Polar Flares

The Polar Flares are a 4th founding chapter formerly located in the Polaris Sector, but have turned renegade and accompanied the 'Crusade of Renegades' trek to the Solarain Sector, which they meet with the abhumans known as the Elementi

History & Homeworld
The 4th Founding of Space Marines occurred several standard decades after the disastrous event of the War of the Beast, the massive WAAAGH! of the mysterious Ork Warlord known only as The Beast, Which laid waste to much of the known galaxy and threatened to destroy Holy Terra itself. Following the successful eradication of the the massive greenskin invasion force and the defeat of it's warlord, the acting Lord Commander of the Imperium, Maximus Thane, decreed that the Imperium would raise as many new Chapters as they had gene-seed in the great vaults of Terra to sustain. After several decades, the first of many Chapters were created, with the Polar Flares being one of these newly created Chapters. Ten years after their inception the Polar Flares would face their first difficult test in the form of the insidious Alpha Legion.

The Prewar Era
During the middle centuries of M32, the Polaris sub-sector had enjoyed relative peace for several decades, until the beginning of the Alpha War. During that time, the people of this sub-sector had begun the colonization of the Moons Of Uther. Unknown to the civilian population of the sub-sector, the insidious Alpha Legion had already been inserting operatives on several worlds in the sector, distributing propaganda to incite civil unrest and outright rebellion, organizing anti-Imperial activity and supplying heretical groups and cultists. They bided their time until the perfect opportunity presented itself. Once they had their forces strategically placed, they would then launch their campaign in earnest against the unsuspecting Imperial worlds.

The First Attack
The Alpha Legions' first attack occurred on the forest moon of Teth which was a decisive victory. After this, they went on to destroy several moons in the first ten days of the war.

Turning Point
The first point of Resistance occurred upon the Death World of Nicko, where the Imperial defenders were killed by the very people they were protecting. The Alpha Legion suffered many casualties during this battle during the turn of the first year of the conflict. This gave the rest of the worlds in the besieged sector a little beam of hope, that there was the possibility of surviving this destructive war. But things soon went from bad to worse when the Alpha Legion began raiding the core moons. During the fifth year of the war, the Alpha Legion would finally suffer another defeat at the Battle of Yavio, as the Polar Flares Chapter had fully mobilized.

The Battle of Gavin VI
After the Polar Flares launched a lightning assault on Gavin VI, upon arriving on the surface of the planet, the first thing they did was fling a massive polarite at the Alpha Legion's flagship, which caused catastrophic damage to the massive battleship. Despite the destruction caused by the Polar Flare, this did not faze the Alpha Legion in the least. In fact, they broke off and started murdering the Polar Flare fleet in orbit after launching a full-scale assault on the loyalist Space Marine fleet, aiming to drive it back through a massed volume of concentrated ship-to-ship fire. Meanwhile on the surface of Gavin VI, the Alpha Legion forces were losing. With their flagship effectively removed from the ongoing battle, there were no orders being given, and the local PDF managed to butcher the Alpha Legion's Chaos Cultist ground forces. There situation was further compounded when it became apparent that they were losing both ground and air superiority. But the war in the void, the Traitor Legion appeared to already have achieved inevitable victory..that is, until a large Space Wolves Chapter fleet arrived and began to launch a devastating counter-strike against the Traitor's fleet. Reinforced by their fellow Chapter, the remaining Polar Flares harried the Chaos ships until they were driven entirely from the sector, resulting in ultimate victory for the Imperial forces.

The Return of The Men Of Iron
In 359.M37, an Adeptus Mechanicus exploratory force when missing after failing to return from their expedition to the space hulk Archaeo-Rex seeking out archaetech and potential Standard Template Constructs. The Polar Flares went to investigate the reasons why the Mechanicus expedition had not returned. What they found was both strange and terrifying in equal measure.

The Archaeo-Rex
"What is this? Living machines...your stupi -Ahaaa haa haaa..."

- Adeptus Mechanicus Exploratory Force Member Transmission before being killed

After arriving upon the massive space hulk by assault boats, the Polar Flares began their search for the missing Mechanicus explorators. They eventually found them, but most of them were already dead. However, they found one sole survivor amongst them, though he was barely sane enough to talk. He told his Space Marine saviours that there were deadly sentient machines aboard the space hulk, and that they called themselves the 'Men of Iron'. Leary after receiving such disturbing news, the Polars Flares sent word to send in their Veteran Marines of the elite 1st Death Company.

"Yes Sir. Wait, is that the Men of Iron? Impossible, their long dead!"

- 1st Death Company Transmission

Not much is known what occurred after the 1st Death Company boarded the derelict space hulk. That the 1st Death Company somehow managed to come back at all, was a miracle in itself, yet they had also managed to acquire an ancient subservient AI as well as huge amounts of archaeotech. The lead Archmagos of course, coveted this long lost technology, and graciously the Polar Flares gave them 90% of it. Upon receiving this advanced technology, the Archmagos and his Mechanicus contingent departed for Mars. Since that time, the Polar Flares' willingness to assist the Adeptus Mechanicus did not go unrewarded, and so, the Priests of Mars have continued to assist the Polar Flares whenever they've requested it.

Home World
Polariso is located in the Polaris Sub-sector along with it's planet Uther. Polariso is a earth-sized moon that orbits a gas giant, which is around 100,000 miles wide and orbits around a supergiant red star. The force of it's gravity is about 1.4 G. It is a classified as a Death World/Civilised World with chilling temperatures of 0 C to -200 C on a third of the planet. There is also a lot of volcanic activity making it hard to survive there. Another third of the planet consists of plains which have winged horses and large docile bulls. The final third of the planet consists of verdant jungle, a place of foreboding and death for any outsiders.

People and Wildlife
The people of Polarisoo are evolved humans who possess modern technology. There are also some alien Zoats who live upon the moon. This world also has unusually large bear-like creatures that reside on the moon...

Notable Campaigns

 * The Alpha War (600.M32) - The insidious Alpha Legion attacks the system and the 10 year old Polar Flares Chapter, with the assistance of the ferocious Space Wolves, just barely managed to contain the Alpha Legion and it's allies within the system. This also shapes their tactics for the rest of their history.
 * The Conquering of the Archaeo-Rex (359.M37) - The Polar Flares' 1st Death Company gets sent in. they came back with an allied AI of the Iron Men.
 * The 6th Black Crusade(901.M36) - The Polar Flares defended the Imperial world of Arkreach during the Sixth Black Crusade, when the Forces of Chaos launch a massive incursion into Imperial space.
 * Hive Fleet Solaris (100.M40) - Hive Fleet Solaris Attacks system. 4 Chapters die in the defence of the system. Many others took major casualties including the Polar Flares. Half the system is cleansed of all life as a result. Which left all chapters weak and uncertain of their future.
 * Defense of Charlo (990.M41) - During the Second Tyrannic War the Polar Flares managed to defend one of the Squat Home Worlds from the vile Tyranids, but as result, half the Chapter split off and began the Flarian Civil War.
 * Flarian Civil War (995.M41) - A short but bloody civil war for the Chapter's leadership, the traitorous battle-brothers ultimately lost and were cast out, becoming the Renegade warband known as the Banished.
 * The 13th Black Crusade/War For Polaris's Star (999.M41) - The Despoiler Attacked the Polaris Sub-sector Just as the Primaris Space Marine Chapter, The Green Wolves Arrived within system. All the chapters with in the system were forced into becoming part of the "Flarian Compact". They defeated the Traitors and drove them from the system.
 * Flarian-Unforgiven War(999.M41) - The Dark Angels and several of their successor chapters attack the world redeemers. The Flarian compact defends itself fiercely.
 * Or'erith War (11.M42-Present Time) - The necrons of the Or'erith Dynasty awaken in the Polaris system. at the same time the Black Legion invades again and plunges the the sector into war once more.However an Indomitus taskforce soon arrives and drives the warring factions away from imperial sector space. however the Polar Flares, Shadow Flares, and Blood Wings continue to harass the Necrons, Chaos, and other Xenos fighting over the Frontier.

Flare
This specialised combat technique is when the Polar Flares send in a lot of people whom seem to quickly disappear while flying. Doing this repeatably, is a form of hit-and-run tactics.

Polarite Landing
A polarite is a hollowed-out planet pole, generally from a Dead World. This massive object usually becomes largely frozen over time as the polarite travels from system to system as it is pulled by several ships of the Chapter's fleet. As this massive floating object possesses no warp drives, they must travel at sub-light speeds. The Polar Flares often bring lots of additional water aboard several escort vessels, and utilise it so that the outside of the polarite becomes a massive ball of ice. They do this so that it looks like a giant comet, but in realty it is a weapon of mass destruction. Then, utilising the inertia of their vessels, they release the polarite, hurtling it towards their chosen target, when then crashes into the poles of a planet, causing massive devastation. The purpose is to either destabilise a planet's orbit or to take out a planet's magnetic field.

Magnetically Accelerated Gravity Slug Cannon (MAGSC Cannons)
MAGSC Cannons are giant orbital cannons with a 2 mile long barrel. The Polar Flares have somehow managed to mix the terrifying properties of graviton cannon-tech with electromagnetic propulsion-tech to make a most terrifying weapon. They are so powerful that they are able to tear suns from their orbits. The Polar Flares use giant slugs made from a hematite-iron alloy which is able to tear though anything. Also, these massive weapons shoot at a speed of 2000 mps.

Fly-Packs
Fly-packs are an old invention made in 200.M35 which allows the user 100 hours of straight flying with hydrogen fuel, but with the special helium-oxygen gas that allows it to fly for three times as long without the need for refueling.

Freezers
Freezers are the Polar Flares' equivalent of a flamethrower, except that it's shoots out liquid nitrogen. These weapons are capable of creating gusts of cold that approach absolute zero. Freezers are also capable of creating a "cold field" and imprison their opponents in a cocoon of ice.

Gene-Seed
As rare descendants of the Raven Guard, the Polar Flares also possess the same deathly pale skin and nonfunctional Butcher's Gland typical of Raven Guard successors.

Notable Members

 * Chapter Master Megalos - First Chapter Master, he laid down a lot of the Polar Flares' culture, personality, tactics, and organisation still utilised to this very day.
 * Chapter Master Polaris - Present Chapter Master, also he is the longest lived marine having served 500 years in the chapter (350 as a standard marine, 10 years as a scout, and the rest as chapter master). He is the shortest marine in the chapter standing at about 5'7.
 * Master Of The Forge Peterson - Made the first prototype Fly-pack.
 * Scout Marine Roarmous - Discovered the moon and named it Jonathan V. This moon possesses a pure helium-oxygen atmosphere.
 * Techmarine Martin - The first to use Jonathan V's atmosphere as fuel for the Fly-packs which proved to be revolutionary.

Chapter Fleet

 * 1 Apocalypse-class Battleship
 * 55 Lunar-class Cruisers
 * 100 Escort-class ships

Notable Vessels

 * The Apocalypse Carrier (Apocalypse-class Battleship) - The Apocalypse Carrier is a mighty Apocalypse-class Battleship and the Polar Flares flagship. The Polar Flares modified this Apocalypse-class battleship to be a giant fortress that could protect itself without loads of fighters and/or bombers
 * The Apocrain Moon (Lunar-class Cruiser) - This vessel was salvaged from the same space Hulk that the Chapter's Flagship came From.

Chapter Colours
The Polar Flares primarily wear midnight blue coloured power armour. The Imperialis or Aquila on the chest guard is coloured red. The top of the helmet is gold in colour while the backpack slate grey in colour. The right shoulder pauldron bears the white coloured squad specialty symbol, which designates a battle-brother's role (Tactical, Devastator, Assault or Veteran). A white Low Gothic numeral on the inset of the shoulder pauldron designates squad number. A white Low Gothic numeral centered on the left poleyn (knee guard) designates company number. Sergeants are designated by a vertical green stripe on their helmets.

Chapter Badge
The Polar Flares' Chapter badge is a stylised yellow star and flare icon centered on a field of midnight blue.

About
(Feel free to add your own)