Blood Serpents

The Blood Serpents were founded as part of the 12th Founding during M35 as a Successor Chapter to the venerable Blood Angels. Nearly a millennium after their Founding, they were beset by a series of disasters that saw the Chapter's numbers severely depleted, to the point where there were only three remaining battle-brothers. Despite talk of disbandment, the remaining survivors resolved to rebuild their nearly-extinct Chapter back to its former glory. The Chapter vanished, due to emergent warp storm activity, and was believed lost. However, in 584.M41, a new warp storm activity in the Chapter's home system appeared, and the Blood Serpents had a whole Chapter once again. However, due to the process utilised to recreate their sorely depleted numbers, they unexpectedly developed several idiosyncrasies unique to their Chapter. It remains to be seen, whether or not these genetic flaws will be the Chapter's undoing.

Reason for Creation
Prior to the creation of the Blood Serpents the Imperium wanted to add another chapter near the Eye of Terror to help stave off the Chaos Attacks, and seeing the world of Astoran as an ideal defensive world due to its tunnel network allowing for knowledge of the world to let a small force defeat a much larger one.

Founding
The Blood Serpents were founded as part of the 12th founding, during the 35th Millennium as a Successor Chapter to the heroic Blood Angels. During the 36th Millennium the Blood Serpents fought many tough battles for their homeworld. First, the minor Ork WAAAGH! Clawcrusha attacks the Blood Serpents' home world of Astoran. Though the Orks were swiftly brought down by the might of the chapter, a large portion of the chapter fell to the Black Rage.

The Fall
Then High Chaplain Kruthu Zarlan was corrupted by the Chaos God Khorne and took the Death Company and convinced them that the rest of the chapter had fallen to the Chaos Gods and were the Traitors from the Horus Heresy. The following battle that ensued brought down approximately one third of the remaining chapter, bringing the chapter down to about half strength. Finally, a warp storm above Astoran spat out a strange living ship that immediately started unleashing an army of living horrors on the planet. Though these creatures had not yet entered this galaxy they would eventually be called Tyranids. The following battle reduced the chapter down to three men, 8th company sergeant Asterog, 8th company marine Skyrog, and Sanguinary Priest Zancor. This lamentable time is known amongst the Blood Serpents as 'The Fall'.

Rebuilding
The Inquisition wanted to disband the chapter, however, Asterog seeing himself as the new Chapter Master, thought of it as his duty to revive the chapter. So he went out to the nearby planets and took every able-bodied man back to Astoran. He then used Insanguination taking Zancor's blood as he was the only remaining Sanguinary Priest. Zancor died from poison from the Tyranids shortly after the Insanguination process. Five days after all the new recruits had entered their sarcophagi the entire planet was sucked into the warp by a warp storm.

Serpents Reborn
In the year 584.M41 there was a warp storm in the sector where Astoran used to be, and out popped Astoran, full of a complete chapter of Space Marines. The Astartes that emerged became known as The Reborn Serpents. Over the next 400 years the majority of The Reborn Serpents had fallen in battle, with only a few remaining, almost entirely as Captains or in the Arch Company.

The Green Rage
Also, the Black Rage seemed to disappear for a while, then in the year 936.M41 the chapter was assigned to take out some remnants of Hive Fleet Gorgon (the first time the Blood Serpents had fought Tyranids since their rebirth), this triggered something in the brain that had been lying dormant in there for nearly 400 years. The entire 5th Company was consumed by a new plague, the Green Rage, though the war ended swiftly it would shape the chapter forever.

The Green Rage appears to be a mutated form of the Black Rage that most Blood Angels Successor Chapters suffer from. It has altered effects to the Black Rage; the first is that instead of believing that they are Sanguinius in is dying moments, they believe that they are fighting Tyranids during the battle for Astoran. Then there are the other stranger effects of it, some members of the Blood Serpents that have fallen to the Green Rage seem to have actually gained some tactical knowledge resulting in them taking up the ranks of sergeants in the Blood Serpent chapters. However, the Green Rage takes sweeping blows across the Blood Serpents, claiming large numbers every time the Blood Serpents go into battle, which still sends a large number of them to death every time.

The Sanguinary Priests believe that the Green Rage mutated when Zancor's gave his blood in the Insanguination process that created The Reborn Serpents, and has been passed down through the generations by the new Sanguinary Priests. They believe that the Tyranid poison that entered his system during the battle for Astoran corrupted the mutation that causes the Black Rage inside of him, and then was passed on throughout the Blood Serpents.

Despite the large number of Blood Serpents that die every time they go to battle their numbers remain fairly consistent, this is because of Lord Commander Asterog, the Chapter Master since they entered the warp, goes around the nearby systems to Astoran and collects massive swathes of young men to join the chapter whenever he is at Astoran.

Astoran
Astoran, the Chapter homeworld of the Blood Serpents, is located in the Segmentum Obscurus fairly close to the Eye of Terror and suffers from the occasional severe Warp Storm.

Astoran is a Death World whose surface is completely unlivable to normal humans due to the immense radiation caused by the planet being so close to its sun with very little atmosphere. Space Marines in Power Armour can only last for about an hour on the surface before they die, and Terminator Armour only protects them for 3 hours. The only exception to this is The Scar, a 100Km long twisting rocky canyon which somehow managed to escape the radiation covering the rest of the planet.

Due to the complete un-survivability of Astoran the Blood Serpents live beneath the surface in a maze of tunnels designed to confuse anyone trying to invade the planet, while allowing the Blood Serpents to outflank the attacker. The origin of the tunnels is unknown however the Blood Serpents have since arriving massively expanded the tunnel network both near the surface and deeper into the planet. There are only three entrances into the tunnels of Astoran, the primary entrance, which is large enough for dreadnoughts to enter but nothing bigger. The Scar entrance which is at the northern end of the Scar which is large enough for the bikes of the Blood Scars to move through, with little room to spare. The final entrance is the Vehicle bay, a massive elevator large enough to comfortably hold 20 Land Raiders simultaneously that rises up to a massive set of doors that slide out of the way as the elevator rises.

The only structure on the surface of Astoran, other than a door, is Terminus Reach, a small fortress that was built for one purpose. In the event Astoran is overrun completely the Archserpents would teleport there and try to hold out as long as possible until help arrived at which point whoever arrived as aid would use the teleportarium on their ship to move the entire base onto their hanger. This is possible because the entire base is constructed like a massive suit of Terminator armor expressly for this purpose. Asterog's primary motive for doing this is to protect the only piece of Astoranium that has been found by giving it to Karoth, and having him bring it to whoever shows up to help.

Astoranium
Astoran is the only known source of an unusual compound known as Astoranium which has some sort of Synaptic disruption effect on the Tyranids. This compound also appears to have an ability to destroy Tyranid creatures with a strong connection to the Hive Mind, likely connected to the Synaptic disruption effect. Despite repeated attempts to recreate Astoranium the Imperium cannot recreate it. As a result Asterog has got a large number of human miners digging deep into the planet in search of Astoranium.

The Miners of Astoran
Since the creation of the Blood Serpents Astoran has been mined out, initially before the Fall this task was given to the Scout Company with the purpose of expanding the tunnel network, and increase the defensibility of the world. While mining Asterog found the first, and so far only known, piece of Astoranium, which he only kept because he thought that it looked interesting, so he turned it into a pendant which he wares under his armor to this day.

Since the Fall Asterog has pulled the Scout Company from the job of mining, preferring to use them in combat, and has outsourced the mining of Astoran to aspirants of the chapter. Additionally, Asterog has changed the focus of the mining from expanding the defensive network to searching for Astoranium with large open caverns in an attempt to not miss anything.

The Purge of Koros (582.M36)
During 582.M36 a Chaos Cult worshiping Khorne was discovered in the Koros system, near Astoran so Salsain took an army comprised out of the 4th company, with the aid of High Chaplain Kuthru Zarlan to eliminate the new found Chaos Cult.

The Battle for Astoran (582-584.M36)
The Battle for Astoran was fought in three stages, the first was against the WAAAGH! Clawcrusha, the second was the Treachery of Kuthru Zarlan, and the final was the unexpected arrival of a Tyranid Hive ship.

WAAAGH! Clawcrusha
While WAAGH! Clawcrusha was fairly small and would not normally be considered a threat it arrived shortly after Kuthru Zarlan had returned the sole survivor of purge of Koros, and the Blood Serpents were crowning their second Chapter Master, Cronagg. Even still despite the Ork WAAAGH! catching the Blood Serpents completely off-guard Clawcrusha quickly got lost trying to navigate the maze that is Astoran's tunnel network, allowing the Blood Serpents to out flank, and over run the Orks with minimal casualties. WAAAGH! Clawcrusha would not even have been worthy of note if it wasn't for the exceptionally high number of Blood Serpents that fell to the Black Rage during the fight.

The Battle for Baal (999.M41)
As the Hive Fleet Leviathan launched an assault on Baal all of the Blood Angel successors went to Baal to defend the home of Sanguinius, the Blood Serpents were no exception. During the battle the entire chapter was stationed on the planet, not the moons, and largely fought in the battle for Arx Angelicum with two major exceptions.

The first exception was Captain Sendran, and the 9th companies last stand. The Destructors stood defiant at an external fortress, holding back a hoard of Tyranids on the walls of a series of bastions, with Drop Pods from multiple chapters used as additional blockage. Expecting to die within an hour, but they held out almost until Guilliman arrived with Captain Sendran falling as a Hive Tyrant crashed through the lines tearing the last of the Devastators to pieces before Sendran charged forwards ramming his Relic Blade into the heart of the Hive Tyrant, bringing down the beast, however as it went down the beast wrapped its monstrous lash whip around his neck choking Sendran out while he struggled in vain to break free. Captain Sendran’s story would not end there for though he was mortally by the beast and the Tyranid hoard rushed over him in an attempt to break Guilliman’s army Sendran survived long enough to be entombed into a dreadnought and keep leading the destructors into battle.

The other exception was Captain Skyrog and the 8th Company. While the Sky Serpents started the battle defending the Arx Angelicum before Asterog seeing an opportunity to both weaken the Tyranids, and remove Skyrog. Asterog sent Skyrog deep into the Tyranid lines to the landing points of their spores. However, Skyrog proved that he would not be so easily beaten as despite him losing all of his company, and being assaulted by multiple monstrosities, including a hulking Hierophant Bio-Titan, Skyrog came out of the fight victorious, standing over a mountain of Tyranid corpses. Despite it looking as if Skyrog had multiple mortal wounds across his body, and his armour being almost completely destroyed upon the arrival of Guilliman, and the other reinforcements arrived at his position Skyrog was still fighting strong.

The Basilisk War (000.M42-present)
The Hive Fleet Basilisk is a Tyranid Hive Fleet invading the galaxy through the Segmentum Obscurus. Its strange path through the galaxy completely defying typical Tyranid tactics, just floating past viable targets, only to return and devour them later. This strange tactic has forced the defenders of the sector to constantly be on the move in an attempt to fortify the entire Segmentum.

The Blood Serpents constantly have a couple companies spread out across the Segmentum to defend against the Hive Fleet. Additionally, the Sky Serpents are almost constantly on the move trying to take the fight to the Hive Fleet, usually resulting in the death of most of the company whenever a fight occurs resulting in Skyrog returning to Astoran to recruit more men into his company.

Chapter Organization
The Arch Company: While not technically a company the Arch Company it is comprised of the most elite of the chapter. Containing the Chapter Master, and highest ranked members of each of the auxiliaries, along with Honour Guard.

1st Company: The majority of the chapters veterans lie in this company and as such it is the most powerful company in the Chapter.

2nd Company: The Slitherers battle company prefers a slow advance on foot while they destroy the enemy with Plasma weaponry.

3rd Company: The tank riding brethren of the chapter, the 3rd company goes into every battle mounted inside their trusted vehicles.

4th Company: The Drop Pod company, they arrive on every planet in a devastating landing destroying a key enemy stronghold and then holding it while the rest of the army arrives.

5th Company: The War company, a company dedicated to rushing the foe and ripping them apart in brutal combat.

6th Company: The Tactical company goes to war with precision, they suffer the least casualties per battle as they steadily advance into their enemy eliminating targets with tactical precision.

7th Company: The Blood Scars train in the “Scar” a massive canyon on the surface of Astoran, only the best bikers in the Blood Serpents can make it through fast enough to become a Blood Scar.

8th Company: Skyrog's Sky Serpents are the most reckless company in the chapter, and the most loyal to their Captain, going so far as to sacrifice themselves, or best friends to Skyrog’s axe if they believe they might have fallen to the Green Rage, and as such is the only company with no members having fallen to the Green Rage.

9th Company: The Destructors unlike the rest of the chapter mostly prefer to stay back and shoot at their foes with heavy weapons rather than rush forward into the combat.

10th Company: The trainees of the chapter are collected into the Scout company where they provide recon and sniper support to the other companies during a battle.

X Company: Unlike most of the Blood Angels' Successor Chapters, the Death Company is a literal company, this is because the rate at which the Blood Serpents fall to the Green Rage would be unsustainable if they followed the typical style of killing off any survivors after the battle.

Primaris Company: Also unlike the most Chapters the Blood Serpents have an entire company holding their Primarus Marines. This was an attempt of Asterog to tame Skyrog’s furry against the addition of a potential threat to the chapter.

The Codex Serpenta
The Codex Serpenta was started by Asterog after becoming Chapter Master, but before Astoran was yanked into the 41st Millennium. It was created as a response to Kuthru Zarlan’s treachery, Asterog took all of the auxiliaries of the chapter, and implemented them into the nine primary companies (1st through 9th). Additionally, he reworked the structure of the chapter's companies entirely resulting in a spread of the Veterans throughout the other chapters. Finally, this rendition of the Codex Serpenta changed the succession so that the most senior Captain became Chapter Master in the event of an empty Chapter Master position rather than the 1st Captain.

Order of Battle (First Iteration)
This version of the Codex would soon be slightly changed as Skyrog refused to allow Chaplains into his company, and replaced them with his own creation a Demi-Captain, who would fill a similar role to the Chaplain as a Spiritual Leader, however reported directly to him.

The 10 companies were restructured as follows:

This form of the chapter worked well enough until 936.M41 when the Green Rage emerged, it became apparent to Asterog that the current plan of just following the typical Blood Angels Successor plan of using the Death Company for a few battles then executing them was both unsustainable, and not the optimal use, due to their increased knowledge. From this he created a new company, the X Company which would be comprised entirely of Death Company and have the sergeants of all squads be replaced with members of the Death Company. Skyrog however vehemently fought against merely allowing the Death Company to survive, let alone allow them to lead any thing.

However, Asterog realised that the Death Company would be invaluable to the chapter, so he wrote the 1st Amendment to the Codex Serpenta, The Death Company Amendment, this created a new company comprised of Demi-Squads of death company marines which could be combined to form greater squads. The 1st Amendment also created a new position, the Arch Captain, whose roll is to assist the Chapter Master, and will take the roll of Chapter Master in the event of the Chapter Master’s death.

Order of Battle (Post-Battle of Baal)
After the Battle for Baal, the Indomitus Crusade, Primarch Guilliman's reform of the Codex Astartes, and the introduction of the Primaris Space Marines, Asterog realised that a 2nd Amendment was required to the Codex Serpenta, the Primaris Amendment. This Amendment was intended to implement the Primaris Marines into the Chapter much like the other Chapters. However, Skyrog not trusting Guilliman and his creations the Primaris Marines refused to allow yet more intruders into the companies of the Blood Serpents. In response to this, and not wanting to annoy the newly returned Primarch, Asterog created a new company the Primaris company to hold the Primaris contingent, additionally, the 2nd Amendment introduced the Lieutenants to every company to follow the lead of Guilliman's Codex Astartes reforms. The Blood Serpents were reorganised thusly:

Asterog
While working in the Scout Company Asterog was mining out some of the deeper tunnels of Astoran he found a piece of Astoranium, which he would go on to unknowingly use to defeat the Hive Tyrant during the battle for Astoran. Having seen the value of this compound he would go on to devote more resources to finding more of the rare compound.

Asterog is the Chapter Master of the Blood Serpents during the M41. He was responsible for the rebirth of the Blood Serpents after the Fall as he went against the order of the Inquisition to grab thousands of healthy human males to rebuilt the Blood Serpents. He then wrote the Codex Serpenta, and its revisions, in an attempt to prevent a future treachery like Kuthru Zarlan's by centralizing the auxiliary divisions into the companies.

While his restructuring of the Codex Astartes into the Codex Serpenta was no small feat his combat prowess is still extensive. During the Battle for Astoran he survived the battle, even defeating the monstrous Hive Tyrant that had lain the previous Chapter Master and two Captains, with the aid of his Astoranium stone. Additionally, he fought long and hard defending the Arx Arngelicum holding back the hoard of Tyranids along side his chapter, and the rest of the Blood Angel Successors.

Skyrog
Skyrog is 8th Company Captain during M41. He has a complete hatred of the Black Rage, the Green Rage, and Chaplains after Kuthru Zarlan's treachery. In the beginning of his reign as Captain of the Sky Serpents Asterog would repeatedly assign Chaplains to the 8th company before Skyrog decapitated them with his Axe that would later become known as The Rage's End. Asterog quickly realized that it was a waste for him to keep sending Skyrog chaplains so he stopped and let Skyrog do as he wished.

Then when the Green Rage emerged Skyrog sought to have all members purged, while Asterog deigned his request Skyrog still executed any members of his company who fell to the Green Rage. Around this time Skyrog started cultivating the Cult of Skyrog within his company. The Cult of Skyrog would quickly take over the entire company and they fanatically worship Skyrog, sacrificing their own lives to protect him, and even going so far as to bring themselves, or their friends to him if they believe that they have fallen to the Green Rage.

During the Battle for Baal as Skyrog fought the Tyranids he unleashed his full fury giving himself over fully to both the Black Rage, and the Red Thirst massively increasing his power which is what allowed him the strength to defeat the Hierophant after it was hit by a furry of Melta blasts from the last of his Assault Squads. After the Battle for Baal he held enough of his consciousness to lock himself into his meditation chamber, which he built after looking into the past of Mephiston of the Blood Angels, for ten days until he had overcome the twin curses of Sanguinius for a time.

Salsain
Salsain is the 1st Chapter Master of the Blood Serpents. Upon becoming an Astartes and leaving his sarcophagi Salsain had discovered that he had grown wings, the other newly birthed Astartes believed that this was a sign from Sanguinius that Salsain should lead the chapter. Approximately fifty years before the Battle for Astoran he lead a portion of the Chapter to combat a Khornate cult on Koros near Astoran. Shortly after the Blood Serpents arrival the cult opened a Warp Portal and hundreds of Khorne Daemons spewed forth quickly overwhelming the Blood Serpents, however Salsain stood strong and slowly fought his way through the daemons cutting down the cult, then shutting down the portal. However, Khorne was amused by Salsain's determination and Skill, so he took the Chapter Master to fight eternally in his Blood Games, only occasionally letting the Winged Warrior out to fight along side his former chapter before taking him back to continue fighting.

Giegoth
About 50 years before the Fall Captain Giegoth of the 5th company was fighting in a campaign along side the Space Wolves against some Drukhari towards the end of the campaign as the Blood Serpents, and Space Wolves were converging on the last of the Drukhari, and the xenos filth unleashed their animals that they had captured, among them was a giant serpent that lashed out cutting down Astartes, and Drukhari alike, the creature was carving its way through the Imperial lines when Giegoth ran at the beast ramming his lightning claw into it repeatedly and blasting it with his boltgun after three minutes of constant fighting the beast was killed, but the acid in its blood had ruined his armor, and Lightning Claw. The Space Wolf Lord recognizing the might shown off by Geigoth in killing the beast gave him a pair of special rewards, a set of Runic Armor, and a Wolf Claw to replace his lost armor, and weapon. However, upon arriving back on Astoran, a small warp storm removed him from his ship and kept him in the warp. To this day Giegoth remains in the warp, appearing occasionally to aid the Blood Serpents, before being yanked back into the warp.

Chapter Colours
Like their genetic forebears, the Blood Serpents primarily paint their battle-plate blood red. Unlike the Blood Angels, they use a Roman numeral to designate squad (command squad uses a C) painted in the Company's color on the right shoulder to identify where the Battle Brother belongs.

Company Colours

 * 1st: Gold
 * 2nd: Black
 * 3rd: Purple
 * 4th: Grey
 * 5th: Orange
 * 6th: Silver
 * 7th: White
 * 8th: Yellow
 * 9th: Blue
 * 10th: Brown
 * Primaris: Green for Battle Brothers, Red for Sergeants

Heraldry of the Host
Also, like the Blood Angels, the Chapter utilizes a similar heraldic system, however instead of the squad type being represented their helmets allows them to recognize what type of weapon any given battle-brother carries at a glance. The advantages of such swift recognition amid the chaos of the battlefield is obvious. More than this, however, the Blood Serpents revere their heraldry, and bear these markings and badges with pride.

Helm Designations
Instead of using just the standard Codex-oriented symbols to show a unit's role or helmet colour to denote rank, the Blood Serpents' helmets reflect their roll within their squad:

Line Formations

 * Special Weapons: Yellow Helmet.
 * Heavy Weapons: Blue Helmet.
 * Company Champions: Gold Helmet.
 * Sanguinary Novitiates: White Helmet.

Specialists

 * Green Rage Brethren - Members of the Blood Serpents who have fallen to the Green Rage are designated by fully painted green battle-plate with red X's similar to the Blood Angels Death Company.
 * Chaplains - Wear full black coloured battle-plate with a white helmet (usually a skull).
 * Librarians - Wear full blue coloured battle-plate.
 * Sanguinary Priests - Wear full white coloured battle-plate.
 * Chapter Master, Arch Captain, Sanguinary Guard & Arch Guard: - Clad in gold coloured battle-plate.

Chapter Badge
The Blood Serpents' Chapter badge is a stylised white coloured serpent, coiled and ready to strike, with a blood drop dripping from one of its fangs.

Chapter Relics
The Blood serpents have a large number of relics, most of which were created before the fall and their origin lost to time. Listed below are some of the more prominent Chapter relics that have appeared in Imperial annals:


 * Sky Serpents Wing - The Sky Serpents Wing was created by Skyrog while Asterog was out collecting people to recreate the Blood Serpents. It is a specialized jump pack that has additional guidance systems to protect its user. It is a large jump pack that has a Gargoyle attached to the back with wings outspread.


 * The Strategeus Helm -


 * Fury of Astoran - A Plasma Pistol that has been masterfully crafted by Forge Master Acropoth before the Fall this weapon has a builtin protector causing it to never explode on its user.


 * The Blade Ultimus -


 * The Archserpent's Edge - A shard of Sanguinius's Blade that got shattered against Warmaster Horus's battle-plate and forged into a new sword. In keeping with Blood Angel tradition one of these swords was given to the Blood Serpents, upon their creation, since then it has been given to the Company Champion of the first company to wield in battle.


 * Storms Wrath - A set of gauntlets designed to hold both a Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield at the same time as a Pair of Lightning Claws, however due to a quirk in its design it can only power one of the two sets of weapons at a time. The origin of the Storms Wrath is unknown as Cronus Prime found it lying around in one of the tunnels of Astoran shortly after being promoted to Captain of the 5th Company.


 * Gauntlet Supreme -


 * Hellfire Primarus -


 * Nipharn - A giant sniper rifle that can pierce even the toughest armor. Wielded by the Captain of the 10th company since before the Fall.


 * The Mace -


 * The Hammer of Astoran -


 * The Blood Bike -
 * The Rages End - The giant two handed axe wielded by Captain Skyrog that he uses to decapitate any of his Sky Serpents that fall to the Green Rage. The axe was originally wielded by the first captain of the 8th company under a different name which has been lost to time.


 * Mortical -

Allies

 * The Red Maidens


 * House Serpenta Questoris Familia

Enemies

 * Hive Fleet Basilisk

By the Blood Serpents
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