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Why hullo there Dakkanauts!

I realize I often comment on people's fluff, and much of it is...erm...straight to the point. I figure I've had this sitting on the back burner for some time now, and it could use some polish with the help of this community. This also lets anyone rip my own work and comment on my own special snowflake marines.

This is a mostly finished Index Astartes article. Think of it as the skeleton and muscles. It needs a heart and skin now to finish it, so I'll likely add some important event/battle that shaped their views. Other than that, feel free to point out writing errors, fluff inconsistencies, and just general thoughts. All comments are welcome.

Also, the name isn't set in stone, as its easily changed and the fluff matched, so if you feel like you have a stronger name, feel free to suggest it.


Origins

Founded in the waning years of M32, the Void Wyverns were one of many chapters created during the 7th founding. Descended from the proud heritage of Jaghatai Khan, the Void Wyverns began life as a small cadre of selected warriors from the Marauders chapter. Tasked with reclaiming and defending a small sector in the northern reaches of Ultima Segmentum, the training cadre set out on their initial journey. The sector had long been lost, but records pointed to a nearby warp storm that was preventing stable colonization and trade. The journey was long and warp travel became increasingly difficult as the fledgling chapter navigated further and further away from the Astronomicon’s guiding light, but after a few dozen years, the chapter finally arrived to their new home. While still in its infancy, the Void Wyverns put their scouts and new battle brothers that they had recruited along the way through their paces by conducting small raids against the abundant pirates in the system.

While the heavy lifting of re-charting the sector and establishing trade once again was done primarily by the Imperial Navy, the Void Wyverns spent much of their early years establishing their claim over their new sector and bringing their chapter up to strength.

Homeworld

The system of Tenebris is marked by a single massive asteroid belt. The vast expanse of the rocky space would cover the expanse between Holy Terra and Mars. Human civilization is confined to small asteroid mining colonies built in the immense rocks themselves.

The system was initially settled during mankind’s great stellar exodus during the Dark Age of Technology due to its vast wealth of mineral deposits that fed the great manufactorums on various nearby forge worlds. Isolated during the Age of Strife by a series of warp storms, the citizens of Tenebris were left to their own devices for millennia. The nearby warp storms would sporadically spawn terrible spacefaring beasts of the swirling etherium of chaos. The periodic chaotic invasions of the system further fostered a feeling of isolationism and survival in the remaining colonists. Rarely banding together to fight off a common foe, each individual colony would test their own mettle, often leading to the complete annihilation of a station at the hands of the warp spawns. These abandoned stations would be occupied by other gangs and cartels from neighbouring stations, perpetuating the cycle. The colonists and their respective cartels, gangs, and organizations survived on whatever they could salvage. Water would be recycled as best as possible, and ice extracted from passing comets. Vast arrays of nutrient slime facilities and hydroponics kept the colonists alive, but not much more.

Communication was difficult and only the bravest and most skilled pilots could navigate the ever changing routes to each colony, limiting trade. The occasional warp storm and chaos raid further impeded movement between stations and colonies. The greatest of beasts that spawned from the storm were recorded in the histories of each station, the tales of heroes and brave men fighting in the void and in the station proper to fend of these mighty spawns of chaos were passed down from generation to generation. The great beasts were simply referred to as the void wyverns amongst the disparate mining colonies.

The constant struggle for survival and internecine conflict kept the population stable, though life was difficult in the confined spaces of the colonies. None of this changed with the arrival of the space marines that would adopt the name of the great creatures. The arrival of the Void Wyverns chapter brought a degree of wealth to the system, though little trickled down to the labourers in the mines. The citizens proved to be great candidates for space marines, particularly those young and brave pilots that flew through the belt to assist in cartel raids against opposing cartels in hit and run attacks. These young candidates were not only excellent pilots at a young age, but showed a ruthlessness and loyalty that was particularly prized.

The Void Wyverns would call a gathering of all the current leaders of each station in order to announce a great competition, pitting the best youth from every colony in a struggle to win the favour of the Void Wyverns and become a neophyte. Testing all aspects of life in the belt, the aspirants would demonstrate their best piloting skills, their finest survival skills in the harsh environment of the void, and would display their combat skills throughout the competition to ensure only the strongest and most able survived. Those that did, perhaps several dozen of a few thousand would be inducted as neophytes, of which even less would receive the honour of becoming battle-brothers. Those that failed in their trials as a neophyte would become servitors or crew members aboard the Void Wyvern’s fleet.

Combat Doctrine

Born aboard the narrow confines of the colonies and forced to work and fight in the mining shafts and aboard small cargo craft, every Void Wyvern has been bred to fight in void and in the close quarter maze of naval boarding. The Void Wyverns have an affinity for combat in space, ranging from fighting in the void proper, to boarding assault against enemy vessels, to ship-to-ship actions against enemy fleets. While possessing a fleet no larger or more specialized than what is prescribed by the codex astartes, there is special importance placed on escort vessel and rapid strike vessels purpose built for ship-to-ship engagements, such as the Nova class frigate or Firestorm class frigate.

Being Astartes, they are no stranger to combat on land. When bringing the emperor’s divine might against the enemy on the surface, they fight flexibly, adapting to each situation as needed, exemplifying the teaching of the Codex Astartes. To supplement this, the chapter will make greater use of orbital bombardment, ensuring they have superiority in orbit before committing to the surface.

Organization

The Void Wyverns are a codex adherent chapter with no significant deviances or anomalies. Otherwise, the Void Wyverns maintain the normal roster of companies, each one with an associated strike cruiser to ensure a degree of orbital support in any deployment.

Beliefs

The Void Wyverns have formed loosely beneficial relationships with the Adeptus Mechanicus and various trade guilds and houses due to the mineral trade that originates from their system. While the Adeptus Mechanicus was not fond of a chapter claiming a system that once formed part of their ancient trade system, the issue was settled promptly and to everyone’s benefit. A space marine chapter was the perfect force to keep the warp denizens from preventing the flow of raw materials to the great foundries of the forge worlds. The Void Wyverns prefer not to interfere with the political machinations of the Imperium, leaving the Mechanicus and the trade houses to profit with no hindrance, while the Void Wyverns maintain a full armoury directly from the forges of the Ad Mech. In addition, the political goodwill afforded to the Void Wyverns from the Ad Mech and the trade houses ensures the Void Wyverns are not interfered with.

This relationship with the Imperium at large has given the chapter a more pragmatic outlook than many chapters. While still fiercely loyal to the Emperor and possessing a hatred of anything xenos or heretical, the chapter understands that the fabric of the Imperium must be maintained for it to survive. In practice, the Void Wyverns are fiercely defensive of their sector of space, forgoing the attitude of many crusade oriented chapters.

Rarely seen far from their sector of space, the Void Wyverns are kept occupied by the constant pirate fleets, xenos raiders, and traitor outposts. Their focus on maintaining order in their claimed sector may be frowned upon by the HLoT in some situations, their value in defending a far flung sector from the predations that would otherwise destroy the sector keep the Void Wyverns in good graces; though not without support from the Ad Mech and trade houses of the sector.

Geneseed

Descended from the geneseed of Jaghatai Khan, the Void Wyverns were created by a training cadre from the Marauders. The chapter has no visible mutations and their geneseed is stable and pure, as befits the legacy of Khan. However, the savage ferocity of Khan’s legacy will occasionally break through, often when repelling enemy boarders, seeing it as an insult to their skills in naval engagements.

Battlecry

Due to their preference for combat in space, the Void Wyverns do not utilize a battlecry, which translates to ground combat as well.

This is very nice. Have you thought of a colour scheme?

Very nice.

Thanks guys. I originally thought the colour scheme was going to be a dark grey with white shoulder pads, but I didn't like it, so now I have no clue what they'll look like.