ionus projects: the forgotten brotherhood

[aura_enchanted]

please find enclosed the lore of a project iv'e been working on here and there in the past but want to put more effort into. as a way to escape from painting the same old greens and bones on things i decided to branch out into black and coming from this was my forgotten brotherhood. photos of what i've done so far and what i'm working on in the future are forthcoming.some are much much more recent and it will be a while before i have them painted as that's the slowest point in the creation process for me but i will have at least assembled models to present.

 

history:

 

the forgotten brotherhood is as much myth as it is a horrible reality and its history began during the Horus heresy. During the wining days of the heresy the Lion and his fleets had attempted to reach terra along with the astartes of the 9th and 13th legions. this was in despite of warp storms generated around the terran sub sector. Many astartes would lose their lives in trying to find a way through this nightmarish obstacle however some met with.. stranger fates.

 

the forgotten brotherhood was once such force to meet a stranger fate. originally operating with the fleet of the 1st legion they fell behind due to ship malfunctions and the lion was forced to leave the vessel bearing the 200 warriors to catch up as they journeyed to find some opening or break in the storm to enter terran space. upon resuming their voyage the vessel was hit with tragedy as mid warp translation this vessels astropath went insane choosing suicide rather then continuing in his duties to the crew and battle brothers aboard the vessel. with no replacements the duty of guiding the ship fell to an untested battle brother who at one time had been monitored by the legion for possibly being a psyker. this would suffice to finish the translation but not without severely damaging the ships systems as they fought with his mind as well as the rumbles of the warp.

 

These brothers found themselves millions of stellar cycles from their intended destination however within the golgothan wastes region of the ultima segmentum right in the orbit of the world of Welton Secundus a largely barren rock. The world however, was not uninhabited; the iron warriors had constructed (as they had in many places in their realm) a mighty bastion. this fortress was staffed by less then 100 brothers at the time and were shocked to see the vessels arrival. However these warriors had been entrusted with a duty they could not ignore. welton was a supply depot, and a massive trove of technology and supplies lay under the fortress foundations containing weapons forged not only by the legion but made in far off forges or recovered from the fields of battle to be called upon in times of need. Instinctively they opened fire on the dark angels and successfully managed to bring the vessel crashing to the surface but not before its pilots had managed to steer it directly into the fortress itself. the crash was immense. the mighty warship collided with layered adamantium and ferrocrete walls with deep foundations causing massive casualties to its defenders. miraculously more then half of the dark angels aboard had survived the crash and after pulling themselves from the wreckage lay into the sons of perturabo.

 

swords locked and bolters rang as astartes fought astartes simply out of a need for self preservation and duty though it had been clear from the moment the ground war had started the iron warriors were marked men. in desperation their leader began a fighting retreat into the vaults themselves seeking for something he knew would buy him time for rescue, or at least result in a stalemate. This device was an untested prototype he had witnessed in trials first hand. This device labelled simply as prototype 26 Lambda was a portable prison designed to hold prisoners of war indefinitely if needs must by projecting a bubble that trapped its contents in a pocket of frozen time. why it was never employed or who made it remains a mystery but when the iron warriors found it and triggered its activation the bubble formed as planned. it was the hope of the iron warriors that they could use the device to freeze the entire combat until such a time as their iron father or their legion would rescue them. or failing that they would at least hold the dark angels until the system failed to keep its prison generated. as these warriors of the legions froze over and a bubble of pure space time formed and encapsulated the entire fortress none present could have predicted when they would be free once more. as the days turned to weeks and the weeks to years the universe simply forgot of this place as many other battles and skirmishes of that terrible age had been and it wouldnt be until the 41st millenium it would resurface.

 

during the final years of m40 master Cariontis of the dark angels chapter while aboard the rock within the golgothan wastes was roused to a distress signal. this signal was coming from Welton Secundus broadcasting a very very old dark angels signal for aid. upon descending to the planet he found the remnants of the fortress its ancient walls and the ship wreckage twisted with it had become free of the bubble. as the ages had passed the power system of the prison had begun to simply run dry. this had resulted in the bubble retreating slowly back towards its source. the dark angels vessel though damaged beyond all repair had like many other ships of the line a built in automated distress signal which had after its many ages dormant come online. Investigating this improvised tomb revealed a grizzly battle frozen in time Cariontis would note later in his personal journals that he had for many years of his life wished to have been at his primarchs side during the crusades and the heresy. to lock swords with traitors and aliens with his gene fathers immense silhouette leading him across battlefields uncountable. But after seeing the frozen beauty of an iron legionary skewering one of his ancient kin on a chainsword; hate burning behind his eyes like a wildfire he felt all that fall away, never to return.

 

the dark angels grandmaster worked quickly and coordinated the deathwing and elements of the ravenwing to dispatch the frozen iron warriors and then quickly leaving the depths before the effects of frozen time left the combatants waiting outside for the legionarries to thaw out. as the device finally failed the ancient astartes awoke from their long slumber. blades sang, guns barked but none finding a living target. they awoke to find their foes all dead, cut down by unseen forces and before them rooms devoid of life. Their battle over they emerged from the basements and cells of the fortress into its central chambers greeted by warriors in green, bone white, and black. a mysterious figure at their lead the chapters standard bearer standing firm in the face of these long lost brothers. Cariontis emerged from behind the standard and presented himself before them, presenting his name and title, taking a knee before them and presenting them the lions helm. the most sacred artifact of the chapter. the Preator of the legion was stunned at what he was seeing. words failed him, his primarchs war helm in front of him, warriors in strange colors with the chapters relics and winged sword iconography. As the grandmaster rose he raised a hand and struck him across the face refusing to beleive these space marines were of his blood. Demanding to be immedeately returned to the primarch and to caliban. Cariontis brushed off the attack and smiled plainly in response. the black clad dark angels were ushered aboard thunderhawks and onto one of the rocks many escort vessels as now little more then 110 brothers now remained. they were removed of their wargear and held in its cargo holds under armed guard. after several days of travel and translation refusing to speak to the chapters commanders or even base level battle brothers they were herded onto the flight deck, its doors still sealed and over fifty of the chapters 1st company present serving as a security detail. Cariontis once more presented himself to them, addressing the crowd gathered in the room he instructed them to all be seated on the floor before signaling for the ship to open its hangar to the void beyond. He bid them all welcome home and then apologized deeply on behalf of the 1st legion for any confusion or anger or ill feelings between his guests and his chapter before bolting to one side and across the room into a waiting secure door.

 

Before them lay ruined caliban, its mighty forests gone, its fractured broken remains floating in a debris field some 10 thousand kilometers from the ship. the response was predictably bad. they stormed in every direction, some tried to leap into the void only to be met by the refusing adamantium ofterminator battle blate, others began yelling and screaming, throwing loose items in anger at the deathwing guards demanding information, refusing to believe their home was more then debris in space. but the deathwing silently refused. a single thunderhawk the only vehicle docked at the time had its doors forced as they tried to flee. this was not their home, this was a lie; it had to be. be gradually they were wrestled back into order and shuffled back to their cargo holds. their anger eventually left them, replaced by concern and grief. was this true? were they truly home? grandmaster Cariontis appeared before them once more this time in the holds. and he told them everything, not the truths propogated through the chapter or the half truths shared to those below those of the inner circles junior members. the real truths. Of Luther and the fall, the disappearance of the lion, the end of the heresy and every secret he had ever been forced to swallow down in order to prosecute the hunt of the fallen. In his journals the grandmaster would note how painful this experience was to him. how during his presentations he was moved to tears many times recounting all the painful fortunes that had befallen the dark angels and how the signs of pain developing within them were a reflection of himself a hundred times all at once. after he had finished librarians and interrogator chaplains of the reclusiam went about the flock trying their best to quell the pain and the sorrow. a collective suicidal depression emerged from their souls which often resulted in brothers needing to be held down and administered drugs or talked down for hours on end as they tried to bludgeon themselves on the walls or carry out collective mercy killings. Reclusiam records sealed away recount how the librarius and the reclusiams ministration were worked raw. librarians working in shifts to quell their minds and chaplains talking themselves hoarse. This drove many to petition these efforts to be abandoned; that there was naught to be gained by this maddness. But one interrogator who had his name removed from records held firm. every day he went and visited the legion marines in their holds. offering counsel to as many as ten at a time, when brothers would try and kill themselves he would fight them himself, promising them access to his sidearm if they could defeat him. He never lost a single bout and sermon by sermon, fist by fist he won their hearts and minds from the brink of darkness. It was he who inducted them all into the imperial faith and after 5 months of tireless labor their grief had subsided replaced by a desire to fight again in the name of the lion.

 

Cariontis was moved by these actions and welcomed them all into the inner circle of the unforgiven an act which has eclipsed all other inductions into the inner circle since the end of the heresy itself. To this end the leader of the unforgiven gave them an immense task. they were to be the secret army of the 1st legion. to go out into the stars and find the fallen and bring them home to seek the absolution they so desperately desired. they were given wargear and vessels to prosecute war as well as freedom of rule from the grandmaster. taking upon themselves the mantle of the forgotten brotherhood.

 

+++ structure and leadership +++

 

operating as an independant fleet based arm of the unforgiven they have prosecuted a shadow war against the fallen all their own. at times even posing as fallen themselves only to gain closer access to their false brothers and abduct them from under the noses of the forces of chaos or other elements of the imperium. and from the straits of maddness to the reef stars they have crossed the galaxy and brought in many fallen angels. every member recruited from their travels or supplied by the chapters of the unforgivens cullings in secret is inducted into the unforgivens inner circle as it is the only way to hunt them as effectively as they have. since the beginning they have lived an open and honest life with one another. with the tenant of the knwoledge they posess being the single most important part of themselves and that it is even permitted to kill a fellow brother to prevent such knowledge from leaving the brotherhood. 

 

the battleforce consists of 200 brothers and no more in keeping with the history of their origins. they operate as a single unified front in times of direct conflict but have any number of smaller squads some as few as three brothers operating as kill teams throughout the stars. it has even been recorded that at times they have been captured by other members of the unforgiven only to be "allowed to escape" by dubious means. though they are common knowledge to the unforgivens senior masters and grandmasters and that they have no secrets behind them some persist that enigmatic cypher hismelf leads them from the shadows and that he is secretly a member of their order. a rumor they strongly rebuke when questioned.

 

Upon their formation and reconstruction three brothers took the mantle of leadership. in doing so they surrenders their names and instead took up titles. these titles being: the lord of banners, the Radiant Noble, and the keeper of whispers.

 

[photos forthcoming, space reserved]

 

the lord of banners serves in place of a master of grandmaster posessing equal rank to either as the needs arise. he oversees all operations. upon the death of the lord of banners a number is added to the title. the current incumbent the lord of the 15 banners has seen to mimic lord azreal himself sporting the ancient power sword forgotten edge the sword said to have been weilded by the praetorian leading the battle brothers aboard their legion warship so many years ago. as well as the purifier of souls. this ancient combi plasma was gifted to the forgotten by the angels of redemption after rescuing a member of the deathwatch from his own agency after attempting to capture a fallen. its bolter assembly is said to be one of the earliest manufactured for the standard mars pattern bolter and has burned holes through a list of foes one could spend the rest of their lifetime recounting

 

{photo}

 

the Radiant Noble is one of the forgottens only librarians its librarius consisting of just three brothers at any given time. He is a skilled warrior and a mighty witchmind who has mastered the art of anti psyker warfare. with but a few words or thoughts he has rendered farseers powerless, and made psychic energy hotter then suns evaporate into thin air. priding himself on his skill to render other witchminds powerless his skills have proven themself useful many times in stopping chaos sorcerors or alien psykers from protecting fallen angels from the forgottens wrathful forces. when not in battle many of the forgotten come to listen to his teaching reverentially. he bears the crown of radiant light, recovered by the forgotten from the corpse of a dead blood angel this helm bears similarities to those worn by the snaguinary guard of legend and projects a halo of light around the wearer. however this only conceals an additional purpose as it is also the psychic hood of the wearer.

 

{}

 

the keeper of whispers is possibly the most mysterious of the trio, the forgottens senior interrogator chaplain he bears the duties of torturing and carrying sentence upon fallen that cannot be secreted back to the rest of the unforgiven. in addition he works tirlelessly as the first brother to bear the title did during their inception to maintain the mental strength of his brothers. bearing with them their pain and trials always keeping a watchful eye for signs of corruption or weakness.

 

+++ more forthcoming +++

 

im sorry i dont have pictures right now, the brotherhood has sadly been locked away and i have been unable to retrieve them in time to post these words. my home fell victim to flooding and i was forced to box them up in extreme haste and while i know i havent lost anything finding them has been a trial unto itself.i have more lore as well so stay tuned as i work on this greatest of work