Imperial-Controlled System Design

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

I have a Chapter of Space Marines, a Forge World (complete with its own force of Skitarii and Techpriests), an Imperial Knight House and an Astra Militarum regiment who are all aligned with each other and live in a single system. I've consulted with others and, as of yet, it is looking promising, being that while the Imperium doesn't often get along with itself, it can happen, and similar agendas tend to allow for cooperation anyway. There are several confirmed planets in the system: a Death World, where the Mechanicus and Marines train; a civilized planet where the Marines' fortress-monastery is; and the Forge World where the Mechanicus, Knights and Guard operate (also happens to be a starting-to-awaken Necron Tomb World).

 

The Marines hold something of a festival every year on the civilized world where they hold widespread recruitment. Under normal circumstances, only children 11-14 can sign up, but the plan is to have the Marines open recruitment to males up to 21 on this one day of the year. According to what research I've done, survival rate for adult males is lower when put through the gene-seed process, but it can still happen. The plan is essentially to have members of the Guard who operate in the system sign up on occasion and have several named characters in my army be ex-Guard.

 

I'm looking for opinions on this being possible in-universe.

 

Edit: I'm aware that there's a Space Marine-specific board for this, but it's sort of an Imperial Soup-controlled system as a whole.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Marines' fortress-monastery is better sited on the death world, which will also make it more defensible- any enemy who wishes to attack it, must first survive the death world's challenges. They may have Chapter keeps on the forge world and their main recruiting world, to better defend these vital resources.

 

The death world may have an AdMech outpost on it. Say its harsh environment produces a hard-to-find resource for the forge world... rare earth elements critical to the production of cogitators and other electrical/electronic devices, which the death world's volcanos bring to the surface; chemicals critical to administering rejuvenat treatments and manufacturing pharmaceuticals, commonly found in the death world's man-eating plants; maybe even death world creatures whose meat is considered a fugu-like delicacy, and are hunted so their meat may be exported and sold at great value... to make the death world valuable to the AdMech, and thus, worth fighting to the last Skitarii AND war robot AND Astartes to defend.

 

As a forge world is also civilized, you might as well have the Marines recruit from an agri-world that supplies food to the forge world's workers.

[Doctor Perils]

On the whole, I'd probably recommend against them all being together in the same system - they are very different organisations that are part of different administrations, and would therefore often be stepping on each other's toes. It's as if a regiment of soldiers, a crew of a battleship and a squadron of fighter pilots were all quartered in the same barracks - sure, it's possible but it's not the easiest to explain. And on the whole, the Forge World and the Marine Chapter will probably end up squabbling over the resources in the system rather then acting together on similar agendas.

 

Eventually, you'll probably have more trouble then it's worth: I'd suggest spreading them out a bit to a couple of different neighbouring systems. (remember: Space is BIG) - and one system over means the Chapter will be able to hop over in rather little time anyway. This also doesn't mean the different forces you want can't train together on your Death World :)

 

 

In general, one doesn't find Knights on Forge Worlds - instead, they are found on independent "Knight Worlds" which are then allied to neighbouring Forge Worlds. The Knights can more easily be justified as being in the same system as there are canonverse examples. Forge Worlds are instead protected by a Titan Legio rather than Knight Houses on the whole.

 

 

The Imperial Guard regiment(s)... is a tricky one. Technically, Forge Worlds are in the Aptus Non category of planets, meaning they don't owe guardsmen in the Imperial Tithe... But that doesn't mean they can't do so out of good will (or the wish to make a display of might and prowess, a sort of advertising stunt?). Still, if they create an Astra Militarum regiment, these wouldn't be under their command - instead, they are organised by the Departmento Munitorum of the Adeptus Administratum (https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Imperium_of_Man#The_Adeptus_Terra)

Therefore, as they perform little function for the Adeptus Mechanicus directly, Guard regiments raised from Forge Worlds are rather rare... And yet they do exist (the OOP Fantasy Flight Games RPG ONLY WAR gives players the option to have regiments from Forge Worlds) so it's up to you if you want to go ahead having regiments raised from your Forge World.

 

 

Wrt to your chapter, Bjorn makes a good point: Chapters want the very strongest and resilient recruits, which Death World inhabitants most certainly will be. Still, depending on how you form your civilised world, it would still be possible for you to get strong and resilient recruits, especially if the recruitment festival is a very publicised event, where the winners gain glory and fortune for their families.

I'd recommend against having ex-guard members be able to join up, as the Guard won't be operating in system - they are (generally) an invasion and counter-invasion force, not a garrison force. Instead, I'd look into the Planetary Defence Forces. Otherwise, I like the idea of recruiting men who have already proved worthy as soldiers, but definitely don't allow them to attempt recruitments any other time.

 

 

Anyway, keep up the work and keep us informed :)

[Osteoclast]

Any particular reason to have all of them in the same system instead of in a subsector with short and stable Warp routes connecting them?

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

Any particular reason to have all of them in the same system instead of in a subsector with short and stable Warp routes connecting them?

I'm trying to go for a relatively civilized system run by the Marines and Mechanicus, and I'm trying to confine it to a single system because... reasons. I actually don't really know why I want it to be that way. Honestly, I just want a canon reason to have a few different Imperial lists which I can just swap parts of out for something of a soup list. I like coming up with lore for things, especially off of existing lore (such as 40k). The core of the matter is I want to pick up Astra Militarum, Knights, Astartes and Mechanicus and sort of swap out the individual parts whenever I want, just so I can play them all together. I want them to have some canon reason to all be working so closely together as well.

[Doctor Perils]

If they're all working together on a Crusade they'll have more chance of actually being close to each other for a battle: a Chapter's strength will only rarely be in their home system; and Guard regiments are essentially never in their home system.

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

If they're all working together on a Crusade they'll have more chance of actually being close to each other for a battle: a Chapter's strength will only rarely be in their home system; and Guard regiments are essentially never in their home system.

I wonder... is there anything really stopping me? I understand it's unlikely for these four Imperium factions to be working together in one system (by the way, I never said the bulk of the Guard or Astartes forces would be in the system) but in the (admittedly minimal) research I've done elsewhere, it's still possible. It's possible for the Crimson Knights, a Forge World, a Knight House and a regiment of Guard to all be based in the same system and work together on internal and external issues (such as crusades, as you mentioned).

[Doctor Perils]

Oh, yes, don't worry, it's possible - my points were merely advice, not certainties of the setting :)

[Timberley]

To throw my tuppence into the mix, I've been looking at having a chapter, a Militarum regiment and various others all working together and such.

It is possible to have them all headquartered in the same system, but from a story perspective is it sensible?  Introduction of things like warp jumps and secret cabals work better in the context of there being distance between the various places.  After all, if you want something to feth up the status quo (advancing the plot requires drama), then you need to find a way to ensure that your heroes can't respond straight away and destroy the drama before it reaches fruition.  After all, what use is your Ork warband if they get vapourised the moment their Kill Kroozers jump in-system?

 

I've confined my home-made creations (The Dusk Falcons Chapter, The Lidless Eye warband, Skuz Skullface's tribe, etc) to a subsector, as it gives me countless worlds (in story terms) to deal with.  I can have a Nurgle infestation on a Garden World one day, and a Genestealer Cult in a mining world the next, a Necron tomb world, and so on.  I don't need to recycle as many places, and whilst I can have historically significant places, I don't necessarily need to visit them.

 

Obviously, you do you, but I think the subsector allows much greater freedom for story-telling.  Your chapter can come to the rescue of your Forge World in a much more dramatic way when they have to muster up and jump the strike cruiser to another neighbourhood, rather than taking a brief stroll down the road (narratively speaking).  What horrors will have befallen the Forge World whilst the marines have been underway?  Has the Militarum regiment been slaughtered by dastardly foes?  To me, drama is lost when they can simply engage long-range auspex and see that the Chaos vessel (or whatever) is attempting planetfall, as they've been tracking it since they detected an unknown contact a couple of hours ago.

 

Tim

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

...Huh. You have convinced me. However, I still want the Marines to be based in the same system as the Forge World for various reasons. I have no problem posting the Militarum somewhere nearby but separate, but having my Forge World and Marines right next to each other is something I want.

[Timberley]

...Huh. You have convinced me. However, I still want the Marines to be based in the same system as the Forge World for various reasons. I have no problem posting the Militarum somewhere nearby but separate, but having my Forge World and Marines right next to each other is something I want.

 

 

Yeah, totally doable.  I had a brief skim of your chapter IA, and it would make sense in that case.  In story terms, could the chapter have been formed to protect the Forge World for ~reasons~?  Or to keep an eye on them...?  My chapter, such as it is, was formed to watch over the passage from the Maelstrom to Prospero, but they outgrew that remit fairly rapidly!

 

Tim

[Bjorn Firewalker]

In story terms, could the chapter have been formed to protect the Forge World for ~reasons~? Or to keep an eye on them...?

Say the Iron Warriors once conquered this forge world, before an Imperial crusade drove out the Traitor Marines. Afterwards, one of the Space Marine Captains that fought to liberate the forge world, may be asked to found a new Chapter to defend it- and to monitor the forge world's population for signs of Chaos-taint.

[Dizzyeye01]

An alternative would be to set your system in the Dark Imperium and the system has become a rally point for Imperium forces. In fact, you could take inspiration from ADBs Spears of the Emperor book where a space marine chapter is working closely with mechanicus forces