Void Basilisks

"We are here to protect His Empire! All of us that are here are individually insignificant and we are alive only to die serving our Emperor! We push forward today knowing that our brothers are dead and we are going to die also, but we push forward knowing that our insignificant lives will work together in order to cause significance and protect His realm! Any man that goes down without killing ten times himself will die less than insignificant! Now FIGHT! For the Emperor!"

- Hermocrates Antipater

The Void Basilisks are a secretive Loyalist Space Marine chapter descended from the Raven Guard, created during the 23rd 'Sentinel' Founding during the late 38th Millenium. The chapter is mostly trusted by other chapters due to their intense religious standing, however, some factions are uneasy due to the secrecy on the Void Basilisks' homeworld. The Basilisks always are sure to attack before attacked and will not falter in the face of any sign of even slight heresy or betrayal. The extreme and unfaltering belief in the God-Emperor of Mankind leads to the marines under the Void Basilisks being ruthless and empowered if necessary cutting down anything unessential in their path. Due to these tendencies and their secrets, they have made enemies with the dark angels and salamanders, Basilisks also disliking and distrusting these chapters as they are seen as not entirely loyal to the Emperor.

The Founding (756.M38)
The Void Basilisks were founded in order to protect the ongoing research underneath the surface of Caverna Reguli Primus of artefacts- most of which were found in the monasteries found on the planet. After nearly a millennia of researching several great discoveries were made- mostly on the field of gravitonic weaponry- and this lead to the Basilisks being supplied with several many more artefacts to continue and expand their studies.

The Crimean Evolution (679.M39)
After the groundbreaking discoveries on gravitonic weaponry specialised units were armed with new Grav-Muskets. These weapons were created around the concept of reducing the graviton streams used in normal grav-weapons to controlled bursts at regular intervals in order to allow the creation process to become cheaper and have gravitonic weapons more widespread. The muskets were quickly given to many of the veterans in the 1st company for observations during practical use and anyone who wielded a musket was called a "Crimean". The main fault that had been seen before any action was that they were obviously weaker than regular graviton weapons and so rather than being able to completely crush opponents they would just be immobilised and presumably rendered unconscious, though despite these beginning flaws it was still seen as a massive accomplishment.

The Great Crimean Crusade (Est. 853–856.M39)
It wasn't until closing on 200 years after the creation of the Grav-Muskets that they were essential in a large battle. The Crimean Crusade spans the time it took for the companies of Void Basilisks to defeat a large Warband of Ork on a space hulk that was headed straight for Caverna Reguli and chase down all routed enemies. The forces of the Basilisks were close to losing after the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th and 9th companies had all been nearly entirely wiped out until against all odds the 1st and 7th companies were able to single-handedly defeat the Ork Warboss Narghiz Nozcrusha and route the space hulk chasing down and killing all Orks that fled. The surprising victory emerged after the fleet master Hermocrates Antipater devised a new tactic to be used in a miniature skirmish which he later decided to use in the final battle- mainly due to not losing a single marine during the first time it was used. The tactic was made to make good use of the benefits of the Crimeans in combination with standard tactical marines and was dubbed the "próto taktikó". The final battle was the battle in which the great warrior Narghiz Nozcrusha was defeated by being surrounded by veterans wielding muskets that brought it to its knees, despite Narghiz's 17ft stature. When Narghiz was brought down the Ork was left undefended and was bombarded with fire from several tactical marine squads resulting in brutal death. The "crusade" ended nearly an entire year after killing the Warboss as several Orks were routed and attempted to flee- until they were tracked down by a combination of the 6th Company as well as the remnants of the 8th and 10th Companies.

Caverna Reguli Primus
The Void Basilisks' homeworld is a shrine world called Caverna Reguli Prime and is located on the eastern fringe of Segmentum Ultima. The grounds of the planet are extremely sacred and only a very privileged few are able to walk on the planet gaining access through a sort of spiritual enlightenment. Due to this the population on the planet is a meagre 250,000 with all civilians and soldiers living in clusters of ships in the planets orbit- the population of the fleet of "O Apeítharchos"- or also known as simply the "unenlightened"- is estimated at close to eight billion souls almost registering as being a small hive planet. The population is composed of many traders and settlers that visit not intending fully to stay however being so close to holiness often converted them to religion and convinced them to stay. This method of permanently inviting every ship that comes close to the planets orbit results in a large population increase quite often.

Kardiá
The main monastery on the planet's surface is "Kardiá"- a building believed to date back to the dark age of technology. A small collective of psykers have been enslaved at all times to ensure that Kardiá does not age so the temple stands tall and strong. The chapter was founded in order to protect this site and the science laboratory underneath it, where several artefacts are researched, the first of which were originally found on the planet itself.

Chapter Organisation
Due to the Void Basilisks' beliefs that they are superior to most other chapters, many aspects of the Codex Astartes have been more loosely followed with certain aspects being modified to show their higher spirituality. The modified aspects include the structures and ranks which are seen as follows-

Command Ranks

 * Polemarchos - Chapter Master equivalent, referred to as the "Polemarchos" or Supreme Commander.
 * Taxiarhos - Captain equivalent, referred to as a "Taxiarhos" or Brigadier.
 * Syntagmatarkhis - Lieutenant equivalent, referred to as a "Syntagmatarkhis".

Specialist Ranks

 * Librarians - Librarians of the Chapter have a variety of unique ranks, including:
 * Professors - Chief Librarian equivalent.
 * Reader - Codicier equivalent.
 * Researcher - Epistolary equivalent.
 * Research Associate - Lexicanum equivalent.

Line Ranks

 * Tagmatarkhis - Veteran Sergeant equivalent.
 * Lokhagos - Sergeant equivalent.

Master of Fleet Hermocrates Antipater
The most notable of all of the Void Basilisks would undoubtedly be the Master of Fleet Hermocrates Antipater. He has been the master of the fleet for the several millennia since the founding of the chapter and boasts tactical brilliance that has won several battles and campaigns for the empire. He is known for the several tactics he has created as well as his modifications to starship weaponry such as his gravitic rail guns that similar to the Tau weapon uses gravitic fields to squeeze missiles toward the enemy at enormous speed, however, uses modified graviton bursts seen in grav-muskets to conserve power.

Chapter Fleet
The Void Basilisks have a large fleet due to the fact that they can have no troops on their homeworlds grounds. The current Master of the Fleet is the extremely renowned Hermocrates Antipater and under his command are:


 * 3 Battle Barges (Basilisk’s Glance, Basilisk’s Crown, Dioptrotéchnis’ Wall)
 * 5 Strike Cruisers
 * 30 Rapid Strikes
 * 25 Escorts Vessels
 * 15 Thunderhawk Gunships
 * 10 Thunderhawk Transports
 * 40 Boarding Torpedos

Relations
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Allies
Due to the Void Basilisks' strong religious belief and trust in the Emperor, they have been known to often cooperate with the Inquisition and are on strong terms. During an attack of the inquisition, the Basilisks are often the first to come to their aid with their quick mobilisation.

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By the Void Basilisks:
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Gallery
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