Chaplain Rourke The Fanged Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Any C&C is welcomed and greatly appreciated Shadow Hunters It was in the early part of M36 and there was a large number of Space Marine Foundings taking place. The High Lords of Terra had come to a realization that many of the gene-seeds were unfavorable to use in creating new chapters. They were rife with mutations or degrading to the point where organs were ceasing to function. The High Lords ordered the Ad-Mech to correct these problems in the next Founding. They did not realize the problems that would come about from the 21st or “ Cursed “ Founding. The Shadow Hunters were one of the chapters raised in the 21st. The Ad-Mech attempted to correct the instability and loss of organs plaguing the Raven Guard. They seem to have accomplished their task but it has come with unforeseen side effects. The Chapter does maintain its own genetic stock and does not rely on Terra like the Raven Guard. However, it comes with a price, the gene-seed has gained new mutations and it would seem that the Ad-Mech has reawakened the effects of Corax’s experiments. Origins In the confusion that was the aftermath of the Horus Heresy a subsector fell by the wayside for around 5000 years. At the onset of M36 it was discovered that the subsector had not paid its tithes since M31. When Imperial Authorities arrived to claim the tithes that were owed they were fired upon and chased out of the subsector. The subsector had rebelled from Imperial rule and was now under the control of a Confederation. The Raven Guard were called in along with elements of the Imperial Guard to reclaim the sector and secure the tithes by force. The Raven Guard forces were led by Captain Korvyne of the 5th Company. He was a brilliant tactician and a fearsome close combat fighter. Korvyne took the training of the Raven Guard to heart, he was an expert at guerrilla warfare and few in the Chapter could match his skills of stealth. Using sabotage, attacking supplies, and assassinating leaders the Raven Guard quickly turned the battle on favor of the Imperium. The Confederation was eventually swept aside and all planetary authority was destroyed. With the subsector back under Imperial rule the Raven Guard left for another battle and the Imperial Guard took defense of the subsector. After repeated Xenos and Chaos incursions and increasingly heavy casualties amongst the Guard it was decided that a Space Marine Chapter was required to defend the subsector. Due to their help in reclaiming the subsector the Raven Guard where given the honor of having their descendants claim a home world in the subsector. Home World The name and location of the planet and the subsector have been erased from Imperial records. The only people outside of the subsector that know the name and location are the Raven Guard and few high ranking friends of the Chapter. In M37 there were disputes between Cursed Founding Chapters and other Imperial forces and organizations about whether or not these “cursed” Chapters should exist. A lot of these disputes turned violent with Imperial forces attacking each other. Not wanting to get involved in these battles the Shadow Hunters did what they do best and disappeared. Using stealth, bribery and performing favors for a High Lord they got the name and location of their subsector erased from Imperial records. The records still exist they just do not contain any information on the name or location. They did this to avoid any in the Imperium from taking it upon themselves to attack the Shadow Hunters. They did not want to waste Imperial lives on pointless infighting. The tithes from the subsector are delivered to their intended destination by ships piloted by Chapter Serfs. No one is sure how the Chapter knows where the resources were going to be sent. However, since they send their tithes plus extra in an attempt to make up for the 5000 years that the subsector did not pay its tithes no one really bothers looking into it. Captain Korvyne made note of this planet while he was leading the Raven Guard forces to reclaim the subsector. When he was selected to lead the training cadre and raise a new chapter. He knew that it was the perfect home for sons of Corax. Due to the orbit of the other planets and moons in the system the Shadow Hunters home world only receives a few hours of direct sunlight in between days of darkness. During these times of darkness the only light they get reflects off of the planets 3 moons. A thick jungle canopy and the make up of the atmosphere trap almost all of the heat from the few hours of sun light, keeping the planet very hot and humid. The planet is mostly covered by a lush jungle that is the domain of a fierce creature known as the Saber-toothed Stalker Lynx, normally just referred to as a Stalker. The inhabitants eek out an existence in tribes scattered throughout the jungle and limited plains. The tribes take great care to avoid the main hunting ground of the Stalkers. Not only must the inhabitants contend with the deadly Stalkers, but life is hard and the tribes are constantly at war as they raid each other for resources or forcing a rival tribe off the more habitable land. The deadly environment and constant raiding and warfare create excellent candidates for the Chapter. To even make it to the age of recruitment a person must be exceptionally stealthy. The moons that orbit the planet contain vast mining and forge cities that used to belong to the Confederation. They now create supplies for the Shadow Hunters leaving the forges at the Fortress-Monastery to focus on crafting great weapons and armor. It is from these cities that most of the Chapter’s Serfs are drawn. While the planet contains a sufficient pool of recruits for the Chapter they do not have a large enough population for the Chapter to draw the thousands of serfs it requires. Combat Doctrine The Shadow Hunters are stealth masters and love to use guerrilla warfare to defeat the enemies of The Emperor. They employ the use of stealth capable power armor like other Raven Guard Chapters. The Chapter prefers to use hit and run tactics to raid and harass enemy weak points and supplies. Like the tribesmen of their home world the Shadow Hunters favor dispatching their enemies in close combat where they can watch the life fade from them. They also inherited the trait of being expert swordsmen from their home world. The Shadow Hunters are extremely analytical of enemies capabilities and as such the Chapter tries to only assault when they feel that they have the upper hand. When the Shadow Hunters finally do commit to an assault they fight with a savage fury. There have been a few Imperial Commanders that have linked them to barbarians after watching the Shadow Hunter launch an assault. The Shadow Hunters are primarily night fighters and will only fight in the day if they have to. Organization While they follow the teachings of the Codex they feel that it is open to interpretation more than some other Chapters. Instead of companies the Shadow Hunters are broken up into autonomous clans. Since there are no companies every clan has its own veteran, scout, and support units. The clans are responsible for picking and training their own recruits. While the clans are competitive they share all resources except recruits as an under resourced clan cannot serve the Chapter or The Emperor. The Chapter fields a special support unit know as a Druid, they preform the duties of both a chaplain and a librarian. It was easy for the Chapter to accept this role as the tribes have spiritual leaders that supposedly have sorcerer abilities, known as Druids. The Chapter has a great deal of respect for them due to their spiritual guidance, experience, and potent abilities. Beliefs The Shadows Hunters are an extremely superstitious Chapter. They have adopted a lot of their superstitious beliefs from tribesmen that they recruited from. They have adapted the practice of head hunting from the tribes, who believe that the head contains a person's soul and the seat of their emotions. The tribesmen believe that if you take a person's head you gain the strengths of that person. While the Shadow Hunters no longer hold this belief they still practice head hunting in order to show their strength. The more important the person (or creature) was the more honor a brother gains when he claims the head. The Shadow Hunters wear the heads they have claimed in hopes of causing fear in their enemies. The Hunters also use tribal tattoos to grant strength and The Emperor’s protection in battle. The tattoos start on the head to show while they desire The Emperor's strength and protection they would gladly offer up their head to Him. The most senior battle brothers are honored by having tattoos cover their entire bodies. The Shadow Hunters often implant the fangs of the Stalker they killed to show respect to the great hunters. Most of the brothers will have all of their teeth replaced with teeth from the Stalker. They believe that by placing a part of the Stalker in their heads that it honors the spirit of the deadly beast. The Chapter sees their mutation as a test of faith from The Emperor to ensure they are worthy of standing by His side for the final battle. This belief has resulted in the Shadow Hunters having fanatical faith and devotion in The Emperor, and an Imperium that holds nothing but disdain for them as the Chapter tries to earn their respect. Religious zealots and mutant haters think that the Shadow Hunters are just abominations and heretics that should be destroyed. However, any Imperial Guard unit that has been rescued by the Shadow Hunters has a different opinion. While the Chapter may fight like barbarians whenever they interact with others a Shadow Hunter will be very refined and cordial as they try to prove they are not mindless mutant barbarians. Whenever a brother does something that either he or the Chapter feels has brought shame or dishonor to The Emperor or the Chapter he is given a mark of shame. The brother will wear the mark of shame at all times but it bears the most weight while in battle. If he dies while wearing mark it is believed that The Emperor is calling the brother to His side to show him the error of his ways. If the brother sustains a serious injury while wearing the mark it is believed that he has learned the error of his ways and is forgiven. Otherwise the brother must wear the mark of shame until he does something to distinguish himself in the eyes of The Emperor. The Shadow Hunters do not employ the use of servitors except for the most necessary or menial of tasks, such as cargo lifters. While every Tech-marine does have a small cadre of servitors to assist them they mostly have Chapter Serfs help out where ever possible. The Shadow Hunters feel that it is the determination, initiative, and courage of humans that gives the Imperium strength. Due to this belief they find servitors to be weak and their use slightly insulting to the spirit of the Imperium. As such only the gravest of crimes against The Emperor and the Chapter warrants the creation of a servitor. It is usually only captured rebels and heretics that are turned into servitors so that they may be of some use to The Emperor and His Imperium. Recruitment Every clan has a few members stationed at the Fortress-Monastery for purposes of recruiting and training. Scout sergeants that don’t have a pack to train often stalk out into the jungle and help find aspirants for the clan. The Shadow Hunters search the jungles looking for suitable candidates. When they find a candidate they approach him in secret and offer him a chance to one of The Emperor’s finest. If he accepts the Hunter tells him to inform no one and the aspirant is given a day to his goodbyes and prepare for the journey. He is given the location of his testing ground and told show in two days less time then it would normally take to get there a brisk pace. The aspirant is under constant watch and if he informs anyone or is late to his testing he is considered to have already failed. When the aspirant reaches the testing ground he is exhausted and battered from the arduous journey. Upon arrival he is given the Trial of Shadows. They are tested on intelligence, combat prowess, stealth, and most importantly the courage of the aspirant is put the test. If the pass the Trial of Shadows they are taken to the Fortress-Monastery to start training and the process of becoming a Space Marine. Once they have completed their initial training there is one more task the must complete before they can join an active scout pack. The aspirant must complete the Trial of Hunters. In this trial they must hunt down a Stalker that has been marked by the training sergeant. The only thing the aspirant is allowed to use is his combat knife. The Stalkers are pack animals and the aspirant must hunt a pack of the deadly predators waiting for his target to separate itself from the rest. Otherwise he would be torn the shreds by the rest of the pack. To pass this test an aspirant must have great stealth, tracking, and combat abilities but the most important part of this trial is that he displays the ability to judge the perfect time to strike. If they fail at any point they are instead made a Chapter serf and will generally serve out the rest of their life on the Chapter’s fleet. Gene-seed The Shadow Hunters come the gene-seed of the Raven Guard. Their appearance seems to mimic that of Corax. The brothers of the Chapter get ghostly white skin and jet black hair. Their entire eye also changes to jet black expect for oblong irises of vivid green. This coupled with the implanted Stalker teeth makes for one terribly frightening appearance. Rogue Imperial Commanders and rebel governors have often repented on sight of a Shadow Hunter. The Chapter’s Omophagea gland has mutated and over generations this mutation has caused the Shadow Hunters to gain the traits and abilities of the Saber-toothed Stalker Lynx that initiates kill and eat in order to join a scout pack. The Stalker genetics have been rewritten into the gene-seed from the mutation effecting some of their organs. In an unfortunately high number of cases the Stalker gene completely overwrites the gene-seed and awakens the curse of Corax. The marines body changes into a hulking mutated cat creature that the Apothecaries study extensively in hopes of curing the curse of Corax. After study the creatures are killed and kept strictly secret only the Apothecaries and high ranking members know of their existence. The Chapter fears an Inquisitorial investigation if anyone were to ever find out. The Shadow Hunters inherit and enhanced sense of smell and hearing from the Stalkers. They also have increased night vision but decreased vision in day light compared to other Astartes. If they are in direct light or on an exceptionally bright world they must wear their helmets at all times or else the would be virtually blind. This severely hampers the brother as they are used to fighting with their enhanced scent and hearing. The Shadow Hunters also seem to be slightly more agile, dexterous, and nimble than a typical Astartes. It is not known if this is from the mutation or their intense training program, where they attempt to copy the great hunting skill of the Stalkers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CKO Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 This is a good outline, the only problem I have is that it is goes under the "cursed 21th founding chapter that allows my marines to have special abilities category". You dont have to be from the 21st to have mutation problems your a Raven Guard chapter that is all you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplain Rourke The Fanged Posted July 25, 2011 Author Share Posted July 25, 2011 I didn't pick the 21st founding in order to have mutations. I wanted to use the RG gene-seed but I don't like the fact they have to rely on others for their genetic stock. The only way I know how to make their gene-seed more stable is through the experiments of the 21st. I guess they could be 13th but it is shrouded in mystery not experiments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplain Rourke The Fanged Posted July 31, 2011 Author Share Posted July 31, 2011 -bump- first draft up and running...please let me know what you think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplain Rourke The Fanged Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 Edited first post... added paint scheme and headers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CKO Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 It looks better I think the reason you are not getting alot of comments is because most of the posters are tired of 21st founding chapters and after reading the first paragraph they most likely stop. I hate to say something like that but it is true, if they would continue they would see that it is well written IA. The parts I dont understand is the first paragraph in the belief section about replacing teeth and heads you can make that part more clearer. I think with each edit it has gotten better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplain Rourke The Fanged Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 Edited beliefs section Hope that clears things up a bit more. Do you think it would be better if it was 13th founding. Would that allow others to make it through to the rest of the IA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CKO Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I think it would help to make it a different founding. You can keep the gene mutation by combining the stalker bit with corax geneseed that alone is viable, and the belief section is better. I dont care to much for the teeth part why not let the gene mutation allow your marines to grow fangs that is similar to the Stalkers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hells Guardian Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Really nicely written I think, love the idea of them fighting primarily at night, I think the founding should be changed also, perhaps they wear the teeth as trophies and after reaching a certain rank maybe veteran they eat the stalker in a ceremony as they are now deemed worthy in order to reduce the amount of severe mutations? Or the higher ranked have got worse mutations due to them being in the chapter for so long? I would love perhaps a small piece of writing on a particular battle to really show how they fight that at the beginning of the article might get people to read more because you have done very well to write such an amount ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplain Rourke The Fanged Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 This is what I came up with off the top of my head to change foundings. If you think this is better than what I already have let me know. There is not much known about the 13th or Dark Founding but many believe that it gave way to the Shadow Hunters. There are a few records of small detachments of Shadow Hunters fighting under the command of Raven Guard veterans shortly after the 13th founding. There are rumors that the Shadow Hunters have complete records of their founding, whether or not this is true the Hunters will not say. It is unknown what happened during the founding that caused the Shadow Hunters to regain the organs that the Raven Guard have lost. Whatever happened during the founding also caused some side effects in the Chapter. The Shadow Hunters have mutations that set them apart from the other Sons of Corax. The effects of Corax’s experiments have also reemerged to some degree in their gene-seed. While they may have new issues with their gene-seed the Shadow Hunters are able to maintain their own genetic stock and do not have to rely on Terra like the Raven Guard. Home world section changes The name and location of the planet and the subsector have been erased from Imperial records. The only people outside of the subsector that know the name and location are the Raven Guard and few high ranking friends of the Chapter. The brothers of the Shadow Hunters became obsessed with stealth and being hidden. This obsession grew to the point that the Chapter started to feel paranoid and exposed on their home world. It led to the Chapter developing an edgy and overly hostile attitude to not only outsiders but fellow Shadow Hunters. When brawls started to break out between brothers the Chapter knew that something had to be done. Using stealth, bribery and performing favors for a High Lord they get the name and location of their subsector erased from Imperial records. The records still exist they just do not contain any information on the name or location. With the Shadow Hunters’ home now in a sense hidden the brothers returned to normal and their attitude vastly improved. The tithes from the subsector are delivered to their intended destination by ships piloted by chapter serfs. No one is sure how the chapter knows where the resources were going to be sent. However, since they send their tithes plus extra in an attempt to make up for the thousands of years that the subsector did not pay its tithes no one really bothers looking into it. And for the teeth….. Along with the Omophagea mutation there is a slight mutation of the Ossmodula. The Ossmodula has also been effected by the Stalker genetics, the teeth of a marine will grow to mimic that of the Stalker. All of a brother’s teeth become razor sharp and his fangs will grow out past the lip. The fangs of a Shadow Hunter will grow for his entire life with the oldest members of the Chapter having fangs well past their jaw. Do you think that is better than them implanting teeth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.