Obsidian Glaives
| Obsidian Glaives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | ||
| Battle Cry | "We Shall Endure!" | |
| Founding | Second Founding | |
| Successors of | Ultramarines | |
| Chapter Master | Midnias | |
| Homeworld | Obstiria | |
| Strength | DEAD | |
| Specialty | Self-punishment and dying to Orks | |
| Allegiance | Imperium of Man | |
| Colours | Black and bone | |
A chapter more self-hating than the Doom Eagles or Mortifactors. These guys were hardcore when it came to self-flagellation, and were a rare example of an Ultramarines descendent who didn't consider the Codex Astartes holy writ. Unfortunately for them, they were created for the Sanctus Reach campaign, a.k.a.: that one time Grukk Face-Rippa fucked shit up.
History
These guys were fucking old -- one of the first 23 chapters the Ultramarines shit out, though they were technically revealed as being one in the 7th Ed. Ork codex and their short stories as opposed to being one from the start.
Their homeworld was an irradiated hellhole, like Baal but even hotter and with rocks instead of deserts. Most of the planet was battered with constant deadly radiation due to the sun's proxmity, which many of their brothers exposed themselves to as a means of "atoning" for their failings. It also fucked with their Dreadnoughts something fierce -- the radiation gradually broke down the links between the pilot's sarcophagus and slowly drove them nuts, causing them to start thinking they were back in their old bodies or just plain dropping dead; while they usually kept the 'noughts inside their fortress-monastery to protect them, the Codex had to be honoured and so every Dreadnought ended up having to stand guard over the fortress for a year or so before being rotated back inside despite the consequences.
In 998.M41, the Red WAAAGH! hit the Sanctus Reach, with Grukk Face-Rippa at its head. A bunch of Evil Sunz and Freebooterz jumped the gun and hit Obstiria before the Warboss officially got there, managing to land several hundred thousand Orks and lay siege to the Penumbral Spire despite getting the shit kicked out of them by the planet's AA defences. Five companies of Obsidian Glaives managed to hold the fortress, but it was a narrow thing -- the Chapter took heavy casualties and lost almost all of their Dreadnoughts to the Orks and simple environmental hazards.
And then Grukk arrived.
The Obsidian Glaives proceeded to spend the next few weeks getting the absolute shit kicked out of them now that the bulk of the Red WAAAGH! had hit the ground. During the Slaughter of Black Gulch, Grukk ripped open a malfunctioning Obsidian Glaives Drop Pod and went full RIP AND TEAR on the Marines inside, royally cheesing off the Captains and Chapter Master. The Chapter decided to make one last attack, trying to take Grukk himself down to simultaneously avenge their brothers and break the back of the WAAAGH!, with basically all their remaining Marines committing to the attack.
Unfortunately for them, Grukk was a hard bastard who endured the Chapter Master's attempts to cut him up with a chainsword then pinned the guy and literally bit the CM's head off. What few Obsidian Glaives remained were swiftly mopped up by the greenskins, leaving the path to the Knight World of Alaric Prime open and setting the Red WAAAGH! on the warpath once more.
Chapter Practices
Since their homeworld had no population even before the Red WAAAGH wrecked shit, they recruited from prisoners where young boys who were faced with death sentences were preached to hourly, then interviewed by a Chaplain. If the prisoner repented and wanted to extend his sentence, he would be initiated into the Obsidian Glaives. After the first round of surgeries, they got dropped back onto the irradiated hell-hole they called the surface and were told to make their way back to the fortress-monastery, and to survive even if they had to kill their fellow aspirants.
These guys also thought of being a Space Marine very differently than their kin. They saw it as a punishment. Which actually makes sense considering they were consigning themselves to potentially millennia or outright forever fighting almost non-stop against mind-shattering horrors and alien monsters. They also did a lot of self-flagellation. But it doesn't end there. They brainwashed themselves in order to learn how to fight and in the process, lose their memories. Even after all of that THEY STILL SAW THEMSELVES AS GUILTY!
(Seriously, are these guys not closet Imperial Fist successors?)
Campaigns
- Helrac Incursion - Fought Eldar Corsairs and wound up chasing them to the Space Hulk "Mote of Darkness." The first company went in and cleaned them out.
- 987 M41 - Orikan the Diviner traps the Obsidian Glaives 7th Company in a time loop where they fight Necrons while the Crons sit back and watch what happens.
- Red Waaagh! - Whole chapter is presumed to have been destroyed by Warboss Grukk Face-Rippa.