Question about the Sons of Medusa

[Orbital Mechanic]

Hello everyone, I was doing a little research on the Sons of Medusa and happened to get snagged on something.

 

Apparently their chapter badge was changed to an iron skull and iron halo from their previous one (a medusa head?). My question is, when did they do this, and what precedence would they have to change a most sacred symbol of the chapter? Would this have something to do with the Badab war?

 

I know that, at least in 2nd ed., the iron skull was a leadership award and symbol of squad sergeants, while the iron halo was an award for exceptional initiative, again given to squad leaders. I've searched the B&C and the internet yet to no avail.

 

Thanks for your help.

[wcywing]

well GW has a habit of changing color schemes and symbols for no apparant reason. raptors were blue and yellow color scheme. sons of medusa is another example. you can always make something up, because GW does little fluff with chapters that are not da, sw, um, and bt. i think sons of medusa were a second founding chapter of ultrasmurfs. and on a english gw site for the badab war they had the see but don't be seen trait, i forgot what their disadvantage was though. not much help but you are right there is little information on them.

[Vodunius]

i think sons of medusa were a second founding chapter of ultrasmurfs.

i'm pretty sure theres no fluff on them regarding founding (or infact anything other than their involvement in the Badab War) ~ you might be thinking of the Novamarines (primogenitor chapter who were also a Badab War chapter from WD101, who also had their colour scheme changed with Codex: Ultramarines including also having their chapter badge changed to a white skull in a white halo..)

[wcywing]

that may be the case, sons of medusa could also be all those 2nd founding chapters that were not listed by name of ultrasmurfs. they do have a cool colorscheme, however it is very similar to the aurora space marine chapter.

[SonOfMedusa]

I am about done with my Son's of Medusa army.

 

I am playing them as a DIY list, based off the Spartan's since Medusa is Greek name/term. Some will argue that they are based from the Iron Hands but that is because Medusa is home world of the Iron Hands.

 

As for the change in color/device, create the fluff yourself. Again I went with the Spartan history and recreated the battle of Thermopylae which in my time line involved the lost of the 3rd, 5th, & 8th Company. The Skull and Halo is in honor of all the brother that fell that day.

 

The way I run my SOM is the following:

 

Advantages:

Trust your battle Brother (True Grit & Counter)

I choice this because of the martial strength of the Spartans

 

Honor of the Emperor (6+ inv. save)

I chose this one because of the ability to survive at Hell's Gates (My Thermopylae)

 

Disadvantages:

The one where you get 1 less elite, hvy, and Fast.

Because the Chapter has taken such heavy loses.

 

The one where you do not get Artifacts:

Again because of the loses.

 

Once I get the fluff written, which I hope is soon I was planning on posting it to the site.

[Plisken]

Way... way... way back in the ancient annals of B&C history (February 2003 to be exact) I set about developing background from my Sons of Medusa through discussion on this board.

 

I had debated for a while their origin as either Ultras or Iron Hands and while I leaned heavily towards Iron Hands the resulting ideas left them as a "Chapter of unknown origin." This was what we came up with back then (none of it in any way official, but it's the back story for my SoM):

 

Organization

 

They have no home world and are entirely ship-based. They follow the dictates of the Codex more closely than their parent Chapter (and use the regular C:SM), but have adapted it to a fleet-based existence.

 

They are divided into nine "companies": the Poli (not sure on classical Greek... anyone know the plural version of polis?), based along old clan lines that are mostly independent only occasionally coming together to fight. Most polis fleets comprise a strike cruiser and a large number of support vessels while the fleets of the Poli Attica, Poli Megara and Poli Corintos, nominally the 1st, 2nd and 3rd companies respectively are formed around battle barges.

 

Because of their independent nature, the poli are organized differently to the standard as described in the Codex Astartes, each one having its own sub-company within the clan of newer recruits rather than having a separate scout company. The chapter recruits from a wide number of worlds because of their fleet nature, except for the sixth, Polis Spata, which recruits only from a particularly nasty feral/death world. The Polis Spata recruits infrequently because of this decision, but the Spatans are particularly fierce with fewer casualties as a result and the bond between brothers is stronger for this.

 

The basillius (overall commander) of Polis Attica is at least nominally the Chapter Master, but in reality a council of both the commanders and the Iron Chaplains of all poli make decisions of the Chapter as a whole.

 

The poli of the SoM differ from the Companies of other Chapters with them all being organized in a similar manner to battle companies and no dedicated reserve, assault or support companies. Generally, a polis has six tactical squads, three devastator squads and one assault squad with a variety of veterans in this number. Each of the "first" three also has a small number of tactical dreadnaught suits.

 

 

Beliefs

 

Iron Chaplains who combine the roles of mechanic/engineer and spiritual leaders replace both chaplains and techmarines. The Chapter's reliance on it's fleets and the well-being of the ships has evolved into a kind of worship less of the Machine God as a whole, as their parent Chapter has, but more of the individual machine spirits of the vessels. Their ties to Mars are less binding than those of the Iron Hands and their worship is more practical with every marine having knowledge of the prayers required by the machine spirits of the fleet. Aboard the Chapter's three battle barges Athena, Phorcys and Hespera this fervent worship of the vessels' machine spirits rivals the devotion normally seen for the Emperor in most Chapters.

 

On the battlefield, Iron Chaplains are similar to the chaplains of other Chapters, except that they are divorced from the Ecclesiarchy and as such do not gain the rosarius as other chaplains do, most of the more favored Iron Chaplains rely on ancient Mechanicus Protectiva.

 

"The Sons of Medusa believe that a combination of both flesh and steel must be achieved. That all together that flesh is not weak and that steel is not the answer. A balance must be achieved and maintained for perfection to be attained and mastered. There is little contact between them and their parent Chapter as the Iron Hands see the Sons of Medusa as straying from the true path and the Sons of Medusa see the Iron Hands as zealots that have lost their way. Where as the SoM have been able to achieve a high standard of technology and the use of bionics it has forsworn the ties the IH have with the Adeptus Mechanicus."

 

So while bionics are more common in the Chapter than others, they tend to be more in keeping with their ship-based background and used to replace living tissue only when that flesh is damaged or when it is not suited to the needs of the marine's connection with the ships. As an example, neural implants and connections of the type usually only seen in the priceps of titan legions are relatively common in marines that pilot ships from thunderhawks up, and even landspeeder pilots may be "jacked in" rather than manually piloting such vehicles.

 

 

Doctrine

 

Sons of Medusa generally follow the dictates of the Codex Astartes with regard to battlefield organization and tactics. They generally prefer the use of heavy weapons to close quarters fighting wherever possible, but are particularly skilled at ship boarding actions. Their preferred method of fighting on land is by use of strong firing lines of heavy weapons often referred to as the phalanx.

 

"The Battle Brother Devastators were formed into a firing line, they readied their weapons, each training their heavy bolter on different targets. The lithe gaunts were within metres of the steadfast marines and were closing fast. The leading gaunts of the huge brood leapt at the Medusan Sons. As one, the Marines opened fire on the Xenos creatures, their weapons sang the litany of death as they spat round after round into Tyranid creatures. At such close range the impact was devastating, bodies were punched clean through by the fire of the heavy weapons, exploding in the chests of the creatures behind. Yet the creatures were not without aid, the power of the Hive Mind forced them ever onward, to face the agony of the bolts scything through their ranks. Mere seconds had passed before the chorus of death ceased the not a single proud Battle Brother had fallen, yet in return the brood of the Tyranids had been decimated. Bodies lay for metres in front, the dark ichor staining the scorched earth a deep black.

 

The Devastators stood resolute, spattered with gore. They methodically checked their weapons and resumed a firing stance. There were yet enemies to be cleansed."

 

Since the new marine codex came out I have adapted traits to the Chapter:

Dutiful: Honour your Wargear, Never Despair

Drawback: Flesh over Steel

 

As you can see... not exactly "powergamer" choices, especially since Never Despair really isn't and advantage to me.

[Orbital Mechanic]

Thanks for the replies everyone, and one heck of a post Plisken. :P

 

anyone know the plural version of polis?

I pretty sure it's poleis .

 

I like what you've done with your history of the Sons of Medusa. I've had some similar ideas about the chapter being space-borne and specializing in space warfare as well. It seems that most space marines are either concerned with planetary assault or traditional ground warface, which struck me as decidedly unspace-marine-like.

 

Here are some ideas I've been mulling over:

 

Back in the second edition Ultramarine codex, there was this picture of an Ultramarine with a Medusa's head on the pauldron of his armor, like a squad marking or some such. Perhaps the company that Ultramarine belongs to is stationed on a strike cruiser named the 'Medusa'. The company had been through thick and thin with this ship, and the marines had developed an admiration for the vessel. Hence, the Medusa's head art found on the Ultramarines armor.

 

The High Lords of Terra decree another chapter founding, and the Ultramarines are called upon to donate geneseed (and a cadre to act as leadership) for a new chapter. This pride in the Medusa from the Ultramarine cadre influences the fledging chapter and they are called the 'Sons of Medusa'.

 

Also, as Vodunius pointed out earlier, the SoM and the Novamarines share the same skull and iron halo chapter badge. Since fluff-wise it is a very big deal for a space marine chapter to change their heraldry or chapter badge, perhaps the SoM and Novamarines took part in some particularly bloodly campaign together and eventaully emerged victorious (Badab war?). As a result of the conflict, the skull and iron halo, which were traditional symbols of leadership and initiative, were adopted as chapter badges.

 

Like what was covered in Plisken's history, ship-to-ship fighting would lead to the chapter not using various vehicles and weaponry. I would think that melta, flamer, and bolter weaponry would be prevalent.

 

Wow, I got a bit carried away there. :tu:

[Burn_the_Heretic]

Read Plisken's post, and I can say that the plural of Polis is Poleis (speaking as an Ancient history student). Also, the word leader is spelt Basileus, not basillius (which is a king/leader lower than the level of Wanax). I suppose if you wanted to be fluffy the chapter master could be a Wanax, and the individual company leaders could be Basileus (plural of Basileus is Basileis), with one being elected to Wanax, as was common in ancient war (evidence from Homer's Iliad).

 

Hope this helps with anyones fluff.

[Plisken]

Read Plisken's post, and I can say that the plural of Polis is Poleis (speaking as an Ancient history student). Also, the word leader is spelt Basileus, not basillius (which is a king/leader lower than the level of Wanax). I suppose if you wanted to be fluffy the chapter master could be a Wanax, and the individual company leaders could be Basileus (plural of Basileus is Basileis), with one being elected to Wanax, as was common in ancient war (evidence from Homer's Iliad).

 

Hope this helps with anyones fluff.

Thanks for the grammar/spelling and history help there. The thought here was that each polis would have its Basileus who would be the equivalent of the company captain, so there would be nine. While the adminitratum on Terra might consider the Basileus of Poli Attica to be the "Chapter Master" in reality they would be nine autonimous forces with the nine Basileis forming a council on items affecting the Chapter as a whole in a similar manner to the clan chiefs of the Iron Hands. So in this respect there'd be no reason for a Wanax (probably just as well since I don't like the sound of that word :rolleyes:)

 

All that said... I'm definitely open to ideas and there are some great ones here that I'd love to incorporate in to the ideas I have. I certainly wouldn't be opposed to all of us who play the Chapter to work together towards creating a common background that we can all agree on.

 

One of the things that I kind of built in to the background I presented was that the poleis would be sufficiently seperate that each one could have its own combat doctrine or specialty, so for example, the polis Spata might have doctrines that are different to many other poleis explained by their particular history or their recruitment methodology. I really like SonOfMedusa's ideas there about the 40k equivalent of the battle of Thermopylae (and the convenience of the three companies being the size of the Spartan force) and I look forward to reading more of that background. Maybe one of the other's could really specialize in ship-based assault and have Cleanse and Purify or something.

 

As I said... I'm certainly open in my interpretation and background to have them Ultras successors and the idea of them getting their "new" Chapter badge with the Nova Marines is a pretty interesting one.

 

One of the things that did come up in discussion last time around (yeah... the 2003 discussion that distilled in to what I have presented) was the traditional symbol of the medusa head being a protective ward... and while this never got incorporated in to the fluff I always liked the idea that they were somehow a "protector" Chapter.

[Burn_the_Heretic]

How about we have a discussion whereby at the end we have created 10 poleis companies within the chapter, with minor fluff and rules for each? That could make a whole chapter fluff difficult though. Anyways, something up for discussion.

[IronKaiser]

It makes sense that each company would operate separately. Space marines, even a few of them, are quite formidable foes.

 

With a company operating nearly independently of the other companies, the company leadership would probably take on more responsibility. How does the chapter master etc. fit into this type of situation?

 

Maybe he sits on a battlebarge with a few companies in proximity that operate as a cohesive battle group, while other "splinter companies" (for lack of a better term) would head off for various missions.