Renegade marines

[quis custodiet ipsos custodes]

For my next foray into DIY chapters I'd like to do a rengade chapter, one that has chosen to destroy the imperium. It hasn't turned to chaos, it merely plans to tear down what it believes is a rotten corrupt regime so that humanity can start afresh. Anyway I have these notes so far:

 

- chapter has no history/knowledge of chapter pre "illumination".

> archives of history destroyed with the homeplanet and chapter fortress

> according to dreadnought chapter sent 3 companies to armageddon 2

> has no knowledge of founding or geneseed

 

- illumination refers to the time when the chapter realised the entire imperium was rotten and corrupt, at this time the chapter dedicated itself to tearing down the imperium and those who serve it, in the aim of starting afresh.

> have links with the reformists, these provide to some extent ammunition, though armour and vehicles are still scarce on the ground.

> believe the imperium and high lords of terra no longer follow the emperor's will, only their own.

 

- after the illumination the chapter floated through space, contemplating stuff

> attacked first imperial planet they saw, drop podded and destroyed the imperium building (manafactorum, basilica etc.). Left the emperor's temple intact.

> attacked planet sent message to head of sector, message relayed to high lords of terra, inquisition dispatched.

> Inquisition catches up with chapter, in the face of superior firepower chapter flees to the halo stars/zone

> chapter declared excommunicate tratoris.

 

To all you fluff fiends what was the nearest founding to the 2nd war of armageddon?

So any help in fleshing out these notes and any thing you might care to add would be much appreciated.

[Moogoo the Great]

Sounds cool! Great modeling potential too, what with crossed-out and defaced Aquilas and other imperial imagery. Maybe give them ties to the Tyrant of Badab?

 

I'd also come up with a geneseed anyways, even though the chapter doesn't know about it it could shed some light on their practices.

[quis custodiet ipsos custodes]

I was thinking of imperial fists as geneseed,

on the modelling side I was gonna remove all trace of the aquila.

++EDIT++

I'm struggling on a couple of details:

- a name (pre and post illumination or just one)

- an event that causes them to turn against the imperium (manipulated by corrupt planetary governor?)

ttfn

[Rogue Trader]

The Second Battle for Armageddon took place in 941.M41 (only 58 years before 'now'), so the nearest founding would be the 26th Founding - the most recent - which took place in 738.M41

[quis custodiet ipsos custodes]

thanks RT, that recent?

this was to help with the speculation of the founding date, something like: the chapter didn't know when it was founded, but they have reports that their chapter sent companies to the second war of armageddon, so this helps with their estimation of the 26th founding.

If its not too much when was the first war of armageddon, much earlier?

ttfn

[Aurelius Rex]

First Armageddon War was about 500 years before that IIRC. There is however a problem with saying your chapter took a hand in the first or second wars for Armageddon, as they were fixed by GW as only having certain big name combatant chapters (GK, SW, BA, sals etc) and saying your chapter was there would come over as rewriting established history to make your chapter appear more important... or smack of poor research. (Ref: Soul Drinkers, Second Founding, Crimes against Literature, Ben Counter)

 

There is more scope in the big worldwide campaigns such as Armageddon 3, but overall, rather than trying to force yourself into the big campaigns, you can make one up yourself that fits the bill.

[quis custodiet ipsos custodes]

they allow vastly more leeway for DIY chapters to play a "supporting role" - perhaps arriving as reinforcements or mopping up after one of the named engagements, or playing a role on a named planet that didn't feature heavily in the official fluff for the conflict

from the DIY creation thread.

I wasn't trying to force my chapter into playing a pivotal role in any of the major wars to make the chapter more super and more important, only using it as a device so that my chapter could try and put a date of founding to itself.

[Aurelius Rex]

It looks like you understood my point then. ;)

 

The Black Library book The Battle for Armageddon is a valuable source if info if you do decide to use Armageddon as a plot hook.

[Severus6]

Background wise, what is the defining moment for the "illumination"? That and how does the Chapter replenish itself? Even Chaos has manufacturing planets and ways to rebuild itself. Have you given any thought to that? I would imagine raiding convoy routes and small backwater planets would suffice for a while but it would ony be a matter of time before the Inquisition hunted you down and dispatched some SoB or other SM to destroy you. Just some random thoughts, hope they help.

 

Severus6

[Dasleah]

Perhaps they could of been a fleet-based Chapter? You have all sorts of specialised ships, like Forge-Ships, that generally provide enough armaments (or at least access to crafting them) to supply a small amount of Marines. Problem would be raw resources though, and especially adamantium, whose supply and distribution is vitally important to the Imperium.

Perhaps in the Halo stars they found themselves a nice little asteroid field, replete with untapped Adamantium fields? The field would also help deter persuers. And throw in a nearby star that fouls with the detection Augers, and you've got yourself a pretty little pirate base.

[quis custodiet ipsos custodes]

Background wise, what is the defining moment for the "illumination"? That and how does the Chapter replenish itself? Even Chaos has manufacturing planets and ways to rebuild itself. Have you given any thought to that? I would imagine raiding convoy routes and small backwater planets would suffice for a while but it would ony be a matter of time before the Inquisition hunted you down and dispatched some SoB or other SM to destroy you. Just some random thoughts, hope they help.

 

Severus6

 

These are the two problems that I am faced with.

What caused the illumination?

How do they keep themselves going?

 

I really have not idea for the first one, so any help or ideas would be appreciated.

On the second point, in my head I have the chapter escaping pretty much whole, no major losses. As for the replenishing weapons and ammo: I was thinking maybe some friends and ties with the reformists. However I'm not sure how plausible this is.

I like Dasleah's ideas a lot, maybe if they had always been a fleet based chapter with their own ramilles class starfort? I'm not so sure on the whole convenient adamantium, but heh maybe it'll grow on me.

thanks guys keep it coming

ttfn

[Severus6]

An Illumination or an Epiphany or whatever you want to call it is going to have to be a major event. Possibly the retrieval of some long lost artifact that shed some light on the Emperor. Maybe a conspiracy within the Empire that they have been unwittingly apart of. Maybe the Chapter Master himself turned to Chaos and then was destroyed byhis own men bt that wasnt enough for the Inquisition; they wanted a Chapter wide investigation. Something the Chapter did not want to submit too. Either way, the outcome is obvious, once a Chapter goes down this road there is no going back. Possibly throwing themselves upon the mercy of the High Lords but that is always a gamble. You wont know how it turns out until you are under the guns of another SM Chapter or a large contingent of SoB under the control of an avenging an overzealous Inquisitor. Neither option is good for you.

 

As for your day to day survival, you will be a hunted animal. All hands wil be turned against you including those of the enemy. No safe haven will exist, short of you convincing an entire planet or system to turn with you, and that will be unlikely, you will be on your own the moment a sngle astropath sends out the call. You will live by the raid and the ambush. All strategy goes out the window as you are now living by your wits and wil have to develop a low cunning that supercedes any honor you may have left.

 

The old lion or the wounded wolf will be your role models. You will have to get by with less, fight harder for less and set aside any principles that you may have held dear. Regardless of what "truth" you may hold or deeper understanding you may have gained it will never be heard if you are caught or destroyed. You are not lost in the wilderness,...the wilderness is now your home.

 

Severus6

[Dasleah]

The old lion or the wounded wolf will be your role models. You will have to get by with less, fight harder for less and set aside any principles that you may have held dear. Regardless of what "truth" you may hold or deeper understanding you may have gained it will never be heard if you are caught or destroyed. You are not lost in the wilderness,...the wilderness is now your home.

 

Any more poetic

and that would be a haiku

my friend Severus.

 

:tu:

[Commissar Molotov]

Any more poetic

and that would be a haiku

my friend Severus.

 

A rhyme of three lines

And seventeen syllables

Is very diffic... :tu:

 

Hmm... to the fluff, then? :(

 

It is entirely possible that a rogue chapter (That isn't overtly chaos) could seek solace on certain Imperial words, using them to resupply and stock. Especially worlds on the fringes of Imperial space. Most people won't argue with a Space Marine asking for equipment, and nobody can be expected to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all 1,000 Space Marine chapters and their political affiliations. With the state of communications in the Imperium, it's possible some outlying areas of the Imperium might take centuries to learn of a chapter being declared excommunicate.

[Severus6]

Or then again it could take weeks, days, or hours. Either way, the game is over and the hunt is on. I believe the initial idea of a secret base,...a galactic pirate cove as you will, would best serve the purpose. When you have some type of lair to lick your wounds, then you can start worrying about extra ammo. Another option that is slowly coming to light in other GW background stories is the criminal underworld. Possibly a less than legal rogue trader is able to help you out for services rendered. Then that guy just happens to know certain people to get what you want for a price,...it always come with a price. That price may be the death or destruction of certain Imperial officials or establishments, rival rogue traders, troublesome individuals. Too nosy for their own good,...you know the type.

 

Severus6

[Psykochiken]

In US WD 302 there is a great article about this, it has fluff and everything!!!

[quis custodiet ipsos custodes]

psychochicken: is it the one about renegade marines? If so I have it, it is quite interesting.

If not care to share the basic ideas of it?

[Bramble]

.....saying your chapter was there would come over as rewriting established history to make your chapter appear more important... or smack of poor research. (Ref: Soul Drinkers, Second Founding, Crimes against Literature, Ben Counter)

 

Don't leave out Blood Angels series adn James Swallow who mayke mention of "thousands" of marines parading befoe Dante

[the-betrayer]

I don't know if you've thought of a name yet for post "illumination", but how about "The Reborn", and for pre "illumination", how about Angels Imperator?, quite a loyal to the emperor/imperium sounding name, so you turning renagade will have a little more effect. As for why the "illumination" accured, how about withnessing some thing like the Inqusition nukeing a group of refuges of civillians like they did on armageddon? Just some ideas.

 

Peace ^_^

[Corsair]

You could always base the "illumination" on something they discovered out in the Halo Stars.

 

Maybe have the Chapter founded in a system close to the region as a safe guard against some threat coming out of them (every reference I've seen to the Halo Stars makes mention of "unspecified alien threats" and whatnot) and proceeded slowly over the course of their history to explore further and further out into previously uncharted (at least officially) systems...only to find evidence of previous failed explorator fleets and what not?

 

If you're going for a Chapter with a more...humane leaning, perhaps they repeatedly come across evidence of millions (billions) of people forcibly taken from their home planets and sent out into the dangerous galactic wilderness, and these people have been repeatedly annihilated by alien threats, disease, infighting, insanity, chaotic influence, the Inquisition, pirates, giant space hippos, whatever, and every time they fail the same thing is just repeated again, wasting more life; Sure this happens every day in other parts of the Imperium, but at least this usually leads to a victory somewhere in the annals of history, maybe even a new planet being added, but of these expeditions into the Halo Stars there is...nothing. Perhaps there were even Space Marines amongst them, even some of the early members of their own chapter who were sacrificed on some suicidal and incredibly, stupidly short-sighted mission that really meant nothing to the Imperium anyway, and the Inquistion expunged the records (and the surviving marines on the mission), thus allowing you to have the hidden history AND a reason for turning; Your boys finally discover the truth and see it as a massive affront to not just themselves, but to their brother marines and humanity in general that their lives were thrown away without even a glorious battle mentioned in history or anything to show for it!

 

This provides a base work for the illumination and the turning against the Imperium, whilst not going down the path of Chaos or Xenos worship. It also gives you a pretty strong link with the Halo Stars (and knowledge of them too, which would be a big plus to staying hidden) and the ability to have an effective base or place to park your fleet. It could also link into the idea of a Rogue Trader(s) working with the Chapter. You could even have a system of worlds that were colonised by humanity either before the Imperium, or during the Great Crusade, or at any other point afterwards that had simply been forgotten about as the Imperium withdrew on itself while under assault in other parts of the galaxy. This would give you an infrastructure to support your Chapter, and also allow you to tie in a PDF or something at a later date if you so chose.

[Mutt]

Gotta watch out for those giant space hippos. They can get pretty mean.