The Life and Death of a Space Marine

[Stoneface]

The Life and Death of a Space Marine

Captain Gaius Stilicho of the 4^th Company

Gaius Stilicho lived for around 320 standard Terran years, from roughly 670.M41 until 989.M41. In many ways his life was a typical example of one of his kind, if the lives of the Astartes can ever be called typical, for his progression through the ranks of the Crimson Fist Chapter was steady, rather than meteoric, and based on Stilicho’s strong personality. He was brave, noble, yet like most Astartes essentially removed from and indifferent towards the individual lives of the teeming masses which make up the galactic realm of the Imperium.

However Stilicho was unusual in that after his death a collection his personal paper’s were recovered from his cabin aboard his strike cruiser ‘The Spirit of Saturnine’. These recorded many of his most vivid recollections and experiences. Such displays of self awareness and dare I say it ego are rare within the ranks of the Astartes. This collection of papers gives us a rare opportunity to get a complete picture of the life of a Space Marine, and through this we may attempt to try and understand their extraordinary lives.

Birth and Induction:
Stilicho was born in around 670.M41 on the feudal world Yundel in the Brunneel Sector out in the galactic East. This was one of several regular recruiting worlds used by the Crimson Fists in that time. As was customary on that planet at the hight of the winter solstice, a group of around 100 youths were gathered from the tribes of the northern hemisphere and forced to compete and fight for the right to be taken by the chapter – which was, it should be noted, the highest honour. It is recorded in the recruiting annals of the Crimson Fists that a Chaplain Veranius visited the world in 681.M41 and having deemed them healthy in body and spirit took into his protection 8 youths who were the only fit survivors of these trials. In his paper’s Stilicho indicates that he was one of these youths, making him perhaps 10 standard years at the time. What is interesting is that Stilicho did his own investigation into the Chapter records to try and tie his own loose recollections of his childhood with chapter fact, revealing just what a tremendous impact the trail and his induction had on the young Stilicho.

Of the 8 survivors only Stilicho and 3 other children survived the gruelling initiation and medical procedures undertaken to turn them from mundane human youths into a trans-human neophytes of the Astartes. During this time Stilicho was given his name by a Chaplain called Juhuss Permagon, purportedly after a Terran hero of the mythic age. His old name from Yundel was discarded, and Stilicho has no recollection of what it once might have been. Stilicho has only the dimmest recollections from this early period of his life, and it is interesting to note that here within his paper’s it is possible to discern a slight pang of regret at not knowing his birth name – more interesting is that he shows not the slightest interest in whom his parents might have been – the monolithic and all-encompassing nature of the Brotherhood and culture of the Chapter long ago supplanting and utterly eradicating his traditional familiar relationships. In fact, Stilicho mentions Chaplain Permagon no fewer than 47 times in his papers, and takes care to mention his death fighting off an Eldar pirate raid in 745.M41. It is possible that Permagon become something of a surrogate father figure to Stilicho and the rest of neophytes of this time, if a strict and cold one, and the two seem to have remained correspondents long after Stilicho left the 10^th Company.

Early and mid-service
After his many trails of initiation Stilicho joined the 10^th Company and spent around 40 years there. Fighting as a Neophyte scout in many actions and theatres and having spent many years on attachment to several other companies. He was elevated to Scout Sergeant and distinguished himself - somewhat ironically – putting down a minor rebellion on the Crimson Fist’s own homeworld of Rynn’s World caused by an increase in the grain tithe.

He survived the implementation of the black carapace and was elevated to a full Battle Brother in 727.M41 and marks the occasion well. Stilicho’s elevation was celebrated with a feast, and he records that the Captain of the 10^th Company was present along with a gathering of 10^th company neophytes. Almost immediately after the ceremony Stilicho was re-allocated to the 9^th company. Stilicho spent around 10 years moving steadily through the support companies, learning heavy weapons and then close combat finesse in the 9^th and 8^th companies respectively, before moving to the 6^th Reserve Company.

Stilicho spent only 6 years in the 6^th Company, and apparently distinguished himself in the Siege of Ralcor in 742.M41. He states he was badly wounded there by a blast that caused the collapse of all three of his lungs. He spent a year in convalescence back on Rynn’s World under the care of the Apothicarium and upon his return to active duty he was made a member of the 4^th Battle-Line Company.

As a member of a Battle-Line Company Stilicho had finally come of age in the eyes of the Chapter, at a mere 73 years old. It seems Stilicho grew very attached to the 4^th Company, and he fully submerged himself in the lore and particular idiosyncrasies of the Company. Most Astartes meet their end in the Battle-Line Companies they were assigned to decades earlier, and it is possible that Stilicho never imagined he would ever be moved from there.

Late Service and Senior Office
Stilicho spent 84 years with the 4^th Company, and spent many years as Sergeant of Corvo Squad. He lists many engagements and adventures within his papers. Many of these are as sensitive as they are fascinating (many come as news to, and are of great interest to our Organisation – and I have had to redact many others). Never the less after many decades of excellent service Stilicho was finally elevated to the 1^st Veteran Company, allowed to wear the Crux Terminatus and paint his right gauntlet crimson.

Stilicho spent around 60 years in the 1^st company, and again rose to the rank of Sergeant. During this time he not only undertook exceedingly dangerous and specialised operations – the destruction of the Space Hulk known as Gulgamec in 869.M41 being one – but he also formed a close working relationship to the Chapter Master and other leading members of the Chapter. It was here that Stilicho would have been introduced to more organisational and logistical duties, and he was given responsibility for making sure that various aspects of the Company and perhaps wider Chapter ran smoothly. In 887.M41 the 4^th Company were defeated and driven from the field by Greenskins on Julrill V, part of the Titanius Crusade. Over 30 marines were killed and Stilicho mourns their loss bitterly (Corvo Squad were wiped out to a man) and he lists many battle brother’s by name whom he knew from his time in the 4^th. Though a shocking blow it is quite possible that Stilicho had been waiting for a gap in his beloved 4^th Company’s command structure to open for several years, for he immediately put forward for, and was accepted in a posting to the 4^th Company as a Veteran Sergeant.

As one of 3 Veteran Sergeants left in the 4^th Company Stilicho was now a senior staff officer of the Company. Not only was he responsible for his own extended operations – he led many missions and was put in charge of a demi-company of 4^th Company numerous times – but he was now responsible for essentially sharing in the duties of running the Company, split between Captain Faldor, Librarian Voss, as well as a Sergeant Brakker. One of the duties assigned to Stilicho was the overseeing of the 4^th Company’s naval assets, comprising 2 Strike Cruisers and a small fleet of 12 frigates. Amusingly, Stilicho seems to have developed something of a passion for void combat and become something of a ‘ship spotter’ in general. He boasts that he can determine the identity of over 1000 ships from their emissions signature alone, and seems to have become especially attached to the ancient Strike Cruiser ‘The Spirit of Saturnine’ which became his personal command.

In 903.M41 Sergeant Brakker was killed fighting Eldar Pirates in the Armageddon Sector, and Stilicho essentially became Capt. Faldor’s right hand man and ‘Chamberlain’. Stilicho tells us that the 4^th Company was at this time entitled to around a 6% cut of the tithe taken from Rynn’s World by the Chapter, and he would have been responsible for the distribution of these resources to further the company’s needs. In 914.M41 Stilicho concludes 12 months of negations with advocates from Forgeworld Metalica, as well as numerous members of Ultima Fleet High Command to support a Crimson Fist campaign into the Ghoul Stars. Many assume that the Space Marine’s operate wholly independently of other Imperial military organisations but the reality of often the reverse, generally the Astartes lack the brute manpower and material resources necessary to sustain long campaigns, and as such these kinds of labyrinthine pacts and deals are commonly made. In return for Metallica producing 26 armoured war machines and 2 Gladiator Frigates, as well as supplying 3 legions of Skitarii, Stilicho promised that a demi-company from 4^th Company would assist Metalica in the defence of its interests in the Ytang Sector from Heretic Astartes pirates after the culmination of the Ghoul Stars campaign and for a set duration of 5 Terran Standard years. Ultima Fleet Command also agreed to supply 1 Cruiser, 6 Frigates and 50,000 men from the Imperial Guard, with the expectation that 30 Marines from 4^th Company could be supplied immediately to conduct a drop assault on the rebel stronghold of Untapo on the planet Devan III. Negotiating and make such deals would have become second nature to Stilicho as his skills as a diplomat became more refined.

In 943.M41 Captain Faldor and around 30 men from 4^th Company were killed during the 2^nd War for Armageddon. Stilicho returned to real space after a 6 month journey through the warp from the Eastern Fringe to discover that the Chapter Master Pedro Kantor had appointed him 4^th Company’s Captain.

Death on Rynn’s World
Naturally Stilicho’s paper’s do not cover the events of Warboss Snagrod’s invasion of and near destruction of Rynn’s World and the entire Crimson Fist Chapter in 988-9.M41. For this we must rely solely on Chapter records, which are far less detailed or personal. We know that Chapter Master Pedro Kantor ordered the immediate withdrawal of Crimson Fist forces in other warzones back to the home system, where the combined Crimson Fists navy and local naval units led a fighting withdrawal back to the home-world. Stilicho and almost all the 4^th Company deployed to the planet’s surface to face the ork threat when they started to make planet fall.

The destruction of the Crimson Fists fortress monastery by one of its own malfunctioning melta-torpedos’ has been long lamented and discussed, and I shall not go into it here, suffice to say that in one millisecond the chapter was vastly reduced, its resources and war machines almost all gone, and its greatest fortification eradicated.

Stilicho and the survivors of 4^th company made a stand along with elements of at least 3 other companies outside New Rynn City. Here Stilicho met his fate along with all the surviving members of 4^th Company during this famous ‘Last Stand of the Crimson Fists’ which succeeded in saving New Rynn City. Recovered pict- recordings from Stilicho’s visor show his last act tearing the head off an Ork boss off with his power fist before a flash and his feed going dead.

Chapter Master Kantor led a 1 year guerrilla war against the Greenskins and eventually succeeded in driving them from the planet. It was not until after this that Stilicho’s remains, and the remains of many other Crimson Fists slain could be recovered, by which time their gene seed was lost.

The 4^th Company after Stilicho
Stilicho’s sacrifice, and the sacrifice of the Crimson Fists in general, became legend in the years after the Rynn’s World invasion. Stilicho’s remains were interned with great honour within the new Fortress Monastery which began to be constructed after the war.

Less than 200 marines survived Snograd’s invasion. Only one squad survived from the 4^th Company, Sergeant Falco and his 9 man squad had been left in reserve by Stilicho on the Spirit of Saturnine, and so had been spared their demise. However Falco led his squad down to the planet to join Kantor’s counter strike after hearing of Stilicho’s death. Almost all the survivors of the war were inducted into the 1^st Company as veterans, Falco included. In honour of Stilicho, Falco took up his power fist, dubbed ‘The Fist of Vengeance’.

In the years after the war the chapter began to rebuild its numbers. Falco returned to a skeleton 4^th Company as Veteran Sergeant in 998.M41, an absence of less than a decade. Captaincy of 4^th Company was given to Isidore Haleous and he presided over the company during Roboute Guilliman’s return at the head of his Indomitus Crusade and Primaris Space Marines.

Captain Haleous would die in 167.M42 fighting against Heretic Astartes forces, and in 168.M42 Falco was promoted to Captain. He crossed the Rubicon Primaris the same year. On a pilgrimage to the Fortress Monastery Falco retrieved Stilicho’s armour from the vaults of the Chapter armoury and bid that the forgemaster’s incorporate elements of it into his new Primaris mark X armour.

(Taken from the personal collection of Inquisitor Gedeon Fairlance ‘Dux of Brombarie’ 823.M41 – 189.M42) Edited August 15, 2020 by Stoneface

[Stoneface]

Hi guys, just a bit of background regarding the captain of my Crimson Fist force. Had the urge to give him a proper background and couldn't resist posting it on here. 

If there are any factual (so to speak) error's with existing character's or Chapter organisation please let me know :) 

[Lukoi]

Awesome write up and entertaining read!

[Brother Lunkhead]

Brother Stoneface, that was a most excellent read You really put a lot of thought into the story and breathed real life into the character of Brother Captain Stilicho. Good work sir

 

Nitpickery:

 

Hidden Content

Chapter Master Kantor led a 1 year gruella (spelling: guerrilla) war against the Greenskins and eventually succeeded in driving them from the planet.

 

 Falco was promoted to Captain. He crossed the Rubicon Primaris the same year. On a pilgrimage to the Fortress Monastery Falco retrieved Stilicho’s armour from the vaults of the Chapter armoury and bid that the forgemaster’s remake it to fit his new Primaris proportions.

 

I'm pretty sure that transforming first gen armor into Primaris armor is not possible. The size and build of Mk X armor is too different. Perhaps Falco has some of the icons of Stilicho's armor placed on his own, or has the iconography duplicated to his own armor.

Edited August 15, 2020 by Brother Lunkhead

[Stoneface]

Brother Stoneface, that was a most excellent read You really put a lot of thought into the story and breathed real life into the character of Brother Captain Stilicho. Good work sir

 

Nitpickery:

 

Hidden Content

Chapter Master Kantor led a 1 year gruella (spelling: guerrilla) war against the Greenskins and eventually succeeded in driving them from the planet.

Falco was promoted to Captain. He crossed the Rubicon Primaris the same year. On a pilgrimage to the Fortress Monastery Falco retrieved Stilicho’s armour from the vaults of the Chapter armoury and bid that the forgemaster’s remake it to fit his new Primaris proportions.

I'm pretty sure that transforming first gen armor into Primaris armor is not possible. The size and build of Mk X armor is too different. Perhaps Falco has some of the icons of Stilicho's armor placed on his own, or has the iconography duplicated to his own armor.

 

Thank you Brother Lunkhead that means a lot. On your suggestion I’ve altered the part about his armour in case previous marks of armour are incompatible.