Shadow Wolves

The Shadow Wolves are a newly reconstituted Successor Chapter, comprised entirely of Primaris Space Marines. This Chapter was created from various gene-seed of Primaris Space Marines that made up the ranks of the Unnumbered Sons, which were derived from various Chapters whose genetic lineage hailed from the stoic and proud Imperial Fists. In their original iteration, the Shadow Wolves were a proud Successor Chapter, created during an Unknown Founding, that were also created from the lineage of the Imperial Fists' Primarch Rogal Dorn. Unfortunately, their long and glorious history would end in tragedy in 987.M41, when their Chapter homeworld of Varadon was overrun by the foul xenos bioforms of the ravenous Tyranids.

Even though they were considered officially extinct, elements of the Shadow Wolves still remained within the ranks of the xenos-hunting Deathwatch and a strike force of Shadow Wolves were recently spotted fighting on Cadia in 999.M41, fighting against the Forces of Chaos during the 13th Black Crusade. Fortunately for the Shadow Wolves, they would received their salvation in the form of the resurrected Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman, who would reveal his ultimate contingency plan - the Primaris Space Marines.

Launching the Indomitus Crusade from Terra to take the fight to the enemies of Mankind, many of these newly revealed, superior bred Astartes would go on to fight within the legion-size formations of the Unnumbered Sons alongside Primarch Guilliman for the next century, while other newly formed Chapters would be created, comprised entirely of Primaris Space Marines. Thus, a new Founding occurred by order of Primarch Guilliman - the Ultima Founding. Following the end of the Indomitus Crusade over a century later, the gene-seed of several Unnumbered Sons created from the lineage of Rogal Dorn, were utilised to re-create the long-extinct Shadow Wolves Space Marine Chapter.

Following their inception, the Shadow Wolves went on to reclaim their former homeworld of Varadon and constructed a new orbital space fortress, which would act as their new fortress-monastery. Several decades later, the original members of the old Chapter began to make their journey home, back to Varadon, and later joined the newly reconstituted Chapter. They would undergo the painful process to become Rubicon Primaris, and formed the basis of the Chapter's leaders and veteran members, leading their younger brethren into battle with the foes of the Emperor.

Chapter History
In 987.M41 the Shadow Wolves' homeworld of Varadon was ravaged by a Tyranid splinter fleet. The Shadow Wolves attempted to defend their homeworld from the merciless Great Devourer. Swarms of Tyranids besieged the Shadow Wolves' fortress-monastery, as only a handful of the Shadow Wolves remained. With their blades broken and their bolters spent, The Shadow Wolves stood their ground as the fortress-monastery fell to the enemy. They died in honourable battle as they made their defiant last stand, still intoning the litanies of hate against the alien, chanting their bitter fury at their foes even as they were annihilated.

In the Chapter's final moment, a lone warrior - a battle-brother - though horribly wounded and on his knees beneath the Chapter's standard, attempting to maintain his Chapter's honour to the last, defiantly kept the Shadow Wolves' Chapter standard proudly upright, even as the Tyranids tore into him. He died in a brutal and glorified manner - which for an Astartes could only be described as a "beautiful death". With reports of the Shadow Wolves annihilation, the Imperium would forever show the chapter no more.

Indomitus Crusade
"Several thousand Imperial warriors were using the mountain fastness as a fallback base. Alongside the huge regiments of Imperial Guard soldiers were thirty Black Templars, a strike force of the supposedly extinct Shadow Wolves Chapter, an armoured battalion of the Subjugators and a recon detachment of Flesh Tearers Scouts."

- From the novel "Ragnar Blackmane" (Space Marine Legends) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Following the destruction of the fortress world of Cadia in 999.M41 during the 13th Black Crusade and the subsequent formation of the galaxy-spanning tear in reality known as the Great Rift, the Imperium was beset on all sides by the enemies of Mankind. Despite the darkness and bloodshed that engulfed the galaxy, the military forces of the Imperium defiantly stood their ground and refused to go silently into the long, black night of oblivion. Fortunately, fate smiled upon them in their darkest hour, in the form of the newly resurrected Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman. The Avenging Son fought his way from the Realm of Ultramar to Terra, and kneeled before the Master of Mankind Himself. After communing with his father, the newly invested Lord Commander of the Imperium declared the Indomitus Crusade - to bring the light of the Holy Emperor to the darkest corners of the galaxy.

To aid the Imperial forces in their endeavours, Primarch Guilliman revealed his ultimate contingency plan, in the form of the superior Primaris Space Marines - the next stage of evolution of the Adeptus Astartes. The newly reinstated Lord Commander of the Imperium decreed that those Chapters most devastated by the ongoing wars should be amongst the first to be reinforced with this new breed of transhuman warrior. Not only existing Chapters received these Primaris reinforcements though, for Guilliman also called for the creation of a host of new Chapters, comprised entirely of Primaris Space Marines, and so, the Ultima Founding was instituted. The warriors of these new Chapters were created entirely using the new processes discovered by the ancient Archmagos Belisarius Cawl and established with all the necessary weapons, armour and equipment that they would need to conduct their defence of the Imperium.

Rebirth
Following the newly instituted Ultima Founding, several Space Marine Legion-sized formations of Primaris Space Marines, all drawn from the lineage of one of the nine original Loyalist First Founding Legions, were assigned to the vast ranks of the Unnumbered Sons, known unofficially amongst themselves as the "Greyshields", they would go on to fight alongside the main force of Guilliman's Indomitus Crusade for over a standard century, well into the 42nd Millennium.

In 111.M42, Primarch Guilliman declared the Indomitus Crusade over and dispersed its military elements across the Imperium, reinforcing many worlds with new Chapters of Primaris Space Marines created from the ranks of the Unnumbered Sons. One of these newly formed chapters were given the name and livery of long extinct Shadow Wolves, in honour of the original Chapter that was wipe out to the last, defending their homeworld from the Tyranids. The Chapter was created entirely from Primaris Space Marines that came from gene-stock of the Imperial Fists, Crimson Fist, Executioners and other Chapters of the Last Wall.

After their formation, the Shadow Wolves Chapter set forth to reclaim Varadon. With Varadon now being a lifeless planet, a new fortress-monastery was constructed that orbits the planet. From here, the Chapter would be able to launch their operations to rid the galaxy of its threats to humanity. Over the next few decades after the Chapter's creation, the original surviving members of the Shadow Wolves started to arrive at the orbital fortress-monastery. They first arrived one-by0one, traveling with Rogue Traders and or by other means. These Astartes had been serving the Long Vigil in the Deathwatch, and were released from their service upon receiving word of the newly reconstituted chapter reached them. The largest and last group to arrive, numbered fifty-four battle-brothers. They arrived in two heavily damaged strike cruisers. This last surviving company had been fighting alongside the Space Wolves on Cadia before the plant was destroyed by the Forces of Chaos. All told, 100 original members of the Chapter willingly went under the blades of the Chapter's Apothecaries, and underwent the dangerous process of being transformed into Rubicon Primaris, and officially joined the new Chapter.

The original brothers were spread throughout the Chapter, becoming veteran leaders amongst the ranks of their Primaris kin. Some became captains, lieutenant, and sergeants, but a majority of them, alongside the few remaining Indomitus Crusade veterans, formed the ranks of the Chapter's elite 1st Company.

Chapter Homeworld
Varadon was once a lush beautiful world, covered in a vast forest of giant trees and towering rocky mounts. Now Varadon is nothing more than a lifeless rock, void of any atmosphere. The Shadow wolves do not set foot on to Varadons surface. They see that planet as a tomb for the chapter. Only in death, they may return home. When a marine is killed in battle, after there gene-seed and other organs are removed, their body is encased into a sarcophagus. Then in a ritual called “The Home Coming,” the company Chaplin will escort the sarcophagus to the surface where he lays the fallen brother to rest.

Fortress-Monastery
"The Vigilant"

Chapter Organisation
The chapter is not organized to the standards of the Codex Astartes and the usual formation of 10 companies that make up a standard Codex-oriented Chapter. Instead, they are organized into 6 companies. The 1st, 8th, 9th and 10th are divided and paced into the other 6 companies. Each of the companies is divided into 3 demi-companies that perform different combat roles. The 1st demi-company is made up of Veteran Marines which consists of 4 to 5 Kill-Teams. These Kill-Teams are equipped identically to those of their counterparts in the Deathwatch.

The 2nd demi-company is the largest and most Codex-complaint. It has 4-6 units of Intercessor, 2-3 units of Hellblasters, 1 uint of Aggressors and a unique unit to the Shadow Wolves comprised of Primaris centurions know as Annihilators. The 3rd demi-company is a Vanguard Marine detachment which consists of units of Reivers, Infiltrators, and Eliminators. The sizes and number of the units in this demi-company are not known. Depending on the mission and the combat theater these units often change, to adapt to the ever-fluid situations of the modern battlefield.

Combat Doctrine
The Shadow Wolves believe in the timely application of overwhelming firepower to cause maximum attrition amongst the foe, while minimizing its own casualties. Based on this belief, they refrain from frontal attacks or attrition warfare. Nore do they attack a whole enemy force at once. Fluidity, timing, and pre-planning allows the Shadow Wolves to dictate when and where battles take place. The Chapter uses concealment and guerilla tactics to create an ever-shifting frontline. The Shadow Wolves also use its Vanguard unit to scout, find, and engage enemy units. These engagements are short-lived, with the Vanguard Marines slipping back into the shadows, and giving the enemy a false sense of winning. These attacks are launched by the Vanguard units over and over - never in the same place or at the same time. To the enemy, the attacks seem random, but they are meticulously planned, forcing the enemy into just the right kill-zone. The kill-zone is were the bulk of the company battle line troop are weighing in during an ambush. The enemy thinks that it is engaging with small units, but quickly finds that it is fighting a far superior force. Once the enemy is wiped out ,the Shadow Wolves will then repeat this tactic taking out the main forces of the enemy by piecemeal.

Chapter Colours
The Shadow Wolves' Power Armour is a dark purple, white shoulder pauldrons with silver trim. The skull or double-headed eagle icon of the Aquila on the chest is silver as well as the armor over the knees. Any iconography or trim on the armor is also in silver. On the left pauldron is the chapter symbol. The right pauldron is the company and squad symbol. The pauldron field is divided into a pattern based on the company's number and color. A roman style squad number is incorporated in the fields as well as any honors that the squad has earned. Example: The 4th company pauldron is divided into 4 quadrants alternating white and green. In one green field is the squad number and in the opposite would be an honor making. Rank and veteran status are still identified with a different colored helmet as dictated by the Codex Astartes. Veterans, if they wish to, replace their company pauldron with the Deathwatch one if they served. Other icons can be found on the armor of the marines. One that is most frequent is the templars cross. It is worn to pay tribute and honor there Primarch Rogal Dorn and the Black Templars that came to there aid on Varadon. Another icon is the wolfs head. This icon is mostly found on the veterans. It honors the original chapter and its Brothers that fought to the last.

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