Editing Stone Prophets (section)

==Chapter Beliefs==
The Imperium broke. It was supposed to be impossible, but it happened anyway. And those men who would become the Stone Prophets never forgot this fact. Rather than chase an unattainable, ephemeral sense of perfection then, they turned to ancient ways of thought, of philosophies more suited to a fragmented, fallen galaxy. The universe reveals itself only through destruction, and it is folly to resist this. To study the fundamental forces of reality, one must shatter cells, molecules, atoms, quarks, and all the strange and marvelous particles smaller still, until ultimate truths reveal themselves. Truths not bound to the fallible minds of men or xenos, but written indelibly into the impartial cosmos itself. 

The Stone Prophets ritually destroyed all manner of items to meditate upon the fragments produced and divine auguries of the universe's will hidden therein, but none resonated more with the Chapter than rock and stone. It is from this practice that the Chapter took its name, a philosophy founded by their first Chapter Master during his final years with the Eyes of the Emperor Legion. Every chip of stone and puff of dust held echoes of the future to those with eyes to see it, and the Chapter's Librarians in particular made excellent use of geological samples to peer beyond the mortal veil. Pebbles from historically significant worlds were worth more than an Astartes' weight in throne-gold, and ruined fragments of an Imperial hero's war panoply were worth any risk to obtain from some xenos-infested battleground. 

So too did the Chapter seek to break down its own soldiers, to crush their preconceptions, pulverize their hesitancy, and batter down the distinction between the Self and the Whole. Gone was the caste system and specialized formations of their parent Legion, something which shocked the Eyes of the Emperor to no end. Almost uniquely among the Second Founding Chapters, the Stone Prophets fearlessly separated from their predecessor's ways with an astounding finality, pursuing their new way of life deep into Ultima Segmentum, where they found an isolated world perfect for their needs to call home. Had they not strayed so far, perhaps a better fate would have awaited them, but for all their auguries and mental discipline, they yet remained blind to the Vetrovnak tidal wave that would ultimately claim them.