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Hello dakka dakka. So i'm making some fan fluff about the army i run, Im running a LoTD army and want to go into how they grow their chapter. One idea i thought of that i really liked involved recruiting form current chapters.

The following is all canon from GW.
All members of the legion of the damned have very strong connection to the warp they use the emperors tarot cards to lead them to battles that they are to go to.
All of the Legion of the damned gene seed where destroyed when they where caught in the warp.
only about 200 are left.
Chapter only fights when they want to and where they want to.

now this is how I thought they could grow their chapter. because even thought they are doomed they still dont want their chapter or cause to die.

Since they can detect battles via the warp they go to said battle. During the confusion of battles their head chaplain goes across the battle field looking for fallen/dieing space marines.
He makes them a deal that if they denounce all former bonds and ties to their former chapter they will be allowed to fight for the legion and for the emperor.
If they agree 2 apothecary strip his armor of color and remove all insignias and heal him. then they return to their ship to commence the joining rituals.

so what i want to know is, would a space marine from any of the major chapters denounce his chapter and no longer be a part of it if he was given a second chance to fight for the emperor again.
Again his choices would be, Die on the battle field a noble death. Or leave his chapter, they most likely would assume he died, and fight again for the emperor.

The Legion of the Damned recruit dead Marines. It isn't explained how the dead Marine is still alive though, which they most certainly are. There was a White Dwarf story that contained all this.

As far as chapter loyalty goes, the Marine already died for his chapter. That's pretty much the best thing in their minds. So whatever voodoo makes them dead-alive Marine doesn't conflict with their previous oaths and loyalties. They just have to go somewhere else to maintain suitable mysteriousness, I guess.

which white dwarf was this in? the only thing i can find on 40k wikis is that Sergent centuris can bring his fallen marines back to life with the skull he carries but nothing on how or if the LotD even recruit.

Pretty sure it was the one with a Monolith on the cover during the Necron release during 3rd/4th edition.

Yeah there is nothing about them recruiting dead space marines. The only thing along those lines is that Sergeant Centurius can bring his fallen brethren back to life.

Well, if you're referring to the same story I am, the marine he brings back to life was not a Legion of the Damned marine. He was a marine from some other chapter that ends up going off with the Legion of the Damned.

The Legion of the Damned are the remnants of the Fire Hawks chapter, lost in warp space. Only 200 Fire Hawks survived, and all their gene-seed was lost. To make matters worse, the warp had mutated them. They slowly began to die.

The Legion of the Damned know that there is no escape from their affliction. But they still serve the Emperor, literally beyond the point of death. They have abolished all rank, and instead fight together, as a single brotherhood. They have no organisation; they simply roll over the enemy. They come back from the dead, to serve yet again. And they ask for no praise. No reward, no comment. They vanish, to fight another battle in the Emperor's name.

Most awesome chapter. Ever.

I still prefer the thought that they are the ghosts of dead Space Marines, aiding their brothers from beyond the mortal realm. That always stuck with me.

Your fluff is perfectly logical, though.

 Backspacehacker wrote:

The following is all canon from GW.
All members of the legion of the damned have very strong connection to the warp they use the emperors tarot cards to lead them to battles that they are to go to.
All of the Legion of the damned gene seed where destroyed when they where caught in the warp.
only about 200 are left.
Chapter only fights when they want to and where they want to.

Is it Canon, some of this I haven't seen before.

I don't know if they have a strong warp connection, but I can see how you would come to that conclusion, nor about the tarot and fighting where they want to. On the fighting front I thought it was where they were needed most?

I've also not seen that they can bring other Astartes into their ranks, I only thought it was their original members that they could revive.

But about the 200 and geneseed you are bang on.

Let me throw this piece of background into the pot which you might not know of, it is about loyalty.

Codex Assassins:

There are even rumours which implicate the Officio Assassinorum in the downfall of certain Space Marine Chapters - the mysterious loss of the Fire Hawks' fleet in the warp, the unexplained destruction of the Crimson Fists' Chapter fortress on Rynn's World, the disastrous ambush of the Angels of Retribution at Alantor X and several other less well-known incidents have all been laid at the assassins' door.

and the motto of the Officio Assassinorum

For those that defy the Imperium, only the Emperor can judge your crimes. Only in death can you receive the Emperor Judgement

Now, two theories

1) They were extremely loyal to the Emperor, perhaps overly loyal, dogmatic even and were targeted by the Officio. However, as they were super loyal the Emperor would not let their service end, thus becoming the Legion of the Damned.

2) Through some action or the other they were not loyal to the Emperor and were targeted by the Officio, as they were deemed to be unloyal by the Emperor he would not let them die but gave them the chance to redeem themselves, thus becoming the Legion of the Damned.

They where not overly loayal, the fire hawks where formed during the cursed founding so they had flaws, their flaw was being to prideful, they thought their chapter was the best.

It could have been the Officio Assassinorum at lease causing their down fall i could see that. But back to the topic at hand, would a space a marine that is about to die side with the legion if he could have a second chance to fight for the emperor, but had to denounce his former chapter?

Using the Emperor's Tarot to go where they were most needed, the warriors decided to expend their lives attacking the Imperium's enemies wherever they could be found. The disease had robbed them of their sanity and their health, but never their loyalty.

This kind of covers both your point and my point. they use tarot's to go where they are needed most but fight who ever they find.

 Backspacehacker wrote:
They where not overly loayal, the fire hawks where formed during the cursed founding so they had flaws, their flaw was being to prideful, they thought their chapter was the best.

It could have been the Officio Assassinorum at lease causing their down fall i could see that. But back to the topic at hand, would a space a marine that is about to die side with the legion if he could have a second chance to fight for the emperor, but had to denounce his former chapter?

Using the Emperor's Tarot to go where they were most needed, the warriors decided to expend their lives attacking the Imperium's enemies wherever they could be found. The disease had robbed them of their sanity and their health, but never their loyalty.

This kind of covers both your point and my point. they use tarot's to go where they are needed most but fight who ever they find.

I've seen that now about the Tarot, it is actually in the IA article on them, silly me.

Still not sure about the joining them side of things, I honestly don't know if they are able to recruit new marines or just revive ones that have fallen from their own ranks. I haven't seen the ability to bring other Astartes into the fold mentioned anywhere.

I like to think that if you could scratch a small part of LotD armour you would find Ultramarines, Dark Angel, Blood Angel and many other chapter (as well as Firehawks) colours and insignia. I don't think swearing new oaths comes into it; it makes more sense if you think along the lines of; "you were a great warrior, the Emperor asks you to be so again." As for the declining number or geneseed, it is more likely that the LotD's ranks are steadily increasing.

Yeah there is nothing in there about how they recruit or if they even recruit at all. Thats why i was wondering, for fan fiction, if a dieing space marine was given the choice to either.

A) die on the battle field and be remembered as a loyal space member to his chapter.

or

B) Denounce his chapter and every thing he pledged his life for to fight for the emperor again.

would any space marine leave their chapter if it was for the emperor?

It kind of happened in one of the Garro audio dramas. He recruited an Ultramarine Librarian.

 Backspacehacker wrote:


so what i want to know is, would a space marine from any of the major chapters denounce his chapter and no longer be a part of it if he was given a second chance to fight for the emperor again.
Again his choices would be, Die on the battle field a noble death. Or leave his chapter, they most likely would assume he died, and fight again for the emperor.

Unsure if it has happened with major chapters but a Marine can become a permanent member of the Ordo Xenos Deathwatch, leaving his old chapter behind him and blanking out his Chapter heraldry. The Deathwatch Black Shields;

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Deathwatch_Black_Shield#.ULlC-O-Oz0E