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Hello everyone... I'm brand new to 40k/WH etc, and I'm taking a stab at the Lamenters. Things in their fluff that caught my attention were:

1) They are on a 100 year Penitent Crusade, with the forgiveness of the Emperor (but not the blessings of, perhaps?).
2) They have suffered devastating losses in a very short amount of time, with no way allowed for rebuilding their shattered ranks.

The way I see it, those two items have the potential to alter the Imperium and Chapter heraldry, to reflect the events surrounding the chapters trials an tribulations.

One thing that came is mind is, would they still retain the right to wear the Imperial Aquila? Or, must they "Earn Their Wings" by completing the crusade? They did, after all, defy the Emperor (if only in some small way). What other censure could be placed on such marines, whom are on a penitent crusade? If their honor is at stake, then it seems that until they reclaim it... they perhaps can't show it off in the same fashion as before?

The second one could relate to a change in color or heraldic pattern, insignia or motto.. to reflect the grief at the massive loss of brethren marines. So how does a marine, or chapter, actually display their grief? More black? Darker shades of color, greys and skulls? Given my lack of knowledge regarding the 40k universe, I'm quite at a loss as to what is an acceptable standard. Maybe a reclusiarch carrying a Book of the Fallen on his back?

So what do you think? What would you do?

Thanks for any input!

Ignoring the official fluff, I like the idea of armour markings being changed (either at the Emperor's order or at their own initiative) to reflect their penitent status.

Removing the aquila entirely would seem overkill - better for it to remain as a constant grim reminder of why they're fighting. But it could be repainted black (which might contrast nicely with their mustard yellow armour)?

Re their personal grief and mourning for fallen battle brothers, all that immediately occurs is black mourning bands - pretty easy to model in greenstuff, and GW also do some small 'bands' to drape over shoulder pads etc, although that could get expensive for a whole army. Or totally off the wall - paint their feet (and maybe calves) red, symbolising them wading through their brothers' blood?

Hmmm... ok, I can see that.

I guess the armband strikes me as a "man, what a crappy day... we just lost lord captain Tulip", or whatever.

What I'm looking at is when you're literally teetering on the brink of chapter destruction, your gene seed is in peril, and someone just took the last Dr. Pepper out of the razorbacks fridge.

The blood on the body idea is neat, although you usually trample through the blood of your enemy... and blood of your allies on your boots is kind of like trampling their memory, IMO.

The chapter heraldry, the shoulder pauldron...for instance... for the Lamenters is a white circle with a crying heart, with a checkered background. Now, black is a well established mourning color... painting the whole pauldron black would either be too much like the Death Watch or be something you'd do if you're trying to stamp out the chapter memory entirely.

So, what about painting half the background black, while keeping the other half true to chapter heraldry? The circle and heart would remain, although the circle could be white on black and black on checkered, with the crying heart the same. Heck, even a fractured icon... a broken heart... would do much to show the extreme duress of the chapter.

As for the Aquila, the darkening could work. What about replacing it with either the double headed aquila, or even the emperors thunder symbol? (a small chapter symbol at the center, of course).

Both those would serve as a poignant reminder, and serve as a very different iconic image, rather than simply changing the color of the existing aquila. A lot more work, of course...

Where did you read about the Lamenters?

You really seem to want to do something with the Aquila, which is fine. Not all power armor even displays it though so it couldn't be a universal badge of dishonor. I'd suggest just have the heart painted black. The Aquila really isn't the exclusive symbol of the emperors favor that it was during the great crusade.
A black shoulder pad/ arm used to just mean you were on the path to becoming a chaplain, but that is old background.

I've been reading whatever I can regarding the Lamenters. The Lexicon, the wiki, heck...even some fan fiction (which I'm not taking as cannon).

Interesting stuff about the black shoulder pad/chaplain path.

I know that many armors have a variation on the Aquila, but I didn't know that any post heresy armors actually forgo the honor of wearing it. Food for thought, indeed.

Some ideas (from my head, not cannon)

Use anti-purity seals. Either with black wax, or black parchment. These should be affixed prominently, over either the aquilia or chapter markings.

Black out the aquilia, and other IoM markings. Shrouding the colors seems very appropriate. I could see putting fabric shrouds over the chapter symbol, or just painting the pauldrons black.

Paint an arm black in mourning.

Adopt a campaign badge and paint it on everything. Something suitably grim.

GS some narrow bands across the insignia you want to obscure and paint them like black ribbon? You could do full crosses or single diagonal bands for variety. Maybe each individual maribe needs to do some suitably heroic action to allow them to remove one band and the chapter can only be considered redeemed when all marines have managed to clear their armour.

A black purity seal positioned over the centre of each aquila, representing each marine constantly renewing their vows of penitence? Fairly easy to model and paint.

Yup... that would be easy. That said, I thought the purity seals were placed on the armor to ward off the effects of chaos? Wouldn't an anti purity seal be inviting corruption?

I was considering some sort of funeral-esque cloak, black for mourning etc.

They'd look like purity seals except for their black colour, representing that they're actually penitence seals. In terms of warding off Evil, they'd probably work just like purity seals - fluffwise, I'd imagine the Lamenters' penitence seal ceremonies would just be a chapter-specific variation on 'normal' marine purity seal ceremonies, with extra penitent flavour

And yes, black cloaks would be good for characters - other than the usual difficulties of shading and highlighting black.