Killer Klaivex
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This is my new chapter fluff, something I spent an hour or so cooking up.
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The Grey Guardians were originally known as the Sons of Umoja, named after their home system. Like the Imperial Guard regiments of Umoja, they were proud warriors, unflinching, refusing to surrender against overwhelming odds, and utterly devoted to humanity.
The chapter was created in the 22nd Founding from the gene-seed of the Imperial Fists, with the blessings of their Chaplains, Libarians, and the Chapter Master. Their first Chapter Master was a Marine named Varnus, a warrior skilled in the arts of combating Chaos. Under his fine leadership, the chapter began drawing recruits from the Umoja system, hardy men who knew the dangers of the galaxy well. Two centuries after its founding, the chapter was at full strength, and was already a rising star in the galaxy, with several successful campaigns under its belt.
However, the high number of Librarians in the chapter led to suspicion from the Ordo Hereticus, who launched a covert investigation into the chapter's history. On their homeworld, Hereticus agents found evidence that during the Horus Heresy, the planet had been a fortress of the Word Bearers legion, and the taint of heresy, corruption, and mutation was still evident in the darkest parts of the planets, where the wildlife had been transformed over the years into hideous abominations and warp-rifts sporadically opened in deep caves, unleashing Daemons into the dark caverns and pits of the world. To the Sons of Umoja, who knew of these horrors, these were minor inconveniences that posed no active threat to the Imperium and could be dealt with at any time. But the Witch Hunters saw a planet rife with heresy and corruption, a blight on the Imperium. Under the command of the radical Inquisitor Gluhf, the Hereticus Stormtroopers and Adepta Sororitas descended on the planet in the dark of night.
They struck without warning, not even demanding penance. Roaring flames and artillery fire engulfed the planet's cities and manufactorums, tearing down structures and annihilating the civilians and planetary defense forces. Worse still were the orbital attacks; these incinerated entire cities and purged all life from the landscape, leaving charred and desolate wastelands. The First Company of the Sons of Umoja, on another planet entirely, could only watch in horror as their Fortress-Monastery was reduced to rubble and cleansed with fire, wiping out most of the chapter in one fell blow.
The veterans of the chapter were in shock, as was the entire system. For the Ordo Hereticus to launch such a vicious attack without first seeking the approval of the Ecclesiarchy was unheard of, but this was a radical Inquistor they were dealing with; a Marine-hating puritan, devoted to expunging mutation. However, Space Marines are hard to force into submission, and the First Company rushed to their ships, launching a brutal counter-attack on the Hereticus forces stationed on their ruined homeworld. They struck fast and without mercy, cutting down Stormtroopers and Sisters of Battle with deadly volleys of bolter fire and roaring sweeps of chainswords. Inquisitor Gluhf was caught completely off-guard. Thirty Terminators of the First Company teleported directly into his base, slaughtering the Witch Hunters as they groggily rose to counter the Marines attacking on the frontlines. Within hours, they were routed. The broken bodies of Sororitas and Stormtroopers littered the battlefield, and Inquisitor Gluhf was taken prisoner.
What the Marines did then forever scarred their relationship with the Ordo Hereticus. They rounded up the dead and wounded Witch Hunters and piled them together, crushing the skulls of any who tried to crawl away under their armoured boots. They then brought dozens of captured flamers to bear on the vast pile of bodies and put them to the torch. A great plume of foul smoke could be seen from orbit, and the screams of the unlucky soldiers who were still alive echoed across the scorched wastelands that had once been rugged and beautiful grasslands. Inquisitor Gluhf, in that moment of horror, realised the full extent of his error. His radical beliefs and rash judgement had cost the lives of many devoted Stormtroopers and had wiped out an entire order of the Sororitas. He was the one that the Ordo Hereticus would remember as the worst example of their kind, a black mark on their history. The Inquisitor was unable to cope with what he had done, and became a gibbering wreck of a man. The Sons of Umoja took great satisfaction in seeing the zealous and crazed Inquisitor exposed for what he was, but still demanded revenge, and handed him over to the chapter's Master of Sanctity for 'penance'.
The Ordo Hereticus at first leveled accusations of heresy against the survivors of the Sons of Umoja, but soon withdrew their claims after reviewing the actions of Inquisitor Gluhf. The Marines, meanwhile, turned to rebuilding their shattered chapter. With so much of their gene-seed lost in the flames that had destroyed their Fortress-Monastery, it would take a long time for them to be brought back to full strength. Even now, in the 41st millenium, the chapter lacks its 8th and 9th companies. With the homeworld in ruins, the Sons of Umoja belived that the had failed in their duty to humanity, and were not fit to bear its heraldry. They subsequently stripped their armour of all colour, leaving the dull silver of the ceramite visible to symbolise their cleansing by fire. Fittingly enough, they were renamed to the Grey Guardians, fitting their role as defenders of humanity.
They eventually build a new Fortress-Monastery on their homeworld, the Tower of the Forsaken. It is a tall and foreboding keep, made out of incredibly durable black stone from the depths of the planet. It is here that the chapter's dead are kept in their tombs, and is the only place on the planet where life still resides. It is guarded by Marines above and beyond the First Company, men clad in ornate ceremonial armour and bearing deadly power-halberds. These Marines answer only to the Masters of the Chapter, and will not let anyone pass them without permission from the Chapter Master.
Combat Doctrine
The Grey Guardians are known for their incredible resilence and fearlessness, and belive in striking at the foe's head to render the body helpless. Consequently, they employ large numbers of Drop-pods and teleporting Terminators to catch their enemy off-guard. They rarely use ground-based transports, as their Tactical squads prefer to hunker down in cover and fire away with heavy weapons. The chapter places great emphasis on its infantry, but Dreadnoughts are their most revered asset and they often make use of Predator Annihilators to eliminate heavy vehicles.
The Grey Guardians and Xenos
The Grey Guardians have had to deal with Xenos attacks on regular occasions, often from the Tau, who often try to establish colonies in the Umoja system. The chapter has little experience fighting Orks, as none exist in the system, save for a few Feral tribes on the agri-worlds who never venture out of their jungles. Eldar have largely avoided conflict with the system, as there are no Maiden Worlds or Necrons present. However, the Grey Guardians once destroyed a small army sent to investigate the Warp-activity in the depths of their homeworld, and the Ulthwe Eldar have been seeking retribution for the deaths of their brothers and sisters.
Heroes of the Grey Guardians
Chapter Master Mathias Thulmann
Mathias Thulmann was the only survivor of the chapter not of the First Company; he was a Tactical Marine in the Third Company when the rest of the chapter was wiped out, and was subsequently chosen to lead it when it was rebuilt. Although unsteady at first, he quickly learned from his superiors and led the company on many successful engagements with Chaos forces. When the first Chapter Master died fighting a Daemonic army of Tzeentch on the other side of the galaxy, Thulmann was unanimously chosen by the Masters of the Chapter to lead them. He wields an ancient relic of the Imperial Fists, a sword known as Blazing Doom, blessed by the Emperor himself long before the Horus Heresy and gifted to a great hero of the chapter. It blazes with a pure flame that allows the blade to cleave through ceramite as easily as it cleaves air.
Apothecary Ramus Simsona
Ramus' path to glory began on his first mission as a Scout, when he was still in touch with his past as a normal human. Outside of combat, he was a calm and selfless being, valuing his comrade's lives more than his own. On this first mission, his squad's Landspeeder Storm was shot down over a battlefield, and it made a hard landing amidst the piles of dead and wounded. Ramus was the only survivor of his squad, and had a badly injured arm, so he could not even use his bolter to defend himself. Instead, he crept around the battlefield, finding wounded Guardsmen and bringing them back to safety where the medics could tend to them. He saved the lives of 103 Guardsmen on that day; 103 Guardsmen who would be forever indebted to the young Scout. After the battle was won, he was given a bionic arm replacement and trained to become an Apothecary, tending to the chapter's wounded and recovering the precious gene-seed from his fallen brothers. Many a Marine in the chapter owes their life to him, and he is famous across the Umoja system for his healing touch.
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Well, that's all for tonight, because it's 1:40 AM and I'm fething tired. Updates tomorrow evening!
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