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Hi.. So I'm not sure if this is the right place for this.
But I've slowly been kit bashing a primaris Space Wolves army and I've been thinking I should instead build and kitbash a custom chapter.. At least until gw release actual SW primaris units.

So I have a few questions..

What's the current lore on Primaris SW successors? Can I just make my own chapter is that not lore friendly?

But I'm mostly interested in making something completely new.. So what sort of questions should I be asking myself? For example, their founding, original legion, name and culture.

Is there any "Character" Sheets out there to help get it all on paper.

I'm looking to make something along the lines of Salamanders and White Scars/Space Wolves... A free roaming, warrior culture with a love of smithing/quality war gear and a good dose of humanity.

Now I'm not the most knowledgeable lore guy so if they had a home world how would I go about choosing a planet and system? Or would a fleet based chapter make more sense?

Should I define their preferred battle style? Weaponry etc.

I'd appreciate the help on building this project.

space wolves sucessors are a bit of an odd place, supposeivly the space wolves got some in the Ultima founding, but beyond a referance in one novel we've not seen anything, and Ultima founding would restrict you to pure Primaris. (BTW just so you know all primaris units are avaliable to space wolves)

your first step will be deciding what founding they are, more specificly "Ultima founding or earlier" basicly are they going to be pure Primaris or a mix of old and Primaris?

once you decide that you'll wanna think a bit about the culture not too much but it can inform your paint scheme.

Often space Marines borrow their ideas from historical groups, space wovles are very norse, white scars are very Mongolian,
perhaps your \marines are inspired by the scottish highlanders?

then you'll need to decide on a paint scheme, this is, IMHO one of the most important things, you can always re-write your fluff but once the paint dries well... it's a lot harder to revise on a whim. B&C has a semi-decent marine painter tool.

Thanks for the points.

Yeah they'll be all Primaris, I guess lore wise that means they'd have to be Ultima Founding? I didn't really want them too closely connected to their original legion.. Possibly not even know where they are from.
Or are there Ultima founding chapters that aren't sure on their heritage?
As for colour.. I might try mix the cultures of the chapters I previously mentioned and that might inspire the colours.

Jamstrap wrote:What's the current lore on Primaris SW successors? Can I just make my own chapter is that not lore friendly?

How do you mean "not lore friendly"? Space Wolves can now absolutely have their own successors, thanks to the Ultima Founding, and while we only know of one (The Wolfspear, who guard the Pit of Raukos from Chaos invasion, the opportunity is still there.

So, the idea of a SW successor is, for the first time, completely open in canon!

But I'm mostly interested in making something completely new.. So what sort of questions should I be asking myself? For example, their founding, original legion, name and culture.

Well, for an SW successor, two of those questions are already answered - their progenitor Legion is the Space Wolves, and they must have been founded during the Ultima Founding (the first, and latest, founding where both Primaris and Space Wolves successors were possible).
As for name and culture, the two can largely go hand in hand. I find it best to settle on something unique about them, be it as simple as just a history, or a feature of their culture, or anything like that. Don't forget that not every Chapter needs a big bad secret or hidden geneseed malfunction - sometimes, less is more.

Is there any "Character" Sheets out there to help get it all on paper.

Not that I know of, but sites like 1d4chan have tables full of potential creation guides, where they break things down into homeworld type, how the Chapter governs, type of warfare, heroes of legend, etc etc

I'm looking to make something along the lines of Salamanders and White Scars/Space Wolves... A free roaming, warrior culture with a love of smithing/quality war gear and a good dose of humanity.

Sounds completely feasible. Salamanders aren't the only humanitarians, and it absolutely works that many Chapters would settle on similar traits, even from a different gene-sire. You could lean quite heavily into some kind of mountain dwarf culture for your Chapter, with their homeworld being dominated by tall stony peaks, with Space Marines living alone in smithing huts at the top of these mountains, perfecting the craft of metalwork meditation, all overlooking the villages below them and occasionally intervening. Occasionally, a human will make the trek up the mountain to speak to these master smiths several times the height of a man, and come back down with fresh knowledge.

Now I'm not the most knowledgeable lore guy so if they had a home world how would I go about choosing a planet and system? Or would a fleet based chapter make more sense?

Both make sense, it's worth noting that many Chapters are specifically formed to guard or hold critical positions (such as the aformentioned Wolfspear). So, a newly formed Ultima founding Chapter would most likely have a homeworld guarding some important location, be it a region of space, or a valuable world.

Should I define their preferred battle style? Weaponry etc.

You can, but don't have to. My homebrew doesn't really go in depth too much about their preferred combat style, because I haven't figured out that part of their personality yet. Don't be afraid to let the Chapter evolve over time - end of the day, you're in charge of their lore. If you decide one day that they're a mixed-arms well balanced Chapter, and then decide you're more interested in them preferring tank warfare, that's completely your call to make.

That's a great reply.. A lot to think on there. Quite like the mountain dwarf thing.

Well seeming as SW can have Ultima Successors I could just take a slight detour on my current Wolf project to make them a bit more my own.. Although they all have the generic (Ragnars) shoulder icon.

Which leads me into a slight off topic question... If SW only have 12 (I know there's kinda the 13th now) companies, each lead by one named Wolf Lord. So when we build our own generic wolf Lord models they technically don't count in the lore?
Unless I'm wrong but each company doesn't split into smaller groups. So your space wolf army should be led by one of the named dudes

On the named wolf lords, it’s not unreasonable for one of them to die off. The names given in the lore are only the current wolf lords at the in universe time that list was created. If the 5th Company is lead by Skroll Mjodbreath in 200 M42, there’s nothing stopping you from saying Skroll got eaten by a lictor and now your guy is in charge. It could even be good motivation for your take on the company. Vengeance always goes over well

Remember that successors only have to share a genetic legacy with their first founding chapter. The Flesh Tearers are have a very different outlook than the Blood Angels. The Black Templar and Imperial Fists have the complete opposite outlook on war. One of the best examples is the Ultramarines and the Mortifactors. One is incredibly doctrine based and logic bound and the other is very superstitious and spur of the moment. The difference is highlighted well in “Warriors of Ultramar”. It’s really up to you how much your chapter wants to take after the originals.

Once you’ve settled on a theme, start fleshing it out. What are some the chapters accomplishments? What are some of some of their defeats and shortcomings. Where in the galaxy do they operate and who are some of their more common opponents? How closely do they follow the codex? Do they believe the emperor is divine or merely a great man? Do they have some feud with another chapter or some other aspect of the imperium. Are they warriors seeking to defeat mankind’s enemies, builders looking to stabilize mankind, the defenders of the imperial citizens, or do they posses contempt for those weaker than themselves? Do they approve of Guilliman’s seizure of power? How much mutation is acceptable? Remember to take everything in moderation to each other. No one will be interested in a chapter that has never lost a battle but you don’t need to make them the Lamenters either.

Ok thought as much... So I'll either use the new Blackmane model for my current project or try switch up their shoulder Icon a bit for a Ultima founding chapter.

I might write all these questions down and answer them all.. That way I think it will start evolving naturally.

If you do get them written down be sure to share them here! In depth world building is always great to read.

For sure... Just deciding on building a completey new army or just switching paths on my current Wolf army.
Once that's done I'll get cracking.

one idea I've thought would be kind of fun for a space wolf ultima founding chapter is making them a bit like the Vangardian Guard. sort of greco-roman influence norse.

Had to look that up but they'd actually work pretty well aesthetically with primaris. Nice idea there.

That’s an excellent historical reference to go with, there’s indent a better choice for a distant founding of the space wolves.