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Infinite Crusaders: (Pictures soon to come)

Chapter Colors: White, Red and Gold.
Chapter Insignia: Red Flame on White Background.
Specialization: Heat based weaponry/Close Combat.
Battle Cry: "Fear the cleaning flame! The Light of the Emperor smites all!"
Motto: "Our watch is endless, our quest is eternal and our gaze is infinite".

Notable Officers:
Chapter Master Salor Krannus
Captain Hylantor Dariv (3rd Company)
Captain Aledri Noj (2nd Company)
Captain Jarok Klein (1st Company

The Infinite Crusaders is a rather new Space Marine chapter. A Infinite Crusader is a man of endless hatred of those who do not follow the Emperor's words (At least their interpretation of them) to the letter. They deplore the Imperial Guard's use of abhumans, to them Space Wolves are heretics and alliances with xenos is unthinkable. While they have made alliances with the likes of the Tau or Eldar, these invariably end with the aliens being shot in the back and/or burnt alive. To other Astartes Chapters, the Infinite Crusaders come off as thick headed and overzealous.
The reason behind the name is thus: When Salor Krannus, a former member of the Black Templars, was chosen to lead the new Chapter he took it upon he and his new troops to go on a crusade: To completely destroy everything that is impure. They knew it was an impossible task. A crusade without an end. An Infinite Crusade.
The Infinite Crusaders gained honor and notoriety in the reclamation of several worlds from Waaagh! 'Eavy'And and from the Tau Empire. However, their honor was sullied during the "Kinlad Wars". One of the main worlds they had reclaimed rebelled against the Imperium after 93rd Cadian "Old Bloods" were unjustly called Heretics. 93rd had previous grievances with the Crusaders after they took all the credit for their successes against the Tau and for the liberation of Kinlad. So, the Cadians disowned their homeworld in order to preserve Cadia's honor. They instead called themselves the Kinlad Liberation Army. The remnants of the Battlegroup, several PDFs and fresh recruits joined the fight along with captured super heavy tanks and a Titan Legion. A brutal war erupted. The Crusaders underestimated the KLA's worth and during the first Battle they nearly lost a company before they evacuated the planet. The Kinlad Wars ended with two systems taken from the Imperium by the KLA, the establishment of the United Kinlad Dominion, and the bitterness of the Infinite Crusaders. They have sworn to bring Kinlad back in the Imperium's fold, punish the rebels and restore their honor. No matter the cost...

One peculiarity of the Chapter is that in place of a standard 1st Company, Krannus himself has established what he calls the "Crimson Guardians". The Crimson Guardians are called upon when they are needed the most. They make heavy use of close combat weapons and are a melee centric Company. They are clad in Red armor with resplendent golden decorations and use a more decorative version of their insignia. Notable actions of 1st Company was the destruction of an Entire Tau Hunter Cadre in close combat and the scouring of Orks from a heavily defended fortress. However they have suffered humiliating defeats when they are unable to enter close combat. This was the case during the Battle of New Boma, in which the Tau slaughtered many Crimson Guardians before they could even reach the walls. 3rd Company was called in to help, which takes the place of 1st Company in Codex Astartes set ups.

The second deviation is the usage of 2nd Company. They are called the "Order of the Flame". They are the most zealous of all of the Crusaders companies. They make heavy usage of heat based weaponry. Flamers, meltas and plasma guns call 2nd Company home. Their vehicles will use heavy flamers if they can help it. 2nd Company was nearly annihilated during the Kinlad Wars since it was found they lacked long ranged firepower. This has since been remedied and now they have scaled back their use of flamers and meltas. But they are still in wide issue. Notable actions include denying Nurgle Cultists from scourging Billions on Hive World Hegron and burning thousands of Tau POWs alive for no real reason. Their colors are black, red and orange and they use a more detailed flame as their insignia.

A Tale of Zealotry

+++Extracted from the records of the Mordian 67th, circa 990.M41. +++

It had been a long campaign against the Tau. By the Emperor, it had been a grueling campaign. The Tau have the most deadly weaponry I've ever seen. My best friend found that out the hard way. He died with a neat little hole in his head. There was no blood. The wound had been cauterized. It didn't matter in the end, though. We had more guys then they have guns. And a few Baneblades here and their didn't help. The most memorable part was when I saw my first astartes. They called themselves the Infinite Crusaders.

93rd Cadian had been taking a pounding for days while laying siege to a Tau city. 711th armored had been giving support but by now they had so little tanks that they were pretty much nothing. You could see smoking Leman Russes all around the countryside. We were the reinforcements. All 50 of us. With our boots shined, our Lasguns clean and our uniforms starched by order of our General we marched on the City. Medusa guns struck first. They fired on the outskirts on the city, blasting everything and everyone caught in it. We had to vox in the fact we were about to come in to at least 3 different battery officers to get the fire lifted. Another squad was hit by a friendly shell despite that. The city used to be an Imperial Hive before the Tau gutted it and made it into a much more manageable and pleasant place. Well... at least until we showed up. Now it was just a pile of rubble. When we got inside we didn't see any Tau. Just a bunch of traitor soldiers. Well, their corpses anyway. They had some Leman Russ tanks and even a Chimera. Nothing big. When we went further into the city we saw the citizens gathered on the side of the streets. They were mostly humans with a few Tau mixed in. Where were the regular Xenos troops?

We left the townsfolk alone since we couldn't waste Lasgun cartridges on some turncoat civilians. When we got into the center that's when they showed up. The Astartes. Drops pods descended from the sky and landed in front of us. The pods were white with red trimming and had a resplendent red flame emblazoned on the doors. They opened and Marines of similar decoration came out. They surveyed the area before getting into a neat formation. Their commander, Captain Hylantor, inspected his men before coming up to us. "Guardsmen, why hasn't the city been purged yet?", the Captain addressed my Commander. "M'lord, we lack the ammunition for a proper purging. Besides, they are just citizens. They aren't heretics and they mean us no harm", the Colonel said. This infuriated Captain Hylantor. "They are heretics! They deserted our Imperium and renounced the Emperor! Worst yet, they did it all willingly!", he said. "Very well, m'lord... I will ensure that this city is cleansed. The Emperor protects", the Colonel said. "The Emperor protects", Hylantor said.

We eventually found the Tau armed forces. They wanted to ambush the Crusaders on the main avenue but were distracted by the slaughter they saw. They surrendered to us when we made contact. We all saw what the Crusaders were doing. Every man, woman and child was killed. Stomped, burnt, shot, stabbed, crushed, choked, melte smiting the enemies of his holiness then consider yourself relieved of duty, Colonel!", he said. The Asartes drew his sword and beheaded the officer. "As for the rest of you, you will clear the rest of the city of any traitors you see. Do it with your eating utensils if you must, just get it done", Hylantor said. "Does that include the citizens, m'lord?", the Major asked. "Of course it does. Now go", he ordered. We left, of cod, forked, and ripped to shreds. But mostly burnt. It was clear that the Infinite Crusaders were beings of great hatred. We questioned if they were Khornate marines. Not openly, lest we suffer the same fate. The Tau prisoners were later thrown unto a large bonfire alive along with the rest of the citizens. A city of 3 million was killed over a period of a week. I would never forget the screams I heard into the night. From the battle on I hoped we never received support from the Astartes. Especially not these monsters. I respect them, yes, but I've had nightmares every night about all of the blood... murder.... carnage since then.

+++The Guardsman in question has been placed under watch for suspected Khornate worship by the Inquisition. All pertinent documentations on his service are to be turned into Inquisitor Drake Xean+++

Thought for the Day: Forgiveness is a sign of weakness.

Space Marines don't have authority over Imperial Guard regiments...
Also from the way you have described them they were solely responsible for the loss of two entire sectors and what must have been a fairly substantial battlegroup all because of their 'thickheaded nature and stubbornness' which just seems like a nice way of saying idiocy in this case...
Incidentally a single company would have been totally wiped out by the forces you said were presented against them unless they retreat from the off.

purplefood wrote:Space Marines don't have authority over Imperial Guard regiments...
Also from the way you have described them they were solely responsible for the loss of two entire sectors and what must have been a fairly substantial battlegroup all because of their 'thickheaded nature and stubbornness' which just seems like a nice way of saying idiocy in this case...
Incidentally a single company would have been totally wiped out by the forces you said were presented against them unless they retreat from the off.

They don't? Huh... I've been led to believe that Space Marines do, at least where rank is concerned. That's a revision I have to make.

I didn't mean sectors, sorry, I meant systems. They lost around 5 planets including Kinlad.

How big is a Tau hunting cadre? I thought it was the equivalent of a regiment or a company. I think I might have my scales wrong.

EDIT: I have since learned it's a Sept's entire armed forces The Crusaders destroyed the equivalent of a task force. I really should've done my homework, ah well. You live you learn.
EDIT 2: I have since learned a Cadre is the equivalent of a regiment, not an army group. Ohhh... wait, you mean the Ork fortress. Yeah... they would've. That part needs rewriting as well...

No, I mean the 'several regiments, captured super heavies and titans' mainly because you implied they faced them over open ground...

Ah, yes. I should've elaborated on what happened during the Kinlad Wars. The Infinite crusaders showed up on Kinlad one day and informed the leader of 93rd Cadian that they had been called traitors by the Inquisition and they were there to purge the world. 93rd Cadian fired on them but the Cadians had to pull back after receiving heavy casualties. The Crusaders, finding evidence of Chaos worship everywhere, declared everyone on Kinlad to be heretics and attempted to purge them all. They had antagonized a titan legion, several regiments and the Cadians. The Infinite Crusaders retreated from Kinlad after their 4th Company was nearly annihilated during the first battle and they had suffered further casualties when they tried a counterattack. A retreat was begrudgingly ordered and the world was abandoned to the rebels. Then they came back with dozens of Imperial Guard regiments and elements of the Black Templars. The KLA had laid claim to every world in the system and their numbers swelled. Thus erupted the Kinlad Wars.

EDIT: To continue this, the Kinlad Wars lasted for a few years. The Infinite Crusaders performed raids into KLA strongholds,destroyed captured Titan Manufactorums and stopped the rebels from capturing Hegron, a Hive World. The Imperial Guard pushed the Kinlads from the Hegron system and the Imperial Navy won the battle in space. The rebel navy had exhausted itself and they were forced to stop their advance. Despite these victories the KLA had secured 1 system and had mostly taken another. Now the Infinite Crusaders is preparing to crush the rebellion, once and for all. Their chances of doing so is good, since the Kinlads are fracturing because of the influence of chaos. I'm hoping to make this into a mini campaign in the future but that's another story.

An SM chapter shouldn't really have anything to do with the Inquisition's business unless they had been asked by an Inquisitor...
It would be more likely for an Inquisitor (Ordo Xenos given their enemy) to be following the battlegroup and declare whatever unit renegade and then attempt to destroy them using whatever elements they had at their disposal...
For an entire titan legion to be present...
Well it'd be one hell of a big battlegroup so you may want to up the number of Guardsmen... significantly.

True, quite true. I should've wrote it but they were asked to put down the heretics by an Inquisitor.

I elaborate on Kinlad's liberation in my fluff for the KLA (My Guard army) but the Eldar attacked the world after it had been liberated from the Tau. It was a big battle that resulted in high casualties on both sides but yeah, for a Titan Legion to be present it must've been huge.