Crimsonmarines

"Lives of Heretics are the scourge of mankind. There is only one resolve for these hideous traitors: Annihilation. When Mankind is free from corruption, only then will we be truly worthy of our Emperor's return."

- Karl Braecker, first Kapitel Meister (Chapter Master) of the Crimsonmarines The Crimsonmarines are a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter and Successor of the Ultramarines Legion, first intended to be a [https://wh40khomebrew.fandom.com/wiki/Fleet-Based_Chapters#targetText=Fleet%2DBased%20refers%20to%20Space,among%20the%20most%20mobile%20Chapters. Fleet-Based] chapter. An ancient and proud Chapter, the Crimsonmarines are lenient adherents of the Codex Astartes who consider the writ of the sacred text, penned by their blessed Primarch Roboute Guilliman, to be a divine guide of duty and honor rather than a law book. They are recorded to have made their own decisions and not have strayed too far from the Codex. Crimsonmarines are best known for their extreme hatred towards heretics also well known for a hybrid tactic of large arsenals of Superweapons with various tortuous assault tactics. Even though in possession of advanced weaponry and a large number of marines, having 13 Kompanien (companies) the chapter has usually a small assault force on any mission as the Crimsonmarines are thinned across the wide area of unexplored Wilderness Space throughout Löwenheim. The Crimsonmarines' virtue and honor are such that they have been held up as an example to other Chapters of what it means to be of the Adeptus Astartes and of Roboute Guillimans bloodline, much like their parent Chapter. They have no known Successor Chapters, at least not officially, but they are believed to have had the honor of their brethren being selected to provide a portion of the gene-seed used in the Founding of several Ultramarines Successor Chapters in the past and dark rumors to have accepted renegades into their chapter. The Chapter's homeworld of Löwenheim is to be found between the borders of the Ultima Segmentum and the Segmentum Obscurus, a great distance from the Ultramarines' Realm of Ultramar. The region is sparsely populated. The Chapter's sphere of influence and area of operations is very large. The vast tracts of unexplored Wilderness Space around Löwenheim, are host to all manner of ancient threats, nascent alien empires and as-yet-undiscovered lost human colony worlds from the Age of Strife, much the same as their current homeworld of Löwenheim once was before the discovery. As a consequence, the Crimsonmarines have seen action against a wide range of enemies, from terrible Xenos monstrosities to isolationist human realms that refuse to bow to the rule of the Emperor of Mankind. Perhaps partly because the Crimsonmarines operated across such a wide area, the Chapter has very rarely gathered all 13 of its Kompanien (companies) in one place, so active and far-flung are its companies' operations. As a Successor Chapter of the Ultramarines, the Crimsonmarines maintain close links to the present-day Ultramarines and their other Successor Chapters. The great distance between Löwenheim and Macragge means that the Chapter is unable to send representatives to the court of Marneus Calgar as often as its brother Chapters, but every Crimsonmarine aspires to make a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Primarch on Macragge at least once in his lifetime. Those that have done so traditionally mark the fact by adorning parts of their battle armor with white laurel wreaths, a mark of honor that the Chapter's Scout Marines behold with awe and dream of one day earning for themselves.

Chapter History
"The Imperium is stained with heretics."

- Sammael Poltersinn, Kaplan (Chaplain) of the Crimsonmarines

The Crimsonmarines Chapter was based on the Imperium's fringes along the desolate void-wastes to the galactic East-Northeast, between the borders of the  Ultima Segmentum and the Segmentum Obscurus as a fleet-based chapter, although in its long history it has been accustomed to great voyages and forlorn quests, having fought the width and breadth of the Imperium in the past. After a long time of crusading, near the closing years of the 35th Millennium the Chapter had made its home on the world of Löwenheim; A newly discovered planet by the chapter with a small population of humans possessing very advanced technology. After exploring the planet and its population, several artifacts (ancient technology and lost Standard Template Constructs or STCs) were found, tracing back to the dark age of technology explaining the population having advanced technology, which is suspected to be the reason the chapter conquered and established on the newfound world so hastily. The planet, however, seems to have warp immunities since Psykers, the Bibliothekar (Librarian) felt a great amount of pain solely in orbit of Löwenheim it is currently unknown what caused this. The Techniker's (Techmarines) of the Crimsonmarines suspect the presence of a warp negating artifact, however, nothing could be found or proven. Since the planet could cause a great amount of torment to Psykers, the chapter has established another fortress on Knote the outermost moon which is the 4th of Löwenheim. The moon Knote is a rocky Ice moon with a habitable atmosphere also very rich in minerals. Currently unpopulated by any others than the Psykers of the Crimsonmarines. The various findings and research on ancient tech-artifacts have granted a large arsenal of advanced weaponry to the chapter by the Tech-priests who had accompanied the Crimsonmarines to Löwenheim.

Beginning of the Crimson Crusade
To understand the nature of the "Crimsonmarines", one must look back to its founder, Karl Braecker. Karl was once of the Ultramarines and noted to be an honored champion and effective tactician. In spite of being permissive towards the codex, his acts of glory earned him the honor of founding a Chapter. The founded Chapter Titled the Crimsonmarines, was founded Fleet-Based mainly to hunt traitors and heretics during times of The Forging. This hunt by the chapter is later dubbed by their marines as The Crimson Crusade. Establishing Chapter Keeps upon each world they have conquered, to keep watch for treachery, to stage future Purges or Cleanses, and to recruit new Battle-Brothers. The long Imperial Crusade of the Crimsonmarines has seen its warriors entailed in an extensive purging and cleansing of worlds. The traces of their crusade could be found in the histories of many worlds. Having left histories of mass-purging and many records for hunts of the traitor marines everywhere they have been. It is believed by many within the Inquisition specifically, the Ordo Hereticus who states to have evidence on the Crimsonmarines to have accepted many Renegade Space Marines and members of chapters who were declared Excommunicate Traitoris who sought redemption and desired to prove their allegiance to the Emperium once more into their ranks during their crusading times. Knowing this, even when the inquisition conducted a gene-seed purity check on many of their marines, the Crimsonmarines gene-seed seemed to be surprisingly pure, bearing the least evidence of mutation or corruption. It is archived by the Ordo Hereticus to have conducted tests on the Crimsonmarines very often during the 34th to the 39th millennium all of the results proved them to be pure from corruption or mutation. Hower the inquisition still added the Crimsonmarines to their suspicion list justified by some of the marines seem to have tendencies for paranoia and self-destructive behaviors displayed by many within the chapter. Some of the Crimsonmarines are proven to thrive in the use of psychological warfare and terror tactics, exemplified by their chapters Fünfte Kompanie (5th Company) who seem to take immense pleasure in seeing the enemies of the golden throne suffer merely for the sheer, sick joy of it. Thus the Inquisition having the Ordo Astartes oversee the Crimsonmarines under very heedful watch.

Discovery of Löwenheim
Not much is known on how the Crimsonmarines discovered the planet, it is said within the chapter that the Astronomican light flickered and teetered during one of their crusades causing the chapter to went adrift for some time until they reemerged into this unknown system. The first writings regarding this mysterious planet were documents recorded by their pasts Bibliothekaren (Librarians) subjected to the planets torment producing abilities towards Psykers and warp energy nullifying effects. Several reports of their explorations indicated a numerous amount of artifacts and relics dating back before even the age of strife and a low population estimated to be around 10,500,000 divided into many tribes, all tribes seem to possess a great amount of knowledge on advanced and never before seen technologies. These findings of the chapters scouts only inspired more interest in this newfound star system. Upon openly making their presence known to the tribes the Crimsonmarines adopted the native name of Löwenheim for the planet in their records. Having to make a decision between forcing the population into submission or simply cleansing the planet of all tribes, the Kapitel Meister (Chapter Master) took his most trusted brothers to go explore for one last time, needing more information to effectively base his decisions on.

Unacceptable Traits of Heresy
Many months have passed. The Kapitel Meister (Chapter Master) Karl has gained much knowledge on his quest of exploring more regarding various tribes, having heard of a very powerful group of tribes to be hunting other tribes and demanding tributes of humans from other tribes. Karl grew very suspicious over this particular group of tribes calling themselves xudeus. Upon investigation by the Kapitel Meister himself, Karl found out a disturbing truth. The xudeus were physically and spiritually tainted by an unknown chaos entity, very surprised despite the planet being warp negating. Karl also discovered the tribe performing mass sacrifices in the numbers of many hundred-thousands every year from prisoners of won conquests and demanded human tributes in hopes of opening a gateway to their god. This gave the Chapter Master enough reasons to purge the planet. Calling for aid to all the other Crimsonmarines upon every Keep-Established world attempting to balance out the differences in war equipment against the xudeus, by enticing all his forces to a great "Cleansing" and bringing great honor to the Emperium. A great force of Crimsonmarines was amassed but still not evenly matched against the estimated 1,400,000 Xudeus-forces, aggravated even worse by the fact the Crimsonmarines could not deploy any of their psykers. Being on the disadvantageous side both in numbers and in weaponry Karl being known for his looseness towards the Codex accepted unorthodox methods both in warfare and strategics instead of the honorable and direct methods their predecessors the Ultramarines favored. His tactics relaying mostly upon guerrilla, Infiltration, terror and shock tactics.

"Cleansing"
The conflict did not take too long to reveal its victor, mostly benefited from the indirect methods used by the Crinsonmarines. Knowing a direct assault would cost the chapter too many losses due to the highly improved weapons and by the difference in numbers of the Xudeus. The chapter started by using Infiltration and guerrilla-warfare to get in enemy bases and cities sabotaging and preventing the enemies from holding any solid grounds before quickly retreating not giving the Xudeus any chances to counter-attack. Their next stage was Terror, initiating an orbital bombardment in the nights upon strongpoints and non-infiltratable bases or fortresses which lasted for many solar hours. Following the bombardment, the artificial darkness remained. Soon a heavy downpour thick with chemicals rained upon the fearful defenders from the seeded clouds above. The Crimsonmarines descended from the artificial night sky on jetpacks, butchering any who crossed their paths. The screams of terror and battle echoed through their drug-weakened minds. The Crimsonmarines left the decimated cities before dawn. Repeating and intensifying the above-mentioned processes over and over again. This is believed to be the first time the Crimsonmarines had used such tactics against an enemy and the begin of their continual utilization and improvement of such tactics over the years. All the other tribes who were once being terrorized by the Xudeus slowly started to side with their new allies the Crimsonmarines, aiding by granting the chapter never before seen weaponry and armor. In spite of having used indirect methods to win, the chapter still suffered many losses due to the differences in equipment prior to the tribe's support. the conflict ended as a result of the chapter's tactics causing heavy losses by systematically eradicating any possible footing and generating great disorganization to the Xudeus. Shattered and unorganized the Xudeus were hunted and hoarded up for mass executions. Proven to be too many to execute at once the chapter was forced to stay on the planet to continue their purges for many decades. Having won the conflict but not entirely cleansed the planet, Karl decides to end their crusading nature and change their fleet-based ways to use Löwenheim as the chapters homeworld to rebuilt and harness the technologies for the Imperium. After the Conflict, the Crimsonmarines forced their former allies into the imperial creed and molded them as one under the light of the Emperor. Using Löwenheim as the chapter's primary world of recruitment the chapter slowly absorbed the population's culture, traditions, as well as their unique language which is assumed to be a mix between the main language from the age of technology and an unknown accent of Low Gothic.

Tierherr
"I hunt in the darkness for the light of our emperor."

- Leon Kenner, Fünfte Kompanien Kapitän (5th Company Captain) of the Crimsonmarines

Only in the succeeding years was it revealed by their Fünfte Kompanien Kapitän (5th Company Captain) Leon Kenner who the chaos god the Xudeus worshipped was. Having traced some of the Xudeus to the far north where they were hiding in deep underground cave systems. In his hunt, he went deeper and deeper through the caverns slowly and silently ending their lives one by one in the dark. He found one of the elders who is said to once have glimpsed at their god, instead of ending his life on the spot Leon decided to bring him back to the chapter's headquarters for extraction. In the headquarters, Leon interrogated the elder himself, made him describe their god and extracted information on the whereabouts of other cultists. The elder died but before describing their wicked god to be an entity with an always twisting, smiling and an endless number of animal faces. This was enough for the chapter to conclude Tzeentch as the true god of the xudeus.

The last xudeus
Near the extinction of their tribe, the xudeus consulted their remaining elders for guidance. Having not only lost their planet but also most of their kind, the xudeus elders had to gather for a consult, planning a final resolve. The confers did take a long time for all the remaining strayed elders to arrive in one place. Originally there were 10 elders titled differently as, The elder of Heads, The elder of Arms, The elder of Body, The elder of Hands, The elder of Feet, The elder of Eyes, The elder of Heads, The elder of Instinct, The elder of Legs and The elder of Perception their titles are believed to be all the gifts their god Tierherr had once given to them. In their secret meeting, only 8 elders were present the other two missing elders are The elder of Feet and The elder of Heads. The elder which captain Leon found and interrogated is believed by the Crimsonmarines to be the elder of Heads. The other missing elder suspected to be the elder of Feet believed by the chapter to have died during their purges. In their conclusion, the Xudeus decided to give their lives to their god by performing a last forbidden ritual kept secret by the elders which is said to grant a final gift to the Xudeus called the Ultimatum ritual. The ritual in their beliefs is to give back all the gifts their god had once given to them back to him and requesting a final gift by representing all the elders as each gift once given to them but not being able to offer the other two lost elders it is assumed by the remaining elders to satisfy their god by alternatively sacrificing every last remaining xudeu believing their god would resurrect them to this side after giving their lives to their god. The ritual took place in one of their secret halls kept secret by all the elders calling the place Halle der Ersten Änderung des weges (hall of the first change of way) explaining to be the place Tierherr gifted them with his many gifts.

The dark truth and Birth of the Arch Heretic
In the halls, the sacrifices were carried on starting from the smallest Xudeu to the largest Xudeu who were not elders or priests, followed by their lowest ranking priests to their highest in the Xudeu belief system. Tzeentch originally planned to use the Xudeus to accumulate sufficient soul energy by the annual sacrifices to him in his halls to destroy the planet by transforming the stored soul energies into non-warp based forms through his halls. Tzeentch could only see the events on the planet when sacrifices were made to him, as a result of the nullifying effects from the planet. Forced to act as he now sees his servants had failed to execute his master-crafted plan as a consequence of the interference from the Crimsonmarines. Tzeentch was forced to use all the stored soul energies within his halls to create a creature powerful enough to end all lives of those who know of the planet, fearing the Imperium might learn to replicate and utilize its abilities to become obstacles for his schemes. The remains of the xudeus started slowly melt together forming a wicked and twisted form, Tzeentch baptized it as Jahovay the bringer of change. It is during this time, the psykers of the Crimsonmarines who were on the battle barge the Himmlischer Wille (Divine Will) orbiting the far moon of Knote started to feel immense pain which seems to have originated from the planet it is believed the psykers had bled from their eyes, ears and from their mouths so intense was their torment. On the planet, an electromagnetic storm engulfed Löwenheim rendering all technological devices useless and cutting off all the communications to or on the planet. Currently on the Battle Barge Karl chapter master of the Crimsonmarines went to see his Librarians after having heard them to heavily suffer from warp disturbances. When Karl reached his psykers he was informed by his master librarian whose pain was unbearable and near of collapsing, of a warp presence being manifested upon, telling Karl of the approximated locations from which the warp signatures originated from before he fainted. Karl upon considering what powerful warp creature could have the might to be materialized upon a warp-negating planet, dropped all of his psykers and librarians on Knote to lessen their sufferings and to keep them as far away from both the planet and the warp-presence which are generating torment towards them, knowing the moon has habitable atmosphere. taking the battle-barge and all available void-ships to bombard the described location. Only being reported later on of the planet's communications being cut off by his crew. The chapter master became very certain after hearing of all the anomalies happening, ordered a full-scale bombardment of the location his psykers described. The bombardment was only able to destroy the halls in which the rituals were made, the creature had already escaped the place. Karl acknowledging he could not confirm the extermination of this being due to all his radars' inability to scan the planet caused by the electromagnetic storms currently engulfing the planet. Karl apprised the Crimsonmarines of a warp-being to have been manifested upon the planet dubbing the abomination as the Arch heretic encouraging his brothers to join in his search to end its life as well as its wicked intentions. The Crimsonmarines and their chapter master landed on the planet via drop pods unable to reach planet by any other landing methods due to the storm. The only weapons they could have used were bolters and various melee weapons, other tech weapons and vehicles proofed to be useless on the storm engulfed the planet. The Arch Heretics' hight and size were described by those who had seen it as to be the same size as an Imperator-class Titan, speculated to have grown from its original size by an ability to grow in size depending on the lives it had taken. Sadly no records or anyone could specifically describe the details of this so-called Arch Heretic, only being unclearly described as an abomination with many hands holding various items, even its head was described to be a hand saluting to Tzeentch.

The battle against the Arch Heretic
It is said the chapter had to use old means of communicating, believed to have used light-based and smoke signals to communicate and amass a force on the planet. The main battle went unrecorded as a result of the many anomalies happening during that time. The chapter estimated the battle to have taken 6 months. The surface of Löwenheim was scared by the battle, oceans have turned into deserts, massive craters so deep as the eye could see only the blackest darkness below. The numbers of casualties are unknown but it is said the number of the remaining population was only one-third of its former population. The only surviving members of the Crimsonmarines were the Kompanien Kapitäne (company captains) of the 3rd,5th, 6th, and the 9thand only a small number of their battle-brothers respective to their Kompanien (companies), their Battle-barge with most of their void-ships and crew members were badly damaged only three ships went missing suspected to have crashed on the planet. Not even the fate of their former Kapitel Meister (chapter master) Karl was known, it is believed by the inhabitants of Löwenheim and by most of the Crimsonmarines that he had sacrificed his life in order to end the abominations wicked existence, the only remainings of the chapter master were his severed left arm, his Power-greatsword the Wahrheit-bringer and his helmet. Whatever the truth may uphold the day it is believed to be the day the Crimsonmarines emerged victoriously is nowadays celebrated by Löwenheims' populations. Even the Crimsonmarines hold prayers to the god-emperor the entire day without any interruptions on this particular day called by the inhabitants of Löwenheim as Karmesintag (crimson day). On Karmesintag (crimson day) besides being feasted and celebrated as if it is the day the Crimsonmarines slay the Arch Heretic itself, stage-plays rumored to be the stories based upon the real events of that fateful day are played in every city center to remind the citizens of their saviors sacrifice and their duty to mankind's true and only god the Emperor, the plot of the play is not very convincing or holding much clarity within its details still very interesting as it might contain some facts regarding the true events. In the story, Karl or the chapter master is portrayed as a king in possession of a flying fortress, ruler of Löwenheim under the light of the god-emperor. The Arch Heretic being represented as a great winged beast as big and as powerful as a titan. The story begins with the king noticing a never before seen grotesque winged beast roaming the forests of Löwenheim kidnapping villagers and people of his kingdom before vanishing in a blue mist of thunderstorms, the king seeking to end the beast's tyranny over his people ordered his men to shoot the beast with a firestorm of blazing arrows from his flying fortress upon its lair where it was sleeping after having feasted on its prey, the king destroyed its lair but was not able to end the beasts life, the beast had escaped in its mystical mist of thunders. The beast enraged by the kings' actions rampaged through the kings' realm bringing destruction and loss everywhere it went, trembling with anger and hatred causing earthquakes and terrible waves of disaster. The king seeing the ferocity of the beast decided to confront the beast with bravery and courage accompanied by his crimson armored warriors. The fight is described in the play to have taken a very long time, it is said they have fought until oceans dried and mountains eroded to dust. Near the end of the story when most of the kings' warriors have fallen and his fortress in the sky had burned and lost three large towers, the king concerned he might lose having lost so many of his warriors. The king intentionally let the beast grab him by his left arm, the beast saw this as an opportunity to end the kings' life smashed the king against the ground many times causing the king to bleed and suffer agonizing injuries. The king cut off his own arm while the beast was raising him above its head to smash the king against the ground one more time, the king fell upon the beasts head. With his right arm, he raised his greatsword with all the force he had left spiked his weapon in the beasts head causing the beast to lose its balance and fall to the ground. The warriors who were still alive seeing their king's sacrifice quickly assisted to end the beasts' life. The beast rolled and resisted, the king near his last moments of life still on the beasts head gathered all of his might to spear the beasts head one more time, He lifted his greatsword with all the might he had left impaling the beasts head ending its wicked life. The ending of the story often varies between the king being ascended to the sky by black-winged angels and brought to the god-emperors' side or being cursed by the monstrosity he had slain, driven mad by the curse, broken both in body, mind and soul the king went missing in the same mist of thunderstorms the beast is said to have come from. The ending of the stories seems to depend on the cites the stage-play was played however, it is said the king will one day return for good or for ill no one will ever know for certain.

The relieving and expanding times
After many years of recruiting and rebuilding under the Crimsonmarines former Fünfte Kompanien Kapitän (5th Company Captain), Leon Kenner who had survived the battle against Jahovay, now elected as their new chapter master sought to fully bring all nearby systems into the imperial rule, having located many worlds in nearby systems to be similar to Löwenheim in the means of having human populations who are believed to be descendants from the age of technology on never before discovered worlds. It was during this time the Crimsonmarines thinned their forces across the vast unexplored voids around Löwenheim for conquest having used the same tactics their first Kapitel Meister (chapter master) had laid for them combined by improved equipment constructed from the knowledge obtained from Löwenheim. The forces of the Crimsonmarines expanded the territory of the Emperium very rapidly having learned from their failures on Löwenheim and have adjusted their tactics for the usage of experimental weapons constructed from the artifacts (STCs) of their newly titled homeworld with the help of the tech-priest who had assisted the Crimsonmarines since their crusades. In this particular time in their chapter history was stated to be the beginning for the Crimsonmarines to have used superweapons in their conquests ranging from devices that could devastate continents to orbital cannons that could exterminate all lives on a planet.

The Inquisitorial Disaster
News of the various artifacts and STCs found on Löwenheim had reached the Ordo Machinum by the Ordo Astartes of the Inquisition who had closely observed the Crimsonmarines and archived many of the chapter's events. The Ordo Machinum upon hearing of an artifact and STCs rich world feared the many tech-priests who had accompanied the Crimsonmarines to have become greedy and withholding knowledge and information regarding the various discovered artifacts for themselves. Inquisitor Milgra a radical inquisitor of the minor Ordo Machinum was sent to investigate, escorted by the Adepta Sororitas of the Order of the blooming rose, lend by the Ordo Herecticus to aid in her journey and to protect from the many threads that may await her. Upon reaching the star-system of Löwenheim, one of the battle-sisters of the Order of the blooming rose was revealed to be an Inquisitor of the major Ordo Hereticus, the puritan Inquisitor Siecillah, Siecillah accused Milgra of having committed the heresy of Transgenic Blasphemy, splicing Xenos organs and biological Xenos matter into human subjects. Inquisitor Milgra believing that the ends justify the means tried to explain to Siecillah of her experiments of trying to fight fire with fire but Siecillah would not listen and branded Milgra ''Excommunicate Traitoris. Inquisitor Siecillah revealed to Milgra of the Ordo Hereticuslending their forces to her was all Siecillahs' plan to execute her in deep voids of space for her heresy by Siecillahs' most trusted forces, the battle-sisters of the Order of the blooming rose. ''Knowing she had been surrounded, Milgra activated an experimental device she had made with the help of her Xanthite allies within the Inquisition which was able to induce others with the help of the immaterium. The possible theory on how the device operates is the fact of the Immaterium being the direct result of the existence of sentience in the universe, the dark reflection of the material universe, the Warp is an ocean of chaotic psychic energy simply raw emotion given physical form. This device being able to strongly influence the immaterium in a small radius in the warp should also be able to manipulate the emotions and sentience of those who are in its radius in the material realm. Milgra never intended to use such a device on a fellow Inquisitor knowing the risk of maybe gaining unwanted attention from the immaterium, but having tested the device several times convinced her of using it once more as another test to prove the device's capabilities. Whatever the thoughts Milgra wanted to induce Siecillah into believing, using such a device. This proved to be a grave mistake, the device acted not only as a manipulator of the immaterium but could also act as a manipulator of reality with the involvement of warp entities from the immaterium. The device warped the realities of both the material realm and the immaterial realm together on the location the device was activated on for a short period of time opening a bridge between realms long enough for demonic entities to manifest on the Inquisitors transport ship. The entity which had influenced the gateway to corrupt reality was Slaanesh elucidated by the demons' physical forms which had the elements of the perverse and unnatural beauty beguiling and monstrous who had infested the ship. Those who were too close in the device's radius including Milgra and Siecillah disappeared in the warp leaving the other battle-sisters of the Order of the blooming rose on an inquisitorial transport ship infested with Slaanesh demons.

Notable Campaigns
 * The Crimson Crusade (Unknown Date.M33) - The detailed history of their long crusade has been long lost all that could tie the Crimsonmarines now to their crusading past are the artifacts and records found on purged worlds. The chapter has stored many artifacts from their crusade in the Bibliothek (Librarium) within the Mondlicht Fortress on Knote. For certain the Crimsonmarines have purged many heretic worlds on their crusade. Recorded by the purged worlds as well as by artifacts in possession of the chapters Reliquienmeister (Master of Relics) of the Crimsonmarines. It is believed by the inquisition, the Crimsonmarines had accepted many Renegade Space Marines who sought to redeem themselves and prove their allegiance to the Emperium once more into their ranks during their crusading past. Knowing this even when the inquisition conducted a gene-seed purity check on many of their marines, the Crimsonmarines gene-seed seems surprisingly pure, bearing the least evidence of mutation or corruption. Hower the inquisition still added the Crimsonmarines to their suspicion list justified by some of the marines seem to have tendencies for paranoia and self-destructive behaviors displayed by many within the chapter. Some of the Crimsonmarines are proven to thrive in the use of psychological warfare and terror tactics, merely for the sheer, sick joy of it.

"Heresy is a pollution to the galaxy."

- Erick Rachenwille, Reliquienmeister (Master of Relics) of the Crimsonmarines
 * Cleansing of Löwenheim (982.M35) - It is unknown how the Crimsonmarines have discovered Löwenheim. Upon their arrival and exploration, they quickly noticed the advanced technology of the local population, the various tribes of Techno-barbarians. Wanting to understand more about the advanced technologies Karl Braecker, Kapitel Meister (Chapter Master) of the Crimsonmarines took his most trusted Marines to investigate. They learned of artifacts (believed to be STCs) suspected to be from the dark age of technology and intolerable facts about the populations. Groups of large tribes called by the other tribes as the Xudeus were somehow (first considered impossible due to the warp negating effects of the planet) chaos-tainted and had their own cult called by the members as the Illuminatoren, who were sacrificing hundred thousands of lives every year to their patron god Tierherr (Tzeentch) or sometimes called Herr der wege (Master of ways) by claiming to be one day able to open a gateway to their god. Immediately after learning the horrible truth Kapitel Meister (Chapter Master) Karl Braecker ordered a planet-wide genocidal hunt for the Xudeus and convinced the population to the Imperial Truth. The cleansing is recorded by the various local tribes to have lasted many decades. Cities were burnt, altars and temples destroyed with heretics being purged in masses every day. After many decades of constant "cleansing", the remaining populations or tribes are finally united and brought into Imperial rule * Tzeentch_Old.jpgBattle against the Arch Heretic (Unknown date.M36) - After Löwenheim being finally united and brought into Imperial rule. The last groups of xudeus led by their remaining elders fearing their extinction gathered in a secret underground hall known as the Halle der Ersten Änderung des weges (hall of the first change of way). The hall was a secret only known to the eldest of all the tribes and was untouched by the constant "cleansing" of the Crimsonmarines. The hall was the only nexus point to the Immaterium on this world the only gateway for Tzeentch to influence Löwenheim in many ways, these halls are suspected to be constructed long before the humans from the age of technology to ever colonize the planet. How or by whom is still unknown, it is suspected for the halls to have acted as storage for soul-energies from all the past xudeus sacrifices. In hopes of taking back their world, the last xudeus made one last sacrifice to Tierherr (Tzeentch) begging their God for the eradication of the Crimsonmarines. The powers of the Immaterium, however unable to correctly function on the planet, Tzeentch whose original plan was to harness and store the sacrificed energies in his halls until a sufficient amount is gained, to releasing a non-warp based energy wave to destroy the planet of Löwenheim and all of its artifacts (to Tzeentch the planet and its warp negating effects are a threat to his Grand Schemes). Realised his plans to be endangered by the Crimsonmarines, Tzeentch depleted all the stored sacrificed energy to amalgamate the remains of the sacrificed xudeus into one single immensely powerful being, merely powerful enough for using the powers of the warp on Löwenheim, influencing the planet and its populations on a large-scale (regardless to the warp energies being negated on the planet).The_Arch_Heretic.jpg The being called itself Jahovay, the bringer of change, the Crimsonmarines however, call this abomination the Arch Heretic.  The Bibliothekaren (Librarians) which could not be deployed for the Cleansing of Löwenheim, were stationed on the chapter's flagship the Himmlischer Wille. For the first time the Bibliothekaren (Librarians) could sense a menacing presence from Löwenheim, despite great pain Immediately reported this anomaly to their Kapitel Meister (Chapter Master) Karl Braecker. The Chapter Master of the Crimsonmarines instantly after been reported of a warp presence on the planet, started a bombarding upon the Location which the Librarians believe the warp signatures to be originated from. The halls were destroyed, the battle, however, was unrecorded. It is not known how long or how many gave their lives to defeat the Arch Heretic, Karl Braecker's fate is also unknown believed to have sacrificed himself in order to defeat the Arch Heretic.
 * The Crimson Patron Crusade (458.M36) - Following many years of rebuilding and recruiting the Crimsonmarines began to crusade anew through the vast tracts of unexplored Wild Space around Löwenheim and patroling a very large area of space the Crimsonmarines have conquered. Aiding all those in need and any call for battle unto this day. All events that have occurred after the beginning of The Crimson Patron Crusade are still considered to be a part of this crusade by the chapter.

About the Crimsonmarines
Feel free to add your own