Shadow Sentinels Chapter

[Knoffles]

Name: Shadow Sentinels

Colour: Dark Green with Silver Aquila and trim

Symbol: Green Zebra stripes on an orange background

Chapter Master: The Light that Guides (designated call sign)

Chapter World: Unknown, assumed fleet based

 

Founding: Unknown (Circa M.32)

Gene-seed: unknown…

 

 

 

+++++ Report to Inquisitor Marleck on the origins of the Shadow Sentinel Chapter M.35+++++

The Sentinels are a secretive chapter of an unknown origin and founding, based around the northern outskirts of the Sementum Pacificus, near the Halo Stars. They appear to be fleet based, though they neither confirm nor deny this and if indeed they do or did have a homeworld base, the location is not recorded on any records we have been able to find.

Due to their secretive nature and proximity to the ruins of Caliban, it has been theorised that they were an unknown offshoot of the Dark Angels chapter. This theory appears to have been down to their similar chapter colours and markings and may have been further perpetuated by the Chapter themselves. The Dark Angels have strenuously denied any lineage.

There is one question on their otherwise spotless record. Their first known appearance was in M.32 which does not correspond to any known founding. Due to their mysterious appearance, use of archaic language & prose and close proximity to the eye of terror, they were subject to an extensive inquisitional investigation after allegations surfaced that they were may have been linked to the Alpha Legion. We were unable to substantiate who made these allegations and any findings of that investigation were unobtainable to this agent but it appears no further action was taken against them.

What is known about them is they are selective in their chosen battleground and when they take the field they mainly deploy infantry, shunning vehicles. There is one exception to this rule, the chapter routinely deploy an unusually high number of dreadnoughts. This has led observers to question if they follow the standard codex structure and further speculate if they indeed have enough battle brothers to field a full chapter.

They have recently been seen with greater numbers of Primaris Marines deployed, so it appears that they have benefited greatly from the Primaris reinforcements offered to all chapters as part of the Ultima Founding. Who authorised this and from which gene stock remains a mystery.

++Report ends. Sector Agent Lucian Grite+++

 

 

 

 

Picture of some Aggressors: 'The Gathering Storm', to show Chapter colours and Symbol.

 

 

 

 

Having my own space marine chapter was always a no brainer. With that decided, I had to come up with a back story and having an unimaginative, unknown founding (mainly so I could try out different chapter tactics) was nothing new. Reading the Horus Heresy series, some of the stories that really captured my imagination were the those where members of the, to be' traitor legions found themselves defending the imperium, sometimes against their own legion brothers. The Alpha Legion in particular originally only defected in order to hasten the eventual defeat of Chaos. Would it not then be plausible that some of them would remain on the Loyalist side fighting incognito (as their legion was known to do)? It also gave me an excuse to field a multitude of models that had different legion symbols on them (my first 2 box dreadnoughts had Dark Angels carapaces), I also have a FW Alpha Legion dread, painted in the Chapter colours. Who else but Alpha Legion would impersonate other chapters (both in looks and in tactics).

 

++++++ Report to Inquisitor Marleck on the Shadow Sentinel Librarius ++++++

For hundreds of years it has been assumed that the Chapter lacked the gene required to manifest psychic powers (this time fuelling rumours that they were an offshoot of the Black Templars). This opinion was furthered by the number of Culexus assassins that had been seen operating in tandem with the Sentinels, in an apparent effort to neutralise enemy psykers.

It is this agent’s opinion, that this is another example of the misdirection constantly employed by the Chapter. Although he cannot offer hololith evidence, this agent has personally observed at least one Sentinel manifesting powers from the Librarius Discipline. Whether this Marine is an aberration in the Chapter or one of many Librarians rarely seen, he cannot confirm.

Of probably greater importance is the question of why have they gone to such lengths to conceal their presence.

++++++ Report ends. Sector agent Lucian Grite ++++++
 

 

Edited February 21 by Knoffles

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Using white text means your writing is invisible against the white background that is this website's default display setting for smartphones and other mobile devices.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

After highlighting the text, I was able to read what you wrote. The following is a red flag to board members:

Gene-seed: Alpha Legion?

As others REPEATEDLY noted, the Imperium will not tolerate such open usage of Traitor gene-seed, with no less an authority than Lord Regent Guilliman saying, "No!" to Cawl's proposal to do so. The Inquisitor is free to mention such a possibility, but if he confronts the Chapter with such an accusation, he'll be challenged to an honor duel for such an insult.

 

Best write it as "Gene-seed: Unknown". Don't leave the results of Inquisitor Marleck's investigation vague; the organization will automatically declare the Chapter "Excommunicate Traitoris" if anyone fails to present evidence against the suspicion the Chapter uses Traitor gene-seed.

[Knoffles]

Using white text means your writing is invisible against the white background that is this website's default display setting for smartphones and other mobile devices.

Cheers for the feedback, I'll update some of this. I mainly use them as Imperial Fists anyway.  

Quick question, what colour works best for the text? On the PC the background is black by default. Thanks again.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

 

Using white text means your writing is invisible against the white background that is this website's default display setting for smartphones and other mobile devices.

Cheers for the feedback, I'll update some of this. I mainly use them as Imperial Fists anyway.

Quick question, what colour works best for the text? On the PC the background is black by default. Thanks again.

The website automatically uses white text on a black background, in its Full Version (for PCs); and black text on a white background, in its Mobile Version. Just let the server do its thing.

[Codex Grey]

Since having a Chapter with Alpha Legion geneseed seems to be the point, I'm not going to tell you to not do it Instead I'll try to see if there are ways to make it more plausible and less of a deal-breaker for some readers.

 

First off, I like the Dark Angels cover story. The Dark Angels are secretive and aren't as trusted as many other Chapters, so when they deny the theories it probably makes the theory seem more plausible to many Imperials. However, as Bjorn Firewalker mentioned, if the Sentinels cannot refute any official investigations in a convincing way, they will be dealt with. I prefer it when it is hinted through clues to the reader that there might be a connection the the Alpha Legion, but that basically none outside the Chapter knows or even suspects.

 

M.27. This is a big one. The Alpha Legion didn't even exist before the creation of the Primarchs, which was late M30. Is 27 a typo? you wrote it twice so that seems unlikely. Are you saying that the name Shadow Sentinels were mentioned in M.27? if so, why? I don't see the purpose of this, so I can only suggest choosing something between M32-41.

 

Getting Primaris Troops and Tech seems highly unlikely unless they are a confirmed loyalist Chapter on the Records, and that they had Geneseed stored on Mars.

About some other points, like high numbers of dreadnoughts, shunning vehicles, etc. I just wanted mention that not everything has to be 1 to 1 between your Lore and how you play them.

 

If I understand your goal with this Chapter, it's to have Loyalist Alpha Legioneers controlling a loyalist Chapter with Alpha Legion geneeed? If I'm wrong then please correct me. This would be hard to justify in a convincing way, as there many questions that should ideally be answered, if not outright then at least alluded to. Are the AL survivors from the Great Crusade? If so, how have they survived so long? Have the original AL survivors died out, and now the Chapter is lead by their successors? How did they become a Chapter on the records? how did they get to store gene seed on mars? so on and so forth.

 

A possible path could be for the Alpha Legion to somehow covertly destroy or take over an existing Chapter, slowly replace the Chapter's gene stock with their own, and over time the banks on Mars would be from Alpha Legion instead of the original Chapter. I'm not sure if this is even possible, I'm just spitballing here, so maybe some other Liberites can chime in.

 

Alternatively, you could go the crazy-conspiracy-all-the-way-to-the-top path (A very Alpha Legion thematic aproach, what with all their spy flavor) and have the Alpha Legion somehow manage to have deep operatives within the Adeptus Mechanicus, so when a new founding of Chapters comes around, they could directly influence which geneseed gets used. Using the Dark or Curced founding as the base for this would also make it a tiny bit more plausible. This would give you a Chapter with Alpha Legion geneseed, but they wouldn't know it themselves probably. So tha Alpha Legion would still have to somehow convince or trick them into co-operating.

Edited January 10, 2022 by Codex Grey