Not sure if you guys are interested or not, but I thought I would create a place for us to record chapter/sept/hive fleet/ordo/waaagh!/army/etc. histories, legends, battle records or whatever we can think of to showcase our forces' individual backgrounds.


So... here it is!





e!
_________________
Lord Toruk will not be denied, and mortals have but one choice: slavery in life or servitude in death.

I was really bored tonight supervising the Honor Roll study hall, and I was all caught up with my grading, so I wrote the below history for our first installment of "Fluff for Nutters."  Hope you enjoy!  


Ordo Minoris: Order of the Iron Crown

History

In 634.M40 an Adepta Sororitas Major Order, The Order of the Argent Shroud, had grown to unprecedented size due to a clerical oversight and an over-zealous recruitment arm. When the Canoness requested 15 months to resupply and recruit, she was issued orders to resupply and recruit for 15 years. By the time the Order requested passage in Navy vessels for their next campaign, it had grown to unprecedented size.

Upon orders from the Ecclesiarchy, the over-large Order fostered two new Minor Orders. The Canoness Superior and her most senior Sisters Superior, Gloria and Katerina, agreed the two new minor orders would be The Order of the Argent Heart and The Order of the Crimson Shroud. The former would retain the colors of the parent Order and the latter would retain the heraldry.

Katerina, the Canoness of the new Order of the Crimson Shroud, had previously been nominated for the honor of becoming a Living Saint and would not normally have been eligible to also take command of an Order.  However, the nomination had been submitted to the Ecclesiarchy over twenty-six years previously, in 607.M40, and the petition was believed to have been denied or lost in the vast bureaucracy of Terra.

However, the petition on her behalf had not been forgotten, lost, or denied. Instead, the debate over her elevation had resparked the embers of an unrelated feud within the ranks of the council. Debate became argument and argument became recrimination. Soon (within the short time of a mere nine years) the split had become a purge. The new leaders of the council had much on their hands as they reconsolidated their power base within the Ecclesiarchy. Decades passed before they were able to continue work on the next item on the council’s agenda.

Meanwhile, yearly accounts of Katerina’s brave deeds continued to be added to the file of her petition by the dutiful librarian-servitors, and the tale of her deeds had reached a record size by the time the Council finally readdressed the petition 52 years after it had been submitted for review. As Canoness, all the deeds of her Order had been added to her file, bloating it to near unreadable size. With very little debate (a mere 7 months) to reach agreement, the Council approved the petition on her behalf. In recognition of her long wait, and her status as the first Canoness Living Saint, they honored her with the first Iron Halo to be worn by a Battle Sister. The Iron Halo and the message arrived on the eve of the Order’s planet-fall on the holy forge world of Mjolnir.  

Her martyrdom now assured, Katerina led her order into battle to defend the local populace and a shrine from the days of the Great Crusade from an incursion of vile Dark Eldar. While fighting in the entrance to the shrine, Katerina and her Celestian bodyguard were separated from their main force and killed by the enemies’ Archon and his retinue.

The battle on the surface turned against the Crimson Shroud after the loss of their canoness and elite Celestians. But something had happened to Katerina when she fell dead within the shrine to the Emperor. She appeared again on the battlefield and slew the Archon with a flaming sword. None of the enemy host could stand before her.  After the Battle of Mjolnir, Katerina vanished as abruptly as she had appeared, but over the intervening years she has joined battle many times to aid her former sisters, always wordlessly, but with a smile on her face.

In honor of the Iron Halo worn by Katerina on the day of her martyrdom, the Crimson Shroud changed their name to the Order of the Iron Crown and made the world of Mjolnir their home world.  

The Order maintains very close ties with its Mother Order and its Sister Order; occasionally all three can be seen going into battle together when the need is great.


Livery and Heraldry
The Iron Crown continue to use the heraldry of The Argent Shroud, a skull in black wreathed in rays or spikes, but on red, not on silver. The Sisters view it as a symbol of their founder and First Martyr Katerina, her Iron Halo, and as a monento mori of their future death.

Sisters who have shown extreme bravery and tactical presence of mind on the battle field are occasionally issued ceremonial iron halos. Although only decorative and non-functional, they are still seen as a great honor to carry into battle – the bearer a living symbol of the Order itself.

The Iron Crown also continue to use the colors they used as the Crimson Shroud – red robes, black power armor and bone-white pauldrons – because they were chosen personally by Katerina when founding the Order.


Doctrine
A small Order, The Iron Crown relies heavily upon a mechanized combat doctrine to make up for its lack of numbers. Being based on a forge world is a large advantage and the availability of vehicles has influenced further tactical development over the years. The Order also relies on a superlative staff of Sister Hospitallers to heal the wounded and get them back on the front lines as soon as possible.

The Iron Crown has close ties to the local Imperial Guard garrison and is often accompanied by a loyal detachment of soldiers when they are needed to stretch the capabilities of their small Order.


Recent Activity
Recently the Order has been tasked with assisting Inquisitor Matthias Gudmundsson in Segmentum Ultima. They have taken responsibility for defending the unholy ruins of the chaos-infected former hive world of Voluspa from development by the Tau, who have been warned of their danger, but have refused to desist colonization. The Iron Crown have come prepared for a long campaign aboard the Navy battle barge Light of His Name.  

Their secondary missions include quelling a traitor legion of Imperial Guard in the sector and eradicating any Chaos forces discovered while re-subduing Voluspa and its system. Also, Inquisitor Gudmundsson has requested help in tracking down a chapter of Space Marines which refused to join his task force three years ago. This possible betrayal cannot go uninvestigated.

Reports of Tyranid hive fleets and activity by the enigmatic Eldar in neighboring systems herald the possibility of additional duties in the near future.



_________________
Lord Toruk will not be denied, and mortals have but one choice: slavery in life or servitude in death.

Cool, Ellery.  Very cool.  I was looking at my armies here, and wondered how long it would take to detail the backgrounds of all of them....
_________________
Groomie



Stupidity got us into this mess, why can't it get us out?

Well, it would be a mighty job to document every one of them. Even if you just did a few that would be fun.

On the other hand... reading all of them wouldn't be fun, it would be awesome!

To quote someone who may have been referring to your collected works of army backgrounds:

It's a thousand pages, give or take a few,
I'll be writing more in a week or two.
I can make it longer if you like the style
_________________
Lord Toruk will not be denied, and mortals have but one choice: slavery in life or servitude in death.

The White Skulls Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes:

Colors:  White (Primary) Olive Drab (Secondary)
Chapter Symbol: White Skull on Olive Drab Field
Chapter Master: Archer
Notable Captains: Paulus (1st Section), Krieger (2nd Section), and Sturdevant (3rd Section).
Home World: Quintus V


The White Skulls Chapter was founded fairly recently and utilizes Gene-Seed from the Blood Angels, Space Wolves and Imperial Fists.  The goal was to breed out the flaws of the Blood Angels and the Space Wolves with the more stable Imperial Fists Gene-Seed.

As all Space Marines do, the White Skulls are consumate warriors.  They do excel in one particular area of warfare, however.  They are very adept at close quarter and urban warfare.  They were dispatched to Quintus V along with elements of the White Consuls and the Emperor's Thunderbolts to put down the rebellion.  

The White Skulls proved pivotal in breaking the rebellion where it was strongest: in the urban areas of this hive world.  While the White Consuls and the Emperor's Thunderbolts carried out conventional campaigns in the ash wastes, the White Skulls liberated stolen P.D.F. Armor from the rebels, and assaulted known insurgent strongholds.  They achieved great fame with the populace, and great infamy with the rebels and their sympathizers.

While their relations with the loyalist P.D.F. grew, their relations with the White Consuls waned.  The White Consuls are very strict adherents to the Codex Astartes, and their leaders found fault with everything the White Skulls did, from fraternizing and working closely with the Planetary Defense Force, to their blatant disregard for the Codex Approved Tactical Doctrine.  Challenges between champions of both chapters were common wherever the two units worked directly with each other.  At the end of the campaign, messages from one chapter had to be relayed through the command structure of the Emperor's Thunderbolts to avoid further conflict.

This led to the White Consuls being delegated tasks more ideally suited to their approach to combat.  They were directed to wage war against the formations of enemy tanks and the few armies that were moving in the open over the ash wastes between the hives.

At the end of the four month campaign the armies of the rebellion were broken, and the insurgents within the hive were being rounded up and detained for processing and execution.  The High Lords of Terra awarded the planet to the White Skulls as a reward for the completion of the difficult task of rooting out and destroying insurgency units from the hives on the planet.

Rioting and rebellion broke out on the southern continent of Quintus V when news of the White Skulls being permanently installed on the planet.  The entire 1st Company as well as the 8th and 9th Reserve Companies were dispatched via Thunder Hawk to quell the new uprisings.  

Upon hearing of the resurgence of rebels in zones that the White Skulls had cleared, the White Consuls attempted to put down the rebellion once and for all.  Their strike cruiser, Erebus, launched an attack that laid waste to the entire hive.  This attack also destroyed the White Skull forces on the ground.  It became clear immediately that a viral agent had been used, and the entire southern continent became uninhabitable.

Within hours, what had started as a rivalry between the Consuls and the Skulls had flared into a shooting war.  The White Skulls strike cruiser Peerless opened fire on the Erebus and crippled the ship.  Only the timely intervention of the Emperor's Thunderbolts stopped the conflict from growing even larger.

The Thunderbolts escorted the White Consuls from the system, leaving the White Skulls to put down new rebellions on the northern continent that erupted on news of the destruction of Turagg.

The White Skulls were left with a devastated world.  The productivity of Quintus V was cut by 80% after the destruction of Turagg and the loss of access to the mineral riches of the southern continent.  The planet has been relieved of the Imperial Tithe while the White Skulls attempt to bring order and peace to their new home world.

The new tactical doctrine of the White Skulls grew out of these very setbacks.  With no suits of Terminator Armor and the loss of over a third of their chapter in one attack alone, the White Skulls have embraced a new type of battlefield formation.

They operate in even lower numbers than other marine chapters.  Only seven companies remained after the loss of Turagg, and those had already suffered losses during the campaign.  To retain the ability to fight effectively, Chapter Master Archer ordered a restructuring of the companies and the squads.  Each remaining company was broken into three sections, each consisting of about forty marines.  These sections operate as companies would normally, each section having a Commander.  Each section consists of eight teams of 5 marines.  Additionally, close support is provided by Land Speeders and Devastator Teams, as Tactical Teams lack heavy weapons.  Land Speeder crews consist of marines from the 4th, 5th, and 6th reserve sections.

There are six team designations, and the organization chart for the battle companies are listed below:

1st Section (1st Company equivalent in any other Marine Chapter)
Commander Paulus
1 Command Team
1 Veteran Team
4 Tactical Teams
1 Assault Team
1 Devastator Team


Often times a commander will opt to field a Scout team in place of another team, depending on mission requirements.

The White Skulls are normally assigned to missions that utilize their talents at working in small units in densely populated areas.  They have also been used in more standard mission profiles as well, though their lack of numbers even when compared to other marine chapters presents specific obstacles to completing those missions.

As of the time of this writing, the White Skulls stand at the brink of extinction as a chapter.  Like the Flesh Tearers and the Lamenters, they have few marines left.  They do have the considerable assets of the Planetary Defense Forces that they endeared themselves to during the rebellion.  When called upon to deploy in open terrain, they often supplement their forces with Imperial Guard drawn from the Quintus V P.D.F.  This has helped with mitigating excessive losses while still providing the strength of arms required for such missions.
_________________
Groomie



Stupidity got us into this mess, why can't it get us out?

Last edited by Groomie on Wed Apr 02, 2008 3:58 pm; edited 1 time in total

Wow! Very nice Groomie  






e!
_________________
Lord Toruk will not be denied, and mortals have but one choice: slavery in life or servitude in death.

Great background Steve!

Thanks for working your brother marines the Emperor's Thunderbolts into your story.

Not knowing enough about the 40k universe to fully flesh out the Thunderbolts background with specific planet names and events, the history of the Emperor's Thunderbolts chapter can be briefly summed up this way:

It was decreed that a new chapter be formed following the Horus Heresy utilizing gene-seed from the Raven Guard decendant chapter the Revilers. This new chapter was to be known as the Emperor's Thunderbolts. Additionaly the new chapter was decreed to only possess and utilize existing holy technology at the time they were formed. Thus their weapons and equipment were permanately set in stone. This was done as an experiment to see if changes in technology had somehow contributed to the Chaos taint that gave rise to the Heresy.

As a result the Emperor's Thunderbolts only utilize Mark VI space marine armor with a few small exceptions for leaders and terminators. Other equipment follows suit, such as vehicles.

The first mission the Thunderbolts undertook is not clear in our holy records. The Thunderbolts vanished for some time deep in the galaxy only to have returned recently (see some of the above noted references to the White Skulls).

A recent mission to an ancient space hulk thought have been long lost in the warp turned up the remains of some of the Thunderbolts. It is not clear when the remains of some of these brave marines were deposited on the hulk but certainly the loss of the ship initially to the warp predates the creation of the chapter.

The Thunderbolts are likewise in decline following their long time out of contact with the Imperium. They currently consist of likely one or two company's. Company B's makeup is the following forces:

4 Tactical Squads
1 Assault Squad
1 Devastator Squad
2 Veteran Squads
2 Terminator Squads
Librarian Crassus
Librarian Xathus
Chaplain Enthar
Commander Yev Sengeri
and a handful of vehicles

The Thunderbolts are known for their psychic ferocity. Utilizing the "Fury of the Ancients", their fallen brothers aid them through Librarians Crassus and Xathus. Commander Sengeri is often accompanied by a Terminator Squad on the battlefield where he directs the Emperor's Thunderbolts with great precision, purging the unclean and the Xenos with his divine lightning claw.

The Chapter Banner features the words "Divus Fulmen" - Divine Fire or Lightning.

-Peter

Steve, perhaps you can help me flesh this out sometime. I like that your Skulls worked with the Thunderbolts, that's cool.

You're welcome.

I have an idea that explains their absence from early historical records.  I'll email it to you and see if you like it, that way it is a surprise for people here.
_________________
Groomie



Stupidity got us into this mess, why can't it get us out?

I don't know if this can compare to previous posts but here goes.

Iron Warriors 17th Grand Company

Leaders: Warsmith Tacitus, Champion Hydratus, Champion Cancerious, Terminator Champion Thanatos, and the Dreadnought Sparagmos.


The 17th Grand Company like all Iron Warriors are experts in the art of siege warfare.  For this reason they favor long range firepower. Followed by an assault to finish off survivors.  For assaulting they field a contingent of Iron Warrior berzerkers.  

They are in a state of rebuilding following an attack upon a Necron tomb world.  This was part of a penal campaign that the company had been forced to undergo following an incident in an early Black Crusade.  They had failed to take an important citadel from the enemy and this setback cost them the world.  Following this they were forced to undergo a campaign of assaulting the deadliest most imposing fortresses until they had redeemed themselves.It was in this campaign upon a Necron tombworld that Tacitus came to power.

This was going to be the final battle of their millenia long penal campaign.  They arrived in the system upon their battle barge the Pygros Parabatis they quickly tore open the defenses of the Imperials on the surface of world it wasnt until they entered the underground chambers that housed the Necrons that they had a true threat.  The Necrons awoke as soon as the vanguard of Iron Warriors entered the tomb.  The vanguard consisted of a contingent of traitor guardsman and cultists as soon as soon as most of them were inside the Necrons emerged.  Wraiths emerged from the walls slicing bloody swathes through traitors other Necrons emerged from dark corridors that led deeper into the  Necron tomb network they cut the guard and cultists down with gauss weaponry as others were slaughterd by the wraiths.  The ferocity of the Necron response was far higher than what had been expected. After these events Sparagmos changed his strategy from quick assault to the siege mentality that the Iron Warriors are so famed.  The first task Warsmith Sparagmos set about was widening the access points into the Necron tombs.  They used demolition charges planted by fast striking raptors to avoid Necron fire.  After this was achieved the Iron Warriors showed some of the cold ruthless efficiency that is imbued within their geneseed.  They sent in cultists, guardsmen, and other traitors to lure the necrons out of the deeper tunnels and as soon as enough were in the open they would fire a merciless barage using both Vindicators and stolen Imperial vehicles and if any of their allies died than so be it they were expendable.  It was in this way that they destroyed countless Necrons but  eventually the Necrons were no longer lured into death by this strategy and Sparagmos knew that they would eventually have to venture deeper below ground if they were to completly destroy the Necrons.  

The attacks into the deeper chambers went well for awhile but the progress was too slow and the casualties too high the battle climaxed when  Warsmith Sparagmos led a  failed attack into the underground catacombs and was terribly injured and had to be intered within a Dreadnought.  Tacitus took over where Sparagmos left off and continued to fight his and his company's way through the legions of Necron warriors.  However, the going was too slow and the casualties too high.  So he made a momentous decision and infected his entire company with the Obliterator Virus a daemon virus that first made its presence know amongst the Iron Warriors.  

The effects of the virus occur in 9 stages.  He was gambling that most of his men wouldn't advance beyond the first few stages of the virus.  The virus in stage 1 is harmless and you only carry it, in stage 2 the infected becomes more proficient with weapons, stage 3 the infected begins to generate ammunition for their weapons, and the stages continue until stage 9 where the infected is a fusion of marine, machine, and daemons.  It was through this that they eventually over came the Nerons and fought their way to victory but at the cost of most of the company.  

This battle has left them with an intense hatred of the Necrons.  Though above all they hate the Imperial fists.  During the Great Crusade the Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors were both often used for siege and this led to competition  over which Legion were the true masters of siege.  For this reason the 17th Grand Company often engage the Imperial Fists and Imperial fist successor chapters always prefering to engage in siege or trench warfare.  They also maintain close ties to the Dark Mechanicus and will occasionally make use of titans in siege operations.  Like most Iron Warriors they do not worship Chaos but instead use it as a tool but only carefully and when the outcome is predicatable.          


This will be updated as time goes on.  Sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors.  I will go into more detail later

Last edited by Dollabill on Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:49 pm; edited 4 times in total

Sounds cool Jayme! Can't wait to read more later. I had no idea they didn't worship chaos. Are they the only ones?


e!
_________________
Lord Toruk will not be denied, and mortals have but one choice: slavery in life or servitude in death.