Battencian Heralds

The Battencian Heralds are a Loyalist 24th Founding Successor Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes whom are descended from the proud lineage of the First Founding w:c:warhammer40k:Blood Angels Blood Angels Chapter. Despite their heritage as being Scions of Sanguinius, one would assume this Chapter has a preference for shock assault and close-quarters tactics. But surprisingly, this is actually the Chapter's secondary focus, as they prefer to make use of mass-theatre fire and manouvre tactics. Despite their differences with their fellow Chapters of the Blood, the Battencian Heralds are a noble and proud Chapter, willingly to sacrifice themselves for the cause of the greater good.

Chapter History
The Planet of Battencia was first discovered by humanity during the Dark Age of Technology. The planet was colonized and blossomed into a successful colony world. Once Old Night fell and the Age of Strife began, the Planetary Governor limited Warp travel to the system's immediate neighbors. Realizing that contact had been lost with Terra, the Battencia system centralized and annexed its neighbors, carving out its own empire.

Millennia later, during the Great Crusade, an Expeditionary Fleet under the Primarch Sanguinius arrived at the Battencia system. After 3 days of negotiations, the Battencians agreed to embrace the Imperium.

Throughout the next Millennia, Battencia became a prosperous Imperial system, and a neighboring planet, Epipolae, became an Adeptus Mechanicus Forge World. When the Imperium descended into the darkness of the Horus Heresy, the Battencia system stayed loyal, ramping up its war production to help arm the Imperium to fight its greatest battle.

Notable Campaigns
The Battencian Sieges 790.M40-847.M40 The Battencian Sieges was the baptism of fire for the Heralds. A minor Warp Rift opened in the Zylos subsector and a large chaotic force, lead by Word Bearers and Thousand Sons, attacked the subsector. After 30 years of war, and some initial victories, the Chaotic forces brutally beat the Imperials, and split up. The Word Bearers laid siege to Battencia, and the Thousand Sons besieged Estrillon, the homeworld of the Angels Tempestus. The Siege of Battencia lasted for 5 years, and after the final Chaotic assaults were broken and the besieging forces annihilated, the battered Heralds took to the Warp, arriving just on time alongside Angels Tempestus reinforcements to relieve Estrillon. The war's final 22 years were spent chasing down the Heretics, and annihilated the Chaotic cults left by the Word Bearers wherever they could be found. The Angels Tempestus disagreed with the Ordo Hereticus' methods of mass purging to get rid of these cults, and an intense diplomatic situation ensued. The Heralds were divided on what to do, but after Kyudor Albexus intervened, they began to aid in evacuating innocent civilians facing the Inquisiton's wrath. Tensions have since cooled, especially with the ascension of a former Inquisitorial Acolyte to the rank of Chapter Master.

The Devastation of Baal 999.M41 In late 999.M41, the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan set upon Baal itself. As the mass Tyranid forces approached, the Blood Angels sent out a request for aid from all of their Successor Chapters, and all of them, save the Lamenters, who were off in the rim of the galaxy on a penitence crusade, responded.This includes the Heralds. The entire Chapter arrived to stand with their brothers in defense of their gene sire’s home. They fought brutal battles for Baal and its two moons, with many losses sustained on both sides. Nineteen times the Tyranids came at them, and nineteen times they were beaten back. The Heralds would sustain cutting and grievous losses. The 11th company, the Heralds’ Death Company, was wiped out to the last man, the Astartes of that unit cutting down scores of Tyranids for each man lost in a final last stand upon Baal Primus. When the Great Rift opened and Daemons entered the fray, wiping out Baal Primus, half of the 6th company fell with it. The First Company was also mauled. However, arguably the worst loss of the campaign was that of Kyudor Albexus.

The Chapter Master, long revered by all Battencian Heralds as a legend, who had been Chapter Master for as long as even the oldest non-Dreadnought members could remember, fell in battle. He was mortally wounded in single combat against a Tyranid Hive Tyrant, who he slew before succumbing to his wounds. 1st and 2nd companies launched a fierce strike, breaking Tyranid lines to recover his body. The Remnants of the 6th company, as well as the battle-weary remnants of the 4th, offered to serve as part of the rearguard when an evacuation was decided upon. The Knights of Blood instead stepped up to the plate, sacrificing themselves so their brothers could escape. When the Indomitus Crusade forces arrived in orbit, the entire Blood Angels force, the Heralds included, wheeled around and slammed into the planet. Ajax Belletores, now Chapter Master, led the Heralds once again into battle against the Xenos menace, fighting directly alongside Lord Commander Dante in the latter part of the campaign. The combined forces of the Indomitus Crusade and the Blood Angels butchered their way through the Tyranids on Baal and reclaimed the homeworld of the Emperor’s most loyal son.

In the aftermath of the Devastation of Baal, the Primaris Astartes gifted to them by Primarch Roboute Guilliman were gratefully accepted into service. Some of the members of the Chapter greated them at first with apprehension, but they have proved themselves loyal brothers. Now, the Chapter has mostly recovered. The 6th company remains short on men, and the Death Company has yet to be reformed. As more Primaris marines, who don’t seem to suffer from the Black Rage, join the chapter, there is serious question as to if it will ever be reformed.

The Salvation Campaign 015-020.M42

A few years after the formation of the Great Rift, Imperial forces in the Asteria sector noticed a weakness in it near their home system. So, they sent out a call for Imperial aid to breach through the Rift and establish a safe route to the rest of the Imperium. This call reached the Zylos subsector, and the Battencian Heralds and the Angels Tempestus responded, leading a force that represented the combined might of the subsector. The Allied Fleets met up in the Abean system in 015. The Adeptus Mechanicus among them began to set up a series of space stations to provide logistical support to the expedition. They got as many Psykers as they could together, under the join lead of the Libarius of the Battencian Heralds and Penitent Knights. It took three days for them to pass the veil of the rift, and many died in the attempt, but eventually the cloud of the rift was lifted and the Imperial forces could see their goal. The Rift was being projected by a Daemon World of Tzeentch, aptly named “Roadblock” by Ajax Belletores. It’s destruction could make the rift weak enough to be passable safely. Resolving to destroy this planet, the fleet entered the Warp. En route to Roadblock, however, the Harbinger of Light, which had been hosting a war council of the allied leaders, had a Gellar Field flicker, and the ship was boarded. It was only through extremely fierce close quarters fighting that the Daemons and Heretic Astartes of Tzeench were cleared from its corridors.

When the Harbinger of Light finally arrived, The Battle of Roadblock began. A Chaotic Fleet defended the planet, and they had to be driven off. Several ships possessed Cyclonic Torpedoes, and the objective was to get into a firing position and destroy the planet. The fleet formed a Line Ahead and launched strike craft. The Heretics tried to perform hit and run attacks as the line formed, but the line held, dispersing the Chaotic fleet with intense volleys.The lines snaked towards the planet, moving perfectly in a full line until they closed to range. Volleys tore into the heretical fleet as the two forces made passes.The Imperials took a pounding, but it was dwarfed by the one they inflicted. The Chaotic fleet wasn’t really ready for such a huge force. As the strike craft made their run, the Angels Tempestus’ contingent broke off, and the Talon of Estrillon lined up its prow with Roadblock and fired a cyclonic torpedo. It was a direct hit, and the planet was shattered. Every psyker in the force, and those in a considerable radius, felt the Warp shift as the Rift weakened.

Upon the ruins of Roadblock, another great station was constructed.This station was christened Salvation, as it would be the Salvation of those who sought to traverse the Rift and cross between the two halves of the Imperium. There were several still Chaotic systems directly within the bridge, and they could heavily limit the mobility along it. They had to be purged if Rift was to be traversable. The Imperials split there forces, and with relative ease accomplished this task, stabilizing the Rift Bridge and providing one of a vital few passages between Segmentums Obscurus and Solar.

The Skaventide 120-.M42

(Coming Soon)

Homeworld
Battencia is an earth-like civilized planet in the Battencia system, the capital of the Zylos subsector, within the Segmentum Obscurus. It has several incredibly harsh climates, including an equitorial rainforest concentrated on several tropical islands, a mountainous Northern Tundra, and deep forests that host a variety of incredibly dangerous predators, most notably the Chimera from which the Chapter derives its symbol. The

Gene-seed
The Battencian Heralds are descendants of the Blood Angels, and thus carry the Gene-seed of the Primarch Sanguinius. Despite this, they don't tend towards close combat as many other Blood Angels successors do. This has sparked some rumors that they aren't truly sons of the Angel, but such rumors lack any evidence to support them, and the Heralds themselves fervently deny it. They also do suffer from the Red Thirst and Black Rage, but they do not have a Death Company. After its annihilation on Baal, it was not reconstituted.

Recruitment
The Battencian Heralds take Neophytes from the Battencia systems and its neighbours in the Zylos subsector. Recruits are taken voluntarily into the Chapter, with children being interviewed and examined by Chapter serfs to determine if they have the physical and emotional strength to make it within the chapter. Children as young as five years of age and as old as ten years of age are accepted into the Chapter. Children are put through a training regimen that gets progressively tougher as they grow. The earlier stages of training consists of typical things like forced marches, drill, and an intense training course within the Chapter’s Fortress Monastery .During this phase, the recruits will be put into training companies of 30.

At the age of 10 or after 18 months of training, the Neophyte will be forced to undergo a trial. This is a place where the Heralds are different from many other Chapters, where normally the aspirant has to pass a trial to even begin training. Sometimes Aspirant on Aspirant duels will be practiced, to first blood or to a yield, but this is uncommon and totally at the discretion of the official overseeing that particular batch of recruitment, be it a high-ranking Serf or a full Battle Brother. The trial can vary, and some older Aspriants are given their choice of a challenge. Sometimes, the Aspriant will be dropped into the forests of Eador, the underhive of Chiraq, the ash wastes of Triton, the abandoned mines of Epipolae, or a number of other hostile locations around the Zylos subsector, where they will either have to survive a set amount of time or complete another objective, which could include assassinating a certain target, traveling a great distance over unfamiliar terrain, or destablizing or eliminating an organization by any means. Sometimes they will have to face a Battle Brother in melee combat, with those who hold well being accepted regardless of failure, though this is probably the least common of all Trials the Heralds administer. It is only after they complete one of these trials and are judged successful by the Chapter that their augmentation begins.

As the Neophytes mature and begin the augmentation process, the rigors of their training increases further. Forced marches become longer, and recruits are pushed to complete the course faster and faster. Recruits will be sent out on long range patrols, either to test their endurance and survival skills, or as a further test, allowing them to act as Peacekeepers among the local population and seeing how they manage. These patrols are all done under the watchful eye of a Battle Brother, and they can be done off world. The island of Guranya, near Battencia’s equator, is a common spot for these, being an inhospitable, dense jungle pretty much all over the island.

Also around this time, they begin their advanced combat training. Target shooting and sparring with dummy melee weapons was a common occurrence throughout the first stage of the training, but now it intensifies, with them running training exercises all around Battencia in different climates and states. Battlefield tactics are instructed by the Brothers set to watch over the training, and Recruits’ task vary, from having squad-squad firefights with simulated ammunition, to having to engage targets under battlefield conditions. Many of these training exercises are live fire, and a premium is put on realism, especially as the training advances further.

There was one occurrence recorded around 550.M41 where a squad of Neophytes conducting a training exercise happened upon a Tau patrol that had snuck onto the planet. As they began to receive fire, the Neophytes reacted as they had been trained to and managed to wipe out the patrol without realizing that it wasn’t part of the exercise. Once all of the gene-seed organs save the Black Carapace have been installed, the Recruits have to pass yet another challenge. Considered the end of their training, the challenge can occur on Battencia or in another world. It is a homogeny of several of their initial Trials. The recruits will have to navigate and move a long way over difficult terrain, either in the wilderness, a hive city, or other such locations. After this trek, which could be interrupted by other challenges en route rigged by the Chapter, they will have to complete a preset objective. This usually involves killing a Xenos warrior, major predator, or other such a foe. Usually, they will be issued their Bolter before this challenge, and be allowed to employ it in the struggle. Sometimes, they will only have their own body, honed to a fine edge by this point from years of training and what they can craft during their trek.

Upon the successful completion of this challenge by a batch of recruits, a great ceremony will be held in the Fortress-Monastery where they are issued with Scout Armor and kit and officially declared Combat Scouts of the Battencian Heralds. The survivors of the initial training Companies of 30, which would be replenished by new recruits if numbers dropped below 10, would be divided into Squads of 10, ready to be sent out into the Galaxy attached to various Heralds detachments and formed into scratch companies by the local commander for use in action. Command of the squad can vary. Sometimes, a more experienced Scout will be moved out of his squad and into the new one as Sergeant, but usually a Sergeant will be picked from the Squad, with interviews being conducted to determine which of the Scouts is more suitable for command.

Combat Doctrine
The Battencian Heralds are Blood Angels Successors, so naturally there is an inclination to engage in close-quarters melee combat. Unlike most of their brother Chapters, this is actually a secondary focus. Their primary focus is fire and manouvre tactics. Elements take turn laying suppressing fire upon the enemy and manoeuvring to destroy them. These elements can be squads, platoons, or in the Chapter’s largest engagements even full companies. Devastators are used to great effect in the former regard. They have knowledge in siege warfare as well, due to the great war that was the Battencian Sieges, where the chapter first bloodied themselves. During that conflict, many of the decisive battles were, as the name implies, sieges. In a field battle, the crews of the Heralds’ transports, be they Rhinos, Razorbacks, Thunderhawks, or anything in between, specialize in quickly deploying and redeploying Battle-Brothers and then sticking around to use mounted heavy weapons as fire support. They also like to employ their aircraft, especially Thunderhawk gunships, as close air support.

Chapter Colours
The Battencian Heralds' armor is a dark red and a dark green, with the right being predominantly red and the left being predominantly green. The arms, shoulder trim, and shins are of the other side's color.

Chapter Badge
The Chapter's logo depicts a Chimera, a majestic but vicious apex predator native to Battencia.

Chapter Fleet
The Battencian Heralds possess a sizable fleet under the command of their Master of the Fleet, Themistocles Roth. They possess three Battle Barges, two of which, The Emperor's Fury and The Angel's Hammer are permanent elements of the Chapter Fleet, while the Harbinger of Light serves as Ajax Belletores' personal flagship. Five Strike Cruisers are attached to the standing fleet, and each Company has one. The Escort craft are divided between various squadrons and Company fleets.

Allies
The Angels Tempestus The Astral Warriors The Penitent Knights Fists of the Gorgon

Notable Quotes
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By the Battencian Heralds
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