Green Wardens

Green Wardens
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Battle Cry	"The Green is the way!"
Founding	Unknown
Successors of	Unknown (Suspected Salamanders)
Successor Chapters	None
Chapter Master	Theodenus Gael
Primarch	Unknown (Suspected Vulkan)
Homeworld	Paradise World Asturias
Strength	1000 Marines
Allegiance	Imperium
Colours	Green, White

The Green Wardens are a Chapter of pacifist Space Marine notable for incredibly low frequency of battle participation and even lower amount of reported collateral damage. Rather than direct confrontation on the battlefield, the Green Wardens can often be found employing their expertise as diplomats and negotiators. Instead of battling the outer threats to the Imperium, they focus on threats from within, and for the last millennia they participated in quelling dozens of planetary rebellions and Imperial disagreements, almost all of them resolved peacefully and with barely any aftermath cost. Even though their origin is unknown, any Imperial faction that dealt with them firmly believes that Vulkan is their Primarch, from whom they likely inherited his knack for making friendships. This being a force of superhuman Astartes, they are far from being unable to wage war. When there are no other options and no chance of negotiating, the Green Wardens resolve to employing surgical strikes backed by overwhelming long-range fire support and plethora of tamed, technologically-augmented war-beasts from their homeworld Asturias.

Fluffy bits

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Organization

While in theory the Green Wardens abide by the Codex Astartes, in practice they diverge from it in number of things.

The most notable difference is that the duties of Librarians, Chaplains and Apothecaries are all merged within one role: the Druid. The Green Wardens possess incredibly large amount of psykers (almost a fifth of the entire Chapter), although they are relatively limited in their powers as compared to other Astartes psykers. They did, however, overcome this fault by learning how to perform powerful rituals as group. Majority of them focus on improving their healing capabilities are known as Dìonadair (roughly translated in Gothic as "Protectors"). The minority of them that could be classified as offensive psykers are known as Fearg or "Furies". While Fearg are usually found as entourage to Captains of the Green Wardens which turn their focus on major internal conflicts, Dìonadair tend to be part of smaller squads that usually roam the galaxy and lend their aid to whoever needs it.

The non-psyker members of the Chapter, collectively known as the Rangers, are not locked in membership of a single company. Rather, they swap between themselves depending on needs of each company. There is always at least one company-sized contingent of Astartes deployed on Asturias, while others spread out in the galaxy, usually declaring a certain system or region as their point of interest and in which they reside until their goals are accomplished. This usually entails helping calm down political hostilities, build and improve infrastructure, teach local populace of medicine and defensive tactics, etc.

One peculiar thing about the Green Wardens is that they have a rather old average age of their Astartes. This is due to the fact that, since they rarely immerse in open combat, their casualties rate is incredibly low. Thus, Wardens can expect to reach quite an old age. Every single Ranger and Druid is venerated as teacher, and they value their experiences above all else except the Emperor, whom they revere and call Neach-Glèidhidh Mòr, or the Great Guardian.

On top of rarely participating in battles, the healing powers of Druids are more often than not enough to bring back to life even the Wardens that have been proclaimed dead. These Wardens are then entombed into Dreadnoughts, which are also basically the only vehicles the Wardens possess and would ever use. The Dreadnoughts, known as the Shìorraidh ("Eternals"), are reserved only for the hardest of battles where millions of civilian lives could be at stake, which they will protect with every ounce of their being. They also serve as advisors to the leadership of the Chapter: the Chapter Master, the Captains and the Druidic Coven.

The Green Wardens possess one particular rule which is deemed incredibly wasteful at best and borderline heretical at worst by the Inquisition and the Administratum. When a Warden does fall in combat, their geneseed is not recycled. Rather, the Druids retrieve the geneseed and using secret methods known only to them transform it into a seed. The seed is then planted in the plains of Asturia, where it grows into a breathtaking Star-Oak. These luminescent trees are known to grow hundreds of meters tall and are believed to harbor the soul of the dead Warden who is venerated as a hero of the Imperium. His name and deeds are inscribed into the bark of the Star-Oak, and the tree itself is considered a sacred shrine often visited by both the young and the old when in need of an advice. More than one Warden has sworn that they heard whispers of the dead hero when they needed it the most, carrying words of encouragement.

Recruitment and Training

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