Blood Serpents

"We will fight. We will die. But the Blood Serpents will endure. We always endure. As long as one of us remains we will rebuild. During the Fall we were almost destroyed, but we survived, we will always survive. Nothing will end the Blood Serpents."
 * — Lord Commander Asterog, Chapter Master of the 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 the High Lords of Terra chose to build the Chapter there.

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! Klawcrusha attacks the Blood Serpents' home world of Astoran. Though the Orks were swiftly brought down by the might of the chapter, a large portion, approximately a sixth, 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 a third 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, on the Apothicron, 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.

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.

When Salsain arrived on Koros the cult immediately started summoning in a hoard of Blood Letters, and other Khorne Daemons. The Blood Serpents realized that they needed to act fast to shut down the portal quickly, before the Daemons overran the world. So Salsain led his forces in a straight up assault toward the portal, in a more reckless move then he normally would.

Salsain saw a massive Blood Thirster swooping in so he took off and engaged it in one on one combat, after a while he managed to bring down the Daemon, however most of the company was already dead, he only saw a couple of his marines left, with no sign of Captain Kolan, or High Chaplain Kuthru Zarlan, so Salsain flew at the portal where most of the cult was, he then landed and started cutting down the cultists, then tearing into the portal.

After the portal was down the Daemons link weakened, Salsain carved his way through the Daemons, and due to the lack of blood being spilled the Daemons slowly pored back into the warp. However, Khorne recognized that Salsain was an excellent warrior, so he grabbed Salsain, and took him into the warp.

The Battle for Astoran (583-584.M36)
The Battle for Astoran was fought in three stages, the first was against the WAAAGH! Klawcrusha, the second was the Treachery of Kuthru Zarlan, and the final was the unexpected arrival of a Tyranid Hive ship.

WAAAGH! Klawcrusha
While WAAAGH! Klawcrusha 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 Klawcrusha 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! Klawcrusha 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.

Treachery of Kuthru Zarlan
Shortly after the attack of WAAAGH! Clawchrusha High Chaplain Kuthru Zarlan gathered up the Death Company, telling the rest of the Chapter that he was preparing to kill them, as is Blood Angel tradition. However, Kuthru had fallen to Khorne took advantage of the high number of Death Company, and his role as leader of them to try and kill off the chapter, and create a new Cult to Khorne on Astoran.

Kuthru Zarlan convinced the Death Company that the Blood Serpents were the enemy, and turned them on their former brothers. The Death Company caught the Blood Serpents completely off guard, the initial strike wiped out what remained of the 5th company, which had suffered least from the Ork invation. However, Kuthru's treachery would not be able to get much farther, as shortly before he died, Captain Ragos set off an alarm alerting the rest of the chapter.

Then the newly promoted Chapter Master Cronagg gathered what remained of his forces to bring down the treacherous Chaplain. The fight that followed was deadly to both sides, with all of Zarlans forces going down, but taking two loyalists for almost everyone of them. Culminating in a fight between Cronagg and Zarlan, while Zarlan never stood a chance in the fight, he did manage to severely wound Cronagg's left arm before being beheaded by Cronagg's axe.

The Hive Ship
Five days after Kuthru Zarlan's forces had been defeated a strange living ship appeared above Astoran, and immediately attacked, and destroyed what remained of the defensive fleet above Astoran. The weird living vessel then immediately launched several spores down to the planet. The hoards of strange creatures immediately ran forwards, and found the tunnel network, poring down and overrunning the first few marines that they came across. The beasts slowly fought their way through Astoran before the Blood Serpents mount a combined assault pushing the creatures back to the surface.

Upon reaching the surface the remaining fifty Blood Serpents noticed that the ship had stopped dropping down reinforcements. However, there was one enemy force remaining, it appeared to contain: One giant monstrous leader beast, along with two groups of smaller leader beasts, along with a massive swarm of lesser creatures. The Blood Serpents devised a plan, have the two remaining Captains each take fifteen marines to attack the flanks, and remove the smaller leader beasts, before having the entire army launch an assault on the central larger leader beast.

The plan started off to a successful but rocky start, the two side teams managed to remove the smaller leader beasts, but at the cost of all but the two captains on the flanks. Additionally, the core army in the middle was taking heavy casualties. But all was not lost, for the central force pushed its way forwards, and Chapter Master Cronagg dueled with the monstrosity blocking the Blows from its mighty Sword, but then the creature lashed out with its whip and cut him down while he was blocking the sword, simultaneously the creatures two massive guns launched a barrage killing eight marines in one burst.

Then the two Captains converged on the leader alone, but they stood no chance as the creature sliced one in half while gripping the other with his whip, strangling him before throwing the unfortunate sole aside and blasting all but three of the remaining marines. Then Sergeant Skyrog stood up to the beast which prepared to swing its massive sword before its head exploded, and the beast fell over backwards crushing several smaller creatures.

The loss of the leader resulted in the rest of the creatures ran away, the remaining Blood Serpents then went on a purge of the remaining creatures. Then in space The Apothicron arrived, and seeing the unknown ship, and no other Blood Serpent vessels immediately opened fire, bringing down the wounded ship.

The Tychalian Campaign (933-936.M41)
The Tychalian Campaign was a long series of fights across the galaxy in which the 5th company under the command of Captain Tychalian battled a series of enemies as they appeared closer to them then any other Imperial force of sufficient size. The campaign ended in 936.M41 when the 5th company descended onto Grorgal to fight a remnant of Hive Fleet Gorgon, upon planet fall the entire company had fallen to the Green Rage. The Tyranids were quickly wiped out by the wrath of the 5th company however the terror caused by the battle brethren sweeping across the world destroying everything they came across. Upon hearing the news Lord Commander Asterog took the first company to Grorgal to hush up the events and bring back the 5th company to Astoran to investigate the results.

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:

Altered Primarch's Curse: The Green Rage
While most Blood Angel Successor Chapters suffer from the Black Rage, since the Fall the Blood Serpents appeared to not suffer any affects of this curse, then in 936.M41 when the 5th company attacked some Tyranids the entire company fell to the new Green Rage.

The Green Rage appears to be a mutated form of the Black Rage. 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, while most are simply mad like those that fall to the Black Rage, 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 Green Rage also can affect the Primaris within the Blood Serpents, unlike the Black Rage.

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.

Primarch's Curse: The Red Thirst
Unlike the Black Rage which turned into the Green Rage the Red Thirst has remained unchanged in the Blood Serpents. Blood Serpents like all Blood Angel Successors have a hidden hunger for blood which occationally consume them in battle.

Combat Doctrine
While the majority follows a Close Combat Doctrine, most notably in the 5th, and 8th Companies, some companies prefer different styles of warfare.

Iron Fangs
The Iron Fangs use a Armored Assault doctrine.

Knights of Astoran
The Knights of Astoran use a Drop Pod doctrine.

Blood Scars
The Blood Scars use a Lightning Strike doctrine.

Destructors
The Destructors use a Ranged Combat doctrine.

Assassins
The Assassins use a Stealth doctrine.

Chapter Beliefs
Most of the Blood Serpents Revere the Primarch, Sanguinius, above all others except the Emperor, seeing him as the greatest of the Primarchs. A giant statue of the Primarch stands at the primary entrance to the Astoran tunnel network, and another smaller one looks over the command room, standing on a pedestal above the Chapter Master's seat. These two statues are the only items of decoration in the common areas of Astoran.

However there are two other prominent beliefs within the Blood Serpents:

The Cult of Skyrog
The Cult of Skyrog comprises of the entirety of the 8th company, they believe that Skyrog is a holey figure, almost above the Emperor himself. Members of the Cult of Skyrog will sacrifice their lives to protect Skyrog, this however is but a mere fraction of what the Cult of Skyrog will do: Members of the Cult of Skyrog will bring their friends to be executed if they believe that they have fallen to the Green Rage, Cult of Skyrog members that fall to the Green Rage but retain their knowledge will even turn themselves into Skyrog to be beheaded.

The Followers of Asterog
The Followers of Asterog are a fairly small group representing only about fifty Astartes spread throughout the various companies. They believe that Asterog was blessed by the Emperor granting him superior tactical genius and battle field prowess, quoting his defeat of the Hive Tyrant during the Battle of Astoran as divine intervention.

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 slain 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. A year 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 Fleet
The Blood Serpent Fleet is comprised of 1 Serpenta Class Battle Ship, 3 Battle Barges, and 12 Strike Cruisers, along with an unknown number of escort ships. Each company has an assigned Strike Cruiser with its escorts. Additionally, 2 of the Battle Barges, and Battle Ship are assigned as Asterog sees fit to aid in assaults, while the last one is stationed above Astoran at all times.

Battle Ships

 * The Grand Serpent - The Grand Serpent is a Serpenta Class Battle Ship. The Serpenta Class is a special class of Battle Ship specially designed by the Adeptus Mechanicus for the Blood Serpents. The Grand Serpent is the Flag Ship of the Blood Serpents Captained by Krol Rathii, Master of the Fleet. The Grand Serpent is a powerful Battle Ship that has served in the Blood Serpent fleet since the Rebirth of the Serpents, never losing a battle. During the Battle for Baal the Grand Serpent was stationed at Astoran as part of the minor protection left behind at the home world.


 * The Apothicron - The Apothicron is a Battle Barge Class Battle Ship. The Apothicron is named after the only major ship in the Blood Serpent Fleet that survived the fall, and subsequently brought back the future Serpents Reborn. Now The Apothicron serves a very different purpose, going to war at the head of any Blood Serpent fleet that does not include The Grand Serpent.


 * The Striking Serpent - The Striking Serpent is a Battle Barge Class Battle Ship. The Striking Serpent takes the place of flag ship on various different war efforts taken by the Blood Serpents. The Striking Serpent is typically assigned to the Sky Serpents by request of Skyrog to aid in his campaign against Hive Fleet Basilisk.


 * The Coiled Serpent - The Coiled Serpent is a Battle Barge Class Battle Ship. The Coiled Serpent is permanently stationed above Astoran and serves as the protector of the planet, as such it has never seen battle, as no one has attacked Astoran since the Fall.

Cruisers

 * The Arch Serpent - The Arch Serpent is a Strike Cruiser Class Cruiser. The Arch Serpent is assigned to the Archserpents. It is equipped with extra Teleportarum Chambers so that the Archserpents can launch a coordinated Terminator Strike on enemy vessels, and ground forces.


 * The Slithering Serpent - The Slithering Serpent is a Strike Cruiser Class Cruiser. The Slithering Serpent is assigned to the Slitherers. The Slithering Serpent is the newest Cruiser in the Blood Serpent Fleet, its predecessor having been destroyed when an unknown Chaos Warband launched an assault near Astoran.


 * The Iron Serpent - The Iron Serpent is a Strike Cruiser Class Cruiser. The Iron Serpent is assigned to the Iron Fangs. The Iron Serpent has been fitted with extra hanger bays filled with Thunder Hawks to swarm forward at the enemy.


 * The Toxic Fang - The Toxic Fang is a Strike Cruiser Class Cruiser. The Toxic Fang is assigned to the Knights of Astoran, and has been modified to allow for more Drop Pods to be embedded beneath it to allow for a massive Drop Pod Assault to occur on an enemy planet.
 * The Scything Serpent - The Scything Serpent is a Strike Cruiser Class Cruiser. The Scything Serpent is assigned to the Flesh Rippers. It has been modified with additional broadsides so that it can move between the enemy, and then blast them apart.
 * The Assault Serpent - The Assault Serpent is a Strike Cruiser Class Cruiser. The Assault Serpent is assigned to the Conquerors. It is equipped with extra anti-aircraft fire in place of the larger anti Cruiser/Battle Ship weaponry.
 * The White Serpent - The White Serpent is a Strike Cruiser Class Cruiser. The White Serpent is assigned to the Blood Scars. Unlike the rest of the Blood Serpent fleet the White Scar, and its escort ships, are covered in white paint. And have additional boosters equipped, increasing their speed out of warp.
 * The Kingserpent - The Kingserpent is a Strike Cruiser Class Cruiser. The Kingserpent is assigned to the Sky Serpents. It was created after the first fight between the Sky Serpents and Hive Fleet Basilisk in which Skyrog's old Cruiser was destroyed. The name Kingserpent was given to the ship in accordance with ancient Terran tradition of adding the prefix King to a snakes name if it ate other snakes, as Skyrog wanted to annihilate the Tyranid fleet.
 * The Cobra Serpent - The Cobra Serpent is a Strike Cruiser Class Cruiser. The Cobra Serpent is assigned to the Destructors. It is more heavily armed then most strike cruisers, specializing in bombarding its opponents from afar.
 * The Chameleonic Serpent - The Chameleonic Serpent is a Strike Cruiser Class Cruiser. The Chameleonic Serpent is assigned to the Assassins. It has been modified with additional stealth tech to allow for an undetected landing of the company.
 * The Raged Serpent - The Raged Serpent is a Strike Cruiser Class Cruiser. The Raged Serpent is assigned to the Fallen. The Raged Serpent is equipped with a massive ram so that it can move up close and destroy the enemy ships.
 * The Serpent Primarus - The Serpent Primarus is a Strike Cruiser Class Cruiser. The Serpent Primarus is assigned to the Scions. It has been equipped with additional armor plating making it tougher.

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.

Relics of Astoran

 * Murder Axe -
 * Blood Ripper -
 * Hell's Fangs -
 * The Golden Grail -
 * Forge Masters Axe -


 * 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 - A helmet created by Forge Master Acropoth near the creation of the Blood Serpents. It is an intelligent learning AI that recounts useful tactics from previous battles in an attempt to aid the wearer. No one knows how Acropoth created the Strategeus Helm, however its aid has been invaluable, with Sendran stating that without it he would have lost his position during the Battle for Baal far sooner than he did.


 * 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 Blade Ultimus is a Power Sword that has been expertly crafted by Forge Master Acropoth making it sharper, and allowing it to cut through most materials.


 * 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 - A specialized Boltstorm Gauntlet designed for increased damage and to cut through armor. It was created by Volcnoth shortly after the Battle for Baal, and gifted to Captain Gravoen to honor the aid provided by the Primaris reinforcements in that battle.


 * Hellfire Primarus - A Master Crafted Boltgun equipped with Hellfire shells. This Boltgun specializes in bringing down larger monsters.


 * 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 - A giant spiked ball on a chain from before the Fall, while it is not known who made it, it is now used by Captain Castilian. He used it to bring down the Tyranid Prime on Apotria during the Basilisk War after the Prime had cut his arm off.


 * The Hammer of Astoran - A master crafted thunder hammer built by Forge Master Vulcnoth shortly after rising to the rank of Forge Master. Wielded by Captain Karoth the Hammer of Astoran has crushed many mighty foes, from Tyranid Carnifexes to Renegade Imperial Knights.
 * The Blood Bike - A specialized bike built before the Fall, it is faster than most bikes. The Blood Bike has several spikes out the front for ramming into anyone who stands in the riders way.


 * 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.

Relics of the Reclusiarchy
The Chaplains of the Blood Serpents have their own set of relics that they bestow to their members:
 * Beheader's Axe -
 * Mortical - A specialized Combi-Melta that has a Combi-Bolter fixed in place of the Boltgun. It is believed by some members of the Blood Serpents that it has existed since the Horus Heresy, however no one knows how such an ancient relic ended up in possession of the Blood Serpents.

Relics of the Librarius
The Librarians of the Blood Serpents have their own set of relics that they bestow to their members:
 * The Force Scythe -
 * The Armor of Sons -


 * Galiath's Axe - Is a Force Axe created by Galiath, a Chief Libarian of the Blood Serpents from before the Fall. Galiath made it in an attempt to recreate the Gallian's Staff, and it worked. However, he died shortly after creating the weapon, and his notes were so scatterbrained and otherwise incomprehensible that no one has been able to decode it since. It has been handed down through the Librarians of the 1st company ever since the fall.
 * The Telekinetic Orb -
 * The Force Hammer - 
 * Bones of Balthos - 
 * The Psy Pack -
 * Mind Focuser's Hood -
 * Warp Infused Armor -
 * Tome of the Fire Sorcerer -
 * The Technomancer's Chain -
 * The Geokine Stone -

Relics of the Fallen
Sometimes when a member of the Blood Serpents fall to the Green Rage the relics that they carry are placed aside for members of the Blood Angels that fall to the Green Rage to carry, these relics have the name of the original owner added to the front:
 * Tychalian's Rage Blaster -
 * Lemos's Crozius Masterous -
 * Tazaron's Imbued Armor -
 * Darcal's Slaughter Sphere -
 * Toxial's Toxic Flamer -
 * Fyroar's Inferno -
 * Zarch's Death Blade -
 * Cranzhar's Orb -

Allies

 * The Red Maidens


 * House Serpenta Questoris Familia

Enemies

 * Hive Fleet Basilisk

By the Blood Serpents
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