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The Vigilant were Formed in the 19th founding by the High Lords of Terra as a favor for several important inquisitors. They were originally meant to be a tool for the inquisition, who, still bitter from the horus heresy, distrusted the the Space Marines. Volunteers from the Angels of Absolution and several other Dark Angels successor chapters that had proven their loyalty to their inquisition over less important organizations were chosen to create a new chapter, to keep a watchful eye on the others. They often work in close cooperation with the inquisition, and it is rare that a Space Marine chapter is investigated without a detachment of the vigilant close by, ready to render his judgement to those found wanting.

Their homeworld is a unique planet in Ultima Segmentum called Raegi IV, near the Perfidian Gap. Half of the world is night 23 hours of the day, and covered in snow and ice. The other half of the world is forever covered in the light of the local star. Very unique crops grow here, mostly below ground. The citizens here are mostly farmers, working 12 to 18 hours in the scorching sun. Their skin has grown extremely thick and resilient because of this. The Cold half is where the chapter houses it's forges, training grounds, and holds it's bi-yearly tournaments. Twice a year the chapter holds a tournament wherein all citizens under the age of 13 are invited to test each other in organized matches. The preliminary round is a hand-to-hand duel for fifteen minutes, to weed out the exceptionally weak. The rest of the tournament Consists of three rounds per match. Round one is a hand-to-hand duel, round two each combatant is given a wooden sword and a shield, round three is the tie-breaker, each combatant is given a bow and a quiver of dull rubber and wood arrows, first one to get hit loses. The winner of this tournament is given the opportunity to join the chapter after being thoroughly investigated for any sign of weakness or corruption. This is not their only recruitment tool, of course, only their most famous.

It is during one of these tournaments that the chapter earned it's reputation for ruthless judgement. The chapter was called off planet to defend a close-by hiveworld against an Eldar incursion. They fought well, and upon returning, found the tournament grounds in ruins. The tournaments of Raegi are well-attended events, with thousands of civilians and nobles attending to watch, a local cult of chaos had attacked the grounds while the chapter was missing, killing thousands. Chapter Master Gordon was filled with rage that only a servant of the God-Emperor may know. The chapter took to the streets of the city, abducting thousands of civilians and interrogating them. The cult was eventually rooted out, but death was too good for them. The Space Marines took all of the cultists surviving and made them to fight each other in a tournament not unlike the one that had ambushed, only these fights were to the death. Thousands attended to watch them get their punishment. The winner was invited to "join" the chapter. He was turned into a servitor and serves them to this day.

The chapter has a long history of cooperation with the inquisition. This is because the chapter holds a dark secret. Shortly after their founding, Alexander Gaelic, Captain of the 4th company, fell to the whispers of chaos, bringing many of the 4th with him. Gordon Aryon, then master of the recruits, captain of the 5th company (the vigilant only have 5 companies), caught wind of this before anyone else. He did not know, however, how far the taint spread, and instead of alerting his superiors, alerted the inquisition, who investigated. The guilty were purged, not by inquisitorial forces, but by the first and fifth companies. Gordon Aryon became Captain of the 4th in reward for his wisdom.

The Vigilant are masters of the element of surprise. It is said that there are only two ways to know that the vigilant are coming for you, the first is to attack their homeworld, the second is to see one as he kills your comrade, or descends upon you. Scouts are always deployed first into combat, waiting until the enemy gets into a vulnerable position, and then calling down the real thunder. The Chapter makes extensive use of scouts, drop pods, devastators, and whirlwinds. In contrast, Land Raiders, Veterans, and Terminators are rarely used, the chapter only keeps 20 suits of terminator armor, and only 2 Land Raiders.

Their most famous victory was over a feral Ork tribe on a planet near theirs. The orks had grown strong from fighting deamons from the Perfidian Gap, and were ready to leave the planet. The Entire 10th company was sent to assault the world. They were given a week to stop the orks from leaving the planet, expecting it to be an easy task for such a large force. They were successful, but were stranded in makeshift strongholds deep behind enemy lines, having taken almost 50% losses, they called for reinforcements. The Chapter responded. Nearly a half of the first company, all of the third and fourth, and at least 75% of the second and ninth came to their aid. They rained down from the skies like meteors, coming crashing down on the orks and their vehicles. The Drop Pod containing Chapter Master Gordon was said to land on the warboss of the planet, killing him instantly. (this is unconfirmed, but the chapter still includes it as part of their history) the orks were crushed utterly, put to the flame, and the planet reseeded.

Battle Cry:
“The Sunset heralds their doom” - What would have been the last words of Master of the Recruits Alistair, upon seeing the flaming Drop Pods of his brethren, adopted as the chapter's motto.

This is some good stuff, Rory. But for future reference, I believe this goes in Dakka Fiction.

Oh, alright.

Canonness Rory wrote:The Drop Pod containing Chapter Master Gordon was said to land on the warboss of the planet, killing him instantly.

I'd love to see some fan fiction on this point!

Like a whole story?

Warboss Gitkrumpa ran across the field, toward the 'umies when BOOM, suddenly several tons of steel fell on him and he died.

Not really much of a story.

Wow--that's a pretty disappointing response in light of what you already wrote. I think it would be a great story, written at first from an Ork point of view. Gitkrumpa marches around his underlings, overseeing preparations of his vast forces, gives speeches about his invincibility--maybe even his divine mandate from Gork and Mork themselves. And then--well, then the Vigilant show what specialists they truly are when it comes to surprise attacks. Gitkrumpa then watches his plans unravel, screaming at his minions, but sees how the day can yet be saved and his Waaagh continue if only he can--POW. Then the point of view switches to the Chapter Master as he surveys the routing of the Orks and meditates on retaking the Perfidian Gap. Such a story would, I think, establish the background and tone of your Chapter better than any objectively written description.

The short summary was a joke, lol, but yeah, that does sounds like a good prompt for a story, I'll get on that. I suck at orkspeak though.

Oh, I know it was a joke. But after seeing what cool ideas you had with the first post, I was hoping you weren't just selling your obvious creativity short.

That's sweet of you to say.

Well--a bit self-interested, too. I really enjoy seeing people's great ideas come to fruition. And if the people with those ideas only know that others sincerely wanted to hear them out and encourage them, there'd be a lot more masterpieces out there for us to enjoy.

I promise I'll work on it.

Veddy cool, Rory. Cannot wait.

Update:
I'm having trouble with the story, it may be a few days.

Does anyone else have any comments on my chapter?

Yes, ido. And i think that it is totally awsome. Its fresh, original, and well thought out. I like every bit of it.


Keep 'em coming.

I love it, I wanna see more!
Maybe make them a BA successor chapter... since the BAs are awesome?

Thanks everyone, believe it or not, I will actually consider that, sanguine.

I'm not real cerebral... best I can offer as a comment is that its neato cool beans.

Thanks much

I think if I was to do a story about them, I'd do something about the fall of 8th company's captain.

You would have a lot of leads with a chapter so closely affiliated with the Inquisition.

Quick retcon, captain of the 4th, the vigilant are a 5 company chapter now.

Such is the fickleness of the design process.
But yeah, I might try and do a story on him.

Canonness Rory wrote:The short summary was a joke, lol, but yeah, that does sounds like a good prompt for a story, I'll get on that. I suck at orkspeak though.

youtube welsh/cockney people, spell phonetically.