Editing Black Locks (section)

==ORIGINS OF THE BLACK LOCKS==
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''"I did my share of deeds to ensure that the Chapter would become strong enough to protect both the Calico Stars, HIS people, HIS planets, as well as to find the treasure that would restore HIM to HIS former glory and launch a new Great Crusade...YET IF I KNEW BACK THEN HOW THE MARINES WOULD CHANGE, THEN I WOULDN'T HAVE STAYED ON CROWE'S WORLD."'' - Venerable Castor. Former Chapter Champion of the Novamarines, former Chapter Master of The Void Eagles, Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought of the Black Locks Honour Guard
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The Space Marines of The [[Black Locks]] chapter are a unusual force of marines. Once known as a Codex Chapter of the Void Eagles, they were originally created in the earliest period of the 36th millennium to protect the colonies of the Calico Stars, a region that was warp-storm ridden, filled with void beasts and plagued with occasional and severe pirate raids, yet rich in resources and rife with archeotech to be discovered. The region itself was very close to the core of the galaxy, and it was located in the Ultima Segmentum. 

The Void Eagles’s geneseed was of unknown origin, since any data on that was mysteriously lost. The chapter, thou having commanders of their own, still didn’t decide on a Chapter Master, and they didn’t know what awaited them in the regions. Thus they were assigned a group of Novamarines to have them properly adhere to the Codex Astartes. The group’s leader was a mighty veteran that once ventured into the Calico Stars in his younger days, and his name was Castor Virtillius. Originally sent in there in the 813.35M as part of a Novamarine strike group under the supervision of Inquisitor Horatio Amarello of the Ordo Malleus to hunt down a Thousand Sons Sorcerer  by the name of Jyvs Odane, Castor himself didn't know what he was going into. 

He visited and fought among the worlds of the Calico, slew the various void beasts and saw both wonders and horrors that no Astartes has ever seen. When the strike force finally cornered the sorcerer on the Shrine World of Crowe’s World in the Nautilus Sub-Sector, they struck into his sanctuary after defeating his Rubric Marines. The sorcerer wanted to plunge the sector into a warp storm to harness its secrets, but the Novamarines arrival made him use his warp crystal (that he was using to drag the sector into a warp storm) to transform into a Daemon Prince to combat them, yet when the marines barged in, they met Odane halfway through his transformation.

However, the half Chaos Marine half Daemon proved to be immensely powerful and obliterated most of the strike force and threw the rest of the members around with his telekinetic wave, either impaling them on the spikes in his sanctuary, or hitting them with such force that they lost consciousness. Only Castor and Horatio were still capable of fighting, yet the Inquisitor’s left arm was broken, and without it he couldn't properly wield his Daemon Hammer. The half daemon knowing that nobody would disturb his ascension, returned to finish what he started, as well to end his ascension. By doing this he lowered his guard, thus allowing Horatio to throw a melta charge at him. This reduced Odane to a mass of flesh and psychic energies. The sorcerer struck Horatio with a bolt of warp lightning, yet he didn’t saw Castor charging at the crystal with Horatio’s Daemon Hammer. Smashing the crystal, Castor severed Odane’s link with the warp, causing the encroaching warpstorm to receded, while Odane was reduced to a harmless pile of flesh (which was still conscious). 

The surviving Novamarines grilled the Sorcerer and dug him deep underground (and further covering it with holy soil), where he’d stay forever. On the place where the Thousand Sons marine was dug, the Novamarines called the Ecclesiarchy to build a chapel there so that Odane wouldn’t free himself. Along the bodies of the saints that were to seal off the daemon, Horatio would also be entombed there along his Daemon Hammer in case Odane found a way to dig out. The Novamarines oversaw to the chapel’s construction. Until it was constructed, they wouldn't return to Honorum.

During the chapel’s construction, Castor went out to recon the area around him until he found himself at the seaside of the large island where Odane’s razed sanctuary was located. He found there a cave with a unusual dweller in there. It looked human, but it had coral elements all over its body. The being was not hostile, it was actually friendly towards the Astartes, going even so far as inviting him to eat with him the meal he cooked. Castor thought of it as a deception, yet despite being suspicious, he accepted the invitation. What he later found out from him was something he didn’t thought of. 

The Coral Man’s name was Severus Trask, a former privateer from the colony of Port Royalty. A pious member of the Calician Fleets, he started a thorough project of claiming new worlds for the Colonial Powers in order to find new resources and STC. However there was a accident during one such colonization attempts and he got infected with small coral-like parasites that now inhabit his body (and partially mutated him physically). Because of this he had to go into hiding, which resulted in colonizing more of the undiscovered regions of Calico to slow down until the project nearly halted. Yet with what he heard from his still loyal crew members, all what happened to him was a sabotage, as if someone purposely made it so that Severus’s project would fail. The project itself was to eliminate the threat of stagnation that was slowly starting to become visible. The coral man was now perceived by Castor as someone completely different, and every few days he’d come back to visit Severus until the chapel was finished. Severus would always tell Castor about the customs among the colonies that the marine didn't have time to learn, about his days in the Navy and of his adventures of fighting renegades, aliens and void monsters. 

On the 5th month, three days before the chapel was finished, Severus was very ill. He knew that his time was slowly coming to a end. The coral man told Castor that the Emperor is calling him to his side, yet he regrets that he’s departing with his work undone. If there were someone who could help the colonies to become strong, to help the Calician Navy and to do something about the raiders that constantly attacked the people of Calico, then he’d rest well in the afterlife knowing that somebody would attempt to continue his work. With his last ounce of strength, Severus pointed out into the deepest parts of his cave, telling the young Castor that there is something that would be of good use to him. To someone that he considered a good man that spent some of his time with a old void wolf like him. After this, the Coral Man known as Severus Trask died peacefully while Castor stood by his side.

After giving him a proper burial, Castor went into the deeper parts and discovered that what Severus kept in his cave. A golden suit of Cataprath Terminator Armour, filled with gemstones and other valuables. The marine wasn’t worthy to even think about touching it, so he instead hid it behind rocks so that nobody would find it. On the day when the Novamarines were to leave, Castor promised himself that one day he'd come back to the Sector, claim the armour and more importantly, continue Severus’s work.

Centuries later, after extensive and exceptional duty, gruelling fighting and climbing the chain of command, Castor became part of the 1st Company. A mighty warrior he became, Castor constantly thought about what he promised himself back when he was on Crowe’s World. Finally he got the chance, as with the dawn of the 36th millennium, a new founding was to begin, and new chapters were to be founded. Among them were the Void Eagles which were created to guard the colonized regions of the Calico Stars. The regions currently being too large to simply make the young chapter have a designated homeworld, it was decided that the Void Eagles would become fleet based. For this, Castor (who already had some experience with the Calico regions) and a group of Novamarines were selected to show the fledglings how to properly function as a fleet based chapter, as well to instill the Codex Astartes into them. 

Troubles began when the Void Eagles arrived to the Nautilus sector. Over the years, strange offshoots of the Void Kraken made their home there. Void Cutlers. Small, swarm living beasts that looked similar to their larger and voracious cousin, yet shared the same appetite with it, attacked the Void Eagles ships. For some bizarre reason, as if controlled by someone’s will, the Cutlers struck at those ships where the captains and Novamarines were located, killing them in a single stroke. The marines fought off the void beasts, yet found themselves headless. Without someone to efficiently command them, the Void Eagles would have it even more difficult to adjust to the star regions. Miraculously, Castor survived the close contact with the beasts. Seeing this as a blessing from the Emperor, the Void Eagles declared the Novamarine their first Chapter Master. Now it was up to Castor to shape the Void Eagles into a force to be reckoned with. Taking examples from his home chapter, Castor ordered the establishment of a enormous space station, that was later known as The Spire, in the gravity well of Crowe’s World and set off the fleet into multiple directions to aid the Colonies and fight off the threats. Yet having already experienced fighting in the regions, he knew that he’d have to use alternative methods.

The Novamarines were one of those Chapters that adhered rigorously to the Codex Astartes, as well being of the Monodominant philosophy. That saying, they see everything deviating from Imperial norms as heresy. In Castor’s  and the Void Eagles case, adhering to the Monodominant  ideas (as well relying too heavily on the Codex) was actually ill advised, for the Calico planets forced adaptation on them. Castor back in his younger days learned that rule really quickly, as during the hunt for Odane, some vehicles were simply useless due to what kind of planets the Calico Stars had. Most of the planets by some strange turn of events were in slightly above 80% aquatic, with little land. Added that some planets had gravity that was either greater or lesser than that of Terra, resulted in each colony having their own unique structures. Some colonists build immense spires high enough to pierce to the exosphere and further, yet were sleek and tower-like compared to a actual hive-world. Others build smaller port city states ruled by larger, more powerful ones, and some built their structures in the form of giant underwater metropolises. Added that the fauna and flora were nearly always exotic, ranging from really small to titanic (often equal or bigger than a Warlord Titan). Such places required different tactics in order to not only operate, but to also survive, as quite some of the planets were classified as Death Worlds.

Use of vehicles larger than Rhinos and that couldn't fly was very difficult to apply, since the gigantic flora and terrain simply slowed the heavier machines. Predators were of little use since in order to quickly transport their brethren, the Void Eagles converted them into Rhinos and Razorbacks. Whirlwinds were simply useless since the thick, gargantuan foliage of some planets simply either prevented them from being fully used or simply couldn’t hit their targets and instead hit the enormous trees. Land Raiders…simply got stuck in deep pools of mud. In order to fight their enemies, the Void Eagles eschewed many of their vehicles for Land Speeders and Stormtalons, leaving only Rhinos, Razorbacks and Vindicators, as well their Dreadnoughts. 

Over time the Eagles started to change in terms of mentality, which Castor, despite of all his capabilities, failed to stop. Even the recruits that were taken from the Calico colonies to be turned into Neophytes were difficult, as their independent and brash nature was slowly changing the Chapter. Even the murderous discipline set by the Chaplains, combined with extended psycho-conditioning and hypnosis failed to completely eradicate these traits. Deviations from standard Codex tactics were more frequent. Make-shift plans, reckless uses of jump packs, use of non-standard wargear was just the harbinger of changes that were to affect them. Castor thought that a crusade would be fine enough to discipline the Chapter. Thus in 045.36M, he amassed the entire fleet around the fortress of the Void Eagles, when something unexpected occurred.

A immense battleship that belonged to the famous Rouge Trader by the name of Nathaniel “Jolly” Roger Sinclair emerged from the depths of the Warp, hunted by Dark Eldar and sending distress calls on multiple frequencies. The battleship emerged from the Warp with such force and speed, that the Chapter fleet was unable to stop it in time from crashing on Crowe’s World. With Roger’s ship crashing down on the planet’s surface, the Dark Eldar ignored the Void Eagles and began planetfall. The Chapter couldn’t overlook this and they too made planetfall, engaging the xenos before they could get to Sinclair’s ship. Although the Dark Eldar had the element of mobility, to their surprise, the Void Eagles were equal to them in speed. Combined this with the flexibility of their recruits, they defeated the xenos and sustained minimal losses, albeit one was incredibly grave. Castor too took part in the fight and was grievously wounded by massed fire. The marines thought of their Chapter Master dead, yet by luck and sheer stubbornness, Castor somehow survived, yet his condition was deteriorating. The only way to save him was interment inside a Dreadnought, and the Void Eagles knew which vacant Dreadnought to use. Before departing for the Calico Stars, the fledgling chapter was given a single Contemptor Dreadnought as a sacred relic and a good luck charm for their new beginning (ironic considering what happened later when they arrived to the Nautilus Sector).

After awakening in his new mechanical form, Castor asked about what happened to Roger. The Void Eagles found him beyond rescue, and at least put him into stasis so that the Dreadnought could ask him why he was pursued by Dark Eldar. After getting Roger out of stasis, the Trader told the Dreadnought Castor why the xenos pursued him. “Jolly” Roger discovered a evolving star map of the regions so ancient, that it dated back to the times before the Age of Strife begun. The star map led to a great treasure. The Ultimate Treasure. A piece of archeotech so precious, so advanced, and so powerful, that it could heal even the most horrid of wounds, even those that could make even a Primarch come close to dying. The Dark Eldar pursued him to obtain information so that they would use it for themselves. The treasure was however hidden so well that only the Emperor himself knew its location, and only by collecting the twenty pieces of the Halcyon Disk, that when combined with the star map, would show the location of the treasure. The fragments however, were scattered over the whole known galaxy. Roger already uncovered one piece of the disk and found clues on the other two parts. The Rouge Trader gave the Void Eagles all that he knew on the treasure (as well his Warrant of Trade) with what little strength was left in him before his soul left for the underworld. If he had to die, then better if someone he entrusted with his legacy would find The Ultimate Treasure in his place. With that, he died, and the marines gave him a proper burial.

With such information, the Void Eagles were actually shocked that there was something this powerful. For Castor it was a sign. A clear mission for the Void Eagles to win the greatest of honours. Causing the God Emperor of Mankind to have his wounds healed, and rise again to walk among His people would be something that would bring a new and better situation for the Imperium, if not returning to the times of its Golden Age. But he also realized that something like that existing would invite powers that would misuse this arheotech artifact, and the galaxy had no shortage of such beings. From the clues that Roger had, it was apparent that the next two disk elements were hidden among the unexplored regions of the Calico Stars. That would be a very thought journey, for in order to avoid the Warp Storms and void beasts, the Chapter would have to become stronger, yet also would need to better protect the Calico Colonies when it wouldn’t search for the pieces at the moment. For that, some decisions had to be made. The unexplored parts were considered hostile to the point that even entire fleets after returning from them came back either devastated or were never coming back at all, and without the right equipment, it would be close to impossible to survive without taking casualties.

Thus Castor had to chose. Stay true to the teachings of the Codex and that of his Chapter, or to bent or even break some of them in order to gain the edge if they had to find those disk parts. After three days, he decided. The one hundred man strong companies would go in their own directions, travel the areas that are explored, as well the borders between them and the unexplored. After four hundred  years, they would return back to Crowe’s world. During that time, they would expand their numbers, gather unique artefacts, master specific forms of warfare needed to fight in the regions, and return to Crowe’s World to become whole again. In the meantime Castor would remain on Crowe’s World to await his brothers. And so, the companies exchanged some of their troops in order to create balanced forces before leaving. With that done, the ten companies of the Void Eagles left Crowe’s World for a four hundred year long journey. 

During that time, many things happened. The Age of Apostasy, The Plague of Unbelief, the death of Sebastian Thor. These were dark omens that signalled difficult times for the colonies, as xeno and Chaos raids were slowly becoming both stronger and even more frequent. The Calician Navy where doing their best, although they barely fought off the assailants despite them being barely at nominal strength and having some of their ships go renegade. There were also rumours of strange black ships that appeared out of nowhere and struck at the Navy’s enemies and the renegade elements before disappearing back into the warp.

Castor waited on Crowe’s World, going into stasis every couple of decades for one or two years while guarding the suit of Terminator Armour that old man Trask kept in his cave. Finally, after four hundred years of wait, the Void Eagles came back. Stronger, more numerous, and altered to look for the treasure. Castor was happy that the marines returned, yet he didn’t know how the voyage changed them. When he met the ten captains of the companies, his joy quickly faded. The Void Eagles did indeed come back different, but Castor didn't know that they changed to the point they became as if they were from different chapters. Added that each of the captains behaved…in a very special manner. Castor felt as if he fell asleep and was stuck in a nightmare. Each of the companies turned into some sort of Rouge Traders gone horribly unorthodox (from his point of view, being a Monodominant) in every sense. It was something that made the Novamarine’s eyes bleed when he looked on them.

Even though they did change in a drastic way, the Void Eagles did return to honour the promise set four hundred years ago. Yet there were some similarities. Although having various trim colours and heraldries, everyone in the companies shared the same black power armour and left the chapter symbol, a white eagle on a black background, unchanged. Additionally, despite the fact that they operated in various parts of the Calico Stars, they did maintain contact with each other (although it ranged from sporadic to frequent).

The companies were The Black Cutlasses (who had the Void Eagles’ original colours, with the exception of burgundy belts). The other companies incorporated different colours into their left arm and chest armours, as well the burgundy belts. The Crimson Blades (who incorporated red), The Holy Treasurers (who gladly added burnished gold), The Void Plunderers (who incorporated silver), The Rum Grails (who added honey yellow to theirs), The Myst  Graves (who incorporated regal blue), The Warp Cutters (who added dark purple to their own), The Blazing Cannons (who added grey), The Hex Company (who incorporated cyanide blue), and the Corsair Hearts (whose were orange). 

Each of them were led by fearsome captains native to the regions. Those were the captains that actually reformed the ten companies into what they become.

The captains were as followed:

*Alexander Warford of the Black Cutlasses
*Shaktu the Slayer of the Crimson Blades
*Obadiah Goldenroad of the Holy Treasurers
*Cog Master Gomez Armadillo of the Void Plunderers
*Lorius Westfall of the Rum Grails
*Bernhold Nightwalker of the Myst Graves
*Vasco Descubra of the Warp Cutters
*Jean du Marque of the Blazing Cannons
*The mysterious Samdi Baron of the Hex Company
*Carlos Embereyes of the Corsair Hearts

There was one small thing that did bother venerable Castor. In order to function well, the Chapter would need a Chapter Master that would exercise his capabilities in order to make the marines find the Ultimate Treasure, yet the Void Eagles didn’t select one in the four hundred years after the Novamarine was entombed inside the Contemptor. Castor thus suggested for one to be chosen. The Captains themselves thought about that, and accepted the Dreadnought’s advice. Soon that would drive the Novamarine raging…

The Captains wanted to vote the new Chapter Master. The voting took place on the fortress station that served the Void Eagles back before each of the Companies ventured in different directions. In a immense meeting room they were deciding on who would lead the Chapter. This however quickly spiralled into a one month long series of arguments, threats and random objects flying in all directions (not to mention that each of the captains that took active action in the voting were putting votes on themselves). Only Gomez, Bernhold and the Samdi Baron were completely neutral over it. Finally, on the 30th day, the Samdi Baron voted for Captain Alexander to become the Chapter Master, thus having the Black Cutlass winning with two votes (his and the Baron’s). 

The Captains that were the most active went into a uproar and demanded another voting. This was the final straw for Castor who took part in it as a observer for the voting. The Contemptor smashed his power fist into the table,  knocking down everyone (except the Baron who levitated above the ground). Castor then started to complain about the Captains being this bloody selfish and told them how he wanted to make the Void Eagles stronger in order to not only find the Ultimate Treasure, but also to fulfil the promise he made himself to continue the work of Severus Trask, centuries ago when he was still a young battle-brother. Thus with anger in him, the Dreadnought left the room grumbling curses under his nose.

The Captains after hearing the name of Severus Trask immediately stood up. They heard about the man that planned to make the colonies bloom by investing in a project that would expand their borders and make them prosper. His disappearance left the project nearly to a standstill. After a while, the ten marines sought out Castor to tell them more about how he met Trask. The Dreadnought told them how he met him and saw him dying. He told them about why he that quickly climbed the chain of command back in the Novamarine Chapter. He did all of this to continue Trask’s work. The Captains that went into a uproar saw how foolish it was to question the voting. Thus they accepted Alexander as Chapter Master, and the first one to do so was no other than the biggest rival of the Black Cutlass, namely Shaktu himself. Seeing this, Castor thought that there is still a chance for the Chapter to find both the treasure and to fulfil the promise to old man Trask.

The next day the Captains, their retinues, and Castor flew down to Crowe’s World, to the cave in which Severus lived. The Dreadnought, along with a group of serfs and Techmarines, took Castor into the cave. A hour later they emerged, and Castor presented the others with Alexander in the Terminator Armour that was inside Severus’s Cave. Its golden surface shining in the sun of the Nautilus Sub-Sector, the Chapter Master of the Void Eagles stood proudly in it. The other marines gasped at their leader with astonishment, while the Captains had various levels of impression (the one who was literally amazed was Gomez…justified because of being a Techmarine with a unhealthy obsession with everything technological). 

With the companies reunited, and with him as the most important figure in the Chapter, Alexander decided that in order to celebrate it, there would be a great feast on which he would announce something important. The celebration took part on the fortress station. Everyone from those who were to become Neophytes to the Captains themselves took part in it (not to mention the Dreadnoughts and the Serfs). It all proceeded in a brotherly atmosphere.

There, Alexander announced that with the Chapter as a whole again, the marines were no more the Void Eagles that left the planet in order to become strong. They came back different, each one of them even different from each other, yet still sharing some similarities. For this, the Chapter Master  declared a change in the name of the Chapter as a symbol of a completely new beginning. Thus he announced that the Void Eagles are no more, Alexander changed for this the title of Chapter Master into something befitting the marine’s current state. And thus the Black Locks were born, and Alexander became the first Master of The Dread Fleet (much to the grumbling dissatisfaction of Castor).
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