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Blood Jaguars
The Blood Jaguars are an extremely violent and savage Loyalist Successor Chapter created during an Unknown Founding sometime in the 34th Millennium from the brutal and unforgiving Flesh Tearers, a Second Founding Successor Chapter of the heroic Blood Angels. Like their progenitors, the Blood Jaguars are known for their bloodthirsty nature in battle, ill-temper and bellicose nature. Though staunchly loyal to the Emperor and dedicated to their duty as protectors of the innocent, they are heavily afflicted by the genetic twin-flaws of their Primarch Sanguinius. This has resulted in the Chapter garnering an infamous reputation across the Imperium, due to their blood-rage and savage deeds said to have been performed by these Astartes.

The resulting brutality has led to their investigation on charges of heresy by the Inquisition on multiple occasions, though they have been cleared of suspicion at present. Like their genetic forebears, the Blood Jaguars are known for their bloodthirsty nature in battle, ill-temper and feared for the flaws of the Black Rage and Red Thirst that greatly affect them.

Chapter History
The Blood Jaguars are a Chapter with a history of extreme violence, even for Astartes. Founded in the 34th Millennium for the specific purpose of fighting Orks, specifically the threat imposed on the Oestalan Sector of the Green Traverse, and parented by the infamous Flesh Tearers. Like their genetic forebears, the Blood Jagurs also suffer from the genetic flaw known as the Black Rage at a far higher rate than other Blood Angels Successor Chapters. An attempt to correct this was made in their founding, but failed to prevent the Red Thirst and Black Rage from occurring at the same level as the rest of the Blood Angels successors. In fact, it may have made the Red Thirst even worse, if certain rumors whispered hold true.

At some point in time, the Blood Jaguars' home sector was swallowed by a warp storm that lasted 2,000 years. During this time, Xipet T'otec rose to the position of Chapter Master and enacted major reforms, earning him much respect within the Chapter. After the warp storm ended, the Blood Jaguars emerged entirely divergent from the Codex Astartes. Gone were the Chapter's Devastator Squads, as the Blood Jaguars came to favour only shock assault tactics. They had incorporated the heavy use of bolters with affixed chain-blades. Their Scout Marine squads would rip apart Orks in frenzied close combat and the Chapter's ferocious Death Company garnered a reputation as a deadly and unforgiving force of ruthless killers, whose acts of terror often drove their enemies to suicide rather than the preferential alternative to facing their wrath in battle. Due to their bellicose and barbaric behaviour, the Chapter often fell under suspicion of being Khornate worshipers on multiple occasions. Despite multiple investigations they were never found to be tainted, though the blood Jaguars still have a tenuous relationship with most other Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes and the Inquisition. Despite their reputation, the Chapter still sends Battle-Brothers to serve the Long Vigil on the xenos-hunting Deathwatch, though the eye of suspicion never leaves them. The Blood Jaguars homeworld, Tenocit, is a savage hive world covered in verdant jungle and is notorious for its massive felinid predators, and large avian carnivores. Recruits are trained in the harsh jungles, expected to fight and kill predators with little more than stone knives they craft themselves and carry with them for the rest of their time with the chapter. Harsh survival and combat-trials are favoured over years of disciplined apprenticeship, to ensure that every Blood Jaguar will be able to adapt if separated from the group, as often happens in the dense jungles of Tenocit. A strong emphasis on self-sufficiency, coupled with relentless drills, forms an instinctive awareness of battlefield movements, momentum and finding weakness in the enemy lines. Indeed, particularly zealous Jaguars sometimes sacrifices themselves in displays of individual courage and bloodthirstiness, in order to sow terror in the hearts of opponents, creating panic and disorder where there previously were none.

The Long Night and the Coming of C'rtez
Tenocit's peaceful history was shattered in 427.M35, when a Warp Storm engulfed the planet’s star system, isolating its inhabitants from the Imperium. When the storm commenced the stars went dark, and the Sun's light dimmed. Given that the Sun holds deep significance for the people of Tenocit, as they believe it to be a representation of the God Emperor, there was mass panic. Thousands were sacrificed on the sacred alters to appease the angry gods, but they remained silent. Tenocit remained in perpetual dusk, the wan rays of the Sun only barely able to maintain life.

Catastrophic famine was all but certain if order failed. Hectares of jungle were cleared for agriculture and vast numbers of citizens went forth into the wilderness to find food. With communications even between Hives failing, each settlement soon became largely autonomous. Population levels steadily decreased, mainly through violence, hunger and the ever-constant sacrifices. It is said that the blood never dried on the great Altar of the Sun in Technochtitlan during the whole Long Night, such were the numbers of those offered up upon it.

With the Sun fading, it was perhaps inevitable that some citizens would turn to darker powers. Tenocit had always walked a fine line between faith and heresy thanks to its practice of human sacrifice, and with the coming of the Long Night, the line was crossed. Whispers spread that the Sun was darkened because the Emperor had died, and his light was fading. Hope, fear and desperation drove thousands into the worship of the Ruinous Powers. Hives began to discover hidden alters in the depths of their structures, where citizens had been sacrificed upon and their hearts offered to Chaos. Acts of terrorism against Imperial officials and offices sharply increased.

To maintain order, the Blood Jaguars were called upon to purge the Hives. The reputation of the Chapter was well known to Imperial officials on Tenocit, but they felt they had no other choice. The first hive to be cleansed was Technochtitlan. Level by level, hab by hab, the Blood Jaguars relentlessly sought out any trace of corruption. The cults present in the Hive made the suicidal choice to engage the Blood Jaguars openly, attacking the Astartes in a great battle on the holy square before the Temple of the Sun. They believed their dark gods would grant them victory. They did not.

After the massacre at the Temple, the remaining cultists on Tenocit began to slip away from the Hives, sensing that remaining hidden from the Blood Jaguars would be impossible. They sought the protection of the deep jungles and began to rebuild their numbers. The Astartes purge continued for eleven years before finally being declared successful. The comparatively small number of cultists caught in the later years was considered proof of effectiveness. But the Blood Jaguars were not convinced. They sensed that the battle was far from over.

Evidence for the cult’s continued existence was dramatically revealed in M35.484 when a vast horde of screaming cultists swept out of the jungles and besieged the Hive of Heuxotla. Taken by surprise, the few Imperial defenders, mainly Adeptus Arbites units, were slaughtered in the first few hours. The cultists proceeded to butcher nearly three thousand citizens on impromptu alters to appease their patron gods. Yet as quickly as they arrived, they departed, melting back into the jungles. The Blood Jaguars were unable to respond fast enough.

Time and time again, the cultists followed this pattern. Small groups would instill terror by snatching captives from farms or outposts, whilst larger groups raided settlements and even Hives. The Blood Jaguars seemed powerless to stop this method of attack. Their numbers were too few and their communication lines severed due to the Warp storm. Punitive raids into the jungle netted few cultists, as the Astartes formations were too obvious. The Codex Astartes called for strong defences and surgical strikes to defeat this type of attack, but neither option was viable. New tactics were called for.

Captain Xipet T'otec of the Third Company was the first to suggest new methods. He argued for turning the terror tactics of the cultists against them. Instead of combat squads, individual brothers should be trained to operate independently, using the jungle as cover and sowing terror and disruption in the heart of the enemy. In the dense jungles, long ranged weaponry would be useless, so the Blood Jaguars should focus their training on hand-to-hand combat. T'otec faced great resistance from within the Chapter, but the Captain was given permission to follow these newly proposed tactics. Results at this point were more important than doctrine.

Captain T'otec's ideas bore fruit. Over the next two years his Company successfully managed to eliminate three cultist groups in his assigned area, and attacks on Imperial citizens dropped by 57%. Intelligence gained from captives indicated that the terror tactics were working, as cultists were fleeing to other regions, terrified of T'otec's ' Jungle Wraiths '. Following this success, other Blood Jaguar companies began to follow T'otec's doctrines, but it was only after the catastrophic Battle of the Monastery that they were adopted large scale.

Realising that the Blood Jaguars were proving to be far more troublesome foes than originally thought, cult leaders planned to go after the source, and planned a massed assault on the Blood Jaguar’s Fortress Monastery. Five separate cults, each dedicated to one of the major Chaos Gods, came together for the attack. The Blood Jaguars present at the Monastery included Chapter Master Tlacaelel, the whole of Fourth Company, and the majority of the company's vehicles and Techmarines.

The attackers did not achieve complete surprise; Third Company intelligence had hinted at a major attack in the sector and the Blood Jaguars were on the alert. Nevertheless they did not anticipate that the cultists would be so bold as to attack the Monastery of the Gods. When the attack began, calls for aid were sent out to all Blood Jaguar forces on Tenocit once the scale of the assault became clear. The defence of the Fortress would have been far more effective had the Fourth Company not fallen to the Black Rage. Disdaining their superior positions in cover, they swept out to engage the cultists in close combat. Every Brother who fell claimed a hundred cultists, but numbers were on the side of the attackers. By the time reinforcements from the Third Company arrived under Captain T'otec, the Monastery had fallen. Rushing inside, the Third Company commander was just in time to see the heart of Chapter Master Tlacaelel being offered as sacrifice to an unspeakable warp entity. Such was the strength of the offering that a Daemon Prince began to manifest, but T'otec ripped the cultist priest apart and disrupted the ritual. The Daemon screamed in defiance as the warp reclaimed it. T'otec stared into its eyes with pure hatred.

With their Chapter Master dead and their Monastery in ruins, the Blood Jaguars turned to the one Brother who had managed to defeat the cultists. Captain Xipet T'otec was made Chapter Master and his new tactics were put into full effect. Having lost their vehicles and most of their Techmarines, there was little other option. T'otec refused to rebuild the Monastery, declaring that until the Long Night ended, the Blood Jaguar's place was in the field, holding off the forces of the Ruinous Powers.

Perhaps when Master T'otec made his declaration, he did not expect the storm to last as long as it did. For two hundred years, Tenocit was cut off from the Imperium. During this time, the Blood Jaguars put T'otec's teachings into full effect, disdaining the Codex Astartes. Cultist numbers slowly decreased as their hidden strongholds were purged. By 631.M35, the Blood Jaguars' victory seemed complete. And yet, the Long Night remained. Clearly there remained some final act left to play.

The climax of the Long Night struck late in 631.M35, when a hidden cult in the Hive of Xolotl enacted a blasphemous ritual. Desperate to end the Long Night, they seized the governor of Xolotl and offered his heart in sacrifice, along with the lives of every cult member in the Hive. The ritual succeeded, but not in the way the cultists expected. Instead of the Warp storm vanishing, reality was torn asunder and a Daemonic horde poured forth into Xolotl Hive. At its head was the Daemon Prince C'rtez, the same who had nearly been summoned in the Monastery of the Gods.

The Hive's population stood no chance. Warp spawn slaughtered every citizen, but their lust for killing allowed the Blood Jaguars enough time to reach the Hive. What followed was a battle that entered into legend. It culminated in Chapter Master T'otec ripping out the heart of C'rtez atop the Hive spire. As he stood there and offered the heart up to the Sun, the skies cleared, and the light of the Sun Emperor flooded back. Although at dreadful cost, the Long Night was ended.

Imperial authorities were astonished when Tenocit emerged from the Warp storm. The Blood Jaguars themselves were equally amazed when they were informed that the Imperium had written off Tenocit as lost, as the warp storm had lasted for over two thousand years. Due to great time-dilations, Imperial authorities on Tenocit explained that the Long Night had lasted merely two hundred years for them, a fact which the Inquisition went to great lengths to examine, before finally attributing the time dilation to great chronal-shifts caused by the nature of the Warp itself.

Chapter Homeworld
Tenocit is a unique Imperial hive world, a planet that does not have polluted-choked wastelands, but a primordial jungle landscape. The homeworld of the Blood Jaguars, is a jungle Hive World, where natural selection ensures only the most deadly flora and fauna survive. Tendrils of dense jungle reach up the surrounding walls of the hives of Tenocit except for the planetary capital of Technochtitlan which is situated as the centre of a vast lake.

The Hive of Technochtitlan is separated into four vast sections; the Spire of the Stars being the planet's primary spaceport, the Spire of the Sun being dedicated to the Ecclesiarchy, the Spire of Offerings houses the planetary governor and Administratum, and the Spire of the Earth is where the native workers of Tenocit live. The Hives of Tenocit are much more pyramidal than most Imperial Hives, which seems to have its roots in the cultural practices of the native peoples in the Age of Strife.

Tenocit has been documented as being one of the deadliest worlds known to Mankind, and its inhabitants are amongst the hardiest. Almost every creature and plant on Tenocit is deadly to human life in some way. The true diversity of life on Catachan has never been catalogued, though many Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator expeditions have tried and failed. Because of these creatures and innumerable others, life on Tenocit is unimaginably harsh; fifty percent of the planet's human population does not survive infancy, and fifty percent of the remainder does not live past the age of ten solar years. Those who do reach adulthood are invariably among the toughest, most uncompromising and resourceful warriors.

Tenocit itself has little need for a Planetary Defence Force, the world's flora and fauna being sufficiently deadly to thwart almost all invaders without the need for human intervention, and natives of Tenocit recruit from amongst the population of hunters, skilled trackers, and combatants used to clearing the encroaching jungle and driving off or slaying the beasts that would threaten the small, short-lived human settlements.

Tenocit's unusually verdant geography owes its survival to two factors. The first is the high oxygen content of the atmosphere; around 38% as opposed to a more typical 21% on colonised worlds. This would be of little consequence if not for the second factor, which is a unique fungus, Mortem Sacco, that grows around the roots of most trees on Tenocit. This heterotroph looks unremarkable at first, save for the bulbous sack-like growths that characterise it, but it is how it produces these tubers that makes it invaluable. The fungus actively absorbs heavy metals and harmful chemicals from the soil and air, storing them in the growths it produces. When full, the sealed bulbs drop off and, protected by a tough shell, remain safely isolated for decades. The fungus does this for two reasons; the first is simply survival; by removing these harmful substances from the soil, the trees the fungus needs to grow on are more likely to survive and reach new heights. The other is that the storage of these materials is simply a by-product of the fungus taking in nutrients for itself.

The Imperium naturally has seen the value of Mortem Sacco and several unsuccessful attempts have been made to transplant the fungus to the many Imperial worlds choked by pollution. Unfortunately, Mortem Sacco requires a high level of atmospheric oxygen to survive, and on all the worlds it has been taken to thus far, it has failed to take hold. For the inhabitants of Tenocit, the fungus is considered a blessing from the Sun Emperor and the bulbs are regularly collected from accessible regions of jungle and brought to the Hives, where they are crushed and the industrial useful substances within them extracted. Collection of the bulbs can be highly profitable; one consortium has risen to the status of the nobility solely through harvesting.

Tenocit has many unusual species of flora and fauna, from the jewelled rotorbird to the mighty Onyaguara. The Onyaguara (Panthera Tenoceta) is a solitary, opportunistic, stalk-and-ambush predator at the top of the Tenocit food chain, and the Animal most commonly associated with the Blood Jaguars. A compact and well-muscled animal well adapted to Tenocit's Jungles, the Onyaguara is an opportunistic hunter and its diet encompasses at least 87 species, including unfortunate aspirants who happen to be too close to a hungry Onyaguara. An Aspirant who succeeds in escaping one is seen as marked by the Sun Emperor for great things. The Onyaguara has long been a symbol of power and strength to the nobles of Tenocet.

Tehuantepec
The Fortress Monastery of the Blood Jaguars sits atop the ruined Hive of Xolotl, deep in the untamed jungles of Tenocit. Formally the Hive governor’s palace, the Monastery is known by its local name of Tehuantepec, which loosely translated into low Gothic means “The hill of wild animals”. Another translation however is “The hill of Daemons”, and given the history of the Hive, this is quite fitting. The palace is situated on the site of the Blood Jaguar’s greatest victory; the defeat of the Daemon incursion lead by the Daemon Prince of Khorne, C’rtez. In the ruins of the governor’s mansion, the titanic warp spawn fought in single combat with T’otec, Chapter Master of the Blood Jaguars whilst his battle brothers engaged the daemon’s forces. Cornered, with no lines of retreat, every Blood Jaguar fought with unbridled ferocity, but it was T’otec who showed the greatest savagery. Though the Chapter Master’s skin was flayed from his body, he pressed on, and in one final move drove his barbed power fist deep into the daemon’s chest, and pulled out its still beating heart. With the death of their general the warp storm shuddered, and the remaining daemons and fled into the immaterium, leaving the Blood Jaguars standing amidst utter destruction. Their master finally collapsed from his wounds, but was interred in the holy sarcophagus of a Dreadnought, where he still resides.

At the centre of the monastery sits the Chapter’s most prized relic: the heart of C'rtez, still held firm by the gauntlet that plucked it from the daemon’s body. A stasis field prevents the heart from being reclaimed by the warp, and it is said that if ever it beats once more, C'rtez has been reborn, and the Chapter will stop at nothing to hunt down and destroy the beast again. On the walls that once held paintings and priceless trinkets, stone carvings tell the story of T'otec's duel and the battle for the Hive, along with the history of the chapter. Where once the lord’s throne sat, a great altar has been erected, and it is here that heretics and daemons are sacrificed to the Sun Emperor.

The Dark Road to the Sun
The path to becoming a Blood Jaguar or a Sister of the Order of the Martyred Heart is not an easy one. The Jaguars and Battle-Sisters will only commence training when an aspirant has completed a long and dangerous task known as the 'Dark Road to the Sun'. It is as much a spiritual journey as it is a physical one, and an aspirant who is deficient in either soul or body will not complete it. It is also a hidden journey, for the Blood Jaguars only reveal the first step. The rest must be uncovered by the Aspirant.

Each year in the major hives, a contest known as the 'Ascent to Heaven' is held. The objective seems simple enough; the contestants must start at the base of their Hive and ascend all the way to the very top spire. But three things make this task immeasurably harder. The first is that they cannot use any kind of transport. The second is that captured beasts from the jungle wilds are released into the Hive streets. The final is that the only weapons allowed are obsidian knives. Citizens in the Hive not participating in the contest remain either in their habs, or safely behind barricades. It goes without saying that normal life more or less ceases in the Hives when the festival is held, making the period a time of relaxation and recreation. The progress of the contestants is also eagerly followed, with live footage of their progress broadcast throughout the Hive.

Typically the finest contestants take around one week to reach the top of their Hive. When they reach the summit, the first ten to arrive find a lone figure waiting for them, clad in power armour. Typically this is the only chance that a citizen will ever see one of the elusive Blood Jaguars, and the competition for this honour is fierce. The giant will say nothing until presented with a feather, skull, or talon from a beast killed during the Ascent. If such a trophy is shown, the Blood Jaguar will speak these words and these words only: “The Dark Road awaits. You must walk it until you reach the Sun. Your first step has been taken. Seek now the Pyramids where blood was once spilled. They will lead you to your goal.”

These may seem like vague instructions, but it is not so. Nearby to each major hive is a Pyramid Altar in the jungle, typically overgrown and half consumed by greenery. Once, they were where the beating hearts of criminals were torn out and offered to the gods, but after the Long Night and the Inquisition's arrival on Tenocit in the aftermath, the practice was deemed heretical and was suppressed. Their location is well known to locals of the Hive, but they are almost never visited, for fear of punishment by the Ecclesiarchy. Unbeknownst to the Inquisition however, the Blood Jaguars have co-opted the Pyramid Altars for their own purposes, inscribing the history of their chapter into the walls of these shrines, as well as the information needed to continue down the Dark Road.

Each altar contains information about how to reach the next Pyramid, but typically the information is only made clear if the aspirant has deciphered previous inscriptions. For example, one Pyramid tells the aspirant to “Seek out the place where rage consumed us”. These directions are useless without the knowledge that it was at the Monastery of the Gods that the Fourth Company succumbed to the Black Rage and were wiped out during the Long Night, and the location of the Monastery, both of which are inscribed on previous Pyramids.

The Dark Road eventually ends at the ruined Hive of Xolotl, deep in the wilderness. At the orders of the Inquisition the location of the Hive has been permanently removed from all records and maps due to the Daemonic incursion that occurred there, and as such it is not an easy place to find. The jungle has consumed the once mighty Hive, and now its appearance resembles that of a great outcrop of rock in the canopy, with trees, vines and creepers riddled through its structure. Inside, predators stalk along roads that once held bustling crowds, and fetid ponds accumulate in ancient cisterns. Here and there, traces of the titanic battle can be seen, but fears of lingering Daemonic forces are unfounded. The truth about what happened at Xolotl may have been suppressed, yet local superstition and folklore are not so easily covered up.

The Road is cyclical in nature. Now that the Aspirant has reached the final stage of their journey, he or she must complete the same step they took at the beginning, only this time, there is no waiting medicae to tend their wounds should they fall, and no easy pathways through the tangled maze of collapsed steel and crushing roots. Now they understand why the Blood Jaguars choose their members in this way. Just as the Jaguar themselves fought their way from the earth towards the sun, against impossible foes, so must the aspirant do the same. If the reach the top, they will emerge from darkness into the light, just as Tenocit did when C’rtez was slain. And waiting for them will be two figures. One they will recognise as a Blood Jaguar, but the other may be a mystery. Clad in power armour of a different kind, the figure is clearly female. She is a member of the Adepta Sororitas, of the Order of the Martyred Heart, and she will take any female who has walked the Dark Road with her instead. The Order considers knowledge of the Blood Jaguar’s history to be vital to understanding Tenocit and why the Order is important, and the process will have weeded out those lacking in faith. But first, aspirants of either sex face questions. Their knowledge of the inscriptions they have read will be tested, and if they are found lacking, they have failed. They may walk the path once more to gain its knowledge and try again.

If they pass the Test of Knowledge, the Test of Faith follows. The aspirant must offer up a bulb of Mortem Sacco which is then cracked open. Inside, most of the putrid chemicals and metals that the fungus has leeched out of the soil are mixed with psychotropic compounds by a Librarian. Each aspirant must then breathe the fumes in deeply. In their minds, they are transported to the past. They see the skies darken, and the screaming mobs tearing their flesh in the streets of the Hives. They see the altars running red with blood, but for each heart that is offered up, the heavens grow darker. They see the forces of the Great Enemy emerging from the jungles and the desperate battles against them. They see the Battle of the Monastery, where the Black Rage cost a Chapter its Master. Finally, they are placed in the Hive of Xolotl, on the day that C'rtez manifested. Male aspirants see themselves clad in the armour of a Blood Jaguar, females as Sororitas. They must fight the battle as their forebears did, and this is no mock battle either. If you are slain in the dream, the best you can hope for is to wake up and find you have failed the test. It is not unheard of for aspirants to go insane from what they see and experience.

When C'rtez is slain and the Long Night ended, the dream ends, and the aspirants must face one final challenge, the Test of Strength. The dregs of poison in the Mortem Sacco pods they carried up the Hive are ingested. This represents the battle against corruption that any Blood Jaguar or Sororitas must face. The industrial sludge and metals will kill the weak, just as corruption will. Some fail at this final step. They will be revived and purged of the toxins, and allowed to walk the path once more. Strength can take time to gain. Perhaps with another journey, such strength can be found.

With success, the aspirant is deemed worthy. They have walked the Dark Road, and come through darkness; the forest canopy, their ignorance of Tenocit's true history, the Long Night and the ruined Hive of Xolotl, and they have emerged into the light of the Sun. They have been reborn. Now they will be inducted into the ranks of the Blood Jaguars or Sororitas, where their training to fight the Sun Emperor’s myriad enemies will begin. They will travel to distant stars to fight unknown foes. But always the Light of the Sun Emperor will be with them. And if they fall in His service, their sacrifice shall not be in vain. For as always, Sacrifice Brings Salvation.

Chapter Organisation
Though originally formed within the dictates of the Codex Astartes, the Blood Jaguars were forced to revise their Chapter organisation and tactics during the events of The Long Night and the Coming of C'rtez in M35. Though the Chapter attempted to initially adhere to the Codex Astartes, adjustments to the structure of the their companies were necessitated in order to fight against the upsurge of Chaos Cultists who utilised guerrilla and terror tactics in order to achieve their nefarious goals of mass destruction and death. Soon, the Blood Jaguars learned to adopt the use of such tactics and began to streamline their Chapter's organisational structure, with its echelons being biased in make-up towards line infantry formations. These formations became a hybrid of tactical/close assault troops for the main part, supported by dedicated scout squads and dedicated heavy assault units such as Terminators and specialised units of jump pack-equipped assault marines. This organisation lent itself well to a highly aggressive strategic posture and belligerent tactics, which while extremely costly in terms of casualties, are also highly effective. The rank structure of the Blood Jaguars remains simple and direct.

Each company is a self-sustaining entity, completely autonomous and quick to lend their aid to Imperial commanders across the galaxy, with or without the sanction of their Chapter Master. Despite some misgivings by their fellow Space Marine Chapters, this fluidity of command proves the presence of the Chapter's formidable discipline, not its absence. The Blood Jaguars maintain a high degree of flexibility in their deployments and structures, and in battle favour assault tactics over all else, however each battle-brother is fully expected to be proficient in Tactical, Assault and even Scout duties, as well as being skilled in the operation of all the Chapter's remaining vehicles. In theatres of war, individual squads are able to rapidly change their role to suit the mission and equipment on hand. In addition, the 1st Company has broken from the tradition of most Space Marine Chapters, as it is not a pure veteran force, as so few Blood Jaguars are able to withstand the pressure of the Black Rage long enough to gain such status. Instead, individual squads of Veteran Marines are formed within each company out of the most accomplished warriors they still possess.

Officer Ranks

 * Tlatoani - Chapter Master equivalent.
 * Tlacochcalcatl - Captain equivalent.
 * Tlacateccatl - Lieutenant equivalent.

Specialist Ranks

 * Lord of the Apothecarion - The senior-most Sanguinary Priest, he is the Lord of the Apothecarion.
 * Tlamatqui (Sanguinary Priests) - A Tlamatqui or 'Healer' performs the same duties as Sanguinary Priests of other chapters descended from the lineage of Sanguinius. They are the custodians of the blood of the Great Angel himself. They serve in the role of the Blood Jaguars' Apothecaries, as well as partially fulfilling the role of spiritual leaders within the Chapter. The oversee the transition of a Neophyte into a full-fledged battle-brother, giving them a minute portion of their Primarch's blood through a bloodletting ritual rather than drinking it from a chalice. They favour obscuring masks and spend much time amongst themselves, their own little coven of priests.
 * Lord of the Librarium - The senior-most Librarian that serves as the master of the Librarium and the keeper of the Chapter's knowledge.
 * Ticitl (Librarian) - A Ticitl or 'Prognosticator' are equivalent to a standard Librarian - the psychic battle-brothers born with the gift to wield the powers of the Immaterium. Within the Blood Jaguars, these psychic warriors also take on a religious role, leading many major services dedicated to the Sun Emperor ('He Who Walks the Darkest Road Shines Brightest'). They decorate their armour in midnight blue with solar designs, and are the most pious. Most of the Blood Jaguars respect them as some of the most important among their ranks.
 * Master of the Forge - Senior Techmarine who oversees the maintenance of the Chapter's fleet of armoured fighting vehicles, arms and equipment.
 * Toltecatl (Techmarines) - Adherents of the Omnissiah, these battle-brothers are the technicians and engineers that oversee the maintenance and upkeep of the Chapter's arms and equipment. Unfortunately, the Chapter's Techmarines are not terribly well-provisioned, and are very few in number, as most of the chapter's weapons are heavily modified and very old. Many in the Adeptus Mechanicus do not approve, and do not take many of their Battle-Brothers to Mars for training.
 * Huitzilopochtli (Reclusiarch) - Senior Chaplain and Master of the Faith, he oversees the various rituals and prayers during the religious festivals and ceremonies. The most important aspect of these religious ceremonies performed by the Chapter's priests is human sacrifices for which captured enemies of Mankind are often used to appease the Sun Emperor and continue receiving His blessings.
 * Tlamacazqui (Chaplain) - Like all Chapters of The Blood, the Blood Jaguars Chaplains' responsibilities are solely geared towards guarding against the Black Rage and psychologically ministering to those battle-brothers who fall to it as well as the equally terrible curse of the Red Thirst. They preserve the Chapter's innermost secrets, vouchsafe its creed and monitor constantly for the onset these genetic twin-flaws.

Line Ranks

 * Papalotl - Veteran Sergeant equivalent.
 * Tēlpochyahqueh - Sergeant equivalent.

Squad Specialties

 * Cuauhocelotl - Veteran Marine equivalent.
 * Cuāuhtli - Assault Marine equivalent.
 * Ocēlōtl - Breacher Siege Assault specialist.
 * Cuextecatle - Tactical Marine equivalent.
 * Tlamanih - Scout Marine equivalent.
 * Telpochcalli - Neophyte equivalent.

Specialist Formations

 * Centzon Tlaloc - The Centzon Tlaloc are the Blood Jaguar equivalent of the Sanguinary Guard found in the Blood Angel and their fellow Successor Chapters. They alone are allowed to wear the limited numbers of Terminator Armour the chapter has. They are known for their ardour and unwavering devotion, tasked with the ultimate safety of the Chapter Master. On rare occasions, they are also assigned as guards for other commanders as a sign of Xipet T'otec's favour.


 * Tlīltik Ocelotl - The Tlīltik Ocelotl or 'Black Jaguars', are the Chapter's equivalent of the Blood Angels' infamous Death Company, which is not an actual part of the Blood Jaguars' standard organisation of ten companies. This company stands apart from the rest of the Chapter as a separate entity, and is made up of those battle-brothers who have completely succumbed to the psychosis of the Black Rage. These unstoppable and fanatical berserkers are led into battle by one of the Chapter's Chaplains, who maintain a tenuous hold over this formation of psychotic killers.

Non-Astartes Personnel

 * Tlamemeh (Serfs) - The Blood Jaguars maintain very few serfs, as the bulk of their failed aspirants either die during the Dark Road Under the Sun or are sacrificed (some even offering themselves in an attempt to make up for perceived sin.)

Weapons & Equipment

 * Macahuitl-Pattern Chainsword - The Blood Jaguars use modified versions of standard Astartes wargear. Instead of utilise the standard-issue Chainsword, the Astartes of this Chapter prefer to use Macahuitl-Pattern Chainswords, which have two sides (to avoid jamming) and use obsidian-tipped teeth. These weapons are brutally effective in melee, spraying gore in all directions, but lack some penetration power and may even shatter under extreme stress.
 * Tenocit-Pattern Bolter - Tenocit-pattern bolters are also utilised by the Chapter instead of the standard Ryza and Tigrus patterns commonly used by most Space Marine Chapters, and are often decorated with the bones of local megafauna and religious pictographs.

Combat Doctrine
The Blood Jaguars Chapter sees no honour in any other form of combat than man to man, eye to eye. It eschews many other aspects of war, and always seeks to deliver the killing blow in person, at the very speartip of battle. Battle-Brothers from the Chapter are temperamentally or doctrinally ill-disposed towards other tactics, and are often overcome with the desire to witness in person the death of their foes. Some indulge in gristly rituals to prove their measure in close combat such as the taking of heads or ripping out the foe's still-beating heart before his very eyes.

Hand-to-hand combat is the Chapter's preferred form of warfare. Their primary goal is to successfully deliver the killing force of the Chapter, where they can inflict the most harm and come to grapple with their foes at close quarters. The Blood Jaguars have a preponderance of close combat weaponry habitually carried by its rank-and-file. In addition to the use of ubiquitous combat blades, even Battle-Brothers attached to reconnaissance squads and vehicle crews commonly carry chainblades, flay-cutters and mono-serrated bayonets, back-up knives and other assorted bladed weapons. In dedicated assault units this profusion of bloody killing tools is added to by a weapon that dates back to the ancient feral tribes of  Tenocit, the or Macuahuitl, a traditional wooden war-club, its sides embedded with prismatic blades traditionally made from with obsidian, which is capable of producing an edge sharper than high quality steel razor blades. This weapon has been adopted as the Macuahuitl-pattern chainsword, which has two sides, and whose chain mechanism incorporates obsidian-tipped teeth, which are brutally effective in close-quarters combat. This weapon is sometimes seen by outsiders as a symbol of the Blood Jaguars themselves - barbaric, brutal and savage - a remorseless killing machine with but one purpose - to slaughter the Sun Emperor's foes.

In battle, the Blood Jaguars are also known to make use of terror tactics, elevating fear itself as a weapon, and cowing entire star systems into submission through their fearful and bloody acts. These punishments are intended to be at their most visceral and personal, ensuring that they sow fear and confusion amongst their enemies. The Chapter's Scout Marines are masters of stealth, able to infiltrate a position quickly and silently. Once prepared, the Chapter will often launch sudden, shockingly brutal ambushes or unconventional attacks intended to thin an foe's ranks or simply sow chaos amongst the enemy. Sentries disappear from their assigned posts, only to show up later as headless corpses, or their heads displayed on wooden spikes, driving their prey into paroxysms of terror. Through the use of such brutal and bloody-handed tactics, the Chapter is able to ensure far less ultimate loss of life than a conventional war might have bought.

Chapter Beliefs
Unlike the majority of Space Marines, Blood Jaguars truly believe in the divinity of God-Emperor, worshiping Him in their own strange, primitivistic way. On their homeworld He is revered as the 'Sun Emperor'. He is the light that guides, the light that protects, and they raise up bloodstained hands clutching hearts in his name. Though their path of worship is pagan in nature, the Ecclesiarchy are close friends with the Jaguars and though they do not work for the Imperial church, they do work closely with them.

Chapter Gene-Seed
Like all Chapters of The Blood, the Blood Jaguars too, bears all the hallmarks of lineage of the Blood Angels. This is especially true of the affliction known as the Black Rage - the all-consuming berserker rage caused by the psychic imprint of Sanguinius' final memories, which causes an afflicted battle-brother to lose himself, as he comes to believe he is the Great Angel himself, fighting during the Battle of Terra during the closing days of the Horus Heresy. Like their genetic forebears, the Blood Jaguars are also known to fall to the curse of the Black Rage far more often than members of any other Chapter descended from Sanguinius' lineage. This is believed to have been caused by extreme genetic-drift within their gene-seed, but their combat doctrines and military philosophy may also influence the frequency of the tragic psychogenetic syndrome.

Unlike the Blood Angels and their other Successors, the Blood Jaguars are far further along in the descent into madness and their gene-seed carries a heightened version of the flaw which may well spell their complete annihilation within the space of a few short solar decades. This means that even the most mentally stable and strong-willed of the Blood Jaguars feels the touch of the Black Rage and the pull of the Red Thirst, knowing full well that it is only a matter of time before they succumb and the madness takes them completely.

For unknown reasons, the Blood Jaguars succumb to the Black Rage far more than any other Successor Chapter of the Blood Angels, and therefore these Astartes were dwindling in numbers before their recent reinforcement by the Primaris Space Marines. Numerous efforts have been taken to attempt to mitigate the sudden and severe onset of the Black Rage among the Chapter's Battle-Brothers. The adoption of nightly bloodletting and purification rituals have not been shown to assist Battle-Brothers in their efforts to resist the Black Rage, nor has it mitigated the syndrome's effects once a Space Marine has entered the latter stages of the curse.

Like many Chapters descended from the lineage of the Great Angel, the Blood Jaguars also suffer from the genetic flaw known as the Red Thirst, an overwhelming desire to physically taste their enemies' blood. Unfortunately, when this trait is combined with the Black Rage it can devolve into outright cannibalistic assaults by the enraged Space Marines. The cursed Astartes of the Blood Jaguars seem doomed to watch the ongoing collapse of their beloved Chapter. Even as they revel in the destruction of the Sun Emperor's foes, they must also watch as their comrades give in to the curse of Sanguinius' gene-seed. In spite of this, they remain valiant servants of the Imperium. Rather than give in to woe and despair, they constantly strive to fight against the curse as bravely as they fight those who oppose Mankind. As true tragic heroes, the Blood Jaguars remain devoted to their cause, even in the face of ultimate defeat.

Primarch's Curse: Dark Fury
When the Chapter's genetic curse manifests itself in an affected Battle-Brother, it comes on in three stages:
 * Stage 1 - Extreme Frenzy: The Battle-Brother completely loses control when he frenzies and finds it almost impossible to claw his way back to reason as long as there are foes to fight and blades drawn. Even when foes are not near, the madness of Frenzy grips him and he rages endlessly for battle and blood, howling out his anger and striking the ground with his blade. The Battle-Brother must take care, lest he lose control at any moment. Any time the Battle-Brother takes damage, is confronted with a clear threat, or is put in position of great stress, he must summon all his willpower in order to contain his fury for the duration of an encounter with an enemy.
 * Stage 2 - Blood Madness: The Blood Jaguar's thirst for the blood of their foes when in the grips of the Red Thirst and long to see it spilled across the ground in great arcs and gouts. They also crave the feeling of hot blood on their skin and splattering across their armour, staining the dark red battle-plate a darker shade still. The Battle-Brother must engage foes in close combat if possible, either making melee attacks against them or shooting point black with pistols so that their blood spills at his feet. When he downs a foe, he must resist the urge to hack or blast the foe's corpse apart. If the Battle-Brother is attacked by a new foe while he is in this state while hacking at another foe, he will turn his attention to his new attacker instead.
 * Stage 3 - Animal Within: Near the end, an afflicted Blood Jaguar is little more than an animal filled with fury and madness striking out at all those around him. While he may still have lucid moments where he remembers the warrior he once was, these are fleeting and quickly gone to be replaced with only the thought of killing and the thirst for blood, and he will attack the nearest target (friend or foe) if there is more than one to choose from. At this point, the Battle-Brother is completely within the grip of the Black Rage and must be transferred to the Death Company.

Notable Blood Jaguars

 * Chapter Master Quetzuma: Formerly known as Captain Leon Galin, he was originally a veteran warrior and senior commander of the Flesh Tearers Chapter, he was chosen to become the founder of the newly-incepted Blood Jaguars Chapter He was awarded this esteemed honour after a spectacular victory over a Drukhari raiding force. After coming to the world of Tenocit, he adopted a new name, Quetzuma, in honour of the people who lived there. While originally planning on following the dictates of the Codex Astartes and the teachings of his own chapter to the letter, but instead, he fell in love with the customs and culture of his adopted homeworld. He studied its myths and legends and, with the aid of a local Abbess of the Sisters of Battle, devised the unique customs and rituals of the Chapter from these myths. He met his end early, leading his young chapter against a large Ork WAAAGH!!! that threatened a nearby agri-world. Facing down the gargantuan Ork Warlord and his large retinue of Nobz, alone and cut off from support, Quetzuma fought through their ranks until only he and the great Warlord remained. Fighting tooth and nail, weapons lost to both, the great Quetzuma tore the throat of the massive Ork out with his fangs, while the warlord ripped the valiant warrior's arms from their sockets. Dying, he asked the Sanguinary Priests to perform the death ritual of his new homeworld. With bloody tears, the priest cut Quetzuma's heart from his chest. All the warriors present took a bite from the still-beating heart, taking a piece of their patriarch and spiritual father into themselves. The young warrior that swallowed the last mouthful of bloody organ was named Quetzuma's successor. This ritual lives on, and is performed for all the chapter masters upon their death, their heart shared amongst his closest companions with the new leader being chosen from among their ranks.


 * Xipet T'otec: Current Chapter Master of the Blood Jaguars Chapter, Xipet T'otec is a figure of legend among the Blood Jaguars. Possessing bloodlust, self-control, and a tactical mind, he quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the Chapter Master in M38, while the warp storm still isolated Tenocit from the rest of the Imperium. Though changes to the battle doctrine of the Blood Jaguars had unofficially existed during their 2000 years of isolation, T'otec made these changes part of the standard organization of the Chapter, disregarding the Codex in many ways. Soon after, a warp incursion on their homeworld occurred, and the Blood Jaguars rose to meet it. T'otec faced C'rtez, a Daemon Prince of Khorne, in hand to hand combat; songs are still sung by the people of Tenocit of that day. Battered, broken, and skinned alive, T'otec emerged the victor, shoving his gauntlet into the Daemon Prince's chest and ripping his heart from his body before kicking the corpse off the top of the hab spire. Interred in the sacred hull of the chapter's relic Contemptor dreadnought soon after, he still is officially the Chapter Master of the Blood Jaguars, though he has not been awakened in two centuries. With the coming of the Age of the Dark Imperium, it is rumored he walks again.


 * Magwar the Heart-Eater: The current head of the Blood Jaguar's chaplains, as a youth he was raised by the native temple priests and took the dark road to the sun at an especially early age. The men who raised him rejoiced, for if he should succeed they knew he would become a legend, and if he failed, his righteous heart would burn brightly in the Sun-Emperor's embrace. He became a Jaguar, and his zeal became strengthened. He took to the path of the chaplain, and lectures often on faith after a battle, the heart of a fallen enemy clenched in his fist and sacrificial dagger bloody. More than anything, he believes it is only through death that man is redeemed. He sees the carving of the heart from still living heretics as their path to salvation, as through their final suffering they can finally see the true glory of the Sun-Emperor. In a way, he envies his victims, as they become closer to his god in that final moment than he shall ever be in life. In many ways, he now leads the Chapter while their official master slumbers in his tomb.


 * Captain Tenoch: Captain of the Blood Jaguars 10th Company and Master of Recruits, Tenoch is a rough, nasty drill instructor that is considered something of a living Chapter relic. He has been the captain of the tenth company for as long as any living Jaguar can remember. Distinctive in his onyaguara pelt and constantly nursing a sniper rifle, he commands the initiates with a ruthlessness bordering on sadism. Some say he has a soft spot for the Sisters, but not to his face. Its said the Sisters have a name for him, 'Papa Jaguar'. Any Jaguar recruit who dares repeat it soon finds themselves in the sights of the eternally foul instructor.

The Order of the Martyred Heart
Every year, many youths travel to attempt to climb the pyramid of the gods, to be chosen to become a Blood Jaguar. Both boys and girls set off, but only boys arrive at the pyramid for the rite of ascension. Stories and rumour spread from hive to hive, talking about horrific monsters that prey on those who travel in the thick jungle, or of the women being chosen by the Blood Jaguars as their brides.

The truth of the matter is a well kept secret.

On the far side of the planet from the Blood Jaguars' fortress monestary lies a small convent of the Adepta Sororitas, located on an island in the middle of a colossal river, they are members of the Order of the Martyred Heart, an offshoot of the Order of the Valourous Heart. The Sisters track down each girl attempting to do what none have before done, and seize them, taking them back to their convent, where they are raised and trained in the lessons of the Martyred Heart.

The Martyred Heart and Blood Jaguars are allies, and it is not unknown for the Martyred Heart to provide artillery support for the Jaguars in battle.

The Martyred Heart are also unique in having a small stockpile of the incredibly rare Volkite Weapons, dating back to the Great Crusade itself. These weapons are seen as symbols of the Sun-Emperor's divine judgement, and are both weapon and holy relic to the Sisters.

Enemies

 * Forces of Chaos -

By the Blood Jaguars
Feel free to add your own "You will be of a different sacrifice. You have the honor of feeding the giver of life. Our altar is beneath you. His table is not. All psykers are meant for the life giver's table."

- Blood Jaguar Chaplain, talking to a psyker who was captured and convicted of murder, formerly scheduled to meet execution as a sacrifice of the Blood Jaguars

"He who has walked the darkest road knows the light of the Sun best."

- Blood Jaguars' philosophy. Attr. unknown.

"We never forget. We merely lay in wait."

- Motto of the Blood Jaguars Scout Marines.

"You shall not win this day, Daemon! I shall ensure Tenocit endures! Your bloodied master may not have this world! And when I send you to meet him, tell him of how you lost this day to the servants of the Sun-Emperor! I say to you, warpspawn - I CURSE YOU!!! I cast you out! Back to the warp-spawned, black pit of foulness from whence you came!"

- Xipet T'otec before engaging C'rtez in battle atop Hive Xolotl

About the Blood Jaguars
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Myrmidons
"Give me a place to stand and I will move the heavens!"

- Myrmidon Proverb

By the (add content)
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About the (add content)
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Order of Battle
The following represents the order of battle of the Sons of Khonshu Chapter as it currently stands:

Chapter Homeworld
Located near the border of the Ghoul Stars, Zerzura is a harsh Desert World that is located beyond the furthest reaches of known space, northeast of the Segmentum Ultima. Ruled by the Sons of Khonshu, it is a planet comprised of extensive verdant jungles, whose major cities are confined to the westernmost of its two continents. Khonshu is a secondary settlement whose people known as the El Suri, who are the descendants of explorers, and hold considerable pride in their rugged existence. Tradition has it that Khonshu was settled during the Age of Strife by traders blown off-course and subsequently stranded by Warp Storms.

Zerzura
The Imperial world of Zerzura is classified as an Imperial desert world which plays host to the Sons of Khonshu Space Marine Chapter, and as such, is officially listed as an Adeptus Astartes homeworld in Imperial records. Zerzura was settled long ago, during the Dark Age of Technology. Discovered near the outlying southern borders of the Segmentum Tempestus, the planet's first settlers named the newly discovered world 'Zerzura' which means the ' Great White Oasis ', for the colouration of the planet's white shimmering sands. Despite being comprised of mostly desert terrain, there were regions that abounded in palms and lush springs. There was also fertile soil, ideal for planting crops and great rivers and oasis, from which to irrigate the land and draw drinking water from. Indeed, the planet seemed to be a veritable paradise, and so, the settlers landed upon the planet's surface and began to establish the foundation of their great civilisation that would last for millennia.

Geography of Zerzura
As a desert planet, Zerzura possesses a unique and ever changing environment. Most of its surface is sand, but its inhabitants took advantage of the areas of rock that it had. Dozens of mountains, mesas and ergs permeate its surface as well, and many unnatural crevasses and ridges also added to the surface features of the landscape. Various weathered mountain ranges stretched across the planet, breaking up the deserts and sheltering the limited native lifeforms. Rock outcroppings also litter the planet's surface.

The atmosphere consisted of nitrogen and oxygen in measures compatible enough to allow terrans to live on the planet without respiratory equipment. There are also variations in the sands. Some sinks, effected by the fall of sand on their sides, could pull an entire human to his death and crush him. At the planets uppermost point, lay the Polar Caps, a vast expanse of ice, some of which are presumably melted down to make water for the rich, that has never truly been explored. Vast reserves of water are located deep within the mountains of the planet. The northern pole of the planet sits on a large plate of bedrock and is ringed by mountain ranges. This geography, combined with the milder climate, made human habitation at the pole more comfortable and explained the presence of the capital city Aminemephet.

Fight for Survival
The fight for survival on the harsh world has long dominated the settler's cultural identity. The brutal environment of Zerzura necessitated frugal use of energy and resources, especially water. Also, their history with cultural persecution mandated the need for combat knowledge. These two aspects saw them emerge as efficient and hardy warriors, who uses their skills and the environment of Zerzura to fend off offworld opponents who often possess far superior technology and formal training.

The settlers over time started to live in patriarchal tribes. Each tribe resides within one of the many rocky formations that dot the sands of Zerzura. Other human settlers includes the graben population in the urbanized areas. This population consists of traders and offworlders who try to make their living through trade.

By the (Add Name Here)
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Sons of Odin
The Sons of Odin are a Loyalist Successor Chapter believed to have been created during the Third Founding in 001.M32. The Astartes of this Chapter are the proud scions of Roboute Guilliman. Though they share little in common with their forebears' culture and traditions, they have garnered a reputation for their unbreakable sense of honour and a history of unparalleled skill at arms. In battle, their ferocious mien has often seen them carry the day, when all odds have been stacked against them. The Sons of Odin are unafraid of battles of attrition or mutual destruction, relying on the abilities of their Battle-Brothers to overcome and endure anything the enemy can throw at them. At times this has proven to be a flaw, as the Chapter has a predilection to fight on once engaged where its better strategic judgment might have otherwise prevailed before its bloodlust was roused.

Chapter History
The Space Marine Chapter of the Sons of Odin is steeped in mystery. The circumstances surrounding the Founding of this obscure Chapter is largely unknown. Imperial scholars claim this Chapter's lineage is from the gene-seed stock of the Ultramarines, but this claim has not yet been able to be substantially verified. But when this Chapter is mentioned its battle record is exemplary. Over many millennia the Sons of Odin have proven themselves in countless campaigns to be the most loyal servants of the Emperor, though they remain somewhat mistrusted by their fellow Chapters, due to their strong ties with the Inquisition. The Sons of Odin are a mighty Chapter indeed, not afraid to bring the light of truth of the Emperor to the darkest corners of the galaxy. Nor are they afraid to bring the sword to their enemies; be they daemons, apostates, or xenos. It matters not, for all of the various enemies of Mankind have fallen to the bolter or the sword of this mighty Chapter.

The ancient Chapter of the Sons of Odin can trace its origin back to the bygone era of the Horus Heresy. This was a time of total war - a great schism rent across the Imperium in the wake of the Arch-Traitor Horus' folly. The Warmaster's treachery and deceit ensnared no less than half of the Space Marine Legions, whether by coercion, misdirection or corruption. When the Forces of Chaos invaded the Throneworld and laid siege to the Imperial Palace, they were finally laid low when the Emperor of Mankind boarded the Warmaster's flagship and slew his traitorous son. With the death of the Warmaster the Traitors paused in their assaults, realising that the Arch-Traitor had fallen. They then resumed fighting as they fell back to their transports and fled into orbit. The Armada Imperialis fleet, which been powerless to intervene while the traitors were within the Imperial Palace, gave chase.

In the wake of the Horus Heresy, the Imperium was a dismal, shattered thing. As the beauty and grandeur of the Imperial Palace had been burned black in the flames of betrayal, so great swathes of the Emperor's star-spanning realm had suffered a similar fate. The Master of Mankind was a broken husk, and his dream of unity erased forever. Yet for all this, the Imperium retained might enough to exact a bloody revenge upon its foes. There could be no forgiveness for the crimes of the Traitor Legions -- those who now ruled in the Emperor's name had neither the ability nor the desire to prevent a war of reciprocity. So began the time known in the histories of the Imperium as the Scouring. Before actually being confined for all time within the life support mechanisms of the Golden Throne, the Emperor had pronounced judgment on the Traitors: He declared them Excommunicate Traitoris, and determined that they were to be driven into the hellish region of the Warp rift called the Eye of Terror, which would hold them for all eternity. All records and memory of the Traitor Legions were to be expunged from the Imperial archives.

This was a period of monumental violence, of confusion and darkness. Though the newly founded Imperium fought to root out corruption and expose wrong-doers to the cold light of Imperial justice, the galaxy's scope and dark, shadowed reaches worked against them. With new betrayals and cries for vengeance emerging daily, a great many bloody-handed deeds went unseen. The ravaged Legiones Astartes were no exception to this, with many striving to cover up their own misdemeanours or exact their pound of flesh from those who wronged them. Legions such as the Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Iron Hands and even the Ultramarines, all followed their own agendas as the wars of the Great Scouring gathered pace. Fighting continued for another seven standard years after the Heresy had ended with Horus' death on the bridge of his great flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, before the Traitor forces were wholly destroyed or exiled into the Eye of Terror.

Freyan System Incursion
During the seventh and final year of the Great Scouring in 021.M31, one of the pursuing Loyalist Retribution Fleets that pursued the Traitors (listed in official Imperial records as ' Task Force Bloody Maw ' ) was being jointly conducted by a sizable contingent of comprised of warriors from both the Space Wolves and the Ultramarines Legions. This fleet fell under the overall command of the Space Wolves 19th Great Company (Nítján Company), and its Jarl Hakon Thørson. They were accompanied by the Ultramarines' elite void-trained veterans of the 1st Company, 20th Chapter (known as ' The Eagles ' ). They were commanded by Legate Bruticus Kratos, a bellicose and often headstrong commander, Legate Kratos was a veteran of the Calth Atrocity who took part in the brutal and oft-bloody void battles that ensued amongst Calth's orbital platforms after the Word Bearers revealed their perfidy. He yearned to extract his pound of flesh from the Traitors. Rendezvousing at the outer edge of the Sol System, the two forces found themselves of like mind, and so agreed to chase down the Traitors and destroy them together.

'Task Force Bloody Maw' helped cleanse many Chaos-corrupted star systems and was involved in multiple void engagements with fleeing Traitor fleets. Finally, the Retribution Fleet had made its way to far reaches of the Segmentum Obscurus. They caught a large group of Traitor Legionaries raiding an Imperial mining colony in the uncharted XBR-MU1009A2 system near the Eye of Terror. In the midst of the ferocious battle that followed, they were caught unawares by a tremendous Warp gale that engulfed the entire Loyalist fleet and disappeared from the material realm. Initially, both the Ultramarines and the Space Wolves kept vigil for their lost Legionaries, hoping that the Warp would give up its prize. But as the decades, and then centuries passed, no trace could be found of the Retribution Fleet. In a somber joint-ceremony the names of the missing Space Marines were added to the rosters of the fallen by their respective Legions. All were presumed ' ''lost to the warp' '.

The Retribution Fleet had been caught within a Warp storm of terrific intensity and forced to endure the attacks of powerful Warp entities. Ship after ship was destroyed, including the flagship of Jarl Thørson. Soon only one craft, the Ultramarine's Battle Barge, Dominus Bellorum, remained. The remaining Space Marines had no idea how much time had passed since time flows differently in the Immaterium. Finally, Legate Kratos ordered the helmsman to execute a daring Warp-exit maneuver and the ship burst out of Warp-space into realspace near the far western fringes of the Eye of Terror. When they finally emerged, the ship's chronometer indicated that they had traveled the turbulent eddies of the Warp for nearly eight centuries. Despite their sojourn feeling like a matter of days, in reality, they had suffered serious time-displacement of nearly a millennium! With their warp engines damaged beyond repair, and the ship's systems quickly failing, Legate Kratos ordered for the ailing vessel to make a forced-landing on the nearest planet. Scanning the nearby system they found the second planet was closest to their position. Ordering the ship to make for the unnamed ice-world, the crew of the Dominus Bellorum prepared for an emergency landing. Their fate was now in the Emperor's hands.

Fate of the 'Lost Fleet'
In the 998.M31, contact with the Imperium was reestablished. A deep space Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator team was conducting a planet-wide survey of the Freyan System. The second planet was icy and desolate with violent windstorms and only narrow belts of cultivatable land. The Explorator team was hoping to find rich ore deposits and STC on this unpopulated planet. Despite the inimical conditions the Explorator team was amazed to find that there was still life on this feral world. They found the indigenous population to be a semi-barbaric people from ancient Terran stock. Ministorum missionaries were immediately dispatched to spread the world of the Imperial Cult amongst the indigenous population. Despite being fierce and primitive, the missionaries were amazed to find that the Freyans still worshipped the Master of Mankind, albeit in a corrupted barbaric fashion. The people were probed for any sign of Chaos taint but were found to be unwavering in their faith and devoutly loyal to the Emperor.

When inquiries were made to the Freyans as to how they had survived all of these millennia without the Emperor's guiding light, they told an amazing tale of how over a hundred years before, ' Sky-Warriors ' descended from the heavens. There was a great war between these 'Sky-Warriors' and the evil ' Wendól ' (or ' Twisted Ones ' ). The 'Sky-Warriors' were adorned with strange armor that the Wendól could not penetrate with their weapons, and used mighty blades and weapons that spit the fire of their wrath upon the loathsome creatures. The 'Sky-Warriors' slew them with wrathful anger. Since that time, they saved the people of the planet from destruction many times over, and helped reestablish their faith in the Master of Mankind. The power and might displayed by these mysterious 'Sky Warriors' were found to be like that of ancient warrior spirits from ancient Terran legends. Forever after, the people began to call the 'Sky-Warriors', ' Einherjar ' – warriors whom have been slain in battle and brought forth to the ' All-Father ' (The Emperor) to fight forever by his side.

A great fortress-monastery known as Æsirhold was constructed by the grateful Freyans in the center of their world's largest continent. The great fortress was hewn into the cliff face of the tallest mountain within the highest peaks. The mysterious 'Sky-Warriors' found the hardy people not wanting and so, many of the tribe's finest warriors were taken from the battlefields to become Einherjar and sail the stars. Intrigued, the Explorator team immediately began a probe of the continent. When they came within ten leagues of the fortress-monastery's location, they were hailed by these mysterious 'Sky Warriors'. It was discovered that these so-called Einherjar, were in fact, Adeptus Astartes! When the Explorator team investigated the origins of these Space Marines what they found greatly disturbed them. They immediately contacted the Inquisition with their findings. An Inquisitor from the Ordo Malleus was immediately dispatched to discern the truth of these so-called ' Loyalists '.

The Ordeal
Inquisitor Uziel Dredd met with the acting Commander of the errant Space Marines. The Astartes appeared to be a member of the Ultramarines Chapter, as he wore their panoply, but his ancient Mark IV battle-plate displayed many strange totems and fetishes. He introduced himself as Captain-Praetor Decius Pius. Carefully, he explained what had occurred over the last century and of how they came to be on this desolate world far from the Imperium of Man. Decius told the Inquisitor that they were survivors of the Loyalist fleet that had disappeared nearly millennia ago whilst giving chase to the Traitor Legions during the Great Scouring. Then he told them of the ensuing warp storm and of the attacks by the powerful Warp entities that had destroyed their fleet. After they made an emergency exit from the violent warp storm they realized that they had emerged nearly eight centuries later. With their warp engines damaged beyond repair and their vital systems failing, they were forced to crash land on this desolate ice-world.

The Ultramarines' commander was killed during the emergency landing. Fortunately a small contingent of Space Wolves were stationed aboard the Ultramarines' ship. Their Wolf Guard Pack Leader Odin Grimclaw took stock of the dire circumstances and immediately took command of the situation. Through his superb leadership he organized the survivors into a cohesive unit, ready for any threat to their survival. Their situation soon turned from bad to worse when a small force of Chaos scouts arrived in-system looking for suitable planets to conquer and despoil.

Grimclaw stripped the Ultramarines' vessel of all its weapons and usable materials and then had the Space Marines scuttle the ship. The Space Marines took to the surrounding mountains, where they were able to set up a temporary command center on the tallest mountain within the highest peaks (the current location of Æsirhold) to strike back at the Traitors. The Space Wolves scouts reported that the Chaos force was larger than expected. They were outnumbered nearly three-to-one. Pack Leader Grimclaw was gladdened by the news, ' More traitors to kill for the Emperor. ' He mused, a savage grin splitting his face. The Ultramarines were taken aback by the Wolf Guard's assessment but they were reassured by their ranking battle-brother Sergeant Pius:

' Surely the Sons of Guilliman will be up for the challenge, ' he goaded his men, ' ''For are we not the embodiment of noble warriors? We will fight hard and fight well! And bring swift death to the enemies of the Emperor! Vae victis!'' '

The Ultramarines raised their bolters in salute and responded in unison, ' ''Virtus et gloria! (Courage and honor!)'' ' Emboldened by the young Sergeant's words the Ultramarines prepared to bring their unfettered wrath down upon the traitors.

Unlike his contemporaries, Sergeant Pius was a jovial and rather brash Legionary. He showed his superiors that he could be a flexible military commander, thinking outside the confines of the established dictates of military strategy. Through his daring and bold initiative he quickly rose through the ranks of the Ultramarines and soon found himself as a squad leader. With the death of the Legate Kratos, the burden of command of the remaining Ultramarines fell to him.

The impetuous Sergeant had quickly formed strong bonds with his Space Wolves cousins. He admired their free-spirit and unorthodox approach; to battle, the rules and to life in general. Sergeant Pius had even formed a strong bond with the venerable Pack Leader Grimclaw. During the early years of the Great Scouring when their two Legions had fought on numerous occasions, the dour old wolf had saved him a number of times whilst fighting the foul Traitor Legionaries. Decius had returned the favor an equal number of times. The two had formed a warrior-bond stronger than tempered plasteel, forged in heat of battle. Decius would follow the old Wolf Guard to the Eye itself if he so wished it.

Through Grimclaw's tenacious cunning, the surviving Loyalists harried the Traitor forces mercilessly every chance they could. Over the course of three months the hit-and-run counterattacks and small-scale skirmishes of the joint force of Ultramarines and Space Wolves effectively isolated the remaining Chaos forces. They were then annihilated to a man. No quarter asked, none given. The threat of Chaos had been averted. But Pack Leader Grimclaw cautioned the younger Decius that they had merely forestalled the inevitable – soon the bulk of the Chaos fleet would come. Grimclaw knew they had little time left before the Chaos onslaught began again, and this time, they might not emerge victorious.

Chaos Incursion
"When my day comes to die, I will not beg for mercy, nor will I weep. I have led a life filled with glory! My hope is that I leave this world with a smile on my face, and the courage to sing my own death song, and that I will be judged worthy to sit at the side of the Allfather."

- Purported last words of Wolf Guard Pack Leader Odin Grimclaw before the final Battle of Blackskull Peak

It soon began with scattered reports of razed villages and signs of ritual sacrifice from the far ranging Scout squads. Then a few skirmishes with raiders occurred during long range forages. Soon they were enmeshed in fighting an all-out protracted war for survival. Inch by inch, the Loyalists began losing ground – their forces severely depleted by the sheer number of Chaos forces. Grimclaw was soon faced with a choice few Space Marine Commanders ever have to make – leading the remnants of his decimated force in a vainglorious charge and succumbing to their enemy's overwhelming numbers, or, as he eventually chose, he could marshal his resources and deploy his remaining forces and fight like stalking wolves. He explained his bold plan to the remaining loyalists. The Ultramarines questioned such brash tactics. Surely they must sell themselves dearly, taking as many of their enemies with them as possible? It was the only possible way they could die honorably on the field of battle.

Pack Leader Grimclaw listened to his Ultramarine cousins' recriminations and outrage, then he calmly held up one of his gnarled, leathery hands to silence them. He continued to explain,

' ''When wolves hunt the great elk in a pack they do so with great cunning. The young wolves will howl and snarl drawing attention to themselves. Then they will charge straight towards the wall of elk bulls that face them. Such audacity would normally see the foolish young pups skewered upon their prey's razor sharp antlers. But taking advantage of the noisy distraction to infiltrate the herd's weakly guarded flanks comes the veteran hunters of the pack. Sowing confusion and panic in the defensive line, they scatter – enabling the young wolves to bring down the bulls at their leisure. That is how a wolf pack fights. That is how we will fight!'' '

Throughout the rest of the war, Pack Leader Grimclaw field his squads as infiltrators and guerrilla troops, attacking specific, high-value targets rather than spearheading massive assaults, as would a normal-sized Space Marine force in such a conflict. Soon the Loyalists isolated the Traitors into small pockets of resistance and then began to destroy them one by one. As time wore on the forces of the Traitors were at a fraction of their original fighting strength.

At the forefront of many of these guerrilla attacks was Sergeant Pius. His superb leadership came to the fore as he was able to adapt and improvise against the superior number of Traitor forces. The topography of the icy planet was ideally suited to the Ultramarine’s style of warfare. The phalanx was able to block narrow passes with ease, with no risk of their forces being outflanked. Whenever Pius and his men encountered the Traitors they would retreat, drawing them into a narrow pass. In the passes, the phalanx was very difficult to assault for the Traitor forces. Using the surrounding terrain the Chaos forces’ numbers counted for nothing. The Ultramarines would wage a furious battle against the limited number of Chaos forces who had entered the pass, thoroughly routing them. This type of tactic was virtually unheard of by the Traitors but not by the Ultramarines! Retreat was unthinkable to them and was only used as a means to lure the enemy into a false sense of victory, and then they would turn and crush the very spirit out of the heretics!

The struggle was a long and difficult one. Month by month, continent by continent, Odin and his forces pushed Chaos back. The Loyalists fought a hundred score battles and always emerged victorious – time and again snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Much of the credit went to the Ultramarines Scout Company's acting commander, Sergeant Pius. Through his tactical genius and daring exploits of his Scouts they managed to turn the tide. In a final confrontation with the Traitor forces at the Blackskull Peaks Odin slew their leader, the Daemon Prince, F'al Bárûk Baal'ágni'tarra, although he was mortally wounded in return. Pack Leader Grimclaw didn't rest until the last of the Chaos forces were put to the sword, only then, his duty finally done, did he allow himself to die. Finally, after nearly a year of almost ceaseless warfare, the loyalists had emerged triumphant.

Soon after Grimclaw's death, Sergeant Pius was unanimously elected as their acting commander. Under Decius' direction he had the Techmarines erect an obelisk on the spot where the old Wolf fell, both as a monument to the battle and as a deterrent against Chaos from using the nexus to open a Chaos Warp Gate on the planet's surface. The newly elected Captain christened their new found world, Freya (after the Fenrisian Goddess of Winter). Life on the planet began to return to normal. Pius however, was not content to rest. He immediately began plans to rebuild his remaining forces, planning one day to help continue the Great Scouring – first freeing Freya's system then, eventually, the surrounding systems.

The Trial
After an encounter with Chaos, the Inquisition – per standard protocol – would sanitize the system and ensure that there was no surviving taint. The remaining Space Marines were to be mind-wiped and then sent back to their respective Chapters. Captain Pius refused to allow this to happen. He would not let the people of this world face such a fate. The Inquisitor was adamant about what must be done, but eventually came to a compromise – he would contact the Ultramarines and the Space Wolves and let their respective Chapter Masters decide their fate. Decius would only relent if the Inquisitor agreed that they were to be tried in a joint council made up of both Chapters. Inquisitor Dredd agreed to the Astartes commander's terms and notified their parent Chapters.

Within a couple of months two separate fleets arrived in-system. These fleets were composed of the Ultramarines and the Space Wolves. Both Chapter Master Agnathio and Great Wolf Harek Eireik "Ironhelm" Eireiksson came to an accord - they would conduct a joint trial. Initially when they had received the news they had both been overjoyed that one of their lost fleets had been returned to them. But they both feared that their lost warriors' ordeal might have left them tainted. For three months, Captain-Praetor Pius and his men stoically bore an exhaustive investigation in which every fragment of their bodies, minds and soul sorely tested. The Chapters' Apothecaries and Librarians exerted every technique at their command, but no trace of corruption, physical or spiritual, could be found.

Not once during the inquest did Decius' testimony ever waver or vary. In fact, he corrected several errors made in the transcripts, which he reviewed at night in his cell. The testimonies of his men corroborated his relation of the facts. After nearly a year, the Council sequestered to decide the fate of Decius and his men. They reviewed the facts and made the only decision they thought possible. At the end of the thirteenth hour of deliberation, Decius and his men were brought before the Council for the verdict to be read. The entire episode was pronounced ' Factum Irritus ' ; all records of the trial were to be destroyed.

Chapter Master Agnathio pronounced Captain-Praetor Pius' guilt of breaching the Codex Astartes (their Chapter's holiest of tomes, penned by Primarch Guilliman himself) but Great Wolf Ironhelm had convinced him that sometimes the necessity of the situation called for improvisation. Decius and his men had acquitted themselves well despite their dire circumstances. Therefore, for their breach of doctrine of the Codex, Decius was to be exiled. Any of his men wishing to join their commander were not held at fault for their actions for they were only following orders. They could return to their parent Chapter, without censure, or continue to remain. It is a testament to the loyalty of Captain Pius' men, that they all chose to remain. Pius did not dispute the verdict, waiving his rights to defend himself so as to prevent his example from being followed by others, and accepted the judgment of his Chapter Master.

Next, the Great Wolf stood in place of the Ultramarines Chapter Master and pronounced his judgment. He offered the surviving Space Wolves two options – return to Fenris to rejoin their battle-brothers or, they could remain with their current commander whom had led them from the jaws of defeat and attained glorious victory. The senior-most Space Wolf informed the Great Wolf that they would remain where they were – to honor their blood-debt to their forsworn commander. The Great Wolf nodded his assent and gave his former battle-brothers his blessing.

Before the Space Marines were dismissed, Inquisitor Dredd strode forth before the throng to the podium. He wished to speak the assembled Astartes. The Inquisitor explained to the Chapter Masters that they knew what standard protocol was after an encounter with Chaos. They both grimly nodded their understanding. But the Inquisitor went on to explain how Captain Pius refused to allow this to happen. He was willing to defend his men unto death and with his impassioned oratory, had convinced the Inquisitor that they should be spared in order for them to be judged by their peers. The Chapters Masters were greatly impressed by Decius' fierce devotion to his men.

Inquisitor Dredd went on to explained that he had not been idle during these long months as he had recently been in contact with his superiors within the Inquisition and had petitioned them to have Decius and his men be a part of a newly formed Chapter – with the proviso that all members of this new Chapter were to be sworn to the utmost secrecy concerning the existence of daemons and Chaos. Violation of this oath by any Space Marine member would result in death for the individual and their Chapter would be deemed Excommunicate Traitoris. Unofficially, this new Chapter would be subject to the Ordo Malleus' scrutiny and would have an Inquisitor permanently assigned to their Chapter; until such time that they were deemed worthy to perform as a fully functioning Chapter. The first such Inquisitor to be assigned to the Chapter would be Inquisitor Dredd, himself. He would be charged with assisting in organizing and equipping the new Chapter and to assist their new Chapter Master in fighting the forces of Chaos.

All they needed was a name. After quickly deliberating with his men, Captain Pius had an answer. In recognition of their former commander whose superb leadership, great personal valor and courageous initiative saw them through their arduous ordeal they unanimously chose to name their newly formed Chapter the Sons of Odin in honor of Wolf Guard Pack Leader Odin Grimclaw. With the Emperor's blessing, the High Lords of Terra granted the formation of the Sons of Odin Space Marine Chapter in 001.M32, during the Third Founding. Within one month of his return from Terra, Inquisitor Dredd was raised to High Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus, in which he served with distinction in this position for over two centuries.

Decius Pius was made the Sons of Odin Chapter's first Chapter Master, with Pack Leader Grimclaw beatified as the Chapter's founding Patriarch. He decided it would be to his newly formed Chapter's interest to move away from the unique organization of the Space Wolves and adopt a structure closer to that of the orthodox Ultramarines. Only the Veteran Company would deviate significantly from the Codex Astartes.

Chapter Home World
The feral world of Freya, homeworld of the Sons of Odin, is situated along the Cygnus Arm of the Milky Way, running through the Segmentum Obscurus near the Eye of Terror. The Freyan system is located to the galactic Northwest of the Eye. Freya is therefore at the forefront of the Imperium's defence against the foul denizens of Chaos.

Freya is a turbulent world of ice, dominated by extremes of climates that constantly change. Most would deem it inimical to life, but as always, the early human settlers of this frozen outpost found a way not only to survive, but to thrive. Before Old Night, this world was originally settled as a mining colony. The world of Freya was rich in many of the ores used in the construction of space faring vessels and technology used at the time. But with the advent of the horrendous warps storms and the Age of Strife, the stranded settlers were cut off from the outside world and were barely able to survive the harsh environment. Only the hardiest survived.

Over the following millennia, the forgotten technology of that era was irrevocably lost and the world became overrun by the denizens of Chaos. The survivors reverted to a barbaric state. This was the state of the world when the predecessors of the Sons of Odin found the world of Freya when they became trapped by a prodigious warp storm for a quarter of a century near the end of the 31st Millennium. Of that original mixed Imperial fleet of Ultramarines and Space Wolves, it was the Sons of Fenris who quickly adapted to the similar environs of the frigid world of Freya, the easiest. Though the new world was but a dim reflection of their savage homeworld of Fenris, they soon grew very fond of their new world. The native tribes of Freya prefer to live in the frigid, arctic lands with glaciers and heavy snowfall. Living in a very hostile and isolated region, the Freyan warrior tribes are forced to rely on their resourcefulness and their unwavering courage to survive. They survive the harsh and unforgiving ‘hell-winters by hunting amongst the icy tundra of the Frozen Wastes. They mostly eat meat, which they can hunt or kill for themselves. During the long, cruel winter months the days are short and the nights are unbearably long and snowy. Game becomes scarce, making the Freyan hunter’s task of foraging for food a race for survival. But during the long summer months when the snow caps melt and the fjords are free of ice, the Freyan tribes take to their longboats and raid other settlements, plundering them for sustenance and wealth.

Despite their savage reputation the Freyans also survive by farming and herding, spreading to colonize faraway lands as opportunities present themselves. Where their intuitive natures and wanderlust takes them, they engage in trade; when other tribes encroach into their territories, they exact tribute. For centuries the Freyans have dominated the sea lanes and the few lands that possess forests, where wild game is plentiful.

Æsirhold
At the center of the planet's largest continent, Niflheimr ('Abode of Mist'), the great citadel of Æsirhold (the 'Warriors Hould'), hewn into the cliff face of the tallest mountain, within Freya's highest peaks, known as the Blackskull Peaks. Against the gathering dark of the dwindling atmosphere, tiny lights shine at the distant summit. The Freyan tribes mark this habitation of the Einherjar - the 'Sky-Warriors' - as the abode of the demigods, itself a tiny fraction of the bulk of that vast peak. Lesser summits are clustered around the formidable citadel in the shadow of the mighty peak, Jǫtunnheim, the 'Giant One'. The ways between the peaks are treacherous and known only to those who have trodden its paths as Aspirants. All are scarred with precipitous drops and deep crevasses. Some hunt-ways were built on solid stone, whereas others are on bridges of ice that will crumble to nothing with the first application of weight. Some lead true, taking the hunter from the clefts in the shadow of the summits down to the plains where their prey dwell; others lead nowhere but into darkness, to the caves that riddle the bowels of the ancient landscape, full of nothing but ice-gnawed bones and despair.

Over the long history of its existence, many times has Æsirhold stood inviolable while the Forces of Chaos have dashed themselves against it. Æsirhold is clad in armour of immense thickness and strength and is cloaked by void shields more powerful than those found on even the most mighty of the Imperialis Armada's warships. The mountainside conceals potent defence lasers hidden within miles of dark shafts cut into the mountain itself. These ancient weapons, powered by geothermal reactors within the citadel's core, are capable of blasting apart even the most heavily armoured spacecraft from orbit. Even a ground assault would be considered suicidal, as Æsirhold possesses two external gates, known as the Árvakr Gate ('Early Riser' Gate) and the Drengr Gate ('Warrior' Gate), built high up on the sheer sides of the mountain. These two gates connect at opposite ends of the internal region of the fortress known as the Svellborough ('Stronghold of Ice'). The two gates were built to overlook entirely bare approaches, made up of huge causeways of stone, each kilometres wide and worn smooth by the endless gnawing of stone by the Blackskull Peaks' high winds. If a massed advance upon these approaches was undertaken, they would provoke a slaughter. Even if an enemy were, by some miracle, able to reach one of the gates, which in themselves, are colossal structures comprised of adamantium, granite and ceramite, they bristle with all manner of deadly weaponry - twin-linked bolters turrets, static plasma cannons and missile launchers.

Chapter Beliefs
The Sons of Odin revere the Emperor through Odin – with Odin acting as his Advocate or Avatar. This disturbs the orthodox Ecclesiarchy but as effective and loyal servants of the Ordo Malleus, the Sons of Odin are immune to any reprisals or retributions. As a result Adeptus Ministorum squads will not ally with the Sons of Odin unless an Inquisitor is present. This Chapter doesn't venerate one Primarch over the other, but they do acknowledge their shared heritage from both.

The warriors of the Sons of Odin have inherited much of their beliefs from their home world's native culture. Much of their martial traditions are still maintained by the Sons of Odin, even after their induction into the ranks of the Chapter. Sons of Odin Astartes constantly vie with one another, yearning to achieve the most victories or the highest kill tallies, in order to impress the Chapter's more venerable members, constantly striving to earn a place within the Chapter's sagas. Like the feral tribesmen they recruit from, the Sons of Odin value personal honour and physical strength at arms over all. Many Sons of Odin prefer to challenge enemy commanders to single combat in order to test themselves against the mightiest of enemies. Sons of Odin often seek out single combat with a foe they consider worthy of the honour, although more than a few Veteran Marines and commanders have fallen against particularly dangerous opponents this way.

Thus, the Battle-Brothers of the Sons of Odin Chapter are known to exhibit a fierce resolve in the face of overwhelming odds and display an unstoppable drive to test themselves against all who would stand before them. Perhaps this feature of their character is a result of the beliefs instilled in each before he has even joined the Chapter, for the warrior tribes of Freya are fearsome and resolute indeed. The Sons of Odin feel an inherent need to punish the former Astartes of the Traitor Legions, and to earn redemption in the eyes of the All-Father and His people, who suffered unimaginably during the galaxy-wide civil war known as the Horus Heresy.

Freyan Culture
For millennia, the image of the Freyan warrior has engraved itself in the minds of those whom have come in contact with this feral society; the image of the bloodthirsty barbarian with axe, sword and hide-covered armor. They are the epitome of savage fighters and terrifying raiders, sweeping across the continents of their frigid world and the water lanes of the turbulent seas. Although they are considered uncultured and primitive, these fierce people have developed a highly ritualistic and distinctive culture. The Freyan people resembles vikings from ancient Terran history. According to ancient legends, Freya’s original space-faring ancestors mixed their blood with that of the Frost Giants, thereby producing a robust and hearty race of humans who possess a near immunity to the cold and an affinity for battle. Though the veracity of these tales are disputed by Imperial scholars as to the identity of this mysterious race of 'giants', the Freyans males builds are robust; somewhat sinewy and very muscular. They have well defined and rough-hewn features due to the constant exposure to the extreme elements of the harsh Freyan winters. Most of the males possess long unkempt hair (sometimes worn braided), and they grow long, course beards. Freyan males also have somewhat pale skin like those of their distant Frost Giant cousins. The Freyan females builds are somewhat smaller; athletic and well proportioned. They possess a frontier beauty that can only be found amongst such a hardy race of women. Their beautiful locks of hair are often worn in long, braided tresses.

Freyans can generally live to 100 years of age or older, although Freyan males generally have shorter life spans than their female counterparts. If they are lucky they may survive to the ripe age of fifty years old if they are fortunate enough not to be killed in battle, by wild beasts, or the notoriously foul weather of their homeworld. It is a rare thing indeed to meet a Freyan male of venerable age. An elder Freyan is a warrior without peer, who has literally survived hundreds of battles and decades of Freyan ‘hell-winters’ due to their strength, cunning and intelligence. It is these venerable warriors who become a tribe’s chieftain or Jarl.

Freyan Beliefs
Freyans are robust and outspoken, unafraid to speak or act on impulse. They are somewhat boastful and known to be braggarts, but they will back up their words with either their fists or with the sharpened edges of their battle-axes. To a Freyan, action literally speaks louder than words. Honor is another concept that the Freyans have a high regard for. Whether it is on the field of battle, or defending one's pride when someone sullies their family name, honor must be maintained.

To prove one's worth as a warrior to the other members of their tribe, a Freyan warrior must constantly meet any challenge bestowed upon them by the venerable elders and senior warriors within their tribe. A young warrior must prove their battle prowess by acquiring numerous war trophies and battle scars if they are to be judged worthy. Some warriors are so dedicated to achieving this goal that they strive for nothing less than the chance to be immortalized forever in the form of a Freyan epic saga. Years after their death, they will be remembered when the sagas are recited by the old shamans of their tribes during the 'The Feast of The Great Hunt', held every twenty years during the rising of the Hunter's Moon.

When a Freyan has proved his worth or is slain in glorious battle they believe that they will earn a place amongst the honored ranks of the Einherjar. These are the fell-spirits of the warriors whom died in glorious battle and were raised from the dead; chosen to continue fighting by the side of the Emperor, (whom Freyans refer to as the 'All-Father') against the enemies of Mankind. According to the ancient Freyan sagas the 'All-Father' will face Hel (Chaos Undivided), the Goddess of Death and the underworld, and her other four aspects (lust, wrath, plague and transformation) and her daemonic hordes during the final days of all of creation, known as the Ragnarøkkr ('End-Times'). It is every Freyan’s fondest wish to be judged worthy enough to join their God-Emperor in eternal battle. These fanatically devout warriors are constantly trying to prove their worth in battle through insane acts of bravery or by slaying the most enemies.

Chapter Gene-Seed
The gene-legacy of Guilliman is proudly borne by the Sons of Odin. It seems the legacy of Guilliman's genetic material has no known aberrations in its genetic structure. However, their gene stock appears to be stable and displays some interesting qualities. However, with the introduction of the genetic material from the Freyan warriors, the genome seems to have inherited their savagery and thirst for war as well as their more positive traits of steadfast loyalty.

Chapter Organization
Following the break-up of their original fleet, the Sons of Odin were broken down into a single Chapter composed of those Ultramarines and Space Wolves whom elected to remain on Freya. New initiates were granted were granted the gene legacy of Guilliman. Some within the Inquisition did not look favorably on this mixed Chapter. To assuage any fears and to reinforce the loyalty of the Chapter, the first Chapter Master, Decius Pius swore his Chapter to strict adherence to the Codex Astartes. The Sons of Odin are split into ten companies, each a hundred Space Marines strong and led by a Captain. The 1st Company is composed of battle-hardened veterans and is the most powerful. It is also the only Company that fields warriors clad in Tactical Dreadnought Armor.

The 2th, 3th, 4th and 5th Companies fight as the main Battle Companies and are composed of Tactical, Assault and Devastator squads. Each Battle Company is self-sufficient, capable of meeting any threat and defeating it. These Companies form the backbone of the Chapter. The 6th through 9thCompanies are the Reserve Companies, each comprised of squads of one particular type. Companies 6th and 7th are Tactical Companies, the 8th is the Assault Company and the 9th is the Devastator Company. The 10th Company is composed of Scout squads made up from the ranks of the Chapter's newest inductees.

Combat Doctrine
The Sons of Odin fight according to the doctrines of the Ultramarines and the dictates of the Codex Astartes. As befits a predecessor of Guilliman's legacy, the Chapter has found that by fighting in the manner prescribed in this holiest of tomes, they do not deviate significantly from its wisdom.

The Veteran Company is the only one that deviates significantly from the Codex. The members of this esteemed Company of the most battle-hardened veterans continue to fight in the style of their Space Wolves forebears, preferring close combat to ranged warfare. This is represented by the fact that when not fighting in Tactical Dreadnought Armor, they prefer to fight in Assault rather than Tactical Squads. This is emphasized by the fanaticism of the Sons of Odin battle brothers, whose righteous anger makes them impatient and headstrong. They will drive towards their foes relentlessly, with axe and bolt pistol in hand.

However, not all of the Companies can be relied upon to fight in the structured and disciplined ways of the Codex, for their genome seems to have inherited the Freyan culture’s savagery and thirst for war. This can turn even the most taciturn veteran into a berserker, wishing only to release their calculated brutality and savagery upon their foes. When this occurs, these berserk warriors are placed within the ranks of the 8th Assault Company. Whilst in the throes of a berserk frenzy these battle brothers seeks nothing more in battle than to rush into close quarters with the enemy and tear them apart in a hail of blood. Those who have actually witnessed their bloodthirstiness in action report that they have never seen such barbaric displays of charnel violence.

The Chapter most often finds itself fighting the foul forces of Chaos, being relatively close to the Eye of Terror as well as Orks. The Sons of Odin have become very adept at combating these opponents. The Chapter vigilantly patrols the regions in the Cygnus Arm close to the Eye, always maintaining a vigilant watch for another Chaos incursion. Whereas their Space Wolves predecessors fight in the vein of feral barbarians, the Sons of Odin fight in a similarly ferocious matter but are more disciplined like their Ultramarine forebears. The Sons of Odin are most frequently used to carry out orders that are particularly brutal, destructive, or having to deal with politically sensitive individuals that other units might be sympathetic to; for the Space Marines of this Chapter are loyal unto to death to the "All-Father" and those that rule in his stead.

Chapter Recruitment
The Sons of Odin recruit from Freya and the worlds of the other systems occupied during 'The Ordeal'. Most of the colonists brought to these systems after the Inquisitions' purge and sanitation came from Novaya Zemlya and Niflheimr. On Freya and the other worlds in the surrounding systems, strangers clad in armor as black as shadow, stalk the lands. In the Jarl's long halls, tales are told of these strangers known as the Choosers of the Slain – whom watch silently from the hills overlooking the battlefield, choosing those whom show true valor and commit the most insane acts of courage. These warriors, though mortally wounded, are taken by the ebon-armored Sky Warriors to join the ranks of the Einherjar, never to be seen again. These mysterious strangers are the Chaplains of the Sons of Odin. The youths they pick are tested to the extreme, to see if they are worthy to have the legacy of Odin Grimclaw implanted into their bodies, and eventually become one of his chosen sons.

Those selected as potential Space Marines must undergo several initiation rights, the first of which is 'The Ordeal'. The individual is dropped naked on the shores of the southern continent armed with only a combat knife. He must make his way through the mountains of the Barrier Range to the continent’s central desert plateau. He must then find the Obelisk at the southern pole. Most candidates arrive exhausted and dehydrated – most do not arrive at all.

When the candidate reaches the stone monolith he must than place a hand on its jet-black surface. The stone functions something like an armor plate window, denying access yet permitting observation. What each candidate sees is different; most see some or the entirety of Odin's 'Ordeal'. All are allowed to glimpse the entities of the warp and feel their malevolent hatred for humanity. More than one candidate has been driven mad by the experience; however, the careful selection process ensures that most are able to endure. Those who survive with their sanity intact are instilled with a deep hatred of Chaos. The Librarians of the Chapter are aware of the contact with the Obelisk and a recovery team is dispatched to recover the initiate, usually before he regains consciousness from the visions.

The neophyte is sedated and the initial implants are made. The neophyte awakes lying on a bed in the Scout barracks, which is conveniently located near the kitchens. The 'Ordeal' and subsequent implants induce a ravenous hunger in the young Aspirant. Having fed, the initiates are met by the Senior Instructor and their 'Preparation' begins. Once an initiate has completed his training he undergoes a period of ritualistic washing and fasting lasting several days at the end of which he is presented to the 'Council'.

The last phase of the Aspirants initiation is the ‘Trial,’ is a series of written, oral, and performance evaluations lasting 13 days, 13 hours and 13 minutes. At the end of The Trial the initiate is brought to a darkened chamber and made to stand in a single circle of light. The initiate must stand resolute before the ‘Council’ as they hurl insults and recriminations. Finally, their verdict is rendered, the sentence which is always ‘death’. The initiate must stand resolute, even in this face of death. If he proves his bravery and his worth, he is then accepted as a brother marine and chooses a new name.

Chapter Colours
The Sons of Odin panoply consists of dark prussian blue - the colour of a winter storm, with white and gold details. The Space Marines ceremonially apply runic tattoos of protection and power upon entering the Chapter. These tattoos usually cover the arms and sometimes the face of the Astartes, reinforcing their fearsome Freyan warrior heritage. The Sons of Odin Space Marines also take great pride in their heraldry, using the arts and styles of the Freyan Runemasters. Their armor is most often engraved with Freyan runic script or magical runes. The Freyan people are a superstitious lot; their pagan beliefs state that through the use of powerful magic runes, it might help one to fulfill a person's innermost needs, wants, and wishes. This tradition has carried over to the Sons of Odin. They believe that by incorporating these runes as well as the potent Dire Wolves talismans on their armor, that they will evoke protection and strength against all their enemies.

A few Astartes within the Chapter are honored enough to inherit the power armor of a great warrior and continue on their legacy. Veterans in particular wear ornate battle-plate immersed in centuries worth of talismans and etched symbols, accumulated from great heroes over the ages. Scouts are the only elements of the force that don't decorate their armor extensively, preferring to maintain their anonymity when performing their dangerous reconnaissance missions. The adaptation of traditional Freyan symbols has also spread to some of their traditional Astartes insignia. Patterned specialization designations follow the Freyan warriors' artistic style and are painted in gold on the right shoulder pauldron. Classical Imperial icons are rarely seen on a Sons of Odin Astartes' armor. The Chapter is also known to incorporate the use of many ancient patterns of power armour, handed down over the millennia from one Astartes to another.

Chapter Badge
The Sons of Odin Chapter badge is a large white coloured skull centered upon a sable coloured shield and placed in front of a pair of crossed great-axes.

Chapter Glossary

 * Blóð Móðr - A Freyan term that means 'blood rage', this is when a warrior enters an enhanced state, and stirs themselves up to such rage and madness that they will boldly attack any foe without being hampered by thoughts of their own or others' safety. This term is used by the Sons of Odin when referring to those Astartes (Úlfheðinn) who are overcome by the blóð móðr, especially when fighting against the Forces of Chaos.
 * Drakkar - A longship smaller than a knorr, usually used for raiding or piracy.
 * Einherjar - In Freyan myth, the spirits of the slain warriors who reside within the long-hall of the All-Father, awaiting the day they will fight at Ragnarøkkr. This term is commonly used to refer to those who are selected to join the 'Sky-Warriors', to fight on behalf of the All-Father.
 * Einvigi - Unlimited personal combat, a duel to the death with no restrictions.
 * Goði - The closest Freyan equivalent to a jarl. Goði have certain rights and responsibilities in Freya's southern continent, acting as patrons to smallholders, but are not nobles as the wider Imperium would understand them.
 * Hel - In Freyan culture, Hel is the Goddess of Death and the underworld. She epitomises the aspect of evil itself (Chaos Undivided), and often appears in one of her four aspects (lust, wrath, plague and transformation). This term is utilised by the Sons of Odin when referring the Chaos or Chaos Undivided.
 * Hirð - The boon-companions of a lord. They eat at his table, sleep in his hall, take his gifts of weapons, armor and wealth, and derive their positions from hi1n. So long as he can feast and gift them, they must stand beside hi1n to the death, both on and off the field of battle. A term commonly used amongst the Sons of Odin when referring to members of their Chapter's elite veterans.
 * Holmgang - A highly stylized ritual that can be described as either a duel or a trial by combat, depending on your point of view. Combatants exchange sword or axe blows until one is unable to continue.
 * Huskarl - A member of the hirð, a warrior who makes the bargain of mead and glory for loyal service to a lord. Amongst the elite members of the Wolf Guard, this term is used when referring to a Veteran Sergeant.
 * Jarl - A noble of unspecified holdings, usually between those of a landed knight and a baron or earl. Unlike a huskarl, a jarl does not derive his position fro1n his lord, but from his hereditary holdings. While there were formal differences, the mark of a jarl was the ability to keep a hall and men, and the line between jarl and freeholder was often blurry. This term is used by the Sons of Odin when referring to anyone of a leadership position, usually an officer (Space Marine Captain equivalent rank).
 * Knorr - A longship larger than a drakkar, usually used for trade.
 * Ragnarøkkr - The 'End-Times' or the 'Fate of the All-Father', when a long foretold series of future events, including a great battle between the Forces of Order against the Forces of Chaos, foretold to ultimately result in the death of the universe.
 * Skjaldmær - Known as 'Shieldmaidens', these fierce female warriors fight alongside the men in battle with shield, sword, axe and spear.
 * Thegn - The lesser partner in the Freyan equivalent of a feudal contract. A king's jarls are his thegns.
 * Thing - (Pronounced ting), a thing was a local assembly of district, known as a thingstead, the thing manages affairs of justice and various other issues of local interest.
 *  Úlfheðinn - A Freyan term when referring to those warriors who fight in an uncontrollable, trance-like fury, who fight without their mailcoats and are as mad as hounds or wolves. They are known to spit and froth at the mouths and bite their shields, slaying men by the score. It is said that neither fire nor iron has any effect upon them. This term is used by the Sons of Odin when referring to those Astartes who are overcome by the blóð móðr (or 'blood rage') and enter an enhanced state, stirring themselves up to such rage and madness that they will boldly attack any foe with suck bloodthirstiness and savagery without being hampered by thoughts of their own or others' safety.
 * Útlægr - Known as 'The Outlawed', these criminals are beyond the law. A punishment for certain serious crimes. A útlægr has no right to wergild if slain, and his killer need not announce the deed.
 * Vargr - Freyan for 'wolf', this term is often used when referring to outlaws and bandits, as well as more mundane wolves. This term is used by the Sons of Odin when referring to corsairs or pirates.
 * Wendól - The Wendól or 'Twisted Ones' are evil spirits given physical form. This is a term utilised by the Sons of Odin when referring to the Daemonic servants of Chaos.
 * Wergild - The amount of compensation paid by a person committing an offense to the injured party or, in case of death, to his family.

Notable Quotes
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By the Sons of Odin
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