Blood Angels' successors based on vampires in pop-culture

[Gamiel]

"Upon the seed of the Blood Angels lies the most ancient curse of mutation, a foulness that cannot be seen, which is covered by the grace, intelligence, and high achievements which are the proud boast of this most noble of Chapters. Yet the fire that burns behind the eyes of these sons of Sanguinius is bright with a thirst which only the blood of man can slake. Aye, it would be wise to but whisper the name that comes from times heavy with age and fear, a name which echoes in the march of the Blood Angels... The name of Vampire"

- Codex Imperialis

 

While the vampire theme have been a part of the Blood Angels and their successors for a long time there have not been that many Chapters where the vampire theme is the main theme. This thread is for me spinning on ideas of Blood Angels successor chapters who are based on established pop-cultural vampires.

 

Just for funs sake will I not directly say which book, movie, series, or other the inspiration comes from with the main post for each Chapter idea.

 

 

 

Posted chapter concepts

Night Flyers - see below

Death Dealers

 

 

 

--------------------------------------

 

 

Night Flyers

“While I have no doubt that the Night Lords attacked the Nernos Spire, before the arrival of the Night Flyers and was driven off by them, is it not their modus operant to take or destroy all recording equipment. They want others to know what they have done. Then there is the thing that many of the corpses we found in the hidden compartments where they had tried to find shelter was found torn to pieces but the amount of blood there was too low for those numbers of bodies. And then there are the bite marks. If the archives are right that the Night Flyers are of Blood Angel gene-stock do this fit with those disturbing rumours about the later‘s vampiric tendencies. This need investigating.”

- Inquisitor Dee

 

“And to think that Sanguinius’ get used to call us monsters, and look at their bloodline now.”

- Uriel Buzzard-friend, of the Clean Hands Night Lords’ warband

 

“Their armour and fabrics may be clean when they meet us, but that don’t hide the smell of fresh grave dirt and caked blood that follow them.”

- Battle-Brother Hushang of the Angels Numinous

 

 

The Night Flyers Chapter is a Blood Angels successor Chapter of unknown origin but the oldest believed recording of them are from M37. They are a nomadic Chapter with no known home- or recruitment world, it’s suspected that they press gang survivors from the conflict zones they have operated in when needing new blood. There is also the possibility that they have unknown recruitment world (or worlds) that they return to from time to time. The Chapter have been noted to appear and disappear without any seeming pattern or attempt to keep in contact with the wider Imperium.

 

The Chapter’s symbol is a Cessna Skymaster (an ancient aerocraft from M2-era Terra) from above in black silhouette on red fond. On battle-brothers’ pauldrons the it’s usually in the form of a red sphere with the rest of the pauldron black, even if variations have been seen. Among known variations are: the red covers the whole area of the pauldron; the found is a painted to look as if the red paint was dripping down; the found is in a diamond square shape instead of sphere; red craquelures going from the red found over the pauldron’s black areas. It’s unknown if those variations mark honours, internal organisation, or just personal taste.

 

Their armour is mainly black with the wrists and shoulder plate rims red.

 

The Inquisition are suspicious of the Night Flyers and try to keep an eye on them. There was some deep investigation done by Inquisitor Dee who seemed to have found evidence of such stuff that that Excommunicate Traitoris are declared upon; but most of Dee’s investigation have come into questioning after he unprovoked attacked Adeptus Arbites officers, and was slain by them, and was found out to have done some of the deeds himself that he had attributed to the Night Flyers. Dee’s interrogator (and later Inquisitor in her own right) Blair-Olausson decided to not to continue his investigator.

 

 

Combat doctrine

The Night Flyers Chapter are, fitting to their name, masters of aerial combat with a preference for attacking during the dark. They actually seems to have a dislike for fighting during daytime, or at least under a sky with a notable sun. It’s unknown if this is because of some physical and/or psychological effect of the mutation in their gene-seed, or if it is something cultural. It’s known that many voidborns who have grown up on badly illuminated ships have an aversion for strong light, but that kind of cultural phobias should be expunged during a Marine’s psycho-indoctrination process.

 

They use lots of attack flyers, all black with red markings, and it has been observed that there are many crafts of non-astartes pattern in their aerial fleet. It’s unknown if those non-Astartes pattern crafts are piloted by chapter auxilia or have been modified for the use by Space Marines. Some of those crafts have been noted to actually not be classified as combat crafts but have been modified for combat.

 

There are few reports of the Night Flyers interacting with fellow Imperial forces but those that exist show that the later have a tendency not to survive, sometime it’s clearly because of the enemy forces but fellow sons of Sanguinius fear that all too often it’s because of the Night Flyers inability to control the Red Thirst. The even fewer reports that detail the interaction between the Night Flyers and their fellow Imperials, some which actually survived to die another day, record that the Chapter is seen and thought of in nothing but the best of terms.

 

+ lack a Sanguinary Guard

+ lack Terminators

+ lack Centurion Warsuits

+ their librarians specialize in illusions, making people aggregable to them, reading weather and controlling it somewhat.

 

 

Chapter culture

Little is known of the Night Flyers’ chapter culture since there have been so few reported instances of them interacting with other and there is no known instance where other servants of the Emperor have been aboard any of their ships. What have been observed is that unlike many of their fellow sons of Sanguinius don’t they use the heraldic pattern of the Blood Angels, instead they use they use the battlefield role markings from the Codex Astartes, with a arabiq number (probably showing company) over it. The number and marking is either red on white, or white on red – it’s unknown if the different colour combination has a meaning or just a question of personal taste.

 

The armour’s chest Aquila or Imperialis have been seen painted as black as the rest of their armour, red, or in a few cases other colours – if the different colours are marks of rank or honour, or a question of personal taste is unknown. Variation of the Imperialis where the wings are replaced with a aeronautics propeller’s blades, have been seen.

 

The Chapter’s high officers, and some of the lower, are all marked by capes, most of them with a high collar, that are red on the inside, and black on the outside.

+ no angel referring decorations/markings.

+ do their Apothecary, Chaplain, Librarian, and/or Techmarine follow the Codex regarding their colours or have some other colour/s? And if the later which colour/s?

+ they care about their appearance, their armour will be clean, their capes will be whole. This does not always reflect to the interiors of their ships and crafts.

 

Something that Inquisitor Dee noted regarding the Night Flyers, and has been confirmed by sources untouched by Dee and the possibility if his mad manipulation, is that smashed mirrors have been noted in their passing, even when there have been no combat that would explain the destruction of the mirrors. Why the Flyers do this is unknown.

 

+ often take or empty the memory of all recording equipment in the combat area that can have seen them.

 

Names

Alexander, Knock, Dwight, Klaus, Jack, Anthony, Roland, Arthur, Thomas, Peter, Brett, Simon, Ian, Nonso, Samuel, Ewan, Mark, Zachary, Daniel, Malkom, Bernard, Irving, Sandor, Igor, Renfield, Pablo,

 

 

From the writings of Inquisitor Rikard Dee, going through reexaminations. Updated version will be available [???]

* [date] - During the 49th year of the "Three-Way-War" on Beta Garmon - between Imperial forces (Mortant VII Headunters (5 regiments), Necromundan Ratskin Rough Riders (1 regiment), Ocanan Phalanx Troops (2 regiments), Cthonian Heavy Tank Company (1 regiment), +corrupt data+, supported by PDF), the Mi-Go xenos with their falls-men, and Speed Freeks orks from the Snakebites clan - the ship Night Flyer ship 'Endless Hunt' appeared. In less than two months the Night Flyers crushed the xenos, leaving only small numbers of them for the Militarum and PDF to clean up. Captain Sandor, together with Sergeant Ewan and Battle-brother Thomas, participated in the victory banquet where they were described as very courteous and charming.

* [date] - The remains of the pirate fleet of the self-proclaimed "Pirate-Empress" Uraia Tikomitshi, the terror of the Kali-kaka sub-sector appeared in the Lancelee system, the Imperial Navies man port in the subsector, begging to be taken prisoner so they would be saved from the "monsters" that had attacked them. Using the information given by the pirates Navigators the Navy was finally able to located Tikomitshi's base and sent a force there, led by third-admiral Koymashi to either apprehend her and what remained of her fleet or take out what ever monster that had terrified pirates. When they arrived, they found a ship graveyard and the jury-rigged space-station Tikomitshi had used as main base filled with corpses. There were only two alive ships: one was the pirate-ship 'Victory MII' being repaired while the other ship was hanging beside it; the other one was of unknown identification but declared itself to be 'Exsanguination' of the Night Flyers Space Marines Chapter and they had taken care of the sectors "little pirate problem" for them, and they claimed 'Victory MII' as theirs by right. The Navy decided not to dispute that right, and instead summoned the Mechanicus to see what could be salvaged from the Tikomitshi's dead fleet. See XXXX for full report on what was salvaged and how many of the ships the Mechanicus was able to reignite life into again. Based on what could be observed with help of telescope, did Third-Admiral Koymashi speculated that the Night Flyers were using surviving pirates as slave-labor to help with the repairs.

* [date] - At the hive world Wilmington a voidship identified as ‘Bravo Lima’ docked with the personal voidstation of the planetary governor. No information is given about the ship and who it belongs to, but the governor and his whole family seemed to entertain the guest. The ship stayed docked for one month, during with large amounts equipment and resources, was shipped to the governor’s station – among them all aircraft parts available in the Hive World, at least 5.000 pressganged hivers, and 3.000 children of varied age from state-controlled orphanages; for a full list see XXXX. One day after ‘Bravo Lima’ left the voidstation, a shuttle was sent from Wilmington to find out why there had not been any communication from the governor or anybody else on the station. They found a bloodbath: with governor, his family, noble guests, servants, and voidstation crew all dead, most of them in ways that imply that they were attacked by a large predator - notably was only a handful of children found among the dead; for a full list of the dead see XXXX. Of the things shipped to the station was nothing found, and much of the station’s equipment looted (among them all the stations void-transports); for a full list see XXXX. The description given of the ship ‘Bravo Lima’ fits perfect with the Night Flyers’ ship ‘Sanguinius’ Shadow’.

 

 

Secrets of the sons of Sanguinius

Among the sons of Sanguinius that keep tab on Night Flyers is it known that the Flyers gene-seed is at least some what degenerated, with many of them suffering strongly from the Red Thirst. It is also known among those sons of Sanguinius that at least some of the Night Flyers have truly inhuman visages but there are also many that have seen a Night Flyer Marine without his helmet and seen the normal, noble face of a son of Sanguinius. There has been talk among those in the known how this comes, with suggestions of the kind: that the mutation doesn't affect every Flyer; that it’s something that happen gradually as a Flyer age and the younger ones don’t look monstrous; use of holographic discusses (of what origin then?); psychic illusion created by their Librarians; and such.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Gamiel

[Brother Tyler]

You may find this old topic interesting.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Again, you demonstrate good imagination. I'm surprised you named the Chapter in honor of the film adaptation of Stephen King's short story The Night Flier- I originally thought the namesake was a US military unit which flew O-2 Skymasters during the Vietnam War.

Uriel Buzzard-friend, of the Clean Hands Night Lords’ warband

I'm surprised a Night Lord would name his warband "Clean Hands". Is it meant to be sarcastic? Was the founder a Terran-born Night Lord who yearned for the days before the Legion was reunited with its Primarch, and the Marines' actually tried to "keep their hands clean" by refusing to commit war crimes?

 

And why not name the warband "White Hands" instead?

They are a nomadic Chapter with no known home- or recruitment world,

Why describe the Chapter as "nomadic" instead of "fleet-based"? Does it settle down on a planet every few decades, to recover from campaign losses and to recruit new blood, before abandoning this temporary home in favor of a new one, to be adopted after the next campaign?

The Chapter’s symbol is a Cessna Skymaster (an ancient aerocraft from M2-era Terra)

I now know you're referring to what the vampire flew in the short story and it's film adaptation, but 35 MILLENNIA after the Skymaster first flew, I doubt anyone alive will recognize it. Why not say, "The Chapter’s symbol is a fork-tailed flyer, resembling the Valkyrie gunship"?

 

More nitpicking, with my emphases:

“And to think that Sanguinius’ get used to call us monsters, and look at their bloodline now.”

Replaced "the" with "that".

it’s suspected that they press gang survivors from the conflict zones they have operated in when needing new blood.

Replaced chain-gang with press gang.

but most of Dee’s investigation have come into questioning after he launched unprovoked attacks on Adeptus Arbites officers, and was slain by them, and was found out to have done some of the deeds himself that he had attributed to the Night Flyers.

I edited the sentence for better grammar.

The Night Fliers, befitting their name, have a preference for aerial combat and night fighting. They use lots of attack fliers, all black with red markings, and it has been observed that there are many crafts of non-Astartes pattern in their aerial fleet.

I added an "of", and capitalized "Astartes".

 

Why is "Flyers" spelled with an "i" in these sentences?

There has been talk among those in the known how this comes, with suggestions of the kind: that the mutation doesn’t affect every Flyer;

Replaced "don't" with "doesn't".

at the hive world Wilmington a voidship identified as ‘Bravo Lima’ docked with the personal voidstation of the planetary governor.

"World" is misspelled as "Wolrd". I corrected the spelling and grammar, e.g., used lower case letters for "hive world".

Edited February 27, 2021 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Wikipedia article on Stephen King's short story, states, "Dees previously made a brief appearance in King's novel The Dead Zone." Is the Night Flyers Chief Librarian a clairvoyant named "John Smith", wielding a long-las or other sniper weapon? Will your IA make other references to Stephen King novels, e.g., the Chapter has in its armory a Land Raider named "Cujo" and a Land Speeder named Christine, whose aggressive machine spirits (or possessing Daemons) compels them to ram enemies? A Chapter Master named "Randall Flagg"? A Daemon referred to as "Pennywise"- either the Night Flyers' nemesis, or a slave the Marines bound to a Daemonhost? Honor Guards who wear black armor, and wield revolvers chambered for heavy bolter ammunition? Edited February 27, 2021 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Gamiel]

Again, you demonstrate good imagination.

Thanks :)

 

 

Again, you demonstrate good imagination. I'm surprised you named the Chapter in honor of the film adaptation of Stephen King's short story The Night Flier- I originally thought the namesake was a US military unit which flew O-2 Skymasters during the Vietnam War.

Uriel Buzzard-friend, of the Clean Hands Night Lords’ warband

I'm surprised a Night Lord would name his warband "Clean Hands". Is it meant to be sarcastic? Was the founder a Terran-born Night Lord who yearned for the days before the Legion was reunited with its Primarch, and the Marines' actually tried to "keep their hands clean" by refusing to commit war crimes? 

It's either sarcastic or a name that comes from that they are able to do bad stuff and not get caught, as in "my hands are clean, copper"

 

 

 

 

They are a nomadic Chapter with no known home- or recruitment world,

Why describe the Chapter as "nomadic" instead of "fleet-based"? Does it settle down on a planet every few decades, to recover from campaign losses and to recruit new blood, before abandoning this temporary home in favor of a new one, to be adopted after the next campaign?

No reason. Think it was used for some other, canon, Chapter and I just copied it - but I could be misremembering here. But they are fleetbased and nomadic

 

 

 

 

The Chapter’s symbol is a Cessna Skymaster (an ancient aerocraft from M2-era Terra)

I now know you're referring to what the vampire flew in the short story and it's film adaptation, but 35 MILLENNIA after the Skymaster first flew, I doubt anyone alive will recognize it. Why not say, "The Chapter’s symbol is a fork-tailed flyer, resembling the Valkyrie gunship"?

That's true but I think I can justify that the Skymaster is one of those parts of knowledge that survived just like how the Tyger, T54, and Sherman tanks are known (if missunderstod)

 

 

 

 

More nitpicking, with my emphases:

“And to think that Sanguinius’ get used to call us monsters, and look at their bloodline now.”

Replaced "the" with "that".

it’s suspected that they press gang survivors from the conflict zones they have operated in when needing new blood.

Replaced chain-gang with press gang.

but most of Dee’s investigation have come into questioning after he launched unprovoked attacks on Adeptus Arbites officers, and was slain by them, and was found out to have done some of the deeds himself that he had attributed to the Night Flyers.

I edited the sentence for better grammar.

The Night Fliers, befitting their name, have a preference for aerial combat and night fighting. They use lots of attack fliers, all black with red markings, and it has been observed that there are many crafts of non-Astartes pattern in their aerial fleet.

I added an "of", and capitalized "Astartes".

 

Why is "Flyers" spelled with an "i" in these sentences?

There has been talk among those in the known how this comes, with suggestions of the kind: that the mutation doesn’t affect every Flyer;

Replaced "don't" with "doesn't".

at the hive world Wilmington a voidship identified as ‘Bravo Lima’ docked with the personal voidstation of the planetary governor.

"World" is misspelled as "Wolrd". I corrected the spelling and grammar, e.g., used lower case letters for "hive world".

 

Thanks

 

Will fix that later.

 

 

 

The Wikipedia article on Stephen King's short story, states, "Dees previously made a brief appearance in King's novel The Dead Zone." Is the Night Flyers Chief Librarian a clairvoyant named "John Smith", wielding a long-las or other sniper weapon? Will your IA make other references to Stephen King novels, e.g., the Chapter has in its armory a Land Raider named "Cujo" and a Land Speeder named Christine, whose aggressive machine spirits (or possessing Daemons) compels them to ram enemies? A Chapter Master named "Randall Flagg"? A Daemon referred to as "Pennywise"- either the Night Flyers' nemesis, or a slave the Marines bound to a Daemonhost? Honor Guards who wear black armor, and wield revolvers chambered for heavy bolter ammunition?

When it comes to the Night Flyers will I keep to just the story and the movie adaptation when it comes to my references, and things developed from that (like how all their names are the names of actors that played Renfield or Renfield like roles, and the names of those roles)

 

But if I ever (unlikely as it may be) develop Inquisitor Dee will I likely refer to some other King stories - like how the first page wall in the movie refere to his other stories

Again, you demonstrate good imagination.

Thanks :)

Edited February 27, 2021 by Gamiel

[Gamiel]

Need suggestions on if the Night Flyers' Apothecary, Chaplain, Librarian, and/or Techmarine follow the Codex regarding their colour/s or are in some other colour/s? And if the later which colour/s?

 

 

 

 

More nitpicking, with my emphases:

“And to think that Sanguinius’ get used to call us monsters, and look at their bloodline now.”

Replaced "the" with "that".

it’s suspected that they press gang survivors from the conflict zones they have operated in when needing new blood.

Replaced chain-gang with press gang.

but most of Dee’s investigation have come into questioning after he launched unprovoked attacks on Adeptus Arbites officers, and was slain by them, and was found out to have done some of the deeds himself that he had attributed to the Night Flyers.

I edited the sentence for better grammar.

The Night Fliers, befitting their name, have a preference for aerial combat and night fighting. They use lots of attack fliers, all black with red markings, and it has been observed that there are many crafts of non-Astartes pattern in their aerial fleet.

I added an "of", and capitalized "Astartes".

Why is "Flyers" spelled with an "i" in these sentences?

There has been talk among those in the known how this comes, with suggestions of the kind: that the mutation doesn’t affect every Flyer;

Replaced "don't" with "doesn't".

at the hive world Wilmington a voidship identified as ‘Bravo Lima’ docked with the personal voidstation of the planetary governor.

"World" is misspelled as "Wolrd". I corrected the spelling and grammar, e.g., used lower case letters for "hive world".

 

Thanks

 

Will fix that later.

 

And fixed

Edited March 2, 2021 by Gamiel

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Need suggestions on if the Night Flyers' Apothecary, Chaplain, Librarian, and/or Techmarine follow the Codex regarding their colour/s or are in some other colour/s? And if the later which colour/s?

How about colored stripes over the left shoulder, to indicate their specialty? I'm taking direct inspiration from the stripes on First Order Special Forces elite stormtrooper armor. The Apothecary gets a green stripe over armor that's otherwise in the same dark colors as the rank-and-file, the Chaplain a white stripe, the Librarian a blue stripe, the Techmarine a red stripe...

 

Meanwhile, no n00bs are asking, "What is a White Scar/Black Templar/Ultramarine/Blood Angel doing in that army?"

[Bjorn Firewalker]

No Chapter can sustain itself without a forge world to provide and maintain materiel (fuel for its vehicles, ammo for its weapons, spare parts to keep such equipment functional), so who are the Night Flyers' allies within the AdMech? Why would these allies tolerate the Marines' predatory behavior, i.e., what do the Night Flyers offer the Tech-priests as payment for AdMech support, and as bribes so these allies will deny having evidence to support Dee and other Inquisitors?

 

Or do the Night Flyers count the Chaos worshiping Dark Mechanicum as allies instead?

+ lack a Sanguinary Guard

 

+ lack Terminators

 

+ lack Centurion Warsuits

Does this mean the Night Flyers wear Mark III "Iron" pattern power armor in place of the absent Terminator armor, when exploring space hulks and other situations where heavier armor is necessary? That they use the Invictor warsuit- and an "Astartes pattern Sentinel" before that- for situations where they need the heavy firepower an armored vehicle may provide, but the terrain is too restrictive for tanks?

Names

 

Alexander, Knock, Dwight, Klaus, Jack, Anthony, Roland, Arthur, Thomas, Peter, Brett, Simon, Ian, Nonso, Samuel, Ewan, Mark, Zachary, Daniel, Malkom, Bernard, Irving, Sandor, Igor, Renfield, Pablo,

A way to fit this otherwise awkward list, is to preface it with "Names of known Night Flyers members, from Inquisitor Rikard Dee's records". Add lines like "Alexander (single name only?) (unknown rank) (unknown role), suspected perpetrator of Sheridan Massacre of 993.M39. Supporting evidence, psychometric reconstruction of destroyed servo-skull pict recorder, is circumstantial at best," to support that impression.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Will the Chapter receive Primaris Marines and associated wargear, after Cadia falls? Or will the Night Flyers shun other Imperial factions, affirming suspicions the Marines are renegades if not outright traitors and Chaos worshipers?

[Gamiel]

No Chapter can sustain itself without a forge world to provide and maintain materiel (fuel for its vehicles, ammo for its weapons, spare parts to keep such equipment functional), so who are the Night Flyers' allies within the AdMech? Why would these allies tolerate the Marines' predatory behavior, i.e., what do the Night Flyers offer the Tech-priests as payment for AdMech support, and as bribes so these allies will deny having evidence to support Dee and other Inquisitors?

 

Or do the Night Flyers count the Chaos worshiping Dark Mechanicum as allies instead? 

Have to admit I have no idea. This is one of the things that are often not mentioned when it comes to the Chapter that are seemingly seldom in contact with the Imperium, or fleetbased and constantly crusading. Possibly do they have something like the Space Sharks, where they give findings of old tech to some forge world for new Astartes-pattern tech/equipment.

 

Could also be that the Flyers have an old agreement with a forge world (or more) who give them technology by ancient degree. Possible reasons Inquisitor Dee don't know about this that they agreement is in another name (as in the Flyers was known as something else before, which was not known to Dee*); the Imperium is big, its bureaucracy is Byzantian and Dee did not know where to look; its a secret agreement, only known to the forge world and the Flyers (but what do the forge world get out of it?).

* this is not decided, just a possebility

 

For everything non Astartes-pattern they probably raid, trade (in secret) or scavenge. They are very likely scavengers that take anything of use from a warzone where they can linger, this possibly makes them have a tendency for pirate hunting since few will notice if they take over pirate ships, enslave the survivors and take all the loot for themself. And the point under "From the writings of Inquisitor Rikard Dee" (will add more there in time) is likely something that is not a onetime even, the Flyers have likely done similar stuff on many worlds, it's just that this one was noticed or maybe they just got sloppy or to hungry here to just easily disappear into the void.

 

 

 

 

Does this mean the Night Flyers wear Mark III "Iron" pattern power armor in place of the absent Terminator armor, when exploring space hulks and other situations where heavier armor is necessary? That they use the Invictor warsuit- and an "Astartes pattern Sentinel" before that- for situations where they need the heavy firepower an armored vehicle may provide, but the terrain is too restrictive for tanks?

Possibly. Likely actually since the Mark III pattern STC is relatively well-known, and are easier to maintain that Terminators. The lack of Terminators is a way for me to show that the Flyers are not that old or well supplied. Can possibly see Characters using Terminator Armour but there is no Terminator Squads.

 

 

Will the Chapter receive Primaris Marines and associated wargear, after Cadia falls? Or will the Night Flyers shun other Imperial factions, affirming suspicions the Marines are renegades if not outright traitors and Chaos worshipers?

Will add it in later but I was thinking that they sent forces to the defence of Baal, so they received the technology together with all the other Chapters there. As for now I'm more writing from a pre-fall of Cadia perspective.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

You can probably take inspiration more from the Carcharodons. Say the Night Flyers First Chapter Master was a Terran-born Blood Angels Captain who, during the Horus Heresy, harvested wargear (and gene-seed) from slain Traitor Marines, and whom Sanguinius personally rebuked for such behavior. This Terran-born Captain and his Company vanished during the Scouring, only for Marines bearing his personal coat-of-arms (the Cessna Skymaster silhouette) to reappear in M37.

 

Such a backstory can explain the use of the Cessna Skymaster as a Chapter symbol (the Terran-born Captain saw them in a museum, and used a replica in battle, as the prop plane is quieter than a Thunderhawk and thus, useful for covert operations), the Night Flyers' degenerated gene-seed (a direct consequence of creating chimeras of Blood Angels, Night Lords, and other Legions' gene-seed), the Night Flyers' obscurity and their late return to the Imperium (with 100+ Captains in a 10,000+ strong Legion, some can easily fade from Imperial historians' notice, and it'll take time to build a Chapter from a mere 100 Marines), and the source of their logistical support (the AdMech still recognizes the Night Flyers as a pre-Heresy Blood Angels Company).

[Gamiel]

You can probably take inspiration more from the Carcharodons. Say the Night Flyers First Chapter Master was a Terran-born Blood Angels Captain who, during the Horus Heresy, harvested wargear (and gene-seed) from slain Traitor Marines, and whom Sanguinius personally rebuked for such behavior. This Terran-born Captain and his Company vanished during the Scouring, only for Marines bearing his personal coat-of-arms (the Cessna Skymaster silhouette) to reappear in M37.

 

Such a backstory can explain the use of the Cessna Skymaster as a Chapter symbol (the Terran-born Captain saw them in a museum, and used a replica in battle, as the prop plane is quieter than a Thunderhawk and thus, useful for covert operations), the Night Flyers' degenerated gene-seed (a direct consequence of creating chimeras of Blood Angels, Night Lords, and other Legions' gene-seed), the Night Flyers' obscurity and their late return to the Imperium (with 100+ Captains in a 10,000+ strong Legion, some can easily fade from Imperial historians' notice, and it'll take time to build a Chapter from a mere 100 Marines), and the source of their logistical support (the AdMech still recognizes the Night Flyers as a pre-Heresy Blood Angels Company).

That's a cool and interesting idea but I have decided that the Night Flyers are not among the second to forth foundings, and and are likly not older then 3-4 millenium, that's plenty of time fo stuff to happen and gene-seed to mutate.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

That's a cool and interesting idea but I have decided that the Night Flyers are not among the second to forth foundings, and and are likly not older then 3-4 millenium, that's plenty of time fo stuff to happen and gene-seed to mutate.

A Cursed Founding Chapter? That seems to support my suspicion your Chapter was actually

founded with Night Lords gene-seed.

, and can explain why the Marines shun "other" Blood Angels successors.

[Gamiel]

 

That's a cool and interesting idea but I have decided that the Night Flyers are not among the second to forth foundings, and and are likly not older then 3-4 millenium, that's plenty of time fo stuff to happen and gene-seed to mutate.

A Cursed Founding Chapter? That seems to support my suspicion your Chapter was actually

founded with Night Lords gene-seed.

, and can explain why the Marines shun "other" Blood Angels successors.

 

Possibly, have not really given it a thought beside thinking that making it a Cursed Founding would put to much on their origin to explain who they are, and they don't feel "cursed" enough, compared to some of the Cursed Founding Chapters, to be from there.

 

regarding your theory: no. That would take away from them the Red Thirst, which is one of their main things as vampires

[Doctor Perils]

Yeah, in general I recommend not to make cursed founding chapters, as they should be ultimately non-functional, and their whole identity revolves around their "curse" itself. Your concept already has a strong identity, so the cursed founding would detract from that.

 

I also don't think a chapter _needs_ support from a forge world, though again much of your identity would then revolve around your lack of resources (Eg. The Carcharadons or the Helion Legion), which might not be what you want. On the other hand, you don't need to go so much into your chapter's relationship with any given forge world - hardly any canonverse chapters have much details given about such relations. View it more as a potential source of inspiration than an obligatory element of your index.

 

 

I'll try to come back to this later to make a longer commentary :) looking good so far :Tu:

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Yeah, in general I recommend not to make cursed founding chapters, as they should be ultimately non-functional, and their whole identity revolves around their "curse" itself. Your concept already has a strong identity, so the cursed founding would detract from that.

Good point.

I also don't think a chapter _needs_ support from a forge world, though again much of your identity would then revolve around your lack of resources (Eg. The Carcharadons or the Helion Legion)

Don't forget the Marines Malevolent, and the Astral Claws before they turned traitor and renamed themselves the "Red Corsairs".

On the other hand, you don't need to go so much into your chapter's relationship with any given forge world - hardly any canonverse chapters have much details given about such relations.

A Chapter's relationship with a forge world is like your relationship with your kidneys. Under normal circumstances, it's easily overlooked, and often considered not worth mentioning... until they fail, and you must spend a lot of time and money on dialysis treatments, medication, and altering your dietary habits to avoid straining your failing kidneys, while hoping transplants become available soon, and suffering anxiety while you're on the waiting list for kidney transplants...

 

If a Chapter has normal relations with other Imperial institutions, they'll get wargear and wargear repairs like normal. If the Chapter does NOT have normal relations with them, they won't, and those details WILL be demanded.

Edited March 5, 2021 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Gamiel]

Have added some new stuff in green

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The additional details are welcome.

 

Nitpicks, with suggested corrections between the "[" and "]" symbols:

During the 49th year of the "Three-Way-War" on Beta Garmon - between Imperial forces (Mortant VII [Headhunters] (5 regiments), [Necromundan] Ratskin Rough Riders (1 [regiment]), Ocanan Phalanx Troops (2 regiments), Cthonian Heavy Tank Company (1 [regiment]), +corrupt[ed] data+, supported by PDF), the Mi-Go xenos with their falls-men, and Speed Freeks orks from the Snakebites clan - the ship Night Flyer ship [Endless Hunt] appeared.

Headhunters was misspelled as "Headunters". Necromundan was misspelled as "Necormundan", with the "o" and "r" transposed. Endless was misspelled as "Enless". I replaced "regiments" (plural) with "regiment" (singular) in cases where only a single regiment was sent. I corrected the grammar, and italicized the ship's name, as common in contemporary writing.

Captain Sandor[,] together with ergeant Ewan[ ]and attle-brother Thomas

I moved the comma to improve the sentence structure, and capitalized the ranks when they were used as titles.

The remains of the pirate fleet of the self-proclaimed "[P]irate-[E]mpress" Uraia Tikomitshi, the terror of the Kali-kaka sub-sector[,] appeared in the Lancelee system, the Imperial Navies man port in the subsector, [begging] to be [taken] prisoner

Added a comma, capitalized the title "Pirate-Empress", rewrote "begin to be taking prisoner" as "begging to be taken prisoner".

There [were] only two alive ships:

Use "was" with the singular subject, "were" with a plural of subjects.

 

Why use "alive" instead of "intact" or "functional"?

The Navy decided not to dispute that right[,] and instead summoned the [Mechanicus] to see what could be salvaged [from] Tikomitshi's dead fleet. See XXXX for full report on what was salvaged and how many of the ships the [Mechanicus] was able to reignite life into again. Based on what could be observed with help of telescope[,] [Vice Admiral] Koymashi speculate[d] that the Night Flyers [were] using surviving pirates as [slave] labor to help with the repairs.

Added commas and corrected the grammar. Capitalized and corrected the spelling of Mechanicus. Replaced "third-admiral" with vice admiral, and capitalized the words, as appropriate when used as a title. Replaced "prison" with "slave".

Edited March 6, 2021 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Gamiel]

And fixed (I think, can have missed some) but ignored putting a "-" in subsector since WH40k have used that spelling, and "Third-Admiral" as a 40k-ish title 

 

 

 

Why use "alive" instead of "intact" or "functional"?

Because they Imperium many times see things they believe have machine spirits as living beings.

[Brother Lunkhead]

Great work here on your Night Flyers There have been some excellent vampire/Dracula inspired Blood Angel sired chapters here in THE LIBER. This is a very fine addition to that list.

 

I have a few comments and observations that hopefully, you'll find somewhat helpful.

 

 

The Chapter’s symbol is a Cessna Skymaster (an ancient aerocraft from M2-era Terra) from above in black silhouette on red fond. On battle-brothers’ pauldrons the it’s usually in the form of a red sphere with the rest of the pauldron black, even if variations have been seen. Among known variations are: the red covers the whole area of the pauldron; the found is a painted to look as if the red paint was dripping down; the found is in a diamond square shape instead of sphere; red craquelures going from the red found over the pauldron’s black areas. It’s unknown if those variations mark honours, internal organisation, or just personal taste.

Interesting choice for your chapter symbol and where some might think this is too on the nose, I think it works well. Imagine how archeologists and other scholars might interpret remains of a Cessna Skymaster and the scraps of dissascociated information referencing this relic after 300 to 400 centuries. Would it be even be seen as what it actually is, or as some sort of mythical harbinger of doom?

 

 

Chapter culture

 

The Chapter’s high officers, and some of the lower, are all marked by capes, most of them with a high collar, that are red on the inside, and black on the outside.

The general idea of the black cape sounds fine, but the high collar might be a little too on the nose, giving the officers an awkward, comedic appearance, unless, you're intentionally going for an over the top look. Then by all means, go for it.

 

 

Names

Alexander, Knock, Dwight, Klaus, Jack, Anthony, Roland, Arthur, Thomas, Peter, Brett, Simon, Ian, Nonso, Samuel, Ewan, Mark, Zachary, Daniel, Malkom, Bernard, Irving, Sandor, Igor, Renfield, Pablo,

I get what you are doing here, but you might consider variations on some of these names to give them a more exotic 40Kish sound. Otherwise, some of them run the risk of sounding too conventional and mundane.

 

 

From the writings of Inquisitor Rikard Dee, going through reexaminations. Updated version will be available [???]

* [date] - During the 49th year of the "Three-Way-War" on Beta Garmon - between Imperial forces (Mortant VII Headunters (5 regiments), Necromundan Ratskin Rough Riders (1 regiment), Ocanan Phalanx Troops (2 regiments), Cthonian Heavy Tank Company (1 regiment), +corrupt data+, supported by PDF), the Mi-Go xenos with their falls-men, and Speed Freeks orks from the Snakebites clan - the ship Night Flyer ship 'Endless Hunt' appeared. In less than two months the Night Flyers crushed the xenos, leaving only small numbers of them for the Militarum and PDF to clean up. Captain Sandor, together with Sergeant Ewan and Battle-brother Thomas, participated in the victory banquet where they were described as very courteous and charming.

* [date] - The remains of the pirate fleet of the self-proclaimed "Pirate-Empress" Uraia Tikomitshi, the terror of the Kali-kaka sub-sector appeared in the Lancelee system, the Imperial Navies man port in the subsector, begging to be taken prisoner so they would be saved from the "monsters" that had attacked them. Using the information given by the pirates Navigators the Navy was finally able to located Tikomitshi's base and sent a force there, led by third-admiral Koymashi to either apprehend her and what remained of her fleet or take out what ever monster that had terrified pirates. When they arrived, they found a ship graveyard and the jury-rigged space-station Tikomitshi had used as main base filled with corpses. There were only two alive ships: one was the pirate-ship 'Victory MII' being repaired while the other ship was hanging beside it; the other one was of unknown identification but declared itself to be 'Exsanguination' of the Night Flyers Space Marines Chapter and they had taken care of the sectors "little pirate problem" for them, and they claimed 'Victory MII' as theirs by right. The Navy decided not to dispute that right, and instead summoned the Mechanicus to see what could be salvaged from the Tikomitshi's dead fleet. See XXXX for full report on what was salvaged and how many of the ships the Mechanicus was able to reignite life into again. Based on what could be observed with help of telescope, did Third-Admiral Koymashi speculated that the Night Flyers were using surviving pirates as slave-labor to help with the repairs.

* [date] - At the hive world Wilmington a voidship identified as ‘Bravo Lima’ docked with the personal voidstation of the planetary governor. No information is given about the ship and who it belongs to, but the governor and his whole family seemed to entertain the guest. The ship stayed docked for one month, during with large amounts equipment and resources, was shipped to the governor’s station – among them all aircraft parts available in the Hive World, at least 5.000 pressganged hivers, and 3.000 children of varied age from state-controlled orphanages; for a full list see XXXX. One day after ‘Bravo Lima’ left the voidstation, a shuttle was sent from Wilmington to find out why there had not been any communication from the governor or anybody else on the station. They found a bloodbath: with governor, his family, noble guests, servants, and voidstation crew all dead, most of them in ways that imply that they were attacked by a large predator - notably was only a handful of children found among the dead; for a full list of the dead see XXXX. Of the things shipped to the station was nothing found, and much of the station’s equipment looted (among them all the stations void-transports); for a full list see XXXX. The description given of the ship ‘Bravo Lima’ fits perfect with the Night Flyers’ ship ‘Sanguinius’ Shadow’.

These are some fine examples of how the Night Flyers enterprisingly obtain vital supplies and needed manpower. These stories are very reminiscent of the Carcharodons.

 

You've borrowed well from other chapters and made it your own I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more.

 

If I have any complaint, it's a general one. I've always wanted to create a Blood Angels descendent chapter, but all the good ideas have been taken. Thanks for taking more of those good ideas buddy ......

Edited March 6, 2021 by Brother Lunkhead

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Just remembered another Stephen King novel you may take inspiration from: Salem's Lot. Have Father Serpent (Chapter Master) Kurt Breichen deal with Archmagos Richard Straker, offering archeotech the Chapter recovered in exchange for logistical support from Barlow, the forge world Straker rules.

The title "Father Serpent" comes from the sentence "I am not the serpent," i.e., Satan, the devil, "but the father of serpents," with which the vampiric antagonist taunted the protagonist, boasting of his age and the power he accumulated during his time in Earth.

An appropriately ambiguous battle cry may be "For the Crimson King and the One True Emperor!" The Night Flyers claim the Blood Angels and them both serve the Crimson King, implying he's Sanguinius; but

Khorne attempted to lure Sanguinius into his service, during the Horus Heresy.

And why specify "One True Emperor"?

"Death to the false Emperor!" IS a Black Legion battle cry, meaning the traitors believe Horus, and later, Abaddon, are the "true Emperor".

With both Imperial institutions and Chaos factions wondering, "Whose side are the Night Flyers on?" there should be many opportunities for drama, wargaming, role-playing, etc.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Syrakul]

Love it, full V BA is a good angle (though blood drinkers do exist)

 

I noticed the line about grave-soil odor. Unsure if the fluff says anything about the location of sanguinis' tomb, but could the chapter ritualistically be sleeping in the kept soil of Terra/baal/ sangunis' tomb? Either easing their visions or the opposite; creating a more potent thirst?

[Brother Lunkhead]

Love it, full V BA is a good angle (though blood drinkers do exist)

 

I noticed the line about grave-soil odor. Unsure if the fluff says anything about the location of sanguinis' tomb, but could the chapter ritualistically be sleeping in the kept soil of Terra/baal/ sangunis' tomb? Either easing their visions or the opposite; creating a more potent thirst?

I think the line about the grave-soil odor is perfect for not explaining..... It should be left as a mystery.

[Gamiel]

The general idea of the black cape sounds fine, but the high collar might be a little too on the nose, giving the officers an awkward, comedic appearance, unless, you're intentionally going for an over the top look. Then by all means, go for it.

I'm going for an over the top look since "Dwight Renfield" in the movie has a realy high collar in the movie adaptation (which I recommend by the way)

 

 

Also , high collars seems to be a bit in in the Imperium

 

 

 

 

If I have any complaint, it's a general one. I've always wanted to create a Blood Angels descendent chapter, but all the good ideas have been taken. Thanks for taking more of those good ideas buddy ......

You could do a BA successor based on the Twilight saga before I do. And yes, I'm serious here, I plan to do one.

 

Possible BA successor ideas you could use:

Go full in with the angel theme and base them on a kind of angel from mythology. Or base them on the angels in a pop-cultrual work, if you have the In Nomine RPG could you base the chapter on one of the angel types from that, or one of the arch-angels. Or you could go a bit sideway and use the "angels" from Neon Genesis Evangelion (or just one of them) as inspiration.

Or maybe a chapter that see itself as fallen from grace (because of mutations, acts they have done, or such) and style themself after demons, Dante's Inferno or similar - they possibly see the Black Rage as a blessing since it shows that Sanguinius have not abounded them.

Or you cold go with the vampire theme but focus on non-european vampires, like the adze*, vetala, jiangshi, manananggal, penanggalan,etc.

* suggest arming them with adzes, or at least have it that they use them as symbols of command/hoour

Or focus on the BA old cognomen "The Eaters of the Dead" and use a ghoul, or wendigo theme

 

 

 

Just remembered another Stephen King novel you may take inspiration from: Salem's Lot. Have Father Serpent (Chapter Master) Kurt Breichen deal with Archmagos Richard Straker, offering archeotech the Chapter recovered in exchange for logistical support from Barlow, the forge world Straker rules.

The title "Father Serpent" comes from the sentence "I am not the serpent," i.e., Satan, the devil, "but the father of serpents," with which the vampiric antagonist taunted the protagonist, boasting of his age and the power he accumulated during his time in Earth.

An appropriately ambiguous battle cry may be "For the Crimson King and the One True Emperor!" The Night Flyers claim the Blood Angels and them both serve the Crimson King, implying he's Sanguinius; but

Khorne attempted to lure Sanguinius into his service, during the Horus Heresy.

And why specify "One True Emperor"?

"Death to the false Emperor!" IS a Black Legion battle cry, meaning the traitors believe Horus, and later, Abaddon, are the "true Emperor".

With both Imperial institutions and Chaos factions wondering, "Whose side are the Night Flyers on?" there should be many opportunities for drama, wargaming, role-playing, etc.

That some interesting ideas, will keep them in mind if/when I do a chapter based on Salem's Lot

Edited March 7, 2021 by Gamiel

[Brother Lunkhead]

 

The general idea of the black cape sounds fine, but the high collar might be a little too on the nose, giving the officers an awkward, comedic appearance, unless, you're intentionally going for an over the top look. Then by all means, go for it.

I'm going for an over the top look since "Dwight Renfield" in the movie has a realy high collar in the movie adaptation (which I recommend by the way)

 

 

Also , high collars seems to be a bit in in the Imperium

 

 

 

 

If I have any complaint, it's a general one. I've always wanted to create a Blood Angels descendent chapter, but all the good ideas have been taken. Thanks for taking more of those good ideas buddy ......

You could do a BA successor based on the Twilight saga before I do. And yes, I'm serious here, I plan to do one.

 

Possible BA successor ideas you could use:

Go full in with the angel theme and base them on a kind of angel from mythology. Or base them on the angels in a pop-cultrual work, if you have the In Nomine RPG could you base the chapter on one of the angel types from that, or one of the arch-angels. Or you could go a bit sideway and use the "angels" from Neon Genesis Evangelion (or just one of them) as inspiration.

Or maybe a chapter that see itself as fallen from grace (because of mutations, acts they have done, or such) and style themself after demons, Dante's Inferno or similar - they possibly see the Black Rage as a blessing since it shows that Sanguinius have not abounded them.

Or you cold go with the vampire theme but focus on non-european vampires, like the adze*, vetala, jiangshi, manananggal, penanggalan,etc.

* suggest arming them with adzes, or at least have it that they use them as symbols of command/hoour

Or focus on the BA old cognomen "The Eaters of the Dead" and use a ghoul, or wendigo theme

I've seen The Night Flier, and I enjoyed it as well. I appreciate King's (and your) nod to both Renfield, the character and Dwight Frye

 

High collar black cape it is then 

 

You are welcome to creating a chapter based on the Twilight series. I'll look forward to seeing that. I'm sure you would do it better justice to it than I. My heart wouldn't be in it. A quote from a friend of mine best sums up my view of the "good" vampire.

 

           Vampires do not sparkle. Any resemblance to humanity is only glamor. Vampires are ruthless, blood sucking demons that should be 

           hunted down without mercy and staked through the heart. Their heads cut off, mouths stuffed with garlic and thrown into a roaring fire.

 

But, it's all myth and literature and should be explored from all points of view ...... ...

 

You've definitely given me something to think about though. Perhaps a mixture of Algonquin (wendigo), Athabaskan (wechuge) mythologies, with a little Romani legend thrown in and spiced liberally with Bram Stoker.

 

Before I totally derail your thread....... A toast to Chapter Master Dwight Renfield (?) and his Night Flyers. Looking forward to more details.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Brother Lunkhead