Ordinators

"The foolish and the ignorant may think themselves slaves of the Imperium. True slavery is only knowable by the thralls of the Dark Gods, whose lives and souls are forfeit to the hunger of their uncaring, insatiable lords. Only the Emperor may grant liberation to the souls of man in death."

- From the Litanies of Ordination

The Ordinators are a 23rd Founding, semi-Codex compliant Space Marine Chapter thought to have been founded by order of the Ordo Malleus to build on the successful practice of Daemonic Possession Therapy to create a specialized anti-Chaos Astartes chapter in a besieged corner of the Imperium. The Ordinators were first mentioned in Administratum records as one of very few Space Marine Chapters with a permanent homeworld within the Segmentum Pacificus in late M38, and are considered by those who know of their presence to have been one of the "Sentinel Chapters" formed to protect the frayed borders of the Imperium In a region which is subject to frequent infiltration by the forces of Chaos.

History
The chapter's creation was a result of the labors of both the upper echelons of the Adeptus Terra and certain Radical factions of the Ordo Malleus to re-create the extremely successful Daemon-hunting capabilities of the Exorcists within a new Space Marine chapter, Any inquest into the origin of the gene-seed stock is impossible by any but the highest-ranking Imperial adepts due to the chapter's data files having been classified by the top echelon of the Inquisition.

Since its inception, it has been tasked with the dual task of protecting the populated Southern reaches of the Segmentum Solar from incursion by any threat within the Segmentum Pacificus as well as with restoring Imperial law and order to the many Imperial worlds which had been experiencing significant unrest, many of which were suspected by the Inquisition to be a result of the influence of Chaos. This unrest eventually lead to a series of sector-wide mass uprising by M41 with shattered Imperial control over their Western border sector called The Night of a Thousand Rebellions. In contrast with the attitude which is popularly expected from Inquisition-linked military actions, the Ordinators have responded with a restrained strategy inclined towards attempting to limit unnecessary human casualties or infrastructure loss.

While fortunate in the number of victories it has won in battles over many systems and in multiple sectors, it is still a relatively young chapter and has only taken part in few major Crusades. Meeting with great success in the Suppression of the Macharian Heresy, it has recently played a much more visible and extremely decisive role in the restoration of many Imperial sectors from heretical planetary governments, and in doing so they earned a fearsome reputation among heretics as ferocious loyalists willing to strike at the heart of any enemy without mercy. To dutiful Imperials, however, they have earned a reputation as a compassionate and tireless protector of humanity within the Segmentum Pacificus.

Chapter Culture
The Astartes of the Chapter are distinguished primarily by the practice known as "Daemonic Possession Therapy" which was pioneered by the Exorcists, though it is called the Rite of Purification by brothers of the Ordinators. To become a full battle-brother of the chapter, a Scout-Novitiate must survive a period of Daemonic possession lasting no longer than a half-Terran day (12 hours) under the ruthless gaze and total control of an Ordo Malleus Inquisitor, a senior Librarian, and a Chaplain of the Reclusiam who both monitor and assist the exorcism ritual. Those who cannot exorcise the daemon within the time limit are executed. Those who can successfully physically and mentally survive the ordeal are drastically and permanently altered by the experience (both in terms of their behavior and even the nature of their presence within the warp in the eyes of malevolent denizens).

The character of an Ordinator can be described as contemplative, studious, pious, laconic in acceptance of suffering, and slow-to-anger outside of combat. Once battle is joined, however, the Ordinators become mercilessly aggressive, slaughtering all of their foes with a pitiless, detatched contempt. Each Battle-Brother of the chapter is attended by one or more serf Equerries outside of battle as a means of strengthening the ties of Astartes to their humanity, as well as reinforcing the loyalty of the serfdom in a chapter surrounded by the threat of the taint of Chaos. They carry within their hearts both a deep understanding and utter contempt of the entities of the Warp and the corruption of Chaos. They place a high value on the life of a loyal servant of the Emperor, and have a reputation for almost never abandoning wounded or isolated loyalist Imperial forces when withdrawing from combat, no matter the risk. However, when fighting against traitorous human forces acting under the influence of the Chaos Gods - whether knowlingly or unknowingly - the Ordinators are known to be utterly merciless.

Following a new Marine’s passage through this Rite and a final test of their dedication to the Emperor, Ordinators must commit the Tome of 666 Verses of the Daemonhunter and the Liber Exorcismus to memory. All Battle-Brothers of the chapter are required to maintain a copy of both the Liber Exorcismus and Litanies of Ordination at all times, as each is expected to be able to fight and banish the insidious Neverborn at any moment, in any place. Unlike their Exorcist forefathers, however, their focused specialization solely on Daemons shifts to more traditional arts of combating traitor Astartes in their training practices after their first century of service. All Ordinators are encouraged to pursue the study of the art of combating the forces of Chaos according to their individual interests and talents through study within the chapter Orison cult - membership in which are by invitation only, extended after decades of observation by the existing members in each one.

Though their exposure to daemonic threats has not been quite as prolific as the chapter which helped to establish them, they have performed with an extremely high degree of effectiveness against every daemonic threat they have encountered, as well as with the many traitorous Astra Militarum regiments or Chaos Space Marine warbands they have gone into battle against - a feat accomplished with no recorded instances of heresy or treason among its ranks.

Chapter Battle Doctrine
Like their Exorcist progenitors, the Ordinators' battle doctrine's primary characteristic is its very high degree of tactical flexibility. Chapter commanders and officers are trained in how to rapidly shift tactics in the midst of an ongoing battle where many chapters would simply keep pressing the attack according to their primary strengths. To this end, a great many types of vehicles and aircraft are maintained by the chapter, with even demi-company-sized elements rarely deploying into combat without the capability to fight any conceivable threat - mortal or daemonic.

Despite this, the Ordinators do display an inclination towards a fluid means of deployment revolving around simultaneous airborne insertion of vehicles as well as drop pod assaults, under the overwatch of a significant number of gunships overhead. The chapter is well known by its foes to always focus on attaining air superiority (or supremacy) before the rest of its forces make planetfall; allowing the Ordinators to maneuver and redeploy its strength in the midst of battle in relative safety.

On the defense, the chapter tends to rely on its many Devastators and Centurion Devstator Warsuits, as well as orbitally-inserted Tarantula turrets, to establish well-protected firebases while Tactical, Assault, and Sternguard squads are typically deployed along the attackers' flanks - a formation that can rapidly be shifted into an aggressive flanking advance while still firmly protecting occupied ground. Tracked vehicles are generally positioned behind hard cover and concealment to act as emplaced guns if needed, or as disruptive elements if a proactiveefense is the best approach.

The chapter is known to place a high emphasis relative to others on bolter drills during daily training, while flamers and incendiary missile launchers are preferred special weapons due in part to their chapter cult's belief that fire acts as a purifying force upon the daemon, xeno, and heretic. The honour of melee combat is considered by the Ordinators to be better suited to experienced veterans, and as such, the majority of the chapter companies are filled more with tactical and devastator squads than assault squads, though the prestige of being assigned to assault detachments makes the available assault slots highly-sought after.

A unique feature observed of the Exorcists and Ordinators both, during combat with daemons, is a kind of hyper-aggressive battle trance they appear to have been conditioned into entering automatically upon exposure to the presence of malevolent warp entities. Chanting in various languages typically accompanies this state. Little is known of how this trance state is achieved, maintained, or broken otherwise.

Chapter Fleet
The Ordinators operate two battle barges - the Paladin and the Fire of Sol. They possess four strike cruisers - the Purifier, Eternal Faith, Angel of Wrath, and the Saint Dolan’s Fury. They possess nine frigates and two destroyers which are used as escorts for the primary ships of the line. The primary exterminatus weapon of the chapter is the two-stage cyclonic torpedo, with a lesser inventory of atmospheric incinerator torpedoes.

Wars and Crusades of the Chapter

 * The Hellpurge (393.M38-412.M38) - The first three provisional companies of the chapter are dispatched to the Eye of Terror for the chapter's trial by fire. Over the course of 19 years, six Daemonworlds in four systems are cleansed of their foul Neverborn inhabitants by less than 300 newly-minted Ordinators and their Exorcist mentors.
 * The Zoragon War (843.M38-844.M38) - A large Imperial colony ark fleet attempts to settle the uninhabited world of Jakyu in the Segmentum Obscurus, only to be ambushed and almost completely massacred by a force of several thousand Zoragon warriors led by a trio of the dreaded Marauder xeno-titans. Though the 117th Catachan is deployed and manages to momentarily push back the reptilian tide, within three months the brave Guardsmen are almost completely wiped out - decimated by the tactics and warbeasts of the xenos. It is only by the efforts of Cohort V and a war fleet led by Centurio Corvus that the Zoragon are driven off the world; the advantage of power armor and drop pod assaults allowing the Astartes to turn the tide in a rapid and bloody campaign.
 * The Razing of the Witch Worlds (414.M39-416.M39) - When the worlds of the Vompiyya system cease their payment of the Imperial tithe, a secretive investigation by the Ordo Hereticus reveals that the three inhabited worlds within it have been usurped by a heretical magocracy, in which unsanctioned psykers have overtaken rule of the loyal Imperial population in a horrific reign of terror in which the citizenry are treated as livestock used to satiate every need and desire of the ruling class. The Ordinators manage to cleanse each of the witch-lords and their minions from each world in under a year per planet, as their superior conditioning enables them to better withstand their foes' psychic assaults during the brutal campaigns the chapter wages to destroy the enemy's centers of power, though a number of entire hive cities are left as burning necropolises in the course of the war.
 * The Phaedon Gulf Crusade (603.M40-607.M40) - A large Eldar Corsair fleet is discovered as being the cause behind a plethora of abductions, genocides, and acts of naval piracy in the Jokahn Sector in the early latter-half of M40. With the help of the sector battlefleet and two other unknown chapters, the Ordinators manage to ambush the much larger fleet of the Voidsparrow Raiders, led by Prince Koaiel Iyddinnah. The ego of the arrogant Eldar murderers ends up being the cause of their ultimate downfall, as they refuse to quit the fight even after the battle turns against them. The body of Prince Koaiel and his closest advisors are crucified within the wreckage of an Imperial Navy graveyard. Eldar piracy never occurs within the sector again.
 * The Atmaran War (332-334.M40) - The Sector Capitol of Atma attempts to lead a secessionist movement to break the planet away from the Imperium of Man under the guise of "reforging a new empire in the Emperor's true vision". Unknowingly to the inhabitants of the world of Atma II, the rebellion is lead by a pawn of the traitorous Alpha Legion. Intuiting the role of the Dark Gods, the Ordinators and eleven Imperial Guard regiments engage in a war to surgically cut out the corruption from the massively populated sector to spare the lives of as many as possible, though most of Atma II itself is purged in the process. The war ends with the killing of the Chaos Lord Ukon in a hidden bunker at the core of the world, followed by the seizing and public execution of the rebellion's leader on live holo-vision. The remaining population of Atma II - approximately 41% of the pre-war citizenry - are ultimately spared only because the preaching of the chapter's Reclusiarch guides the better part of the native PDF forces to redeem themselves and to seek forgiveness through death in battle against their treacherous brethren.
 * Suppression of the Macharian Heresy (400.M41-470.M41) - The Ordinators are called upon to defend their own home sector from the predation of both Alpha Legion infiltration units and the renegade traitor-general Junor Rankar's multi-sector kingdom, as well as suppressing and exterminating the many Chaos cultist uprisings all over the Segmentum Pacificus. At one point, the chapter nearly comes to blows with the Minotaurs over the latter's indiscriminate slaughter of Imperials, but the Ordinators are ordered by the High Lords of Terra to remain on the periphery of the crusade, and spend the next half-century culling traitors and destroying pocket-empires in the shadows.
 * The Gerrhae War (993.M41-998.M41) - A Tzeentchian Warband, the Cult of the Unending Tower, ambushes and massacres an Ordinator frigate carrying a fell tome of dark knowledge through an artificial warp rift, seizing it and using its knowledge to begin carving out a realm of it's own in the Gerrhae Sector within the Segmentum Pacificus. The Ordinators eventually turn the tide with the help of the Ordo Malleus by sealing the warp rift and either liberating or exterminating any planet along the path of the Cult - led by the Sorcerer-King Nagem. The war comes to a decisive end with the death of Nagem, his entire Chaos Space Marine warband, and his patron Lord of Change, O'kazhk, at the newly-inhabited world of Martyr's Hope.