IA: Flaming Swords

[StratoKhan]

Chapter Symbol of the Flaming Swords

Origins

T

he Flaming Swords trace their origins back to the Eighth Founding of M34. Chapter legend tells of a vision granted to the first Master of the Chapter by the Emperor himself. Taking heed of this vision, the Chapter Master pledged his fledling Chapter to an ambitious thousand-year Crusade, the High Lords of Terra eagerly granting the Chapters request. The Chapters objectives were to liberate crucial systems across the galaxy. Piracy would be eradicated from key imperial shipping lanes. The flow of sorely-needed men and armaments would be restored to the Imperiums beleaguered front lines.

The Orstaat Campaign

I

n the final years of the crusade even such desperate measures reached the limit of their usefulness. Located on the Ultima Segmentums border with the Segmentum Obscurus, the Orstaat sector is counted amongst the Flaming Swords greatest and most ancient of battle honours. Far from the Imperiums centres of power, for centuries Orstaat had been a lawless and anarchic place, infested with human and xenos pirates. Several systems had long ago forsaken the Emperor and now warred amongst themselves for supremacy. A powerful warband of Chaos Space Marines, the Unborn Knights, had established itself in the sector, launching raids deep into Imperial territory. By the end of M33 the High Lords of Terra had declared the entire sector lost to the Imperium, with several abortive campaigns to retake the lost sector only serving to embolden the secessionist planetary lords. In the westernmost reaches of the Ultima Segmentum the Chapters final trial was on hand.

The Flaming Swords committed their Chapters entire strength to bringing the lost sector back under the aegis of the Imperium. The Chapters leadership saw the Orstaat campaign as a fitting conclusion to their thousand year quest. And so the Chapter launched itself into the campaign with an intensity and fervour unmatched, and on countless planets the sigil of the flaming sword became a portent of impending judgement and doom.

The violence of the Orstaat campaign was such that the Chapters already depleted strength fell by over a third in less than three years, the loss of so many battle-brothers especially difficult to replenish in such a hostile sector. The ferocious pace of the battles would however vindicate the Chapters leadership. The final traitor stronghold in the sector fell within the sixth year, the dark lord of the Unborn Knights falling in combat with the Chapters champion. Despite the greatness of their achievement, the Flaming Swords found themselves on the brink of extinction.

Rebuilding the Chapter

T

he Chapters manpower was so depleted that the most pressing need was to rebuild its strength as soon as possible. To fail would mean joining the ranks of the lost Chapters of the Imperium. Many of Orstaat's star systems had been completely purged, as they had been populated by traitors and heretics. In such a depopulated sector suitable recruits were extremely scarce. As hopelessness set in, it was the Chapters Librarium that would prove invaluable in finding a solution. Routine archiving of records from the Orstaat Campaign yielded a data-cache sequestered from an infamous Rogue Traders flagship. Alkam Arend, known as the Prince of Merchants, had supplied both the loyalists and traitors of Orstaat with weapons and mercenaries for years, until the Flaming Swords ambushed Arends fleet at Coriskar and enforced the Emperors judgement. Such perfidiousness could not be tolerated, and Arend's fall cut off the flow of vital supplies to the traitors, eventually leading to their demise. It was the Rogue Traders annotations on the obscure Namshub system that caught the Chief Librarian's eye. Referencing primitive warriors and archaeotech, even such a vague lead was worth pursuing, given the Chapter's predicament. The Flaming Swords' fastest ships were immediately despatched to scout the system.

The Purifier Blade

O

ne of the Flaming Swords oldest relics, this ancient power sword is unnaturally sharp and deadly, and icorporates many technological advancements no longer completely understood by the Imperiums techno-savants. Over time the Chapters artificers have further upgraded the blade, integrating a powerful flamer into the hilt and crossguard, fueled by a unique blend of promethium that enhances the sword's power field.

The blades current bearer is Captain Tenoch Yel-Zar of the Chapters 4th Company. On the second moon of Quistorol Yel-Zar wielded the Purifier Blade to great effect, beheading the Greater Daemon Vuurthang Slugheart and banishing its unclean form back to the Immaterium. The Great Unclean One has since sworn revenge on the Chapter.

Home World

W

hen the Strike Cruisers of the Flaming Swords arrived in-system, not even the most optimistic of the expeditionary force's members could have imagined that the Chapter's future home-world had been discovered. Sidon had originally been occupied by an advanced civilization of unknown origin, wiped out thousands of years ago by a terrible cataclysm. Despite this, ruined fortresses still soared through the sky, held aloft by technology beyond the Imperiums understanding. Great vaults delved deep into forbidding mountain ranges, their chambers filled with impenetrable secrets. Whether the forgotten civilization had been human or alien in origin was impossible to tell. No Imperial records existed referencing the identity of these builders. Whatever had befallen the original inhabitants of the planet predated even the Great Crusade, and Imperial scholars have since speculated that the terrible events must have unfolded during the tumultuous Age of Strife.

Further reconnaisance revealed that the planet did indeed support human life. A forbidding and inhospitable place, the planet was also home to a variety of dangerous fauna. Such conditions bred tough and hardy people tempered by war and the struggle to stay alive. The disparate human cultures of the planet had progressed to a pre-fedual level of technology and fought with sword, lance and bow. Raids and battles were fought for the right to survive one more season, and the mightiest warriors occupied positions of great influence amongst their people.

Operating as a fleet-based chapter meant that the Flaming Swords were dangerously under-strength for long periods of time, a regular intake of suitable aspirants not easily guaranteed by the constant redeployment of the Chapters forces into new regions. In Sidon the Chapter had finaly found a steady source of strong and ferocious recruits that would allow them to pursue their campaigns.

Fortress Monastery

T

he largest and most intact of the ruined sky fortresses that float across the skies of Sidon, the redoutable Castellum Nubifraxis was extensively repaired and strengthened by the Chapters Techmarines and now serves as the Flaming Swords Fortress Monastery.

The systems that keep this mighty structure aloft are barely understoot, however over the years the most gifted of the Chapters Techmarines have discovered how to change the great fortresss elevation, speed, and direction. Assaulting such a fortress would be a daunting prospect for any foe, with defense laser emplacements and missile batteries studding the walls. The Castellum Nubifraxis is connected to a network of orbital defenses that keep watch over the star system. The orbital defenses serve another, more sinister purpose; any sign of technological progress on the planet is vigorously eradicated by the Space Marines.

To Sidons populace the wrath of the Sky Warriors raining down on any transgressors is deterrent enough to steer them away from to pursuit of progress. Such ruthlessness, combined with the planets scarcity of ores and minerals, ensures that civilization on Sidon will never progress to a level where the inhabitants grow soft, decadent, and weak. The Chapter thus plays its own vital part in maintaining the endless cycle of war and suffering that sweeps the planet.

Organisation

T

he Chapter is Codex-compliant and is divided into ten Companies of Space Marines. Slight variations to Company strucure have emerged over the years. During space operations the most common force size deployed is the demi-company, and early in its history this prompted the Chapter to reinstate the ancient Legiones Astartes rank of Lieutenant, a rarity in M41. The Chapter has also made changes to the way it displays insignia. Company markings are displayed on the left knee pad, this method having completely replaced the previous practice of each company bearing distinct company colours on their shoulder pads.

The Chapter places great importance on ship boarding actions, and veterans of these operations display a non-Codex-compliant lightning bolt insignia on the armour of both legs. It is credit to the Chapters skill at void warfare that almost every battle brother bears such an insignia on their armour. Personal heraldry is also proudly displayed and embellished as the battle-brothers feats of arms and legend grows.

Rumours exist of an additional company bearing markings with strong resemblance to the Flaming Swords, but such tales have yet to be corroborated. What is certain is that above all else the Inquisition wishes to prevent the outbreak of another conflict to rival the Badab War. Its instigator, the traitor Chapter Master Lugft Huron, began his descent into heresy precisely through an expansion of his Chapters forces.

This has led some branches of the Inquisition to investigate rumours of covert force-building more thoroughly than would previously have been deemed necessary. Any attempts to uncover the truth regarding this additional unit have so far been inconclusive, although strangely such investigations have been marked by the suspicious disappearances of many of the Inquisitors involved.

Combat Doctrine

Brother Ostrogg?, Squad Leader,

Fifth Battle Company,

KIA during the Ykanne Insurgency

S

ince establishing its base of operations on Sidon, the Chapter developed into a flexible fighting force capable of conducting complex operations. Many of the capabilities were refined during the Orstaat Campaign, as the Chapter engaged in simultaneous combat across a wide range of warzones. When planetary assault is required, the Chapter is known to employ mass drop pod launches supported by planetary bombardment, to break up and overwhelm enemy formations. The Chapter often employs its superior mobility to apply swift and devastating pressure to the most vulnerable points of the enemy battleline.

Each of the Chapters Battle Companies maintains small squads of company veterans to act as breacher squads during ship-to-ship combat, sieges and city-fighting. For the Space Marines assigned to these squads, the honour of being selected for such duties far outweighs the increased lethality of the assignment. Many tactical squads are equipped with Umbra-pattern bolters fitted with chainaxe attachments, increasing their effectiveness in the closing phases of an engagement. The demand for such weapons is great enough for the Chapter's Forge to continue manufacturing them in significant numbers, despite the relatively archaic nature of their design. These boltguns are much prized by their owners for their combination of firepower and vicious close combat capabilities.

The Chapter is well-equipped with a wide range of equipment and variants of armour and weapons, as befits one of the older Chapters of the Imperium. Many Forge Worlds of the Mechanicum contributed to the Chapter's armaments over the years and this has resulted in a wide range of weapon and armour designs being available to the Chapter. Over its storied existence the Chapters warriors have honed their skills with the full arsenal of weapons at their disposal, however many Space Marines have developed a preference for brutal and effective weaponry such as melta weapons and flamers, which are lethal in the close confines of ship boarding actions.

Chapter Fleet

F

or the first thousand years of its existence the Chapter operated as a fleet-based force. In conjunction with their unique strategic focus this brought them in continuous conflict with the numerous pirate fleets that plague the Imperium. Eldar Corsairs, Orks Freeboterz and renegade Imperial Admirals; each require specialized tactics if the Adeptus Astartes are to overcome them.

As a consequence the Chapters fleet is lighter and more mobile than that of more conventional Chapters. Several of the Flaming Swords Strike Cruisers were modified to carry only a demi-company of Space marines. As major objectives have changed in recent millennia, this intermediate class of Strike Cruiser has become less popular, despite composing a large part of the Chapters fleet. Many of the Chapters Caestus assault rams and Thunderhawk gunships have been modified to enhance space operations and facilitate the Chapters ambush tactics against pirates.

Beliefs

A

s is typical amongst the Adeptus Astartes, the Flaming Swords revere the Emperor as the most exceptional of mortal men, but not as a god. The Chapters cult is fierce in its worship and mythologization of its greatest heroes. The Chapter values self-reliance and determination, and ensuring the survival of the Chapter's warrior cadre and its martial codes is paramount above anything else. The Chapter's Chaplains work tirelessly and fervently to expound this creed and foster its importance amongst the battle-brothers. Although the bonds of brotherhood are continually reaffirmed in battle, in less turbulent times such bonds are further deepened through ritualized combat between battle-brothers.

Senior figures such as Captains are followed with unfaltering loyalty, which is not borne of a rigid deference to hierarchy. The Captains and Chapter Masters of the Flaming Swords are considered equals to their battle-brothers, and must prove that the faith placed in them is justified. Many foolhardy Imperial commanders have learned this the hard way, through spectacularly unsuccessful attempts to establish their precarious authority over the Chapters commanders, and not all have survived their harsh lesson.

The punishing nature of void warfare, combined with the relentless crusade that the Flaming Swords pursued during their formative years, implanted a fatalistic and embittered streak in the Chapters culture that persists to this day. In certain individuals this translates into a death-impulse that drives warriors to commit acts of suicidal bravery. This is known in the Chapters parlance as seeking the Emperors favour, and such warriors often volunteer to lead forlorn hopes or last stands, where their chances of survival are almost non-existent. Nowhere is this trait more pronounced than in the warriors of the First Company, who upon induction ritually repaint their armour black, in penance for a secret shame known only to the Chapter, and never discussed with outsiders.

Veteran Brother Pardix?,

First Company,

Hero of the Ilyssos Crusade

Gene-Seed

T

he Flaming Swords have never discussed the origins of their gene-seed with outsiders, and reliable records of their Founding have proven notoriously difficult to secure. Some scholars believe the Flaming Swords to be successors to the White Scars Chapter, while others are certain the Ultramarines Chapter is the most likely Progenitor. The true lineage of the Flaming Swords gene-seed is part of the mysteries of the Chapter, and its battle-brothers must be judged worthy of induction into the Chapter's secret orders before learning the full truth of their origins.

The Apothecaries of the Flaming Swords performed countless vivisections, autopsies and many other atrocious experiments on the population of Sidon before satisfying themselves that the inhabitants would be suitable hosts for the Chapter's gene-seed. The final assessment of the unwitting inhabitants classified them, as "extremely viable" implantation subjects, the first time in the Chapter's history. Gene-seed implantation, though inherently dangerous to the subject, has seen its highest success rate since the occupation of Sidon, and this has doubtlessly contributed to the preservation of the Chapters purity.

Although the Chapters geneseed is considered pure and free from mutation, some scholars have speculated that the death drive that takes root in some of the Chapters veterans might be caused by an almost imperceptible imbalance in the subjects Catalepsean Node. In recent years the Chapter has trialed additional psycho-indoctrination in the most afflicted subjects, with mixed success. While some of the subjects thus treated have apparently been cured, many others have immolated themselves in renewed acts of spectacular recklessness and suicidal bravery. Though the loss of such warriors is a terrible price to pay, such sacrifices invariably inflict punishing losses on the enemy, in many cases turning the tide of battle at crucial moments.

Battle-Cry

Flame and Ruin!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Why didn't Sidon's human inhabitants attempt to occupy the sky fortresses? And why isn't there physical evidence of those who built the sky fortresses, e.g., skeletons in its command center?

 

Possible explanation: Sidon was an Aeldari-occupied planet, which was subjected to virus-bombing long ago, hence why there are no remains found aboard the (Aeldari-built) sky fortresses. The human inhabitants are descendants of slaves, imprisoned when not at work to prevent escape and rebellion; ironically, the same prisons protected them when their masters were reduced to ash and dust; the freed slaves avoid the sky fortresses, which they believe are haunted.

 

That should reconcile the contradiction of a high-tech Chapter planet (the sky fortresses) with low-tech inhabitants (humans fighting with bows instead of guns).

[StratoKhan]

Hi Bjorn,

 

In my vision the sky fortresses are really high​ up, we're talking several kms into the atmosphere. It wouldn't be feasible for anyone without advanced technology to reach them. The best the Sidonians can do are gliders. It's like Olympus of Greek mythology, but  you can actually see it in the sky, just like the moon and the stars.

 

Since the slaves cannot operate the advanced Builder/Master technology, they were basically hard-resetted back to the Stone/Iron Age. Almost all minerals and resources have been extracted from the planet many years ago, so it's very hard to restart an advanced society (a concept explored very well by the Niven/Pournelle novel The Mote in God's Eye, btw). Which is why over thousands of years technology hasn't progressed much.

 

As for the why there is no trace of the Masters, there's a few sources I took inspiration from:

• No imagery of the dominant civilisation: here I assume that the civilisation was a sci-fi version of Byzantine-style Iconoclasm, or the Aniconism of certain branches of Islam. So no depiction of living beings is allowed. Which means that pure guesswork is the only way to determine whether these Masters were human or not.
• no bodies, skeletons: I mention 'cataclysm' in the homeworld section because the race wasn't just wiped out and bodies piled up. As I see it, the Masters' mortal forms were utterly annihilated. Here I was inspired by the Suicide Night 'Die' command projected by the Thrintun in Niven's Known Space series, where almost all life is wiped. I imagined a Master technology reverse-engineered by the slaves to destroy the Masters so utterly that they are basically turned to dust. Almost all cities are smashed to pieces. The sky fortresses are damaged, some even crash into the planet's surface, turning the planet from almost-paradise to almost-death world. Almost all the slaves also die in the process. The only people that survive are a few slaves who are shielded from the cataclysm, and they are the ones that repopulate the planet. We came to a similar conclusion there, the slave survivors should probably be prisoners, or gladiators, or something like that. The fauna is the really bad stuff from hunting reserves, bio-engineered apex predator stuff that was designed for Masters to hunt. The beasties escaped from their zoo as it were...

In my head, there is someone who knows all about what happened and how it happened: in one of the most impenetrable vaults of Sidon, deep in the most treacherous mountain range, trapped in a stasis field we have... someone. Human, or humanoid. They are either one of the original slaves that led the rebellion - or a Master? However once the vault's AI detected that all Master life had died, it powered down into 'standby mode' and activated all the powerful security measures. No one goes there. The Space Marines have sealed the vault, but even they don't know what's down there. Maybe a Rogue Mechanicum team is planning to infiltrate the vault and steal/recover archaeotech. Which would be a fun INQ28 scenario, with time running out before the Space Marines send a kill team to wipe the Ad Mech black ops team, and all the political drama that ensues, with everyone denying wrongdoing...

 

Basically I like the idea of keeping the Master origin unknown, do you think it detracts from the story?

[Bjorn Firewalker]

In my vision the sky fortresses are really high​ up, we're talking several kms into the atmosphere. It wouldn't be feasible for anyone without advanced technology to reach them. The best the Sidonians can do are gliders. It's like Olympus of Greek mythology, but you can actually see it in the sky, just like the moon and the stars.

 

Since the slaves cannot operate the advanced Builder/Master technology, they were basically hard-resetted back to the Stone/Iron Age. Almost all minerals and resources have been extracted from the planet many years ago, so it's very hard to restart an advanced society (a concept explored very well by the Niven/Pournelle novel The Mote in God's Eye, btw). Which is why over thousands of years technology hasn't progressed much.

 

As for the why there is no trace of the Masters, there's a few sources I took inspiration from:

[*]No imagery of the dominant civilisation: here I assume that the civilisation was a sci-fi version of Byzantine-style Iconoclasm, or the Aniconism of certain branches of Islam. So no depiction of living beings is allowed. Which means that pure guesswork is the only way to determine whether these Masters were human or not.

Okay, this is plausible.

[*]no bodies, skeletons: I mention 'cataclysm' in the homeworld section because the race wasn't just wiped out and bodies piled up. As I see it, the Masters' mortal forms were utterly annihilated. Here I was inspired by the Suicide Night 'Die' command projected by the Thrintun in Niven's Known Space series, where almost all life is wiped. I imagined a Master technology reverse-engineered by the slaves to destroy the Masters so utterly that they are basically turned to dust.

This is NOT. Why would the Masters leave such devastating technology around for potential enemies to find? Why would they allow slaves to be able to use this technology? (Note in human history, slaves were usually denied education and intentionally left illiterate, to minimize this risk.) Why would EVERY SINGLE SLAVE skilled enough to use such technology, choose suicide instead of a chance at a better life?

 

Better to claim a third party inflicted the devastation. Maybe Angron and the XII Legion, during the Great Crusade?

Basically I like the idea of keeping the Master origin unknown, do you think it detracts from the story?

Too many unknowns may give readers the impression the worldbuilding is half-assed, the way J. J. Abrams' storytelling is half-assed. That is NOT an impression you want us to have.

[StratoKhan]

If Angron had visited the planet, I doubt anything would have been left but bloody torsos. It could be a nice angle, just not sure I'm feeling it as much.

 

As for dangerous technology, a lot of 'mundane' things in our world are dangerous. Nuclear power plants for example have the potential to be dangerous. Doesn't mean they automatically are of course. My high school was very close to a lab that contained a lot of infectious diseases (no, I didn't go to school in Wuhan  ). Maybe it was a creative repurposing of something that was so ubiquitous, so interlaced into the fabric of society that its creators could not even conceive of its potential to harm them...

 

The slaves probably did not mean to kill themselves in the bargain. But they did. Life is unfair that way. Consider also that during the Age of Strife on many worlds humans developed pyschic powers at an unprecedented rate. Maybe that was the edge they needed to stack the odds in their favour.

 

I totally get what you mean about keeping slaves uneducated and so on, all very true. However without getting into too much of a discussion on slavery there have been many types of slaves that have held varying degrees of status... thinking of eunuchs, Mamluks, Ghulams... And even when slaves were just a source of manpower, they developed ways of transmitting knowledge and culture despite the restrictions placed on them. Of course an oral history degree in advanced astrophysics might be a stretch...

 

I'll keep in mind your feedback as I review the next draft, this is all very (super) useful.Thanks!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

As for dangerous technology, a lot of 'mundane' things in our world are dangerous. Nuclear power plants for example have the potential to be dangerous. Doesn't mean they automatically are of course. My high school was very close to a lab that contained a lot of infectious diseases (no, I didn't go to school in Wuhan ). Maybe it was a creative repurposing of something that was so ubiquitous, so interlaced into the fabric of society that its creators could not even conceive of its potential to harm them...

Fair enough.

The slaves probably did not mean to kill themselves in the bargain. But they did. Life is unfair that way. Consider also that during the Age of Strife

on many worlds

humans developed pyschic powers at an unprecedented rate. Maybe that was the edge they needed to stack the odds in their favour.

Say the slaves prayed to the Chaos Gods for the power to overthrow their oppressors, the Chaos Gods answered by transforming them into Daemonhosts, the Masters then used WMDs in desperation, and both sides were wiped out in the ensuing cataclysm?

[StratoKhan]

The important things are:

I need some guys to survive the destruction (somehow) otherwise the Chapter has no recruits.

I need them to be of relatively pure stock, otherwise the planet is not such a good source of recruits.

 

If even some of the humans prayed to Chaos I think that would taint the whole planet.

Let me think about this...

[gripschi]

 Idea from the Ringworld Books, a foregin race constructed a special Virus to destroy "Conductor" to criplle there technlogy. The flying palaces broke down to various degrees. Which would explain the fall of them. No without there technology, there slaves butcher them all.

 

And to produce food, large fields on the surface maintain to some degree by slaves. Which later can be the Leaders of the New Civilastion.

[Messor]

While the details behind Sidon's present condition aren't super important to the story of the Flaming Swords (and I don't think the absence of those details detracts from the story at all), they make for a pretty interesting story themselves, something that might someday be fun to delve into in a narrative campaign or something. I do think that the Inquisitorial elements involved are being rather narrow in their scope. It makes sense to investigate a Chapter with a suspicious background; we see that often. But the Flaming Swords are sitting on mysteries that could be every bit as impactful and every bit as heretical on their homeworld. While the Swords themselves may not take interest in delving deeper into those secrets, outside factions will (like the Mechanicum you mentioned). That's one thing I think would be worth giving mention in the Swords' story; the degree to which other parties have taken interest in Sidon's secrets since the Swords settled there.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I need them to be of relatively pure stock, otherwise the planet is not such a good source of recruits.

 

If even some of the humans prayed to Chaos I think that would taint the whole planet.

Good point.

Idea from the Ringworld Books, a foregin race constructed a special Virus to destroy "Conductor" to criplle there technlogy. The flying palaces broke down to various degrees. Which would explain the fall of them. No without there technology, there slaves butcher them all.

 

And to produce food, large fields on the surface maintain to some degree by slaves. Which later can be the Leaders of the New Civilation.

Excellent idea!

[Lord_Caerolion]

If you want a Legion who had very selective genocide, the Iron Hands would be a good candidate. It wouldn't be the first planet where they utterly wiped out the ruling class, and left the serfs as the shellshocked survivors amidst the wreckage.

[Brother Cambrius]

Sweet merciful Emperor! The Dreadnoughts are waking up again! 

 

Welcome back, Stratokhan! I haven't seen these fine individuals for a long stretch. I'll give them a good look over tomorrow during my lunchbreak to add some fresh fluff mauling, as per the old ways. :D

 

Cambrius

[StratoKhan]

Hey! Yes please, I came back for the full pain glove treatment.

 

Thanks to all who have provided feedback, I’m planning on doing a second pass in the next few weeks.

[Brother Cambrius]

So then, let's start off with the plaudits:

 

To start with, I really like the character being built for these guys, with their desperation to "Earn the Emperor's Favour", but is tempered with interesting secrets.

 

The colour scheme and world building for Sidon are really interesting and to add a fun bedrock to build the Flaming Swords' culture upon, there's a few items of potential in there too in seeing how they interact with the rest of the Imperium at large with these ancient relic ruins that would certainly get the attention of the Adeptus Mechanicus and potentially the forces of the =][=. It'd be nice to see an expansion on how the Flaming Swords get along with their neighbours and such to help gauge their character beyond shooty-shooty and choppy-choppy killy-death. ;) I do like having the mystery of just what the planet's ancient history is, a bit of wonder and questioning for us readers is always a tasty hook. We don;t have to know everything, just enough to understand the basics.

 

Now then, a few niggles here and there. First and foremost, I spotted a few typo daemons here and there, so might be worth running it through a spell checker to catch some, but I imagine when you give it a second pass, you'll come across them fine. Fresh eyes work wonders on written work.

 

The big question now of course is how are they doing in M42 after all the seismic events that have torn the Imperium in two and led to a whole bunch of changes for the Adeptus Astartes, notably Guilliman's return and the Primaris founding. Will we see a focus on that in the second-pass to bring them to the forefront of current 40k history?

 

Now on their near-fatalism for seeking glory and redemption in combat, with their near loss of existence early on in their history, wouldn't that help to temper such compunctions to die so openly, given that the chapter have already stared down extinction once before? Or does the matter of shame and secrets within their cult and history happen after this time that it alters their behaviour to become this character of wild-abandon?

 

On the geneseed front, the secrets (and black armour for the 1st Company, which I think is a fine touch) point to me that they may be of Dark Angels' heritage. It would certainly add to them owning old relics of weaponry long forgotten etc and the use of Umbra-pattern boltguns. But Lord_Caerolion made a good suggestion below:

 

If you want a Legion who had very selective genocide, the Iron Hands would be a good candidate. It wouldn't be the first planet where they utterly wiped out the ruling class, and left the serfs as the shellshocked survivors amidst the wreckage.

 

This could be a fun spin on them, maybe not to the extreme bionic-loving extent of the Iron Hands themselves, but their blunt and precise nature in meting out justice and death upon civilian populaces found wanting in loyalty sounds right up the Flaming Swords' alley. The addition of the unique archaeo-tech and the interaction with other powerful elements of the Imperium like the Mechanicus could pair nicely with this too. :)

 

I'll be looking forwards to seeing the second pass. And once again, welcome back Stratokhan! The LIBER is much richer to see an old member of the Librarius return. :tu:

 

Cambrius

[Lord_Caerolion]

Yep, Iron Hands without the bionics obsession is what I've done with my Sons of Sobek, so it'll be interesting to see how someone else might do it, if that's the route that Stratokhan decides to go.

[Beta galactosidase]

 

Each of the Chapter’s Battle Companies maintains small squads of company veterans to act as breacher squads during ship-to-ship combat, sieges and city-fighting. For the Space Marines assigned to these squads, the honour of being selected for such duties far outweighs the increased lethality of the assignment. Many tactical squads are equipped with Umbra-pattern bolters fitted with chainaxe attachments, increasing their effectiveness in the closing phases of an engagement. The demand for such weapons is great enough for the Chapter's Forge to continue manufacturing them in significant numbers, despite the relatively archaic nature of their design. These boltguns are much prized by their owners for their combination of firepower and vicious close combat capabilities.

 

awesome, totally classic. Maybe you can do a little more with it?

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

i'm not too hung up on the mysterious  people who used to live there, heck we have places here on earth that are a ruin, with little else known to this day about who lived there, what happened or where they went.
depending on how long ago the cataclysm was nearly all remains could be deeper in the ground than anyone has been bothered to look, and thats just for the few that managed to fossilize.

my questions, how large was the chapter's fleet, and what was it's composition when it embarked on it's crusade? what was it's composition and numbers when it returned? Was it purely a chapter based crusade or did the high lords assign the IN and IG to support them in significant numbers/ways?

marine fleets are typically a fairly small number of cruiser+ sized ships i'm not mistaken, effective anti-piracy operations require a large number of ships in order to simply be near enough a pirate attack to have a hope of responding in time, and fast and mobile enough to actually get there in time, warp travel further complicates things as a ship can run with little to no method of tracing or following it. (source, lots of time pirate hunting)

who are the pirates they're primarily facing? DE? human pirates? ork?