Editing Setting:Cloudburst/Blue Daggers (section)

==Recruitment==

The Blue Dagger recruitment protocols are tightly kept secrets within the Chapter.  Because of the multi-Chapter nature of their original Founding, the Dagger leaders chose to create an entirely new recruiting protocol instead of copying the Angels of Fury or Novamarine ones.

Those who aspire to become Blue Daggers must be no older than twelve years old, and are thus usually nominated by their parents or their educators.  Aspirants are taken in at the three massive spaceports that connect the Septiim garden worlds: Stellar Gateway Spaceport on Primus, Astia Grand Ports on Secundus, and Monarch Processional on Tertius.  Those who dwell in the outer platforms or moonbases must fly to one of those first, as do those from the rest of the Zone’s sparse colonies.

Aspirants are taken by their instructors in shuttles to the ''Gargantuan''.  Because of its enormous size, the ''Gargantuan'' has much internal space it does not need for combat or life support.  The Daggers use these chambers as training grounds.  The individual chambers have a variety of air pressures, gravities, internal atmospheric compositions, and light levels, to simulate the worlds of the Cloudburst Sector.

The Aspirants are forced to live in these and similar chambers for several years, and undergo a barrage of complex tests.  These include psychological and psychic screenings, memory recall tests, athletic and academic exams, and various combat drills.  However, the Blue Daggers also insist that Aspirants undergo extensive instruction in the history and complexity of the Imperium, both to instill a sense of respect for how things work and to ensure the Daggers are able to perform their role of liaising with the rest of the Sector’s institutions.

After these several years go by, the Tenth Company Captain and the Master of Recruiters then separate those boys who have failed in their testing in some way.  Those with a certain tendency towards heresy or severe genetic defect are quietly executed, while all others are given a choice.  Those who wish to press on and become Blue Daggers are given the chance to try, while those who are functional but genetically unable to progress, or have chosen another path, are shunted sideways into the Serf training programs to learn a trade.  There is no stigma attached to this, at least not among the actual Marines.  The size of the ''Gargantuan'', the many bases the Daggers have throughout the system, and the fleet the Chapter fields demand a larger population of serfs than most non-First Founding Chapters require.  Furthermore, those serfs stationed off the ''Gargantuan'' proper are encouraged to start families and have children, providing the Daggers with a pool of pre-indoctrinated boys to recruit.

Other serfs train in combat and become the human component of the Blue Daggers’ forces, crewing the vehicles and vessels that the Daggers don’t do themselves.  The Daggers may have more Marines than most Chapters outside the Black Templars, but they are not so flush with troops that they can spare them to crew every one of the hundred-plus gunships of the fleet, for instance.

Serfs are expected to wear uniforms on duty, and robes that cover all but the face and hands when off duty.  On-duty serfs may wear their robes over their uniforms on-duty, but few do.  Bondsmen, who make up the vast majority of the ship and station crew of the Chapter, are not under this stricture.  Serf uniforms are religiously-themed, with tunics, cowls, pantaloons, and boots embossed with the icons of their Chapter allegiance.  Bondsmen uniforms are designed upon the template of the Septiim Conservator regimental Guard, and aside from different patches and distinct dress berets, could be mistaken for Astra Militarum uniforms.  Serfs automatically outrank bondsmen, thanks to their many years of indoctrination.  Neither body accepts resignations.


Blue Dagger Aspirants who press on to become true Marines are taken away to a separate series of chambers in the ''Gargantuan'' and subjected to further testing.  The Tenth Company officers subject the young men to teamwork and leadership tests, as well as a final screening for psychic awakening.  Finally, as the boys near seventeen years of age, the first stage of organ implantation begins, overseen by the Apothecarion and the Librarius.

Those who survive are given the Black Carapace and entry into the Scouts.  Those who fail usually die, but some simply reject the organs and are sent off to the Fourth Company to serve in the Fleet as crew for the ''Sharp Edge''.  These senor serfs are usually entrusted with the vital task of overseeing the gun crews of the massive ship, thanks to their familiarity with Blue Dagger technology and officers.

Survivors who accept all of the organs (the Dagger gene regimen has no missing organs) enter the final stage of their training, to compete for the position of Fireteam Scout Leader and gain command of the five-person Fireteams that make up the Scouts.  In addition, each Squad of two Fireteams may have a Scout Sergeant who is among the most experienced Marines in the Chapter, to lead the Scouts through the battles that forge them into true Battle Brothers.  Because there are thirty-three of these Fireteam Scout Leaders and only three commissioned officer positions among them, the competition is not fierce, and there is no penalty for simply choosing not to try to become the leader of each Fireteam.  The Company Command Squad of the Tenth is a five-Marine squad and consists of those Scouts who have completed all training, physical metamorphoses, and spiritual developments expected to become Devastators, but have not yet had the chance to do so.  The squad of the Brother Lieutenant who commands the second half of the Company is a standard five-Scout Fireteam, and the Lieutenant himself is the most experienced person in the Company after the Captain.  They are usually drawn from the Command Squad.  The squad of the Brother Lieutenants who command the halves of the Company is a standard five-Scout Fireteam, and the Lieutenants themselves are the most experienced person in the Company after the Captain.  They are usually drawn from the Command Squad.

Scouts rise to the Devastators after they have either served a length of time defined by the circumstances of their service, or after meritorious service under the discretion of their Captain.  Once in the Devastators, the progress of the Marines is defined by the same methods as other Codex Astartes Chapters.  The only notable exception is that Blue Daggers can abandon their Company to enter the Chaplaincy, Techmarine Brotherhood, Apothecarion, or vehicle crewers at any time they wish.

The Chapter’s battlecry of “For Septiim and Terra!” has rung from the walls of Subsector Capitals, from the steel and glass façades of office towers in the port hubs of Septiim Secundus, and from the very hearts of dying Glasian Cylinders for hundreds of years.