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This article, Knights Cerulean, was written by ZeVvardenfan. Please do not edit or 'acquire' this fiction without the writer's permission. |
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The Knights Cerulean are a non-Codex-compliant Loyalist Space Marine Chapter created during an Unknown Founding and from unknown gene-seed. Their origins are buried beneath layers of myth, half-truths, and deliberate obfuscation. Their existence is an enigma wrapped in secrecy. They are an isolationist and aloof brotherhood, wary of outsiders and unyielding in their silence. To seek knowledge of their past is to invite cold dismissal at best, or hostile reprisal at worst.
Once, however, they were formerly known as the Brazen Blades, a bellicose and unrelenting Chapter born from the stoic and unbreakable Imperial Fists. As a proud Sons of Dorn, the Brazen Blades were headstrong and valorous, a force that met the galaxy's horrors with unflinching defiance. Yet, by the dawn of the 36th Millennium, this once-proud Chapter vanished from the annals of history. No one outside the Knights Cerulean's highest echelons knows what truly transpired in that dark and distant past, and those who seek to uncover it find only stone-faced silence or veiled threats. Some whisper of a penance unfulfilled, a sin too great to be spoken, or a betrayal so grave that only secrecy preserves their continued existence.
Despite their reclusive nature, the Knights Cerulean are not a dormant Chapter. They ply the void on an eternal crusade, ranging across the length and breadth of the known galaxy. They are warriors without borders, striking at the Imperium's enemies with measured fury and chilling precision. Where they wage war, they leave little trace of themselves - save for the ruins of their foes. They neither seek nor desire recognition; theirs is a duty performed in shadow, their purpose known only to themselves.
To the Imperium at large, they are a paradox - a Chapter of ghosts, both present and absent, known yet unknowable. What drives them remains locked within the cold vaults of their own history, buried beneath their unyielding silence. Whether their fate is one of redemption or damnation is known only to the Knights Cerulean themselves.
Chapter History
The Knights Cerulean have their secrets. In fact, their origins are not just forgotten, they have been actively erased. In fact, the Chapter was founded by the survivors of the older Chapter of the Brazen Blades. Once proud successors of the Imperial Fists, the Brazen Blades were wiped out at the dawn of the 36th Millennium.
The events are unclear. What is known to few initiates - mainly the Knights Cerulean command and the Chapter's Chaplains - is that the last deployment of the Brazen Blades led them against an Ork WAAAGH!!! on a factory world. According to the governor's wishes, the Blades renounced to protect the civilians, evicting them from Imperial facilities for strategic relevance. Thus, they doomed the people to the orks' savagery but also to the terrible vices of Slaaneshii warbands. Not only did they looked at thousands of civilians dying in horrible and sordid ways, but they also witnessed the death of several Astartes from the Salamanders Chapter in charge of the overall operations at the time in an attempt to rescue the said people.
The civilians eventually turned on the Astartes in a plot orchestrated by Slaaneshii agents in the government, and the Brazen Blades had to take numerous citizens down themselves. Until a sergeant of the 3rd Company, unable to bear the atrocities he inflicted (though indirectly) to the civilians, let an angry mob strike him down.
The event shook the resolve of the Brazen Blades, almost leading to defeat. In the end, the Slaaneshii warband was scattered, as well as the orks, with the help of additional Salamanders Astartes. The campaign took a heavy toll on the Chapter, its Chapter Master having died in the final battles. Escorted home to their fortress-monastery by the Salamanders, the surviving Blades were eager listeners to the precepts of the Sons of Vulkan, and began questioning their values, inspired by the 3rd Company sergeant's heroic sacrifice.
Yet their struggle was not over, as the Slaaneshii warband followed on the remaining Astartes. Few days after they settled back in their fortress-monastery, the Slaaneshii warband attacked them by surprise. It quickly became obvious the Chapter was doomed. Time for introspection was gone, it was time for penance. The most repentant Brazen Blades took upon themselves to set a trap in the fortress-monastery, and fought to their last breath, annihilating the warband along with them. Doing so, they sent the few remnants of the 4th and 6th company away.
Inspired by this sacrifice, mourning their own failures, the remaining Blades decided to erase the Chapter from official records, and spent the next hundred years to rebuild a new Chapter, with renewed values and objectives. The Knights Cerulean stepped out of the warp one day, and they are still roaming the galaxy, following their new creed, seeking to be the protector angels of Mankind.
Chapter Homeworld
The Chapter is fleet-based, and wanders through the galaxy in search of campaigns to fight.
Fortress-Monastery
Chapter Organisation
Indeed, the Chapter counts a dozen captains. Yet these companies are not permanent, to the exception of the scout company. Called numeri (singular, a numerus), the companies are not identified by their number, but by their captain's name. Moreover, numeri are gathered by a captain accordingly to assignment need, and disbanded once the campaign has been completed.
Yet the Chapter always takes care not to dispatch all its forces throughout the galaxy. A minimal contingent, designated as numerus comitatenses, has to remain with the fleet at all times, under direct command of the Chapter Master.
Finally, if scouts of the numerus exploratores are under command of the most senior captain in the chapter, their role necessitates to spread them throughout the different numeri. To do so, a captain gathering a numerus requisitions as many scouts as he deems necessary in a so called vexillatio exploratores. The chosen scouts have then to designate a sergeant among their ranks for the duration of the campaign.
As a result of their organisation, the Knights Cerulean do not observe the limit of one thousand astartes, though exact numbers have greatly varied throughout the Chapter's history.
Officer Ranks
Specialist Ranks
Line Ranks
Specialist Units & Formations
Order of Battle
Headquarters
Companies
Chapter Beliefs
This strong focus on protection of human life is part of the Chapter's creed, and its Chaplains see to cultivate this devotion in their brothers. Not only do the Knights Cerulean take care to protect civilians, but they also see to protect members of the Astra Militarum whenever they can. It is not rare to see a Knight Cerulean get in the way of shots and strikes aimed at the Guard to protect their lives. As a result, the Knights Cerulean are highly appreciated by both civilians and guardsmen. If they do not seek admiration and thankfulness, the Knights proudly harbor the names of the ones expressing their gratitude to them on their purity seals. Those are often commoners and lower ranking guardsmen names, sometimes fellow astartes, quite rarely higher ranking officers or governors.
To the contrary, the Knights Cerulean grieve all lives they could not save, and even more the ones who died due to their actions. Chaplains keep extensive records, known as the Books of Mourning, of all the names of trespassed men, women and guardsmen the Knights could not protect. Those names are chanted in the prayers of the Chapter as a reminder of their most sacred mission.
But it happens that people die because of the Knights. Be it hasty planification, unforeseen complications, the reasons are many. Such events are submitted to the numerus command, which issues a penance for the faulty brothers, most often the officer in charge at the time, unless men under his command insist to share the blame. Is the astartes found guilty of negligence, his forearms are painted red, to remind him of the blood he -literally- has on his hands. However, Knights Cerulean are seldom judged guilty, as hundreds of years have made them deeply caring and careful. Yet, human life is so sacred to them that innocent brothers almost always chose to still have their forearms painted red.
Be it as a result of judgement or by choice, "bloodhanded" Knights often chose to also mourn the lives they lost by painting their helmet and backpack in black. Doing so, they notify their brethren that they deem their fault can only be forgiven in death. Knights wearing black do not wish to be saved, and will be left behind in case of emergency withdrawal, buying time for others by sacrificing their lives.
This tradition of caring and mourning is reflected in the way the Knights Cerulean behave. They talk few, only to state the essential. They are humble, never proud, yet strong-headed when it comes to their creed and mission. They spend much time in prayer, alone or with their brethren, and their cowls are a marker of their humility.
Gene-Seed
Genetic Flaws
Combat Doctrine
In battle, the Knights Cerulean tend to settle solid defense lines first, making extensive use of mobile artillery and tanks to dissuade the enemy to approach. As they do so, their exploratores draw the best picture of the tactical situation. Only once the battlefield is known do the Cerulean captains put things into motion by planning chirurgical and decisive strikes. As such, if the Knights Cerulean are highly appreciated by the Astra Militarum command, they tend to be deemed too slow to take action and greatly underestimated by many of their astartes brethren.
Other strategic disagreements arose throughout their campaigns due to their very specific priority setting. Indeed, the Knights Cerulean focus first on the defense of human lives, drawing their battle lines to ensure first the security of civilians. Even more, they actively participate in establishment of campaign hospitals. When time allows, the numerous apothecaries of the Chapter lend a hand to tend even to the wounds of the most humble. As a result, disagreements arise regularly with other Chapters less caring of protecting lives, and even more with governors and other rulers more worried by the material integrity of their fief than by the survival of their people.
Deathwatch Service
Notable Space Marines
Chapter Fleet
Chapter Relics
Chapter Appearance
Chapter Colours
The Chapter's armor is mainly dark blue, with white shoulder pads, and light grey forearms. The adornments are pale silver, and the Knights wear often -yet not systematically- cowls.
The Knights Cerulean decorate their armors with elements resembling to many other chapters: Ultramarines, Dark Angels, Imperial Fists, even Blood Angels, adding to the difficulty to trace their lineage back. The right knee pad shows a simple demarcation of their battle role: a vertical line for battle line astartes, an horizontal one for fire support units and a diagonal one for close support brothers. Only the left knee pad consistently shows a white templar cross on blue background.
The Knights Cerulean bear no company nor squad marking. If squads are a rather stable unit, it is not true of the companies.
Chapter Badge
On the left shoulder pad, they harbor a light grey skull with a pale blue cowl, and their right shoulder is immaculate white , with no marking of any sort.
Relations
Allies
Enemies
Notable Quotes
By: Knights Cerulean
About: Knights Cerulean
Gallery