Brazen Drakes
| Brazen Drakes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | ||
| Battle Cry | Unknown | |
| Founding | Unknown | |
| Successors of | Unknown | |
| Successor Chapters | Unknown | |
| Chapter Master | Argento Corian | |
| Primarch | Unknown | |
| Homeworld | Khassedur (as loyalists)/Dessah (as traitors) | |
| Strength | At least 8 warbands (Extinct) | |
| Specialty | Psykers, Terata | |
| Allegiance | Chaos/Renegade (Formerly Imperial) | |
| Colours | Unknown (As loyalist), Black and gold (Black Legion) | |
The Brazen Drakes were a space marine Chapter based on the world of Khassedur. They were the subject of several short stories in the Psychic Awakening event, especially in regards to the War of the Spider.
History
They fought for the Emperor over the span of 5,000 years, which puts them as a relatively young chapter. At some point prior or during the early years of the Indomitus Crusade, the Brazen Drakes were under the leadership of Chapter Master Kaslyn. It is not known what happened to him, but his position would be taken by Argento Corian. The opening of the Great Rift and the ensuing Psychic Awakening hit the Brazen Drakes hard, causing many in the chapter to suddenly start developing uncontrollable psychic powers. In order to hide the problem from the Imperium and maintain their chapter's purity, Chapter Master Argento Corian and his inner circle of captains decided to start quietly executing any marines that were revealed to be thus "tainted." This act is a bit hypocritical though as it was speculated that Corian held latent psychic abilities of his own for some time. Also stupid, as they could have just been made into Librarians and it would've all been legal and swell.
Killing your own battle brothers like that really sucks though, and eventually, Corian got sick and tired of it. Knowing full well what would happen to the chapter if their sudden surge of psychic powers was discovered (literally nothing so long as the psykers were made into Librarians for legality. Because that strat worked great for the Thousand Sons), and feeling that they would all fall victim to the Awakening eventually, Corian went "fuck it" decided that they might as well take the heresy ball and run with it on their own terms. From that point forward the Brazen Drakes would fight for themselves and none other.
By the time the Indomitus Crusade was in full swing and a Torchbearer fleet arrived at the Brazen Drakes homeworld of Khassedur, bringing two full companies of Primaris Marine Greyshield reinforcements, the planet was ravaged by war and half the chapter had gone full chaos. The Custodes immediately pasted judgement on the Primaris Brazen Drakes as tainted (even though them being tainted was outright impossible as they were born ten thousand fucking years ago and their only relation to the Chapter was parent legion and the fresh paint on their armor), and when the Primaris disregarded a direct order to disarm by the Custodes and a Primaris marine aggressed towards the Shield-Captain, the Custodes (being the Emperors authority incarnate) made to end the Primaris threat by force. The Primaris fought back and tried to seize the fleet (which was stupid as the Custodes not attacking them immediately implies the Primaris would have just been examined and then released when deemed untainted), and before long the whole fleet was being torn apart. The ensuing war would engulf three entire Imperial systems. The Imperium saw this as enough of a threat for an Assassinorum Execution Force to be sent after Argento Corian, who has renamed himself as The Enlightener. A great war over the idiot ball, craved by all.
War Of The Spider
Eventually though, the Brazen Drakes would be defeated and with no other choice, fled through the Nachmund Gauntlet towards the Cadian Gate. Once there, they conquered the Fortress world of Dessah (despite only having a few Marines left and literally zero ability to hold territory...). Initially, they joined the Black Legion and renamed themselves as the Shriven. Still being pursued by the Torchbearers, they came across Fabius Bile, who was similarly on the run from the Death Guard under the command of Typhus. Seeing this as an opportunity, the two forces made an uneasy alliance, and the Shriven (still being new to the whole Chaos thing and unaware of how things tended to end for those that get chummy with the Sick Fuck), opened themselves up to Bile's "services." Bile gave Corian elixirs and augments, making him far stronger, but at the cost of making him dependent on Bile. A few of the Shriven were selectively chosen to become grotesque experiments known as Terata.
The first test of these new augments was a planned ambush on the planet of Limaxis. The plan works well enough and stall the Death Guard for some time. Seeing the ferocity of the Terata, many of the Shriven volunteer to become test subjects for Bile. Corian realizes that his grip on authority is fading, but fears that he can't remove Bile from his warband, especially since he's chemically dependent on Bile's formulas. All he could do is remind his followers of who their true master is. The Torchbearers enter the Belis Corona System, and the Shriven and Bile's forces engage them on the planet of Bairsten Prime. The Shriven retreat when Corian is shot in the head by an Exitus sniper rifle. Bile decides to take the lifeless body to his laboratory, where the Enlightener is corrupted into a golem of insidious runes, wiring, muscle, and pipes, with psychic power circling around it. Bile uses the now mindless Enlightener to kill all those loyal to Corian with psychic beams of fire, leaving those that survive utterly loyal to the Primogenitor and also volunteering to become lab rats.
In the end, Bile spun a web on Dessah to ensnare and tie up all the loose ends. Typhus and the Death Guard arrived first. Tyvar and his Torchbearers soon followed. Bile made his escape as the Enlightener blasted poxwalker hordes with psychic blasts. In the midst of the battle, the Execution Force finally made their move and battled the Enlightener and the Terata. In the end, only the Culexus and Callidus Assassins survived the battle. The Shriven fared little better. Without leadership and with few of its remaining members of sound mind, the warband was effectively dissolved, remaining as little more than another tally on the list of sick fuckery committed.
In defence of the Custodes actions
The Custodes were clear and simple in their orders. Lay down arms or die as traitors. Now Astartes aren't stupid, they KNOW the Custodes are essentially the voice of the Emperor. They KNOW they are above them in status in regards to Imperial hierarchy. Would it have been hard to just put down their guns and prove their loyalty through words instead of aggression? Not at all. While the custodes were brutal in their response, it was justified by a direct aggressive response by the Primaris and their refusal to lay down arms. The stupid comes in when one considers that not one of the Primaris decided to surrender, and the Shield Captain was an asshole by not trying to speak them down and immediately taking them away from the system before jumping in and killing the traitors.
Gallery
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The Adeptus Custodes does not fuck around when dealing with potential traitors
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But it's not like they had undue reason to act as such
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