Who wants to help Vyper design a chapter?

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

Ok, so, im working on a Aegyptus Astartes chapter, one to go along with fellow IA'er Nephren-Ka which can be seen here: Linky

Now, I have a paint scheme pretty much hammered out, and it can be viewed here: http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/JohnConst/Finished.jpg

Now, im pretty sure I want my chapters fortress monastary to be somewhere near the Planet on Thoth, in the (Segmentum Pacificus) It is described @ Dark Millinia.net as: Desert World. Liberated by Lord Solar Macharius from Chaos-worshipers. Captain Al'Rahem of Tallarn led the indigenous N'go tribesmen and conducted a guerrilla campaign against the Chaos-tainted Thoth, winning him fame throughout Macharius' army. The Inquisition subsequently declared Thoth "Amundi Heretica" and cleansed the world with virus bombs. The N'go were evacuated to other Imperial worlds along with genetic samples of the other indigenous fauna and flora.

 

My question to you all first is, what time from would LSM have liberated such a planet, and when would it have been cleasned by the inquisition? Also, I cant decide wether to have my fortress-monastary on the planet, or to have it on board a battle barge, like a space born chapter? Can someone explain the advantages/disadvantages of both?

 

My arch nemesis for the army will be the Necrons, and I need a tomb world somewhere in the Pacificus Segm. for the to do battle with, but im not sure.

 

The chapter specializes in close range firefights, utilizing the traits Trust Your Battle Brothers, and Cleanse and Purge. They either use Drop Pods for everything, or Rhinos/Razorbacks/Land Raiders, depending on the opponent/atmosphere/etc.

 

I still need the following:

#1) Chapter Name

#2) Chapter Emblem

#3) Chapter saying/chant

#4) Dates (as above)

#5) Specific Origin and background fluff, pertaining to the above.

 

Also, all of my basic Tactical Marines with TYBB, and C&P will have a shield, much like this marine: http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/JohnConst/Grenade_W.jpg So a means to work that into the fluff would be a good idea as well.

 

Now, your suggestions, thoughts?

[Mutt-Man!]

Well I always look at rules, then base my fluff to justify the rules placed. What traits and drawbacks are you willing to play with? Or is it all just fluffwork that you want help with?

 

For a desert planet a fast force to untilise the plains would the first thing that comes to mind. Like desert riders using jump packs and bikes in heavy number.

[Librarian- Melechor]

Well, it's hard for someone to ask the liber astartes forum to help them create their chapter, as that job is particularly up to you, but we can help. For your fortress monastery, you will want to be a fleet, because you stated their homeworld was virus bombed, most imperial settlers never would go there. If LSM found the planet, he may attack it, or seeing as he was a powerful general, then the inquisition would probably virus bomb it right away. I believed he died recently maybe m41.800-950? So your chapter would probably be a 24-26th founding chapter. As for the chapter battlecry and icon, you should decide that, and use the searchy, because many people have or found websites just for that. Good start, and good luck with the rest.

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

Mutt-Man!: In defense of their system, a mechanized approach would be done, whereas an assault on a tomb world lets say would be done via drop pods. I will not utilize any jump pack troops due to the recurring problem of sand, and jets. Plus, I already have a Ravenguard army, and im sick of assault troops. :cuss

 

Librarian- Melechor: Once a planet is virus bombed, could it no longer be inhabited, even by space marines? Also, thanks for the dates given, that helps.

[Librarian- Melechor]

Once a planet is virus bombed, could it no longer be inhabited, even by space marines? Also, thanks for the dates given, that helps.

 

It may possibly be inhabited, though it would take hundreds if not thousands of years to for the planet to fully be cleansed. You could add in your fluff that the planet was virus bombed by traitors after the heresy and is just becoming clean today in m41.999.

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

Well, it WAS virus bombed by the inquisition after LSM cleansed the planet, and took Al-Rahem with him, so, given the date structure, im guessing the environment would still be fairly shabby? Do most people just create their own world, or place their DIY chapter on a already exsisting fluff world?

 

Thanks again for the feedback.

[Librarian- Melechor]

Many people do both, for my chapter, the Howling Ravens, i created a homeworld. You would have to have an extensive/map that probably doesn't exist of the imperium if you were to use a pre-made world.

[ironloki]

As said we can help you mesh ideas together but its got to come from your own head otherwise you wont be happy.

 

A couple of things to think about - How old are the chapter, whats their doctrine (do they like slow masses of troops, mechanised, bikes?), whats their attitude.

 

Just some ideas for you to think about

[Tubal]

Once a planet is virus bombed, could it no longer be inhabited, even by space marines?

The virus consumes itself after it has killed everything else so there won't be any risk of contamination. The planet is consumed in a firestorm caused by the gasses released from rotting plants so the surface will be nice and crispy and there will not be any oxygen in the atmosphere.

If the planet was a desert world before it's cleansing it way have escaped the worst of the fire and it might have a breathable atmosphere though it will still be completely dead. You could make guarding the reintroduction of the N'go one of the chapters priorities.

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

IS there anymore information available on these N'go? Also, I tried to share as much about my boys as possible, I just dont see how you go from basic concepts to full in depth fluff. I mean, I dont want to write some fluff, and then have people tell me that "That didnt happen that way, or that planet doesnt exsist, or :cuss?"

 

My chapter prefers:

 

Mechanized attack, either by Tank or by Drop Pod, depending on the atmosphere, and situation.

They will be a space borne fortress monastary

The have much knowledge in fighting necrons

They have much experience in desert combat

They have an egyptian feel, weilding a kopesh in their right hand, and a bolter with a shield affixed to their left hand. They prefer close range firefights, to drive their enemy towards them, and finish them off in hand to hand combat.

 

Scarabs will be a recurring theme, as well as vultures possibly. Here are some names I came up with, but they all seem sort of weird, what do you guys think?

 

Sand Scarabs

Warp Scarabs

Sand Jackals

Heralds of Anubis

Champions of Osiris

Guardians of Thoth

 

thoughts? Critscism?

[Librarian- Melechor]

It looks nice, so

1. Their space monastery will either be a Ramillies class star Fort (somewhat common), a giant rock like the dark angels, or a ship?

2.

Champions of Osiris

Guardians of Thoth

Sand Jackals

 

I really like each of those, but once again, its your chapter, you get to choose. :cuss Other than that it looks good aside from us needing their history!

[Ferrata]

For the names, I always prefer "of" names. Out of your list, Heralds of Anubis seems the best.

 

Ferrata

[Tubal]

As long as you don't name them Warp Jackals... That's all mine! ;)

 

IS there anymore information available on these N'go? Also, I tried to share as much about my boys as possible, I just dont see how you go from basic concepts to full in depth fluff. I mean, I dont want to write some fluff, and then have people tell me that "That didnt happen that way, or that planet doesnt exsist, or :cuss?"

The easiest way to avoid conflicts with existing fluff is to avoid it altogether, most people end up basing their chapter on an invented planet. GW has the license to the major events in 40k so your chapter can't be involved in anything they have already defined. Of course they often leave openings, as they did in the Eye of Terror campaign for example, but you couldn't have your chapter play a part in the war for Badab or Macragge for example.

As far as I know the Macharian crusade is pretty wide open, there isn't a whole lot written about it so feel free to take one of the liberated planets in possession. It seems logical that the High Lords would reassign or create some chapters to guard this new part of the imperium.

I don't think there's anything at all written about the N'go except for what you've already read so they are available for use too :cuss

 

If you want a convenient template for your fluff you can model it on the Index Astartes articles in White Dwarf. Just use the headers and fill in with your own text.

[Brother Sergeant Alasseo]

And as for dates, well, a quick check through the old guard dex should give you the dates of the Macharian Crusade (IIRC, don't have my copy handy), and you can either have your chapter founded towards the end of that (ordered as the crusade passed Thoth, founding almost completed as LSM reached the Halo Stars), or a couple of centuries after, to allow for bureaucracy and so on.

 

As for their Fortress-monastery, you could use the ever-popular Ramilies, or you could take one of the old Space Fleet mega-factory/carrier/refiner ships (the Goliath, iirc), and have it modded so that it is bristling with weaponry, and basically suitable as a base of operations for a chapter.

AFAIK, the Goliath was the largest purpose-built warp-capable craft built by man, and was so large even the Emperor could dock with it (according to some old fluff I read somewhere, may be inaccurate). Stuff like the Rock is larger, but that wasn't purpose built, it was converted from the remains of a planet

[Mutt-Man!]

Some small ideas, you like close, you like vehicles, you like desert. Bikes, LRC and such with melta weaponry. Only makes sense! you get close you burn them in a hot desert and you assault them. However you may need something to tip the scale in your favour, perhaps trust in your battle brothers or take the fight to them? Land speeders also another fast attack thing you may want to consider, but you said you didnt want jets. (The idea of a star wars land speeder speeding across the desert as a form of speedy recon comes to mind)

 

Desert scouts, like raiders able to hide in ambush positions within the sand, like a unit of marines in the deserts of afganistan. For an egyptian feel, I would utter a name of my dog, named after the daemoness of the underworld - eater of hearts.

Ammut, pronounced Ah-mmoot. Hind side of a hippo, midsection of a cheetah, and a head of a crocodile. All man-killers, was feared by many as the eater of hearts. *SHE* would decide who is allowed past into the underworld where the pharoahs resided, and who would be eaten, never to exist again. Just something small if you wanted to use the little-known egyptian name in your chapter. My dog wont care if you use her name. :blush:

 

BTW, post some roolz and traits you really, really want to use as a part of this chapter. Or, is it all fluff before rules? Let me know I could assist in some possibilities and angles for your style.

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

I actually dont own the old guard codex, can someone elighten me? Thanks.

[Brother Sergeant Alasseo]

Actually, I checked after posting, and the most accurate dating I can give you is "near the beginning of the 41st millennium", and even that wasn't in the codex, but from the Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer.

There might be a more accurate referrence in the 3rd ed BBB, but if that fails, I know that his seven year crusade took place round about the Conclave of Mount Amalath, the date for which is in Xenos, the first book in the Eisenhorn trilogy. If I have a moment I'll try looking in there for you

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

I checked my "alaternative fluff guide", and found this:

 

After millennia of disorder the Imperium was finally united in more than name. At the Conclave of

Gathalamor held in the shadow of Mount Amalath at the tomb of the Great Confessor, on the Day of

Ascension itself, over eight hundred Masters of the Space Marine Chapters gathered to reswear

their oaths of loyalty.

The old power of the Ecclesiarchy was waning and with it the introspective and self-destructive

habits of mind that had divided the Imperium over the previous centuries. The schism of the

Apostasy was fading from memory and few remained to champion a cause that seemed

increasingly irrelevant. The hard-core of Bucharan dissenters had fled far and wide into the Eastern

Fringe away from the Imperium and the persecutions of the Ecciesiarchal Confessors.

Mars and the Empire of the Tech-Priests, for centuries divided from Earth by religious wars and

intolerance on both sides, reforged its old alliance at the Treaty of Ceres. In the past the Tech-

Priests had found good reason to distrust the Adeptus, and had wisely remained aloof from the

turmoil that had enveloped an unstable Imperium. Yet even the Techno-Magi could see that the

Imperium had emerged more strongly united than ever. From the Forge Worlds poured armaments

and ships to equip the Imperial armies and carry them to new worlds.

Onto this stage strode Lord Commander Solar Macharius and behind him marched the greatest

armies of conquest the galaxy had ever seen. The growing anarchy of the previous centuries had left

many old worlds abandoned by the Imperium. Some had fallen to Orks, others to enemies

unknown, whilst hundreds had simply stopped paying tithes and had effectively slipped beyond the

control of the Adeptus. It was these worlds that felt the first blow of the new armies of

reconstruction.

New Imperial Guard armies swept down upon the enemy without warning or mercy. Planets were

laid bare, invaders destroyed and human worlds swiftly brought under the Imperial yoke. Inquisitorial

teams which followed in the wake of the conquering forces reported scenes of devastation and

suffering worse than that caused by rampaging Orks. Missionaries from the Adeptus Ministorum set

about restoring the faith amongst the survivors, but so appalling were the conditions left by

theconquering armies that many millions died from hunger and disease.

However, it was years before rumours of Macharius' uncompromising campaign reached the

Adeptus of Earth. At first all the Adeptus Terra had were reports of worlds newly liberated and alien

hordes defeated and of ancient human communities rediscovered and brought back into the light of

the Emperor. Many fierce battles had been fought and at each encounter the new Imperial Guard

armies of reconstruction had performed brilliantly. Macharius' strategy of sudden and decisive attack

was working better than could have been imagined. A hundred worlds fell to him in one year, three

hundred the next, and in the third year of the campaign nearly seven hundred planets were taken by

the combined forces of the fleets of the Segmentum Solar and the Imperial Guard.

It seemed that nothing could stop Macharius. Within five years his armies reached the old borders

of the Astronomican. They found planets which had not seen an Adept for over five thousand years,

where tales of the Emperor, of Space Marines, and the dark days of the Horus Heresy were treated

as myths. They found worlds where humans hadturned to the dark certainties of science, and

created many new and wondrous machines. There were worlds which welcomed Macharius with

open arms and others which resisted the forces of the Imperium in vain. The Adeptus Mechanicus

long lamented the destruction of Adantris Five whose hyper-technology kept the Imperium at bay for

two years before it was destroyed in the conflagration of a re-directed comet. Of its secrets nothing

now remains.

At the edge of the galaxy Macharius' armies stood undefeated. But the long battles had taken theft

toll. His troops had suffered years of constant warfare and had travelled so far from home that

communication and supply were no longer practical. It was as if they had left human space

altogether, so dimly did the Emperor's light shine at the fringes of the Astronomican. Even the ships'

Navigators could sense only darkness around them. Macharius pressed forward, into the thin halo of

Old Stars that surround the galaxy. These are ancient worlds where men have never known the

Emperor. Their ancestors left Earth over thirty thousand years ago at the dawn of human history.

At this point Macharius' generals wavered. They pleaded for him to reconsider. His men, tired and

ageing, hesitated. The halo was dark and forbidding. Navigation was slow without the guiding

beacon of the Astronomican. The Astropaths were virtually beyond range of psychic

communication. There was a sense of growing unrest amongst the armies and fleets. Macharius

knew that the end was come. His armies had simply run out of energy at the moment of his

greatest challenge. To make matters worse, some of the exploratory teams had failed to return from

theft missions, whilst others reported mysterious phenomena. The troops whispered that the Old

Stars were haunted, that the worlds which orbited them were inhabited by ghosts, and that the halo

was not a place for living men.

Macharius locked himself in the state rooms of his capital ship and drank himself into a stupour.

His generals waited. They had shared in their commander's dreams. For years his ambition has

carried them across the depths of space and to the edge of the galaxy. But now they would not go

on. Could not go on. Drunkenly Macharius accused his men of betraying him and now he brooded in

silence over his maps and charts, reports of new civilisations, and tales of the greater mysteries

that lay amongst the Old Stars.

When he reappeared it was to order the fleets back into the Imperium. His soldiers cheered their

hero. His generals sighed with relief. But Macharius was a broken man. He had dreamed of

boundless conquest and had awoken to find human fear and frailty. On the return journey Macharius

died. The apothecaries said it was a fever contracted in the jungle fighting on Jucha. Those closer to

him said he had died so that he could be with the heroes of old who never balked at danger or

shunned the unknown. His troops wept openly at the news of their leader's death, for though they

had refused to follow him into the void, they revered him almost as a god.

Macharius' body was carried in stasis to the supply base he had created at the launch of the

campaign decades before. Over the interim the world had grown into a busy port through which

poured Adepts, ministers of the Imperial Cult, Tech-Priests, and many others all journeying to the

new worlds that Macharius had unveiled. The base had been named Macharia by the captains of the

fleet. Now the Lord Solar's body returned to Macharia and was interred in a great sepulchre that had

been prepared for it. At his funeral march a million men filed past his tomb and a hundred generals

laid their swords upon his sarcophagus.

It is said that the whole Imperium wept for the fallen commander, though it is doubtful if the

populations of some of the worlds he conquered ever felt so kindly towards him. In truth he was a

brutal conqueror and a ruthless soldier, though he was often generous towards his troops and even

to conquered worlds whose defenders had impressed him in some way or other. He was certainly a

charismatic man, and one for whom others proved willing to lay down their lives. No-one has led the

Imperial Guard to more victories or greater conquests, nor won so many worlds for the Imperium,

nor taken armies beyond the edge of the galaxy and the light of the Astronomican.

After his death Macharius' old generals could not hold his conquests together. Their own rivalry

erupted into civil war, and the conquered territories found themselves divided into warring military

empires led by Imperial Guard generals. Some of the newly assimilated planets took the opportunity

to secede from the Imperium altogether believing that with the death of Macharius the Imperium's

power had been broken. The Macharian Heresy, as this period of struggle is called, was finally

ended by a Crusade in which almost a hundred Space Marine Chapters took part. It lasted for

nearly seventy years after Macharius' death, a testament to the astonishing speed and wide extent

of the Lord Commander Solar's conquests. Though many of Macharius' most distant conquests

were lost to the Imperium forever, the majority were pacified successfully. Today these worlds form

a substantial and prosperous part of the Imperium.

 

 

Is it feesible to base my chapter as one of these Macharian Crusdaing chapters that stayed behind at the planet of Thoth, and eventually became the saviors of the N'go, reintroducing their race back to their homeworld, and eventually recruiting from their populace? Im assuming the N'go are human, but no where does any fluff dictate this?

 

I summon fluff lord, please answer! ::cuss:

[Brother Sergeant Alasseo]

If the N'go were helped by Macharius' forces, and resettled when the planet was virus-bombed, then it is a fairly safe bet to say they were human. And given that there is no complete list of the chapters who were at the Conclave of Gathalamor, we can't know their temperament or later actions, so it is perfectly possible to assume that one of them may have stopped to help out (although unlikely, given the prospect of greater enemies to face if they remained with the main crusade force)

[Tubal]

Any sentient xenos would have been left for the virus bombs so the N'go are almost certainly human.

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

Is it plausible that after the crusade ended, a legion of marines was left behind at various worlds to act as a defense against those vile in the Halo Stars? Surely they wouldnt crusade into that space, retake everything,and then just leave, to let the worlds govern themselves once again, a garrison would be left somewhere?

[Librarian- Melechor]

Yes, that has happened on some occasions througout the imperium. The high lords deem an area a threat, and maybe decide to send marines there if its that dangerous. Good job!

[Tubal]

Well, he liberated about a thousand worlds right? Since there's supposed to be one marine for each world in the imperium they have to create a chapter here :cuss

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

So now I ask, what founding, im not the best at Imperial dates, but if I were to go with the current ideas we have here, it would be a 25th founding chapter? Correct?

[Tubal]

Well, if you look at the pinned "Confirmed Founding Dates" topic in this forum you'll see that the closest founding to "near the beginning of the 41st millennium" (courtesy of Alasseo) might be the 24th or 23rd. The 26th is in 738.M41 so that's too late and if you go by my own formula of about 2.5 foundings per millennia there should be at least one more in m41 (the 25th).

 

Edit: (un)Scientific Founding Formula: 3rd founding 001.M32, 26th and last founding 738.M41. 9 millennia and 23 foundings in between means 2.555 foundings/millennia :cuss