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I have a couple of highlights from the Crusade of Fury thread about the 85th, I'll write them later.

 Bobthehero wrote:
I have a couple of highlights from the Crusade of Fury thread about the 85th, I'll write them later.

very well then i'll be eager to see your work my mate

Well, I've got something, I suppose. Another SM chapter. Feel free to point out any ups and downs in this, I'll see how much I can take the them into account to further refine the concept.

Founding Chapter:
Dark Angels
Founding:
Second Founding
Name:
TBD, probably something with "Seekers" on it. Seekers of Absolution sounds tempting, but I'm thinking on something more concise.
Chapter Symbol:
TBD
Warcry:
The Lion wills it (and the Emperor wills it)
Specialty:
Acquisition & usage of alien tech and weaponry (mostly used by the most trusted of the Chapter [during dire situations]).
Being part of the Unforgiven, they mostly adhere to Codex Astartes (Chapter composition-wise), but share unique 1st and 2nd Company formations of the Dark Angels:
Terminators & general heavy armor of the 1st Company (very much like Deathwing, will detail in-depth further down).
Stealth & rapid deployment of the 2nd Company (Akin to Ravenwing, but with emphasis on stealth as well. Can't capture every Fallen by chasing them with loud vehicles, right?). Still gotta flesh out this special branch of the Chapter, so WIP I suppose.

The Founding


Base color scheme


1st Company: Doomwing


All in all, it's still pretty WIP. I've got some ideas for their fleet-based Fortress-Monastery (since they have no homeworld) and secrets within, one named character (Doomwing Contemptor Dreadnought that, funnily enough, doesn't actually have a name yet) and some general lore when they were still just one Chapter/Battalion that was part of the Dark Angels Legion prior to 2nd Founding. You know, Great Crusade and Horus Heresy stuff.
But that stuff still needs to be thought-out more before I try to write it down, not to mention half a billion other things (other named characters, post-Heresy history, color scheme for all parts and branches of the Chapter, etc. etc. etc...). And all of this isn't taking into account new 8th edition story progression.
In short, like the Orks put it... zog me.

I posted some of my ideas in another topic, so I'll try condensing them here. They're ideas for an advancement of the plot line similar to the lore behind Age of Sigmar.

- The Emperor rescued many human souls and took them to the Webway where they now live in a place called the Sanctuary.
- The most warrior among these souls are transformed into "Astartes 3.0", aka Primaris Grey Knights.
- The loyalist Primarchs are all back and have Avatar-like bodies, whilst the Emperor is completely psionic and uses his own "super Avatar" vessel.

- Chaos is in ruin; many of its champions are dead, Slaanesh's link to Aeldari souls has been severed (joint effort between the Emperor and the Ynnari), and their overall influence and power has been reduced.
- Drach'nyen has taken over the corpse of Abaddon and know seeks to rule Chaos itself (like Nagash). It hates the other powers and wants to destroy them. Also still really hates the Emperor.
- Erebus has been made the new Warmaster by the ruinous powers in an effort to stop Drach'nyen. He killed Lorgar (who failed Chaos) in exchange for their combined blessings.
- The Traitor Marines fractured after the End Times, but Erebus reunited them by force (most of them anyway).

- The Alpha Legion's true loyalty was revealed. They really were undercover loyalists the entire time.
- The Emperor has them on an eternal penance crusade throughout the galaxy.

- The Tyranids have a new leader: the Swarm Queen, aka 40K's Kerrigan.

- The Necron dynasties are now one legion under the command of Szarekh the Silent King.
- The C'tan shards were all destroyed following Szarekh's decree that their existence was a threat.
- Only the Void Dragon remains, so Szarekh has the Necrons journeying to Mars to annihilate the red planet.

- T'au are now under the leadership of Farsight, who executed the Ethereals for lieing to the T'au people (warp stuff, engram chips, etc).
- Farsight is gathering an "alien coalition" to rival the former Imperium. Many alien races have joined out of a shared loathing of humanity.

- Orks are still around, cuz they iz ard az nailz!

- The un-ascended of humanity are almost all members of the Echlessiarchy or worshippers of the Imperial Creed. Basically the religious. Also the religious Inquisitors, ie Puritans, etc.
- They formed their own empire which is pretty much what the Imperium would be if the Reign of Blood continued on unchallenged.
- They hate Psykers, especially the Astartes 3.0.

- The Aeldari are almost all united once more, thanks to the threat of Slaanesh eating their souls is no more.
- The Drukhari are mostly still pirate raiders who have increased their sadistic activities now that Slaanesh isn't so threatening.
- The Ynnari are still a thing, hoping to bring a fully-powered Avatar of Ynnaed into existence.

Where does that leave non-SM armies of the Imperium?

 Bobthehero wrote:
Where does that leave non-SM armies of the Imperium?

#1: The Imperium as it was is no more.

#2: These are just preliminary ideas. It definitely needs more work on my part.

As a reiteration, humans that are worthy are spirited away by the Emperor, but are not dead. They live out their lives in the Webway, in the Sanctuary city. When they die, they are transformed into the Astartes 3.0 (I really need a better name for them).

Think of it like the Christian concept of the rapture: the worthy are ascended whilst the unworthy are left to rot. Those left behind form their "new Imperium" which, as I said, is pretty much a mirror of the Reign of Blood.

Sanctuary city is what Commoragh would be if it wasn't dark, depressing, and filled with undesirables.

Tinbe wrote:
Well, I've got something, I suppose. Another SM chapter. Feel free to point out any ups and downs in this, I'll see how much I can take the them into account to further refine the concept.

Founding Chapter:
Dark Angels
Founding:
Second Founding
Name:
TBD, probably something with "Seekers" on it. Seekers of Absolution sounds tempting, but I'm thinking on something more concise.
Chapter Symbol:
TBD
Warcry:
The Lion wills it (and the Emperor wills it)
Specialty:
Acquisition & usage of alien tech and weaponry (mostly used by the most trusted of the Chapter [during dire situations]).
Being part of the Unforgiven, they mostly adhere to Codex Astartes (Chapter composition-wise), but share unique 1st and 2nd Company formations of the Dark Angels:
Terminators & general heavy armor of the 1st Company (very much like Deathwing, will detail in-depth further down).
Stealth & rapid deployment of the 2nd Company (Akin to Ravenwing, but with emphasis on stealth as well. Can't capture every Fallen by chasing them with loud vehicles, right?). Still gotta flesh out this special branch of the Chapter, so WIP I suppose.

The Founding

Spoiler:

Devastated by the loss of both the Emperor (suspended half-dead on the Golden Throne) and the Lion (disappeared during the destruction of Caliban, none besides the Watchers know of him being suspended in stasis at this point), the Second Founding saw the First Legion split into several Chapters, still united behind the curtains in the hunt for the Fallen, a crusade of redemption to last millennia.
While performing their usual duties of protecting the slowly-deteriorating Imperium, this particular Chapter has taken a concealed duty of inspecting and amassing anything alien they can acquire that's useful for research & development, which in itself is for hidden purposes. Devised by the Inner Circle of the Unforgiven's Chapter Masters to find means to revive the Emperor back in his glorious form, or to augment Imperial strengths with xenos additions? No one knows for certain, but the interest in medical technology in particular might give inclination to one of the more grand theories. Again, the ulterior motives are shrouded in mystery, common trait for the successors of the First Legion.

Base color scheme

Spoiler:

Most of the battle brothers don their power armors with this darkly toned color scheme, giving them the appearance of knights not sworn by glory, but silent duty. The veterans further uphold this, as the robes they receive are that of pure black, stark contrast to the fellow Successors of the 1st Legion. What does stand out, however, is the bone-white kneepad to the Founding Chapter's 1st Company elite... a symbol of tenacity.

...That's how I guess the reason would be in their shoes, but I mostly did it to make them not mix up with other DA successors (plus none of them wear black robes over armor, so extra uniqueness points here I suppose). This underwent a lot of revision, actually. There was way more red in earlier versions, but it looked far too uncanny in large amuounts with the dark-grey as main color. Thus, it was decreased to a modest level to give more knightly look without dropping into the "pit" of all-grey Chapters.
Fun fact, I did briefly consider putting red as the main color, but I decided to roll with grey and some red instead.

1st Company: Doomwing

Spoiler:

Whereas Deathwing Terminators of the Dark Angels are renowned for being stubborn, Doomwing Terminators are known for their ruthlessness. As the primary force within the Chapter to use tech found vile and heretical by the Imperium at large, they routinely undergone rituals to purify soul of any doubt. Even when their weapons bear no taint of Chaos, they find it important to keep their hearts and minds clean of the impurity found in their arsenal.
Granted, they do not usually perform warfare as cruel as the pre-Heresy Death Guard, these veteran warriors are still quite often the very embodiment of "no mercy, no respite". As a result, the Company full of the most experienced soldiers within the Chapter aren't - ironically enough - usually the best at capturing alive any targets beside the Fallen or other extreme HVTs.

This is apparent in their own color scheme, most their armor left with the color of unpainted ceramite, their own homage to the bone-white Deathwing to result in the "purity" or bare colors, sins of the unholy weaponry they may wield highlighted with red symbols that try to creep up their arms.

...I actually haven't decided how these red symbols would look like. Most I've figure out is having black, thorny vines around wristguard with red ones quite literally stand out as they're climbing up from the wristguard and along the forearms. Doubles as both a symbolic meaning and a way to add some red on their armor.

All in all, it's still pretty WIP. I've got some ideas for their fleet-based Fortress-Monastery (since they have no homeworld) and secrets within, one named character (Doomwing Contemptor Dreadnought that, funnily enough, doesn't actually have a name yet) and some general lore when they were still just one Chapter/Battalion that was part of the Dark Angels Legion prior to 2nd Founding. You know, Great Crusade and Horus Heresy stuff.
But that stuff still needs to be thought-out more before I try to write it down, not to mention half a billion other things (other named characters, post-Heresy history, color scheme for all parts and branches of the Chapter, etc. etc. etc...). And all of this isn't taking into account new 8th edition story progression.
In short, like the Orks put it... zog me.

nice work there mate


Automatically Appended Next Post:

NeoAigaion wrote:
I posted some of my ideas in another topic, so I'll try condensing them here. They're ideas for an advancement of the plot line similar to the lore behind Age of Sigmar.

- The Emperor rescued many human souls and took them to the Webway where they now live in a place called the Sanctuary.
- The most warrior among these souls are transformed into "Astartes 3.0", aka Primaris Grey Knights.
- The loyalist Primarchs are all back and have Avatar-like bodies, whilst the Emperor is completely psionic and uses his own "super Avatar" vessel.

- Chaos is in ruin; many of its champions are dead, Slaanesh's link to Aeldari souls has been severed (joint effort between the Emperor and the Ynnari), and their overall influence and power has been reduced.
- Drach'nyen has taken over the corpse of Abaddon and know seeks to rule Chaos itself (like Nagash). It hates the other powers and wants to destroy them. Also still really hates the Emperor.
- Erebus has been made the new Warmaster by the ruinous powers in an effort to stop Drach'nyen. He killed Lorgar (who failed Chaos) in exchange for their combined blessings.
- The Traitor Marines fractured after the End Times, but Erebus reunited them by force (most of them anyway).

- The Alpha Legion's true loyalty was revealed. They really were undercover loyalists the entire time.
- The Emperor has them on an eternal penance crusade throughout the galaxy.

- The Tyranids have a new leader: the Swarm Queen, aka 40K's Kerrigan.

- The Necron dynasties are now one legion under the command of Szarekh the Silent King.
- The C'tan shards were all destroyed following Szarekh's decree that their existence was a threat.
- Only the Void Dragon remains, so Szarekh has the Necrons journeying to Mars to annihilate the red planet.

- T'au are now under the leadership of Farsight, who executed the Ethereals for lieing to the T'au people (warp stuff, engram chips, etc).
- Farsight is gathering an "alien coalition" to rival the former Imperium. Many alien races have joined out of a shared loathing of humanity.

- Orks are still around, cuz they iz ard az nailz!

- The un-ascended of humanity are almost all members of the Echlessiarchy or worshippers of the Imperial Creed. Basically the religious. Also the religious Inquisitors, ie Puritans, etc.
- They formed their own empire which is pretty much what the Imperium would be if the Reign of Blood continued on unchallenged.
- They hate Psykers, especially the Astartes 3.0.

- The Aeldari are almost all united once more, thanks to the threat of Slaanesh eating their souls is no more.
- The Drukhari are mostly still pirate raiders who have increased their sadistic activities now that Slaanesh isn't so threatening.
- The Ynnari are still a thing, hoping to bring a fully-powered Avatar of Ynnaed into existence.

very interesting there mate

I'm enjoying this thread quite a bit. If there's one thing I'd like to ask the OP Naoki the curseblood to add a spoiler on quotes to make it less to scroll through. Gotta say I admire your entusiasm for this thread though, and I commend you for how active you are at keeping it rolling.

I have quite a bit if time to kill at the moment. I'm currently in transit so I figured I'd enjoy myself with expanding on my homebrewed chapter. It's already been posted on this thread so I've included the original post below in the topic spoilers.

Templars of vengeance:
Codex chapter, 5th founding of the Ultramarines chapter.

Homeworld: Ciceiro
History:


Organisation: codex astartes


Homeworld (expanded):
Ciceiro raises Imperial Guard regiments and provide Imperial tithes despite not being required to do so.

The pilgrims:
Ciceiro is a thriving planet with a steady stream of pilgrims in a constant flux of travelling to and from the planet. Great ships owned by the ecclisiarchy is constantly carrying faithfull to the world. The reason for this is that there's very few other places in the galaxy that offer what Ciceiro offers. The chance to see a living breathing Space marine. On the planet there's three major sites of attention where every pilgrim will set his foot.

1. The monastery.
The greatest sight on the planet is the worlds capitol. At it's heart lies an enormous structure, towering high above all other building as scratching the very sky. A gigantic fortress within a walled city this is the chapter monastery of the Templars of vengence. With towering spires, branching archways and great walls the Astartes fortress make up a significant portion of the city. It is said that should the capitol come under attack the capitol has enough space to house the civilians of the entire city. Access is restricted to chapter personel but the walls outside has missionaries recitining prayers every day. Few people could ever hope to see a chapters very monastery in their lifetime, let alone come close to ones walls. The city itself is full of statues and temples, portraying the heroic history of Templars of vengence. Walking in theese streets is said to fill the heart of the most dubious with determination.

2. The crater.
The area of great battle from the chapters infancy (see the chapters history) is today not more then an enermous crater. The crater is so large that it takes days to complete a walk around it. It's a popular event for pilgrims to walk around the crater with no food in order to experience the suffering of the saint prophet. A trial called simply "the ring of fire". Every few years the crater erupts with lava. The desperate stratgame of the Templars of vengence has scarred the planet deep enough for magma to be close to the planets surface. When this happens great celebrations are held worldwide in memory of that ancient battle.

3. The birthplace of the saint prophet
Where once there was a small Village there is now an enermous temple, guarded at all times by a single dormant dreadnought and staffed by two of the elders of the Templars of vengence. Here the tale of the ancient battle is told. From here many pilgrims set out to walk the path of the saint prophet. In local tounge this march is called "the heroes journey".

The darkwatch:
Ciceiro is a world that is still healing the wound from the ancient battle when the marines first settled the planet. The most obvious one is the physical scar that is the crater, yet another more emotional and far more deadly one lingers. During the time time of the ancient battle deamons held the planet in their grasp. Even today, some 4 millenia after that event, there's many places on the planet where the boundaries to the warp are thin indeed. Every now and then settlements are driven mad, dark shapes comes in the night and unexplainable phenomena runs rampart. Every city has great defensive walls to keep the dark away and every road is sanctioned and defended from both physical and mental threats. Sometimes the dark grows bold and what lurks where no light reaches attempts to slake its thirst. Effects are usually mayhem, the death of settlements and terrible hunts is the far of regions, hunts where men and women are prey.
To combat this an organisation called the darkwatch, or just "the watch" in local tounge, has been formed. It consists of local militia, law Enforcers and Elder* Space marines (*see below or "the flaw" under the organisation spoiler). The watch hunt in the dark of the homeworld, defend new settlements and investigate unexplainable or strange activities. It's an organisation spread across the entire planet and has an Inquisitor permanently assigned to its HQ in the capitol. Some say the darkness itself is alive on Ciceiro. Most stay in the light of the cities, confident that the Emperor will protect them. For those where the light does not reach the darkwatch will travel, bringing light to the darkest places of their beloved world.

The Templars of vengence:

The council of the elders:
Due to the flaw of premature aging in the Templars of vengence gene seed (see "the flaw" in the spoiler section) no marine can hope to serve past 100 years. This age varies greatly however depending on battle injuries and general physics. However, this does not mean the old marines die. It does mean they are unfit for service within the chapter however. When a marine is unfit for service he is given the rank of "elder". Giving up on the experience of their most veteran marines would of course be ludicrous and therefore a council has been formed from theese veterans. Theese elders discuss battle plans, strategies and tactics over a great round table. Atop the table the chapter masters holds his seat. It is common for previous chapter masters to hold seats around the table. Therefore what is said at the table is never to be easily dismissed. It has been known for Inquisitors, palantines and lord generals to ask for the tables opinions on military issues.
Not all Elder have the table as their full time occupation however. Many serve their homeworld with mundane tasks in a state of retirment. A few positions on Ciceiros various institutions may only be filled by Elder marines. When the chapter calls for it however all Elders will answer the call and take their rightfull seat at the table.
The table is not only a place for military issues. Many of the occupants of the table are retired marines who are active on the homeworld. Therefore the states of varies cities, sector wide problems and political issues has been discussed here. A chapter master is the lord of his homeworld, a very valuable reasource indeed. Few chapters micro manage the government of their homeworld to the point of the Templars of vengence however. Through the council the chapter master can make political decisions without releasing hus focus of the military ones. This system has resulted in one of the most stable and well governed sectors in the entire Imperium. The sector governor has more then ones been in contact with the council, and people of many a world has been subject to its suggested ruling. The Emperor protects, but perhaps the pilosophy of the Templars was best summmarised in the great chapter master (founder of the council) Flavius words: "Protection without stability is worthless".

I was going to add battle tactics and favourite rules for engagement but this will have to do for now. Untill it'll be continued. Hope it was an enjoyable, if long read. Apologies if anyone would have prefered to read more about the marines themselves rather then the homeworld. This was quite fun to write down however.
Shoutout to Ynneadwraith for the council idea.

Edit: editted some stuff around, fixed some spelling mistakes and attached a footnote for clarity.

 Nerak wrote:
I'm enjoying this thread quite a bit. If there's one thing I'd like to ask the OP Naoki the curseblood to add a spoiler on quotes to make it less to scroll through. Gotta say I admire your entusiasm for this thread though, and I commend you for how active you are at keeping it rolling.

I have quite a bit if time to kill at the moment. I'm currently in transit so I figured I'd enjoy myself with expanding on my homebrewed chapter. It's already been posted on this thread so I've included the original post below in the topic spoilers.

Templars of vengeance:
Codex chapter, 5th founding of the Ultramarines chapter.

Homeworld: Ciceiro

Spoiler:

The Templars of vengence differ from most chapters in that where it's common for chapters operates from isolation the Templars fortress monastery rises high at the center of Ciceiros capitol. The planet itself used to be an agri world before a war would curse it for centuries to come. At present day it's mostly recovered from its ancient devastation.

History:

Spoiler:

Templars of vengence would suffer their greatest tradegy in their infancy. The Imperial plans on the planet to settle in a high chaos turbulent area had leaked to the enemy. As they made planetfall to oversee the construction of the chapter monastery chaos forces of the world bearer legion would make their move. In space the chapters fleet was decimated by chaos warships suddenly dropping out of warp. The ships then began bombarding the planet. The only Imperial survivors in space where those few that retreated to make emergency warp jumps. On the surface the planetary bombardments had functioned as a sacrifice, letting sorcerers bring deamons to the world. All would seem lost for the Templars of vengence before the chapter had even had their first battle. The Templars settled in for a Siege, prepared to swell their lives costly. The unfinished monastery was abandoned in favour of an imperial spaceship that had crashed close by. It was reasoned to be more defendable and possibly have activatable defensive systems. It was argued that the chapter should make their stand in the monastery but the Chapter master overruled this. He argued that if they could get the void shields online and awaken any servitors or machine spirits to help them in the crashed ship, it would give them a much better chance of survival. Most of the ship was damadged beyond repair but a few systems was of great use to the Astartes, such as the scanners and even a few still functional weapons. The mechanicus that had helped with the chapters monastery construction set to work, and then hell began.

Endless hordes of deamons would throw themselves at the ship. Chaos artillery would bombard it. The very walls would become alive and try to devour those inside. Great spells struck the defenders time and again. Yet for all this the defenders held. Repurposed ship guns where used to destroy all outside terrain and deny cover. Makeshift power stations where hammered togheter to provide better shields. Space marines would carry enermous ship sized weaponry when their ammo eventually ran out. For 66 days the Siege would continue. Every day hordes of deamons would assult the craft. Occationally the world bearers would personally fight and each time great losses would be inflicted on the already decimated chapter. Yet when the day dawned on the 67th day a force no one had even considered would bring an end to the war.

Unbwknowest to the chapter a man from a small Village had seen the oncomming doom comming. As the skies turned to fire and the world burned with the stuff of chaos he managed to defend his Village with little more then a wodcutters axe against lesser deamons intent on fiesting on their souls. Realising the world had litteraly gone to hell the man, who would later only be remmembered as the saint prophet, took what supplies they could and set out on a March. Every time a settlement was reached more people would band up. Every time they where assulted on the road the people would defend togheter. For more then two months this march continued, swelling in numbers. The people would sing praises to the Emperor, tirelesly praying as they went. The saint prophet had realised the world was doomed unless the Space Marines where there to protect it. So, after 66days of marching and praying the people of the world of Ciceiro reached the dawned craft. The axe of the saint prophet had bathed in the blood of deamons more times then anyone could count. As the people reached the craft a light erupted and the saint prophet charged into the demonic hordes. His axe held high. A slaughter ensued. The people where massacred. on this single day milions died. Yet it was the chance the Space Marines needed. They could finally counterattack. Chaos forces realised the day was won, for despite the faith of the humans and despite the courage of the Space Marine theese forces where tired and battered. Thus they gathered en masse to finally crush the marines while the deamons dealt with the pesky mortals. Yet at this moment the chapter played their final card. For a weapon unlike any other had been prepared. When the world bearers forces gathered the entire ship began to hum. Its front had been moved in the vauge direction of the chaos forces. Bright light would ensued, aimed high above the battlefield. On the 67th day of the Siege a star would shine over the battlefield. A Star of the Emperors wrath. A Star that was the fire of a close range Nova canon. Everything within many miles was eradicated from existance. The cannon burned away the earth crust to the point that magma erupted. The Astartes survived through prepared teleportation technology to set up homers in the unfinished monastery. The Imperial citizens wheren't so lucky and the only survivors where those in the furthest back of the milions strong horde. Yet the day was won. Not a single world bearer escaped alive.

The chaos warships would remain for 3 more months before Imperial reinforcments forced them away. The Astartes held out, but with the enemy command broken the next three months would provide much easier fighting. When scavaging the battlefield miracolously the axe of the saint prophet was found intact, though the man himself had burned to cinders. It was reforged into a weapon now only worn by the chapters master of sancity Chaplin, in memory of the day the Astartes where saved.

For ever more the planet would be scared and deamons would linger in dark places. Yet the chapter had endured. It would take centuries to rebuild but it was done. The survivors of the battle settled around the monastery, the protection of the marines needed to survive the hell their world had become. Yet after centuries the taint of chaos would slowly reside. The settlements spread across the world again. The chapters monastery would be raised proudly as the worlds largest city grew around it.

Organisation: codex astartes

Spoiler:

The Templars of vengeance follow the codex astartes with two exceptions. The Rechlusiarch squads and the reirement of Space marines (see the flaw). The scout company is unusually large as well. They are also one of the few chapters to fully adhere to the Imperial Ecclisiarchy teachings.

The flaw:
The Templars of vengeance gene seed is subject to a flaw. The marines experience premature aging. A marine usually find grey hairs some 20-30 years after recieving the black carpace. Soon after the body starts to deteriorate. For this reason they use exstensive rejuvination treatments and bionics to halt the effects. Yet after a time little can be done and no astartes of the Templars can hope to serve beyond 100 years. When this comes to pass the marine is given the title of "elder". For theese old marines three possiblities exist. The first is to be encased in an sarcophogus to continue fighting as a dreadnought. More machine then man the dreadnought halts the process. The second is to be retired and serve the rest of their years either in service of the chapter or on some institution on the homeworld. Even centuries after the great battle dark things still linger. For this reason many retired astartes chose to serve the local law Enforcers and militia to keep the inhabitants safe. Others go on to spend a few years as preachers while yet more settle for mundane tasks, or even become artists or writers. It is common for the retired Space marines to be curious of the lives of mortals. The third option is to be inducted into the Rechlusiarch squad.

Rechlusiarch squad:
This is a squad technically outside of the Astartes chain of command assigned to the chaplains. Due to the dark nature of their homeworld, whenever a Space marine feel the dark call to them they will join the Rechlusiarch squad. Induction can also be made as punishment or penance for failure in ones duties. It can also be the final stop for a retired marine. The Rechlusiarch squad follows the chaplains and join in their teachings. They might have diffrent objectives from the rest of the chapter during a war. They are the only marines viewed as expendable yet are also the ones with the greatest heroic deeds to their name. The chaplains direct them to do good. Whenever saving civilians, aiding the guardsmen or fighting for sub optimal objectives of important emotional or faith related values. Theese squads exsists to give meaningfull deaths and to resist the dark temptations that linger upon the homeworld. It is a place where souls are saved.

Homeworld (expanded):
Ciceiro raises Imperial Guard regiments and provide Imperial tithes despite not being required to do so.

The pilgrims:
Ciceiro is a thriving planet with a steady stream of pilgrims in a constant flux of travelling to and from the planet. Great ships owned by the ecclisiarchy is constantly carrying faithfull to the world. The reason for this is that there's very few other places in the galaxy that offer what Ciceiro offers. The chance to see a living breathing Space marine. On the planet there's three major sites of attention where every pilgrim will set his foot.

1. The monastery.
The greatest sight on the planet is the worlds capitol. At it's heart lies an enormous structure, towering high above all other building as scratching the very sky. A gigantic fortress within a walled city this is the chapter monastery of the Templars of vengence. With towering spires, branching archways and great walls the Astartes fortress make up a significant portion of the city. It is said that should the capitol come under attack the capitol has enough space to house the civilians of the entire city. Access is restricted to chapter personel but the walls outside has missionaries recitining prayers every day. Few people could ever hope to see a chapters very monastery in their lifetime, let alone come close to ones walls. The city itself is full of statues and temples, portraying the heroic history of Templars of vengence. Walking in theese streets is said to fill the heart of the most dubious with determination.

2. The crater.
The area of great battle from the chapters infancy (see the chapters history) is today not more then an enermous crater. The crater is so large that it takes days to complete a walk around it. It's a popular event for pilgrims to walk around the crater with no food in order to experience the suffering of the saint prophet. A trial called simply "the ring of fire". Every few years the crater erupts with lava. The desperate stratgame of the Templars of vengence has scarred the planet deep enough for magma to be close to the planets surface. When this happens great celebrations are held worldwide in memory of that ancient battle.

3. The birthplace of the saint prophet
Where once there was a small Village there is now an enermous temple, guarded at all times by a single dormant dreadnought and staffed by two of the elders of the Templars of vengence. Here the tale of the ancient battle is told. From here many pilgrims set out to walk the path of the saint prophet. In local tounge this march is called "the heroes journey".

The darkwatch:
Ciceiro is a world that is still healing the wound from the ancient battle when the marines first settled the planet. The most obvious one is the physical scar that is the crater, yet another more emotional and far more deadly one lingers. During the time time of the ancient battle deamons held the planet in their grasp. Even today, some 4 millenia after that event, there's many places on the planet where the boundaries to the warp are thin indeed. Every now and then settlements are driven mad, dark shapes comes in the night and unexplainable phenomena runs rampart. Every city has great defensive walls to keep the dark away and every road is sanctioned and defended from both physical and mental threats. Sometimes the dark grows bold and what lurks where no light reaches attempts to slake its thirst. Effects are usually mayhem, the death of settlements and terrible hunts is the far of regions, hunts where men and women are prey.
To combat this an organisation called the darkwatch, or just "the watch" in local tounge, has been formed. It consists of local militia, law Enforcers and Elder* Space marines (*see below or "the flaw" under the organisation spoiler). The watch hunt in the dark of the homeworld, defend new settlements and investigate unexplainable or strange activities. It's an organisation spread across the entire planet and has an Inquisitor permanently assigned to its HQ in the capitol. Some say the darkness itself is alive on Ciceiro. Most stay in the light of the cities, confident that the Emperor will protect them. For those where the light does not reach the darkwatch will travel, bringing light to the darkest places of their beloved world.

The Templars of vengence:

The council of the elders:
Due to the flaw of premature aging in the Templars of vengence gene seed (see "the flaw" in the spoiler section) no marine can hope to serve past 100 years. This age varies greatly however depending on battle injuries and general physics. However, this does not mean the old marines die. It does mean they are unfit for service within the chapter however. When a marine is unfit for service he is given the rank of "elder". Giving up on the experience of their most veteran marines would of course be ludicrous and therefore a council has been formed from theese veterans. Theese elders discuss battle plans, strategies and tactics over a great round table. Atop the table the chapter masters holds his seat. It is common for previous chapter masters to hold seats around the table. Therefore what is said at the table is never to be easily dismissed. It has been known for Inquisitors, palantines and lord generals to ask for the tables opinions on military issues.
Not all Elder have the table as their full time occupation however. Many serve their homeworld with mundane tasks in a state of retirment. A few positions on Ciceiros various institutions may only be filled by Elder marines. When the chapter calls for it however all Elders will answer the call and take their rightfull seat at the table.
The table is not only a place for military issues. Many of the occupants of the table are retired marines who are active on the homeworld. Therefore the states of varies cities, sector wide problems and political issues has been discussed here. A chapter master is the lord of his homeworld, a very valuable reasource indeed. Few chapters micro manage the government of their homeworld to the point of the Templars of vengence however. Through the council the chapter master can make political decisions without releasing hus focus of the military ones. This system has resulted in one of the most stable and well governed sectors in the entire Imperium. The sector governor has more then ones been in contact with the council, and people of many a world has been subject to its suggested ruling. The Emperor protects, but perhaps the pilosophy of the Templars was best summmarised in the great chapter master (founder of the council) Flavius words: "Protection without stability is worthless".

I was going to add battle tactics and favourite rules for engagement but this will have to do for now. Untill it'll be continued. Hope it was an enjoyable, if long read. Apologies if anyone would have prefered to read more about the marines themselves rather then the homeworld. This was quite fun to write down however.
Shoutout to Ynneadwraith for the council idea.

Edit: editted some stuff around, fixed some spelling mistakes and attached a footnote for clarity.

Nice work there mate and sorry i didn't use spoiler i'm still kind of new to this site after all i admire the creativity of the 40k fan community that's why i made this thread if a person who seeks to make a homebrew if they can come across this they can hopefully be inspired by this

Jade`Drakken

Unknown founding
Salamanders successor
Segmentum Pacificus
Binary star system located significantly above the galactic plane.
secluded by an astronomical anomaly of black holes nicknamed the Heart of the Drakken
10yr solar cycle

Home Planet: Ignis Prime
  grouping if 3 star systems protected by the gravimetric scattering of the warp making successful jumps very difficult to master. currently there are only 2 known ways in to and out of the Dragons Mouth.

Fortress Monastary: Ignis Loquitor (Fires Breath)


Humans first settled Ignis Prime sometime during the Golden age of technology. Largely spared during the Rebellion of the Men of Iron due to the local religion (Fire Eternal) frowning upon AI. A bountiful world full of mineral wealth where a rare mineral found nowhere else is mined and refined. Jade Obsidian is a key component of a super alloy used in the production of voidcraft specially resistant to intrusions of the Gellar field during warptravel close to the black holes surrounding their star system. The Great Crusade found the Heart in dire needs due to a Daemonic incursion. Brought forth by a Radical sect of the  Fire Eternal which turned to the worship of chaos.
The 18th Legion fought alongside the local  "Dragonkin"(a confederation of Human and Squat traders which call an orbiting shipyard their home) in a pitched battle to drive the vile creatures back whence they came. After several weeks of continuous battle, the Forces of the Imperium were finally victorious. During the final battle, the Dragonkin and the 1st Company located the Cults "temple" in a heavily populated hives underworld. It was hidden in an unused manufactorum, passing as a refuse incinerator. Unfortunately they were using humans abducted from the hive above to power their dark summoning rituals. With Captain Artellus Numeon leading the Salamanders and DragonLord Purus Fyre cleansed the area with a valiant last stand of the DragonLord calling upon a last heroic act to vanquish the Greater Daemon of Tzeentch Avionizer in single combat.

with the incursion over and rift sealed, The ultimatum was given to the newly crowned DragonLord submit to the Imperial Truth or risk the fate of the worshipers of chaos. Wisely the DragonLord bent the knee. the task of cleaning up was left to the locals and the Crusade moved on to the next star cluster, but the 18th never forgot the Dragonkin. The Horus Heresey came and went. During 748M33 a different kind of threat arose to scourge the DragonHeart. Chaos warbands would routinely attack ships leaving or entering the transport lanes leading to the 18th once again being tasked with protecting the entrance and stopping the threats. Unfortunately the then DragonLord was struck down in Single combat by Avionizer. luckily his death enabled the Salamanders to overpower him sending him back to the ether. The Adeptus Terra was finally made to be aware of the sacrifice of the DragonLord and declared the Dragonkin to become a Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes from that point on known as the Jade Drakken. taking the local pronunciation and chose the Salamanders as the successor which their gene-seed would draw from. Like their progenitor they are blessed with creating their own finely wrought arms & armour. All of the chapter's Vehicles and transports are constructed by the Dragonkin aboard their orbiting shipyard.

For thousands of years the Jade Drakken stood watch over the Heart. they have withstood many chaos invasions and xenos incursions.

more to come, but any thoughts?

Here's an idea I've been toying with. Its basically House Dayne from Game of Thrones, but space marines.

Name: Emperor's Blade (still thinking about it)
Unknown Founding, Unknown Legion (Actually Emperor's Children)

Lore:
The darkest annals of the Emperor's Blade Chapter speak of a time during the Great Crusade when Fulgrim followed a falling star to the Galatic East and lead the Emperor's Children to the world that was near the proximity to a gigantic warp storm. It was a temperate death world, and had a local population of techno-barbarian nomadic tribes. The people had lived countless centuries in fear and terror, wretched and terrible lives. To survive all manner of xeno and daemon raids, they could not settle for one place for long, and had to constantly move around.

Fulgrim was moved by their struggle of these people, and was determined to help them. He assigned the noblest commander he knew to garrison and develop this planet for the glory of the Imperium. With them, he gave a unit of Palatine Blades, and a Chapter of the Emperor's Children.
Fulgrim would rename the planet Starfall, and the Legionaire's name was Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning.
As the Great Crusade waged on, the Emperor's Children developed Starfall. It would become the jewel of the Dawn system, Torrentine Sub-Sector. They battled all manner of xeno and pirate scum, united many other survivors of the Dark Age, and turned that region of the galaxy into a vision of the Emperor's perfection. This period of constant warfare transformed Starfall into a highly militaristic and technological adept feudal world. Its primary role was to serve the Emperor's Children in all ways. Recruitment, training, power armour manufacturing, etc.


Then a ginormous warp storm wracked the Galaxy, and the Torrentine sub-sector was swallowed up. The following years became the most tumultuous time in their history. All manner of twisted and deformed monstrosities would pour from the warp and ravage the sub-sector. The fighting was fierce, but the threat of contained, but with a dire cost.
Then suddenly the warp storms subsided, and the Emperor's Children garrison sent out an urgent communication, asking what had gone on. They were soon answered.
An entire Chaos warband, lead by Emperor's Children legionnaire completely devoted to Slaanesh attacked them. Horrified of what their brothers had become, the garrison forces fought desperately, but were losing ground fast.
From the darkness, came a light - a ship that carried a mighty Knights Errant warrior. With his secrets, and their strength, the daemon warhost was pushed back into the warp.

Witnessing the loyalty of the garrison forces first made, a private message was sent by Robute Gulliman himself to brief them on the situation. As they realised all that had transpired, Gulliman allowed them to be anew. They accepted.

They would now become the Emperor's Blades. Custodians of the Torrentine Sub-Sector, loyal servants of the Imperium, the finest swords of the Emperor's arsenal, and the holders of an extremely dark secret.
If anyone were to know that they were descendants of the now Daemon-Prince Fulgrim, their fate would be sealed.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Now I'll talk about their post-Heresy stuff.

Paint Scheme: Purple and Silver

Leadership:
The Emperor's Blade quickly accepted the Codex, and became a compliant chapter. Severely depleted by the Horus Heresy, they were quick to reorginise into chapters.
As time went on, the Emperor's Blade would continue to become the champion's of the Emperor's vision. They encompassed the best of Fulgrim's qualities - his strive for personal perfection, his drive to do good, his devotion to the to the human race. This was all reflected in the actions and attitudes of the Sword of the Morning, Arthur Dayne. He lived for over 1,000 years, and died gloriously whilst banishing a Keeper of Secret. As his chapter mourned, a new Chapter Master had to be chosen, a new Sword of the Morning. Arthur Dayne was gifted by Fulgrim a masterfully crafted sword that was called Dawn, all agreed that only the worthy should ever wield Dawn.
However, all the company masters could not decide who among them exemplified all the good qualities Arthur Dayne had. It was agreed that none of them would wield Dawn, and become Chapter Master. They all decreed that only an Astartes that contained inside them all the goodness and virtue of Arthur Dayne could ever wield Dawn, they must also be a fine swordsman, and outstanding commander. A very tough call. Less than a dozen Swords of the Morning have existed in the past 10,000 years. Each of them are venerated and celebrated, but none so much as Arthur himself.
In the meantime the Chapter is lead by a council of company masters. The chairman of this council, de-facto leader, would rotate every year. If any company master was deemed worthy by all his peers, he would take up the mantle, and serve the Chapter.

Culture and Characteristics :
- Due to their proximity to the warp storm, the local inhabitants of Torrentine Sub-Sector have developed violet coloured eyes, and silvered hair. This is now reflected of the Chapter - they all have violet eyes and silver hair.
- Over time, the culture of Starfall become extremely militarised and feudalised. A military elite emerged. This 'knightly class' were the strongest, smartest, and most skilled Starfallers on the planet. They would give themselves horrific of 'Ser' like the knights of Old Terran legend. The Emperor's Blade's are now basically exclusively composed of members of the Starfall Knightly class. Oblivious to the Warrior Lodge elitism that was a great downfall of the once proud legions, the Emperor's Blades proudly and openly call each other 'Ser'.
- Ser Arthur Dayne, prior to his ascendancy to commander, was an extremely skilled swordsman - part of the notorious Palatine Blades. He and the Palatine Blade contingent garrisoned promoted swordsmanship, to both the Legionnaires and to the local population. Swordsmanship is now critical for the anyone who wishes to be anyone on Starfall, and in the Emperor's Blades. All leaders and Astartes are fist and foremost a master swordsman.
- Only Company Masters and members of the elite 1st company know of the terrible secret of the Emperor's Blades. Regular Astartes have no idea whose legacy they fall under. Many think the Dark Angels, due to their own knightly history and emphasis on swordmanship. Others believe the Blood Angels, due to their quest of perfection, and their humanitarianism. Those who know the truth, have a great hatred for the Emperor's Children and Slaanesh. Vowing to destroy them where ever found.

I have more on their fluff, but I think this is enough. How do you think?

My little change to official Raptors fluff is they went on a reclamation crusade to their original homeworld as part of the Indomitus Crusade, since there isn't any official fluff on the Chapter during or post Gathering Storm it's possible, meaning I can field relic vehicles and weapons without cannon conflicts.

Throwing around a idea for my tzeench renegade chapter
Name Dark Paladins
Primogenitor Ultramarined
Lore
Not got much indepth lore for them. My thinking is they were part of a early founding who came to rule over a sector. Not long after setteling they discover a "dire" prophecy about a dark secret the sector hides. Fearing it coming true they begin to become obsessed with changing their fate. By M.34 they go full chaos having turned to tzeench. They turn a very large portion of the planet with them. The imperium arrives with a combined force of guard and space maribes resulting in a cataclysmic battle which while the imperium won it cost them very heavily and the sector was literally sundered by vast warp energies. The dark knights were transported to a daemon world in the eye and began the process of rebuilding their chapter (they lost half of their chapter) and building a empire in the eye. Where once they sought to prevent the dire prophecy about their home world and sector they now seek to bring the galaxy under the great changers rule. They have a utter hatred of the sons of guilliman and will stop at nothing to eradicate them and in recent times with the return of guillimen their oath remains strong as ever. Theur former chapter master is a demon prince and surprisingly for a Tzeench worshipping chapter their bonds of brotherhood have kept them together.

For anyone who was curious the dire prophecy they discovered was what actually happened. I wanted the warband to have the whole irony thing going on.

I'm still working on my post-40k concept, the "Age of Aftermath" (working title, although it's not bad I guess).

Still not sure WHAT leads to it being an aftermath, although I'm thinking it could have something to do with the awakening of the Void Dragon on Mars (assuming the rumours are true), the Purge traitor warband unleashing a bio-weapon so powerful it makes Nurgle blush, or a combination of both and more. It'd be an event so massive that the Emperor comes back...somehow, although not permanently. He sort-of fails, Terra shatters (think Outland from World of Warcraft), and he rescues the worthy by bringing them to the Sanctuary City within the Webway.

In this new era of time, Chaos is in complete disarray: Slaanesh can no longer slowly leech Aeldari souls, Abaddon is dead in the same way as Horus, and worst of all, Drach'nyen has returned with the intent on becoming THE one and only Chaos God (think Nagash from AoS). Though they still have their own armies, the ruinous powers empowered a new champion: Erebus, the ever-devout follower of Chaos. As payment for slaying his failure of a Primarch, Lorgar, Erebus was made Warmaster of the Chaos Astartes. Drawn from almost all the traitor legions, they now follow Erebus.

The Alpha Legion were loyalists the entire time. They remain in the galaxy, outside of Sanctuary, but are not attacked on sight by the Emperor's new "Astartes Sanctori" (aka Primaris Grey Knights, aka Astartes 3.0). That name is also a working title. Those of the Alpha Legion continue their fight to undermine the traitors and destroy them.

More to come...

I wish I had something to add to the thread.

I've two armies at the moment as seen in my profile pic. One is an Eldar Craftworld, named Yderis. No background, no named heroes etc. I've only recently finished the majority of the models - so I'm waiting for some games to dictate the nature of the Craftworld or any kind of interesting backrgound (tough with Eldar).


Farseer of the Yderis craftworld. Colours are purple and white. The Yderis rune was a quick creation (seen in my profile pic as well)

The other army is as contrasting as I can make it. A Chaos Space Marine warhost allied (begrudgingly perhaps) to Nurgle. Not Death Guard, but dependent on Nurgle for some reason. Haven't fully fleshed these guys out - no proper background...heck, no name. The emblem is a black diamond edged in mint green --- a throwback actually to a random icon I put on a bunch of henchmen from a dungeon crawl build several years ago. A simple nod to them (and an icon easy to paint).


The Chaos Lord (he occasionally wears terminator armour or power armour w/ a jump pack so I have both modeled)

Now, obviously I'll have to come up with a reason these two forces have engaged - and I've yet to build a proper 40K table terrain-wise so that may play into it somehow. I prefer fluff to evolve naturally through games or accidents. Maybe sometime I'll sit down and actually put pen to paper on sorting some of it out. I enjoy the contrast between the two (one army being white/bright/colourful...the other muddy and sullen). Gives me an army to loan to people who want to get in a game and I play both armies in 2nd ed. 40K as well as current 8th.

Continuing with my Age of Aftermath (hereon referred to as AoA)...

Astartes Sanctori (pronounced SANC-TOR-EYE) are similar to Rubric Marines in a few ways. The souls of rescued humans who are worthy, or loyal Astartes who fell during The Event, are given a suit of armour made out of an unknown material the Emperor uses in the Webway (possibly wraithbone). What sets them apart from Rubric Marines is that their souls are their own - they are in no way automatons. If their body is destroyed, their soul returns to the Sanctuary City where a new one is forged. This is similar to how Sigmar makes/remakes Stormcast Eternals in AoS.

They can be summed up as Primaris Grey Knights. All Astartes Sanctori are psykers, and are organised in a similar manner to how the pre-heresy legions were. They still use bolter type weapons, but they are empowered by the user's psychic power. So in game terms, their standard Bolt Rifle weapon would be S5 AP-1.

Farsight's new Tau Coalition was established after he executed the Ethereals for lying to the Tau people about certain issues. He then took command of the Tau and reformed their governmental structure into a coalition of sorts, inviting their existing allies into the fold. They also recruit newly discovered races into their coalition, rescuing them from any and all of the predatory races still roaming the galaxy. The Tau have progressed in technological warfare since The Event, and are heading towards a similar zenith that humanity achieved in the Dark Age of Technology. Whether they will experience their own Age of Strife is unknown.

Drach'nyen, the Echo of the First Murder, former daemon-blade of Abaddon, has returned!

When Abaddon was slain, Drach'nyen possessed the former Warmaster's corpse, twisting it into an unholy humanoid creature. It is slowly gathering daemons to its side, exerting its overwhelming control over them, tearing down their former allegiance to whatever power it once had. Drach'nyen desires to take command of the daemons, and turn them against their former masters - the four ruinous powers. It will become the only chaos god in existence - the One-God of Chaos. Drach'nyen is also aware that the Anathema still lives. After tens of thousands of years, it still has an eternal hatred for the master of mankind.

Hi there, just found and read this whole thread, great stuff. Particularly keen on Japes Nurgle Empire, very cohesive and plausible with excellent motivations and reasoning.
I’m a big fluff fan myself so naturally, my own SMs, The Far Suns, have some custom blurb to them. I have a reasonable amount written but the whole is unfinished. It’s also very whimsical and daft, off the top of my head stuff, so incredibly lame and probably not worth sharing.
I’ll quickly sum up though, skipping some of the detail.

Immediately following the HH and with the break up of the legions, the Dark Angels thought it would be a smart idea to try and secretly send a successor chapter through The Veiled Region and into the rumoured open space beyond, to check for ‘traitors' and keep a weather eye out for hidden incursions. Hey presto, the entire fleet was never heard from again. Much wailing, gnashing of teeth and hasty cover ups. End of story as far as the DA and IoM are concerned. Consigned to secret history and secretly forgotten.
Ah, but they did make it through, though not without losses.
Cut off from everything, they pull themselves together and go devoutly about their business. Eradicating Xenos, ‘educating’ isolated human enclaves, watching for ‘traitors' and eventually setting up home on the moon of a planet populated by regressed barbarian tribes, naming it Lions Reach. And battling enemies on all sides. Because Orks are always everywhere.

Much later, an enterprising and monastery bound Master Librarian is whispered to by a Lord of Change during his study of a weird xenos artifact, (vaguely suspicious of it’s source). He is shown a vision of a Far Suns legion, building an empire of it’s own and bestriding the region like merciful gods. Ofc, he’s a stoic and loyal guy so tells the likely Daemonic voice to do one and sling it’s hook. But the vision was a beguiling one....
This Lib has regular sit downs with the resident Interrogator Chaplain, discussing various things over a bourbon and cigar. They're good pals to a degree, which is why the IC doesn’t drag his Lib bud straight to the dungeon when he brings up this expansionist idea. And so the meme is shared....

Fast forward 3,500 yrs and the meme has gone viral, thanks to some long term and incredibly subtle, largely subconcious, internal politicking and scriptural re-interpretation.
The IoM and the Golden Throne may as well be an allegorical tale by now. The Far Suns have evolved into the Empire of a Thousand Suns. At it’s head is The Will of God, a living embodiment of the God Emperor, his will is Gods will. The Chaplaincy is the Eye of God, Librarius is the Spirit of God and so on. The Legion, now numbered in the tens of thousands, is His Strike, it’s Commanders, His Hands. This Empire now revolves around the Seat of the Sun, the throne from which The Will directs his subjects and receives their worship. Bit of a Vatican church vibe going on...
In the centre of this Empire, the former Astartes are not what they were. More religious police than warrior monks. Their recruitment is quick and unfussy, their geneseed and training fairly stagnant. Their rapture is strong.

(The old LoC glances over and clucks, noting that the more things change with humans, the more they stay the same)

Out at the edge though, battles remain. Close to the Veil, (now known as The Final Curtain, beyond which is the resting place of the soul, the realm of the dead, where only the Will obedient can be admitted), a grumpy and pragmatic old Hand has kept ancient traditions alive on the old 1st World of Lions Reach. Commander Evald Leslik. His Astartes remain strong, drawn from a population still kept in a state of tribal barbarism. Brutally selected for induction and then attended to with fastidious care. A true chapter in the proper fashion. Evald is close to his Forge Master, (at this point I should hint that the Techs have remained faithful to the Omnissiah in their own, necessarily tolerated, enclave and perhaps maintain byzantinely complex records of the true secret history). Between them, they probe the nebula and maintain the fighting strength of the chapter, leery of their Empires soft and possibly corrupted heart.

Into Evalds domain, a Grey Knight strike squad emerges from the Warp, previously on the trail of a corvette of Rubric marines, or something... Advised by his tech council not to immediately obliterate the intruders, he instead has them intercepted and hailed.
Brought to his chambers as guests, he learns from them the horrible truth. HERESY ABOUND! HE JUST KNEW IT!

Immediately consumed by the fiery rage of the righteous, he asks them to pledge their help in tearing down the false god and restoring the Emperors vision to the region. They agree. He thanks them and straight up executes them to contain their knowledge of the heresy. He then declares them saints and saviours for bringing the light and the truth, inters their bodies in the monastery’s sacred crypt and has their armour preserved as relics.
Turns to his Forge Master and says ‘We need more ships, it’s crusade time!’.

So it’s a long a bloody war but the outcome is inevitable. The outer reaches of the Empire rally to Evalds cause and the whole lot throttles in on the Seat. Like an angry, flaming noose. With power fists.
Fittingly, at the end, Evald and exactly 999 of his strong, loyal Astartes emerge from the rubble and flames of the palace. It’s clearly a sign.
The people rejoice but soon stop when Evald takes his boys into orbit and nukes the planet bare. He then sets off on a huge retcon, stripping the former Empire of every bit of false worship he can lay his hands on. Finally returning to his monastery with his chapter and reinstating the original Far Suns operandi, as per the dusty records he and his techs lifted from the palace vaults.

For the next couple thousand years, they keep themselves to themselves, monitoring the Curtain, fighting off baddies and telling everyone that the whole mess was down to Tzeentchian traitors. Probably it was Magnus.
(Meanwhile, its quite possible the Tzeentch rumours take hold, his rep grows and begins to attract cultists and such on ravaged former Empire worlds. Whole region might even begin to bubble noisily in his honour. Some Thousand Sons may move in... Almost like it could’ve been a plan all along)

Which brings us to now.
The galaxy beyond the Veil has cracked, warp storms go mental and the Curtain pulls back just a little. The Far Suns manage to sneak through, into the promised land. The whole lot looks just a little messed up. The Suns inner circle trust no one, are somewhat wary of empires built on false religions as well as being kind of not at all keen on close attention from those snoopy fellows in black cloaks. They keep quiet, do the good work, silence all witnesses and hope for the return of their one true father, The Lion.

Tabletop wise, they’re basically Dark Angels in a different colour. Almost entirely beakies and old school models. Because I’m old school and because ebay. Also handily fits the Chapter being cut off around the time mark VII armour began to become commonplace. Characters are all conversions. Azrael is Tobis Trjane, Belial is Lukon Trjane (they’re brothers, I have 2 boys I’m sucking in to 40k). Coldwatch are the 1st Company, of which we have many. Darkwatch are the 2nd , though we only have 3 bikes. Relics are generally named in Evald Lesliks honour or are basically excuses to use the odd Grey Knight model.
We also have a Company Champion called Chrion (the old Emperors Champion model). A Coldwatch Champion in very old Grey Knight armour called Roven. A Librarius Master called Gemael. Lots of plasma. And a Land Raider made of Lego.

Thanks for reading

Continuation of post-40K Age of Aftermath concept...

Warmaster Erebus has possession of the Murder Sword, the very weapon that started the Horus Heresy so very long ago. He hopes that the rumours about it being able to kill Drach'nyen are true, for slaying the Echo of the First Murder would earn Erebus eternal favour with the ruinous powers.

But can a weapon slay the very aspect of its design? Not even Tzeentch knows for certain!

Meanwhile, Drach'nyen has been amassing its own personal army of daemons. Those that do not submit are destroyed. Any mortals that get in its way, even if they are hereticus astartes, are slain, for the End of Empires will not accept anything less than the purely daemonic in his army. When its daemon legion reaches a certain point, Drach'nyen will march into the Warp, burn the fortresses of the ruinous powers to ash, and slay the very gods themselves.

If the Anathema and his Astartes Sanctori dare to interfere, he will shred their bodies to ribbons and devour their souls, and do the same to all those they protect!

Erebus is not alone in his unholy quest to retake the galaxy for Chaos and destroy Drach'nyen. The four chaos gods have sent their avatars to assist him, empowered as much as can be given. Unbeknownst to Erebus however, the avatars have another objective: should Erebus fail his ruinous masters or turn against them, they are commanded to kill him on sight. Although the avatars cannot defeat Erebus individually, their combined powers are enough to lay him low.

We currently have a couple of people who're asking for writing advice here in the background section. Figure it might be time to breathe some life into this thread. Also I'm quite fond of it. I might Edit this post to expand on my homebrew above.

Well, with Nerak's request to get the thread rolling again, there's probably no better time than now for me to put up my homebrew Imperial Guard regiment. If it's alright with you all, I'll do it in the form of a story...
*ahem*

Lord Marshal Katerina Malinenko adjusted her fine leather overgloves as she listened to the briefing. Such luxuries were, of course, rare, in this galaxy of steel and blood, and even her home planet, the Hive World of Concordia, had long lost its native wildlife to the thick clouds of industrial smog and relentless outward march of the shantytowns that expanded from the overcrowded hives. But the Lord Marshal was a member of the Senatus Concordia, a relic of a forgotten age of democracy and progress that now merely was host to an overgrown aristocracy. House Malinenko outright owned one of the hives and all who claimed residence there, and Katerina, the daughter of Patriarch Orlov Malinenko, had been brought up in an air of wealth and finery that was tempered only by her visits to her mother after whom she was named: Catherine Lynaris, a convent sister from the nearby shrine world of Provosa. Thus was it that Lord Marshal Malinenko was a child of two worlds: piety, discipline, and determination on Provosa, and intrigue, education, and luxury on Concordia. Her thoughts briefly wandered to her looks, of which she was always aware: the Senatus Concordia was as concerned with appearance as with capability. Her long, brilliantly white overcoat and mantle woven from golden threads added to her leather gloves as symbols of her status, while her exquisite pants and heavy, metal-mesh boots proved both stylish and durable. Her duelling rapier, named Gloriana, hung at her side, opposite the smooth, almost sensual lines of her holstered needle pistol. Her face bore a cybernetic eye, a testament to her influence with the Adeptus Mechanicus and to an injury long-since passed, which whirred softly as her eyes lost focus. Atop her head, cropped fairly short, was the characteristic purple-grey hair of the Provosans, a unique trait of humans born on that planet that had perhaps never been adequately investigated for taint.

A nudge from one of her halberd-wielding bodyguards started her back to the present, and while she was groomed and professional enough not to show it, her hesitation in answering the question betrayed her. "Are your tanks capable of this task, Lord Marshal?" repeated the briefing Lieutenant, bowing his head slightly in deference to the powerful regimental commander. Regimental Commanders in the Imperial Guard were universally well-respected, but the commanders of its superheavy tank regiments especially so among their number.

"Yes." came Katerina's reply. She didn't even know what was being asked of her; but she knew her men and vehicles could handle it. Among them, her white coat and stern but fair demeanor had earned her the moniker of "The White Queen", and she could oftentimes seen standing openly on the command deck of the Banehammer Rodina, directing the eight companies of the 2nd Concordian Independent Super Heavy Tank Armoured Regiment (ISHTAR, colloquially known as "Ishtar" after some ancient, forgotten deity) throughout the campaign area. Some men from other regiments often assumed the nickname was derogatory, but when Concordian Baneblades, Stormswords or Stormhammers arrived on the battlefield to support them, weapons thundering with the rage of bellowing gods, most came to understand what was meant. And always, at the end of it all, Lord Marshal Katerina Malinenko and her household bodyguards, retinue, and other hangers-on always disembarked from Rodina to celebrate their victory, and as always, her overcoat remained blindingly bright no matter the dirt or dust of the battlefield.

With that single word answer, the Lieutenant returned to his briefing. Katerina turned her head to her Executive Officer, and smiled. "Major, would you kindly tell the Witch-Priest and Magos Endellion that we will be deploying shortly? Especially the Magos. I want to ensure that each company has support from at least one enginseer before the regiment splits up. I do hate playing the fire-brigade." she murmured, before stepping forwards to examine the holo-map, leather on her gloves crinkling a bit as she curled her fingers, and turned her gaze to the other Regimental Commanders of her battlegroup, focusing on Praefect-Militant Avaernius Scynna from the world of Mojurant, commander of the 11th Mojuran Fusiliers. They had fought with the Concordians since before the Great Rift opened, and while of course those officers were long dead, the two regiments still valued their working relationship. Praefect Scynna's hooded and cowled form nodded subtly at her gaze, the glinting eyes of his chemical rebreather meeting Lord Marshal Malinenko's own. The rough-and-tumble Mojurans came from a world with corrupt air, and though their evolved forms could breathe freely on its surface, they needed rebreathers almost anywhere else. At the thought of the air, Lord Marshal Malinenko took in a deep breath as the Lieutenant droned on and on. She missed the smell of her tanks, but as always, she had to stay at the stuffy briefing, surrounded by her retinue. Appearances, after all, mattered.

 Unit1126PLL wrote:
Well, with Nerak's request to get the thread rolling again, there's probably no better time than now for me to put up my homebrew Imperial Guard regiment. If it's alright with you all, I'll do it in the form of a story...

Haha, now you're making me feel all responsible for stuff. Glad that someone took the leap so fast. :-)

I like the overall story. It feels very guardy. In particular the part about the coat always staying white with the nickname "white Queen". A memorable small and quite character defining thing. I'm assuming she's a bit of a cemterpiece model.

 Unit1126PLL wrote:

"[...] I do hate playing the fire-brigade."

I love this line.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! And she is. I actually wish I had pictures so I could upload some, maybe, but the mini for Rodina includes her standing on the deck surrounded by adjutants and and then there are minis of her and her puppy on foot as well!

If this thread is back up, then I might as well post what I have for my orks. Here goes:

Waaagh! Spineflossa is the result of the Cicatrix Maledictum, warp shenanigans, and poor organizational skills even by ork standards. It started when a massive space hulk occupied by a different Warboss’s Waaagh! was unlucky enough to be traveling through the warp during the creation of the Great Rift and subsequently suffered a massive daemonic incursion. Now, there’s an acceptable level of daemons that orks are okay with (and even happy to have) but this was bad enough to warrant action. So the acting Warboss gathered every Weirdboy that hadn’t immediately imploded when the Rift hit them, and gathered them in a relatively untainted bulkhead to try to psychically pull the space hulk back into realspace. To reiterate, he decided that the best solution to warp problems was a conflux of psykers. The resulting explosion was perceptible from Sol.

It did propel sections of the exploded space hulk into realspace, scattering it across a large star system on the edge of Segmentum Obscurus. However, the chunks of spaceship left the warp at different points in time. The orks who landed on habitable worlds struggled to rebuild while fighting off daemonic incursions. Due to many landing on planets with not-quite-uninhabitable-but-still-close environments, the orks have a vested interest in regrouping and getting back into space.

Currently the Warboss in charge of most of the efforts is the Nob Spineflossa, who happened to luck out and land with a large group of Meks. He’s heavy on brutal but short on kunnin’ (I’m probably using Ghaz’s stats for him), and has assumed the previous Warboss to be dead. Currently he’s bullying the meks into putting a fleet together while reinforcements stream in from across the system and browbeating or just regular beating each group that gets added to his Waaagh! into following him. Part of the difficulty is that some of the groups got shot out of the warp so long ago that they’ve turned feral or even been wiped out, while others are still just exiting the warp now, still battling daemons. Currently the Waaagh! is poised towards the Segmentum Obscurus, ready to embark any day now.

I wanted to create an ork army with a lot of variety between units and didn’t want to go full mono-ork clan. Waaagh! Spineflossa mainly uses massed infantry backed up with light vehicles cobbled together+aircraft, and eschews Weirdboys (due to a lack of them), heavy vehicles (due to having minimal transport space in their crafts, though they do use aircraft because they can be made out of spacecraft) and kommandos (for normal ork reasons).

For those of you who wanted pictures (spoilered for brevity):

Lord Marshal Katerina Malinenko herself!


Lord Marshal Katerina Malinenko, her hound Graxus, and two of her House Malinenko bodyguards!


The Lord Marshal on the command deck of Rodina:


The command deck of Rodina showing the console:


Sorry for potato quality!

My DIY Chapter Lore. My chapter the Galactic Knights is loosely based on the teutonic knights of medieval times.

Creation

The “Galactic Knights of the Ordo Teutonicus”, in short “Galactic Knights” or “Ordo Teutonicus”, were formed during the second founding. So they are very ancient like the Black Templars.

They were formed when the Imperial Fists Legion was split up into chapters according to the Codex Astartes and Guillimans order after the Horus Heresy.

They are very similar to the Imperial fists and adhere to the Codex Astartes more or less. The Imperial Fist Space Marines which were chosen as the founding members of the Galactic Knights had to be from Terra as the Galactic Knights Chapter follows a very old knightly chapter from Terra , the Ordo Teutonicus, which used to have its headquarters in a part of Terra which before the unification wars, in M30, was known as Jermani. Today the recruits come from many different worlds.

The Ordo Teutonicus does not follow the Eclesiarcies believe and has very old rites of his own which are said to derive from Terra and are said to be millennia old.

The Founding brothers had a common old language, known as German, which only very few humans outside the home system of the order can understand in the 41 millennium. The new recruits have to learn it when they join the order.

The main function of the Ordo Teutonicus is the founding of new human colonies or the recapture of former human colonies from the xenos. There most hated enemy are the Orks. This is explained by the chapters homeworld history.

Homeworld:

The chapters homeworld is a moon, called Münster, in the Germania System. The system consists of three habitable planets and one Death world. The planets are called Ruhr, Germania Prima, Germania Secunda and New Berlin. Ruhr is a forge world, Germania Prima is a death world, Germania Secunda is a agri world and New Berlin is a hive world. Münster is a moon of the fourth planet in the System, New Berlin. Further out from the systems sun are two Gas giants near the Mandeville point. The System was once colonised by the chapter after destroying an Ork force on Germania Prima. Alas Münster is not the first homeworld of the Galactic Knights. They used to have an agri world as a homeworld in the same system, but it was lost after a viral bomb attack by Orks. and is a death world since then. The dialect spoken in the system is German. Of course High Gothic is the language of the Administratum of the System according to Imperial law.

The base of the Ordo Teutonicus is situated mainly under the surface of the moon . Only the defences against orbital attack and the space port facilities are on the surface of Münster. It is said that the complete moon is the base of the chapter. Because of their homeworld the Galactic Knights are also known as Mondkrieger (Moonwarriors), by the humans living on the planets of the Germania system.

The moon homeworld turned the chapters Marines into formidable void fighters. They excel in ship to ship combat and in boarding actions. There is no spacehulk safe from them!

Combat Doctrine

The Galactic Knights of the Ordo Teutonicus are very good void fighters. They have a big chapter fleet consisting of many ships. From small corvettes to big battleships. They love fighting in close quarter but also have the capability of long range fire support.

Their aim is the liberation of star systems from the xenos and re-establishing new human colonies on the freed systems. Their arch fiend are the Orks because they destroyed the first homeworld of the chapter.

They answered the call of the Last Wall with a 4 ship fleet, carrying parts of the 3rd Gefechtskompanie in support of the Imperial fists in their fight against the Beast.

To be continued.

Organisation

Whilst the Codex Astartes is the baseline we compare all Chapters to, it’s undeniable that some Chapters differ in their adherence to the sacred tome. But it’s important to note that according to the Insignium Astartes sourcebook, there are several versions of the Codex. Roboute Guilliman’s writings can be interpreted in different ways.

The Galactic Knights of the Ordo Teutonicus are a chapter following the Codex Astartes but not as closely as others. The reason for this is the function the Ordo has given itself during the founding under the first Hochmeister Heinrich. As the chapter not only liberates systems and planets from the xenos but also looks after re-establishing human settlements on the liberated planets he has to guard these planets against new xenos attacks. Therefore the Ordo Teutonicus has a force called the Landwehr. It is similar to Imperial Guard Regiments, which are stationed on the systems belonging to the Ordo Teutonicus. These are equipped following the conventions of the Imperial guard. The units are named after the planets they are stationed on.

The Galactic knights consist of 10 Gefechtskompanien. Each consisting of 2 Zügen with 5 Gruppen. The Dreadnoughts and other vehicles are assigned directly to the Gefechtskompanien . This is also true for the Chapters spaceships. So every Gefechtskompanie is a self-sufficient unit and can perform the assigned tasks on their own. These Gefechtskompanien are often working together with units of the Landwehr when defending planets against the xenos. People outside the Ordo Teutonicus speculate that there might be more then 10 Gefechtskompanien as there are so many planetary systems under guard by the Ordo Teutonicus, but if that is true no one knows.

The Galactic Knights’ chapter headquarter consists of the Hochmeister (Chaptermaster), a Großspittler ( Apothecary) and a Priesterbruder ( chaplain). The Hochmeister has a bodyguard consisting of 10 space marines in Terminator armour. These are known as the Eidbrüder , as they have sworn an oath to protect the Hochmeister at all costs.

A Gefechtskompanie is lead by a Kompaniemeister or short Meister. The equivalent of a captain in other chapters. The Gefechtskompanie is devided into two Züge with 50 Space Marines each. Each Zug is let by a Hochkomtur the equivalent of a Lieutenant in the Codex Astartes. The 5 Gruppen ( Squads) in each Zug are lead by a Komtur each. In codex Astartes chapters this would be the Sergeant. The Gruppe 1-5 is in the I Zug, the Gruppe 6-10 is in the II Zug. Aditionally every company can have one additional Gruppe of 10 Novizen ( Neophytes) these can belong to either Zug and are assigned as the Kompaniemeister sees fit.

Look

The Galactic Knights wear a completely white set of power armour. As the chapter is very old there are many different types of power armour in use at the same time. The latest is the Type X armour used by the Primaris marines of the Chapter. These are currently only deployed in the 2nd Gefechtskompaniekompanie.

The marines wear the Chapter icon, a black cross ( Krückenkreuz) superimposed by a yellow shield showing a black eagle on the left shoulder pad. The Krückenkreuz is the true chapter icon the yellow shield with the black eagle is the heraldry of the Germania system. It was adopted into the chapter icon after the Ordo Teutonicus chose its homeworld in the Germania System. So very old dreadnoughts might still show the old icon.

On the right shoulder pad the tactical sign in black is worn. These are like in the Codex Astartes.

The Gefechtskompanie is indicated by a shoulderpad rim in company colour. Here the Galactic Knights follow the codex astartes again but as the armour is plain white the 1st Gefechtskompanie wears black as colour. As the first is the elite company according to the Codex Astartes they wear black helmets instead of white ones, as all elite Marines in the chapter do. So the colors of the Gefechtskompanies are as follows:

1st Gefechtskompanie black ( also black helmets)

2nd Gefechtkompanie yellow

3rd Gefechtskompanie red

4th Gefechtskompanie green

5th Gefechtskompanie dark blue

6th Gefechtskompanie orange

7th Gefechtskompanie violet

8th Gefechtskompanie grey

9th Gefechtskompanie sky blue

10th Gefechtskompanie brown

As the Galactic Knights Gefechtskompanies are self-sufficient at all times they have their own Scout Gruppen. These wear the company colour broken by white stripes. There is no Scout Company and no support companies like in the Codex Astartes. The 10 Gefechtskompanies are similar to each other except for the 1st which is ,like in the Codex Astartes, the elite companie. The one with Terminator armour. The Galactic Knights amassed so much Terminator Armour that the complete 1st can be equipped as Terminators at the same time. The First Gefechtskompanie is also known as the Mondkrieger ( Moon warriors) . This commemorates that the Galactic Knights are the best void warriors you can find.

There are 10 Gruppen in each Gefechtskompanie these are designated by a cross in the corresponding colour worn on the right knee . Black for the 1st Gruppe, yellow for the 2nd, red for the 3rd, green for the 4th, dark blue for the 5th, orange for the 6th, violet for the 7th, grey for the 8th, sky blue for the 9th and brown for the 10th Gruppe.

All other insignia, like Terminator crosses etc, are like in the Codex Astartes.

The vehicles show the chapter icon, all other insignia follows the codex astartes.

Beliefs

The founding members of the Galactic Knights of the Ordo Teutonicus came from Terra as explained earlier. They believe in a deity which is long forgotten by the rest of humanity. The rites of the Chapter are very obscure and only a very small inner circle knows about these in the 40.000 milenia. This inner circle consists of the Hochmeister and the rest of the Chapter headquarter as well as the members of the 1st Gefechtskompanie. What is known is that the brothers of the Galactic knights go into battle chanting:” In hoc signo vinces” The Priesterbruders are keeping up the rites.

The most important for all chapter members is the protection of Humanity, the Emperor and the founding Hochmeister Heinrich. The remains of Hochmeister Heinrich are kept in a special chamber in a stasis field and he still looks like he died only yesterday .

The Galactic Knights believe that the Emperor is the only human being that followed their deity to the fullest and therefore is the human with the greatest psychic power. Psychers / Librarians are not recruited into the order according to the founding under Primarch Dorn.

Geneseed

The Galactic Knights of the Ordo Teutonicus decend from Rogal Dorn and were created during the second founding when the Imperial Fists Legion was split up.

Rogal Dorn, also known as the Praetorian of Terra was the Primarch of the Imperial Fists Space Marine Legion. He was one of the twenty Primarchs created by the Emperor in the earliest days of the Imperium, just after the end of the Age of Strife. Despite being considered dead by the Imperium at large, Dorn’s status remains unclear. During the War of the Beast, the rediscovered Primarch Vulkan stated to Koorland that he would speak well of the Imperial Fist to Rogal Dorn.

The Imperial Fists were the VII Legion of the original twenty Space Marine Legions. The Legion remained loyal during the Horus Heresy, after which it was reorganised according to the Codex Astartes and divided into Chapters. , one of them are the Galactic Knights. The Galactic Knights are recognised to be among the most loyal Chapters to the Emperor .

The Galactic Knights were formed on Terra as part of the reorganisation of the Imperial Fists during the Second Founding, christening also the Soul Drinkers, Black Templars, and Crimson Fists. The Legion’s most fanatical battle-brothers composed the Black Templars while the more level headed members founded the Crimson Fists. The most secretive and monastic members excelling in void warfare were chosen as the founders of the Galactic Knights, when the VIIth Legion was split up into Chapters.

The Imperial Fists gene-seed possesses two unique characteristics that are expressed in physiological and the behavioral terms. Physiologically, the Chapter has lost two of the organs particular to Space Marines: the Betcher’s Gland, which allows the Marine to produce acidic spittle, and the Sus-an Membrane, which allows the Marine to enter a state of suspended animation. Behaviorally, the Imperial Fists are given to an obsession with conquering pain by force of will and discipline. The Chapter’s obsession with willpower and discipline is sometimes characterized as further involving a deep-seated drive towards self-sacrifice or penance. This trait is often simplified as merely involving a stubborn disposition.

The Galactic Knights Chapter considers the behavioral characteristics of its geneseed to be both a strength and a weakness. On the one hand, such tendencies engender stubborn conduct on the battlefield and ensure battle-brothers are more likely to fight on despite terrible injuries. On the other hand, Imperial Fists may subconsciously invite such injuries and difficulty, which can imperil battle planning and lead to unnecessary risks of personnel and material. Along these lines, the Galactic Knights are noted to be reluctant to accept the possibility of defeat when retreating would be the wisest course of action. The Chapter consciously attempts to minimize the liabilities of these behavioral traits while maximizing the benefits.

The VII Legion was one of the few that recruited entirely from their homeworld and were the only formation to have recruited from across all of Terra, including areas where other Legions claimed exclusive “Rights of Tithe.” The founders oft he Galactic Knights were chosen from Jermani, a part of the former european continent on request of the founding Hochmeister Hermann. He wanted the members of the chapter to have their own, in chapter, language, known as Jerman.

The Galactic Knights recruits consistently possessed a taciturn nature and were quick to action but reserved in speaking. They are known for their quiet monastic behaviour. You will never hear a word spoken about what happens inside the chapter .

The homeworld of the Galactic Knights is the Moon Münster in the Germania sector. Furthermore some of the individual Gefechtskompanien, like the third, have been fleet-based since the first homeworld of the chapter had been destroyed by an Ork Waaagh .

The Chapter emphasizes its historic role as part of the VII Legion defenders of Terra and takes part in maintaining a coded sequence of alerts and signals to coordinate the rapid redeployment of the full forces of the VII Legion to reinforce Terra against attack if the contingency arises. This is called „The last Wall Protocol“. The protocol was enacted 1,500 years later during the War of the Beast. The third Gefechtskompanie was involved in the Campaign against the Beast on Ullanor. The rest of the Chapter fought in different systems against the “Slaughter Waaagh.”

Battle Cry

-In Hoc Signo vinces-

The Galactic Knights are known to go into battle shouting “ In Hoc Signo Vinces” . This is hight Gothic for “In this sign victorious” oder in the language of the Chapter “ In diesem Zeichen siegreich”. Which sign is ment is only known to the inner circle of the Galactic Knights Chapter of the Ordo Teutonicus.

So far the fluff of my DIY Space Marine Chapter. I will right more about the chapter and its campaigns in the future. There will be stories about specific members like the first Hochmeister Hermann or the Kompaniemeister Siegfried of the 3rd Gefechtskompanie during his exploits on Ullanor.

ordoteutonicus wrote:
My DIY Chapter Lore. My chapter the Galactic Knights is loosely based on the teutonic knights of medieval times.

Creation

The “Galactic Knights of the Ordo Teutonicus”, in short “Galactic Knights” or “Ordo Teutonicus”, were formed during the second founding. So they are very ancient like the Black Templars.

They were formed when the Imperial Fists Legion was split up into chapters according to the Codex Astartes and Guillimans order after the Horus Heresy.

They are very similar to the Imperial fists and adhere to the Codex Astartes more or less. The Imperial Fist Space Marines which were chosen as the founding members of the Galactic Knights had to be from Terra as the Galactic Knights Chapter follows a very old knightly chapter from Terra , the Ordo Teutonicus, which used to have its headquarters in a part of Terra which before the unification wars, in M30, was known as Jermani. Today the recruits come from many different worlds.

The Ordo Teutonicus does not follow the Eclesiarcies believe and has very old rites of his own which are said to derive from Terra and are said to be millennia old.

The Founding brothers had a common old language, known as German, which only very few humans outside the home system of the order can understand in the 41 millennium. The new recruits have to learn it when they join the order.

The main function of the Ordo Teutonicus is the founding of new human colonies or the recapture of former human colonies from the xenos. There most hated enemy are the Orks. This is explained by the chapters homeworld history.

Homeworld:

The chapters homeworld is a moon, called Münster, in the Germania System. The system consists of three habitable planets and one Death world. The planets are called Ruhr, Germania Prima, Germania Secunda and New Berlin. Ruhr is a forge world, Germania Prima is a death world, Germania Secunda is a agri world and New Berlin is a hive world. Münster is a moon of the fourth planet in the System, New Berlin. Further out from the systems sun are two Gas giants near the Mandeville point. The System was once colonised by the chapter after destroying an Ork force on Germania Prima. Alas Münster is not the first homeworld of the Galactic Knights. They used to have an agri world as a homeworld in the same system, but it was lost after a viral bomb attack by Orks. and is a death world since then. The dialect spoken in the system is German. Of course High Gothic is the language of the Administratum of the System according to Imperial law.

The base of the Ordo Teutonicus is situated mainly under the surface of the moon . Only the defences against orbital attack and the space port facilities are on the surface of Münster. It is said that the complete moon is the base of the chapter. Because of their homeworld the Galactic Knights are also known as Mondkrieger (Moonwarriors), by the humans living on the planets of the Germania system.

The moon homeworld turned the chapters Marines into formidable void fighters. They excel in ship to ship combat and in boarding actions. There is no spacehulk safe from them!

Combat Doctrine

The Galactic Knights of the Ordo Teutonicus are very good void fighters. They have a big chapter fleet consisting of many ships. From small corvettes to big battleships. They love fighting in close quarter but also have the capability of long range fire support.

Their aim is the liberation of star systems from the xenos and re-establishing new human colonies on the freed systems. Their arch fiend are the Orks because they destroyed the first homeworld of the chapter.

They answered the call of the Last Wall with a 4 ship fleet, carrying parts of the 3rd Gefechtskompanie in support of the Imperial fists in their fight against the Beast.

To be continued.

Organisation

Whilst the Codex Astartes is the baseline we compare all Chapters to, it’s undeniable that some Chapters differ in their adherence to the sacred tome. But it’s important to note that according to the Insignium Astartes sourcebook, there are several versions of the Codex. Roboute Guilliman’s writings can be interpreted in different ways.

The Galactic Knights of the Ordo Teutonicus are a chapter following the Codex Astartes but not as closely as others. The reason for this is the function the Ordo has given itself during the founding under the first Hochmeister Heinrich. As the chapter not only liberates systems and planets from the xenos but also looks after re-establishing human settlements on the liberated planets he has to guard these planets against new xenos attacks. Therefore the Ordo Teutonicus has a force called the Landwehr. It is similar to Imperial Guard Regiments, which are stationed on the systems belonging to the Ordo Teutonicus. These are equipped following the conventions of the Imperial guard. The units are named after the planets they are stationed on.

The Galactic knights consist of 10 Gefechtskompanien. Each consisting of 2 Zügen with 5 Gruppen. The Dreadnoughts and other vehicles are assigned directly to the Gefechtskompanien . This is also true for the Chapters spaceships. So every Gefechtskompanie is a self-sufficient unit and can perform the assigned tasks on their own. These Gefechtskompanien are often working together with units of the Landwehr when defending planets against the xenos. People outside the Ordo Teutonicus speculate that there might be more then 10 Gefechtskompanien as there are so many planetary systems under guard by the Ordo Teutonicus, but if that is true no one knows.

The Galactic Knights’ chapter headquarter consists of the Hochmeister (Chaptermaster), a Großspittler ( Apothecary) and a Priesterbruder ( chaplain). The Hochmeister has a bodyguard consisting of 10 space marines in Terminator armour. These are known as the Eidbrüder , as they have sworn an oath to protect the Hochmeister at all costs.

A Gefechtskompanie is lead by a Kompaniemeister or short Meister. The equivalent of a captain in other chapters. The Gefechtskompanie is devided into two Züge with 50 Space Marines each. Each Zug is let by a Hochkomtur the equivalent of a Lieutenant in the Codex Astartes. The 5 Gruppen ( Squads) in each Zug are lead by a Komtur each. In codex Astartes chapters this would be the Sergeant. The Gruppe 1-5 is in the I Zug, the Gruppe 6-10 is in the II Zug. Aditionally every company can have one additional Gruppe of 10 Novizen ( Neophytes) these can belong to either Zug and are assigned as the Kompaniemeister sees fit.

Look

The Galactic Knights wear a completely white set of power armour. As the chapter is very old there are many different types of power armour in use at the same time. The latest is the Type X armour used by the Primaris marines of the Chapter. These are currently only deployed in the 2nd Gefechtskompaniekompanie.

The marines wear the Chapter icon, a black cross ( Krückenkreuz) superimposed by a yellow shield showing a black eagle on the left shoulder pad. The Krückenkreuz is the true chapter icon the yellow shield with the black eagle is the heraldry of the Germania system. It was adopted into the chapter icon after the Ordo Teutonicus chose its homeworld in the Germania System. So very old dreadnoughts might still show the old icon.

On the right shoulder pad the tactical sign in black is worn. These are like in the Codex Astartes.

The Gefechtskompanie is indicated by a shoulderpad rim in company colour. Here the Galactic Knights follow the codex astartes again but as the armour is plain white the 1st Gefechtskompanie wears black as colour. As the first is the elite company according to the Codex Astartes they wear black helmets instead of white ones, as all elite Marines in the chapter do. So the colors of the Gefechtskompanies are as follows:

1st Gefechtskompanie black ( also black helmets)

2nd Gefechtkompanie yellow

3rd Gefechtskompanie red

4th Gefechtskompanie green

5th Gefechtskompanie dark blue

6th Gefechtskompanie orange

7th Gefechtskompanie violet

8th Gefechtskompanie grey

9th Gefechtskompanie sky blue

10th Gefechtskompanie brown

As the Galactic Knights Gefechtskompanies are self-sufficient at all times they have their own Scout Gruppen. These wear the company colour broken by white stripes. There is no Scout Company and no support companies like in the Codex Astartes. The 10 Gefechtskompanies are similar to each other except for the 1st which is ,like in the Codex Astartes, the elite companie. The one with Terminator armour. The Galactic Knights amassed so much Terminator Armour that the complete 1st can be equipped as Terminators at the same time. The First Gefechtskompanie is also known as the Mondkrieger ( Moon warriors) . This commemorates that the Galactic Knights are the best void warriors you can find.

There are 10 Gruppen in each Gefechtskompanie these are designated by a cross in the corresponding colour worn on the right knee . Black for the 1st Gruppe, yellow for the 2nd, red for the 3rd, green for the 4th, dark blue for the 5th, orange for the 6th, violet for the 7th, grey for the 8th, sky blue for the 9th and brown for the 10th Gruppe.

All other insignia, like Terminator crosses etc, are like in the Codex Astartes.

The vehicles show the chapter icon, all other insignia follows the codex astartes.

Beliefs

The founding members of the Galactic Knights of the Ordo Teutonicus came from Terra as explained earlier. They believe in a deity which is long forgotten by the rest of humanity. The rites of the Chapter are very obscure and only a very small inner circle knows about these in the 40.000 milenia. This inner circle consists of the Hochmeister and the rest of the Chapter headquarter as well as the members of the 1st Gefechtskompanie. What is known is that the brothers of the Galactic knights go into battle chanting:” In hoc signo vinces” The Priesterbruders are keeping up the rites.

The most important for all chapter members is the protection of Humanity, the Emperor and the founding Hochmeister Heinrich. The remains of Hochmeister Heinrich are kept in a special chamber in a stasis field and he still looks like he died only yesterday .

The Galactic Knights believe that the Emperor is the only human being that followed their deity to the fullest and therefore is the human with the greatest psychic power. Psychers / Librarians are not recruited into the order according to the founding under Primarch Dorn.

Geneseed

The Galactic Knights of the Ordo Teutonicus decend from Rogal Dorn and were created during the second founding when the Imperial Fists Legion was split up.

Rogal Dorn, also known as the Praetorian of Terra was the Primarch of the Imperial Fists Space Marine Legion. He was one of the twenty Primarchs created by the Emperor in the earliest days of the Imperium, just after the end of the Age of Strife. Despite being considered dead by the Imperium at large, Dorn’s status remains unclear. During the War of the Beast, the rediscovered Primarch Vulkan stated to Koorland that he would speak well of the Imperial Fist to Rogal Dorn.

The Imperial Fists were the VII Legion of the original twenty Space Marine Legions. The Legion remained loyal during the Horus Heresy, after which it was reorganised according to the Codex Astartes and divided into Chapters. , one of them are the Galactic Knights. The Galactic Knights are recognised to be among the most loyal Chapters to the Emperor .

The Galactic Knights were formed on Terra as part of the reorganisation of the Imperial Fists during the Second Founding, christening also the Soul Drinkers, Black Templars, and Crimson Fists. The Legion’s most fanatical battle-brothers composed the Black Templars while the more level headed members founded the Crimson Fists. The most secretive and monastic members excelling in void warfare were chosen as the founders of the Galactic Knights, when the VIIth Legion was split up into Chapters.

The Imperial Fists gene-seed possesses two unique characteristics that are expressed in physiological and the behavioral terms. Physiologically, the Chapter has lost two of the organs particular to Space Marines: the Betcher’s Gland, which allows the Marine to produce acidic spittle, and the Sus-an Membrane, which allows the Marine to enter a state of suspended animation. Behaviorally, the Imperial Fists are given to an obsession with conquering pain by force of will and discipline. The Chapter’s obsession with willpower and discipline is sometimes characterized as further involving a deep-seated drive towards self-sacrifice or penance. This trait is often simplified as merely involving a stubborn disposition.

The Galactic Knights Chapter considers the behavioral characteristics of its geneseed to be both a strength and a weakness. On the one hand, such tendencies engender stubborn conduct on the battlefield and ensure battle-brothers are more likely to fight on despite terrible injuries. On the other hand, Imperial Fists may subconsciously invite such injuries and difficulty, which can imperil battle planning and lead to unnecessary risks of personnel and material. Along these lines, the Galactic Knights are noted to be reluctant to accept the possibility of defeat when retreating would be the wisest course of action. The Chapter consciously attempts to minimize the liabilities of these behavioral traits while maximizing the benefits.

The VII Legion was one of the few that recruited entirely from their homeworld and were the only formation to have recruited from across all of Terra, including areas where other Legions claimed exclusive “Rights of Tithe.” The founders oft he Galactic Knights were chosen from Jermani, a part of the former european continent on request of the founding Hochmeister Hermann. He wanted the members of the chapter to have their own, in chapter, language, known as Jerman.

The Galactic Knights recruits consistently possessed a taciturn nature and were quick to action but reserved in speaking. They are known for their quiet monastic behaviour. You will never hear a word spoken about what happens inside the chapter .

The homeworld of the Galactic Knights is the Moon Münster in the Germania sector. Furthermore some of the individual Gefechtskompanien, like the third, have been fleet-based since the first homeworld of the chapter had been destroyed by an Ork Waaagh .

The Chapter emphasizes its historic role as part of the VII Legion defenders of Terra and takes part in maintaining a coded sequence of alerts and signals to coordinate the rapid redeployment of the full forces of the VII Legion to reinforce Terra against attack if the contingency arises. This is called „The last Wall Protocol“. The protocol was enacted 1,500 years later during the War of the Beast. The third Gefechtskompanie was involved in the Campaign against the Beast on Ullanor. The rest of the Chapter fought in different systems against the “Slaughter Waaagh.”

Battle Cry

-In Hoc Signo vinces-

The Galactic Knights are known to go into battle shouting “ In Hoc Signo Vinces” . This is hight Gothic for “In this sign victorious” oder in the language of the Chapter “ In diesem Zeichen siegreich”. Which sign is ment is only known to the inner circle of the Galactic Knights Chapter of the Ordo Teutonicus.

So far the fluff of my DIY Space Marine Chapter. I will right more about the chapter and its campaigns in the future. There will be stories about specific members like the first Hochmeister Hermann or the Kompaniemeister Siegfried of the 3rd Gefechtskompanie during his exploits on Ullanor.

Wow, I am impressed! Well done.

I think I'm going to start a thread over in the Dakka Fiction section for anyone who wanted to read more about the 2nd Concordian; cluttering this thread with more than a few paragraphs is probably unhelpful and breaks the rules anyways! So keep an eye out if you're curious.