IA: Soul Takers - LASC19

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The Soul Takers

 

 

• Chapter Name: Soul Takers
• Founding Chapter: Raven Guard
• Founding: Unknown
• Chapter Master: Talis Sivandel
• Homeworld: Silence
• Fortress Monastery: Battle Barge Sorrowed Song
• Colors: Black and yellow quartered, with bone accents
• Strength: Unknown
• Specialty: Faith and Fury
• Battle Cry: Brothers of the Soul Takers chapter do speak, let alone cry out in battle.  They communicate most commonly through complex hand and arm signals.  If they deign to communicate with allies, it is usually conducted through an intermediary or translator.

• Culture: The warriors begin their lives as feral humans on the rugged and barren death world of Silence.  The planet has a slow rotation leading to elongated day/night cycles.  During the night cycles, swarms of small, light sensitive, highly aggressive carnivores scour the surface of the world hunting for food.  Being nearly blind they have evolved a method of locating prey by sound similar to echolocation.  During these long nights the humans must remain in hiding, isolated to reduce the risk to each other.  They lie still and make no noise less they immediately become prey.  Babies born on Silence have their vocal cords damaged to prevent them from crying out, and thus none of the inhabitants are capable of speech.  They spend the long nights motionless, alone with their thoughts; imminent threat of death their only companion.  When dawn breaks they emerge from their isolation to see which members of their tribe have vanished.

When raised to Astartes, many of these cultural traits do not shift and are even exacerbated by the Raven Guard gene seed.  Soul Takers are hyper aware of their surroundings and favor the advanced sensors of Corvus armor to augment their instinctive need to be aware of their surroundings.  Lifetimes spent as prey make them more than capable of utilizing stealth to their advantage.  Having had no names  as humans, as Astartes they take the names of fallen brothers from allied chapters.  Death having been so common on their world, there is a very real focus on mortality that is manifested unusually.  Nearly all Soul Takers aspire to become chaplains, knowing the body is impermanent and desiring to armor their immortal souls. They find peace in meditation having spent most of their lives quietly alone with their own thoughts and revere the Emperor not as a god but as a protector and deliverer.

It is rumored that they are also more attuned than their brethren to hearing the voices of the dead, often whispering warnings of threat, and urging vengeance.  It is said they inscribe the names of these fallen companions on the inside of their armor. 

• Order of Battle: While generally codex compliant, the chapter tends to favor assault units over heavy support, utilizing their advantages in stealth tactics to overwhelm the enemy with brutal close combat charges.
• Chapter Personality: Almost all Soul Takers are drawn towards the Reclusiarchy and aspire to become chaplains in their own right.  As such skull helmets become common among veterans.  In combat they fight and die making no sound save the impact of their hammers upon their enemies and the roar of their bolters.
• Signature Weapon and Marking: Soul Takers favor hammers, reminiscent of the clubs they bore as mortals, over bladed weapons.  They bear the raven markings of their founding chapter, but other than purity seals tend to eschew elaborate ornamentation.  Their yellow and black quartered scheme represents both the day and night cycles of their home world, and the light of knowing the emperor against the darkness without.