IA - The Praetorians (Chapter)

[Prefect Apollyon]

I'm now verging on the Chi rho symbol, being the sign used by Constantine the Great for his vexillum (military banners). Again a religious symbol, but this was used in war.

 

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e319/Kelbeef/ChiRho.jpg

 

Sorted.

 

I hate GIMP. Can't bloody use it.

Edited November 24, 2013 by Prefect Apollyon

[Quozzo]

No more tactless than someone using the Catholic or Protestant crosses, the Star of David, the Wheel of Buddhism, the Ying-Yang of Taoism, etc.  It's a real symbol with actual real-life meaning attached to it, so by using it for a Chapter symbol it could be argued that you are trivializing their faith.

The ultramarines Omega symbol is not lucky, nor does it have anything to do with Omega. Taking a symbol and making it your own is not an original idea, just look at Hitler.

[Olis]

 Taking a symbol and making it your own is not an original idea, just look at Hitler.

 

This is just a point I'd like to make to anyone reading this particular statement and thinks they want to chip in: Don't. 

 

(Although I must say this is an extremely surprising early entry of Godwin's Law in this topic.)

[Prefect Apollyon]

 

 Taking a symbol and making it your own is not an original idea, just look at Hitler.

 

This is just a point I'd like to make to anyone reading this particular statement and thinks they want to chip in: Don't. 

 

(Although I must say this is an extremely surprising early entry of Godwin's Law in this topic.)

I wasn't going to comment.

 

Chi Rho symbol it is, still can't use GIMP. Otherwise I'd have it posted up in the 1000 Chapter Project gallery by now.

[Olis]

I wasn't going to comment.

 

That's fair enough. Just thought I'd cover that base while I was passing by. ;)

[Zincite]

Stick at it - you'll get better. If you can't figure out how to do something then google a tutorial. Play around with new settings and experiment. You'll be editing like a maniac in no time.  

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/117686-photography-editing-badges/

 

I got this. To remove the badge from its background I selected the white are with the Fuzzy Select Tool at a threshold of 150, Select>Invert, and then pressed delete. I scaled it down using Layer>Scale Layer. From there I followed the above tutorial.

 

I found that the Chapter Badge didn't have the brown border around it that the Tactical Arrow did. To solve that I duplicated the Badge's layer from the layer dialogue. I right-clicked my new layer and chose 'Alpha to Selection'. Then Select>Grow>Grow by 1 Pixel. I used the Colour Picker Tool to select the brown colour I wanted and then dragged it from the palette into the selection. Select>None. I tidied up the layer mask again as before.

 

Done! Hopefully that's useful to you. Obviously you can use my image (since it's your Marines), but I presume you'll want to adjust the colour and positioning of the badge.

[Prefect Apollyon]

Stick at it - you'll get better. If you can't figure out how to do something then google a tutorial. Play around with new settings and experiment. You'll be editing like a maniac in no time.  

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/117686-photography-editing-badges/

 

I got this. To remove the badge from its background I selected the white are with the Fuzzy Select Tool at a threshold of 150, Select>Invert, and then pressed delete. I scaled it down using Layer>Scale Layer. From there I followed the above tutorial.

 

I found that the Chapter Badge didn't have the brown border around it that the Tactical Arrow did. To solve that I duplicated the Badge's layer from the layer dialogue. I right-clicked my new layer and chose 'Alpha to Selection'. Then Select>Grow>Grow by 1 Pixel. I used the Colour Picker Tool to select the brown colour I wanted and then dragged it from the palette into the selection. Select>None. I tidied up the layer mask again as before.

 

Done! Hopefully that's useful to you. Obviously you can use my image (since it's your Marines), but I presume you'll want to adjust the colour and positioning of the badge.

Wow.

 

Looks great, thank you!

 

I'll play around with it, but that looks good for now.

[Zincite]

Happy to see another chapter of the Emperor's finest battle-ready! If there is anything else you need and can't figure out a way around, pop me a PM and I'll be happy to see what I can do.

[Prefect Apollyon]

Happy to see another chapter of the Emperor's finest battle-ready! If there is anything else you need and can't figure out a way around, pop me a PM and I'll be happy to see what I can do.

Thank you!

 

Edited small parts of the IA, hopefully adds to believability.

[sitnam]

I really like your work here. If you wouldn't mind I'd almost like to steal the timeline format for my own DIY. I also like the bit about the crusading companies, as it allows the Praetorians to show up in distant battlezones. My question on that though, is how do those companies replenish losses? A century long crusade can be grueling, and without replenishing losses a company returning from crusade may be destroyed through pure attrition.

[Prefect Apollyon]

I really like your work here. If you wouldn't mind I'd almost like to steal the timeline format for my own DIY. I also like the bit about the crusading companies, as it allows the Praetorians to show up in distant battlezones. My question on that though, is how do those companies replenish losses? A century long crusade can be grueling, and without replenishing losses a company returning from crusade may be destroyed through pure attrition.

Each Company also recruits its own Neophytes. Ergo if they're about to start their Crusade they'll "stock up" on them.

 

That's the idea. And you are welcome to use the timeline, I "borrowed" it from Lexicanum Chapter entries.

[Prefect Apollyon]

Edited it, and I'm finally satisfied with it.

 

Let me know what you think, Battle Broski's!

 

Now time to start painting.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Prefect Apollyon

[Omega Striker]

I'll pop in for some of my usual ranting.

 

My biggest peeve with IA's here is how often people seem to underestimate the Primarchs and the Homeworld.  Since you have failed to live up to my ridiculously high standards, I am going to give you some advice there.

 

The Primarch is incredibly important to a chapter.  Even if a chapter loses it's Librarium and records, they will immediately send someone to a cousin chapter to get some of that knowledge back.  Dawn of War and its protagonists, the Blood Ravens, seems to have made it cool to not know your Primarch (Curse you Relic!).   Each Primarch had a certain way he was best at fighting, and knowing which way your new super body fights best will go a long way to helping your chapter survive and do it's thing.  Knowing who your primarch was is absolutely important, as that primarch is what your body now is as a space marine.  The descendants of Corax that do the best are the ones that fight like Corax fought.  Same with the other Primarchs.  Not knowing who your Primarch was is a big deal, and any other Chapters you meet are going to give you the stink eye for not knowing, and whispers of heresy and dishonor will plague your chapter to no end. 

 

Secondly, the homeworld gives your space marines a template to be your primarch under.  If your marines come from a knightly world, then they will honorably follow their Primarch's teachings.  If they come from an underground world that is dark and scary, then they will fight like the primarch would have fought on that world the best.  If you are a Raven Guard descendant from an underground world, then you get good at tunnel ambushes and mazes and things like that.  If you are a White Scars descendant then you get used to driving bikes in cramped tunnels and canyons and the like.  Your homeworld gives you a favored geography for your Primarch's tactics?  Want a chapter that fights in melee and clears lots of space hulks?  Choose a melee-oriented Primarch, and make them fleet-based.  Do you want a Chapter that moves from one side of the map to the other?  Sons of Dorn for you.  

 

So, when you combine the Primarch with the homeworld, you get a lot of flavor that goes a long way to determining how your chapter fights.  Without one of the other, you lose out, and make your IA that much harder to write well.  

 

I hope I didn't offend you personally, but these are things that we urge writers here to focus on, because they are the soul of any chapter.  

 

Please take my advice and choose a Primarch.  There is plenty of wiggle room with the 9 loyalist Primarchs.  Seriously, choose one.  

[Messor]

At least as of the update yesterday, the IA mentions several times that the Chapter's claim to be of Raven Guard stock. In this case, though, I wouldn't hold them to having anything definitively because the hallmark of the Dark Founding is that nobody knows anything about it. Apparently it isn't as simple as getting a DNA test, or we'd know who the Death Spectres come from. I think it fitting, though, they claim the same gene-legacy as one of the only other Chapters confirmed to have come from the Dark Founding. It's worth noting (or exploring) why we wouldn't know about a Chapter from the Dark Founding. There's quite possibly a stigma attached, and other Dark Founding Chapters may simply have fabricated their history so not to be subject to that suspicion.

 

I do advocate Omega Striker's suggestion of going more in depth as to how the homeworld has influenced the Chapter and vice versa.

[Prefect Apollyon]

I've made it (slightly) vague as to their Primarch due to them being a Dark Founding Chapter. The whole thing about the Dark Founding is that the Administratum records are completely absent, strongly suggested to have been deliberately deleted. It is Corax, and I have stated this in there "Gene-Seed" section. I get the impression you read the first few reviews which were made over a month ago. It's changed an awful lot since then

As for there Homeworld, I thought I had gone into a lot of detail, and didn't want to go into more detail because I thought it would distract from the real focus of the IA. I thought mentioning the cutthroat/ruthless nature of the population on a divided Feudal world would be enough to add character without detracting focus. I wanted to give the reader the impression of a Chapter being similar to Raven Guard/Raptors, but vastly more ruthless with hints of Byzantine culture.

I'll take another look at the Homeworld section.

 

EDIT: Tiny bit of tinkering to the Gene-Seed section. Also added an amendment at the start of it; the records are from the viewpoint of the Administratum and those who can access the files.

Edited December 17, 2013 by Prefect Apollyon

[Prefect Apollyon]

By request the Homeworld section has been added to, fleshed out. Hopefully this adds to the character of the Chapter.

 

Again, let me know what you think. Hopefully that's it done unless someone notices something massive missing from the IA.

 

EDIT: I'll be streamlining the Timeline, it's a bit too long for my liking. As I'm making this IA from the Imperiums perspective, a lot of the info needs to be removed.

 

RE-EDIT: Added a couple of side-notes to break up the walls of text.

Edited December 25, 2013 by Prefect Apollyon