Brotherhood of Shadows

"Kill or be killed."

- One of the tenets of the Dark Brotherhood

The Brotherhood of Shadows are a particularly infamous and darkly-famed Space Marine Chapter created during an Unknown Founding and from uncertain lineage. Their infamous reputation for the amount of violence they inflict upon their enemies is horrific, if exceptional.

Chapter History
Not much is known about the history of the Brotherhood of Shadows, their lineage and founding is known to be lost, except for a few legends they accepted to share:

"'The Night Mother gave us her children, but when the child came out of his mother's womb he was clad in an armor full of bones, his eyes were black, his skin was white, and this child was known by the name Listener.' - A Legend in the local tongue of Thanatos translated into High Gothic."

Some Inquisitors believe that this Chapter were created from the forbidden gene-stock of one of the Traitor Legions, hence, why the Chapter is always under investigation for committing alleged crimes against the Emperor - such as genocide and atrocities on a massive scale.

Notable Campaigns
The war of the Listeners (700,M41):A civil broke out between Listener Hel and Torturer chaplain Lukarius,Hel who denied the teachings of the first Listener brought the wrath of Lukarius and other Torturer Chaplains so Lukarius gathered the ones who were loyal to him and challenged Hel,after a long fight Lukarius was victorious and banned Hel and his followers.This was also the when the chapter of the Night Children was created to prevent further conflict between Hel and Lukarius.

The genocide (100,M42):A rebellion happened in an hive world,the Brotherhood of Shadows was called to punish the traitors,all the population was executed,the ones who were already dead were considered lucky the ones whi were still alive were impaled to give an exemple.

Thanatos
Thanatos is the Chapter Homeworld of the Brotherhood of Shadows. A feral death world, due to the location and distance of this isolated planet from the system's sun, this world is shrouded in perpetual darkness. The native population of this planet is known to be paler, taller but also skinnier than the average baseline human, making the Astartes of the Chapter recruited from this world, paler and skinnier than most of their fellow transhuman cousins.On Thanatos is the fortress monastery known as the sanctuary,the fortress looks like an ancient gothic cathedral,on the main entrance decorations made of bones seem to represent the fate of those inside.

Chapter Organisation
Recruitement

The Brothers if the chapter are taken from the local population,the aspirant will be given to a Black widow (Serf) the aspirant will be given trials by the Widows which consist of killing targets,if the aspirant succeed he is made into an Astarstes if not he will be cast out.

The Black council

The black council is where the higher autority of the Chapter reunite to lead the chapter,the council reunites the Listener,the Master butcher,the chief of the torturer chaplains and veterans of the chapter

Officer Ranks
Listener (Chapter Master)

Butcher (Apothecary)

Torturer (Chaplain)

Chapter Beliefs
The Brotherhood of Shadows practice a sinister and morose variation of the Imperial Cult, venerating the Emperor as the Imperator Mortifex or 'Lord of Death'. The Chapter's obsession with death borders on the psychological, for they have even taken to wearing the bones of their dead or carrying their fellow battle-brothers' remains in small, scroll-like ossuaries that hang from their belts.

Primarch's Curse: Call of the Grave
The genetic curse within the Chapter's gene-seed manifests differently in the Brotherhood of Shadows Chapter than it does in their fellow coursin Chapters. Often, certain battle-brothers will display suicidal urges and a blatant disregard for overall combat doctrine. These battle-brothers operate independently on the field of battle, and are often employed as efficient shock assault troops and assassins. The Chapter Master will often utilise such afflicted brethren to undertake suicidal Zone Mortalis missions from which they are not expected to return. These battle-brothers will undertake such missions willingly, to rid themselves of the dark visions that plague their every waking moment, and to sell their lives dearly in service to the Imperator Mortifex.

When the Chapter's genetic curse manifests itself in an affected Battle-Brother, it comes on in three stages:


 * Stage 1 (The Spectre of Death): The Battle-Brother starts to see death in everything. He becomes distant and makes little effort to forge new alliances with new squad members, knowing they will soon be in the grave. He becomes more dismissive of death and the praising of the dead, seeing little glory in their sacrifice, only the inevitable end to their duty and another corpse to feed the gods of war. This attitude can grate on those around the Battle- Brother and he suffers with his fellowship when dealing with other soldiers or members of the Adeptus Astartes.
 * Stage 2 (Death's Shadow): The Battle-Brother cannot help but reflect on the worst side of a new development and will endeavour to find the worst aspect of even the most favourable of circumstances. Quite apart from causing friction within his squad, the drawing of focus onto potential problems and unforeseen dangers (regardless of the actual likelihood they will impact on the squad's mission) can cause compromises in command and less than direct tactical judgements.
 * Stage 3 (Call of the Grave): Death is inevitable and the Battle-Brother is already a walking corpse just waiting for the moment when an enemy's blade or bullet ends him. Filled with visions of his own demise, the Battle-Brother begins to act recklessly, accepting that it is his time and there is nothing he can do to prevent it coming. This will not only place him in danger but can endanger his entire squad. The Battle-Brother does not contribute to the squad's cohesion as he fails to adequately aid them in battle. In addition, he tends not to gain the benefit of hiding behind cover, as even when behind barricades and walls he exposes himself to fire with little mind to remaining concealed.

Combat Doctrine
The Brotherhood of Shadows value stealth above all things.Because of this the Brotherhood of Shadows are weak in face to face combat.The Dark Brotherhood are also known for tracking their "prey" for long periods of time only striking when the time is right.Also the way a battle-brother gain rank is by the number of kills they obtain.As this number increases the higher a battle brother rank will be even serving as one of the "Silencers" a squad composed only of veterans,this squad serves the Chapter command known as the "Black council".

Deathwatch Service
It's rare to see a Dark Brother in the Deathwatch but when there is one it means the brother is afflicted with the late stages of the "Call of the Grave". The brothers in the Deathwatch already know they will die.

Notable Members

 * Listener Lukarius: Current chapter master of the Brotherhood, Lukarius want's is chapter to follow the teachings of the first Listener.


 * '''Master Butcher Hades: Chief Apothecarian of the Brotherhood.

Chapter Relics

 * The Armour of Death: A unique Mk VII armour, this ancient relic battle-plate is filled with bones and iconography representing death. This armour also includes the use of the standard Brotherhood of Shadows hooded-helm.

Chapter Colours
The Brotherhood of Shadows wear Black armor with red eyes,they always wear a hood and paint a skull on their mask

Chapter Badge
The chapter badge is a stylised skull with two scythe

Allies

 * Star Phantoms


 * Night Children

Enemies

 * Night Lords: The murderous Night Lords Traitor Legion are known rivals of the Brotherhood of Shadows, as the latter hates everything the former represents. Though both rivals have the same tactics and utilise the same kinds of weapons. The Brotherhood are greatly angered when their detractors insinuate that they are no better than this notorious Traitor Legion of killers. These cold-hearted Heretic Astartes see the irony that the Imperium would utilise such 'monsters' to instill 'order' upon the masses, even though they utilised the very same tactics ten millennia earlier during the Great Crusade, and were damned for such actions. When these two mortal enemies encounter one another, each have fought the other to near-mutual annihilation.

By the Brotherhood of Shadow
"Lukarius is a good leader, where I failed to lead the chapter to glory he exceeded me in every way."

- Chapter Master Hel of the Night Children about Listener Lukarius, Chapter Master of the Brotherhood of Shadows

About the Brotherhood of Shadow
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