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Hello Everyone! First off let me thank you all so much for your input so far in some of my other threads and through PMs, it has helped tremendously with filling in a lot of holes and refining a lot of ideas regarding SM lore. Now, I am starting a very ambitions project to create an entire SM chapter from the ground up for Apocalypse settings. I currently have a decent sized Tau army, but SM fluff is so much more fun to write and read, so I want my next army (and major hobby project) to involve them. The game-play aspect of this army is founded on the idea that my local gaming community accepts all allies as battle brothers in apocalypse setting, so I want to ally Vanilla Marines w/ Grey Knights (my favorite SM variants). The models themselves will be spellcrow robed space knight bodies (torsos+legs), company champion shoulders, and Grey Knight heads and backpacks. The arms will be from whatever box has the weapons I'm looking for. This is a slow-going conversion and on the pricier side, but the models turn out looking really knightly and awesome, totally worth it. The chapter breakdown has models that will be filling multiple roles, and for those I'll be magnetizing arms/heads/backpacks/whatever needs to be swapped for quick changes. I'll be posting pics of the squads as I complete them, but in the mean time, feel free to give me some positive criticism about the fluff and background I have come up w/ so far. Please stay away from "this idea blows" as I am pretty set on the direction I am taking this, I could just use some refinement from people who undoubtedly know a lot more about Imperium lore than I do. Thanks guys, and I hope you enjoy my chapter =)


Chronos Militarum, Time-Knights of the Ordo Chronos
Founding: Unknown
Gene-seed: Unknown
Chapter Colors: Grey armor with black tabards
Chapter Iconography: Clock bearing the symbol of the Inquisition, with the hands at the 12 and 6.
Fortress World/Recruitment World: Tranquility II, a Feudal World in the Endymion Cluster outside of The Maelstrom.
Combat Doctrine: The Time-Knights rely heavily on psychic powers to crush their enemies while supporting their ranks, and quite often prefer heavily armored and armed troops over faster, more agile alternatives.
Chapter Organization: The Chapter is divided into 12 companies, each with a command squad leading 60 men. The 12th company, "The Mourned", is the only exception, with fallen heroes of the chapter fighting on in this fearsome dreadnought company.

+++History+++

+The Discovery+
Nothing is known of this chapter prior to its discovery on Lucius, a Forge World outside of the Eye of Terror in the Segmentum Obscurus. Rumors of Warp-taint on this large military production planet began to spread throughout the sector when thousands of mutilated bodies began to turn up across the entire planet's surface. These rumors were met with quick Inquisitorial reaction, and a band of Inquisitors was immediately dispatched with sizable henchman war-band and a Brotherhood of Grey Knights to discover the truth of these rumors, and eradicate any trace of the daemons threatening the Imperium. This war-band was quite surprised when they reached the planet, only to learn that the murders had stopped shortly after they had began, however sounds of battle were believed to have come from the lowest and most decayed depths of the old catacomb-factories buried under the current monstrosities built on the surface. The Inquisition took it's full force to the rumored battle location, and was not disappointed when it came across heaps of daemon-gore and warp-flesh splattered across the walls and floors of these long abandoned factory tunnels. At the deepest depths of these tunnels, collected in a large ampitheatre the size of a small city, the war-band came across a nearly chapter-sized force of Space Marines wandering among the dead corpses of the beasts they had apparently torn to pieces. These marines had no visible heraldry or identifying symbols on their scorched knight-like armor, and all colors were burned away. Upon initial questioning, none of the ranks of marines could recall their names, or that of their chapter; their earliest memories being the rending of daemon flesh, followed by the confusion of not knowing where they were or who they are. Naturally, the Inquisition ordered a further investigation, seized the weapons of the mysterious Space Marines, and evacuated the force into the Inquisitorial flagship to be brought back for further questioning. The Space Marines, having no memory and wanting answers themselves, went without resistance.

+The Salvation+
The "questioning" was little more than intense and agonizing torture, as is the way of the Inquisition when dealing with possible taint. Each Marine was stripped of his armor and asked question after holy question, while suffering the searing purity of cleansing Inquisitorial fire. Many Space Marines succumbed to their wounds, despite their genetically enhanced physique, and with each death the Inquisition was no closer to discovering the truth behind this mysterious chapter, or to declaring them clean from taint. The Inquisitors in charge of this interrogation would have been content with letting each and every Marine die for even a single answer to this anomaly, had it not been for the interjection of the curious and little-understood Ordo Chronos, the sect of the Inquisition in charge of investigating warp anomalies and their effect on the Imperial timeline. The Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Chronos personally arrived at the location the amnesiac chapter had been held, and demanded that he be granted the right to question them himself. It did not take long in his questioning to verify his suspicions that this chapter was from another time, but whether from the past or future he could not tell. In order to continue his studies, he contacted the Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus to have the surviving Marines released into his custody, which could have very well saved the lives of every remaining chapter member.

+The Anomaly +
It did not take long for the Lord Inquisitor to discover something truly remarkable in these Marines. Each and every man he questioned, upon further inspection, was discovered to have no detectable psychic trace, as if they were an empty shell of flesh and bone. Even those who demonstrated psychic talent were virtually invisible to the Inquisitions techniques, and when higher sanctioned psykers were called in to verify, they could not explain this anomaly. This perceived psychic invisibility to the warp offered an obvious tactical advantage when studying the warp and it's time bending effects, so the Lord Inquisitor vowed to unravel this mystery in it's entirety. The Lord Inquisitor spent the better part of a decade carefully studying and analyzing each Space Marine, and still had nothing better than wild guesses and half conceived notions. It was eventually believed by him that these Marines, wherever they might be from, were not originally meant to be in this time period, and could only exist here if they were pulled from their own period for some divine purpose by the Emperor, and it was his divine will that shielded these individuals from the Warps scrying eyes. It was for this reason that he, along with his council, petitioned that these Marines be granted their own Chapter, the rights to their own gene-seed, and be allowed to serve the Ordo Chronos in its warp studies while acting as it's Chamber Militant. This was a petition that was not easily won, but after years of careful consideration and debate, the High Lords of Terra agreed with a single vote majority that the Chapter be formally recognized.

+The Reform+
With it's right to rebuild and maintain itself as a true Space Marine chapter granted, the Chronos Militarum was born. Over the long years of questioning and interrogation, the Space Marines still had no answers about their history, and many took names for themselves based on a vague idea or lingering memory that won't quite come to the forefront of the mind, whether or not these names they "remembered" were actually theirs or not. Knowing the order was the only way they would ever learn who they were or where they had come from, they embraced the Ordo Chronos and willingly accepted their role as the orders protectors and military arm. They chose to adorn black robes over their armor, as the only thing the marines fealt other than a burning desire to unravel their past was an odd sense of mourning for brothers they could not remember. The Chapter Master, hand chosen by the Lord Inquisitor for his quick mental reflexes, attention to the most minute detail, physical prowess, and natural leadership ability, adopted the name Soverin, and structured his newly formed Chapter after the hours of a clock, to symbolize his affiliation and respect for the order that had saved his brothers and given them purpose. He placed in charge of these companies those that he had grown to trust most in their years imprisoned, and began to personally asign each Marine to their service. This was the birth of a chapter that did not belong, and they would ensure the forces of the warp would pay for their misplacement.

+The Purge+
After the Chapter had been organized, and each Marine assigned his position, Soverin and the Lord Inquisitor began the process of "acquiring" a fortress monastery to house the fledgling chapter. The first attempt was to reclaim the fortress monastery on the ruined asteroid remnants of Caliban, to provide a close foothold to the Eye of Terror for the Ordo Chronos to launch their warp studies from, but initial invasions were disastrous and claimed far too many to be a viable option for long term garrison if the Chapter had any hope to survive. The second attempt was on Trinity II, in the Ultima Segmentum and close to The Maelstrom where the order was also conducting warp studies. An abandoned fortress monastery was discovered bearing the defaced symbols of an emerald green mantis; Warp-Spawn had infested the ruins, as well as the surrounding planets throughout the sector, but proved no match for the full might of an entire Space Marine Chapter. After a long and bloody 3 year campaign, the sector was secured, fortified, and claimed as the rightful land to the Chronos Militarum. Soverin wasted no time, and began recruiting from the knightly orders who had resisted the taint of chaos on the feudal world they had claimed as their Fortress Monastery. Within a decade the Chapter had nearly fully recovered from both the failed reclamation campaign and the purge of the Endymion Cluster.

+The Quest+
Upon the completion of the chapters first major campaign, Soverin attempted to contact the Ordo Chronos' Lord Inquisitor to report that they now had a solid foothold to begin their investigations, as well as to aid in the chapter's efforts to reclaim any evidence of their past. However, the attempts were fruitless. All evidence of the order had vanished throughout the system, and no contact could be made through any known channels, as if the entire order had simply vanished in that three year period. Frustrated that he had done nothing to prevent the disappearance of the order that had saved him, and more-so that until that point he had not even known of the disappearance, Soverin vowed to hunt across the stars for any clues to what had happened to the order, and to pick up the mantle of warp interrogator until such a time as the order could be found. The warp will surrender it's mysteries to them, or feel the full might of time itself tear the warp-host limb from daemon limb.


+++Chapter Orginization+++

+Chapter Headquarters+
Command markings and iconography color: Gold
Chapter Master: Soverin the Sempiternal
1 Honour Guard
Armory
Librarius

+Armory+
Armory markings and iconography color: Half black and half white
Master of the Forge: Damocles of the Irons
13 Techmarines (1 for each chapter plus Master of the Forge)
Troop transports for the Chapter
Heavy tank support for the Chapter
Air support for the Chapter
Nemisis Dreadknight support for the Chapter
Imperial Knights support for the Chapter
Titan support for the Chapter

+Librarius+
Librarian markings and iconography color: Orange
Chief Librarian: Voxx of the Rifts
13 Librarians (1 for each chapter plus Chief Librarian)

+1st Company+
Type: Veteran Company
Company markings and iconography color: White
Captain: Lucius of the First Hour
1 Librarian
1 Chaplain
1 Command Squad
30 Sternguard Veterans
30 Vanguard Veterans

+2nd Company+
Type: Battle Company
Company markings and iconography color: Red
Captain: Valerius of the Second Hour
1 Librarian
1 Chaplain
1 Command Squad
60 Tactical Marines

+3rd Company+
Type: Battle Company
Company markings and iconography color: Purple
Captain: Markus of the Third Hour
1 Librarian
1 Chaplain
1 Command Squad
60 Assault Marines

+4th Company+
Type: Battle Company
Company markings and iconography color: Blue
Captain: Griswold of the Fourth Hour
1 Librarian
1 Chaplain
1 Command Squad
60 Devastator Marines

+5th Company+
Type: Bike Company
Company markings and iconography color: Yellow
Captain: Aerin of the Fifth Hour
1 Librarian
1 Chaplain
1 Command Squad
60 Bike Marines

+6th Company+
Type: Grey Knight Company
Company markings and iconography color: Grey
Captain: Halifax of the Sixth Hour
1 Librarian
1 Chaplain
1 Brotherhood Champion
60 Grey Knight Strike/Interceptor Marines

+7th Company+
Type: Grey Knight Company
Company markings and iconography color: Maroon
Captain: Denarius of the Seventh Hour
1 Librarian
1 Chaplain
1 Brotherhood Champion
60 Purifyers/Purgation Marines

+8th Company+
Type: Grey Knight Terminator Company
Company markings and iconography color: Silver
Captain: Brachus of the Eighth Hour
1 Librarian
1 Chaplain
1 Command Squad
60 Grey Knight Terminators (and Paladins)

+9th Company+
Type: Terminator Company
Company markings and iconography color: Green
Captain: Cristoph of the Ninth Hour
1 Librarian
1 Chaplain
1 Command Squad
30 Terminator Squads (ranged and melee loadouts)
30 Centurion Assault Squads (Assault and Devastator loadouts)

+10th Company+
Type: Scout Company
Company markings and iconography color: Tan
Captain: Godric of the Tenth Hour
1 Librarian
1 Chaplain
1 Command Squad
60 Scouts

+11th Company+
Type: Scout Company
Company markings and iconography color: Brown
Captain: Marius of the Eleventh Hour
1 Librarian
1 Chaplain
1 Command Squad
60 Scout Bikes

+12th Company: The Mourned+
Type: Dreadnought Company
Company markings and iconography color: Black
Captain: None, the three venerable dreadnoughts form the Council of the 12th Hour
3 Venerable Dreadnoughts
6 Dreadnoughts
3 Ironclad Dreadnoughts




PS: Each squad will have its own mini-fluff as I complete them, and I will be compiling a "forge the narrative" style book keeping a record of the army's notable battles and events as I play in the future. This fluff is FAR from complete.

Just a quick aside about the Inquisition "command" structure, there really is none. The title of "Lord Inquisitor" is established by a collective of Inquisitors in a particular sector or region like Coteaz is the Lord Inquisitor of the Formosa Sector. This leaves the possibility of having multiple Lord Inquisitors in an Ordo, so there wouldn't be any "the" Lord Inquisitor of an Ordo. Also, an Ordo designation is also fluid and can change with the interests of the Inquisitor.

Pretty cool stuff. Envihon has a point.
I do like the idea of individual squad fluff.

Thanks for pointing that out. I don't know much about the inquisition itself, just found the Ordo Chronos sudden disappearance really cool for some fluff ideas, and Lexicanum was kinda vague about the "command structure" of the Inquisition. Seeing as how that is a sort of turning point in this chapters limited history, any ideas or input on how the actual Inquisition structure might play out in a situation like this?

Not really, the rest works out like the Inquisition would function. Not much is known about the Ordo Chronos and it has never been novelized, only the three major Ordos have ever been put into detail. The best details are in the Inquisitorial Codex which would also help you in this instance. Inquisitors are fairly independent sometimes calling a conclave in order to make decisions or decrees. Some happen in regular occurrence, others are called under special circumstances.

You did well in capturing the nature of an Inquisitor. The Ordo they belong to usually of great interest of them, a subject they like to both study and enforce.

Thanks I'll play with some ideas to tweak it and make it more consistent w standing canon.

Anyone else notice mistakes/errors I've made regarding accepted fluff/current lore?

Just noticed this, what is with the Grey Knight company designation because I may have missed it when I was reading but I didn't see any place where the Grey Knights joined the fray or is it just the place where that is the companies that use the Grey Knight rules?

That is just the companies that use grey knights rules. In the fluff there will be no such designation, simply that those who showed significant psychic potential, but not enough to fully manifest psychic powers, were grouped together to form a pseudo brotherhood of psykers. Still working the fluff on how I'm going to word and explain it but something along those lines.

I love, love, love the Ordo Chronos! I especially like the clock-themes you've incorporated into everything.
However, for chapter structure you should consider something like this:

- 12 Companies (12 hours on a clock)
- Each Company is made up of 6 squads of ten men. One is a command squad. (6 x 10 = 60. 60 minutes in an hour)

Hehe. Just a small idea. And you don't have to worry about it suddenly reducing your armies size. Most of the time, even strict-Codex Astartes chapters don't follow the exact 1,000 marine count! Same with Grey Knights. They are supposed to have 666 men divided up into 8 Brotherhoods, but they have closer to 4,000+
---
Otherwise, I love the ideas you have here, and I especially love the fluff for each squad! Great job. (I'll look into it more closely and give you some PMs if I see anything!)

Okay, then everything is pretty good and well thought out.

Envihon- Thanks for all your input. If you ever think of anything else I would love to hear it.

Noremac- I had a similar idea, but thought that it might stretch a little too cliche, as well as limit the model options I might be able to field. Then again, less models means less money, and if someone else had the idea then it can't be that bad. I'll play with some numbers and see what it looks like. Thanks =)

Just remember:
Just because your chapter/chamber militant says it has X amount of troops, doesn't mean it has to Look at the Ultramarines. They follow the Codex Astartes, so they should have 1,000 marines. But no, no, no, no. They have upwards of 10,000 according to some fluff.

Very true. I think the idea of 60 per company, and 12 companies, will work pretty well. Still ads up to 720 bodies which is no force to ignore.

This is true.

Went with the idea you proposed on the 60 men per company, and I like the way it looks. Think I'm gonna leave it this way and see how rough it is to magnetize some of these options lol.

Awesome! Sounds good. Can't wait to see some more stuff!