Dark Apostle Thirst

I would like clarity on something. While I generally agree that Ferrus is as dead as it's going to get, what exactly is the current status of his body? Did the Iron Hands chop it up to make relics? Is it just somewhere in their fortress monastery? Does Cawl have it and he uses it as a little Iron Hand geneseed garden? Does Daemon Fulgrim have it and he has it in a giant picture frame which he occasionally monologues to? Does the Addams family have one of the hands, fully separated from the rest of the body?

Basically your second point. Werewolves makes sense in the thematic context of Space Wolves whole thing - the idea that they're not just spiritually wolves and follow a wolf based identity, they quite literally are part wolf. Is it a little over the top? Yes. But it's consistent with their identity as a chapter, and 40k thrives on over the top, so all in all it really works, IMO. It's all taste. But I don't think that the Wulfen are any more egregious than them riding wolves into battle, or having wolves even accompany them on the field. I think that this too is the point. Firstly, very strong aesthetic - in a way that is unique to Blood Angels very strong aesthetic that you commented on, which I also really like - that feeds into their knightly identity. But historically knights of many orders have been just as terribly secretive and underhanded as there have been honorable members. Let's look at the ur example of knight mythology : King Arthur's knights of the round table, which includes the traitorous Sir Mordred and the betrayal of Sir Lancelot with the Queen. From the beginning there's the struggle between the ideals knights are sworn to uphold and the reality of human ambition. And 11 out of 13 knights will uphold those oaths - but the betrayal of the other two is a stain the others will not forget, will not forgive. In this light, I think the Dark Angels are characterized perfectly. Secondly, they would be so much more boring without this kind of drama. What's left? They have ancient technology? Look at the Iron Hands, who have a much stronger relationship with ancient technology, and see where it's taken them. They have the Ravenwing and the Deathwing? So they're slightly better equipped than Ultramarines? Easily the most interesting aspect of the Dark Angels is that I really feel that they know what good is and what good means, but unlike the Space Wolves and the Salamanders, they know that they fall short of that, and it burns them. That's good writing.

Ok, first of all. Blood Angels. You have too much going on. Scale it back. I love you guys, but the vampire angle adds literally nothing to your character. You already have the Black Rage, and that's great! Showing the scars of an ancient titanic struggle between good and evil still hurting these immortal holy warriors of today is perfect angel coding. I know you have blood in your name. I know your primarch is literally named Sanguinus. But you guys so clearly want to be angels so much more than you want to be vampires, and that's totally fine. You don't need all of this to justify being called the Blood Angels - you're Angels designed for War, and War necessitates Blood, so it's all good. We can all just agree the Red Thirst was never real except when we're talking about the Flesh Tearers. It's fine for them because it fits their theming of being crazy in the berserk serial killer way. Dark Angels. Yes, you have the Fallen and that's wonderful. But the Blood Angels really want to be Angels, and you really want to be Knights. You can be knights and keep your grim reapery/angel of death thing going on, doesn't clash at all, it's just part of your heraldry. You can even still call the Fallen the Fallen, that's ok, Fallen knights aren't as much of a thing but they're there in the concept of oathbreakers. I personally think you should lean more into your Lion theming - I know you have a complicated relationship with your primarch but there's a lot of room to explore in being lionhearted - but even if you don't, you've got this beautiful thing going on with the Ravenwing and the Deathwing. Rather than being Dark Knights (comparably edgy to Dark Angels), I propose you name yourselves Raven Knights and just explore that space for a while. Space Wolves - no notes, you know what you want and you do it. Imperial Fists. Frankly you're an embarrassment and you're consistently outperformed by your own successors. Just let the Black Templars take over and you can hang out in the Third Founding. Salamanders. You guys also have a lot going on but it somehow works. You put a lot of work into handcrafting your arms and armor because you're doing this whole, Salamanders don't flinch in the face of fire thing, but it also gels with your whole 'we care about defending humans on the individual level' thing by showing you care enough to hand make the toughest equipment. You favor heat weapons to go with the drake theme, but the drake theme helps the humanity thing because it's like your hoard is the humans you save. Great thematic blending. Only complaint is that Salamander is sort of weak and you should fully embrace yourselves as Dragons. I understand Salamander is maybe more tasteful, but we don't come to 40k for tasteful. White Scars. You have so much potential and GW refuses to do anything with it. You have a lot of little themes building into your big theme - Scars, Speed, Independence all feeding into this image of warriors who fight for the joy of it all, the rebels with hearts of gold. You come across as stoic but that's because you're entirely disinterested in everyone's else's drama. You're like Space Wolves but with more social and emotional intelligence. I just want these things to be developed more. Give me an anthology that's White Scars sharing stories of their most insane stunts. I want a story about an Inquisitor who absolutely knows a successor chapter is pranking the hell out of him, but their paperwork is flawless, their worlds all paid extra on their tithes,their Chapter Master is perfectly civil, and most importantly, he can't prove anything. Tell me about how five White Scars successors send a company each to meet up once a century and compete, and whichever chapter wins the competition forms a little crusade fleet out of the gathered marines and it's a huge honor just to be involved. Give me a fresh out of scout training White Scar attempting to steal a Custode jetbike. I have less strong opinions about the other chapters. Raven Guard and Iron Hands are also criminally underrated. I really appreciate how the Ultramarines redeemed themselves by pivoting from 'worships good tactics book' to 'only sane man suddenly in charge of circus'. Honestly I'm mostly want the Angel chapters to sort their stuff out.

Two months later? Let's go. Organization The Mercurial Lords, though devoted to their Primarch and the greater brotherhood of the Ultramarines and their fellow successors, are only mostly Codex compliant. The chapter nominally fields the full chapter of Space Marines as normally instructed by the Codex Astartes, with two minor but significant exceptions. Firstly, and most importantly, promising officers with aptitude for the many skills of governance are often scouted by their Captains, many times even when a marine is still a scout in the Tenth Company. If found to be receptive to leadership, these candidates will be groomed to be statesmen and the leaders of not only marines, but worlds, trained in diplomacy, logistics, and statecraft. The most gifted of these mentor under an existing governing Mercurial Lord, to eventually take their place. These Lord-Governors are ultimately loyal to the Chapter Master as their only true commanding officer, but are very much expected to make their own decisions and operate outside a normal chain of command. This led to the second minor deviation - in addition to submitting new recruits to the Chapter's Tenth Company, Lord-Governors will typically requisition five to twenty marines from one of the 7th, 8th, or 9th companies as their personal hand. This is partially to exercise their own martial might - many having earned a place in the First Company as veterans, and have not entirely cast off that life - and an excellent way to keep their protege's sharp and useful as weapons, not just as leaders. The primary duty of the Chapter remains war, and even with their pride in governing the River, every member of the Chapter must be kept whetted on martial conflict. These retinues are not counted as members of any company, but frequently reintegrate into normal chapter structure to reinforce a company that has suffered losses. In this way, it remains marginally easier for the chapter to reinforce itself - rather than waiting on a regroup with, or a detachment from, the reserve companies of the chapter, companies can simply re-acquire a few squads from nearby Mercurial worlds, who have a less immediate need for marines. These worlds can then wait comfortably for those squads to be replaced. relying instead only on the well-trained special forces units of the local PDF and Guard regiments. Unfortunately, many among the Chapter consider these 'personal' squads a thing of the past. There's simply been too much pressure to replace the marines that have been recruited, lost, or damned to set aside any for the governors who have their own mortal armies, and many that the governors did have were lost in the long years defending their worlds rather than reinforcing the heart of the chapter. Otherwise the chapter maintains Codex compliance in structure and organization. Culture The Chapter, despite all their diplomatic efforts and logistical structuring, view themselves as crusaders first and foremost. To be selected away from the frontlines for leading mortals was seen as a galling but necessary duty when the Lords first started settling colonies and reclaiming human worlds back into the Imperial fold, the same way one might view a janitor or a bureaucratic desk worker. A major part of why Lord-Governors are allowed to requisition squads outside the regular chain of command is so that they can continue participating in war of some kind, even if only by the proxy of commanding these squads. As the dark times of the last few decades pitted many of these governing Lords against new and powerful threats, many of them would confess to a chaplain that they reveled in the chance to not just maintain and patrol their worlds, but to fight actively for them. Indeed, it would be hard to find a single other unifying factor that unites all of the chapter. Culture not done. You don't have to comment on the very long history section

History section done. I promise the rest will be much shorter. It turns out a lot can happen in 6000 years.

I do like this shift in tone, and I may edit the work to be more brutal in the second pass. Excellent suggestion, thank you. I have added a History section which is incomplete. I worry it's a little too long now, and it only covers about 1/5th of their history, so I would mostly appreciate feedback on that aspect. Of course, if something else is worth commenting on, please do comment!

Index Astartes : Mercurial Lords Origins In the dark days of the 10th Founding were the Mercurial Lords conceived from abundant Ultramarine genestock. The Imperium was shaken by the Ur-Council declaring itself a separate state, and the Mechanicus was preparing itself to burn in the light of the Moirae schism. With the biggest threats to the Imperium seeming to come from merely within, the young Lords (or simply Sons of Ultramar, as they had been tentatively named) looked to Macragge for inspiration. There was an empire within the Imperium, yes, but fully unlike these rebels in its steadfastness to the Golden Throne and humanity. Indeed, the success of the Five Hundred worlds helped then, as it does today, to stabilize the wider regions around it with consistent access to military and material support in times of crisis. It was a simple conclusion for the early Lords that the most good they could do as a chapter for the Imperium was to find a stable, but perhaps inefficient sector, step in to govern it, and then spread that stability to the regions around it, and from those regions to those that followed. It is this mission, this impetus, that led to a brief century of crusading as the Lords searched for their domain amongst the benighted and besieged worlds of the Imperium. As civil war raged, the chapter steadfastly committed themselves to the Xenos and Chaos threats that arose, eager to exploit the gaps in defenses the civil war left behind. A trail was blazed across the galaxy as the Lords support countless PDF forces and guard regiments too small to be caught up in the wider conflict, but too small to properly defend themselves against whatever foreign threat arose to take their world from the Emperor's light. It was on this quest that the Lords found a bountiful system, Vacilius Greater. The chapter had initially stopped in the system to refuel and restock, but found it ideal for their purposes upon closer inspection. Not listed in the system's records as inhabited was a small world close to the system's star, tidally locked so that one side always faced the blistering heat of day, while the other was shrouded in protective night. In the cold side of this planet, officially dubbed 'M-5X22RC7', was a small mining colony supplying the manufacturing world further from the star. The colonists had dubbed the world 'Little Mercury' out of affection for their strange home. The chapter quickly became enamored by this reference to one of Holy Terra's sister planets, and settled their fortress-monastery on this auspicious symbol. Their home and purpose finally clarified with reality, the chapter quickly rebranded themselves the Mercurial Lords, and set about preparing to march. Now the chapter's true mission could begin. History Young and invigorated by a new sense of identity, the Mercurial Lords sprang into action. A handful of suitable veterans were given instructions to organize Vacilius Greater as a proud seat of the new empire - taking command of the worlds to govern them, establishing an efficient and prosperous chain of resources as a future supply line, and beginning the next generation of Chapter recruits. The rest of the chapter surged into the surrounding star systems, wiping out pirate and xenos infestations, and bringing to heel any rebellious worlds that had grown too bold in the wake of the Ur-Council's defiance. In ten years every system that had a warp-lane that touched Vacilius Greater had been cleansed of any threat to the Lord's new home. Three colonies had become two dozen, and the first phase of pacification had been completed. From there, expansion slowed, but not much. The Lords worked carefully, meticulous that their gains would not be taken from them. From Little Mercury and the planets already found loyal flowed new colonies into suitable worlds, and in turn those worlds were governed to improve their infrastructure, their wealth of their resources, and their influence. The silvered colors of the Chapter became bywords for good fortune and the reward of faith as the quality of living for their citizenry soared. For many, simply having the security that no xenos or raiders would darken their skies was enough to buy their loyalty. For others, the cessation of political turmoil and a promise of a steady hand to guide their futures won their support. In time, these worlds themselves would be developed into the bedrock of stability for other, newer colonies, as the Lords that oversaw them cultivated new Guard regiments to defend them, new shipyards and fleets to patrol them, and new allies to hold them. For the Lords knew that they could not be petty kings, alone ruling in the safe domain they were creating. The Imperium was too vast, too complex, and it was against the Codex for any one space marine to have too much power. So the Guard regiments were fairly and generously tithed to High Command of the Astra Militarum, and the fleets and shipyards were either given as gifts, if not invited to be directly constructed by, the Navis Imperialis. It was the Lords who reached out to the Mechanicus, asking them to establish new Forge Worlds on planets that were rich in resource and logistically convenient. The chapter gave freely of the worlds they conquered to the members of these organizations who stood steadfast against rebellion. This, in turn, legitimized the Mercurial Lords claim to the worlds they kept, as the other powers of the Imperium were incentivized to work with and indeed empower the chapter to bring in more spoils of war. And time passed, and the Mercurial Lords mission did not change. Though they eventually stopped claiming worlds as their own to govern, the chapter's reach became wide amongst the dense clusters of stars. Even if they did not claim fealty to the chapter themselves, many worlds became indebted by way of the Lords saving them from hostile invasion, Chaos corruption, or from being overthrown in rebellion. Others were colonies fully created by the chapter, guarded over until they could guard themselves. Still others were dependent on food, material, or manpower from one of the chapter's worlds. Over 900 years, close to a millennia, the chapter built a grand web of star systems bound logistically and politically together. It was no Ultramar, but the Lords toiled for a thousand years to build it. By this time, every marine that served had been made since after the chapter had settled on Little Mercury. It was becoming popular for marines to wear a shield or a token emblazoned with the heraldry of the world they had been recruited from, and in this way over a hundred worlds were represented among the brothers of the chapter. All was not well, however, in the wider Imperium. Even as Segmentum Pacificus rejoins the Imperium in the Cataclysm of Souls, marking a hopeful end to a dark age of rebellion, the Ecclesiarchy begins siphoning funds and resources away from the rest of the Imperium to build monuments to their own power and the Emperor's glory. Initially the Mercurial Lords turn a blind eye to this - they judged resources spent by the Ecclesiarchy as important for maintaining the loyalty of the faithful. And, surprisingly, another chapter had settled on one of the worlds well within the influence of the Mercurial Lords. These were Blood Angel successors, claiming to be from the 13th Founding, calling themselves the Sanguinary Ghosts. They claimed a psychic vision from their chief Librarian had led them to settle there, on a world called Mallach V, a world ravaged by Exterminatus some centuries before. Yet the world had become a secret outpost of a far reaching Chaos cult, which was quickly purged by the Ghosts. Surprised and troubled by this news of a secretive Chaos cult that might be affecting their worlds, the Lords quietly accepted their strange new brothers. Ecclesiarchal spires rose across a dozen worlds claimed in the name of His most holy church, and with those spires rose taxes and demands of their neighbors. Unrest rippled from these places of worship, but for the first time the chapter hesitated to intervene. The demands of the Ecclesiarchy were taking from the wealth and infrastructure that the chapter had so carefully constructed, and in doing so inciting the very rebellion the Lords wanted it to prevent. Still, the power of the church was growing, as was the Inquisition. Reluctantly the Mercurial Lords stepped forward to intervene, but they did so first attempted to balance political and diplomatic strength to convince the Cardinals of Mercurous into compromises and more merciful demands, even as across the Imperium the demands of the Ecclesiarchy grew and grew. Tensions continued to escalate despite the Lords best efforts, until Goge Vandire seized the title of Ecclesiarch and plunged the Imperium into the Reign of Blood. In such a time of crisis, the Lords could do little. For even one Hive to defy Vandire would a system burn, and indeed countless innocents were purged in the name of the Ecclessiarch’s tyranny. If the Mercurial Lords were to make a move against Vandire, they feared he would put to torch their entire realm. Everything they had built could be so quickly rendered naught but ash if the baleful attentions of Vandire turned toward the chapter, and so the Lords turned a blind an eye they could towards the terror and the tyranny. Though it was the pragmatic choice, this dark time is still considered a shameful mark on the history of the chapter. But Vandire was eventually beheaded by the will of the Emperor Himself, and as the news reached the Lords, they celebrated the death of a tyrant and the end of fear for their people. Pleased with the Daughters of the Emperor for finally destroying Vandire, they invited the Ordos to form several Preceptories on their worlds. To this day, there is a strong presence of the Orders of the Sacred Rose and Our Martyred Lady on the worlds governed by the Mercurial Lords. At last the Age of Apostasy came to a close. By this time, the Lords had served for two thousand years. In the last thousand, they had served often alongside the Sanguinary Ghosts, though the other chapter preferred to keep themselves at arms length. First they had expanded their own power and influence, then they had defended and built it up further and further. Their first colonies were now thriving metropolises; their allied forge worlds were titans of industry and power that hosted their own fleets and titan legions. The Imperial Navy patrolled with force in now well tread passages through the Warp, and a thousand regiments of Guardsmen marched from the chapter’s worlds to fight in wars both near and far. It was properly a realm of prosperity, despite the trials and tribulations since the Mercurial Lords began their efforts. Pleased with a seeming new age of peace and prosperity, the chapter finally decreed their mission finished. Their realm - which they called the River of Mercury - was theirs to protect, to guide, to hold as a shining example of loyalty to the Imperium and the Emperor. It was not Ultramar, but every Lord hoped it would make Guillimann proud that they followed his example. And so they did. Years became decades. Decades became centuries. Centuries became millennia. And finally, once again, did there come the turning of the age. To the Time of Ending. The beginning of the end, for the Lords, came with the Necrons. First one world was revealed to be a tomb world, and the Lords, unwilling to let these xenos take even a single inch from the River, retaliated in full force. But the campaign was costly, and before it was over three more worlds had terrible monoliths and vast metal legions rising from the earth. New regiments of Guard were commissioned. The Ordos of Sisters and the Legions of Skitarii mobilized to face this new threat, but as quickly as they committed to one conflict another world would cry out for help. As word of the fighting spread, the Ork Freebootaz, long a threat kept out of the River but too large for the chapter and its allies to exterminate on their own, turned their attention to these new battlegrounds. Worlds who freely gave of their own troops to help their neighbors found themselves with only the lightest of defenses against an unprecedented WAAAAAAGH, and often Imperial relief forces would respond to the Necron threat only to find themselves fighting a two-front war with an endless greenskin horde. Worlds thought impassable began to fall, and with them came a dozen others before these twin invasions. Worse, with time the Necrons no longer came from just beneath the Imperials feet, but from systems afar, those never in the River, and they came as harbingers of a Necron dynasty re-awakening. Something had to be done. The Chapter Master of the Mercurial Lords summoned the First, Second, Fifth and Sixth companies, a powerful naval entourage, a dozen regiments of Guardsmen, and the Titan Legion of Trikroan to march on the apparent seat of this Necron Dynasty. Though it was far from the comfort and the needs of the River of Mercury, beheading the dynasty was reasoned to be the only way to stop more tomb worlds from awakening and threatening the realm. With their course resolved, the powers assembled, then launched their fleet towards the capital of the Necron dynasty that so plagued them. It was then the maw of hell opened and the Cicatrix Maledictum screamed its way into reality. The Mercurial River lay right along its path, yet in some miracle of the Emperor, it was not wholly consumed. All around it lay terrible Warp storms, save for two exit points : one to the Imperium Sanctus, and one to the Imperium Nihilus. The Lords themselves were at first blind to what this meant. To them, it meant only one thing - a chance to evacuate the doomed peoples they had so carefully cultivated. The chapter had one last duty to fulfill - to prove the Emperor protects the faithful. They drew up battle plans, made one last coordination of their allies, and sent out a general distress cry, one among countless others as the dread warp storm ravaged the galaxy. Then the survivors marched. They engaged the daemons spilling out from the Warp, ready and hungry to devour the souls of the innocent. They struck out against the Necrons, casting devastation upon the tombs to buy time for colonists to escape. Even as the orks pressed in, gleeful at the bounty of war that suddenly appeared around them, the chapter pushed back, committing to devastating last stands. But something strange happened that they did not expect. Even as the chapter dwindled, the Sanguinary Ghosts, for so long distant and mysterious, appeared time and time again by their side. It was not enough, but the two chapters committed to fighting and dying together. Even as such oaths were sworn, however, another fleet arrived from Imperium Nihilus. It was a crusader chapter, with what relief forces they could gather, calling themselves the Thundering Wings. They came to protect the chain of warp lanes still intact that could lead them to Imperium Sanctus. Even with their relief forces, however, it was clear that they would not be enough either to slow the doom of the Mercurial River. It was only a matter of time before their assembled enemies overwhelmed them. Still, the Chapter Master of the Thunder Wings, Elias the Heartpiercer, insisted they try to hold the channel. This was bigger than the River. Together they fought, until Elias was proven correct. A mere year and a half after the Wings deployed, though an eternity to the besieged Imperial forces, a much, much larger fleet appeared in the skies above Little Mercury. This was the Indomitus Crusade, the saving grace of Rouboute Guilliman. He spoke once with the acting Chapter Master of the Mercurial Lords, Callistus Maklin, before departing two days later for Imperium Nihilus. Seventeen chapters of Primaris Marines stayed in the River, the total twenty forming a council, with Callistus at its head, and there was at last again hope. ----------------- Comments and feedback welcome.

Interesting! There was a lot of context here I didn't know to look for. I had heard a lot about the Dark Imperium, but I hadn't really understood what that was about; that half the Imperium is missing the light of the Astronomicon is actually devastating. Thank you for painting the wider picture.

Finally, the timeline moves forward. Honestly the thing that confused me most about the Primaris marines was how they would work without changing the timeline So similar to the Legions, there was an initial 7 Orders founded after the whole Vandire business, but then others were created both as splinters of the original 7 and for new purposes as well? So it's a little wiggle hand. Officially it's been decades, but if I were to homebrew a Primaris chapter with a little history it would be fine as long as it didn't touch official stuff. What is the Indomitus Crusade? I heard about poor Dante surviving the Primaris treatment. Alas, only in death does duty end. Glad to see Fabius is producing CSM Primaris. Part of why I'm asking these questions is that, while I love the Primaris models, I don't believe they have the level of customization (yet) of the old ones that came with having unique kits for : Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Grey Knights, Black Templars, the entire Chaos Marine line, the entire vanilla marine line, various Forge World kits, etc. I'm a little curious to see what factions will get Primaris kits next, and as a Chaos fan it's nice to see GW has put in an option for Chaos to have Primaris because it gives me an excuse to kitbash and it's a good sign they'll add Chaos Primaris sooner rather than later.

Hey yall! I've finally found myself in a comfortable spot to start collecting 40k again for the first time since... 2015. I am a little behind on certain things, and I just wanted to check on a few updates to the lore. Primaris Marines are Bellisarius Cawl's thing that he made to reinforce current chapters, right? Are all Primaris Marines new additions to existing chapters, or is this a new Founding where new chapters of just Primaris are created? How long in current lore have Primaris been existing - like, a century, a month, a nebulous amount of time? I know there's a thing called Crossing the Rubicon to make an existing marine Primaris, how risky is that procedure? Does Chaos have an answer to the loyalist's Primaris, other than, of course, corrupting them? A whole Sisters of Battle Codex came out! Which is great. How are Sisters of Battle organized, in the sense of a semi-unique organization like a chapter? Can a branch or whatever be created for a specific holy relic, or to follow a specific variation of Ecclesiarchal beliefs (that of course, haven't been found heretical)? Who supplies them? Besides hunting psykers, cults, and aiding the PDF when their planet is being invaded, what are the typical wider duties of Sisters of Battle?

For the Storm Krakens... it's like the phrase larger than life, you know? This husk of an astarte has exterminated dozens of xeno races; the amount of blood those infirm hands have personally spilled is enormous. He's lived longer than pretty much everyone anyone in the Chapter will ever meet, and over that entire career he's not only kept the Storm Krakens from falling into calamity but ensured they would be prospering for a long time to come. His words and actions have added a significant portion to the Imperium, and would eventually lead to Krakensreach. To the chapter, he's nothing less than everything they aspire to, and they don't feel worthy of killing him. There's a certain weight to the action of slaying such a monumental figure, regardless of how decrepit he might be now, and the kind of arrogance it would take is almost traitorous. He'll die when he dies, but until someone comes along that could meet his success and reputation, it's up to him or old age to end it.

"Do they... do they crusade still, brother?" The voice was feeble. Old. Unbefitting of its owner. Andronas nodded, then remembered the old astarte was blind. "Yes, honored one. The chapter goes forward, as you have decreed. Vriskan is many, many light years from the front line now." A sigh answered Andronas. "Good, good. Give me a bolter, so that I may join them, one last time." The young marine raised an eyebrow at this request. "My lord, you've been clutching a bolter for the past forty years." "I have been... waiting to die that long?" The old astarte was decrepit, barely able to speak, let alone move. Many tales told of how even the weakest astarte was able to kill a normal human, but this simply wasn't true.The last century of the six hundred year lifespan had not been kind to former Chapter Master Marthanian, the very first of the Storm Krakens. In his long and historic career he had set the path that the Chapter would take for the millennia to come. Now, he was little more than a skeleton barely holding itself together, thin fingers wrapped around a weapon he would never use. He couldn't even lift it anymore. It was a fate that none in the chapter wanted. "Yes, honored one." "I have... never taught... the Krakens to wait... for anything. Take my... life. I have lived... by this bolter. I will... die... by this bolter." Andronas made a tally on the datapad he was carrying. This was the fourteen hundredth time he had asked for death in the last decade. Momentarily he would become confused, and the conversation would begin anew, all recollection of a death wish lost. The novice wondered how many more times it would happen, before Marthanian's tomb was finally filled.

Hey Conn, when are you going to add the material I and Ace made? Also, don't you have a holiday to write up? Olis, still waiting on that feedback

Surely the Word Bearers converted a few worlds in the Pre-Heresy days that stayed loyal? That's a good point, didn't think of that. Just do whatever you want to, it's your Order. Now I want to see a Shrine World that was 1) founded by the Word Bearers, 2) survived the HH and 3) founded their own sort of proto-Sisters, not dissimilar to the proto-astartes, and 4) become an Order marked down in the Tabula :yes:

Homeworld The Order's home is not found on a planet, but rather a ring of asteroids orbiting the red giant Bathemia, nicknamed 'The Halo' or, less fondly, 'The Hell-oh' by the residents and the Order alike. Many of these asteroids are hollowed out to make room for a small population of the Emperor's faithful, relying on trade from the mining to survive. Until the Thorned Oath came it was a failing and almost extinguished community, fraught with risk from the asteroids colliding with each other and the constant threat of failure from poorly maintained sealing mechanisms. The Order found itself drawn to the grim living conditions of the humans there, and used what resources it could spare to resurrect the community. In the time since it has become much more stable and even expanded its mining across the ring, finding many rare minerals, elements, and even gemstones to trade. This has come at a price, however. The Thorned Oath is not a gentle force and punishes most offenses with a one way trip out the airlock. For a few especially heinous offenders, they are given a space suit instead, and dropped in close orbit to Bathemia. Their distance to the star is closely measured, and their helmets have a communication's device. Their friends and family listen in the following hours, to see whether they die of falling too close to the red giant or of oxygen loss. If there is suspicion of a cult or a gang, and that there are other conspirators, their death is instead broadcasted to the whole community as a warning of the fate of all who would undermine the Order. The real reason the Thorned Oath is based here is because the numerous stable warp lanes that exist here and its ease of access to the rest of Krakensreach. This is not common knowledge, however, as these warp lanes simply pass by Bathemia, and aside from the Halo, there's little reason to stop there. Indeed, besides the Order and a few merchants most of the traffic is space pirates who foolishly think that the small community is easy prey and a perfect base for their own operations. It's become common practice for the Oath to counter-board them when they dock with the community and claim whatever loot the pirates are carrying in the name of the Emperor, and it's not unheard of for an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor to arrive and wait for alien raiders to strike so that they can capture a few and study them. These warp lanes also serve the Order in their principle goal of hunting down and destroying the Black Thorn, for with them they can travel extremely rapidly towards almost any planet in Krakensreach. However, that is not enough. The warband is simply too quick and devastating, leaving only ashes in their wake. Because of this the Order has also taken the numerous pirate ships confiscated, cleansed them, and put them back into Imperial service. Their new purpose is to carry a significant force of the Oath's Sisters on patrol, hoping to be able to respond quickly enough to draw blood from the Black Thorn. It has proven a somewhat effective strategy, but the warband has well earned their infamy. The Order finds itself too late just as often as it arrives quickly enough to do battle with the traitorous astartes.