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The Great Crusade and Horus Heresy
The origins of the venerable Steel Harbingers Chapter harkens back nearly ten millennia earlier. As with many Third Founding Chapters, the Steel Harbingers' history is legendary in scope, reaching all the way back to the days of the Horus Heresy itself. Originally created as the Redacted, the Legion the Steel Harbingers came from was founded atop the wreckage of a recidivist fortress on the Terran Auro Plateau of Sek-Amrak. The warlike gun-tribes in the surrounding areas made up the first of the Legion's Marines. The early Redacted proved itself in the Unification Wars, making its domain one of the most stalwart bastions of the Emperor. The Legion's gene-seed showed above average adaptability and a below average resistance rate to Bionics. This allowed the Legion to be one of the largest and the earliest deployed alongside the I Legion and V Legion.

The Legion continued to distinguish itself in the conquest of the Sol System during the early days of the Great Crusade, winning honours in many battles, most notably in the Mehr Yasht campaign on Venus, where the redacted was commanded by the Emperor himself to defeat the deadly Litho-Gholem armies of the War Witches. In light of their early successes, the Legion was given first access to new equipment being delivered from Mars. The Legion led the Redacted, which distinguished itself in many campaigns. However, the Legion did not adapt their tactics to the new realities of the expanding Crusade, and was called unimaginative by other Space Marine Legions and by Horus himself. Horus however was impressed by their stubbornness and would use the Legion to fight inglorious but vital campaigns of attrition. They soon became known as the workhorse Legion, relied upon for their tenaciousness and following orders to the letter. It was during this time that the Legion began to spread itself out, garrisoning many worlds and fighting many smaller campaigns across the expanding Imperium. One the Garrisons from these early days would be the core of the original Steel Harbingers. Forgotten by all guarding a far flung Fortress Ice World made compliant by use of experimental weapons that froze the world into eternal winter.

The Great Scouring
Rediscovered during the great scouring, there the Steel Harbingers were informed of the fate of the Imperium.

Chapter Organisation
The Horus Heresy had left the Imperium a shattered shell of its former self. In the wake of the disastrous galaxy-wide conflict, it was decided that the no one individual would ever command the power of a Space Marine Legion ever again. Therefore, it was deemed necessary to restructure both the Imperial military machine as well as the flailing Imperial bureaucracy. This task fell to the Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman, both a master tactician and a superlative organiser and master logistician. After much debate, it was decided that the Imperium would adopt Guilliman's Codex Astartes - his magnum opus and guide on both strategy and organisation - which resulted in the sundering of the Legiones Astartes into separate Chapters, which formed the basis of the Second Founding Space Marine Chapters of the burgeoning Adeptus Astartes.

Besides the adoption of the Codex, the newly raised High Lords of Terra required a Chapter to meet the arch-foes of the Imperium in combat - the vast armies of the False Gods of Chaos. The Steel Harbingers were not among such Chapters, chosen for their stalwart and dedicated service during both the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, no their history was much darker and so are their origins. Unlike their genetic forebears, the newly formed Chapter opted to take a more defensive approach, by building garrisons and fortifications that rival the Imperial Fists.

Officer Ranks

 * The Harbinger - Chapter Master Equivalent


 * Brethren Lord - Captains Equivalent

Specialist Ranks

 * Soothsayer - Apothecaries


 * Herald - Chaplains


 * Sculptors - Tech Marines for it is they who communicate with the machine spirits.

Line Ranks

 * Augury-Sergeant -


 * Brethren -


 * Scout Brother -


 * Aspirant -

Specialist Formations

 * Apola - The Apola, known as the Brethren of Sculptors, the Apola's particular focus was on machine-craft; both in their construction and maintenance, and their employment in war. It exists in an uneasy alliance with the Mechanicum of the nearby Forge World, save those Tech-priests who had long-served the Steel Harbingers directly.


 * Khele - The Khele, known as the Brethren of Frozen, although led and commanded by Astartes, also encompassed the senior officers and Mechanicum magi, engineers and shipwrights who maintained and crewed the Chapter's warships. Its base of operations a heavily fortified orbital shipyard, void warfare and the construction and design of warships and assault craft were its obsession.

Combat Doctrine
The Steel Harbingers are known for an affinity with technology and the clinical application of logic to military problems. This affinity was channeled into the mastery of that form of warfare. These abilities were increased by cross-training with the Mechanicum. The Steel Harbingers' Sculptors could match skills with Magi. Their methodical attitude made them merciless men in battle and siege. After the siege works were built there was a choice given to the besiegers; either to throw down their arms then and there or the Steel Harbinger would show no mercy. Just like many other Chapters they soon gained the reputation of brutality during siege, not to mention their merciless manner after the siege had taken place.

The Steel Harbingers are unparalleled masters of siege warfare as well as of building defensive fortifications and fortresses. Their attacks are typically slow, but relentless and scientific. Most Steel Harbingers assaults begin with an intense orbital bombardment, followed by a rapid aerial landing. As the Steel Harbingers secure their landing zone, they will begin to erect fortifications around their drop site and use this as their base of operations for a siege as well as prevent counter-attacks by the enemy. Instead of using classic building materials for these fortified positions, the Steel Harbingers will connect their Rhinos together into a ring of pillboxes. With their position established, the Steel Harbingers will then deploy great siege engines to reduce the enemy positions before a final charge.

Right after they set up their fortifications and before the initial bombardment, the Steel Harbingers will commonly send infiltration units ahead of the main force to disable the enemy's defenses and set up ambushes and conduct flank attacks while the main force charges the fortifications. Where possible, field fortifications will be used. Steel Harbinger doctrine includes extensive use of fortifications to occupy the maximum number of opponents while using the absolute minimum number of troops. This in turn keeps the bulk of the Steel Harbingers Marines fresh and available for assaults, and allows them to achieve superiority elsewhere.

In combat, Steel Harbingers are terrifyingly adept at both ballistic warfare and close-range melee bloodshed, and use a mixture of the two to slaughter opponents in vast numbers. The typical Steel Harbinger is armed with a powerful Bolter, Plasma Gun or other such ranged weapon, as well as a close-combat Power Sword or Chainsword.

The Steel Harbingers place a great deal of importance on heavy weaponry of all kinds, for they value the tools of destruction far more than flesh and blood. Their Devastators are famously clinical killers, blasting apart keystones and buttresses to bring down fortifications, or sniping enemy officers from afar as they try to restore order. The Steel Harbingers have a special association with the Mechanicus cult. They have extensive access to the hulking combination of armor, weapons, and Marines.

The Steel Harbingers are expert sappers, engineers and miners and have acquired a formidable siege train of specialist equipment over the centuries. This includes Termite tunnelers, a Leviathan transport, Dreadclaw assault boats adapted for planetary landings and a large assortment of Imperial-built artillery. These are used very sparingly and are maintained and guarded by the Steel Harbingers' 1st Company. Additionally they have a number of Corvus assault pods which allow them to make use of any supporting Titans as siege towers.

Chapter Gene-Seed
The Steel Harbingers' gene-seed produced a marked tendency towards suspicion and paranoia within the Astartes but also was known to create Space Marines who were extremely intelligent and possessed naturally well-developed problem-solving abilities. The Steel Harbingers retain cold intelligence, paranoia, dark skin and dark eyes, and are noted for a preference for technological methods of warfare.

About Chapter
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Acknowledgements
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