the start of the Badab War conflict:

 

* Building alliances with the Lamenters, a cursed founding chapter, and the Mantis Warriors due to respect and value

* taking in the surviving elements of the Tiger Claws rather then leaving them to an unexplained eradication

* Doing what he could with the resources he had (as he was cut off by the wider Imperium)

* Creating necessary reforms to improve efficiency (at least for the astartes)

 

Had he only done this a century later, Guiliman probably would have branded him a hero. No wonder he became a mad warlord.

[Daemon Prince Marbas]

Remember, the local Lords of the Maelstrom Zone were also horribly corrupt and concerned only with their business interests and would send the Maelstrom Warders wherever they wanted and not where the biggest threats lay. It makes for a tragic Renegade Chapter if the reason they fell to Chaos is to combat the corruption of the Imperium of Man. "He who fights monsters beware lest he become a monster, for if you gaze for long into the abyss the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

[Iron Father Ferrum]

You skipped the parts about withholding resources that were more urgently needed in other sectors because he wanted to build his own Ultramar. He violated the Codex, he violated inter-sector trading and tithing treaties, and when given an olive branch, he assassinated two Chapter Masters at Grief.

 

I have no sympathy for the Tyrant of Badab.

[Brother Aiwass]

You skipped the parts about withholding resources that were more urgently needed in other sectors because he wanted to build his own Ultramar. He violated the Codex, he violated inter-sector trading and tithing treaties, and when given an olive branch, he assassinated two Chapter Masters at Grief.

 

I have no sympathy for the Tyrant of Badab.

You say that like it's a bad thing. The lords profiting the trade were corrupt, and the codex? Guess what Guilliman did first when he woke up? Yeah, he violated the codex.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

The difference is that Huron was a Chapter Master, one of a thousand such in the Imperium. Guilliman is a Primarch, Lord Commander of the Imperium, who knows the Emperor's mind. One has the authority to make those kinds of changes. The other did not.