Pride before the Fall: Index Astartes - Lion Warriors

[Brother Argent]

Index Astartes: Lion Warriors

A moment of laxity spawns a life time of heresy...

Summary:
▪ GENE-SEED (PREDECESSOR):- Dark Angels (Angels of Vigilance)
▪ FOUNDING:- 3RD [M.32]
▪ CHAPTER MASTER:- Dumah Berethial
▪ CHAPTER WORLD:- Al-Jandal (destroyed)
▪ FORTRESS MONASTERY:- The Spiteful Legacy (Battlebarge)
▪ MAIN COLOURS:- Golden Yellow, Black Shoulder Insets and Aquila
▪ SPECIALITY:- None
▪ BATTLE CRY:- None, formerly “Fear our roar!”
▪ CURRENT STRENGTH:- Endangered (Currently under four companies)
▪ KNOWN DESCENDANTS: (None known)

Chapter Name: The Lion Warriors

Origins: With the troubled times of the Scouring behind it and following the glorious Second Founding the Imperial was forced to redirect much of its efforts to the reclamation of the great glories lost during the Heresy. With much of the Traitor Legions having retreated to the sanctuary of the Eye of Terror many of the new Chapters founded were stationed directly around this Warp phenomena, many founded from forces that had already held the area, such as the Angels of Vigilance whom were founded from the forces of the Dark Angels left stationed on the world of Pervigilum. Whilst some of the control of the volatile region was restored the Traitor’s ever tested the Imperial defenses. When the Third Founding was declared the forces around the Eye were further reinforced with some of the Chapter’s being further divided, as was the case when the Lion Warriors were founded from the Angels of Vigilance and granted the homeworld of Al-Jandal, a strategicaly vital world situated on one of the few passages of stable space surrounding the Eye. It was here that the Lion Warriors would serve as stalwart protectors of the Imperium and many were the Traitor forces broken upon the walls of Al-Jandal.

This faultless service would be, in a sense, the cause for the Chapters eventual downfall. In the opening days of the 38th Millennium a vast Chaos fleet, under the command of Gheramor the Defiler, set to destroy the Lion Warriors once and for all. Gheramor had faced the Chapter before and lost, and as such held great spite for the Lions. Cutting off Al-Jandal from external supply he lay siege to the planet, starting a siege that would draw on for close to one hundred years. With Gheramor’s forces seemingly endless and the Chapter secure behind the walls of its vast fortress monastery it became a war of attrition. The Chapters armories were not inexhaustible, however, and soon ammunition and weapon supplies began to run out. It was never recorded whom picked up the first traitors bolter, nor whom turned the first daemon possessed weapon against its master but as the siege drew on more and more of the Loyalist Lion Warriors had taken up traitors arms. It wasn’t until eventual relief forces arrived from the greater Imperium that the siege was finally broken. With their world now secure and Gheramor himself lying slain at Chapter Master Azran’s hand the Chapter faced a great decision. To use the weapons of the enemy was Heresy, or at least to open oneself to the taint of Chaos. But the whole Chapter had, in their desperation, taken up the tainted weaponry and, thus, wore the taint. The Chapter’s Inner Circle sat in conference for a decade, with half those present, namely the representatives of the Chapters Reclusium, declaring that the Chapter had committed heresy and should cleanse itself in war, taking the fight to the Eye itself. The others, surprisingly led by Azran himself instead counseled that what better way was there to defeat the Great Enemy then to turn his own weapons against him. A compromise was eventually reached, brokered by the Librarium, that the Chapter would recover all weapons of the enemy it could with every artifact first cleansed by the Reclusium and then checked by the Librarium for any remaining trace of taint, before being made available in a deep vault beneath the Lion’s Den, their fortress monastery. Those artifacts deemed too tainted were to be either destroyed of stored under guard by the Chapter’s first company.

As time passed the Chapter began to not only use these artifacts but, eventually, began to seek them out. Soon the Second Companies responsibility wasn’t just the hunt for the Fallen but the hunt for artifacts for the Chapter. And it wasn’t long following this that it wasn’t just Chaos artifacts that the Chapter gathered but those of the Xeno and then not just weapons but lore and knowledge too. The repository beneath the Lion’s Den grew vast and varied and soon whispers grew among the population of Al-Jandal of a dark vault filled with evils hidden away.

The breaking of the Lions wouldn’t occur till the middle of the 41th Millennium and come, not from their vast store of dark treasures but at the hand of a young promising Captain by the name of Raziel Nuriah. Raziel had, even in his time in the Battle Companies, show excellent leadership potential and was possessed of an easy charisma that promoted a fierce loyalty in those whom served under him. It wasn’t long before he achieved Captaincy and none were surprised when, following the death of its previous holder, he was granted command of the 1st Company and raised to a high standing position amoungst the Inner Circle. Only once voice spoke out against his appointment, Chief Librarian Daviel, whom urged caution for one so young to be raised so high but his objections were soon over ruled.

It seemed as though Daviel would be proven wrong when Raziel took to his new duties with a passion and commitment that only earned him greater respect from those whom followed him into battle. At the battle of Hive Alpha on Provitus III Raziel lead the defence, serving as an immovable rock for the rest of the Lion Warriors to anchor their lines. Against the endless waves of tyranids of Hive Fleet Cerberus Raziel was as the warriors of old, destroying countless of the xenos in a blistering furious rampage. It was on the ash wastes of Zoris that Raziel would rescue the Librarian Naamah and earn with him a friendship that would, years later, ultimately seal the Captains fate.

It would be in the Omas Drift that Raziel’s, and with him the Chapter’s, doom would be sealed. Reports of a Space Hulk comprising almost solely of a Pre-Heresy vessel of unidentifiable class known only as the Talon of Aletheia in the ship records soon drew the attention of the Lion Warriors and Raziel led a boarding party of the Lionwing on board. What he found onboard the ancient vessel has since been expunged by the Chapter from Imperial records but shortly following Raziel’s gaining control of the vessel a vast force of orks followed the vessel into the Drift, keen on looting the vessel. Despite urging by the Lionwing’s Chaplain Raziel turned the vessel onto the orks, demolishing their ramshackle fleet with the vastly superior fire power of the vessel, although records indicate the Chaplain perished during the fighting. Upon defeat of the orks Raziel directed the Talon back to Al-Jandal where he and it were immediately seized by the rest of the Chapter. Raziel was censored for his use of unsanctified traitor technology and stripped of his rank and command. He was taken by the Reclusiam and Librarium and tortured and tested to acertain his purity. He was returned to front live duties where he seemed to have realised the error of his ways and threw himself with renewed faith and vigor.

Having restored his honour Raziel was eventually reappointed to his command but little did the Chapter know that the taint of Heresy had already taken hold in the young captain, encouraged and nurtured by the Fallen Librarian Naamah. One of his first actions upon returning to command of the Lionwing was to seize control of the still docked Talon and then turn it and much of the fleet on his former brothers, attempting to seize control of the Chapter. The Chapter divided and cut off Raziel and his followers rained fire and death down upon the planet whilst the remaining Loyalists of the Chapter fled to within the Lions Den and fortified themselves as they had done countless times in ages past. Raziel’s followers moved amongst the planets population, attempting to turn those they could to their cause. Eventually reinforcements from their parent Chapter, the Angels of Vigilance, along with a large Inquisitorial detachment responded to the distress call of the Lion Warriors and the siege was broken, but not before much of the Chapter’s strength was depleted and their fleet decimated. Raziel and his followers fled onboard the Talon and, although they were pursued, eventually escaped into the Eye.

Before the Inquisition could launch a full investigation into the Chapter Captain Dumah of the 2nd Company, the acting Chapter Master following the death of Chapter Master Thamiel, petitioned the Angels of Vigilance to perform Exterminatus on Al-Jandal, citing the taint of heresy that Raziel had spread among the population as well as the need to protect the secret of the Fallen. The truth of his request may have been to hide the Chapter’s relic gathering ways and seal away its Reliquary but regardless the Angels acceded. Death rained down upon Al-Jandal and soon the thriving verdant world was nothing more then a desert waste. Following an exhaustive investigation by the agents of the Inquisition the chapter was purged of those still tainted by Raziel’s heresy but the Chapter’s secret remained safe. Infuriated that the Chapter had destroyed their homeworld before he could finish his investigation the Chapter was ordered on a penitent crusade, to which they still continue on today.


Chapter Home World: When the Lion Warriors were founded they were originally gifted the world of Al-Jandal, a trading mecca in a relatively unknown area surrounding the Eye of Terror, to fortify as a sentinel world to watch for the nascent thread of Chaos. For much of the Chapter’s early history they fortified this trade hub and turned it into a vast fortress before turning their attention to the surrounding worlds. Known for its verdant plains, teeming wildlife and dark forests Al-Jandal became a beacon of Imperial rule in the oft troubled fringes of the Eye. The Lion warriors ruled from their vast Fortress Monastery on the planets Northern Pole, known as the Lion’s Den. Countless times the Lion Warriors pushed back forces, both of the original Traitor Legions as well as those more recently turned to the Dark Gods embrace. Under the Chapters rule Al-Jandal thrived.

The Lion’s Den itself was a nigh impregnable fortress, vast obsidian black walls thrust defiant from the arctic tundra and monstrous defence cannons stood silently traced on the forbidding sky above. Inside marines trained, studied and, much like the monastic traditions of the forebears, regularly prayed and meditated. And at the heart of this fortress, watched over by the Chapters Librarius and elite 1st Company, the Lionwing, was the Chapters vast reliquary of artifact recovered or stolen from those fallen to the Ruinous Powers or from the perfidious Xeno.

When Raziel led his rebellion within the Chapter and divided the Lion Warriors the resulting party of the Inquisition saw the Chapter sent on penitent Crusade and their homeworld declared Exterminatus. Fire and cyclonic torpedoes rained down on Al-Jandal, its verdant plains reduced to cratered deserts, its wildlife wiped out and its dark forests reduced to ash on the wind. Even the planets great hived were shattered and toppled and the Lions Den, once a proud and defiant monument to Imperial Glory was cracked open and reduced to little more then a dead ruin.

The Chapter now operates from what remains of its fleet. Loosing its great Heresy-era battlebarge, the Wrath of Caliban, along with the Pre-Heresy ship Raziel recovered they were left with only a few smaller Strike Cruisers and escort craft. It wasn’t until a later mission to help the Adeptus Mechanicus of Forge World Provinents that they were gifted with the vessel that would become their new Fortress Monastary, the mighty battle-barge the Spiteful Legacy. This vessel now contains much of the facilities once held at the Lion’s Den, with a fully functioning Apothecarion, Armoury, Recslusiam and many vast training rooms and other facilities crucial to the functioning of a Chapter. Only one facility remains on Al-Jandal, hidden to all but only the highest ranks of the Chapter. Deep beneath the shattered remains of the Den lies the still hidden Librarium and the vast reliquary it contains, watched over by only a few of the Chapters most elite warriors and the carefully watched remnants of the Librarium.

Present Activities: As the Chapter currently stands they approach the end of their One hundred year penitent crusade. Little of the Chapter remains with many having fallen over the course of their penance. Chapter Master Dumah has sworn a sacred oath however to see his Chapter one day restored to its former glory. To this aim he is more and more reserved on how he deploys his forces and rumours are that he has begun recruiting for the Chapter again in secret, although such rumours are often quietly silenced before they have chance to spread. Whatever the case the Lion Warriors have proven themselves still loyal sons of the Imperium and have, despite great hardships, continued to bring glory to their Chapter and the name of Lyon el Jonson

Battle Honors:

M34 - The Blackwall Uprising: Traitor insurgents from the Alpha Legion cause the entire Blackwall Sector to declare themselves independant of the Imperium, cutting trade to a vast section of the Imperium including Al-Jandal. The Lion Warriors response is as fast as it it ruthless. By the time the loyalist forces have retaken half the sector the rest surrender rather then face the Lion Warriors wrath. Their surrender is promptly ignored and countless thousands of secessionist are made an example of, their pleas for mercy falling on deaf ears.

M39 - WAAAAGH!!!! Grotsnappa!: Orks under the command of Warboss Grotsnappa invade the Imperial Worlds of the Stromnos Belt. The Lion Warriors 3rd Company responds, with aid from the 1st and 2nd Companies. The Ork Warband is almost defeated and open to a devastating attack by the Lionwing but on the eve of battle the Lion Warriors redirect their attack against the Ork’s rearguard and after a devastating attack on the orkish wierdboyz cadre withdraw, rumored with artifacts of a dark nature. Without the Astartes aid the Orkish
WAAAAGH!!! drags on for many more years and at the cost of countless thousands of guardsmen.

M40 - Zerethiel’s Doom: Zerethiel, Captain of the Lion Warriors 4th Company, leads an assault into the Xeno catacombs of Praesis V. What exactly he discovers in the depths is unknown but what few communications were received hint at a vast metallic complex with rows and rows of skeletal statues and strange large insectoid machines before contact is lost. Zerethiel or his marines are never heard from again and Praesis itself disappears from Imperial control shortly there-after.

M41 - The Talon of Aletheia: An ancient vessel of Pre-Heresy design is found drifting in the Omas Drift. The Lion Warriors, under the command of Captain Raziel of the Lionwing, seize control of the vessel. Although recommended to destroy the vessel by the company Chaplain Raziel instead takes control of the vessel and turns it against a major Orkish incursion that were following the derelict vessel. The orks are easily destroyed with the ancient vessel but the Chaplain of the Company is killed during the action. Upon returning the vessel to his Chapter Raziel faces censure for using a non-sanctified vessel. Raziel is temporarily stripped of his ranks and punished accordingly before being returned to front line duty. Although his service in exemplary upon return to duty he seems to become increasingly obsessive with the capture of artifacts and forbidden knowledge, even moreso then his brothers.

M41 - The Lions of Al-Jandal: Raziel, having been returned to his former rank for loyal service, leads a revolution of nearly a third of the Company against the Chapter Master and seized control of much of the Chapter’s fleet. The loyalist Lion Warriors fortify themselves in the Lions Den whilst Raziel’s followers rain fire down upon the planet. It is only when reinforcements arrive from the greater Imperium that Raziel abandons his siege, taking those of his forces whom were on board his fleet, abandoning much of his forces on Al-Jandal whom flee into the planets forests and wild lands. Al-Jandal is declared Exterminatus following an exhaustive Inquisitorial investigation and the Chapter sent on Penitent Crusade.


Chapter Organization: The Lion Warriors originally different little from the Codex, regarding it as a solid and effective tome on battle tactics ideal for the enhanced methodology of warfare of astartes. They only differed from the tome in the same ways as there Primogenitors, with the First Company being Terminator armored veterans, known as the Lion Wing and the Second Company being a highly mobile and entirely mounted Company known simply as The Seekers. The Lion Wings duty was two fold, one to safeguard the Chapters Vault on Al-Jandal and secondly to act as the Chapter’s hammer blow when either Fallen or artifacts were found. The Seekers acted in a similar role to their Ravenwing forefathers with the added role of seeking out those artifacts that the Chapter may wish to seize. Since their fall the Chapters Librarium are rarely seen and never seen on the battlefield.

Fleet Assets:
1x Battlebarge - The Spiteful Legacy
4x Strike Cruisers - The Lion’s Tooth, The Sword of Al-Jandal, The Angel’s Throne, Hate’s Kiss
Assorted Thunderhawks and Escort Craft

Recruitment: The Lion Warriors once recruited from the hardiest of the tribes of Al-Jandal, those whom survived the massive honour duels before the gates of the Lion’s Den. Since their Penitent Crusade however the Chapter has been forbidden to recruit new initiates and as such its forces are slowly dwindling.

Chapter Colors:

Battle Cry: The Lion Warriors are sworn by their penitent oath to bear no heraldry nor yell no battle cry. Before their sentence their cry was “Fear our roar!”

Gene-Seed: Dark Angels (Angels of Vigilance)

Champions of the Chapter:

Chapter Master Dumah Berethiel

As hard as ceramite and as dour as stone is one way Dumah has been described. A man of brooding wrath and dark humour he is perhaps the best representative of what he Lion Warriors have become. When Raziel turned his forces against the Chapter Master Dumah was one of the first to declare which was his loyalties lie. Not by some showy proclamation or defiant speech but simply moving his forces to fortify the Lions Den. During the battle for the Lions Den Dumah is said to have personally sought out the Captains whom turned against the Chapter, and is said to have successfully taken the life of two of the renegade commanders. As one of the only surviving loyalist Captains left after the Inquisitions arrival he naturally assumed command of the shattered Chapter, a role he took without much relish and with the stoic resignation that has always marked him. Despite this grim nature Dumah has successfully led the Chapter through gthe dark days of its penitent crusade and is close to restoring the Chapters good name. Whilst many claim Dumah has disobeyed the direct conditions of the Chapters penitent crusade by secretly recruiting new neophytes to the Chapter Dumah has addressed these with the pragmatism he is famous for, by simply ignoring them. One thing is certain, however, that Dumah will stop at nothing to see the Lion Warriors restored.

Grand Master Erasio Tolus

With Raziel's betrayal much of the Lion's Pride, or 1st Company, was left depleted and decimated. Despite Raziel's easy charisma it is a telling sign that roughly half of the Pride stayed loyal to their Chapter Master. Erasio was one of these loyalists. Only newly appointed to the 1st and initiated into the mysteries of his Chapter and its Inner Circle Erasio was regarded as brash and boisterous and many were surprised that he did indeed remain loyal to the more monastic nature of his Chapter over the freedom and self aggrandisement offered by Raziel. When the ashes of Al-Jandal settled the position of Grand Master of the First was left open. Despite it being offered to many of the more senior members of the Pride they all declined, not wishing to stand in the shadow of the traitor that had nearly felled the Chapter. So the position remained empty for many years until. Erasio relentlessly petitioned Dumah to grant him the position but was constantly knocked back. Eventually, however, Dumah relented. Despite misgivings from most of the 1st Erasio has proved an apt and capable leader for the Pride, if not a far more aggressive and fierce leader then the Pride has previously known.

[Brother Argent]

Okay so this is the starting point for my fifth LASC swap Challenge, the Lion Warriors.  This is the IA I wrote for them back in 2015 for the Brotherhood of Angels forum event.  I intend on rewriting much of it over the next day or two but it gives whatever unlucky person whom scores them a place to work off.

 

Things I intend on rewriting:

 

 - The White Talons: No longer are they the fallen split of this Chapter, as evidenced here.  I need to decide whether the fallen from these will become either my Khorne renegades, Tzeentch ones or if they just get wiped out.  Or if there is even the same split.  I am actually thinking of taking out the whole schism, or just having it an internal thing that never reaches the Imperium's ears.

 

- Al-Jhandal: In the intervening years since I wrote these guys their world was always a desert world and the Chapter has some slight african themes.  I have in my head the classic vast square stone walls and egypt like cities, or even the Lions Den being like the Hanging Gardens on Babylon, an oasis in the middle of the desert.

 

- Primaris.  They are a thing now.  I am debating as to if the Lion Warriors will just flat out refuse to have them.  I always thought it made more sense that the Dark Angels should have just outright said no.

 

- The artifact and lore hording is staying.  These guys are walking a very fine line and I like it, adds to the Dark Angel edgyness.

 

 

There are a few other things that will no doubt occur to me as the day goes on.  Anyway there is the basis that I am going to strip down and rebuild.  Hopefully before someone gets to invested in painting one 

[Brother Lunkhead]

Hail Brother Argent,

 

Very fine work here All looks very well thought out and reads well. I've just a couple of observations:

 

1. Here:

The Chapter’s Inner Circle sat in conference for a decade, with half those present, namely the representatives of the Chapters Reclusium, declaring that the Chapter had committed heresy and should cleanse itself in war, taking the fight to the Eye itself.

They are "in conference for a decade". I see what you are going for here, but a decade long debate makes this seem like a debate society marathon session and not a serious warriors' counsel. This makes them way too indecisive and more caught up in debating for debating's sake. I think several weeks to a few months at the outside would be more appropriate (plenty of time to run out of snacks and beer).

 

2. Considering the scope of the fall of the Lion Warriors and the fact that they are descended from the Dark Angels (via the Angels of Vigilance) wouldn't there be a great schism between the Lions and their Dark Angels' brothers along with all the implications that go with their uncompromising and unforgiving natures? 

 

Good stuff all around Brother. I'm especially keen to so more history here

Edited March 31, 2021 by Brother Lunkhead

[Graceless]

Hi Brother Argent. I enjoyed your IA, especially the inevitable doom once the chapter started "dabbling" where it shouldn't.

 

I'd echo Brother Lunkhead's comment about the conference for a decade. You could imply this was on and off for a decade - whenever senior members of the chapter were gathered the debate resumed only to be broken off again by the call to war, or just make it more ambiguous (the debate raged for years...) or both: "the debate raged on a off for years until etc etc etc"

 

Other than that tiny quibble though, really good work.

 

Graceless