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Does anyone know when they first appeared in Imperial records or where they came from?

Lynata should answer this question shortly.
Early history Imperial Guard and Sisters of Battle - she is your girl.

No idea. But it wouldn't surprise me if the Schola Progenium was set up during the Great Crusade. So presumably shortly after that. Late Crusade, to Early post heresy.

But that's an utter guess.

Just can't see a more current Imperium caring much about orphans.

Historically ( smartass time ) WW1 and were mainly used by the Germans though the French and British did have some

Brother Captain Alexander wrote:Lynata should answer this question shortly.

Not in this case, I'm afraid - I've been mulling over the question, but I cannot recall even a hint regarding either its origins or its age, at least not in studio material...
Perhaps there's something in one of the licensed books, although their portrayal of the Storm Troopers often deviates from what I've read in the codices or GW's free PDFs.
Still, thanks for the vote of confidence. ^_^

I have a theory that the regiment could perhaps be the remnant of an ancient unit of the Imperial Army back from the days of the Great Crusade, possibly even raised on Terra itself, which (in addition to the high rate of attrition) might explain why there's only one - in essence making it a matter of tradition, quite similar to the infamous Land Raider decree that prevents anyone other than the Marines and some bold Inquisitors to utilize this vehicle. Maybe they always were special forces, or maybe they were just converted into one after the Great Crusade to honour the regiment's original homeworld and exemplary battle record...
Alas, that is just an idea I've come up with, and it's not backed up by anything other than my interpretation of the 'verse.

If this is for a story or an army background, OP should feel free to just make something up. All the authors do it, regardless of what another source says, so why not the fans? Especially when it's something that has not even been established yet, thus not even creating the possibility of deviating from official fluff.

I keep hoping that the regiment's background will be expanded upon some day. Maybe there's also something in an obscure source that I haven't read yet (I keep discovering new fluff all the time as I dig through old issues of White Dwarf; sometimes it feels like a treasure hunt!). I'll keep an eye on this thread just in case someone else may have found something from a GW source I missed!

Eetion wrote:No idea. But it wouldn't surprise me if the Schola Progenium was set up during the Great Crusade.

The Scholae were built by the Ecclesiarchy, which wasn't around back then.
I suppose it is possible that they already existed before and the Church merely "took over", unifying them into a galactic network under their control - but the Schola fluff from the 2E SoB 'dex doesn't sound like it.

Also, in a way, the Imperium does care for its people. Another example of this would be the Orders Hospitaller. Even in the Grim Darkness of the 41st millennium, there is a need for slivers of hope and spiritual wellbeing.
It's just a ... rather harsh and not completely selfless form of care. I mean, the progena are essentially wardens of the state, trained and indoctrinated to serve the Imperium without much control over their own lives.
Hell, back during the Age of Apostasy, the Schola Progenium was selling the children in its care as sex slaves and bonded miners to any noble who was willing to pay the corrupt clergy...

Go to 40K Lexion online, it's a very in depth Wiki on all things 40K - past and present.

Lexicannum has no mention of the Regiment's age, confirming the idea that GW has no "official" (known or found) cannon regarding it yet.

Ah, I didn't actually look. 40K Lexicannum is blocked at my work for some reason...

GW likely have the US Marines-solution for this one. The regiment being older than the IOM itself.

941.M2, during the second Terran war, originally called the SAS.

Semi-fluff-old-rules wise it could have developed out of the Imperial Army Assault Squads. Waaaay back in the day Imperial army/guard got jump pack troops, just like Marines did.

The "Stormtrooper" class is a designation for the best infantry that the army has, not as a separate Regiment. U.S. Marines in WW1 were designated as Stormtroopers and earned their nickname "Devil Dogs" in the process. In the Black Library books they are described as select troopers pulled from the ranks for special training, much in the same way it is done today in the Special Forces around the world. It is also mentioned that they are trained through the Scholam so that they have no other loyalties to any one Guard unit or commander. This makes sense due to their seconding to the Inquisition along with the Sisters of Battle. The Karskin could also be considered as "Stormtroopers" because of the way they are used, and depending on their size of their unit. There may be a difference noted from country to country due to the negative connotations in both WW1 and 2 of the term "Stormtrooper" . Commando or Special Forces are also used in place of Stormtrooper.

Please forgive my spelling if needed.

Thanks

In 40k, that would be "Grenadiers". Storm Troopers really are a special, separate regiment, all its members all recruited from the Schola Progenium where they spent their youth as wardens of the state. Individual squads from the Storm Trooper regiment would be temporarily attached to other regiments on an as-needed basis as part of the usual response escalation process, where overall command of a warzone is transferred to the next-higher level of authority, simultaneously tapping all resources available to said office.
And of course there are the more numerous Inquisitorial Storm Troopers, but those don't work under Munitorum oversight.

Back in 2nd edition, Storm Troopers were all you got, but I think it was around 3rd edition that GW also introduced Grenadiers as a way of introducing pseudo-Storm Troopers into other regiments. Grenadiers are much like what you described, being an integral part of a regiment and composed of its best soldiers, set aside for special offensives. They were nearly as good as actual Storm Troopers, but not quite. For example, they could not deep-strike, because unlike the Storm Trooper regiment, Grenadiers do not have a pool of dedicated Valkyrie dropships assigned to them, and thus are not trained in shock insertion. However, Kasrkin, the Cadian version of Grenadiers, are said to be as well or even better trained than real Storm Troopers.

tl;dr
Storm Troopers: special forces regiment that reinforces other Imperial troops throughout the galaxy
Grenadiers: shock troops modeled after Storm Trooper tactics, always part of a normal regiment
Kasrkin: Cadian Grenadiers

As I understood things all the boys who grow up in the schola get either drafted into the commisariat if they are supreme leaders and inspirational speakers, otherwise they become stormtroopers. The kids at the schola aren't ordinary orphans, they are the orphans of imperial heroes therefor the imperium cares about them.

All Commissars have to serve in the storm troopers before joining the commissariat to gain battlefield experience and what not. The orphan thing gets even more specific IIRC, they are the children of IoM heroes that were killed during war so that the scholam can work on the hatred of the imperiums enemies in the kiddies to make them even better soldiers.

I have a small theory in my head about the beginnings of the storm troopers, it involves the Lucifer Blacks.

 Lappie wrote:
All Commissars have to serve in the storm troopers before joining the commissariat to gain battlefield experience and what not.

How official is this? As far as I was aware, while all Storm Troopers and Commissars are Progena, they followed (or were chosen) different paths, or schools, of training once their initial childhood indoctrination was complete. I.e. once graduates become Progena, they split and go either to the Commissiariate, the Storm Trooper Regiment, the Inquisition, the Ministorum, etc, etc...

Ugly Green Trog wrote:As I understood things all the boys who grow up in the schola get either drafted into the commisariat if they are supreme leaders and inspirational speakers, otherwise they become stormtroopers. The kids at the schola aren't ordinary orphans, they are the orphans of imperial heroes therefor the imperium cares about them.

Most Progena actually end up in a civilian position and become Administratum scribes. Some also join the clergy. There are very high requirements set for those who may join a military path, to ensure that they can fulfill the extreme expectations that come with whatever position they gain. At the lower end of the military careers are NCOs for Navy warships and the Imperial Guard's Segmentum Command staff, whereas the upper end has Commissars and Storm Troopers. The Arbites fall somewhere in-between as well, and once in a blue moon a Progena may even be recruited into the Assassinorum or the Inquisition.

The bit about them not being just "any" orphans is completely correct, though. Maybe should've mentioned that in my last post.

Anfauglir wrote:How official is this? As far as I was aware, while all Storm Troopers and Commissars are Progena, they followed (or were chosen) different paths, or schools, of training once their initial childhood indoctrination was complete. I.e. once graduates become Progena, they split and go either to the Commissiariate, the Storm Trooper Regiment, the Inquisition, the Ministorum, etc, etc...

At least as per GW's vision for the setting, you're both right - sorta.

"Many Commissars first serve in one of the elite Storm Trooper companies and as such are well versed in the tactics and brutality of warfare."
- 5E C:IG

I would interpret this line as if newly minted Commissars (many, not all) take a tour of duty accompanying a Storm Trooper team on a few missions before they are dispatched to the regiment they are actually intended to be attached to.
Whether this means that they accompany the Storm Troopers as Commissars (to try out their new role with experienced and disciplined troopers rather than the average "IG rabble"), or rather temporarily become Storm Troopers themselves (just to get them accomodated with battlefield conditions in a comparatively safe environment, surrounded by vets and without a chance to have his rep undermined by lack of experience) ... that's something I'm not sure of myself, as I could see it go either way.

Redemption Corps talked about this, but I can't for the life of me remember what it said. ><

That novel propagates a completely different view on things than GW fluff anyways.