Hospitallers
| Hospitallers | ||
|---|---|---|
| Red Maltese cross on a white field | ||
| Battle Cry | Unknown |
|
| Founding | 24th Founding | |
| Successors of | Imperial Fists | |
| Successor Chapters | None | |
| Chapter Master | Mirkal Alfaran (MIA) | |
| Primarch | Rogal Dorn | |
| Homeworld | Fleet-based | |
| Strength | Unknown | |
| Specialty | Being Pious Marines, defending and protecting the Imperium's people | |
| Allegiance | Imperium | |
| Colours | White armor, silver helmets, red detailing | |
"To honour the Emperor who is God. To shield the faithful. To bring absolution through death to the heretic, the apostate, the unbeliever and the alien."
- – Sacred vows of the Hospitallers Chapter
They're these guys. That's about it.
What, you wanted more? Okay.
The Hospitallers are a successor chapter of the Imperial Fists, founded in the 39th Millennium. Much like their angrier cousins, they were meant to be a crusading chapter, roaming routes of trade and pilgrimage throughout Segmentum Obscurus to protect and defend the worlds therein. Also like the Black Templars, they flipped the bird to the Codex Astartes in favor of creating their own organizational structure. Finally, they are among the very few Space Marine Chapters that worship the God-Emperor of Mankind, which means that they're bros with the Adeptus Ministorum. And one time the Iron Hands stole one of their Dreadnoughts and (maybe) blew up one of their ships.
Organization
Having disregarded the Codex entirely, the Hospitallers are organized into three large companies, each of which is sworn to uphold one of the three vows sworn by all Hospitallers when first inducted into the chapter: to defeat the Emperor's foes, to protect the Emperor's people, and to be ever vigilant against those who would disrupt the Emperor's peace. The 1st Company is known as "The Vigil", and is formed entirely of the chapter's veterans (being ever vigilant). The 2nd Company specializes in defensive engagements (protecting the Emperor's people), and the 3rd Company specializes in offensive engagements (defeating the Emperor's foes).
What Was That About Emperor-Worship?
It's not really clear why the Hospitallers worship the Emperor when most other Space Marines don't, but they take the Imperial Cult very seriously, and regard protecting the Emperor's people as a sacred trust. They place particular emphasis on caring for and defending wounded civilians, which tracks with their historical namesake. That said, if they're about to be overrun by enemy forces, they'll grant the Emperor's Mercy to their charges to save them from a worse death.
The Iron Hands Did What Now?
Apparently, during a battle for some remote Knight World about halfway through the 41st Millennium, a bunch of Iron Hands from Clan Raukaan boarded the Hospitallers' flagship, Shield of the God-Emperor. They proceeded to massacre their way up to its bridge, where they paralyzed the chapter's seneschal, a Dreadnought named Augustine Galvarro, with haywire grenades before teleporting him back to their own flagship. The Shield was then mysteriously and conveniently destroyed during the battle. As it turned out, the Iron Hands wanted to use Galvarro's Dreadnought chassis to save one of their senior sergeants, but wound up just using the Keys of Hel to convert him into a Helfather instead. It remains a mystery as to why a tech-obsessed chapter that probably has more Dreadnoughts than any other loyalist chapter in the galaxy would need to steal one. (And no, official fluff saying that the Iron Hands have few Dreadnoughts is not an argument, because it makes no sense)