Emperor's Hawks Second Company

[Cptn. Palladorus]

I've made a few changes to my chapter's background, and also focused it more on the second company, which makes up my army. The fluff is the same although I'm also working on a new longer piece, and the new IA starts afterwards.

 

The Marines were standing around their drop pods somewhere in the cavernous lower decks of the Accipitus Rex, in orbit above some no-name backwater in the Galactic Northeast that had yet to meet the Emperor. Most of them were checking their weapons. Two in Brother-Sergeant Castanilius's squad were chatting nervously, recent transfers from the Tenth Company. This was probably their first combat action in full powered armor. The massive pistons groaned and slid the bulkhead door open, and over the noise, the marines could hear the high-pitched whistle piped over the vox system, a holdover from a distant past. Low-high-low, the code for Officer on Deck. Techmarine Henicogrammus could hear the ceramite boots click on the deck as they came to attention, bolters held at port. "Brothers! About face! Begin boarding." The three tactical squads filed into the pods, each taking their seat and harnessing themselves in for the descent. Brother-Chaplain Fasciatus continued his sermon: "...consider the Terran Hawk, our ancestral totem animal; how he soars above the battlefield, carefully choosing his prey, spotting his weakness, waiting for the opportune moment, then dives to earth, breaking his prey's back in a single strike. You must..."

 

Below on the planet's surface, Brother Nisus held his speeder in line with the other 6 in his squadron, and listened to the sermon, transmitted over the voxnet -- "...but why do we kill the xenos? The Codex Astartes states that the most holy Emperor created imperfect humanity in his perfect image, and thus any deviation from this, any mutation, any corruption, any xenos, is a blasphemy against Him, and for this reason they must be cleansed. Do not show mercy, do not show forgiveness for their deviation, for..." -- The objective light on the panel winked on, and as one the squadron's pilots nudged their pedals, and the speeders slid from a line astern to an echelon left. Ahead, the ruined armored convoy could be seen just on the horizon; Brother Nisus flipped the afterburner switch, and was pressed into his seat in the tenth of a second before the craft's repulsor-generator compensated. Through his macro-binocular helmet lenses, he could see the tiny green flecks which were orks swarming around the smoking ruined Predator that was their main objective. They closed to within 1000 metres...500...400...300...200 and the gunners unleashed their heavy bolters and autocannons, the chattering staccato bursts stitching six double lines of in the sand up to the predator, where a thick crimson mist burst into the air; looking in the rear view oculator, Brother Nisus could see the blasted corpses of the Orks littering the ground around the tank's hull, and three bright orange streaks in the upper troposphere that were the pods dropping from the , but much more troubling was the dark cloud of sand and the plume of dirty smoke rising from the ork trukks moving to intercept the pods at the objective site. "Accipitus Rex, this is Brother Nisus, inform Techmarine Henicogrammus of an unknown number of ork trukks inbound on his estimated position of planetfall."

 

"Acknowledged, Accipitus Rex. We are prepared to meet resistance." The pods had crashed home around the Predator; the Techmarine had torn open the hatch and was inside, his fingers flying across the control panels as beneath his helmet he mouthed silent prayers to the Omnissiah. Brother Sergeant Castanilius signaled his squad to take up firing positions around the predator. Brother Canorus let fly a missile, and another as soon as he could chamber it. The first impacted harmlessly in the sand as the trukks swerved to avoid it, but the second flew true, vaporising one of the drivers in a bright orange burst; the trukk skidded sideways and tumbled, launching most of the boyz through the air, and landing on a few of them, staining the sand red with blood and black with oil. The remainder of the boyz jumped over the side of their trukks too soon, running before they hit the sand; a few rolled, breaking bones, but the majority landed safely, giving a great "WAAAAAGHH!!", wasting ammunition firing into the air as they rushed headlong towards the Emperor's Hawks position in one massive mob. At 150 metres, Brother Canorus was firing with his missile launcher, a few of the orks were vaporised instantly by direct hits, more were cartwheeled through the air; at 100 metres the two other squads opened up with their heavy bolters; at 60 the rest of the marines began picking off targets with their bolters, the unlucky orks falling to the sand and tumbling, being trampled by their komrades, but these were the minority. The mob crashed into the Hawks line, swinging crude cleavers and axes and hammers, the marines firing at point blank in bursts now, and some on automatic. Brother-Sergeant Castanilius let off a burst from his bolt pistol, cutting 3 orks in half, then leveled his plasma pistol and melted most of a nob. For a second it looked like the orks would fall back, and then another grabbed the fallen nob's big shoota, and they came on again. "I need more time," said the Techmarine, but the marines were forced to fall back, one squad on top of the predator and the others next to it; there was no time to reload now, the marines were hacking out with combat knives and bayonets and weapons they had picked up from the fallen orks, some with their bare hands; still, not one had fallen. Brother Canorus swung his rocket launcher like a hammer, launching a particularly large ork through the air over the predator; one of the others caught it on the end of a crude sword, he shook it off and immediately ran through two more; still the orks came on. A pair of red streaks were flashing across the sky now towards the predator; the Techmarine said one final prayer and pressed the last combination of sigils, a hatch opened on the control panel, and the octagonal box holding the predator's machine spirit slid out with a hiss. "I've got it!" the Techmarine shouted, and grabbing the spirit, leapt from the hatch, his servo-arms picked up a pair of orks and crushed a third between them; his heavy bolter shredded a pair of others, another was melted by his plasma cutter, and a blast from his flamer enveloped another three, their skin turning black and sloughing off. The orks hesitated for a moment, then began to fall back, although as usual with their kind it was only to regroup and wait for reinforcements. A series of bright blue lines lanced down from the inbound thunderhawks, obliterating what was left of the orks and searing the desert beneath them into a dark green glass. The marines regrouped and reloaded, just in case, as the gunships touched down.

 

 

Geneseed: Ultramarines. Trained by the Eagle Warriors.

 

 

Founding: 18th

 

 

Motto: His wrath falls from the heavens.

 

 

Chapter Symbol: A stylised white wing

 

Heraldry:

 

The Emperor's Hawks wear red armor just a shade darker than that of the Blood Angels. Helmet lenses are blue, and bolter casings are black. Their chapter symbol is placed on the left pauldron. Veterans wear black pauldrons rather than red. The Second Company wears gold trim on the pauldron borders, chest, eagle, and embellishments. Purity seals are standard parchment with a dark green wax seal. The Emperor's Hawks also wear feathers from birds in the genus Accipiter. The squad type is marked on the right pauldron in white, and the squad number is marked on the left greave in white gothic print. Chaplain Aspirants paint their right arm black. To this color scheme, the Second Company adds a yellow teardrop on the right greave to commemorate their massive losses at the Battle of Vara III, yellow being the traditional Quarin color of mourning. Veteran Sergeants are encouraged to personalise their armour and equipment.

 

 

Homeworld:

 

The homeworld of the Emperor's Hawks, Sabbinus Quarinus Beta, is a desert world, inclined at roughly 86 degrees to its axis of revolution around a white dwarf on the civilized border of the Eastern Fringe. This inclination ensures that it has a relatively normal spring and autumn with extremes of temperature and light in summer and winter. The few indigenous people live near the equator, living off the herds of Bavla (a large quadrupedal avian, similar to a muskox but lacking horns and with a beak and fur-like feathers). Once every fifty years standard, the best of the best of the young of the tribes make their way through the Labyrinth, a maze of canyons several hundred miles in diameter, filled with lava flows, giant beasts, rock slides, and other perils. Those who make it to the Aerie, the chapter fortress located at the center, are allowed to dine at the Feast of Heroes and are inducted into the chapter.

 

 

History:

 

The most significant engagement in the history of the Second Company was the Battle of Vara III. The Emperor's Hawks had learned that the holy grail of STCs, the missing link between Predator and Land Raider, was located on the third world of the Vara system. The Second Company was dispatched in the Strike Cruiser Accipitus Invictus to retrieve it. Upon arrival at Vara III, nearly the entire company was dispatched to the surface in drop pods to locate and secure the abandoned machine cult temple. Unbeknownst to them, while they were in the radio silence imposed by re-entry, the Accipitus Invictus was destroyed by a small fleet belonging to the Alpha Legion, which had been lying in wait on the far side of Vara III's moon. The Second Company realised when the radios remained silent upon planetfall that they had been led into a trap and gave up the search for the non-existent STC, heading for the nearest defensible location, an abandoned refinery and pumping station, and prepared for the siege. When the Alpha Legion made planetfall, the Emperor's Hawks were ready, opening up with the small amount of long range fire they had and managing to destroy fully one fifth of the Dreadclaw landers in flight. It wasn't nearly enough to stem the tide though and the Alpha Legion began the siege, which lasted for more than three months standard. Many heroes of the chapter earned their status in this battle, including Chaplain Fasciatus, who killed three daemon princes in single combat, and the Second Company Fourth Tactical Squad, who at the expense of their own lives single-handedly held off six squads of Alpha Legion from entering the pipeline at the southern junction and thus gaining an unrestricted secret access to the refinery.

 

During the siege, the First Company dropped out of warp into the same trap the Second Company's Strike Cruiser had fallen into, but were not given the opportunity to drop and were destroyed before they even made orbit. Eventually the chapter dispatched the Battle Barge Accipitus Rex and two Strike Cruisers, which managed to destroy the Chaos Fleet and teleport the remnants of the Second Company offworld just as their position was about to be overrun; of the original 100 marines, only 18 remained.

 

 

Organization and Tactical Doctrine:

 

The Emperor's Hawks are roughly a codex chapter, with a few differences. At the Battle of Vara III, the strike cruiser carrying the 1st Company was blasted from orbit. This massive loss of wisdom and experience was shocking to the Emperor's Hawks, and so they do not have a standard Veteran Company, instead their veterans are spread among the companies, leading squads and occasionally forming veteran squads. Likewise, there is not a dedicated scout company; their scouts are attached to one of the battle companies upon their induction into the chapter.

 

The Chaplains of the Emperor's Hawks chapter are known as the Immortals, and they truly do not die. Every Chaplain is attended by a Chaplain Aspirant, a marine who paints his right arm black and studies under the Chaplain. On the Chaplain's death, the Aspirant picks up his crozius and skull helmet, forsaking his prior live and assuming the Chaplain's identity. In this way, the Chaplains live forever and serve as true living heroes to inspire the warriors of the chapter.

 

The Emperor's Hawks prefer to observe their opponent from orbit and strike from drop pods, using a precise application of force on weak points to incapacitate the enemy army and destroy its ability to fight, allowing them to pick the enemy soldiers off at their leisure. Their greatest tenet of faith is "No man dies in vain who dies in his service," and they are known for stubbornly continuing to fight when they should retreat. A marine who dishonors himself in battle is relegated to flying support missions as a Land Speeder crew, an incredibly dangerous assignment, until he has redeemed himself through a great feat of bravery or battle prowess. Armour is almost unknown among the Emperor's Hawks, although they do display a certain fondness for the Whirlwind MLRS in protracted engagements.

 

 

 

Hopefully you made it through that, I know it was sort of long. Traits and disadvantages are Blessed be the Warriors and Death Before Dishonour, although I hold myself to Aspire to Glory in army composition also. Every squad has a veteran sergeant, and the only support units are Land Speeders and Dreadnoughts in drop pods. I do plan on adding a Whirlwind at some point because I have a nifty conversion in mind. Thanks for your comments and criticism,

 

The Captain

[Zhivago]

Solid text, no less.

 

The Chaplains of the Emperor's Hawks chapter are known as the Immortals, and they truly do not die. Every Chaplain is attended by a Chaplain Aspirant, a marine who paints his right arm black and studies under the Chaplain. On the Chaplain's death, the Aspirant picks up his crozius and skull helmet, forsaking his prior live and assuming the Chaplain's identity. In this way, the Chaplains live forever and serve as true living heroes to inspire the warriors of the chapter.

Does this relfect some belief from the Quarin ?

 

Aslo how beliefs of Quarin people effect the Chapter ?

 

How they see their primarch, how they see the emperor ?

 

Every squad has a veteran sergeant,

 

Is quite impossible for any chapter as there is always lack of experienced leaders.. even full codex company has only 5 veteran sergeants. Having lots of veteran sergeants is of course benefactory in drop-pod army...

 

Do you have some reason to explain the amount of veteran sergeants ? (Yes, you mentioned that the veterans are spread among all companies but at most 1st company would have ten-ish veteran sergeants.meaning one extra per company.)

 

Nobody would complain having all squads with veterans sergeants but I think it is more fiting to have normal sergeants too in action. (so that they might perform heroic deeds and get promoted :tu:) But then again I prefer narrative way of gaming..

[Brother Tyler]

The Chaplains of the Emperor's Hawks chapter are known as the Immortals, and they truly do not die. Every Chaplain is attended by a Chaplain Aspirant, a marine who paints his right arm black and studies under the Chaplain. On the Chaplain's death, the Aspirant picks up his crozius and skull helmet, forsaking his prior live and assuming the Chaplain's identity. In this way, the Chaplains live forever and serve as true living heroes to inspire the warriors of the chapter.

 

Does this relfect some belief from the Quarin ?

I don't know about any influence from Islam, but the concept of the new Chaplain assuming the identity of his predecessor is actually the same as the original fluff about Chaplains from the Rogue Trader era. Also, the elite warriors of the Persians (pre-Islam) were also called the "Immortals", due to replacements filling in the ranks of lost warriors immediately and, thus, always keeping the number of warriors within that cadre at a set amount.

 

With regard to the heraldry, the two pictures I know of for the Emperor's Hawks, Adrian Smith's and the depiction in How to Paint Space Marines, show the Chapter badge repeated on both pauldrons, but reversed on the right (so that it sweeps back).

 

I'm leery of the knowledge of the STC. The actual data contained on an STC is typically unknown until the Adeptus Mechanicus is able to retrieve it. It just doesn't seem reasonable to me that a Chapter of Space Marines would know the contents of an STC unless an AdMech adept had already read the data, in which case recovering the STC would be a moot point. My only suggestion would be to make the contents of the STC more vague, or unknown.

 

I have to agree with the point about Veteran Sergeants. If you have enough for every squad to be led by one, you have enough for a Veteran Company. I'd suggest removing this bit of fluff as it is inconsistent with other fluff (fluff that appears to be supporting a trait).

[Zhivago]

I don't know about any influence from Islam,

Isn't it quaran ?

 

I don't want to raise any thological discussion just that I though that Quarin would be the name of the plenet/the people/the nation.

 

Also, the elite warriors of the Persians (pre-Islam) were also called the "Immortals", due to replacements filling in the ranks of lost warriors immediately and, thus, always keeping the number of warriors within that cadre at a set amount.

 

I have read of their exploits at the gates of Thermopylae.

 

Chaplain assuming the identity of his predecessor is actually the same as the original fluff about Chaplains from the Rogue Trader era.

 

Sounds exarch-like :blush:

 

So guess GW copy pasted their idea. :P

 

Or then there is huge coincidense.

[Aurelius Rex]

I know that on the death of chaplains from RT fluff (WD 108) the 'initiate' picks up the helmet and wargear - In fact Chaplain Xavier of the Sals did this in third edition, so it seems to not have changed - but it doesn't say anything about him taking on the identity of the dead chaplain. I think there has been some confusion with the Eldar Exarchs as mentioned above. :blush:

 

Here is a passage from the Chaplains and Commissars article in WD 108:

When a Chaplain is killed in battle a formal ceremony often has to wait. The senior Initiate immediately takes the helmet and shoulderpads of the chaplain and dons them. From the moment he puts on the old Chaplain's war-gear he has full authority as one of the Chapter's spiritual leaders. He is formally invested as a new Chaplain only when the battle is won and the dead are absolved.

 

There is no reason why the Chapter Cult shouldn't have the chaplain's replacement take on his identity.

[Cptn. Palladorus]

Seems I have some explaining to do. I don't have time for a full re-write right now, so here's a quick fix in a reply and I'll update later.

 

Sabbinus and Quarinus are actually twisted forms of Sabine (a pre-Roman tribe) and the Quirinal Hills, outside of Rome. Quarin just seemed like the natural word for the inhabitants, since Sabbinus Quarinus Beta isn't an easy one to come up with a word for.

 

I didn't actually intend any Islamic or Arabic reference when I was writing this, but now that I know it's possible given what I've written already I may pimp that out a little more.

 

The veterans lead squads of each of the ten companies instead of forming veteran squads, so since they are veterans serving as sergeants, they are Veteran Sergeants. Yeah I know, not exactly the same, but close enough and it lets me customise each model to give it a little extra character. The point is that they're afraid of losing all of their chapter's experienced warriors in one fell swoop again, so they spread them around. This way they are much less likely to all die at the same time, and the younger marines have the opportunity to learn by their example in close proximity. 100 Veterans is enough for the veteran company, but also if there are 10 Battle or Reserve companies, each with 10 squads, that means there is one veteran to lead each squad. The Aspire to Glory disadvantage that I hold myself to in terms of army composition actually is there because the Terminator armour was mostly destroyed at Vara III, and because the veterans are spread around leading standard squads and so they don't form independent veteran squads. The fact that I don't actually have to take a Major Disadvantage since I've only chosen one trait means I can conveniently ignore the whole 0-1 Dreadnought rule.

 

And DAMMIT I knew I was forgetting something, beliefs. I'll get to those later tonight or tomorrow. I was planning on something about a death cult and the belief that anyone who dies serving the Emperor doesn't really die.

[Brother Tyler]

Should a Chaplaincy fall vacant, the most advanced and promising of the Initiates is sent to the Solitarium. This small cell is situated in a secluded part of the monastery and here the Initiate meditates and fasts for a time. He may be left there for up to a week, while his investiture by the Reclusiarch and the Master of Sanctity is prepared. Then, in front of the whole Chapter, he is formally given his symbols of office and presented to the company who are now under his spiritual guidance. At this point the new Chaplain takes the name of his predecessor.

:P

 

+EDIT+ I had to edit my own tags. :blush:

[Race Bannon]

Compendium?! :blush: Wow that's a blast from the past ... :P

[Aurelius Rex]

Should a Chaplaincy fall vacant, the most advanced and promising of the Initiates is sent to the Solitarium. This small cell is situated in a secluded part of the monastery and here the Initiate meditates and fasts for a time. He may be left there for up to a week, while his investiture by the Reclusiarch and the Master of Sanctity is prepared. Then, in front of the whole Chapter, he is formally given his symbols of office and presented to the company who are now under his spiritual guidance. At this point the new Chaplain takes the name of his predecessor.

:P

 

+EDIT+ I had to edit my own tags. :blush:

 

I really need an eyetest! That is the sentence directly above my quote! :P Happily withdrawn, but I am glad that idea was quietly dropped. :)

[Ahmato]

I don't know about any influence from Islam,

 

Isn't it quaran ?

 

I don't want to raise any thological discussion just that I though that Quarin would be the name of the plenet/the people/the nation.

 

 

I can assure you that no part of Islam states that their are spiritural leaders of some sort that have initiates ready to take their identity when they die, nor does it state anything in the Qur'an of that sort. Besides, why would you call a planet Qur'an, it would be like calling a planet 'Bible' or 'Torah'. I don't mean to spark any sort of discussion, just pointing out a few things :blush:

[Brother Tyler]

Nah, the whole thing about Islam was my misunderstanding. I saw the question above my post mentioning "Quarin" and thought it was a variation of the Qur'an/Koran.

 

"Sabbinus Quarinus Beta" is the actual name of the homeworld given in the fluff and it is distinctive enough to not be confused with any holy books. The misunderstanding came from both shortening the name to just the middle part, and not spelling the whole name out. That's what Zhivago was pointing out - that I misunderstood the question [brother Tyler writes Zhivago's name down in a small book for retribution later :wacko: ].

[Ahmato]

Oops, sorry 'bout that last lecture :wacko:

[Dasleah]

I think the 'passing on your identity to your successor' idea might be interesting if it was applied outside the Chaplainicy as well. It wouldn't really work with your basic Marine, but for Veterans, Captains, etc, it might be an interesting thing to see.