Sand Keepers
Sand Keepers | ||
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Battle Cry | None can escape their fate | |
Number | XVIII | |
Founding | First Founding | |
Successors of | N/A | |
Primarch | Darius Cyaxares | |
Homeworld | Simurgh | |
Strength | 115,000 at beginning of Heresy | |
Specialty | Battlefield Foresight | |
Allegiance | Imperium of Man | |
Colours | Burnished gold and Red |
This page details people, events, and organisations from The /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe.
Summary of Legion XVIII
Close Combat Sepcialists, Hyper-Religious, Not!Persians
Legion Tactics
Legion Equipment
Almost every member of the legion carries a shotel, a traditionally noble weapon from their home world of Simurgh, as their close combat weapon, though some have been converted into power weapon variants and fewer still hold wonderous enchantments bestowed upon them by the priests of the All-Seer. The legion also has a high number of psykers that make use of divination in order to locate their enemy before attacking en masse while bombarding them with psychic sorcery from afar.
The Immortals
The prestiged 1st company of the Sand Keepers. This company was originally the one that the emperor gave to Darius to conquer his home world. As the 1st company, every member is equipped with terminator armor, power shotel and storm bolters though many favored trading in their bolters for storm shields instead. Sargents of the Immortals are always psykers trained in the arts of divination and pyromancy and given a Force shotel instead. In order to keep up the illusion that they are truly immortal, the 1st company was always kept at 100%. Upon death an Immortals armor will instantly teleport them back into space where a ship can retrieve their corpse and equipment. A suitable member from the legion is then elected to replace the fallen immortal, being listed as KIA and taking on the name of the previous immortal. It is indeed a great honor to be risen to an Immortal as marines inherit the deeds and glory that the name has accumulated up to that point.
Legion Doctrine
They are fierce, and zealous, undying followers of the Emperor and His Will. This is due to their Primarchs close ties to prophecies, divination and sorcery the legion as a whole believes heavily in fate and destiny. To them the emperor is the shepherd that will guide humanity to its ultimate destiny. In their minds only the Emperor in all his glory and the ideals he represents are truly immortal, and that it is the ultimate fate of all else to eventually perish.
Notable Successors
Brazen Wings
Second Founding Sand Keepers successors, with only an average amount of psykers.
Chapter History
When the Sand Keepers legion was first beginning to split up into chapters, their command wanted to make sure that each successor had a powerful Librarius with which to face the horrors of the galaxy. However, not even the legion of seers had enough psychic brothers to achieve such a feat. Instead of compromising, however, they determined that one of the chapters would simply have to go without psykers entirely. It was Hadil Nictore who volunteered to lead this new force. When given the duty of naming it, he chose the Brazen Wings to represent ascendency over both their enemies and their “handicap.” The Wings eventually established themselves on the tech-barbarian world of Iscander. Despite being both well-organized and well-fortified, the various potentates of that planet were swept away one by one at the hand of Nictore, who over time became a revered figure in Iscandrine culture as well as the chapter at large. The last 10 millennia have seen the chapter slowly build its Librarius up to something approaching normal size, although it still cannot compare to those of the Sand Keepers’ successors. Currently, the chapter master, along with the 1st, 3rd, and 4th companies are engaged in a much larger campaign against the Eldar of Saim-Hann and Biel Tan.
Notable Campaigns
Notable Members
Hadil Nictore- First chapter master and creator of the Victor’s Mask. Born on Terra and became a Lord Commander in the XVIII legion (then known as the Golden Flames). When the legion was eventually reunited with its primarch, many of the Terran marines were skeptical; Darius resembled a priest or a prophet just as much as he did a warrior, and his preponderance towards psykers set many on edge. Hadil was probably the most outspoken of these detractors– It is even said that he actively tried to prevent his chapter’s troops from joining the Immortals.
Cyaxares responded, as was his way, with a cryptic proverb before sending the chapter off to take yet another system. Only after many years and many conquests did Hadil begin to understand the mind of his primarch; Darius did not trust or favor him any less because of his “normality,” for his strength came from loyalty, honor, and a clear head. In time, the two began to trust each other deeply, and Nictore became something of a rising star within the legion.
Andayyuna- Current chapter master and holder of the Victor’s Mask. Hides a manipulative streak behind a more enthusiastic, straightforward demeanor.
Mirroes Ellention- Chaplain seconded to the Deathwatch. If you were to write a BL novel on any of the 40k Brazen Wings, it would be this guy. Has a habit of walking away unharmed from missions that he shouldn’t.
Chapter Combat Doctrine
“If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperilled in a hundred battles” -Ancient Terran war axiom
The Brazen Wings are known amongst Imperial elements for suddenly arriving to battle deployed in bold lines and arrayed in great finery. But most fail to acknowledge the amounts of study and planning which go into every fight. This attitude comes from the fact that the very first Brazen Wings lacked much of the psychic foresight granted to the Sand Keepers and their other successors, but still had no wish to be caught flat-footed. As such, the Wings place considerable emphasis on both quick response units, who help set up the plan, and the main battle forces who carry it out. There aren’t many other Astartes chapters who can claim to favor both the drop pod and the Thunderfire cannon in battle.
Chapter Beliefs
Chapter Homeworld
Iscander (pronounced “Eye-sander”), located near the western edge of the Segmentum Tempestus
Chapter Appearance
Iscanderines are typically green-eyed and blond, auburn, or dark-haired, with a medium-dark skin tone. The marines’ armor is a fierce brass color, except for the face mask, aquila, pauldron insets, and left kneepad, which are all dark grey. The chapter icon is a yellow pegasus segreant on a field of grey.
Darius Cyaxares, Primarch of the Sand Keepers
Appearance
Of average height in terms of primarchs, Darius had tanned skin and a athletic but well muscled body. He had long black hair pulled back into a thick pony tail looped with golden rings that fell just below his neck but with both sides of his head shaved in an undercut. Due to exposure to the warp as a babe, he is now blind, his eyes are pure silver like pools of liquid metal and his face has a timeless youth to it giving him a rather otherworldly appearance.
He usually wore long loosely fitted robes of either vivid or muted colors. His artificer armor was much better fitted; slender and streamlined and was colored more of a burnished gold color than the radiant gold of the Emperor and his custode. In battle he wielded an ancient force shotel named "Atropos" while leaving his other hand free to cast warp powers.
Darius is a philosophical yet judicious man. Due to his upbringings he has a very spiritual demeanor, though he has cast off religion in favor of the Imperial Truth. He enjoys visiting and counseling his brothers, as their father once counseled him. He often quotes various proverbs and challenges his brothers think outside the box when they are presented with difficult decisions which annoys more than a few of them (I'm assuming).
He embraces his brothers individuality On occasion he will provide them with cryptic prophecies, though he dares not look too far into the future after being traumatized with what he saw the first time he did so. While he tries to maintain a humble desposition, many are unsettled when they look into his warp tainted eyes, or feel he is looking down on them with his riddles
Youth
When Darius was stolen away by the chaos gods and sent tumbling through the warp his containment pod was damaged, causing the young babe to awaken. As he opened his eyes to cry the warp damaged his eyes. Moments later he landed upon the deserts of the Feudal world of Simurgh, where he was soon found by a caravan of traders. At first glance the merchants knew this boy was special, for his eyes now two pools of liquid silver, constantly shifting and swirling in different directions.
They immediately took the boy to the nearest temple and delivered him to the priests. The holymen of this feral world had long dabbled in ancient mysticism and sorcery and recognized his great potential. Undeterred by Darius's blindness, they trained him in the ways of magic and divination. Eventually Darius mastered all that his teachers had to show him, and people from all over the planet flocked to him to have their futures told. When the four kings of the planet heard of his power, they each tried to use his prophetic powers against each other, but Darius refused.
Instead he foretold that a golden light would come from the heavens to reveal their true destiny. Angered by this, each of the kings tried to take him by force, either through trickery, bribery, or use of their armies, yet with his divination and psychic ability the "All-seer" outsmarted them all, eventually defeating all of them.
The Coming of The Emperor
However, after defeating the four kings, Simurgh began to grow more and more unstable, as other power hungry warlords, would-be kings and conquerors continued to surface to take their place, all wanting the same thing the four kings wanted.Time and time again Darius defeated these opponents, but not matter how many he toppled or what he tried the resulting power vacuum led to an endless chain of war and intrigue. It was as if the greedy nature of man was some kind of Hydra, no matter how many heads he cut off, more simply grew.
Seeking an answer, Darius began a great fasting and dove deep into prophecy but what he saw horrified him. The stars burned as a malevolent darkness engulfed it all . A war, a war without end! Scarred by his visions, Darius had all but given up when suddenly a golden light descended from the heavens and out stepped a stranger unlike anyone Darius had ever seen.Intrigued by this stranger, Darius invited him to his temple to meet him. This stranger was none other than the Emperor himself. The two conversed by many days straight.
The emperor was disappointed in his son. As a priest, Darius had never wanted to rule content to his studies, meditations and religious teachings. It went against everything the emperor had bred him for. He explained to Darius the evils of religion and allowing the people to go astray of the Imperial Truth. Convincing Darius to take up the responsibility he was destined to, the Emperor granted him a single company from the 23rd legion and a month to set things right, as a final test that Darius had learned all that the emperor had taught him.
Taking command of personally trained them in the arts of sorcery and the planets most noble weapon, the Shotel. Taking up the blade of an ancient king, Darius led his men across the planet on a great crusade.
When the emperor returned, he was not disappointed. Darius had cast-off the religion that had bound him to inaction and taken control of the planet for himself. The emperors methods and his Imperial Truth had proven itself to Darius and brought peace to the war-torn planet. Eternally grateful to his father for the lesson, Darius bowed his head and proclaimed the planet now belonged to the emperor. With that the Emperor bid his son to rise, welcoming him to the Great Crusade and granting him command of the 23rd Legion in its entirety.
((TL:DR : Darius is trained to be magic prophet on planet by religion. People in power keep trying to use Darius for their own gains, forcing Darius to kill them. However because of his religious teaching Darius refused to take power himself, and feeling self entitled the people of the planet keep fucking everything up until the Emperor convinces Darius of the Imperial Truth and to step it up. Darius is grateful for the lesson and now loyal to the Emprah))
The Great Crusade
The Heresy
Post-Heresy
The Space Marine Legions of the /tg/ Heresy | |
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Loyalist: | The Entombed - Eyes of the Emperor - Scale Bearers - Silver Cataphracts Steel Marshals - Stone Men - Thunder Kings - Void Angels - War Scribes |
Traitor: | Black Augurs - The Justiciars - Eternal Zealots - Heralds of Hektor Iron Rangers - Life Bringers - Lions Rampant - Mastodontii - Sons of Fire |