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Hey all, I had this army idea for a while: "Sirens in Space". I've recently had an idea of how i'd like to accomplish this in 40k, but I wanted some opinions to make sure their lore sounds feasible to those not close to it as I am. I'm thinking of kit-bashing the generals and their detachments with Sisters-of-battle rules, but then backing them up with IG or Space marine bodyguards. I think that that might be a fun army to play as my second army after my Orks.

So here's the fluff:

Sirens of Ageia
Ageia is a star system in the Imperium Nihilus near the fringes of the Great Rift. The system contains no stellar objects except immense fields of asteroids, endless numbers of self replicating haywire mines, and three monolithic stations, all built by beings long dead.

The inhabitants of these stations, called ‘Spire Gardens’ for their shape and lush natural resources within, are an abhuman called ‘Sirens’. They are called this as the women emit a psychic sound like singing when they speak, audible to astropaths and unconsciously to other humans, which enthralls the hearer, seemingly in a beckoning manner.

While the society of Sirens of Ageia is technically declared a property of the inquisition, They are given political freedoms that might be considered generous by more conservative agents.

Society
Sirens work through genetic re-engineering of male spouses and a rigid caste systems to preserve a fading heritage believed to date back to more obscure saints of the emperor. This heritage provides certain genetic traits; A ‘psychic voice’ and impossible beauty primarily. These traits appear only in Females, so the Siren caste includes only woman and their harem of husbands. A husband is generally selected based on societal accomplishment and genetic viability, but then goes through a genetic re-engineering to be ‘prepared’ for the marriage; certain chromosomes and genes are expunged from the male, and other added to retain the purity of the Siren race. The result is of this union afterwards is always a Daughter who has 99.99% of the genetic ‘siren’ code as the previous generation.

History
Siren history has dated back three epochs across roughly 900 years.
Old epoch: 900 YA - 300 YA
The earliest records of Ageian History are tales of a lost imperial navy spacefleet. The Astropaths was lured to Ageia after having travels too close to the system, the the vessels were destroyed in the minefield. At this point automatic station drones would scavenged the remains to keep the spires running, but the wise Admiral Cicero of the fleet lead his soldiery to commandeer the drones and survive to get to the stations. Marooned in the system and unable to get messages heard by imperial sensors above the minefields static, what happened next is largely lost to reliable history, as the sirens recount history as oral tradition and music only. Siren lore, however, places this as the time the last of the emperors ‘Sirens’, a group of angelic women blessed as saints of the imperium, were found by these soldiers and the two groups merged into one society.
Imperialization: 300 YA - 100 YA
At this point an inquisitor named Le Philhippo discovered and successfully navigated the Minefields of Ageia. In a bold move, Philhippo sent missionaries to convert and indoctrinate the garden-spires rather then destroy them, seeing that someday they would prove useful. The Sirens of the spires took well to the steering of the missionaries, and slowly their religion morphed from old heathen ways into something altogether like the imperial cult. Finally, the process started by Philhippo, now known by his title “The Giving”, was finished only 100 years ago when the Sirens fully integrated into the cult as abhuman agents of the inquisition. (Siren genetics is a 99.999% match to humans, and the men of the spires are in fact human)
Space age: 100 YA - Now
Sirens have slowly become trusted only by a handful of more radical parties of the local inquisition, and today are recognised as a loose member of the imperium, if known at all. Sirens have a relatively generous allotment of privileges, Which those critical of the Philhippian Order wonder if this was genuinely given by their trustworthiness, or their penchant for manipulation of the mind. Though their society is a fringe one, it survives nonetheless.

The Garden-spires
The garden spires consist of massive life-support and gravity systems, in the shape of impossible spires in space. At the base of these towers are discs of land (the gardens) that are full of lush natural resources. They act as both a wildlife preserve of alien life and homes for the Siren Caste and their harems, where-as the workers and soldiers of the spires live and work in the factories and generators in the tower itself.

There are two inhabited towers, and one spire that has been declared non-operational. The working garden spires, the Summer and Winter spires, have gardens that face the sun in a inhabitable fashion. The Midnight garden, which has been declared dead, and become locked in an orbit that faces directly away from the sun, and thus the garden died out and the people aboard presumably starved off after long centuries.

Sounds like a great start. I could see the Midnight-Garden holding a lot of secrets. Things known only to the Sirens and their geneticists. Relics of various othe lost ships, technologies, or dark secrets best left hidden. Perhaps it was turned away purposely to kill or hide whatever was there.

Look forward to seeing how you develop this.

A few compelling ideas here. They feel like something between a rogue trader dynasty and inquisitorial agency. Their background seems ripe for stories of political intrigue, especially with their relationship with the inquistion. I wonder if prospective males also give over their wealth and territory as a dowry. It would an interesting way of seizing power. I could see their skills being useful for policing and spying on the navigator houses.

You might want to think about how many forces the sirens have. Can they fight in large numbers, or small elite groups surrounded by numerous vassals?

(If your lucky we might see a rogue trader codex in the future, but Sisters of Battle sounds good to me)

Thanks, guys!

I have some more, and a bonus question: In this next bit of fluff I wrote for this project I outline a newly-founded space marine chapter, but what should their parent chapter be? I'm between White Scars, Black Templars and Dark Angels, leaning towards Dark Angels. Their book is cheaper and their are fewer players in my meta.

So here's the new fluff:
Political Parties and Warbands
The system of Ageia is host to a number of political organisations and governmental bodies. The Imperium has a present in the system with three distinct military branches, and Ageia itself is represented by a system-wide governor.
The Governor and Her Harem
Lady Missette is the venerable governor of the Ageia system, though only recently appointed. Once a prominent Matron of a city in the Summer Garden, Missette of the Hazr Clan was appointed by the Philhippian Order of the Inquisition in an attempt to bring Space marines to the system during the Glazian Conflict that brought Chaos ruin to many nearby settlements.

The new founding, formed as honor guards to the system and the governor’s authority, proved instrumental in pushing back Chaos forces and protecting Ageia. By now the Philhippians were now commanded by a Siren Inquisitor named Daphsea, instrumental in the forming of the Space Marine Chapter “Fraternity Matromonus”, the Harem Brothers.

Unfortunately, it became apparent to the Philhippians that the Harem Brothers would not easily suffer being used as pawns in their agenda, and the inclusion of the Space Marines in siren culture made ripples that they considered unfavorable to their goals.

Prior to the inclusion of the Space Marine, Sirens were given divine right and authority by their system; Humans had little to give outside of labor, and it was an honor to be chosen and groomed as a mate to a siren.

The sirens of ageia are always female, and since the Space marine process worked only on human men, this gave political currency to the basic human population of Ageia, thus shifting the way of life there and causing unrest.
Guardians of the Old Ways
In response to the difficult relationship that was developed by the Harem Brothers between the inquisition and the governor, Daphsea formed a new branch of the local ‘SDF’ (System Defense Force, for Ageia contains no technical ‘Planets’) called the Nymphguard. This force is armed with elite imperium weaponry and naval capabilities, but more importantly, the soldiery are taken from pure Siren noblewomen, making them defenders of the more conservative upper caste and defenders of their cultural old ways.

Commanding the Nymphguard is a young and ambitious siren known as Mistress Okilhees. Known for her aggressive takeovers and far reaching influence as a city Matron of the Summer Garden, and her achieving this at an impressively young age, Okilhees proved to Daphsea to be the perfect Ideologue to counter to the devient Harem Brothers.

In terms of accessing siren-like powers, Slannesh rules would seem like a good fit.

Perhaps Sisters models as counts-as Slanesh Marines.

Human Men with guns as Cultists.

Unarmoured Women as Daemonettes? Their latent psychic powers represented by a 5+ invulnerable that results through their opponents being unable to attack them, as their wills are overpowered? Heralds and similar rules could represent especially powerful sirens.

I suggest a Slannesh basis because their abilities tend to be “mind control” type abilities, which feels like it would fit with your theme, and lets your army have an “umbrella” to fit under.

I always liked those little watcher in the dark guys. You know the little robed helmet barer fellas that the Dark Angles have? If you're going Dark Angels success chapter you could write those guys in.