Star Wardens

"My brothers! Fellow survivors of Hydraxa! We have stood proud in the face of the Tyranid and the vile creatures of the warp, and we few have emerged bloody but unbroken! Our chapter may lay in ruins, but the reborn Lord Guilliman offers us salvation. Not only salvation but that which we as a chapter have lacked for millennia, hope. Lord Guilliman strides across the stars creating a new age for the Imperium, and he offers to us a chance to join him. In our broken state we cannot, but with his aid we can be forged into something new, something better. We shall continue the Great Crusade! Brothers a New Age Dawns!"

- Newly appointed Commander Joachim Garen

The Star Wardens are a loyalist Space Marine chapter descended from the zealous Black Templars chapter, and hail from the 22nd Founding in early M37. Following the return of Roboute Gulliman the Star Wardens have embraced his new primaris marines and as of the start of the Viglius Campaign they are comprised completely of this new breed of astartes. The Star Wardens are a fleet-based chapter based around the Ramilles-class star fort Imperial Sovereign. Masters of void warfare, and experts at launching daring boarding actions the Star Wardens have fought tirelessly for millennia in the hopes that one day the Imperium can be restored to the glory it held during the days of the Great Crusade.

Formation
The Star Wardens were created during the 22nd Founding right after the horrific Reign of Blood perpretrated by the mad Goge Vandire. They were created to aid the newly created Ordo Sanctorum in keeping a check on the Ecclesiarchy and preventing another internal civil war. Formed from an elite group of veterans and the gene-seed of the zealous Black Templars chapter, they were naturally imbued with a fervent belief in the values of the Great Crusade, and a unified galactic human empire. However, instead of the Black Templar’s faith in the divinity of the Emperor, the High Lords had other plans for the chapter. Beyreuth, High Lord and Captain-General of the Custodes, granted Zephran Caul, a former Black Templar chaplain, an audience with the Emperor himself. Thus having been bestowed with the coveted title of Auditorii Imperator Caul met with the Master of Mankind and had his beliefs changed forever. After exactly one Terran day Zephran Caul emerged a changed man. He appeared before his chapter aged beyond his years yet exuberant with purpose. He preached to his chapter the old Imperial Truth with a fervent passion and based around these teachings the Order of Keepers was formed. Fulfilling the role of both librarians and chaplains within the chapter, it was their solemn duty to teach their chapter the tenets of the Imperial Truth and the history of the Imperium, to record the deeds of the Star Wardens, to ensure proper morale, and to help protect their charges from the deprivations of the Warp. The Star Wardens emerged fully formed from their founding, just in time to see the start of the Great Cull.

Penetince
The Great Cull was launched to reduce the influence of the Ecclesiarchy to a more manageable level, at gunpoint if need be, and the newly formed Star Wardens set about their task with relish. However the Ecclesiarchy still had much power, and soon the Star Wardens faced multiple accounts of censure for their excesses in tearing down the power structure of the Ecclesiarchy. Disgusted that they dared faced accusation what they viewed as conducting their sacred duty the Star Wardens declared a self-imposed and indefinite penitent-crusade. Regretful not for having committing their actions, but for not committing them sooner. Taking their fleet to the eastern fringes of the Ultima Segmentum they fought for millennia to keep the edges of the Imperium safe from the aggressions of both xenos and traitors. The accepted no laurels or honor rolls for their deeds, simply fighting for an Imperium that they viewed as having forever gone astray from the Emperor’s vision. Their only contact with the wider Imperium was with those they fought beside, and terse reports sent back to the High Lords by the chapter’s Keepers.

The Tyrannic Wars
The Star Warden’s exile, however, would come to an end with the arrival of the Tyranids. As the Star Wardens came into contact with the first tendrils of Hive Fleet Behemoth they knew that the very existence of the Imperium was threatened. They raced back into the Imperial fold and assisted in hunting down splinter fleets that had been created when Behemoth was shattered at Macragge. Tentatively they returned to an Imperium that had changed in their absence, they grudgingly aided an Imperium riven by superstition and paranoia in the faint hope that one day it would be restored to its former glory. As they continued to hunt down splinter fleets of Behemoth they also pledged their forces into fighting in the Achilus Crusade, to claim the Jericho Reach for the Imperium. There they would fight for several centuries until the chapter’s worst nightmare was realized, the arrival of a second hive fleet. The Star Wardens quickly mobilized their entire chapter to fight Kraken, fighting desperate and furious battles against endless tendrils of Tyranids. During one battle the entire fourth company was lost, sacrificing themselves to destroy a massive hive ship from within. This cemented forever the chapter’s eternal hatred for the Tyranid menace and they proceeded to fight with even greater zeal. Just as Kraken was beginning to be contained the arrival of a third Hive Fleet rocked the chapter once more. Leviathan spread like a virus across the galaxy and the Star Wardens, bruised and bloody, rose to meet it.

Hydraxa
Learning that a splinter of leviathan codenamed: Hive Fleet Basilisk was heading for the Hydraxan system the Star Wardens brought their entire chapter to defend the system. After several years of rooting out genestealer cults and a desperate void battle, the Star Wardens emerged wounded but victorious. Before they had time to catch their breath however the galaxy was split in twain. With the fall of Cadia, the Cicatrix Maledictum was opened and massive warp storms spawned throughout the galaxy forming the Great Rift. The Hydraxan system was encircled by an impassable warp storm and the Star Wardens watched as the final remnants of Basilisk dissolved and horrors from the warp were unleashed. The Star Wardens disdainfully gazed upon these manifestations of the warp and stoically fought tooth and claw for their very survival. Endless waves of ghoulish crimson colored creatures attacked the Hydraxan system and bayed for the blood of the Star Wardens. The Star Wardens fought bravely but were slowly whittled away and forced to fall back closer to the core of the system. Eventually, they were forced to evacuate the entire remaining populace of Hydraxan Prime onto the chapter’s star fort monastery to mount a desperate last stand. Every inch was paid for in the blood of both astartes and warp-creature, but just as it seemed that the Star Wardens could hold no longer Roboute Gulliman, the reborn son of the Emperor, arrived bearing deliverance. As the warp storm abated and the power of the creatures waned the Indomitus Crusade arrived and cleared the Hydraxan system.

The Indomitus Crusade
Having been reduced to a mere shadow of their former selves, the Star Wardens greeted their savior in awe. The Star Wardens knelt in front of the living primarch and pledged their service to Gulliman. They embraced the existence of the primaris marines with joy, seeing within them and the Indomitus Crusade a glimmer of hope that the Imperium could be redeemed. Drawing together the few survivors, recruits taken from the populace of Hydraxa, and primaris reinforcements, a rebuilt Star Wardens eagerly spent the next decades fighting in the Indomitus Crusade. There the Star Wardens would attain new glory working closely with Gulliman himself. During the crusade, they along with the Ordinators would deploy to rescue an Imperial planet from the clutches of the horrid Drukhari. During the battle the Star Wardens lost almost two hundred astartes, their gene-seed ruined, to a coven called the Twisted Pain. Indeed, the chapter master Commander Joachim Garen would himself have perished had it not been for the intervention of the Ordinator’s chapter master Lord Commander Aurelian. Although the Twisted Pain escaped Garen swore he would hunt them down, and pledged an oath of gratitude to Aurelian, forming a grudging respect between the two chapters. As the crusade made its way across the galaxy the Star Wardens would for the first time make longstanding allies such as House Alastair, their old allies the Ordo Sanctorum, and strong connections with the Imperial Navy. The chapter’s Keepers would frequently meet with Gulliman’s corps of historitors, the two groups passionately poring over each other's records and debating the finer points of Imperial history.

A New Age
As the Indomitus Crusade ended the Star Wardens fulfilled their oath to the Ordinators chapter by promising to travel to the Cordanian system to aid in the Khaigara Crusade. As they made their way to the rendezvous point however they were ambushed by two Black Legion warbands. The Star Wardens who were overstrength from their time in the Indomitus Crusade quickly took massive losses and several ships were destroyed immediately. Desperate the chapter’s battle barges launched a daring attack straight at the heart of the enemy fleet. However outright destruction was not their goal and as they passed the capital ships they teleported aboard teams of Cataphractii terminators, the most elite of the surviving original members of the chapter. The Star Wardens successfully managed to destroy several of the Black Legion capital ships and were afforded enough time to make their escape from the ambush. Commander Garen vowed as he left that he would one day have his revenge against the Black Legion. Although they were greatly reduced in strength Garen resolved that they would honor their oath and they completed their journey to the Cordanian system. In the Khaigara Crusade the Star Wardens joined an Imperial Coalition to destroy the Drukhari port of Khaigara. In the opening attack, the Star Wardens contributing greatly to destroying the Drukhari fleet and joined the Imperials for the ground assault. Although the Imperials were ultimately successful and the port was destroyed the Twisted Pain once again managed to escape, much to Garen’s fury. However, revenge would have to wait as the chapter received a summons from Gulliman himself. Garen ordered that their star fort be stationed in the Cordanian system to rebuild due to a newfound alliance with the forge world of Manis, then took his fleet to answer the primarch’s summons. There they watched Marneus Calgar, legendary chapter master of the Ultramarines, undergo the procedure to become a primaris marine. As one and without hesitation all non-primaris members of the chapter agreed to also undergo this dangerous surgery. Although not all survived those that did however emerged as full primaris marines. The Star Wardens had finally been reforged completely for the dawning of a new age. The recently transformed Commander Garen soon ordered that his fleet join Calgar in his crusade to aid the sentinel world of Vigilus.

Notable Members

 * Zephran Caul, Master of Histories- 


 * Commander Joaquin Garen- 
 * Master Grast Jorun- 
 * Ancient Jarold- 
 * Venerable Saul, Master of Recruits- 

Chapter Relics

 * Mace of Devotion-
 * Birthright-
 * Daybreak-
 * Scrolls of the Great Crusade-

Allies

 * House Alastair - 


 * Imperial Navy -


 * Ordo Sanctorum-

Enemies

 * Black Legion-
 * Tyranids-


 * Ecclesiarchy- 
 * Coven of the Twisted Pain-

About the Star Wardens
"Though I question their spiritual validity within the Adeptus Astartes as an all-Primaris chapter, a product of Belisarius Cawl rather than the God-Emperor, their character cannot be doubted. These Star Wardens have proven themselves to be devoted protectors of mankind to me ten times over in Port Khaigara. I trust them more than any of their kind I have yet met."

- Decimus Aurelian, Legatus of the Ordinators