Elementals of Gea Chapter: Ecuator Company

[Xavi]

hello all,

 

I think I did hang this some time ago, but it seems it has been devoured by a warp entity or something..... Anyway, since I have upgraded the fluff of my chapter a little bit, here it comes again with updates :devil:

 

++++++++

 

Sometimes one gets bored and instead of studying fiscal regulation in Spain decides to work on the background of his chapter. In this case I present you wilth the background of each individual unit of the Ecuator Company of the Elementals of Gea Chapter.

 

They are a strictly NON codex army, fielding units that rarely correspond to the 10-man squads of the codex astartes, fielding more units instead (6 tacticals, 3 assault, 3 devastators). The organigram of the companies will be explored later (UPDATE: organigram at the end of the post). Right now here comes a desciprion of all the units in the company.

 

5 experience points for the one that gets where I got the inspiration for each squad ;)

 

 

ECUATOR COMPANY

The Ecuator Company belongs to the Auram (Air) element of the Elementals of Gea chapter. It is one of the 8 battle companies of aroud 100 marines of the chapter. The company is led by Catain Ursus Mayoris, and supported by its faithful chaplain Polaris. Support elements of the company include three Scout squads (Alpha, Beta & Omega) of the Selene (10th) company and The CLeansers terminator squad.

 

Traits used by the Ecuator Company:

- Honour your weargear

- Cleanse and purify

 

UNITS & CHARACTERS IN THE ECUATOR COMPANY OF THE POLAR STARS

 

 

FIRE ELEMENT (Assault)

 

Aries

 

The Aries Squad is a rash unit of very fierce warriors. They tend to be quite hot-headed and sometimes think that they know best than the HQ, so most of the time they are accompanied by a chaplain to discipline their temper (and boost their aggressiveness!!). Aggressive in their natures, they tend to include the youngest members of the assault units. They are likely to take risks and will usually feel: "I know best". This has caused some disastrous actions by the Arians, even if more usually than not they achieve their ends, compensating their boldness with sheer brutality in hand to hand combat.

 

--> Assault Squad (8). Veteran Sgt with PF. Always deploys using jump packs. (or as veterans with Furious charge if deployed from a drop pod)

 

 

Leo

 

Assault Squad composed by more experienced members than those of the Aries squad. They have pride in their veteran-ness and usually look down on the more rash Arians. They can become quite touchy if the Arians achieved more than them in the battlefield, being proud as they are. An efficient, fierce and loyal unit of the chapter, they will do as ordered and do it efficiently. There is an ongoing rivalry between the Arians and the Leos. They are pretty much tied down, with the Leos being more experienced and skilled warriors, while the Arians compensate for that with sheer aggressiveness.

 

The Leos tend to be quite bold and flamboyant, but with a good mood and attitude as long as you accept their veterancy and praise their achievements. A good instructor unit for new recruits, they have no problems teaching the neophytes the art of war. They are well liked among the scouts for those reasons, even if sometimes the tales of some of the leos about past campaigns and glory can upset a little bit some of the most impatient recruits. Those recruits tend to end up in the Aries Squad.

 

--> Assault Squad (6-8). Veteran Sgt with PF.

 

 

 

Sagittarius

 

Even if they are part of the assault squad contingent company, the Sagittarius squad tends to operate more as an infiltrator or drop pod-ed unit than as jump pack assault squad. To operate to their maximum efficiency the unit seems to need to operate on its own, with little or no direction from the HQ. They are respurceful while operating on enemy territory and have an eye to select the best places where to ambush the enemy. The Sagittarians only problem seems to be that their free standing missions have left them with some lack of tact when voicing their concerns about a potential battle plan or the performance of a fellow unit. If those comments are not positive they can be quite harsh, and some of the members of other squads dislike them for that, even if those concerns have saved the lives of several scores of marines since they are well thought and accurate.

 

The Sagittarians learn fast and are specially appreciated for their information accuracy and for marking the perfect moment for the marine assault. They seem to have an intuition to determine the perfect moment to attack, moving in position and activating the signaling devices to mark the spot for the terminators and drop pod marines to land on even if they have been operating alone in enemy territory for weeks devoid of any orders or knowledge on when the assault moment would be.

 

--> Veteran infiltrator squad (8) prepared for hand to hand. Veteran Sergeant with PF. As an alternative, small assault squad (6) with flamers.

 

 

 

EARTH ELEMENT (Devastators)

 

Taurus

 

The members of the Taurus Squad have a patient, grounded and reliable behavior. They are the most veteran unit among the devastator squads, and can be trusted to carry things through with absolute care. A solid and reliable unit, their missile launchers have wrecked countless enemy armored vehicles and enemies. They take a direct and practical approach to their mission, and their efficiency overrides that of other devastator squads in the chapter by a good 22%.

 

The Tauruses are cautious in their approach to matters. And trust their fellow marines to protect them in those critical second that it takes to wreck the enemy when standing in the open. However, their stubbornness in achieving their objectives is sometimes a liability, not wanting to leave their firing position until they have destroyed their target.

 

--> Devastator squad (6). 3-4 ML and tank hunter or infiltrate skill (Honour your wargear). The

[Xavi]

Second entry :) ECUATOR COMPANY CHARACTERS

 

Captain Ursus Mayoris

 

Wounded in the face on a raid against a pirate base, Ursus got bionic implants in the face replacing his left eye. Ursus is the kind of inspiring captain of legends; his men would follow him down Khorne

[Daeothar]

I very much like the idea of giving each squad of your company their own personality instead of only the characters.

 

It really adds to the involvement I think. I might have to steal that idea when working out my own lists one day. :)

 

I also like the fact you used the signs of the Zodiac for your squads. One problem with that though; what reference leaves that for the other companies? Do they take signs from other worlds?

 

Also; in 38,000 years, most signs will have changed dramatically to the point of not being recognizable anymore. 38,000 years is not long, cosmologically speaking but I know it will have some effect on the position and form of the constellations (due to relative movement of the stars involved). maybe someone with a more thorough graps of astronomy can chime in here?

 

As it is though; this is a nice way of adding personality to your force and let's be honest; when do we ever field more than a company anyway? You even tailored the company to fit an organisation chart, didn't you?

 

One little niggly bitchy thingy: Strictly Non-Codex? Sounds as weird as 'Organized Anarchists' to me, or 'Nihilistic Fairplay'. A Contradictio In Termis, if I ever saw one! :D Better change the wording a bit...

[Xavi]

Well, I happen to be in 2004's Earth, no in M41st Earth As a consequence, i am using the old zodiac, hehe. I know they will have changed, but to be frank, I don't care much about that ;)

 

For the other companies, they are named after other elements. They are put together this way:

 

4 groups of 2 companies each: fire, air, water and earth

 

- Fire [ignem] companies are named after volcanoes (Hephaestus Company) and War elements (Ares company)

- Water [Aquam] companies are named after Seas and Oceans (Poseidon Company) and water features (Egeus Company)

- Air [Auram] Companies are named after stars (Ecuator Company) and Winds (Eolus Company)

- Earth [Terram] Companies are named after mountain ranges and the like. Company names: Hera and Gea

 

We also have the first (Helios, the sun) and 10th (Selene, the moon) companies. As you can see, the greek influence there is pretty strong.

 

More on all this later, but you see how it works. My original idea was to name them all after stars, but there are only 88 constellations, so I cannot name 100-140 squads after them :P And so I decided to divide them by elements. So, I am only using a fraction of the total available constellations here.

 

As you have perfectly assumed, it is unlikely that I (or anyone) will ever use more than one company. Hell I am even unlikely to use more than 2/3 of one company myself! :D LOL Given that, my company of choice to develop fully is the 5th (Ecuator), that is the one that I am working with in depth. The other companies will only be defined in broad terms, but I might name all the squads there none the less :P I am that weird, you know ;) Well, so are most people in the DIY section of the forums, since you see a load of great homebrew fluff around here! :)

 

In my case, the fluff is tailored to my playing style, yup, but not a specific organization chart. I simply thought that the standard Codex (the one Guilliman made) organization chart sucks big time, and that to add flexibility I needed more squads without increasing the number of marines per company. Hence, the squads are of 6-10 marines, depending on the case. There you go ;)

 

"Strictly non-codex"... well, how would you rate a chapter with a different combination of traits depending on the element: Ignem are assault companies, terram, devastator companies and auram and aquam tactical companies. Few squads are of 10+ marines, they usually carry 2-3 heavy weapons in tactical squads or use 2 special weapons. Etc etc. That is "strictly non codex" to me ;) At least from an organizative point of view.

 

Thanks for the support. Will keep you informed on future developments

 

Regards,

 

Xavi