Aurora Chapter
| Aurora Chapter | ||
|---|---|---|
| Founding | Second Founding | |
| Successors of | Ultramarines | |
| Successor Chapters | Unknown | |
| Chapter Master | Unknown | |
| Primarch | Roboute Guilliman | |
| Homeworld | Firestorm | |
| Strength | Unknown, Assumed full strength | |
| Specialty | Fuck Hueg Armored Assaults, Having more tanks than you | |
| Allegiance | Imperium | |
| Colours | Green | |
The Aurora Chapter is one of the many successor chapters of the Ultramarines produced during the second founding, they specialize in massed armored assaults and are reputed to have more Land Raiders and Predators than any other chapter in the Imperium. They have been involved in a number of campaigns, in recent note the Zeist Campaign against the Tau. Having more tanks than God requires having a sufficient source of parts and ammunition, and so the Aurora Chapter has their home world of Firestorm which is a forgeworld so capable it can rival the output of several high profile Mechanicus worlds combined. In effect the planet can be considered the Chapter's forge, with a large percentage of it's output diverted to supplying the Chapter.
According to Forge World's Horus Heresy books, they are likely to be descended from the Ultramarines' 4th Chapter, the "Aurorans". It's noted that even during the Great Crusade, they had five times as many armored vehicles than any other Chapter in the Legiones Astartes (and keep in mind that this was when the Iron Hands were still at full strength).
They are mentioned as having a feud with the Knights of the Raven chapter, after having taken unacceptable losses while fighting alongside them, this was further exacerbated when the Aurora Chapter accused the Knights of the Raven of cultivating superstitious heresy on their own homeworld of Coralax (though this seems absurd since there are so many chapters with feudal/feral backgrounds, so it seems a bit petty that any other chapter would care), when the Knights took insult at the obviously inflammatory remark the two chapters came to blows with each other. The issue was only resolved when Marneus Calgar stepped in and quietly mentioned that the Knights of the Raven should go on a penitent crusade, which they did
Cool Shit
Once upon a time, the tread heads lost a beloved Land Raider in the xenos/heretic infested Jericho Reach. The Deathwatch recovered the tank but found it to be beyond repair, however knowing the Aurora Chapter had a massive, power armor piercing, hard on for their tanks decided to do their battle brothers a solid by taking its main axel and reforging it into a thunder hammer by the name of Remembrance. It was thought that doing this would allow the destroyed machine to avenge its destruction, and every marine that has wielded the weapon in battle swears it strikes with the force of a tank, which is Awesome.
There is also some discrepancy about the chapter's numbers. In 3rd Edition, they were cited as having over a thousand predator tanks alongside the rest of their sizable tank force, however, in 4th edition and later this is scaled back to more Predators & Land Raiders than three chapters combined(the Heresy Era Aurorans had more than five times that of a normal chapter). So if you take the current disposition of the Ultramarines as an approximation of a "normal chapter" that gives the Aurorans somewhere between 75-125 Predators plus 30-50 Land Raiders.
However, despite their predilection for massed tank combat alongside their typical battle contingents, they arent hinted at being massively divergent from the Codex Astartes. Considering that Marines seconded from the Tactical Reserve companies (not the battle companies) typically get the job of driving vehicles, they don't really need more men to cover the extra vehicles since any marine can drive in a pinch. That assumes they want the whole chapter to roll out at the same time, realistically, very few chapters unleash their entire armouries in every engagement.