Editing Conservators (section)

==The hard times==
Never fully equipped in the first place, the Conservators were now faced with a grim prospect, defending the worlds of the [[Asharn March]] with no supplies, no reinforcements, and only a fraction of the fighting force they had started with. Fighting for an extended period of time with little more than battle brothers and the weapons they carried had taken a terrible toll on the young chapter, leaving only about 200 of the roughly 700 founding members still alive. These few surviving marines quickly set about rebuilding their chapter as quickly as they could. While many suits of Corvus pattern armor had been lost, too badly damaged to be salvaged, or having to be left behind in Ork territory, the chapter apothecaries were able to save the vast majority of gene seeds from the fallen brothers to preserve for the next generation.

As such, the Conservators undertook an aggressive recruitment campaign, using what few ships they had to deposit small units on all March planets to test for gene seed compatibility. The ranks slowly began to swell again over the next several years as comparatively large numbers of recruits were inducted, the Conservators having somewhat loosened their entrance criteria in order to refill their lost numbers. However this presented a major problem, they were faced with having more marines than could be supplied with what they had left. The few spare suits of Mk VI armor they had quickly ran out and soon there simply was no more armor to go to the new recruits.

Lacking a vast fleet, these new marines often were stationed on the same planets they had been recruited from, their organ implants being carried out onboard chapter ships which carried the needed medical facilities, which made constant tours across the March to graduate the new marines as they completed their training. These marines were clad in simple plate armor forged by the most skilled of human blacksmiths, wielding blades the finest their planet had ever produced, and often carrying a bolt pistol, or a bolter if they were lucky. However despite their lack of Astartes gear, they were true marines at heart, and took the defense of their small territory with the utmost seriousness, battling against what Orks showed their faces. Thankfully though these were just the remnants or new births from the old Waaagh, and were few in number and armed with little more than stone axes and animal skins, and with their primitive gear were little match for the Astartes.