Conservators
The Conservators are a /tg/ custom chapter, based around the concept of a chapter of Astartes who must make do with the bare minimum of supplies, in a technologically primitive area of space. Humble and proud at the same time, the Conservators are the badly equipped defenders of a series of Agriworlds on the edge of Imperial space, making up for their cobbled together arsenal with a peerless dedication to the well being of the common man, willing to do anything to protect the average people of the Imperium, even if they must engage in practices other chapters would deem disgraceful.
Origins, and fall from grace
The Conservators began as part of a wide ranging plan to bring a number of worlds, known as the Asharn March into the wider Imperium. The worlds of the March were loyal and obedient, agriworlds with a roughly medieval technology level. While they understood a little about the Imperium as a whole, mostly they just knew that they were the subjects of a greater kingdom from beyond the stars, to whom a portion of their crops were to be taxed, and nothing more. An ambitious plan was underway, however, to bring the worlds of the Asharn March into the Imperium proper, uplifting the tech levels of the worlds in question to produce more helpful tithes of men and material than corn and grain. This plan included the upgrading of the Mechanicum held world of Chiron IV to a true forge world, the establishment of trained PDF forces, and lastly the founding of a new Astartes chapter to act as the cornerstone of the March's defenses.
Created in the 20th founding, the Conservators' birth was a little rocky from the beginning. Created hastily, for a chapter, the force was initially equipped with arms and armor cast off from other chapters. The primary armor worn was the Mk VI Corvus pattern armor. These suits were mostly donated by various other chapters who had since replaced the suits with newer Aquila pattern armors. Even from the beginning the Conservators were built from the cast offs of a dozen other chapters. However they were Space Marines, and their armor was fine and sturdy, and nothing else mattered. The chapter was formed, and mobilized to the Asharn March to begin overseeing the construction of their fortress monastery. But the foundation had barely been laid when the first signs of disaster were seen.
The Asharn March, normally one of the more peaceful areas of the nearby Imperium, was torn asunder by the terrible fury of an Ork Waaagh!! Unprepared for such an attack so early into their deployment, the Conservators nonetheless rushed to defend the people of the Asharn March from the fury of the greenskin horde. Fighting valiantly, even when lacking in armored support, the Marines were able to hold the enemy at bay while a full task force of Imperial Guard were deployed to aid them. However, before the needed reinforcements came, the Conservators were faced with a terrible choice. They could defend the helpless agriworlds of the March, who's weapons were restricted to swords and bows, or they could divert forces to defend the forge world Chiron IV, securing their source of supplies but sacrificing several planets to the greenskins. The first Chapter Master of the Conservators then made a choice that would forever shape the future of his chapter.
Chiron IV was left to fight on its own while the Astartes defended the helpless farmers, saving as many lives as they could. While the Skitarii fought with bravery and skill, the full might of the Ork host was focused upon their one world. By the time the Conservators had cleared the agriworlds of greenskins and dispatched a force to aid the Mechanicus, the damage had been done. The forge world was a wasted wreck with most of its population slaughtered. However the Skitarii had dealt terrible damage to the xenos horde, and the vengeful marines slaughtered the weakened Orks in vast numbers, ending their threat to the March for the foreseeable future.
In the aftermath of the Waaagh, the plan to recolonize the March was abandoned, all support pulled out. While it would have been comparatively easy to uplift a number of thriving low tech worlds, those planets had now been burned by the Orks, and the forge world meant to supply them with advanced machinery lay in ruins. The Mechanicum in particular was irate over the loss of Chiron IV, losing such a facility after having just poured so much manpower and resources into upgrading it. All support from the Imperium proper was pulled out, leaving the medieval farmers to lick their wounds and regrow their crops on their own. At least, that was the plan.
The Conservators refused to abandon their mission of improving the worlds of the Asharn March, and chose instead to stay and continue to defend the otherwise helpless farmers who called the March home. They did this fully knowing the consequences of their actions, to be cut off and isolated from any proper support for the foreseeable future. The Mechanicum, seeing them as incompetent rookies directly responsible for the loss of a forge world, refused any form of aid towards the newborn chapter. The Conservators would receive no power armor, no weapons, no vehicles, no supplies. The Magos responsible for the embargo was explicitly clear, not so much as a single bolter round was to be delivered to the Conservators. If the marines had judged the lives of their fellow techpriests unimportant, then they would be treated in kind.
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 even with their primitive gear were little match for the Astartes.