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Hey guys/girls,
Developing a new idea for a SM chapter and need some people to proof the initial background with the existing fluff for consistency. All comments and critiques welcome. Thank you.
-Mike K.
Origins
Ever since the Horus Heresy, the Imperium has been plagued on all sides by internal and external enemies. The burgeoning Tau Empire threatens holdings in the galactic west, Tyranid Hive Fleets encroach along the galactic south, traitor marines and orcs continue to spill over the frontiers in the galactic north and east and internal rebellions continue to arise on an all too recurring basis throughout the Imperium. While most of the Emperor’s servants are content to fight against his enemies using only righteous might and the sanctioned, time proven methods of the Codex Imperialis, there are others who believe that the ends justify the means---even if that involves resorting to less than scrupulous measures outside the normal bounds of Imperial law and edicts.
During the Reign of Blood, open revolution flared up in multiple systems in response to the High Lord’s excess---even in regions of space that were unaffected by the insane Ecclesiarch. Suspecting the influence of the ever devious Alpha Legion, a group of radical Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus were authorized to found a new Space Marine chapter to suppress these rebellions using the Ultra Marine’s gene-seed.
Believing that Horus and his brother Primarchs were corrupted by their exposure to the nefarious creatures of the Warp when they were abducted from the Emperor’s laboratory and that the legions were subsequently corrupted by exposure to an already corrupt Primarch, these radical inquisitors theorized that the genetic imprints left behind at the cloning facility were still pure and contained the uncorrupted essence of the Primarchs and could be used to create marines who would emulate what their Primarch was supposed to be rather than what he became. To this end, samples of the Alpha Legion’s genetic material were obtained and used to create the new Chapter rather than Roboute Guilliman’s gene seed so that they would be able to, philosophically at least, fight fire with fire. The nascent chapter, given the name Celestial Dragons, was quickly deployed to the Nemean system in an attempt to hide their genetic heritage from prying eyes.
When a lab servitor malfunctioned because on an anomaly a short time later, the more Puritan factions of the Ordo Hereticus became aware of the radical’s actions. Incensed, the radical Inquisitors were quickly hunted down and executed but the Celestial Dragons had already distinguished themselves by quelling rebellions on seven worlds and restoring order to the Nemean system years ahead of even the most optimistic timelines. With no hard evidence of wrong doing, the Inquisition felt it could not condemn the young Chapter without invoking the ire and wrath of the older, more established Chapters and was forced to content itself to acquiring samples of the Celestial Dragon’s gene-seed which were submitted to the most stringent purity tests. When the samples tested pure, the Ordo Hereticus begrudgingly turned its attention elsewhere for the moment but left behind several agents to closely monitor the Chapter for any future signs of deviancy.
The Marines of the Chapter are apparently oblivious to their genetic heritage. The Celestial Dragons openly acknowledge Roboute Guilliman as their founder and the Ordo Hereticus has been content to let this go unchallenged, though several Ultra Marine successors, notably the White Consuls, occasionally question the veracity of this claim because of the unconventional measures the Celestial Dragons seem to prefer.
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