The Sun Dragons

[Bloodfinger]

This is my latest Space Marine Chapter. I originally thought about a pious chapter dedicated to purity and destroying chaos way back in the days of 4^th edition, and I recently updated them to adapt to each of the later editions. It’s written from the perspective of the late 41^st Millennium, I haven’t included the recent events of the Black Crusade or the Indomitus era, I hope you enjoy and any comments or thoughts are welcome. Edited to take account of comments about the Claws of Light.

 

Origins

 

The Sun Dragons were founded to contain and counter the forces of chaos around the Eye of Terror. It is believed they were created in one of the unstated foundings of the 36^th Millennium.

 

Homeworld

 

The Sun Dragons are based on the desert world of Athenree, in the Segmentum Obscurus, a large high gravity world with harsh, arid conditions that produces hardy and strong people. Its inhabitants are pious and relatively peaceful, being unified under one culture worshipping the Sun Dragon.

 

Combat Doctrine

 

The Sun Dragons largely follow the doctrines of the Codex Astartes in combat. They favour energy weapons as representing the blessings of the Sun Dragon and each company has its own preferences, which influence the tactics they employ. Because of their strength and resilience their strategies generally favour defensive actions followed by overwhelming counter-attacks, rather than speed of attack and manoeuvre.

 

Organisation

 

The Sun Dragons are organised into just six companies, each of which acts almost as a mini-chapter, and includes its own veterans, reserves and scouts. Sun Dragons companies can be led by captains, chaplains, librarians or dreadnoughts, who are titled Commanders. The Chapter Master is elected by a vote amongst the commanders and retains leadership of his own company, bringing the companies together only rarely to fight as an entire chapter. At those dire times his authority is absolute, but otherwise each company is largely autonomous and the commanders are able to act on their own initiative, only rarely seeking aid from their brother commanders. Each company represents one of the six blessings of the Sun Dragon and has subtly different character and doctrine:

 

The Breath of Fire – favour flame weapons and of all the Sun Dragons they are the most respectful of the earthly gifts of the Sun Dragon. They are skilled craftsmen and artisans, providing their brothers with finely wrought weapons and armour.

 

The Fangs of Dawn – favour close combat with power weapons and are known for their zeal and aggression when engaged with their foes, often being led by their chaplains. They are the most likely to close and engage with their foes without waiting to counter-attack.

 

The Claws of Light – are the most pious of their brothers and favour lascannons, power fists and other anti-armour weaponry. They are noted for their ascetic nature and austere appearance, wearing plain unadorned armour and disdaining the decorations and honorifics the battle brothers of the other companies frequently display.

 

The Wings of Time – are renowned for their relentlessness in battle, whether resolutely holding their ground or advancing inexorably to drive back their enemies. They posses a greater number of suits of Terminator armour than their brother companies and often field large numbers of veterans wearing these precious relics in concentrated formations to grind their enemies into defeat.

 

The Scales of Life – were devoted to ensuring the purity of the Sun Dragons, fielding apothecaries in their tactical and veteran squads and meticulously studying and cataloguing their chapter’s geneseed. They favoured plasma weapons and were masters of defence and sieges. They were completely wiped out during the catastrophe on the Quarantine world of Risus Optima and are now considered Martyrum Aeternam, never to be re-formed.

 

The Heat of the Dragon’s Blood – favour melta weapons and are ruthless and merciless in the total elimination of their foes.

 

The Sun Dragons recruit as they see fit from the native population, each company in slightly different ways, but all seek aspirants with unshakeable faith and devotion to the Sun Dragon over all else, including demonstrations of combat skill or aggression, which are generally regarded as deviant behaviour on a largely peaceful planet. The Sun Dragons believe that all the virtues and strengths of a space marine can be taught and nurtured if the soul is pure and true.

 

Beliefs

 

The Sun Dragons beliefs are based on the ancient religion that originated on Athenree long before the coming of the Imperium. This was founded on worship of the sun, believed to be a giant dragon that crosses the sky each day and brings six blessings without which man could not survive. Over time this religion has been adapted to the Imperial Creed and the beliefs of the Adeptus Astartes, who see the Emperor as the living representation of the Sun Dragon in the mortal universe, and the six blessings as metaphorical truths rather than literal facts, although the original faith is still followed more fundamentally by the human inhabitants of the planet. The six blessings of the Sun Dragon are:

 

The Breath of Fire – the gift of the Sun Dragon that man may survive through the long night.

 

The Fangs of Dawn – that rip apart the darkness to herald the coming of the Sun Dragon.

 

The Claws of Light – that tear open men’s eyes to see the righteous truth.

 

The Wings of Time – should the Sun Dragon ever cease its eternal flight across the sky then time itself would stop.

 

The Scales of Life – that protect man from danger and heal his wounds.

 

The Heat of the Dragon’s Blood – that enrages the fury of his servants and melts the flesh of his foes.

 

Translated into the perspective of the Adeptus Astartes this faith makes the brothers of the Sun Dragons highly pious and devout, utterly committed to the destruction of the heretic and their daemonic masters, and unfearing of death under the protection of the Sun Dragon and his Emperor.

 

Notable Sun Dragons – Past

 

Anthelios Jaffa – The first Chapter Master of the Sun Dragons Jaffa was descended from a long line of priests of the Sun Dragon and shaped the chapter to resemble the faith to which he was so devoted. Although undoubtedly a skilled and courageous warrior, and victor of many wars in defence of the Emperor and the Sun Dragon, he is more often spoken of as a wise and holy man, revered for performing extended acts of worship prostrate upon the searing sands of Athenree or standing staring at the fiery orb of the Sun Dragon even as his Techmarines replaced his burnt-out eyes with bionics, that he might continue to lead them in both war and prayer. He was the only chapter master not to command his own company and the last to regularly lead the entire chapter in battle, for he believed that perfect though the Codex Astartes was in strategy and tactics, the divinely inspired structure of the Sun Dragons was purer even than that laid down in the Codex.

 

Ambre Teo – Former Captain-commander of the Claws of Light in late M37, Teo was a gifted commander and it was said his faith was as strong as any Sun Dragon who had ever lived. His Claws were noted for bearing ritually purified fragments of armour from heretic astartes as trophies of their victories, a practice their brothers from the other companies viewed as unwise and dangerous. Teo however, insisted that the divine light of the Sun Dragon would protect them from corruption and it was their duty to fear not the heretic, alive or dead. But when he began to go further and preach that his company should emulate the tactics of the chaos legions and turn the fury of Khorne or the cunning of Tzeentch against their foes, his Chapter Master Vichy Motya realised Teo’s unorthodoxy had turned to corruption, and instructed his chaplains to investigate. Teo refused to cooperate and declared his company autarkic and no longer subject to Motya’s will. Furious the chapter master denounced Teo as a heretic, ordered the Claws of Light to stand down and sent a kill team formed from the other five companies to punish the Claws’ commander. Teo and his command squad, now also debased by the many chaos artefacts they bore, refused to submit and after a ferocious firefight aboard their strike cruiser the heretics were destroyed. In the aftermath Motya declared Ambre Teo damnatio memoriae and the Claws of Light, once examined, interrogated and found to be free of further corruption, were sentenced to a century long crusade of penance led by officers seconded from the other five companies, before they were again permitted to bear arms under their own command. Further, Motya ordered that henceforth the Claws of Light should bear no honour markings or decorations whatsoever apart from the Imperial Aquila, a command that is followed still, although none knows the reason.

 

Blistex Theiss - Captain-commander of the Scales of Life at the time of the catastrophe on Risus Optima in M38. The Sun Dragons of the Scales of Life invaded the quarantine world of Risus Optima to secure it for the Imperium after reports that the foul minions of Nurgle, previously purged from the planet, had resurfaced. The spearhead forces were overwhelmed by a far more numerous and entrenched enemy than they had expected, and by the time the rest of the company arrived and fought their way through to the survivors besieged in the depths of the planet, what they found was far more terrible than even the plague god’s daemons. Despite their legendary purity of body and soul, many of their battle brothers had fallen victim to the virulent corruption of the nurglings, plaguebearers and nameless beasts that surrounded them. Even worse, their faith had broken, and in their despair at the horrors they had become they had forsaken the Sun Dragon and begun to embrace the only hope left, that Nurgle would save them. Blistex Theiss declared them traitors beyond redemption and weeping tears of rage and hate ordered his forces to destroy their former brothers. Some, whose despair had not yet fully overtaken them, turned their own weapons on themselves, but many fought back with fervour, and it took seven days of ferocious battle before the corrupted Sun Dragons were destroyed. By then Theiss realised there was now no hope for his own depleted forces, themselves surrounded by the countless hordes of Nurgle infesting the planet. Trusting to the Emperor and the Sun Dragon he re-established contact with the Imperium and demanded that Risus Optima be sentenced to Exterminatus. When the firestorm came, Theiss and the remaining Scales of Life died along with everything else on the forsaken world, and were declared Martyrum Aeternam, never to be replaced.

 

Recent rumours that some of the forces of Nurgle in fact escaped the doomed planet, even that Blistex Theiss himself has emerged leading a vectorium of the Death Guard known as the Scabs of Mortality, have been ruthlessly suppressed by the Inquisition. But still ….

 

Notable Sun Dragons – Present

 

Caudalie Tjaz – Captain-commander of the Claws of Light, Caudalie Tjaz is a master of anti-armour warfare and revels in defeating his enemies’ most powerful weapons, whether annihilating them with precision firepower, tearing them apart with power fists or crushing them with thunder hammers. An intense and spartan individual, he is a mesmerising presence, spending long days leading his brothers in fervent prayer and preaching the glory of the Emperor and the Sun Dragon before battle. Once in combat, his eyes seem to flash and his voice soars as he inspires his battle brothers with the unquestioning certainty of his faith in the glory of the Sun Dragon. It is said that no Claw who fought with Caudalie Tjaz has ever taken a step backwards in the face of the enemy.

 

Avene Abel - Dreadnought-commander of the Breath of Fire. Once the most gifted craftsman amongst the Sun Dragons, Abel’s greatest achievement was the recreation of the legendary pyroclast flame projectors, used by the Salamanders Legion during the time of the Horus Heresy. Although possessing only a fraction of the power of those magnificent weapons, they are nonetheless the company’s most hallowed relics, worn into battle by the most honoured Sternguard veterans. In M40 Abel was grievously wounded in battle against the chaos dreadnoughts of the Exquisite Host. Caught in the sonic barrage of the Lament of the Damned, his hearts ruptured and his bones shattered and only the strength of his terminator armour and his own iron will sustained him for long enough for his battle brothers to avenge his loss and recover his body. For over a year he lay in the chapter’s sepulchre as each and every techmarine of the Sun Dragons laboured day and night to restore and enhance the masterpiece Dreadnought that would now encase him. In his tortured dreams he heard every hammer blow that shaped his sarcophagus and felt the heat of the thermic lance that sealed him inside it for eternity, weeping only because he knew he would never again hold such tools and work at the forges of the Sun Dragons’ foundry. When he awoke he resumed command of his company by the acclamation of his battle brothers and over a thousand years later he still leads them into battle, only the roar of his promethium flamers drowning out the pain in his anguished soul.

 

Seven Lopaka - Captain-commander of the Heat of the Dragon’s Blood, Lopaka seethes with righteous anger against the enemies of the Emperor and utterly refuses to contemplate any mercy or quarter towards his foes. Formerly the bearer of the company’s standard, he became captain-commander after the battle of Asdragard where his captain was killed during the first ferocious assault of a warband of the Berserkers of Skallathrax. Rallying his brothers, Lopaka bore both his standard and the broken body of his captain, refusing to let him fall into the hands of the heretics and suffer the atrocities they sought to inflict. When the Sun Dragons had held their position and blunted the fury of the Khorne fanatics he personally led the counter-attack and refused to lay down the body of his captain until every chaos worshipper was killed or driven from the battlefield. He now wields the sacred relics Corespear and the Roaring Hand that have been carried by every commander of the Heat of the Dragon’s Blood since they were gifted to the Sun Dragons by the Forgemaster of the Salamanders to mark the foundation of the chapter.

 

Uvi Makaio – Chaplain-commander of the Fangs of Dawn, Makaio preaches the creed of Purity of Hatred. He is disdainful of those who temper their hatred with notions of vengeance, justice or even sadism. For Makaio a space marine’s hatred must exist purely because the universe exists for him to hate. His company’s devotion to this creed has led them to many glorious victories, and the Fangs of Dawn are renowned for responding to any requests for aid from Imperial authorities without questioning the purpose they serve or the methods they are required to use. This has made them much sought after by the more ruthless authorities, but sometimes led them into dispute with the more honourable or pragmatic, even including their parent chapter, the Salamanders. After the successful conquest of Vidian Gamma, in which the Fangs of Dawn fought alongside the Salamanders to liberate a strategically important armoury world from the clutches of a genestealer cult, Makaio was severely censured by the Salamanders captain. The captain argued that the indiscriminate tactics the Fangs had used and their disregard for the destruction they had wrought across the planet’s surface jeopardised the very strategic purpose for which the world had been liberated. Makaio merely shrugged and explained that he hated the genestealers and all he cared for was their destruction, any other purpose was impure.

 

Soltan Matthieu - Chapter Master of the Sun Dragons and Captain-commander of the Wings of Time, Matthieu is a huge man even by space marine standards and a consummate warrior. From an early age he stood out among his peers, bragging that he would one day join the Adeptus Astartes and when he came of age presenting himself at the gates of the Sun Dragons’ fortress monastery, rather than waiting to be selected, an act of hubris unprecedented in living memory. Suspicious of his motives and doubting the purity of his soul, the chapter’s Recruit Masters and their most fervent librarians sought to break his will, but none could succeed despite subjecting him to ever more arduous and brutal trials and psychic interrogations, and eventually he was inducted into the chapter as a neophyte. He made his name while still a scout after his squad was surrounded and wiped out while on a reconnaissance mission against Warboss Grakka’s Orks before the battle of Greenstown on the frontier planet Murka. Wounded and massively outnumbered he held out for 3 days with sniper rifle, bolter, chainsword and improvised fortifications, delaying the advancing Orks until eventually he was relieved and the orks driven back. For this he became the youngest known Sun Dragon to be awarded the chapter’s highest honour, the Vicit Draconis. After that he rose quickly through the ranks, soon commanding a squad of veterans, all of whom had many years more experience than him, but none more glory, then leading the Wings of Time to unrivalled honour amongst their peers and finally being selected by his fellow commanders to lead the chapter entire.

 

Matthieu preaches that as the Sun Dragon never rests in its eternal flight across the sky, so the chapter should never rest in its relentless war against the enemies of mankind. He believes that the Sun Dragons can overcome any challenge and defeat any enemy provided their will is strong and their faith in the Emperor and the Sun Dragon is unbreakable. In battle he seeks glory where the battle is fiercest, remaining unnaturally calm as his mighty hammer, Malleus Solaris, smashes a swathe through the enemy and his flamer incinerates them in a righteous inferno. His example inspires his battle-brothers to fight both more fervently and more skilfully for the glory of the Emperor and the Sun Dragon. He has a distaste for psykers, perhaps because of the ordeals he endured before he was inducted into the Sun Dragons and one of the first orders as captain-commander of the Wings of Time was to banish the company’s librarians, forcing them to petition to join another company or depart into exile. Although at the time of his elevation to chapter master some commanders argued that his unbending conviction in the certainty of victory at all times made him tactically intransigent and even complacent, none doubted his faith or valour. So far he has led them only to glory and they have not doubted their decision.

 

Geneseed

 

Salamanders, pure with no known mutations.

 

Markings

 

Power armour is yellow, with shoulder plates in the company colour and gold trim. The chapter symbol is a white dragon's head, similar to the Salamanders, worn on the left shoulder. Squad markings are shown in white on the right shoulder, squad numbers are not worn. Veterans wear white helmets, sergeants wear helmets of their company colour, with a white stripe for veteran sergeants, and commanders wear gold helmets. Company colours are orange (Breath of Fire), blue (Fangs of Dawn), yellow (Claws of Light), black (Wings of Time), green (Scales of Life) and red (Heat of the Dragon's Blood). Some brothers wear claws, fangs and scales as symbols of their devotion but these are crafted representations as no Sun Dragon would hunt such sacred creatures.

 

Motto

 

“Protect and Repel”

 

Oath

 

"For the Emperor and the Sun Dragon"

 

Warcry

 

“Burn Heretic!”

Edited April 14, 2021 by Bloodfinger

[Bjorn Firewalker]

You're a skilled writer. The details on the Sun Dragon sect demonstrate good imagination.

His armour is adorned with numerous battle trophies taken from the chaos tanks, daemon-engines and constructs he has destroyed, such that from a distance he could be mistaken for a heretic himself.

Wearing Chaos-tainted artifacts this way, may taint the Captain-commander in turn, enticing him to worship the Chaos gods- an intolerable risk to any loyal Marine. A better explanation will be Ambre Teo adorning his armor with spikes, to counter enemies seeking to exploit the poor agility of Terminator (and later, Mark X Gravis) armor, and prevent these enemies from grappling with him- the spikes making him resemble a Chaos warrior as a direct consequence. Edited April 3, 2021 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Bloodfinger]

Thanks for your comments, much appreciated. The reason behind the chaos trophies (apart from hopefully looking cool!) is that the Claws of Light want to show that they are successful warriors (the same reason anyone might carry a trophy from their kills) and also that they are not afraid of chaos, because they are so strong in their faith they believe that will protect them. It's a bit of a character flaw, in the same way that the Scales of Life believed their focus on purity would protect them, but ultimately it wasn't enough. Also a bit like the Relictors, who thought their faith was strong enough that they could use chaos weapons, but not as extreme. But if carrying chaos artefacts is too risky for an overconfident but not outright crazy space marine, then maybe creating and carrying replicas of chaos items or carving chaos  symbols on their armour might be OK - enough to show they are a bit unorthodox and taking a risk, which might lead them into trouble in future, but not so much that they are clearly going too far. Does that sound like something they would do, or still going too far?  

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Thanks for your comments, much appreciated. The reason behind the chaos trophies (apart from hopefully looking cool!) is that the Claws of Light want to show that they are successful warriors (the same reason anyone might carry a trophy from their kills) and also that they are not afraid of chaos, because they are so strong in their faith they believe that will protect them... Also a bit like the Relictors, who thought their faith was strong enough that they could use chaos weapons, but not as extreme.

It's not "a bit" like the Relictors, it's EXACTLY like the Relictors. Bearing Chaos-tainted trophies won't taint you as quickly as bearing Daemon weapons, but it WILL taint you- a risk no loyal and sane servant of the Emperor will tolerate.

But if carrying chaos artefacts is too risky for an overconfident but not outright crazy space marine, then maybe creating and carrying replicas of chaos items or carving chaos symbols on their armour might be OK

Carving Chaos symbols into your armor, WILL draw the Chaos Gods' attention to you, and eventually corrupt you. It can also cause your allies to misidentify you as the enemy, and likely make you a victim of "friendly fire."

 

It may be okay to wear DEFACED Chaos symbols on your armor, like the shattered Chaos star on the standard of Ragnar Blackmane's Great Company. But the defacing should be obvious.

Edited April 5, 2021 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Bjorn Firewalker]

You may be able to resolve the issue by moving Ambre Teo from "Notable Sun Dragons – Present" to "Past", and explain the trophies he wore eventually corrupted him and made him turn against his battle-brothers, forcing the Chapter to make him damnatio memoriae, i.e., his name erased from the Chapter's records, his battle-brothers denying Teo was ever "one of us," the Chapter deploying a kill team to kill him and stop him from bringing shame to the Chapter. That will add a lot of history to the Chapter.

[Gamiel]

Regardin the Chaos artefacts parts do I just want to point to Logan Grimnar's axe Morkai and that the Sons of Medusa are described in the Lexicanum as "historically favour combats with renegade chapters and through their skills at techno-exorcism, are always able to find use for enemy equipment."

[Bloodfinger]

Thanks for the further comments, I've rewritten the organisation and characters of the Claws of Light quite a bit, please let me know what you think. I've also added a description of the first chapter master, partly because I didn't want their early history to be only about falling to chaos!

 

I've kept it separate so people don't have to re-read the whole thing, but once I'm happy I'll edit it into the original post. Thanks.

 

Organisation

 

The Claws of Light – are the most pious of their brothers and favour lascannons, power fists and other anti-armour weaponry. They are noted for their ascetic nature and austere appearance, wearing plain unadorned armour and disdaining the decorations and honorifics the battle brothers of the other companies frequently display.

 

Notable Sun Dragons – Past

 

Anthelios Jaffa – The first Chapter Master of the Sun Dragons Jaffa was descended from a long line of priests of the Sun Dragon and shaped the chapter to resemble the faith to which he was so devoted. Although undoubtedly a skilled and courageous warrior, and victor of many wars in defence of the Emperor and the Sun Dragon, he is more often spoken of as a wise and holy man, revered for performing extended acts of worship prostrate upon the searing sands of Athenree or standing staring at the fiery orb of the Sun Dragon even as his Techmarines replaced his burnt-out eyes with bionics, that he might continue to lead them in both war and prayer. He was the only chapter master not to command his own company and the last to regularly lead the entire chapter in battle, for he believed that perfect though the Codex Astartes was in strategy and tactics, the divinely inspired structure of the Sun Dragons was purer even than that laid down in the Codex.

 

Ambre Teo – Former Captain-commander of the Claws of Light in late M37, Teo was a gifted commander and it was said his faith was as strong as any Sun Dragon who had ever lived. His Claws were noted for bearing ritually purified fragments of armour from heretic astartes as trophies of their victories, a practice their brothers from the other companies viewed as unwise and dangerous. Teo however, insisted that the divine light of the Sun Dragon would protect them from corruption and it was their duty to fear not the heretic, alive or dead. But when he began to go further and preach that his company should emulate the tactics of the chaos legions and turn the fury of Khorne or the cunning of Tzeentch against their foes, his Chapter Master Vichy Motya realised Teo’s unorthodoxy had turned to corruption, and instructed his chaplains to investigate. Teo refused to cooperate and declared his company autarkic and no longer subject to Motya’s will. Furious the chapter master denounced Teo as a heretic, ordered the Claws of Light to stand down and sent a kill team formed from the other five companies to punish the Claws’ commander. Teo and his command squad, now also debased by the many chaos artefacts they bore, refused to submit and after a ferocious firefight aboard their strike cruiser the heretics were destroyed. In the aftermath Motya declared Ambre Teo damnatio memoriae and the Claws of Light, once examined, interrogated and found to be free of further corruption, were sentenced to a century long crusade of penance, before they were again permitted to bear arms under their own command. Further, Motya ordered that henceforth the Claws of Light should bear no honour markings or decorations whatsoever apart from the Imperial Aquila, a command that is followed still, although none knows the reason.

 

Notable Sun Dragons – Present

 

Caudalie Tjaz – Captain-commander of the Claws of Light, Caudalie Tjaz is a master of anti-armour warfare and revels in defeating his enemies’ most powerful weapons, whether annihilating them with precision firepower, tearing them apart with power fists or crushing them with thunder hammers. An intense and spartan individual, he is a mesmerising presence, spending long days leading his brothers in fervent prayer and preaching the glory of the Emperor and the Sun Dragon before battle. Once in combat, his eyes seem to flash and his voice soars as he inspires his battle brothers with the unquestioning certainty of his faith in the glory of the Sun Dragon. It is said that no Claw who fought with Caudalie Tjaz has ever taken a step backwards in the face of the enemy.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The additional details are well-written, as is Teo's revised biography.

In the aftermath Motya declared Ambre Teo damnatio memoriae and the Claws of Light, once examined, interrogated and found to be free of further corruption, were sentenced to a century long crusade of penance, before they were again permitted to bear arms under their own command.

Who led the Claws of Light during the penance crusade? A Command Squad consisting of officers from the other five Companies?

[Bloodfinger]

Thanks for your comment, yes they were led by officers seconded from the other companies, I'll add that to the history when I do the edit.