Steel Harbingers

The Steel Harbingers are an ancient and venerable Space Marine Chapter created during the 3rd Founding at the dawning of the 32nd Millennium. This Founding took place following the tragic era of the Age of Darkness during the Horus Heresy, the subsequent Great Scouring and the sundering of the Legiones Astartes into separate Chapters. It is unknown with any certainty from whom this Chapter is descended from, but many of their cultural beliefs and propensity for utilising bionics mirrors that of the the stoic and unforgiving Iron Hands, though these Sons of the Gorgon refuse to acknowledge the Steel Harbingers as one of their own.

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 --███████--, 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 --███████-- 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 --███████--, 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. The fledgling Imperium was wrested back from the brink of destruction by those who remained staunchly loyal to the Emperor's vision for humanity. After the death of Horus, those Traitors who had not been slain outright during the Siege of the Imperial Palace fled before the vengeful wrath of the Loyalist forces. Many made good their escape into unexplored space or disappeared into the Eye of Terror or other, lesser-known Warp rifts such as the Maelstrom.

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.

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 Space Marine Legions 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.

The Steel Harbingers protected their small corner of the Galaxy from the ravages of Imperium coming apart at the seams. And their they stayed until a new age had dawned in which they would be accepted as a chapter of Imperium. Fortress Xisimali was garrisoned by Steel Harbingers, the sons of the great Primarch --███████-- and whose expertise in siegecraft was unparalleled. In what is now a largely forgotten episode of the Imperium's history, while many worlds of these far-flung territories were deemed not valuable enough to offer any kind of coordinated resistance or threat -- which at least in the case of the Xisimali would prove to be a gross miscalculation.

A fleet of Night Lords and several other bands of traitors who had gathered together fleeing the Scouring of the Loyalists retreated to the far corners of the Galaxy. When they came upon the world of Xisimali which was inhabited by Steel Harbingers they thought they had came to a refuge to rebuild. But instead they found that the Steel Harbingers did not believe the wild and dark Night Lords nor any of the others for they had no Iron Warriors among them. In response the Night Lords began a campaign of terror and attack on the home of the Steel Harbingers. This began a protracted siege as the garrison defended themselves from the fleet of traitors.

It was the Ultramarines, supported by the Cruisers of their Battlefleet, that broke the siege of Xisimali; their arrival came just as the last of the Steel Harbingers were gathering for a final stand. Many Ultramarines and Steel Harbingers died in breaking the siege. The survivors were given opportunity to rebuild and were called upon later after much deliberation they would be watched even though they had proven loyal to the Emperor.

Hidden in a Founding
The 3rd Founding of the Space Marines occurred during the first year of the 32nd Millennium, 001.M32. The 3rd Founding was brought forth by Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists Space Marine Chapter, to the High Lords of Terra. This Founding included two Successor Chapters created from the gene-seed of the Imperial Fists and the Ultramarines, respectively -- both highly aggressive Chapters. During this time the Steel Harbingers were slipped in as allegedly Sons of Gorgon though the Chapter themselves never claimed a genetic fore-bearer.

Inquisitional Deal Date Unknown
Some time after founding the Steel Harbingers were approached by the Ordo Originatus. This Ordo is dedicated to unravelling ten millennia of myths, exaggerations and lies. This is a difficult task, raised to impossibility due to the opposing work of the Ordo Redactus. As a third founding Chapter of repute of having great intelligence and a vast bank of knowledge stored in their Fortress, a deal was struck. For Secrets of the Past the Chapter would have help of the Inquisition against Scrutiny as well as resources the relationship with the Inquisition would provide.

Fortress-Monastery
The planet of Xisimali is already a frozen fortress but the strongest fortifications are that of the Steel Harbingers. Built during the Great Crusade, the fortress-citadel of the mighty Steel Harbingers, which is known by the same name is vast beyond imagining, a single peak rears up on the horizon, as if the core of the world of Xisimali had been shoved through its mantle into a terrifying, unmatched pinnacle, a conical mountain-mass soaring up into the darkening sky. Its flanks are sheer and snow-clad on jagged shelves of rock, glossy with ancient, undisturbed ice. In every direction, lesser summits crowd the view, and is ringed with high walls as it was built into the heart of a mountain that has steel like ice over reinforced areas, the monastery comprises dozens of ramparts, watchtowers and bastions. Every entrance is sealed with heavy adamantium, barred by ancient and complex locks, often keyed to Steel Harbinger Brethren. The monastery also incorporates shimmering void shields, domes of power enveloping the entire structure to ward off orbital bombardments or assaults from Titans. Covering every entrance and approach, macro-cannon turrets, heavy bolter bunkers and missile batteries scan the horizon for foes, ready to unleash their deadly ordnance at a second's notice. In addition to thick walls and gates, the Steel Harbingers created other kinds of defenses to further discourage assault. These consist of grav-mine nets, vortex-pits, and electro-pylons, each one capable of killing a multitude of enemy squads. Dark shafts cut miles into the mountainside conceal potent defense lasers that are capable of blasting apart even the most heavily armored spacecraft. These huge weapons are as ancient as the Chapter itself, the geothermal reactors that power them testament to the precious technology from the distant past.

The colossal gates of Adamantium, granite and Ceramite bristles with linked Bolter turrets, rocket-launchers and static Plasma Cannons. The Twin Plasma Obliterators that sit on either side of the main gates are the ultimate expression of plasma weaponry, an apocalyptically powerful weapon capable of unleashing the wrath of a sun's heart onto the battlefield. This cannon is so large that it requires a bastion-sized weapons platform just to hold it. The firepower collected there is vast, the kind of arsenal more suited to an Imperial Navy Battle Group than a land-bound citadel including a single neutron energy beam emitted by a Neutron Laser Projector's ray collimator is capable of rupturing enemy armour on a molecular level, often resulting in the target vehicle being vaporised in a massive explosion. Only the most heavily armoured super-heavy tanks and Titan-scale vehicles can hope to survive the forces unleashed by this weapon. Even if the target is not destroyed outright by the initial beam, the neutron energy of the attack will overwhelm and disable the target vehicle's electronics and systems temporarily with a storm of electromagnetic radiation. Across the entire structure stretches the citadel's Void Shields, glistening faintly as the oblique sunlight slants through clouds of burning engine oil. Far up near the very peak of Xisimali are located the Docking Platforms where the Chapter's many aircraft can take off and land. Reaching just beyond Xisimali's atmosphere, Xisimali's docking platforms can even service the Chapter's warships. Xisimali is vast beyond comprehension and a huge network of tunnels, shafts and chambers riddled the highest levels of the peak.

Entire levels of the fortress-monastery is given over to the forging of weapons and the maintenance of the Chapter’s war machines. This is the domain of the Sculptors. As secretive as their Adeptus Mechanicus brothers, they work their rituals and prayers behind sealed doors, coaxing machine spirits to life or constructing new ordnance for their battle-brothers. This is especially true of weapons unique to the Steel Harbingers, such as relic blades, specialized bolter rounds and ancient suits of armor. These weapons are created and maintained in the forges of the fortress-monastery, the Sculptors and servitor workers casting gun casings, chain blades and ceramite plates. To house the war materiel of the Chapter huge shielded silos are built into its central recesses. Protected from attack by metres of adamantium, ferrocrete, null shields to dampen energy weapons and reactive blast doors, they are always piled high with crates of shells, rounds and missiles. Racks of boltguns, meltaguns, and heavier weapons line the walls, each one wrapped in the purity seals of the Master of the Forge, attesting to its blessed craftsmanship. Connecting these silos to the rest of the fortress, a network of shell-hoists and ammo-conveyors ring the central chambers. Legless, sightless servitors hang suspended over the moving platforms and belts, their wizened fingers sorting rounds and shells by size and shape. Thus, from ammo-shrines throughout the monastery, a battle-brother can reload his boltgun or summon a weapon with which to fight any would-be invader. Hundreds of metres down, in the huge cavern spanned by the bridge, is a vision of Hel. Gigantic, hulking furnaces, each the height of a Warlord-class Titan and twice as wide, throw off clouds of blood-red light. Channels of heat-blackened stone carry rivers of fire from one inferno to the next, passing through wheels of iron and plunging pistons. The silhouettes of Servitor-Thralls, their wire-studded spines curled over from hunching, creep between the colossal machinery, checking flickering pict-readouts and tending brass-lined banks of Cogitators. The vast space hums with a low, rumbling activity. Along clattering conveyor belts amid the forges are the embryonic shells of vehicle plating, artillery barrels, even body armour parts. And then there are the hammers. They are borne by rows of muscle-enhanced, metal-ribbed, faceless Servitors chained to their Adamantium anvils by segmented nerve-conduits, endlessly working. There are ranks upon ranks of them, more machine than human, moulded into mindless golems by the uncaring arts of the fleshmakers. They are the perfect workers: tireless, uncomplaining, hugely strong, content to hammer away in the pits of fire until death from the aging or breakdown of their organic components give them a final release.

Next to the forges and armouries, the Apothecarion is amongst the most well defended parts of a fortress-monastery. This is where the Apothecaries safeguard the Chapter's genetic heritage and tend to its injured Space Marines. The Librarius is the central core of all the Chapter's history and lore. Filled with ancient tombs and sacred scrolls, every piece of text ever laid down by the Steel Harbingers or relevant to its existence is housed within. Overseen by the Librarians, it is a silent and holy place of whispered secrets and hidden truths. Few brethren are permitted access to the Librarius, its reserve of knowledge restricted to the Chapter Master and his advisors. At the deepest levels of Xisimali, lay the massive geothermal generators which provide the great citadel with all of the power required for its operations. This includes the blazing capillaries of magma which bring superheated rock up from the mantle of Xisimali to heat the water that provides the fortress' gigantic steam turbines with their motive force. This area of the fortress-monastery is maintained by a legion of Chapter thralls who are sometimes guided in their endeavours by the arcane technomancy of the Sculptors. of Xisimali represented the very bowels of the mountain fortress. It is a universe of stone marked by the increasing heat radiated by the geothermal reactors that provide Xisimali with its power and by the ancient Armouries and hidden vaults of the Chapter where the Steel Harbingers kept their greatest secrets -- and their honoured dead.

Notable Campaigns

 * Laconia Rebellion (942.M41) - The Laconia System is on what becomes the Sector's boarder with the Sautekh Dynasty. For the 1,200 years leading up to 942.M41, the Hive World of Laconia Tertius underwent a Civil War against Secessionist forces, with the inhabitants of Laconia Secundus intervening on the Loyalist side. In 942.M41, it was revealed that Laconia Secundus had once been home to a small outpost of the ancient Necron Empire.  At that time, the Sautekh Dynasty dispatched a force to reclaim the world, as part of their broader onslaught against the Imperium.  Two Companies of the Steel Harbingers Space Marines Chapter were deployed to repel the assualt, but feared they would arrive to late. What the Steel Harbingers found when they arrived was that the Secundai, who had become heavily militarized during the Laconian Civil War, had managed to resist the Sautekh assault, all but crushing the small Necron force while suffering only reasonable casualties. The Astartes' Breathren Lord, thinking to the future, launched his full force against the secessionists on Laconia Tertius.  In weeks, his forces managed to break a stalemate which had held for over a millennia. With the World now back under Imperial control, the Steel Harbingers ordered the people of Laconia Tertius to aid the Secondai in turning Laconia Secundus into an impenetrable Fortress World.  In the decades which would follow, the Secundai would fight off several more Necron assaults, leaving the system as one of the few bastions between the Sautekh Dynasty and the vulnerable interior of the Heimdall Sector.


 * The Imperial Purgation of the Tengu’s Watchman (963.M41) - The Purgation of the Tengu’s Watchman was one of several Imperial Campaigns along the Tau boarder systems in the centuries between the Second and Third Sphere Expansion. Tengu’s Watchman was one of those worlds on the western edge of the Damocles Gulf whose Imperial Governors had cut selfish deals with the Xenos, turning their citizens and their worlds over to the Tau Empire without a fight.

Loyalist forces arrived to reclaim the system in 963.M41, spearheaded by the Astartes of the Steel Harbingers Chapter, but including both a Battlegroup of the Imperial Navy, an Imperial Guard Armygroup, and of course, representatives of the Holy Inquisition. While Brethren Lord Slavicus Ven led his 3rd Company, known as the Precursors, and the Navy in assaulting the Air Caste Orbital Platforms, Lord General Horatio Couture led the 35th Armygroup to assault the planet.

While outlying settlements were quickly reclaimed, the substatintail defenses of the Fire Caste in and around the Capital City of Takane set the Imperial Guard on the backfoot. In addition to an seemingly unbreachable perimeter, and a strong mobile reserve, the Tau had achieved effective local air superiority through the use of mobile Sky Ray missile platforms and a seemingly limitless supply of aerial drones. While the Steel Harbingers could still, in theory, breach the Tau parameter using orbital drop pods, there was no guarantee that they could overcome the Tau defenders without their heavy equipment.

As Lord Ven and Lord General Couture prepared to commit to a massed frontal assault, using the Guard Regiments to soak up damage while the Astartes brought their mighty siege engines into position, one of Couture’s Colonel’s spoke up. Colonel Hung Tran of the 11th Laconian Riverine Raiders pointed out that there was a swamp on the eastrn side of Takane which led right into the enemy’s soft underbelly. The Yokai Swamp, had been an all but impassible wetland to begin with, but it was now also inhabited by the Tau’s Kroot allies, and in great numbers. None of the other Officers present felt that any force could pass such an obstacle, but Tran swore that if the Astartes could keep the Kroot off of them, the Riverine Raiders would transport their vehicles through the swamp.

That night, as heavy artillery from Lord General Couture’s lines seemingly presaged a ground assault, the Harbinger's blades began to reap a silent harvest from the Kroot. Meanwhile, using converted Chimera APCs, what local rivercraft they could find, and even buoyant ration crates, the 11th River Raiders managed to move almost 200 tons of equipment through an all but untraversable swamp in under five hours. As dawn broke in blood red upon the City, the Emperor’s angels of death strode forth into Takane, leading Predator Tanks and Hellfire Dreadnaughts. While the Fire Caste reacted quickly and fought ferociously, it was already too late.

While Lord Ven led the bulk of his force against the City Center, two squads, accombpanied by the exhausted Laconians, assaulted the defensive perimeter from behind. With the Tau distracted, Lord General Couture brought the rest of the Armygroup against the City, overwhelming the defenders and following in the Astartes’s wake. While the Fire Caste fought on, trying to buy time for their Ethereal overlord to escape, Slavicus Ven personally managed to overtake and slay the Xeno Leader. While fighting would continue for several days, the death of the Ethereal seemed to break the spirit of the Tau. The world was soon declared compliant, and its people handed over to the Inquisition to be put to the question.

Chapter Organisation
With the adoption of the Codex, the 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 the Chapters founded during the second founding, 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.

Chapter Recruitment
On Xisimali, A small planet almost entirely covered in snow and ice. Only at the height of summer do temperatures rise above freezing. Both the northern and southern hemispheres experience harsh winters, with cold nights that can last for weeks or months at a time depending on latitude. The atmosphere is composed mostly of nitrogen and oxygen, but high levels of methane and carbon dioxide make it lethal to humans. Classified as a Death World now, it was a bustling Fortress world before it was brought into compliance by use of newly discovered and untested weapons used by the Cult Mechanicum. The survivors descendants and those of the occupying forces that now lived in the tunnels and ruins of the frozen fortresses fight for limited resources. Those that survive the constant wars are sometimes chosen to travel to the Fortress of the Steel Harbingers. Their Aspirants are put through a series of trials until they become a true inheritor of the heritage of Iron and Steel.

Chapter Beliefs
The Steel Harbingers are resolute in their beliefs that the Emperor thoroughly used their Legion to fight the bloodiest and most brutal battles of the "Great Crusade". They care little for trophies and embellishments, instead preferring to prove their strength and prowess through acts of Occupation. The Great Shame they learned of their Genetic Fore-bearers weighs heavily on their beliefs. The Steel Harbingers do not accept mutation among their ranks as willingly, instead choosing to remove the corrupted limbs and replace them with powerful, infallible cybernetics.

The Steel Harbinger Chapter has become increasingly reclusive and hostile towards outside interference. Though the Inquisition continually investigates the Steel Harbingers, the Chapter bears such scrutiny with unconcealed disdain. Strangely, the Inquisition does not appear very concerned with the Steel Harbingers Chapter's many deviations from standard Adeptus Astartes and Imperial practice.

The Chapter boasts a great number of armored vehicles and Dreadnoughts -- so many, in fact, that each company maintains its own revered armoury of battle tanks and Centurion Warsuits. Each one of the Steel Harbinger Brethren consider it a great honour to crew one of their Chapter's venerated war machines and interface directly with their vehicles through bionic implants, their heart beat becoming the thrum of powerful engines and their war cries the roar of heavy gunfire.

At every level the Steel Harbingers Chapter was formidably provisioned in arms and wargear, from operational suits of Tactical Dreadnought Armour of every pattern to munitions reserves estimated to exceed that of several other Chapters combined. The technical aptitude of each Steel Harbinger was also formidable, furthering the functionality and customization of their personal panoply of war.

Librarians are considered just above outsiders and are not fully trusted in the Steel Harbingers. This is due to an innate mistrust of mutation and mutants. Times in their history the deadly planet and the tunnels underneath has produced many a mutant. Being a mutant means to cut off the mutation and replace it with cybernetics if possible. Librarians can not do so and have proven too useful as a weapon but have never fully integrated with the rest of the Chapter.

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.

Thanks to long-standing ties to elements of the Mechanicum and the technological aptitude displayed by many in their number, the Steel Harbingers possessed access to numerous cybernetic implant systems seldom seen outside the Machine Cult, and they were also able to widely reproduce and maintain large stockpiles of Grav-weapons, Conversion Beamer and Laser Destroyer systems, and other arcane and esoteric machineries of death.

Of singular note within the Steel Harbingers was the range, number and diversity of the armoured vehicle and artillery support assets fielded by them. These were known to include the full breadth of general patterns and designs operated across the Imperium by the Legiones Astartes, with tactical emphasis placed on heavy units such as the Land Raider and super-heavy war machines such as the Typhon, Stormblade and Mastodon.

Once a planet has been secured few Brethren are detached to fortify the world against further assault. This would become the core of a security force that is no longer considered apart of active roles with the Chapter and their numbers are no longer counted. These Brethren become apart of an inactive reserve network for the planets that fall under the protection of Steel Harbingers.

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.

The Steel Harbingers possess the Mucranoid organ which allows a Space Marine to survive extremes of heat by secreting a waxy protein substance, similar to mucus, through their pores to seal their skin but for some reason theirs does not work like it is suppose to. Space Marines are cocooned in this way before they enter suspended animation, and the process can even protect them from the harshness of the vacuum and other extremes of temperature, particularly deeply frigid environments. The Steel Harbingers Mucranoid doesn't protect them from extreme heat and they must rely on their armor to provide enough of an barrier.

Documentary evidence attests that the Steel Harbinger gene-seed showed an above-average adaptability and rates of implant rejection were notably low, particularly in comparison with difficulties in large-scale implantation encountered with other Progenoid types, which would not be eliminated until the acquisition of the gene-labs of Luna. This advantage meant that the Steel Harbingers' fighting strength was built rapidly, and could be maintained even while facing continual attrition. The 10th Company Neophytes contained large numbers to be ready to fill in the ranks as brethren were assigned to garrison duty or long term detachments as well to the usual losses in battle.

Notable Members

 * Brethren Lord Slavicus Ven - Commander of the Precursors has led his Company in honorable combat many times. His Company especially has been assigned to aid nearby sector known as Heimdall and to keep an eye on the Fortresses to be built up around the Sector and neighboring ones to contain the Tyranid and Necron Menance.

Chapter Fleet
The Steel Harbingers possess a mighty Chapter fleet composed of no less than 8 Strike Cruisers and at least two Battle Barges.

Chapter Relics

 * Praedo de Obterere (Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer) - Relic Tank of the Steel Harbingers.

Deathwatch Service
The Steel Harbingers send those brethren to the Long Vigil of the Deathwatch as a way to gain knowledge of the Xeno threats but also as a way to further their net of knowledge to be gathered in their grand fortress. Any brethren serving the Death Watch is stricken from the rolls until they return and are not counted for the numbers of Steel Harbingers. Long detached duty requires that in the minds of the Steel Harbinger leadership.

Chapter Colors
Cold Dark Cobalt trimmed with Dark Steel, This Chapter's Colors exemplify their cold determination and dark origins in which they still acknowledge.

Chapter Badge
The Chapter's badge is that of an iron mask formed into a shape of a skull with cross-hairs in one eye. Upon seeing this symbol, few could doubt the intent and grim determination of this stalwart Chapter.

Astra Militarum

 * The Laconian Riverine Raiders - These Imperial Guard Regiments are raised on Laconia Tertius, following the conclusion of their civil war. They have their roots in the first assault forces which would cross the toxic tidal-swamps, hoping to survive long enough to breach a rebel Hive and open a new front in the war.  They are excellent brown water combatants, ready to bring the God Emperor's wrath anywhere there is 75 millimeters of water, and enough gravity to hold it in place.


 * The Secundai Speartip - These Astra Militarum Regiments are comprised of Heavy Mechanized Infantry. They deploy in Chimera APC supported by Hellhound flame-tanks. They make for excellent assault troops, but have been accused of not caring about friendly civilian casualties.  In the Secundai's defense, they don't.

Eldar Corsair Raiders
Eldar Corsairs are those Eldar Outcasts who have deliberately chosen to make their living by raiding the commerce of the other star-faring intelligent races of the Milky Way Galaxy, particularly the shipping of the Imperium of Man.

Drukhari Raiders
The Dark Eldar are mainly pirates and slavers who prey on targets across the galaxy to feed their unholy appetites for other sentient beings' souls, a terrible desire called the Thirst, though they are sometimes used as mercenaries by other species. This has lead to many conflicts with the Steel Harbingers.

Night Lords
The Steel Harbingers hate the Night Lords. The Harbingers fervently believe that their brutal methods, though cruel and extreme, are necessary. Their methods are merely a tool - a cold calculated means to an end. Whereas the Night Lords' proclivities for murder and destruction are employed simply for the sick pleasure of creating terror on a massive scale. On the rare occasion when these two diametrically opposed forces have met - both darkly-famed in their own right for being savage and unyielding - they have fought each other to near-mutual annihilation.

Merciless
The Merciless are a large splinter warband of the merciless and unforgiving Iron Warriors Traitor Legion. Dedicated to Chaos Undivided, they were founded and commanded by the infamous Warsmith Torian, the 'Iron Butcher' of Xiollon II. Known to the Steel Harbingers as fallen brethren so seek to counter this warband and any other fallen Iron Warriors where ever they are encountered.

By the Chapter
"My gaze is sharp, My weapon is raised. My vigil is eternal, My enemies death assured. For War am I forged, For War I am destined. My position at your side, Oh Emperor, eternally assured."

- Litany of the Steel Harbingers

About Chapter
Feel free to add your own "That night the God Emperor's fist came down upon Bui Hive There was fire, ash, and sounds like the world was ending The next day, we looked to see where the traitors had held against our fathers for 800 years And there was nothing, nothing but ruins and death"

- Corpral Tina Nguyen, Laconia Tertius PDF, describing the Liberation of Bui Hive by the Steel Harbingers

Acknowledgements
Thanks to the Lost Ithacan for Battles that the Steel Harbingers engage in.