Celestial Tutela

[Aquilla Vinco]

I have been in the process of creating my own chapter, and I came up with some fluff, i am just wondering if anyone out there can help me out with it. I have read up on some of the history, can you tell me if i need to change anything, or add to ensure it is correct within the 40k universal history :rolleyes:

 

Homeworld:

The Celestial Tutela are based in a small system known as Pandora, and operate mainly from a small moon known as Allenfort Prime, named after their original homeworld. Pandora is located just inside the Damocles Gulf. Their original homeworld, Allenfort, was located in the Segmentum Tempestus. It was destroyed when a tryanid hive ship swamped the newly created chapter. The homeworld was destroyed, but they fledging chapter was able to destroy the main hive ship, and trapped 100,000's of tryanids on their home world. An inquisitor declared that the world would be subject to destruction to protect the impirium.

The Imperial Administration then requested that they be moved to the Damocles Gulf to protect a small system there, known as Pandora, and monitor the Tau, and ensure that no worlds fell to the xenos menace.

 

Origins:

The Celestial Tutela originate from the Dark Angels, but were trained Ultra Marines due to the fact that the Dark Angels refused to recognise them. When the tyranid attacked, the Celestial Tutela were not prepared, and lost 3 out of their 4 companies in the fighting before the ultramarines arrived. After the initial attack, Marneus Calgar personally took command of the remaining company, and sent it on it's way to Pandora, accompinied by ultramarine trainers. Apon their arrival at Pandora, they began recruiting initiates from a large fuedal world which exsisted. When it became apparent there were Tau operatives on the planet, the Celestial Tutela took it over and renamed it Allenfort.

The first Chapter Master of the Celestial Tutela was known as Grand Master Aquilla. Thus, from now on, all Chapter Masters are prefixed with the name Aquilla.

 

All initiates are recruited from this world. The world has a stringent class system, and the Celestial Tutela recruit people from different classes to reflect the roles that they will play. Scholars are recruited to study the Tau and their practices, as well as to act as tacticians, and infantry is recruited directly from the military class, but it has been known for people to be recruited from the serfs. Once initiated though, all class structure breaks down in favour of the rank structure.

 

It was soon after their move to pandora, they discovered another new chapter which was being trained,this fleeting chapter had been devistated by a Tau onslaught, so it was seen in both chapters best interest to combine, they became part of the Celestial Tutela. Their trainers had been killed when the command ship was destroyed, and a young Captian known as Brother Luther had taken command. It was then decided that the celestial Tutela would have 20 companies and incorporate the beliefs of this chapter, known as the angels of vengence, into their own. Even now though, other then the ASOSS and VC, the companies are still split according to where they originated from.

 

Celestial Tutela Training:

The Celestial Tutela begin their training as initiates on the desert world of Kaine, after intial induction and recruit training, they are broken up into their musterings, and perform different duties depending.

Infantry muster training -

Infantry training continues on all worlds depending were they are posted. For two years they are attactched to local patrols, and act as police. After this, they undertake infantry specialisation training, and then become fully trained as Infantry soldiers. The entire process takes on average 5 years. This includes all heavy weapon divisions and armoured corps.

Pilot Mustering

After intial induction and recruit training, pilots are sent to the APF (Armed Pandoran Frigate) Armegeddon, where basic pilot training occurs. Pilots are selected for certian types of aircraft: Heavy (Includes Thunderhawks as well as APF training), Medium (Bombers and small transport craft) and light (Fighter/Fast Bombers). After the training, they are deployed to their respective squadrons.

Other musterings

All other musterings just have induction courses along with a compolsary combat training course.

Depending on their role, marines will have different armour and different training. The celestial tutela focus on being independant with all roles being fufillef by one of their own.

 

Structure:

The Celestial Tutela is broken into 20 companies, 2 support companies (CSC), 1 Air and space operational support squadron (ASOSS) , 1 veteran company (VC) and 16 Combat Regiment Companies (CRC). In joint-operations with the support of one CSC, 8 CRC's can be deployed at the same time in the same place including elements of both VC and ASOSS companies.

 

Belief:

Instead of believing in one primarch, each regiment looks up to one of it's greatest hero's. Many still worship the Grand Master Aquilla, but only see the emperor as the greatest of men, and do not worship him. They are of the belief you never give up in battle, and that you must NEVER surrender. Many have tried to delve into their beliefs, but they are to complicated for an outsider to understand, netherlone describe.

 

Armour:

The Celestial Tutela wear black armour in commeration of those who fell whilst defending their first homeworld. To the celestial tutela it is known as the Battle of Allenfort Wall. Surronding the main city of Allenfort was a large wall. This was meant to keep banished individuals out, and any invaders, but when the tryanids struck, part of the wall had been damaged by an earthquake and was under repair. They swarmed to this point. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd companies responded, and with only a combined for of 280 men, held the wall for 10 hours, before 10's of 1000's of tryanids swarmed the wall and destroyed the city. Some survivors told of standing on the wall, and only seeing a ocean of scales approaching, and 100's scaling the walls. One popular myth is that of Captian Xeros. He was the officer in charge of the defence, and when he realised there was no way of victory, pulled out his sword and bolt pistol, and slew 5 hive tyrants and over 300 tyranids in 30 minutes alone, before being taken down 2 Hive Tyrants, slayign one in the process. It was said that their armour was stained black from the tyranids blood. Some survived, and now are ledgends, and either serve in the VC or lead regiments.

 

Combat Doctrine:

Due to their location, the Celestial Tutela are now a cavalry force who move in fast, strike and move out. The Celestial Tutela now (after a long time of training) have the capability of deploying 8 companies at once with a large infantry division. They can present a truly balanced force at times, but rely mainly on their armoured corps for logistics and movement. They have long studied Tau tactics and equipment, and ever evolve, and renew their own training to reflect the evolution of this xenos species. The fuedal world that they are recruited from are mainly acedemics, whose sole purpose is to study their field and excell in it. This trait has been passed down to the Tutela, as they have devoted themselves to destroying the Tau empire. Their motto has been passed down from their ultramarine trainers, "Why procastinate when you can eliminate"

[Rogue Trader]

Ok, a few points that could use addressing...

Homeworld:

The Celestial Tutela are based in a small system known as Pandora, and operate mainly from a small moon known as Allenfort Prime,

If it's a moon, it must in orbit around a particular planet, right? What's the name of the planet? Tell us a bit about it, and why the chapter chose the moon instead of the planet itself.

The Imperial Administration then requested that they be moved to the Damocles Gulf to protect a small system there, known as Pandora, and monitor the Tau, and ensure that no worlds fell to the xenos menace.

What's so important about the Pandora system that it rrequires an entire chapter of Marines to be stationed there? It can't just be the presence of the Tau, given that there are already a number of other chapters along the Eastern Fringe that are capable of holding the Tau at bay.

The Celestial Tutela originate from the Dark Angels, but were trained Ultra Marines due to the fact that the Dark Angels refused to recognise them.

Why? I'm not sure why the DA would 'refuse to recognise them'? Even if the DA themselves weren't willing to provide a training cadre (for whatever reason), I'm sure one of the numerous other DA successor chapters out there would have been... To be honest, there's no real reason the DA's acceptance (or lack thereof) would make any difference to the chapter.

When the tyranid attacked, the Celestial Tutela were not prepared, and lost 3 out of their 4 companies

Why only four companies rather than the codex proscribed ten? I'm guessing you're thinking they weren't up to full strength, but I'd think it unlikely a new chapter would be sent out before attaining their full manpower, and certainly not without them having had some sort of training, regardless of which chapter the officer cadre came from.

before the ultramarines arrived.

If the original homeworld is in the Segmentum Tempestus, why would the Ultras be sent to rescue the chapter? They're light years away on the eastern fringe of Ultima Segmentum, I'd think there'd be plenty of other chapters nearer, should your boys need assistance.

After the initial attack, Marneus Calgar personally took command of the remaining company

It's generally best not to use established characters as cornerstone of your chapter's history, for a couple of reasons:

1. There's no saying GW won't some out with a detailed timeline for a character (as they've already done with Marneus, in fact), which could end up putting them the other side of the galaxy when you're saying he's rescuing you chapter...

2. In this case, it seems unlikely the the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines would 'personally take command' of a company from another chapter - I'd think he'd have more than enough to deal with being in commmand of his own chapter. You could perhaps say something like 'Calgar order his most trusted lieutenant[Name] to take over training of the chapter', although as I mentioned earlier, by the time they're at the stage of having their own homeworld, they ashould already be fully trained...

It was soon after their move to pandora, they discovered another new chapter which was being trained,this fleeting chapter had been devistated by a Tau onslaught, so it was seen in both chapters best interest to combine, they became part of the Celestial Tutela.

I'll be honest, I don't really like this part - it just seems like you've used the exact same idea, but substituted 'Tau' for 'Tyranids' and had your chapter doing the rescuing rather than the Ultras... it just seems a little weak to use the same plot device twice :(

It was then decided that the celestial Tutela would have 20 companies and incorporate the beliefs of this chapter, known as the angels of vengence, into their own.

Even assuming the devastated chapter was incorporated into yours, why would they decide to disregard the teachings of the codex so blatently as to have twice the proscribed number of companies? :P I don't really understand where all these marines came from either, considering your boys had one company (100 marines) left after the 'nid attack, and this secondary chapter was also devastated, where are you getting the two thousand marines needed to form twenty companies from?!

Oh, and Angels of Vengeance is already an official GW chapter:

They're one of the DA 2nd Founding successors, so you might want to rename the second chapter ;)

Celestial Tutela Training:

Infantry muster training -

Infantry training continues on all worlds depending were they are posted. For two years they are attactched to local patrols, and act as police. After this, they undertake infantry specialisation training, and then become fully trained as Infantry soldiers. The entire process takes on average 5 years. This includes all heavy weapon divisions and armoured corps.

Pilot Mustering

After intial induction and recruit training, pilots are sent to the APF (Armed Pandoran Frigate) Armegeddon, where basic pilot training occurs. Pilots are selected for certian types of aircraft: Heavy (Includes Thunderhawks as well as APF training), Medium (Bombers and small transport craft) and light (Fighter/Fast Bombers). After the training, they are deployed to their respective squadrons

This section doesn't sound like a Marine training scheme, to be honest. Marines are the finest warriors known to humanity - they're genetically engineered fighting machines, and they should be on the front lines, fighting the enemies of the Imperium, rather than attempting to fulfill the roles of other Imperial organisations.

For example:

The Adeptus Arbites act as police and local patrols, and do their job adequately. It's a waste of the time, money and resources put into creating a marine to then have them doing jobs that ordinary humans can do, and in fact, can probably do better - a Space Marine doesn't have the training to act in a police role - they have no expertise in solving crimes, apprehending criminals, whereas that is specifically what the Arbites are trained for...

Marines also don't have bombers, fighters or fast bombers - that kind of air support role is fulfilled by the Imperial Navy. Marines have Thunderhawk Gunships for rapid strike insertion, as that's what Marines do...

Structure:

The Celestial Tutela is broken into 20 companies, 2 support companies (CSC), 1 Air and space operational support squadron (ASOSS) , 1 veteran company (VC) and 16 Combat Regiment Companies (CRC). In joint-operations with the support of one CSC, 8 CRC's can be deployed at the same time in the same place including elements of both VC and ASOSS companies.

See my comments above - this seems to be a MAJOR deviance from the codex, but you've not really given any reason for it... B)

Just my initial thoughts, hope they're of some help... :)

RT

[Aquilla Vinco]

Thanks for te heads up.

I'm new to this kind of stuff, sorry :)

I guess its back to the drawing board for the Celestial Tutela. Thanks for your help, I now can see how I can change it.