Knights Gryphon: World Building

[Sete]

Hey guys!

 

I have been brainstorming a regiment of Stormtroopers with strong ties to the Eclesiary. And by strong I mean like a Knightly Order of Stormtroopers!

 

One that specializes on psyker hunting and elimination!

 

Lorewise a Black Priest allied with a Schola Progenium Commandant, seeing the ravages brought by rogue psykers upon the Imperium due to the great rift, decided to create a task force specialised on identification, hunting and elimination of these dangerous beings.

 

But not only human psykers are the prey obviously.

 

Xenos and Heretic sorcerers are also high profile targets for this institution.

 

Platoons are small, led by a Knight-Comando, with a command squad.

 

They usually deploy by valkyrie, or orbital insertion.

 

Special Recon is made by a Wraith (Blank Path Finder) (work in progress on the name. Witcher sounds cool lol) which solo infiltrates areas were Psykers have been spotted, weeks or months before, and upon identifying prey sends a signal to reinforcements waiting hidden in orbit.

 

This is the basic layout of the dudes.

I plan to use a culexus as a Blank Pathfinder, and obviously it will excel at hunting psykers.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

You have good ideas, but further details are necessary to avoid violating canon, unless this is meant to be a 4chan parody. Prepare yourself for hours of research.

 

The Ordos Hereticus and Malleus of the Inquisition usually deals with psykers; neither Ordo will tolerate "outsiders" (including the Ecclesiarchy) butting into their business. Your Knightly Order will have to subordinate itself to one of these Ordos, if it doesn't want to be purged.

 

The Blank pathfinder is a cool idea, but the Culexus Temple may object to your order taking those it could've turned into Imperial Assassins. Remember, the Grandmaster of Assassins is a High Lord of Terra; if he or she isn't happy with you, your order and all its members may die in agony when the Minotaurs are sent after them.

 

Nitpicking:

Eclesiary

You mean "Ecclesiarchy".

Knight-Comando

Do you mean "Knight-Commando" (note the additional "m") or "Knight-Commander"?

[Brother Tyler]

Have you considered making them a troupe of Inquisitorial Stormtroopers that is associated with the Ordo Hereticus?

[Sete]

I like to think that since there was a dude with thousands of super sm frozen during 10k, this isn't that big of a violation. I'll get to your points in a bit, they are valid.

 

Knight Comando my dude ;)

No additional M.

late 18th century (denoting a militia, originally consisting of Boers in South Africa): from Portuguese (earlier form of comando )

 

Ecclesiarchy is such a pain to write. I'm not a native English speaker.

 

I suppose I could add a Lord Inquisitor to the troupe. That would give them the necessary amount of resources and protection.

 

Ciaphas Cain has a blank aid, I suppose half a dozen on an obscure organization wont matter much. After all, SoS are a thing as well.

 

The galaxy is a huge place.

 

I dont want to make them directly subordinated to an Ordos to be honest. I want them to have a degree of autonomy and initiative, doing their thing on different warzones, no inquisitors involved.

 

They would be Blanks and not Pharias tho.

If eventually I make an Inquisitor I might add him for some missions, as requisitioned troops, not as Inquisitorial Stormtroopers.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I suppose I could add a Lord Inquisitor to the troupe. That would give them the necessary amount of resources and protection.

I agree, this would help your Knightly Order.

Ciaphas Cain has a blank aid, I suppose half a dozen on an obscure organization wont matter much.

Jurgen, Cain's aid, was overlooked, such that he joined the Astra Militarum without anyone realizing he was a Blank, until an Inquisitorial acolyte and sanctioned psyker had a VERY BAD reaction upon meeting Jurgen.

 

It's believable the Inquisition will overlook a smattering of Blanks among the innumerable trillions of the Imperium's population. What is NOT believable is the Inquisition ignoring another organization training Blanks for its own purposes- such individuals are useful to Chaos as well, as noted in Exterminatus and Pandorax

After all, SoS are a thing as well.

Sisters of Silence units are listed in Codex: Talons of the Emperor. The reason the Inquisition leaves them alone, is the same as why the Inquisition isn't trying to purge the Adeptus Custodes. Hint: He sits on the Golden Throne.

I dont want to make them directly subordinated to an Ordos to be honest. I want them to have a degree of autonomy and initiative, doing their thing on different warzones, no inquisitors involved.

The Imperium as a whole is extremely wary of organizations with too much autonomy. Hell, it barely even tolerates the Adeptus Mechanicus. If your Knightly Order isn't under an Inquisitor's watchful eye (and the Inquisition's in turn), its members should expect undercover Arbites officers and Inquisitorial acolytes to infiltrate, investigate, and likely purge them.

They would be Blanks and not Pharias tho.

You mean "Pariahs". Anyways, the 3rd Edition Codex: Witch Hunters used the term interchangeably with "Blanks".

[Sete]

I was under the impression that Pariahs were, let's say more intense than blanks.

 

It's not its own purposes, it's an Astra Militarum institution, but one that specializes in covert recon and assassination. They are just a bit more monastic than most, and they have some blanks up their sleeve ;).

 

They are still under the mandate of the Lord Militant, they are not at Space Marines level of autonomy. I just dont want them fixed to an Inquisitor.

 

Sisters are a thing as I meant, there are blanks outside of the Culexus Temple. It's not an exclusive thing.

 

Everything alright with you Bjorn? (Usually you are not this abrasive with your feedback)

[Bjorn Firewalker]

It's not its own purposes, it's an Astra Militarum institution, but one that specializes in covert recon and assassination. They are just a bit more monastic than most, and they have some blanks up their sleeve ;).

Seems redundant, considering the Tempestus Scions already exist; but as the Administratum REPEATEDLY demonstrates, the Imperium LOVES redundancy to an absurd degree.

They are still under the mandate of the Lord Militant, they are not at Space Marines level of autonomy. I just dont want them fixed to an Inquisitor.

If the Lord Militant Commander fails to make some kind of deal with the Grandmaster of Assassins and the Inquisitorial Representative to the High Lords of Terra, the Officio Assassinorum and the Inquisition will get into NASTY struggles with the Astra Militarum for limited resources. Blanks are rarer than psykers, according to the Ciaphas Cain novel For the Emperor.

Everything alright with you Bjorn? (Usually you are not this abrasive with your feedback)

My intention was not to be abrasive, but canon violations can make me very salty. I can forgive such violations if the writer responsible put in effort to craft a believable and justifiable retcon to explain it; but when the writer is lazy (see Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Trek: Discovery for such examples), I go full Doomcock.

 

Anyways, any Warhammer 40,000 fan worth the name, will raise the same concerns I have. You best dig up your Codices and read, while thinking up plausible answers to our questions.

[Sete]

I think you are misunderstanding, maybe I'm not clear enough.

They are Stormtroopers, they are educated on a schola, they are part of the astra militarum, but due to the psychic awakening occurring due to the great rift, an Inquisitor, the Schola Commander and a Black Priest, decided to turn the focus of this particular schola into psyker hunting, and for that purpose the Inquisitor managed to have acess to some blanks to be part of this project.

 

It's a small schola, maybe half a dozen blanks that were acquired as children and educated as stormtroopers.

 

It could be a clandestine project, a magos biologis could have been able to implant the pariah gene in developing embryos, with a low sucess rate. Very few people would be aware of the nature of the blank soldiers. Call it Black Ops.

Inquisitors tend to go on about their business, some more sordid then others, no questions asked.

 

The Lord Militant is not in direct contact with this institution, the High Lords of Terra might not be aware of such a small enterprise.

I dont need such high portfolio entities in my Scions narrative.

 

They are devout soldiers, fanatic, and with old knightly/monastic traditions within their institution, that's not a Space Marine exclusive aspect.

They could even say it's their deep faith in the Emperor that protects them, to avoid suspicion.

 

Is it less believable than Cawl and his shenanigans?

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Is it less believable than Cawl and his shenanigans?

(Remembers the sheer absurdity of the Primaris Marines and Mary Sue Cawl's introduction. Palms my face.)

 

Sadly, no.

[Sete]

But I do appreciate your candor, it already proved fruitful, and the idea already developed a bit.