Pioneers of Dorn

[Osteoclast]

THE PIONEERS OF DORN

CHAPTER NAME: .............. THE PIONEERS OF DORN

FOUNDING: ..................ULTIMA FOUNDING [M.42]

CHAPTER WORLD: ............. FLEET-BASED CRUSADING CHAPTER

FORTRESS MONASTERY: ........ RAMILIES-CLASS STAR FORT LIGHT OF TERRA

GENE-SEED (PREDECESSOR): ...IMPERIAL FISTS

KNOWN DESCENDANTS: .........NONE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Pioneers: OPEN THE WAY"

_{Battle cry of the Pioneers of Dorn} 

O

nly the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum and the severing of the Imperium in twain as daemonic hordes and their damned allies poured forth could have served to overshadow the greatest act of treachery and rebellion since the Age of Apostasy, millennia ago. In what appeared to be a concerted act, massive rebellions broke out across the whole of the Segmentum Pacificus. A quarter of the Imperium, vanished into the fires of rebellion and soon host to any number of heretical, Chaotic, and xenos forces. In the stark opening days of the Dark Millennium, a lesser commander might have been forgiven for ignoring or even forgetting the struggle there, focusing instead on pouring the entirety of the Imperium’s might into halting the spread of the Cicatrix and its baleful flood. Yet even in this darkest of times, Roubute Guilliman, revived by the arts of Mars and Aeldari, sent forth armies to bring hope to the faithful and destruction to the heretic. Small compared to those kept with the Indomitus Crusade, and even smaller compared to the enormity of the task that faces them, they fight on nonetheless.

 

Among these armies was a chapter of the newly unveiled Primaris Space Marines, organized together as the Pioneers of Dorn, their gene-father. Operating together in close cooperation with Imperial Navy and Guard forces, the Pioneers have taken on a spearhead role. First to the fight, it is they who seize a landing zone for the unstoppable masses of the Imperial Guard tasked to take the planet. Headquarters, siege defenses, and fortresses are the follow on targets, always seeking the paralyze and destroy the enemy’s means of resistance.

 

A Codex adherent chapter, though they do experiment and operate with a bit of flexibility in view of the novelty of Primaris Astartes, the Pioneers of Dorn specialize in space to surface assaults, void warfare, and kill-teams. Typically, following surveillance of the site by Reiver and Scout teams, an augmented company sized force is used to seize starports or other assembly areas for the Imperial Guard forces. Following the declaration of this assembly area as secure enough for the removal of Astartes forces, the Pioneers split into smaller kill-teams, no larger than a demi-company at the most, to strike enemy headquarters, logistics centers, communication nodes, and follow on forces.

 

Unlike most chapters, the Pioneers give command of the fleet to the 1^st Company rather than the 4^th company. Chapter veterans are assigned to every cruiser or battle-barge and are attached to the battle companies on their combat deployments.

 

Though they are too young for it to be considered a tradition yet, the Pioneers have been recruiting their aspirants from amongst the ranks of orphans left behind by martyred soldiers of the Imperial Guard accompanying them. The lack of a suitable schola progenium for more than a hundred light-years following the Segmentum rebellions has resulted in a pressing need for some sort of orphanage care for the Crusade and, unless personally unwilling or other arrangements made by the Imperial Guard forces (many of whom keep their children as Whiteshields), they are adopted as serfs by the Chapter, screened for genetic suitability if male, and trained for an appropriate role, generally as ship crew or a common laborer forging the Chapter’s more basic weapons of war, such as bolter shells. Young female serfs of appropriate religious and martial zeal are handed over to the Order of the Glowing Ember, a minor order of Sisters Militant accompanying the Crusade. More suitable arrangements and a proper schola progenium are expected to be finished within the coming decades.

 

A fleet based Chapter, the Ramilies-class star fortress Light of Terra serves as their Fortress-Monastery. At present it also serves as the headquarters for the Garobus Crusade in Segmentum Pacificus and one of the four arms has been loaned out for the use of the Imperial Navy in repairing their vessels. While some chapters might see this as shocking, the Pioneers find it a pragmatic use of space and facility that they cannot themselves make present use of and a good means of influencing the mortal members of the Crusade and subtly controlling the course of it.

 

Leading the more mobile elements of their fleet is the battle-barge Hammer of Glory, newly built from the Martian shipyards, like so many others of her sisters in the Indomitus Crusade. Currently under the command of Lieutenant Rimachi, she proved instrumental in destroying the resistance of the traitor pocket empire Kirchensur and ending the naval battles of Chiari. Accompanying her are the strike cruisers Praetorian, Judgement of Terra, Eternal Duty, Angel of Sorrow, and approximately two dozen destroyers, frigates, and rapid strike vessels.

 

Like most Astartes chapters, especially those of the Ultima Founding, the Pioneers of Dorn do not worship the Emperor as a god, instead venerating him and especially their gene-father, Rogal Dorn. So too, to a lesser degree, are heroes of Dorn’s blood. A Pioneer studies such warriors and reflects upon them, emulating them as models for the conduct of their life and battle. Though observers hear such oaths as “Sigismund, guide my sword!” or “Dorn, lend me your fortitude!” and believe that these are a form of prayer, beseeching their subjects for supernatural intervention, they are but secular oaths of remembrance and inspiration. Whether they will remain such a thousand years hence is another matter entirely…

 

 

ORGANIZATION

 

 

 

The Pioneers of Dorn are Codex compliant, though they prefer to refer to their Battle and Reserve companies as Sword and Shield companies respectively. This arises from their study of Imperial Fist teaching and philosophy, especially as codified by the noted Rhetoricus in his Book of the Five Spheres, and the teaching that the sons of Dorn should have one hand raised in a fist towards their enemy, but the other outstretched to lend their brothers aid. Elements of the Shield companies which have not been attached for forward operations are detailed to newly compliant worlds to plan and raise fortifications to ensure their continued compliance and defend against any enemy counterattacks or raids. On worlds which were broken by the Pioneers, special attention is paid to the fortifications which they themselves overcame and they are taken as a special point of teaching for neophytes and newer brothers to go over both how the defenses failed, how the attack might have been done better, and how the defenses could have been improved. Pioneer doctrine holds that to properly defeat a fortification, one must know it fully; to anticipate its traps, fields of fire, responses, and blindnesses.

 

The livery of the chapter is green, an ancient Terran color of hope, to represent the hope for humanity against all that threatens it that the Pioneers bring forth in this age of darkness. In honor of Rogal Dorn, their gene-sire, both pauldrons are painted a golden yellow as are their fists, to honor the Imperial Fists as first in the brotherhood of Dorn’s blood. Upon the left pauldron is the chapter symbol, a stylized grenade in a circle.

 

SELECTED BATTLE HONORS

Liberation of Ongonker [55.391 post OCM]

The first major victory of the Chapter, 3^rd Company, augmented by squads from the 1^st and 10^th Companies, the Pioneers seized the main spaceport and the co-located sector HQ of planetary surface to space defensive batteries. Though 4 Astartes fell in the fighting, and a further 23 required some degree of apothecary treatment, by the time the port was declared clear enough for Imperial Guard landings, 78 bunkers or pillboxes, 6 Basilisk guns, and 182 heavy weapons positions were eliminated.

 

Naval Battles of Chiari [86.120 to 86.308 post CCM]

What began as a simple raid by the 5^th Company aboard the Strike Cruiser Eternal Duty turned into a months long series of skirmishes back and forth across the Chiari system. Intelligence reports had indicated a major meeting by the leadership of the traitor pocket empire of Kirchensur upon the fourth world of the system and the 5^th Company set out in force to cripple the enemy. After translation in-system, the Eternal Duty was unexpectedly intercepted by a hostile strike cruiser which refused to identify itself, though information recovered during and after the combat identified her as the Styx Embrace belonging to a previously unknown group of Heretic Astartes calling themselves “The Forlorn and Forsaken.” Though she defeated the enemy, forcing them to scuttle their vessel, though not before suffering heavy and crippling damage to her in-system and warp drives. Unable to complete her original mission due to extensive damage and personnel losses, nor able to escape without further aid, the Eternal Duty was pursued across the system by traitor vessels, summoned via astrotelepathy, until reinforcements arrived in the form of a pair of Imperial Navy light cruisers and the hunter became the hunted. This cycle of affairs repeated itself several times until finally the battle-barge Hammer of Glory arrived with additional escorts who proceeded to disable and capture a traitor heavy cruiser, destroy three other light cruisers, scatter their fleet, and bombard the major cities of Chiari IV into submission for good measure. Unrealized at the time, though the initial mission was a failure, this turned out to be the turning point in the naval campaign against the traitor pocket empire, though part of this can be laid at the hands of “The Forlorn and Forsaken” who raided the main orbital docks of their erstwhile allies and seized several of their lesser ships as “repayment” for the loss of their strike cruiser.

 

 

Cleansing of the Light of Terra  [67.929 post SCM]

Orbiting the planet Sarapis, a key civilized world in the so-called “Union of the Light,” the star fortress, whose name under secessionist rule has been wiped from history, was both pivotal to the planet’s defense and a major stumbling block for the Garobus Crusade. Besides the value of the planet as an astropathic nexus and its armor manufactoriums, capture of the star fortress would provide sufficient facilities as to progress the Crusade’s schedule by several years; by the same token however, to take it would drain so many resources as to retard the Crusade by at least as much time. A forge in its own right, the tight quarters and millions of armed sailors make the capture of a star fortress a difficult proposition, best compared not to the seizure of a planetary hive that it superficially resembles, but more akin to seizing substantial portions of a fortress planet such as Cadia and leaving it relatively undamaged in the process. Finally, frustrated by what he saw as a lack of urgency by the Crusade staff, chapter master Guamon gathered a few allies and launched a full scale assault upon the star fortress, bringing the entire chapter in on what he intended to present as a fait accompli to the rest of the Crusade. Even with an entire chapter of Primaris Space Marines engaging in the boarding assault, the fighting was still difficult and it was a full 24 hours before the station was sufficiently secure to permit the dropkeeps of House Dalecarlia and the landing ships for the 893^rd and 901^st Casoomian Mechanized Infantry Regiments to land upon the surface; with was a further 56.4 hours before the station was declared fully secured, mostly through the expediency of venting atmosphere one deck at a time. Throughout the fighting, a total of 93 Astartes were lost, many when boarding torpedoes or Thunderhawks were intercepted during the boarding action, as well as several thousand chapter serfs. Nearly the entire chapter fleet suffered moderate or severe damage in the action and the frigates Infinite Sight, Estolica, and Hualcana were destroyed in the fighting while the destroyer Chaska and frigate Gladius Glorious were declared constructive total losses due to the damage incurred.

 

Despite the losses taken and the preservation of the remainder of the Crusade’s fighting forces, there was initially some degree of hostility when Lord Guamon invoked the right of the Astartes to claim the star fortress, now renamed Light of Terra as both aspiration and slight to its former owners, as their own fortress-monastery. This softened, however, and was eventually overcome after the Imperial Navy was offered the use of one of its four arms for the duration of the Crusade for the repair of its vessels and ordnance manufactorium.

 

  

Pioneers of Dorn Chapter Icon

Common Armorial Use

 

 

Original post below the spoiler

THE PIONEERS OF DORN

CHAPTER NAME: .............. THE PIONEERS OF DORN

FOUNDING: ..................ULTIMA FOUNDING [M.42]

CHAPTER WORLD: ............. FLEET-BASED CRUSADING CHAPTER

FORTRESS MONASTERY: ........ RAMILIES-CLASS STAR FORT LIGHT OF TERRA

GENE-SEED (PREDECESSOR): ...IMPERIAL FISTS

KNOWN DESCENDANTS: .........NONE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Pioneers: OPEN THE WAY"

_{Battle cry of the Pioneers of Dorn}

O

nly the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum and the severing of the Imperium in twain as daemonic hordes and their damned allies poured forth could have served to overshadow the greatest act of treachery and rebellion since the Age of Apostasy, millennia ago. In what appeared to be a concerted act, massive rebellions broke out across the whole of the Segmentum Pacificus. A quarter of the Imperium, vanished into the fires of rebellion and soon host to any number of heretical, Chaotic, and xenos forces. In the stark opening days of the Dark Millennium, a lesser commander might have been forgiven for ignoring or even forgetting the struggle there, focusing instead on pouring the entirety of the Imperium’s might into halting the spread of the Cicatrix and its baleful flood. Yet even in this darkest of times, Roubute Guilliman, revived by the arts of Mars and Aeldari, sent forth armies to bring hope to the faithful and destruction to the heretic. Small compared to those kept with the Indomitus Crusade, and even smaller compared to the enormity of the task that faces them, they fight on nonetheless.

 

Among these armies was a chapter of the newly unveiled Primaris Space Marines, organized together as the Pioneers of Dorn, their gene-father. Operating together in close cooperation with Imperial Navy and Guard forces, the Pioneers have taken on a spearhead role. First to the fight, it is they who seize a landing zone for the unstoppable masses of the Imperial Guard tasked to take the planet. Headquarters, siege defenses, and fortresses are the follow on targets, always seeking the paralyze and destroy the enemy’s means of resistance.

 

A Codex adherent chapter, though they do experiment and operate with a bit of flexibility in view of the novelty of Primaris Astartes, the Pioneers of Dorn specialize in space to surface assaults, void warfare, and kill-teams. Typically, following surveillance of the site by Reiver and Scout teams, an augmented company sized force is used to seize starports or other assembly areas for the Imperial Guard forces. Following the declaration of this assembly area as secure enough for the removal of Astartes forces, the Pioneers split into smaller kill-teams, no larger than a demi-company at the most, to strike enemy headquarters, logistics centers, communication nodes, and follow on forces.

 

Unlike most chapters, the Pioneers give command of the fleet to the 1^st Company rather than the 4^th company. Chapter veterans are assigned to every cruiser or battle-barge and are attached to the battle companies on their combat deployments.

 

Though they are too young for it to be considered a tradition yet, the Pioneers have been recruiting their aspirants from amongst the ranks of orphans left behind by martyred soldiers of the Imperial Guard accompanying them. The lack of a suitable schola progenium for more than a hundred light-years following the Segmentum rebellions has resulted in a pressing need for some sort of orphanage care for the Crusade and, unless personally unwilling or other arrangements made by the Imperial Guard forces (many of whom keep their children as Whiteshields), they are adopted as serfs by the Chapter, screened for genetic suitability if male, and trained for an appropriate role, generally as ship crew or a common laborer forging the Chapter’s more basic weapons of war, such as bolter shells. Young female serfs of appropriate religious and martial zeal are handed over to the Order of the Glowing Ember, a minor order of Sisters Militant accompanying the Crusade. More suitable arrangements and a proper schola progenium are expected to be finished within the coming decades.

 

A fleet based Chapter, the Ramilies-class star fortress Light of Terra serves as their Fortress-Monastery. At present it also serves as the headquarters for the Garobus Crusade in Segmentum Pacificus and one of the four arms has been loaned out for the use of the Imperial Navy in repairing their vessels. While some chapters might see this as shocking, the Pioneers find it a pragmatic use of space and facility that they cannot themselves make present use of and a good means of influencing the mortal members of the Crusade and subtly controlling the course of it.

 

Leading the more mobile elements of their fleet is the battle-barge Hammer of Glory, newly built from the Martian shipyards, like so many others of her sisters in the Indomitus Crusade. Currently under the command of Lieutenant Rimachi, she proved instrumental in destroying the resistance of the traitor pocket empire Kirchensur and ending the naval battles of Chiari. Accompanying her are the strike cruisers Praetorian, Judgement of Terra, Eternal Duty, Angel of Sorrow, and approximately two dozen destroyers, frigates, and rapid strike vessels.

 

 

ORGANIZATION

 

The livery of the chapter consists of green legs and arms, to represent the hope of Terra that is the foundation and strength of the Imperium; a red cuirass for the  strength of Mars in union with Terra; the right pauldron is painted blue in honor of the Living Primarch, Roubute Guilliman; and the left pauldron is painted golden yellow to honor Rogal Dorn and the Imperial Fists from whose gene-seed they are descended. Upon the left pauldron is the chapter symbol, a stylized grenade in a circle.

 

SELECTED BATTLE HONORS

Liberation of Ongonker [###.M##]

The first major victory of the Chapter, 3^rd Company, augmented by squads from the 1^st and 10^th Companies, the Pioneers seized the main spaceport and the co-located sector HQ of planetary surface to space defensive batteries. Though 4 Astartes fell in the fighting, and a further 23 required some degree of apothecary treatment, by the time the port was declared clear enough for Imperial Guard landings, 78 bunkers or pillboxes, 6 Basilisk guns, and 182 heavy weapons positions were eliminated.

 

Naval Battles of Chiari [###.M##]

What began as a simple raid by the 5^th Company aboard the Strike Cruiser Eternal Duty turned into a months long series of skirmishes back and forth across the Chiari system. Intelligence reports had indicated a major meeting by the leadership of the traitor pocket empire of Kirchensur upon the fourth world of the system and the 5^th Company set out in force to cripple the enemy. After translation in-system, the Eternal Duty was unexpectedly intercepted by a hostile strike cruiser which refused to identify itself, though information recovered during and after the combat identified her as belonging to a previously unknown group of Heretic Astartes calling themselves “The Forlorn and Forsaken.” Though she defeated the enemy, forcing them to scuttle their vessel, though not before suffering heavy and crippling damage to her in-system and warp drives. Unable to complete her original mission due to extensive damage and personnel losses, nor able to escape without further aid, the Eternal Duty was pursued across the system by traitor vessels, summoned via astrotelepathy, until reinforcements arrived in the form of a pair of Imperial Navy light cruisers and the hunter became the hunted. This cycle of affairs repeated itself several times until finally the battle-barge Hammer of Glory arrived with additional escorts who proceeded to disable and capture a traitor heavy cruiser, destroy three other light cruisers, scatter their fleet, and bombard the major cities of Chiari IV into submission for good measure. Unrealized at the time, though the initial mission was a failure, this turned out to be the turning point in the naval campaign against the traitor pocket empire, though part of this can be laid at the hands of “The Forlorn and Forsaken” who raided the main orbital docks of their erstwhile allies and seized several of their lesser ships as “repayment” for the loss of their strike cruiser.

 

Pioneers of Dorn Chapter Icon

Common Armorial Use

 

================================================================================

 

Obviously still a work in progress. I've never quite had the cash to invest in miniatures, but Emperor willing that is now changed and an active community nearby too if I decide to do tabletop instead of just miniatures for decorative purposes. I've always loved the world building however and have been sketching out a small crusade to place my anticipated Sisters of Battle in; this is the Astartes chapter that is part of it.

Edited July 27, 2019 by Osteoclast

[Kelborn]

So many colors... If you're intending to paint this, good luck. :)

 

Though you've given a reason for their scheme, it looks a bit chaotic.

Any chance to focus on 2-3 colors instead?

[Brother Lunkhead]

Hail Brother and welcome to the ranks of the DIYers. Looks like you're off to a good start with the Pioneers. Your background material looks pretty solid and well thought out.

 

Your color scheme looks very busy, but you've thought out the symbolism quite well. So, if that is what you are set on, then go for it.

 

A new chapter in possession of a Ramilies-class star fortress is rather bold (the Imperium doesn't give those things away like party favors). You might want to come up with a backstory on how the Pioneers of Dorn acquired it. Your idea of allowing the Imperial Navy use of the fortress is a good one and would certainly go a long way in ameliorating any tension over your chapter's possession of such a rare and valuable resource.

 

I definitely like your choice of chapter symbol and battle cry 'Pioneers of Dorn' seemed a bit of an awkward name when I first saw it, but the more I roll it around the more I like it Have fun with your new chapter and good luck.

 

Courage and Honour

[Doctor Perils]

Hi there Osteoclast! Well done on the beginning of your chapter, very impressive work, well put together and you avoid the major pitfalls in designing a new chapter :tu:

I'll echo Kelborn in saying that your colour scheme may be a bit overcomplicated though - not even from a painting perspective, but from the visual aspect: imo, three main colours feels like the upper limit before it starts to feel crowded, whereas you have 5 here. Your emblem is cool, but perhaps slightly too close to real world military forces : what I'd recommend is putting the grenade in the clenched fist of the Imperial Fists. In addition:

- I'd make the whole torso red rather than having the grey/silver section

- I'd also make the feet green, but the knee pads silver rather than khaki.

- Finally, I'm not sure the blue really adds anything but confusion to the scheme: instead, I'd replace it with your yellow, and instead add an Agemo (the "U") to somewhere on the armour (perhaps the greave, perhaps over one of the hearts, perhaps on the boltgun casing...)

That way you'd have 3 main colours (green, red and yellow), with a silver secondary colour.

 

Other than that? To be honest, I haven't much to add, except that this IA is looking very promising :)

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The backstory is acceptable. The colors, however, are too many, and end up diluting each other's visual impact. May I suggest simplifying them to red and blue stripes on ONE of a Marine's gauntlets? Have both pauldrons be yellow, and leave the rest of the armor green, so a viewer's eyes will be forced to focus.

[Osteoclast]

Here's a revised color scheme image:

 

Hopefully this will be more sane and manageable, especially for a total noob to painting miniatures like me.

 

Hail Brother and welcome to the ranks of the DIYers. Looks like you're off to a good start with the Pioneers. Your background material looks pretty solid and well thought out.

 

Your color scheme looks very busy, but you've thought out the symbolism quite well. So, if that is what you are set on, then go for it.

 

A new chapter in possession of a Ramilies-class star fortress is rather bold (the Imperium doesn't give those things away like party favors). You might want to come up with a backstory on how the Pioneers of Dorn acquired it. Your idea of allowing the Imperial Navy use of the fortress is a good one and would certainly go a long way in ameliorating any tension over your chapter's possession of such a rare and valuable resource.

 

I definitely like your choice of chapter symbol and battle cry 'Pioneers of Dorn' seemed a bit of an awkward name when I first saw it, but the more I roll it around the more I like it Have fun with your new chapter and good luck.

 

Courage and Honour

 

Would the following work for back story (expounded upon of course): "It was a key element of the defenses above an important secessionist world and of sufficient strength to be a major potential delay for the Crusade given that they didn't want to destroy it either; Chapter seized it by force of arms (a finer way of saying "YOLOing almost the entire chapter and serfs into a boarding assault"), turned its guns on the planet below to enable the Guard to land, and essentially went 'Ours now, thanks' with opening it up for the repair and resupply of the Crusade fleet as a way of trying to keep everyone somewhat happy"?

 

 

Hi there Osteoclast! Well done on the beginning of your chapter, very impressive work, well put together and you avoid the major pitfalls in designing a new chapter
I'll echo Kelborn in saying that your colour scheme may be a bit overcomplicated though - not even from a painting perspective, but from the visual aspect: imo, three main colours feels like the upper limit before it starts to feel crowded, whereas you have 5 here. Your emblem is cool, but perhaps slightly too close to real world military forces : what I'd recommend is putting the grenade in the clenched fist of the Imperial Fists. In addition:
- I'd make the whole torso red rather than having the grey/silver section
- I'd also make the feet green, but the knee pads silver rather than khaki.
- Finally, I'm not sure the blue really adds anything but confusion to the scheme: instead, I'd replace it with your yellow, and instead add an Agemo (the "U") to somewhere on the armour (perhaps the greave, perhaps over one of the hearts, perhaps on the boltgun casing...)
That way you'd have 3 main colours (green, red and yellow), with a silver secondary colour.

Other than that? To be honest, I haven't much to add, except that this IA is looking very promising

 

The grenade in fist is what I'd love to do, but is entirely dependent upon my ability to smash things together in paint.net. Perhaps an Agemo surrounding the fist with grenade? That seems like it would be a good way to incorporate all three together.

[Brother Lunkhead]

Your new paint scheme looks much better

 

Storming the fortress by the chapter  and turning the guns on the secessionists sound like an awesome idea

 

IMO the original heraldry idea for your chapter is best. With all due respect to Brother Lord, I think the fist holding the grenade is slightly unfocused. The stylized grenade bordered by the iron circle is very reminiscent of the original heraldry of Dorn with just one simple change (grenade for fist). The Primogenitor Chapters of the XIII Legion might take exception to using the agemo in your own heraldry, as you are not of Guilliman's gene stock.. Perhaps the Ultramarines gifted the right to bare the agemo on the corner of one pauldron for some special service the Pioneers did for them.

 

Just for thought

Edited March 5, 2019 by Brother Lunkhead

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Your new paint scheme looks much better

I second that.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

A new chapter in possession of a Ramilies-class star fortress is rather bold (the Imperium doesn't give those things away like party favors). You might want to come up with a backstory on how the Pioneers of Dorn acquired it.

Possible explanations:

 

1) The star fort was lost in the Warp and absorbed into a space hulk untold millenia ago. When this space hulk reentered the material realm near an Imperial world, the Pioneers were called upon to explore it and cleanse it of any potential threats. The Marines found the star fort's propulsion system still functional after all this time, and started the engines to liberate the fort. (You may write of how the space hulk was an Ork war band's "ride," of the Pioneers' desperate battle to purge the foul xenos before they despoiled one of the Emperor's worlds, and how starting the star fort's engines tore apart the space hulk and effectively purged the Orks infesting it.)

 

2) The star fort once defended a forge world under an Iron Warriors war band's occupation. The Pioneers fought in the crusade to free this world from Perturabo's degenerate sons. As the Inquisition would demand the star fort quarantined for suspected taint- if not outright destroyed- the AdMech decided to repay the Pioneers for their contribution, by giving the Marines the star fort, with the caveat the Pioneers will take responsibility for any lingering Chaos-taint.

Your idea of allowing the Imperial Navy use of the fortress is a good one and would certainly go a long way in ameliorating any tension over your chapter's possession of such a rare and valuable resource.

I agree.

[Doctor Perils]

Yeah, much better colour scheme, though I'd probably tone the green down slightly (using more of a "military green" then a "uranium green" if you see what I mean) but on the hole the scheme works much better :tu:

I'd recommend against putting the Agemo around their emblem - you want it to be recognisable at a distance, and an agemo would just complicate it; also, you want to pay respect to guilliman, not based your identity round him

As Brother Lunkhead says, having the fist holding the grenade isn't obligatory - I'd recommend sketching it out to check which looks best for you

 

 

Storming the fortress is a good idea for one of their early battles, it would be fairly fitting with their progenitors too. If they are secessionists, that could simplify the purification ritual over what it would have been were they full on chaos

[Brother Lunkhead]

Hail Brother Osteoclast, 

 

Looks like lots of constructive ideas coming your way...... just don't forget, this is your chapter, so you go with what YOU like best.

 

Brother Lord makes a good point about the 'military green' vs 'uranium green'...... I think it works best considering your chapter name and theme. The overall green/yellow  pattern works very well whatever you decide. 

 

His point about drawing out both chapter symbols to get a good visual before making a final decision is good advise too. Still, I do prefer your original idea.... just sayin'

 

Brother Bjorn had a couple of good and interesting ideas for your star fort backstory. The space hulk idea is a bit problematic in that hulk ships are generally fused together and unless the star fort is right on the edge of the conglomerate it would probably tear itself apart while trying to free itself....but with a little imagination a workaround can probably be found. His Iron Warriors idea is vey cool and might even be worked into your original idea. I still think your original 'secessionist' idea is the simplest and best.... partly because this was fresh on my mind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shwFUcOg-Xc

 

Cheers

Edited March 11, 2019 by Brother Lunkhead

[Osteoclast]

THE PIONEERS OF DORN

CHAPTER NAME: .............. THE PIONEERS OF DORN

FOUNDING: ..................ULTIMA FOUNDING [M.42]

CHAPTER WORLD: ............. FLEET-BASED CRUSADING CHAPTER

FORTRESS MONASTERY: ........ RAMILIES-CLASS STAR FORT LIGHT OF TERRA

GENE-SEED (PREDECESSOR): ...IMPERIAL FISTS

KNOWN DESCENDANTS: .........NONE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Pioneers: OPEN THE WAY"

_{Battle cry of the Pioneers of Dorn}

O

nly the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum and the severing of the Imperium in twain as daemonic hordes and their damned allies poured forth could have served to overshadow the greatest act of treachery and rebellion since the Age of Apostasy, millennia ago. In what appeared to be a concerted act, massive rebellions broke out across the whole of the Segmentum Pacificus. A quarter of the Imperium, vanished into the fires of rebellion and soon host to any number of heretical, Chaotic, and xenos forces. In the stark opening days of the Dark Millennium, a lesser commander might have been forgiven for ignoring or even forgetting the struggle there, focusing instead on pouring the entirety of the Imperium’s might into halting the spread of the Cicatrix and its baleful flood. Yet even in this darkest of times, Roubute Guilliman, revived by the arts of Mars and Aeldari, sent forth armies to bring hope to the faithful and destruction to the heretic. Small compared to those kept with the Indomitus Crusade, and even smaller compared to the enormity of the task that faces them, they fight on nonetheless.

 

Among these armies was a chapter of the newly unveiled Primaris Space Marines, organized together as the Pioneers of Dorn, their gene-father. Operating together in close cooperation with Imperial Navy and Guard forces, the Pioneers have taken on a spearhead role. First to the fight, it is they who seize a landing zone for the unstoppable masses of the Imperial Guard tasked to take the planet. Headquarters, siege defenses, and fortresses are the follow on targets, always seeking the paralyze and destroy the enemy’s means of resistance.

 

A Codex adherent chapter, though they do experiment and operate with a bit of flexibility in view of the novelty of Primaris Astartes, the Pioneers of Dorn specialize in space to surface assaults, void warfare, and kill-teams. Typically, following surveillance of the site by Reiver and Scout teams, an augmented company sized force is used to seize starports or other assembly areas for the Imperial Guard forces. Following the declaration of this assembly area as secure enough for the removal of Astartes forces, the Pioneers split into smaller kill-teams, no larger than a demi-company at the most, to strike enemy headquarters, logistics centers, communication nodes, and follow on forces.

 

Unlike most chapters, the Pioneers give command of the fleet to the 1^st Company rather than the 4^th company. Chapter veterans are assigned to every cruiser or battle-barge and are attached to the battle companies on their combat deployments.

 

Though they are too young for it to be considered a tradition yet, the Pioneers have been recruiting their aspirants from amongst the ranks of orphans left behind by martyred soldiers of the Imperial Guard accompanying them. The lack of a suitable schola progenium for more than a hundred light-years following the Segmentum rebellions has resulted in a pressing need for some sort of orphanage care for the Crusade and, unless personally unwilling or other arrangements made by the Imperial Guard forces (many of whom keep their children as Whiteshields), they are adopted as serfs by the Chapter, screened for genetic suitability if male, and trained for an appropriate role, generally as ship crew or a common laborer forging the Chapter’s more basic weapons of war, such as bolter shells. Young female serfs of appropriate religious and martial zeal are handed over to the Order of the Glowing Ember, a minor order of Sisters Militant accompanying the Crusade. More suitable arrangements and a proper schola progenium are expected to be finished within the coming decades.

 

A fleet based Chapter, the Ramilies-class star fortress Light of Terra serves as their Fortress-Monastery. At present it also serves as the headquarters for the Garobus Crusade in Segmentum Pacificus and one of the four arms has been loaned out for the use of the Imperial Navy in repairing their vessels. While some chapters might see this as shocking, the Pioneers find it a pragmatic use of space and facility that they cannot themselves make present use of and a good means of influencing the mortal members of the Crusade and subtly controlling the course of it.

 

Leading the more mobile elements of their fleet is the battle-barge Hammer of Glory, newly built from the Martian shipyards, like so many others of her sisters in the Indomitus Crusade. Currently under the command of Lieutenant Rimachi, she proved instrumental in destroying the resistance of the traitor pocket empire Kirchensur and ending the naval battles of Chiari. Accompanying her are the strike cruisers Praetorian, Judgement of Terra, Eternal Duty, Angel of Sorrow, and approximately two dozen destroyers, frigates, and rapid strike vessels.

 

Like most Astartes chapters, especially those of the Ultima Founding, the Pioneers of Dorn do not worship the Emperor as a god, instead venerating him and especially their gene-father, Rogal Dorn. So too, to a lesser degree, are heroes of Dorn’s blood. A Pioneer studies such warriors and reflects upon them, emulating them as models for the conduct of their life and battle. Though observers hear such oaths as “Sigismund, guide my sword!” or “Dorn, lend me your fortitude!” and believe that these are a form of prayer, beseeching their subjects for supernatural intervention, they are but secular oaths of remembrance and inspiration. Whether they will remain such a thousand years hence is another matter entirely…

 

 

ORGANIZATION

 

 

 

The Pioneers of Dorn are Codex compliant, though they prefer to refer to their Battle and Reserve companies as Sword and Shield companies respectively. This arises from their study of Imperial Fist teaching and philosophy, especially as codified by the noted Rhetoricus in his Book of the Five Spheres, and the teaching that the sons of Dorn should have one hand raised in a fist towards their enemy, but the other outstretched to lend their brothers aid. Elements of the Shield companies which have not been attached for forward operations are detailed to newly compliant worlds to plan and raise fortifications to ensure their continued compliance and defend against any enemy counterattacks or raids. On worlds which were broken by the Pioneers, special attention is paid to the fortifications which they themselves overcame and they are taken as a special point of teaching for neophytes and newer brothers to go over both how the defenses failed, how the attack might have been done better, and how the defenses could have been improved. Pioneer doctrine holds that to properly defeat a fortification, one must know it fully; to anticipate its traps, fields of fire, responses, and blindnesses.

 

The livery of the chapter is green, an ancient Terran color of hope, to represent the hope for humanity against all that threatens it that the Pioneers bring forth in this age of darkness. In honor of Rogal Dorn, their gene-sire, both pauldrons are painted a golden yellow as are their fists, to honor the Imperial Fists as first in the brotherhood of Dorn’s blood. Upon the left pauldron is the chapter symbol, a stylized grenade in a circle.

 

SELECTED BATTLE HONORS

Liberation of Ongonker [55.391 post OCM]

The first major victory of the Chapter, 3^rd Company, augmented by squads from the 1^st and 10^th Companies, the Pioneers seized the main spaceport and the co-located sector HQ of planetary surface to space defensive batteries. Though 4 Astartes fell in the fighting, and a further 23 required some degree of apothecary treatment, by the time the port was declared clear enough for Imperial Guard landings, 78 bunkers or pillboxes, 6 Basilisk guns, and 182 heavy weapons positions were eliminated.

 

Naval Battles of Chiari [86.120 to 86.308 post CCM]

What began as a simple raid by the 5^th Company aboard the Strike Cruiser Eternal Duty turned into a months long series of skirmishes back and forth across the Chiari system. Intelligence reports had indicated a major meeting by the leadership of the traitor pocket empire of Kirchensur upon the fourth world of the system and the 5^th Company set out in force to cripple the enemy. After translation in-system, the Eternal Duty was unexpectedly intercepted by a hostile strike cruiser which refused to identify itself, though information recovered during and after the combat identified her as the Styx Embrace belonging to a previously unknown group of Heretic Astartes calling themselves “The Forlorn and Forsaken.” Though she defeated the enemy, forcing them to scuttle their vessel, though not before suffering heavy and crippling damage to her in-system and warp drives. Unable to complete her original mission due to extensive damage and personnel losses, nor able to escape without further aid, the Eternal Duty was pursued across the system by traitor vessels, summoned via astrotelepathy, until reinforcements arrived in the form of a pair of Imperial Navy light cruisers and the hunter became the hunted. This cycle of affairs repeated itself several times until finally the battle-barge Hammer of Glory arrived with additional escorts who proceeded to disable and capture a traitor heavy cruiser, destroy three other light cruisers, scatter their fleet, and bombard the major cities of Chiari IV into submission for good measure. Unrealized at the time, though the initial mission was a failure, this turned out to be the turning point in the naval campaign against the traitor pocket empire, though part of this can be laid at the hands of “The Forlorn and Forsaken” who raided the main orbital docks of their erstwhile allies and seized several of their lesser ships as “repayment” for the loss of their strike cruiser.

 

 

Cleansing of the Light of Terra  [67.929 post SCM]

Orbiting the planet Sarapis, a key civilized world in the so-called “Union of the Light,” the star fortress, whose name under secessionist rule has been wiped from history, was both pivotal to the planet’s defense and a major stumbling block for the Garobus Crusade. Besides the value of the planet as an astropathic nexus and its armor manufactoriums, capture of the star fortress would provide sufficient facilities as to progress the Crusade’s schedule by several years; by the same token however, to take it would drain so many resources as to retard the Crusade by at least as much time. A forge in its own right, the tight quarters and millions of armed sailors make the capture of a star fortress a difficult proposition, best compared not to the seizure of a planetary hive that it superficially resembles, but more akin to seizing substantial portions of a fortress planet such as Cadia and leaving it relatively undamaged in the process. Finally, frustrated by what he saw as a lack of urgency by the Crusade staff, chapter master Guamon gathered a few allies and launched a full scale assault upon the star fortress, bringing the entire chapter in on what he intended to present as a fait accompli to the rest of the Crusade. Even with an entire chapter of Primaris Space Marines engaging in the boarding assault, the fighting was still difficult and it was a full 24 hours before the station was sufficiently secure to permit the dropkeeps of House Dalecarlia and the landing ships for the 893^rd and 901^st Casoomian Mechanized Infantry Regiments to land upon the surface; with was a further 56.4 hours before the station was declared fully secured, mostly through the expediency of venting atmosphere one deck at a time. Throughout the fighting, a total of 93 Astartes were lost, many when boarding torpedoes or Thunderhawks were intercepted during the boarding action, as well as several thousand chapter serfs. Nearly the entire chapter fleet suffered moderate or severe damage in the action and the frigates Infinite Sight, Estolica, and Hualcana were destroyed in the fighting while the destroyer Chaska and frigate Gladius Glorious were declared constructive total losses due to the damage incurred.

 

Despite the losses taken and the preservation of the remainder of the Crusade’s fighting forces, there was initially some degree of hostility when Lord Guamon invoked the right of the Astartes to claim the star fortress, now renamed Light of Terra as both aspiration and slight to its former owners, as their own fortress-monastery. This softened, however, and was eventually overcome after the Imperial Navy was offered the use of one of its four arms for the duration of the Crusade for the repair of its vessels and ordnance manufactorium.

 

Pioneers of Dorn Chapter Icon

Common Armorial Use

 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The revised Chapter history is well done. I'm glad you acknowledged even Primaris Marines have limits, and showed the Chapter suffering heavy casualties during the battle to claim the star fort, unlike... others (cough! Matt Ward! cough!).

[Brother Lunkhead]

Excellent beginning Brother Good solid background material...… and I like the chapter symbol!

[Osteoclast]

While I'm waiting for GW to ship me my first models (with a presumably longer wait until I pick up paints and whatnot), the start of lore for the battle-barge Hammer of Glory

 

Excerpted from the Dictionary of Astartes Naval Fighting Ships

 

Battle-barge Hammer of Glory

 

Scyphus-class Martian pattern battle-barge.

 

Mass 29 megatonnes; length 5.1 km; beam 800 meters; maximum sustained acceleration 3.4g; complement 32,700 serf and servitors, 9 Techmarines, 37 Space Marines; primary armament 4 dorsal mounted twin 10-meter linear accelerator bombardment cannons, 6 prow mount 18 meter torpedo tubes, 24 casemated battery banks of macrocannons, plasma projectors, and turbolasers; spacecraft (at commission) 12 Thunderhawks, 4 Thunderhawk Transporters, 8 Thunderhawk Annihilators, 2 Landing Craft, 12 drop pods.

 

The keel for what would become the Pioneers of Dorn Astartes vessel Hammer of Glory was floated out into the Martian Ring of Iron 30 years prior to the opening of the Great Rift with the Martian pre-commissioning code of SGFt-bWVy-IG9m-IEds-b3J5-IDE-4. Belisarius Cawl’s work with the Primaris Space Marines was, of course, still highly classified at the time and the vessel was not built to a specific requisition, much less for the Pioneers of Dorn, but in accordance with millennia-tested Martian attrition estimates.

 

Following Cypra Mundi’s declaration that a 13^th Black Crusade was underway, the High Lords of Terra authorized the acceleration and armament of vessels currently under construction, as well as the laying of numerous additional hulls, in order to replace expected war losses. This increased even further following the Great Rift, the arrival of Lord Commander Roboute Guilliman, and His subsequent proclamation of the Indomitus Crusade.

 

Crusade emergency measures meant that though she was finally commissioned into service on 10.691+ SCM, she was still undergoing construction work. Due to limited supplies of appropriate servitors with the rapid expansion and mobilization of the Imperial Navy and Adeptus Astartes, especially with the unveiling of the Primaris Space Marines, as well as the ongoing construction needs (interior finishings, tertiary hexagrammatic wards, ablative armor, etc.) laborers from the Venusian industrial hives were drafted to form up the crew and serve as the nucleus for the Chapter serf complement.

 

Assigned to Battlefleet Atrox 3.273 SSY (Subjective Ship Year) where she escorted reinforcement convoys and engaged in orbital bombardments. Participated in the Battle of Beth Pavo (4.184 SSY), receiving minimal damage in exchange for destroying the mutinous destroyer Gaivota and crippling the light cruiser Octans. Detached from escort duty, she carried a mixed Astartes force, as was typical of the Unnumbered Sons at this point in the Indomitus Crusade, on raiding, reconnaissance in force, and commerce interdiction missions. Most notable was the Raid on Rimau (8.924 SSY), a daring raid on the orbital shipyards surrounding Rimau, a minor forge world which had fallen to Chaos. Though she suffered heavy damage from a trio of Luna-class cruisers that had gotten underway far faster than they had any right to do so, the shipyard workings were crippled and vessels docked either destroyed or otherwise rendered unable to contest Imperial advances in surrounding systems, as had been the intent. Due to damage exceeding her onboard capabilities of repair, or the advanced support yards of Battlefleet Atrox, Hammer of Glory retired to Mars for repair. During this time, the number twelve plasma reactor, which had long been plagued with a troublesome machine spirit, was replaced.

 

In 10.365 SSY, Hammer of Glory was released from the shipyard and, at the personal direction of Lord Commander Roboute Guilliman, transferred to the ownership of the newly organized 38^th Chapter of the Unnumbered Sons of Dorn (Pioneers of Dorn) as their flagship.

 

18.231 SSY: Forced the heretic blockade of Umbra Majoris Sextus to deliver Astartes and Imperial Guard reinforcements to the planet, during this action the battle cry of the Pioneers of Dorn (“Open the way!”) was first uttered by then-Lieutenant Corveg. Forced into spacedock for repair following this action where she was equipped for but not with Overlord transports.

 

78.308 SSY: Cleansing of the Light of Terra

[Messor]

Great stuff, Osteo; your lore is well-written and shows great attention to detail. My only suggestion at this point is to add your updated lore to the original post (maybe just hide the original in a spoiler tag before or after it), so that the first thing visitors see when they open it is the newest, most updated version of the Chapter.