LASC 2019 - Knights of the Forge

[MARK0SIAN]

This is my chapter for the 2019 LASC event. Its the first time I've ever created my own Chapter as a I normally play and paint existing ones. I'm hoping to add to it over the coming days/weeks so any feedback is welcome
 

Knights of the Forge

“Hold to your oaths brothers, for they are victory in the face of death!” – Chapter Master Enrich.

Appearance

 

Chapter Symbol

 

This is roughly what I’m going for, the alternate pauldrons just represent some ideas for the personal heraldry of the marines but anyone who gets my chapter to paint should feel free to come up with their own if they like.

Likewise, the decoration on the legs is just meant to be an example of how this particular marine has decorated his armour, don’t feel obliged to copy it. Create your own if you like or just leave the legs Grey.

The only rule of thumb I would suggest for these embellishments is to follow the blue, white, yellow and red colour palette in the example.

 

Again, for the Chapter Symbol, please don't feel under pressure to do the detail. A simple shield shape is absolutely fine :)

History

The Knights of the Forge were created during the Ulitma Founding, using the Geneseed from the Salamanders Legion. They began the crusade serving under the returned Primarch but were soon despatched to the aid of Cambrai IV, a small Forgeworld at the edge of the Segmentum Solar. This campaign was long and costly for the Knights, seeing them fight alongside their Skitarri allies to first retake the moons orbiting the besieged Forgeworld before commencing their campaign to lift the siege of Cambrai IV itself.

Each moon was a veritable warren of caves, both man-made and natural, and led to brutal close-range firefights and melee combat with knives, powerfists and sometimes even bare hands. Slowly, one tunnel complex at a time, the heretic marines and their degenerate followers were cleared from these outlying moons. This came at great cost to the Knights of the Forge with the Intercessor and Aggressor squads taking the brunt of these casualties.

Once the planet’s orbit was safely in Imperial hands, the Knights were able to make planetfall and take the fight directly to the forces of Chaos and their heretical machines. In this campaign, the assistance of the Loyal Mechanicus priests still on the planet proved invaluable. Besieged as they were inside the primary citadel, the defenders were still able to relay important intelligence to the relief forces and, after a bitter and punishing campaign, the siege was eventually lifted and Cambrai IV returned to Imperial hands.

The alliance with the Mechanicus, born out of the desperate struggles in this campaign would prove to be a lasting one and would help shape the nascent chapter in the decades to come. Throughout the rest of the Indomitus Crusade, the Knights of the Forge would frequently aid their Mechanicus brethren and, in return, were not only gifted insights into the mysteries of the Omnissiah but were given the right to draw fresh recruits from a number of Mechanicus worlds.

The Chapter

The Knights of the Forge were heavily shaped by both their Geneseed and their early campaigns alongside the Adeptus Mechanicus. Much like their Salamander brethren, the Knights place great emphasis on self-reliance. As a result of this, each battle-brother takes a lot of responsibility for his own armour and wargear, performing maintenance and embellishments as he sees fit. From this has arisen a tradition of no two suits of armour looking quite the same.

The skills needed to perform this level of technical work are taught during an aspirant’s training, with each would-be marine apprenticed to one of the Chapter’s armoury serfs. Given the sacred importance of this duty, these Chapter armoury serfs are held in great esteem by the marines in the chapter and are often sought out for guidance even after and aspirant has become a full battle brother.

Aside from the modifications and embellishments added to their armour, one of the clearest signs of this spirit of self-reliance can be seen on the Marine’s right pauldron. Prior to his final ascension to a full battle brother, each aspirant (under the supervision of his armoury serf and a chapter techmarine) crafts an individual pauldron to his own taste and specification, upon which he displays his own personal heraldry. Thus, mirroring the knights of ancient Terra, each marine goes into battle displaying his personal mark and legacy for all the enemy to see and wielding his holy weapons in the name of the God Emperor of mankind.

 

Recruitment

 

The Chapter draws many of its from the tithe of aspirants supplied by the Mechanicus Forgeworlds. However, due to the industrial and polluted aspect of many of these planets, the number of aspirants who are able to meet the exacting standards of the Adeptus Astartes in terms of physical prowess and genetic purity are even rarer than usual. This means that to bolster their ranks the Knights of the Forge have taken aspirants from a myriad of different worlds, often at the culmination of a campaign within a particular sector. These additional recruits lack the familiarity with machines and technology that the Forgeworld aspirants have grown up with and so generally take longer to master the forging skills needed before they can progress to full battle brothers.

At War

When fighting, the Knights of the Forge prefer to close quickly with their opponents and overwhelm them with devastating, close range firepower, before charging in to finish off any survivors. As a result of this the chapter makes great use assault weapons and other weaponry that has a high rate of fire whilst relying on their own armour to keep them safe from the inevitable return fire.

The losses suffered during the Indomitus campaign have still not been fully replenished and as a result, the chapter’s Aggressor squads are generally veteran battle brothers who are held in great esteem. They are usually only committed to battle in dire circumstances or in situations where only their particular blend of resilience and firepower can assure victory.

The Chapter does field a number of heavy support squads or vehicles when it is necessary for them to pin the enemy in place and allow the assaulting forces to better close the range. However these forces will also then push forward to join the assault once they have completed their initial role.

As a fleet based chapter, the Knights of the Forge are able to travel where needed and frequently dispatch smaller fleets to answer calls for aid from all branches of the Imperium.

 

It is built into the training and vows taken by all Marines that they seek to protect and fight for the ordinary citizens of the Imperium. There have been many examples of Battle Brothers laying down their lives to shield innocents during battle. This attitude though was sorely tested during a campaign in the Priam Sector. The vile forces of the Deathguard had lain siege to the sector capital and had succeeded in conquering several of the major cities on the planet before they began to press on towards the capital city of Ochram Prime and its smaller neighbour Ochram Secundus.

 

The task force of the Knights of the Forge 3rd Company had been pushed further and further back, fighting desperately to halt the advance of their fallen kin but had been inexorably pressed by the seemingly endless waves the traitors had sent at them. When it came to the defence of the last two cities, the Knights of the Forge were faced with an impossible choice. They did not have the manpower or resources to defend both cities and they knew that either would fall quickly on their own. The fall of either would have been catastrophic enough, with thousands of innocents left to die. However that was not the end of the tragedy, for the Knights knew that those that fell would not stay dead. They would join and swell the ranks of the Death Guard's diseased hordes and would be enough to tip the final battle in favour of the traitor forces. 

 

Captain Joachim, normally such a decisive commander, obsessed over the plan of action, listening to the plans put forward by the planetary governor, his own marines and those of the Adeptus Mechanicus present. Eventually, he was forced to accept the cold logic of his Mechanicus allies and reached a harrowing conclusion: The inhabitants of Ochram Secundas could not be defended, but neither could they left to fall into the hands of the enemy. The order was given, a small task force led by Captain Joachim himself, with support from a contingent of Techpriests, led a speartip strike on the main generatoria of Ochram Secundas. Once the site was under their control, the strike force sabotaged the reactors, sending them into an uncontrolled spiral. As the strike force exited, the forces inside the reactors reached a critical point and their energies were released, consuming the city and most of its inhabitants in a nuclear firestorm that left naught but ash in its wake.

 

Deprived of any fresh reinforcements, the Death Guard forces were held in check by the Knights defending the capital until a relief force arrived to begin the reconquest of the planet. Though his actions undoubtedly saved the capital city, the decision has sat ill with Captain Joachim ever since. His closest brothers worry that he is simply not the same man as he was before.

Chapter Tactics

Rapid Assault - To represent their expertise with assault type weapons.

Master Artisans - To link with the Salamanders and show their expertise in maintaining their weapons.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

A good start. Hope the Chapter's close ties with the AdMech won't make the Iron Hands go

and attack Vulkan's sons in a fit of jealous rage.

 

Jokes aside, from where will the Knights recruit? Do they have a contract with the AdMech forge worlds they protect, whereby these forge worlds provide a certain number of human males of age to accept gene-seed implants, as payment for the Chapter's services? Do they build Chapter keeps on mining planets supplying materials to the forge worlds, where the Knights will host athletic competitions, gladiatorial battles, or even flower wars, to evaluate potential recruits?

[MARK0SIAN]

A good start. Hope the Chapter's close ties with the AdMech won't make the Iron Hands go

and attack Vulkan's sons in a fit of jealous rage.

 

Jokes aside, from where will the Knights recruit? Do they have a contract with the AdMech forge worlds they protect, whereby these forge worlds provide a certain number of human males of age to accept gene-seed implants, as payment for the Chapter's services? Do they build Chapter keeps on mining planets supplying materials to the forge worlds, where the Knights will host athletic competitions, gladiatorial battles, or even flower wars, to evaluate potential recruits?

That’s a great idea, I love the idea of the mechanicus granting them a tithe of recruits! I’ll add that in :)

[Brother Cambrius]

First off, welcome to the LIBER, MARK0SIAN! We hope you enjoy your stay as we write and create our own armies' histories and character.

 

So, onto this Chapter of the Ultima Founding of yours.

 

First off, great to see a rare Salamander successor and you've got a very solid baseline here to build upon! The concept of knightly sons of Vulkan is one that certainly piques my interest. Regarding recruitment, if they do take a tithe of aspirants from the Mechanicum, would that lead to a top-heavy concentration of Mechanicum-loyal/oriented Astartes as time passes? How do the other Imperial elements view such close ties?

 

As they are sons of Vulkan, do they share their forebear's empathy and protective streak for normal human mortals within the Imperium, or does the colder and logical aspects of the Mechanicum bleed in with the view that the Flesh is Weak, as per the Iron Hands' outlook?

 

The unique pauldron is a fantastic touch! I'd love to see how the person who is swapped this Chapter creates that look. On that subject, what is their colour scheme and heraldry? If you need a Primaris colour sheet to use and share in this article, I've made the GW one a little easier to use and fill in you can download here.

 

Cambrius

[MARK0SIAN]

First off, welcome to the LIBER, MARK0SIAN! We hope you enjoy your stay as we write and create our own armies' histories and character.

 

So, onto this Chapter of the Ultima Founding of yours.

 

First off, great to see a rare Salamander successor and you've got a very solid baseline here to build upon! The concept of knightly sons of Vulkan is one that certainly piques my interest. Regarding recruitment, if they do take a tithe of aspirants from the Mechanicum, would that lead to a top-heavy concentration of Mechanicum-loyal/oriented Astartes as time passes? How do the other Imperial elements view such close ties?

 

As they are sons of Vulkan, do they share their forebear's empathy and protective streak for normal human mortals within the Imperium, or does the colder and logical aspects of the Mechanicum bleed in with the view that the Flesh is Weak, as per the Iron Hands' outlook?

 

The unique pauldron is a fantastic touch! I'd love to see how the person who is swapped this Chapter creates that look. On that subject, what is their colour scheme and heraldry? If you need a Primaris colour sheet to use and share in this article, I've made the GW one a little easier to use and fill in you can download here.

 

Cambrius

Thanks for the warm welcome :)

 

I’m still finalising the colour scheme but the template you’ve linked will definitely help to showcase it.

 

Initially my thought was that they would follow the ideals of the salamanders and seek to protect the normal citizenry of the imperium, I felt this linked well with the oaths of a knightly order. However what you suggest about them viewing them more like the iron hands gives me some good ground for some possible future differences of opinion within the chapter. It might be that although they’ve started with a sympathetic view of normal humans, over time certain members of the chapter start to view them differently. This could be a good link with the fact that many of the recruits come from Mechanicus worlds.

 

I’ll try and add something to address this in he coming days and maybe hint at a possible future schism within the chapter :)

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Initially my thought was that they would follow the ideals of the salamanders and seek to protect the normal citizenry of the imperium, I felt this linked well with the oaths of a knightly order. However what you suggest about them viewing them more like the iron hands gives me some good ground for some possible future differences of opinion within the chapter. It might be that although they’ve started with a sympathetic view of normal humans, over time certain members of the chapter start to view them differently.

This can add a lot of flavor to your IA, distinguishing your Chapter from the many other knightly ones on this board.

This could be a good link with the fact that many of the recruits come from Mechanicus worlds.

As most of these recruits will be prepubescent- the optimal age for gene-seed implantation- I doubt they'd have strong enough ties to the forge worlds to effect changes to the Chapter.

 

A more likely explanation is several Companies being forced into fighting a brutal war of attrition. Say the Iron Warriors attempted to conquer planets the Knights pledged to defend, forcing those Companies' officers to adopt the AdMech's cold and calculating behavior- e.g., killing civilians the Iron Warriors captured, so they may not serve as hostages with which to force their relatives to aid the traitors- in order to adapt to present circumstances and defeat the enemy.

[Dolchiate Remembrancer]

Very interesting read!

 

If you intend on emphasizing the respect for humanity that these sons of Vulcan have, maybe you could expound on how the recruits they get from forge worlds must be purified in some way before they could be considered?

 

I think that contrast with the mechanicum being so politically close to the chapter would be a fun detail to play off of.

[Kelborn]

Good start. :)

 

Will you emphasize on the Promethean Cult and all that kind of stuff?

 

Further, how close are they and the AdMech? Sworn Brothers in arms? Or like an appropiation?

[MARK0SIAN]

Very interesting read!

 

If you intend on emphasizing the respect for humanity that these sons of Vulcan have, maybe you could expound on how the recruits they get from forge worlds must be purified in some way before they could be considered?

 

I think that contrast with the mechanicum being so politically close to the chapter would be a fun detail to play off of.

That could be an interesting angle, some kind of vetting process carried out away from the eyes of the Mechanicus. I’ll have a think about how to incorporate it, thanks :)

 

@kelborn, I do want to use the Promethium Cult as an aspect of their character definitely but I’m going to try and give it a more personal interpretation for them. Not sure exactly how yet, something I’ll be working on over the coming days. :)

[Aothaine]

Really like the relation to the knights of Terra. :D Sorry I don't have any suggestions. I'm finding it difficult enough to build my own chapter. :/

[MARK0SIAN]

Right, I've finalised the details of the appearance ready for the deadline.

 

Thanks to everyone who has offered feedback/help.

 

Looking forward to the next stage :)