Maws of Fenris

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Maws of Fenris
Maw of Fenris Armorial
Primaris Marine Battle-Brother Armodus, of the Maws of Fenris For (4th) Company.
Space Marine Chapter
Allegiance	Imperium of Man (Fedelitas Sine Recurso)
Founding	Ultima Founding (999.M41)
Successor of	Space Wolves (Primarch Leman Russ)
Chapter Master	Varg Master Olof Styrsson
Homeworld	Tûndar (Feral World)
Fortress-Monastery	The Wolf Pit
Allies	(To be added)
Number of Marines	Approximately 1,000 Astartes
Specialty	Close Combat, Assault, Close Fire Support and Counter-Assault
Battle Cry	"Øjor va Fangr! Va Leman Russ!" ("Glory to wolf within! To Leman Russ!")
Colours	Steel Grey, Grey and Crimson
Successor Chapter(s)	Unknown

The Maws of Fenris is a Loyalist Codex Astartes-compliant Space Marine Chapter born of the recent Ultima Founding, and a Successor Chapter of the Space Wolves, composed entirely of Primaris Space Marines. The Maws of Fenris were amongst the first of the Primaris Chapters created in the Ultima Founding. The Maws of Fenris' homeworld is Tûndar, located in the Ultima Segmentum. Though their battle record is still growing, they have already established themselves, having fought against the Orks and the Forces of Chaos.

Chapter History

Wandering Hounds

"Brother Styrsson is so boneheaded, that he could use it as a battering ram against an Fellblade and survive from the encounter. Someone else could admire such decisiveness in a man, but I can not but fear that if Styrsson doesn't learn to make an judgement call when facing an impervious resistance, he will eventually doom all of those who follow him."

—Lieutenant Sarkis, Unnumbered Sons

Chapter Banner of the Maws of Fenris.

As the Indomitus Crusade came to an end, new Chapters consisting entirely of Primaris Space Marines were founded. The majority of these new Chapters were created from the gene-seed of the Ultramarines, the most stable and enduring Astartes genetic material available. But the gene-seeds of other First Founding Chapters were also used, and in the case of the Maws of Fenris the gene-seed of the Space Wolves.

The Maws of Fenris Chapter’s members were selected by Guilliman from those Fenrisian Primaris who had been most recently initiated into the Unnumbered Sons of the Primarchs, with the exeption of its leaders, who were all Veterans. The newly founded Chapter’s first Chapter Master was Olof Styrsson, a Battle-Brother whose dogged character had caught his superiors’ attentions countless times.

Known as much for his husky physique and bellicose nature as his leadership and tactical experience, Styrsson has led the Maws of Fenris for the first standard decades of their existence. During this time, he did much to shape their interpretation of the Codex Astartes and their combat doctrines.

Following their founding, the Maws of Fenris were a fleet-based Chapter for the next one and a half Terran decades, much like their brother Chapter the Dawn’s Wolves. The Maws of Fenris travelled throughout the Imperium’s eastern borders, defeating the enemies of the humanity. Their Strike Cruiser Fenrisian Spirit served as their mobile fortress-monastery, though a small fleet of additional Strike Cruisers supported it.

While some of the Chapters formed during the Ultima Founding, such as the Rift Stalkers, were committed to remain after the initial conflicts were won, seeking to consolidate the Indomitus Crusade’s gains, the Maws of Fenris was granted the solitary duty of seeking out the imperiled planets across the very eastern galactic edge of the Ultima Segmentum, and free them from the tyranny of the Dark Gods and xeno filth. Some of their missions drove them as far as within the borders of the Eastern Fringe, and its unexplored areas.

Across the galactic years, the Maws of Fenris build a reputation of loyal service and utter competency in the fight against any who would oppose the Imperium of Man. Much of their action was focused within the Ultimate Segmentum, but this was not the only region of the galaxy in which they defended the realm of the Emperor.

In those earliest days, the Chapter often operated in small cadres of less than a dozen. The operations to which they were assigned put their posthuman physique to test in a way quite unlike any of the battlefields that they had experienced before.

Ever on the move, and far beyond the borders of the Imperium’s vast dominion, the Maws of Fenris endured the worst of the destruction wrought on Imperial planets during the ravages of the 13th Black Crusade and the birth of the Great Rift in 999.M41.

Roaming far and wide, it was the Chapter’s like the Maws of Fenris who ushered the reclamation of the celestial bodies, rightfully belonging to the humanity, running ahead of the massed re-colonization troops and hunting the enemies from their paths.

Where they encountered perilous xenos species or decadent Planetary Governments that had sided with the Archenemy, they prowled the borders seeking the opportunity to strike, and where they encountered an opening, they left behind only corpses. By the time the re-colonization fleets arrived, they were met by the aftermath of carnage and destruction.

Yet it was a task without glory. They operated for Terran years at a time far from the meaningful conflicts like the Plague Wars of Ultramar. Once the Maws of Fenris had finished their bloody work in annihilating the enemies of the Imperium, the colonization troops marched forth to include the conquered domains into the Imperium of Man. At times amongst these troops were Adepts from the Historical Revision Unit of the Adeptus Administratum, whose sole purpose was to revise the planets’ history into versions that were more reverent towards the Imperium, often leaving out their bloody recapture and thus disregarding the personal sacrifices of the Maws of Fenris’ warriors.

At the Brink of Extinction

Here, in these long years, was the basis of the Maws of Fenris’ mastery of hunter-killer tactics established by the necessity of their mission. They were rarely more than one hundred against the xeno empires beyond the edge of the maps, the brave few standing against the terrors of the outer dark far from aid and support.

They struck without mercy, raiding, and killing, wearing down the foe in the all-out frontal assault, always howling at the tops of their lungs.

Despite their noble task as the protectors of the mankind, Varg Master Styrsson had an underlying mission that he had addressed upon to himself. For he was determined to discover a planet, worthy to be called the homeworld of the Maws of Fenris Chapter.

During their pilgrimage, the Chapter didn't recruit any Neophytes from any of the inhabited human worlds they encountered. The real reason for this behavior is known only by the Varg Master himself and those few whom he keeps trust worthy, but rumors say that Styrsson was so adamant with his quest of finding a homeworld for his Chapter, that he didn't consent to recruit new Battle-Brothers before they had found a place that they could call home. In the course of time, Varg Master's stubbornest nearly doomed his Chapter's future.

In those early days, the Chapter lived by one belief system: each new day was a victory. Survival against impossible odds was a challenge they faced, one they defeated by relishing the thrill of close combat and with willingness to sacrifice everything in the name of victory. Each battle cost them a little more, one more brother dead or one more war machine damaged beyond repair, and as they fought further into the outer reaches of the galaxy, they found fewer and fewer changes to recoup their losses.

Slowly and surely the Chapter was being eroded by the pressures of the battlefields and their Varg Master’s stubborn dedication to prosecuting their duty in his own way. The idea of asking for aid or to yield from his convictions tasted worse than the ashes of his Chapter’s potential demise.

In the early century of M42, after a string of brutal battles around the borders of the Ultima Segmentum against the forces of Eldar Craftworld Saim-Hann, the 1st Company - the Galaxy-gnawers - received a distress call from the Vagabond class merchant trader Spoils of Virtue, near a barren Dead World of Valos. This cry for help reported an attack by the Acid Basilisks supposedly fighting in the name of the Daemon known as the Crimson Behemoth. Varg Lord Varulv was quick to respond, leaving a token force to keep watch for the Eldars and taking a complement of more than two thirds of the Company’s battle-brothers in search of the Traitors.

The Maws of Fenris strike force reached the last known coordinates of the Vagabond to find the craft drifting, mangled and utterly alone. There was no trace of the Traitor Space Marines, except the devastation that they had left behind. To search of any survivors of the vessel’s crew and wary of any possible enemy presence aboard the ship, Varg Lord Varulv led a full-scale boarding action. The initial stage of the boarding went with little problem, but soon the traitors struck, opening fire with Flamer weapons. Within thirty solar minutes, Acid Basilisks were rousing from their hideaways in great numbers and Varulv committed his reserves to bolster the defensive perimeter around the boarding site, leading the reinforcements himself.

The Galaxy-gnawers fought back hard, yet the Acid Basilisks outnumbered the Maws of Fenris several times over, and their well-executed ambush had lent them the element of surprise. Gradually the warriors of the 1^st Company were torn apart by lethal promethium bombardments. Only a fraction of Varulv’s and Jormuns’ forces escaped the ambush on Spoils of Virtue alive. The action had been a catastrophe for the Chapter. Not only the shame of defeat would weigh down on the shoulders of those who survived, but the failed mission had heavily depleted the ranks of already thinly stretched Chapter.

Notable Campaigns

• Spoils of Virtue (Unknown Date.M42) - The Maws of Fenris faced the thread of an warband of Chaos Space Marines housed in a merchant trader known as Spoils of Virtue near a barren Dead World of Valos. The Chapter sustained a high number of casualties during the engagement, which forced them into hasten their search for a suitable planet to become their homeworld.
• Deliverence of Tûndar - the Quest's End (124.M42) - Olof Styrsson learned of coup d’etat on a barren Feral World of Tûndar, led by the Cult of Black Rage. The Varg Master led his troops against the heretics, and the two forces clashed in the gore-soaked gates of Ambra City. Acting quickly, the Primaris Space Marines managed to siege the former city of Planetary Government, sealing the Chaos Cultists inside its walls. According to the Imperial records, acts of cannibalism were performed by the Cultist during the six-day long siege. After the Cult of Black Rage was vanquished and its leader slain, the Varg Master Styrsson ordered the Ambra City to be razed and its remaining citizens turned into Servitors. These courses of action were made to ensure that no trace of chaos filth would remain on the planet. The Deliverence of Tûndar also saw the end for the Maws of Fenris' years long quest for a Chapter Homeworld, as the Chapter restored the planet to the control of the Imperium and the Varg Master Styrsson took the rank of Planetary Governor and Imperial Commander.
• Ibsen War (Unknown Date.M42) – A conflict that occurred in the Ibsen system, when the Planetary Governor Saydae attempted to unite the gangs of her homeworld, Ibsen II, and conquer the Ibsen system. Rising to become the warlord of the Ibsen II, Saydae sought to unify the other planets’ aristocracy under a single leader. The Planetary Governor of Ibsen I resisted this, which lead in a war between the two worlds. The agents of the Emperor’s Inquisition saw Governor Saydae’s plans as a threat to the Imperium, deciding to launch a crusade on Ibsen II, accompanied by two packs of Maws of Fenris Astartes. Saydae was killed during an attack at the Ibsen II Citadel. Saydae’s death ended the war, but not before there were a hundred thousand Ibsenian casualties. Tensions in the Ibsen system remained high following the war.
  • Ambush on Braan – The Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus send Maws of Fenris and Inquisitorial Black ships to retake Braan, the moon of Ibsen I, that hosted part of Saydae’s army. The Black ships bombarded the northern regions of the moon, providing a diversion while the Primaris Astartes used Drop Pods to infiltrate the surface. They were soon ambushed by a group of Ibsenian renegade warriors, but the Maws of Fenris defeated Saydae’s soldier with no casualties on their side.
  • Battle of Ibsen II Citadel – The final battle of the Ibsen War.
• Downfall of the Lupine Beast (127.M42) - The Maws of Fenris were send to destabilise Chaos threat from Acteron Sector's Subsector, Pandraxx. After many solar weeks of fighting, Chaos Space Marine warband, the Acid Basilisks, started their hasty retreat back into Eye of Terror. Varg Lord Gorebjorn was not willing to let their Chapter's archenemies to escape, so he ordered his whole 3^rd Company, the Bloodhounds, to chase after the Chaos Space Marines into the Warp. On that fateful day, the whole 3rd Company was lost into the Warp on their Strike Cruiser Thirsting Fang.
• Battle of Masquet (Unknown Date.M42) – Ground assault units of the Maws of Fenris participate in the failed Loyalist attempt to retake the world of Masquet from Renegade Traitors.

Chapter Homeworld

The Maws of Fenris claimed the world of Tûndar, a planet on the edge of the Ultima Segmentum. Tûndar is a Feral World with Terran Iron Age level technology.

Tûndar, showing the continents of the Feral World.

It is a vast planet, with vast steppes, huge marshes and permafrost that cover both polar regions. It has very windy climate conditions, and its winters are long, extremely cold and stormy, when its summers are brief and chilly. The people of Tûndar are bold and reserved folk, feared warriors and expert hunters. To Tûndarians, the Maws of Fenris are known only as the "Warrior Spirits", apparitions of their fallen kinsmen who have met their end on the hunt or on the battlefield.

The humans that make Tûndar their home live in a low-technology Iron Age society. Small tribes cover the planet, each ruled by king or a chieftain. Hunting is seen as the highest art, and every Tûndarian must down his prey without weapon as a rite of passage.

Before Tûndar was liberated by the Maws of Fenris, the planet spent several Terran months under the control of the Cult of Black Rage. This Khorne-worshiping cult, comprehending members from the Planetary Government and from the forces of Planetary Defense Force, unleashed an uprising by assassinating Tûndar's Planetary Governor Katerina II, which was a start for their "Revolution of Blood".

This dark period ended when the forces of the Indomitus Crusade arrived. The Maws of Fenris cleansed the Cult of Black Rage from the planet and saved those Tûndarian tribes who remained uncorrupted.

The Wolf Pit

The Maws of Fenris’ fortress-monastery, known as The Wolf Pit and the Fêlla by its inhabitants, is a massive complex built on a rocky prominence above Untersrike, the deepest valley of northwestern Tûndar. The Wolf Pit is the home base of the Maws of Fenris and is a rectangular fortress with casemates that extend into the surrounding cliff range. The fortress has two distinct levels. The upper part has conventional battlements whereas the lower part has numerous gun ports in autonomous casemates that were designed to offer mutual protection if attacked. The complex includes huge ground-based anti-ship orbital defense laser weapons, docks at the summit for the Maws of Fenris' Battle Barges and Strike Cruisers, numerous shrines to the Emperor and Primarch Leman Russ, and massive fusion and geothermal reactors deep underground. It has never been conquered, although a legion of Wulfen, the Maws of Fenris’ most ashamed secret, did manage to briefly occupy the outer parts of The Wolf Pit during the Rising of the Wulfen in the 42nd Millennium.

Recruitment of a Maw of Fenris

On Tûndar, every nine years a great festival is held where the attendance of all inhabitants of the Tûndarian tribes is required. At these festivals’ boys between the ages of 10 to 14 are brought together to duel one another in unarmed fights. Usually these duels happen nonstop for nine days, until only small number remain. After the days of constant fights are ended, the remaining boys spend a night of singing and dancing with the members of their tribes. They drink a mixture of animal’s blood and alcohol and eat piles and piles of meat. For this is the last time they’ll ever see their kinsmen again. At dawn, after the festivities, huge, fur-clad creatures with wolf’s head arrive and take the remaining boys away, never to be seen again. The tribesmen do not mourn the loss of their youths, for they know they have been chosen to live among the gods, serving as the champions of the Allfather. The mysterious strangers that select these young warriors are the Varg Priests of the Maws of Fenris, Choosers of the Bolds. The youths they pick will be tested sorely, for if they have true strength in their hearts, the legacy of Leman Russ will be implanted in their bodies, and they will ultimately become Primaris Space Marines.

Once chosen the Aspirants are taken to training camps, where the boys undergo severe beating and lashings. The purpose is to toughen up the boys and to prepare them to live as Maws of Fenris’ warriors. At these camps the Aspirants learn and train, engaging in grueling challenges of skill, endurance and cunning designed to weed out the unworthy. The Aspirants are forced to train as teams, working together as Packs to succeed or fail together. These training Packs must face the harshness of nature, the depredations of the wild monsters, and the exacting expectations of the training officers. Only those who have proven themselves worthy are at last brought into the Chapter as Inceptors.

The Den of Morkai

Many are the trials which a young warrior must endure before he can join the ranks of the Maws of Fenris. Each test will try the Tûndarian’s wit as well as his strength and place him in mortal dangers from which he must emerge alive. If the Aspirant survives the first solar months of training, he must undertake the two Trials of Morkai -- customs adopted from the Chapter’s predecessors, the Space Wolves -- although the Maws of Fenris’ Trials differ somewhat from the original trials. For the first of these trials, Aspirant will be brought before the council of Rune Bards, who will test his mind as the Varg Priests challenged his body. In the very core of the Wolf Pit lies the Den of Morkai, a vast sweat lodge made of stone with small entrance. The wolf-god’s image crowns this low gate and its carven flanks bear Fenrisian and Tûndarian runes of power. Once the young warrior has entered the Den, the door is sealed shut from the outside and the lodge is heated. As soon as the entrance is sealed, the Aspirant’s mind belongs to the Rune Bards. They will scour his soul for doubt, impurity and buried temptations -- anything that may be used against a Maw of Fenris or his Battle-Brothers by the powers they will one day face. The Aspirant will find himself faced with gigantic manifestation of wolf-god Morkai which questions his commitment to serve the Allfather. At this point, if the Aspirant swears himself to the Emperor’s cause -- as they all will -- the two-headed wolf turns into Aspirant’s evil self. In this conjured scenario, the young warrior’s must fight his doppleganger, while it tries to court him to serve the Ruinous Powers. Under the spell of the Rune Bards, the young warrior will believe the situation to be reality and react according to his heart’s instincts. Those who fail this test will never wake up from their dreams, for the Rune Bards will scrub their minds and hand them over to the Forgesmiths to serve out their lives as Thrall-Servitors. Those that pass may then begin the process of becoming a Primaris Space Marine. This process is long and potentially lethal, involving several surgeries and the implanting of no less than twenty-two new internal organs, all grown from the gene-seed of their Primarch, Leman Russ.

The Hunt of Morkai

The second and final test is the Hunt of Morkai, and those who fail this final test are claimed by Morkai and forgotten. The trial is long and perilous, for the warrior must wander into the wilderness of Tûndar and hunt down one of the planet’s most deadly beasts. There are only two rules that Aspirant must follow while on the hunt: first, the prey must be a creature that no ordinary man could take down. Second, that the hunt happens unarmed. While this trial mirrors Tûndarian tribes’ rite of passage, its highly deadly nature puts Aspirant’s wit, skills and strength into a true test. Only the most cunning, resourceful and enduring can pass the Hunt of Morkai.

If the Aspirant manages to down his prey while following the rules, he still must make his way back to the Wolf Pit. This is not as easy as it might seem, as the warrior must carry his prey’s cadaver with him, while fending off numerous hungry carnivores that will follow the scent of a fresh meat. Only when the young warrior lays his prey on the feet of the Chapter’s Varg Master, and it has discovered to be unmarred by any animals or rot, only then Aspirant is completing his apotheosis into a fully-fledged Noble Barbarian and fully inducted into the ranks of the Maws of Fenris. The newly inducted warriors are gifted with a Mark X Gravis Power Armour and welcomed into the ranks of one of the 10 Companies as a full Battle-Brother. For the Maws of Fenris, no Astartes is considered a Neophyte, instead each new man has been accepted into their ranks as a full Initiate as Inceptor.

Chapter Organisation

The Maws of Fenris' Chapter organisation follows the standard revised Codex Astartes structure. It consists of ten companies of Primaris Space Marines, each one hundred warriors strong. Each of these Companies are commanded by a Varg Lord (Captain), a warrior-king who in turn is assisted by a pair of Honour Guards assigned into Lieutenant duties, a Varg Priest, an Ancient, and a retinue of Veterans. The rest of the company is divided into squads of five to ten warriors.

Significant change between the Maws of Fenris and other Chapters is their reduced autonomy. Traditionally Space Marine Chapters have been independent and secretive groups, with the Chapter Master ruling over what is effectively his private domain. However, the second-born sons of Russ seem to be much more tied into the Imperium as a whole. Mechanicus agents have infiltrated the Varg Priesthood -- Chapter's combined Apothecarion and Reclusiam -- and the Armoury, leaving the Maws of Fenris Chapter dependent on Mars for its very survival. This is only aggravated by the fact that Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl has created all their equipment.

Reasons for these kinds of special arrangements are to be found from the Chapter’s predecessor’s, the Space Wolves’, centuries long history. The tragedy of the Wolf Brother’s -- their rampant genetic mutations and eventual turning to Chaos -- and months-long confrontation between the Inquisition and the forces of the Space Wolves in 444.M41, were more than enough to make the High Lords of Terra to consider, would it be wise to give such a self-determination to Astarte’s whose idiosyncrasy was to protest authorities and to act more with gut feeling than reason.

Chapter Command

The Maws of Fenris are led by an assemblage of the greatest individuals from amongst the Chapter's ranks, including many specialist groupings whose unique talents are deployed according to the will of the Varg Master himself.

The “Varg Master” is the Chapter Master of the Maws of Fenris, the ultimate commander of its military might. The current Varg Master, Olof Styrsson, rules from the Fêlla, the Wolf Pit, served by countless equerries, advisors, serfs and logisticators as he determines the disposition of the second-born sons of Leman Russ.

He is regularly attended upon by the lords of the Companies, most often when a moete is called -- a gathering of the Varg Lords. Also present will be representatives of the Chapter’s Varg Priesthood, who provide spiritual guidance. This order is led by the High Varg Priest and includes the Varg Priests attached to each of the Companies.

Members of the Adeptus Mechanicus’ Genetors attached to the Apothecarion are afforded great respect at such gatherings. These Genetor Acolytes have a weighty duty, for they are the only ones who know the secrets behind the creation of new Primaris Marines and are vital on preserving and controlling the Maws of Fenris’ gene-seed stocks, safeguarding the very future of the Chapter itself.

The current High Varg Priest, Seidr the Hooded-One, who carries out the combined duties of the High Chaplain and the Chief Apothecary, is a dour figure amongst the Maws of Fenris’ usually boisterous ranks; given the challenge he faces keeping the Chapter at fighting strength while the geneticists of the Adeptus Mechanicus are adamantly keeping him off from crucial information, his grim aspect is understandable.

The Varg Master commands his own Honour Guard of supremely skilled warriors, the Fengr Bodyguard. Each is personally selected from amongst the Chapter's finest warriors, and they serve as bodyguards, military advisors, and executors of the Varg Masters' orders. Every one of these champions has proven himself in battle a thousand times over, and they protect their liege with total devotion.

The final element of the Chapter’s command structure are its Librarians, the Rune Bards. Their leadership reside apart from the fortress-monastery, in the wilderness of Untersrike valley. Here they interpret the casting of runes, and commemorate the sagas that detail the Maws of Fenris’ noble history.

Order of Battle

The 1^st Company is the Veteran Company, made up of the Chapter’s most experienced warriors. The Veteran Intercessors from the 1^st Company can use other types of armour, such as Phobos and Gravis when needed. The Veteran Company rarely fights as one unit, usually taking to the field alongside other companies to serve as a veteran reserve.

The 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th Companies are Battle Companies and do most of the Chapter's fighting. They usually consist of six Battleline squads, two Close Support squads and two Fire Support squads, forming a balanced force to take on any foe. When the Maws of Fenris go to war, they usually deploy a single Battle Company supported by troops from the Veteran, Scout and Reserve Companies.

The 2^nd and 3^rd Companies are identical, and both has six Intercessor squads, two Reiver squads, and two Hellblaster squads. The 2^nd is supported by a handful of Dreadnoughts and has the ten integrated Repulsors for transport. As the cutting edge of the Chapter, the 2^nd is designed to be able to deploy a mass of Marine infantry, with close infantry fighting vehicle support, to the battlefield. For heavier support, they would likely use attached Aggressors and Inceptors from the 8^th and 9^th Reserve Companies. Due to the modular nature of MK X armour the basic troops of the Company can take on other roles as needed.

The 4^th Company is broken up into thirteen Squads, with seven ten-man squads and six five-man squads to allow for extra flexibility. The 4^th Company’s three Dreadnoughts are well known from being a close-knit group before their wounding and subsequent entombment; now these three friends have a plethora of weapons with which to punish the heretic and xenos alike. In addition to the modified number of the squads, the 4^th Company has also deployed several its units on a detached Vanguard mission. Thus the 3^rd Squad has donned Phobos armor and are acting as Infiltrators. Likewise, 10^th Squad has taken on the alternate Close Support role of Incursors. To support these squads, the 12^th Squad has switched from the Standard Hellblaster role to another fire support role of Eliminators. To this end, the two spare members of the 12^th Squad have taken on the role of Invictor Pilots to support the Vanguard deployment. Lastly, 13^th is deploying using Suppressor gear, with their spare members acting as tank drivers.

The 5^th Company represents the last of the Battle Companies and is not only the Company broken up into twelve squads, mixing five and ten-man squads, but they are equipped in many different roles. The core Battleline squads, are deployed as basic Intercessors. Both Close Support squads take on alternate roles. The 5^th’s two Fire Support squads are split into three squads, deployed in a variety of roles.

The 6^th and 7^th Companies are Reserve Companies, each made up of one hundred Battle-Brothers arranged into ten-twenty battleline squads. While able to deploy on their own, the Reserve Companies are customarily used to reinforce the Battle Companies, filling gaps, or bulking out a force. 6^th Company is commonly the location where tank drivers are pulled from en masse. It is not unheard of for a 6^th Company to be deployed entirely as tank crew to allow the Chapter to deploy an armoured spearhead.

While a Reserve Company, the 8^th is made up for Close Support Squads. For Maws of Fenris’, this means Reiver, Inceptor, and Incursor squads. The 8^th Company often comprise the first wave of an invasion force, disrupting enemy lines and causing panic before the main forces arrive. The warriors of the 8th are also expert at responding quickly to support their brothers when needed.

The 9^th Company is the last of the Reserve Companies and is made up of Fire Support Squads. This is a diverse group. In the Maws of Fenris Chapter, this means Hellblasters, Aggressors, Suppressors, or Eliminators. They will often be called to assist a Battle Company should they need extra firepower.

The 10^th Company of the Maws of Fenris is the Scout Company. However, in the new Primaris Chapters’ it is more realistically the Vanguard Company, though it is still called the Scout Company. The 10^th Company of an All-Primaris Chapter includes a force of one hundred Vanguard Troops that are normally split into ten squads. This standing force of the Maws of Fenris’ consists of hard-bitten veterans, whose personalities don’t suit to the boisterous brotherhood of the Packs.

Wolf Packs

Instead of organizing into the squads dictated by the Codex Astartes, the Maws of Fenris form their Battle-Brothers into "Packs." Each Pack will generally be made up of Astartes who have fought together for some time and will work together as a pack of Fenrisian Wolves do on the hunt.

For the Maws of Fenris their finely-honed senses of smell and hearing are just as important to them as their keen eyesight. Packs will work together to sniff and sound out their foes, hunting their prey like the wolves of Fenris, identifying the locations of their comrades as much by their enhanced sense of smell as by any technological means.

The Maws of Fenris has six primary and ten secondary types of Packs in the Chapter, including:

• Howlers – Differing from many other Codex Astartes-compliant Chapters, a newly induced Astartes of the Maws of Fenris does not start his warrior life as an Intercessor or a Vanguard Marine. Instead, Howler is the Maws of Fenris Chapter’s equivalent of other Chapter’s Neophytes or Scout Marines. These notoriously savage and aggressive, hot-headed warriors cannot wait to prove themselves, in their effort to garner personal glory. Howlers are the most impetuous of the Maws of Fenris' battle-brothers. Howlers have quickly proven themselves to be excellent pack hunters. Like all Maws of Fenris, they possess highly acute senses - even for Space Marines - that allow them to track their prey across smoke-filled battlefields, sight their targets through clouds of choking toxins and pick up the scent of fresh blood from many miles away. Using these innate tracking skills, along with their heavy jump pack-enhanced speed, Howlers can head off enemy flanking maneuvers or run down those foes who think themselves safe on the rear lines. Packs of Howlers are experts at finding the most direct route to their enemy, bounding across ravines and rough terrain, landing on rocky outcrops and launching from the peaks of crumbling towers. When the hunt calls for it, Howlers can also deploy from low-orbiting attack craft, where they leap from assault bays and plummet towards the battlefield. The carnage that Howlers can unleash upon their prey is the stuff of sagas. Clad in Mark X Gravis Power Armour and armed with an Assault Bolter in each hand or a pair of Plasma Exterminators, they can quickly tear through ranks of even heavily armoured infantry. Those foes unfortunate enough to face an Howler without the protection of armour are summarily shredded, reduced to gobbets of meat by the rapid streams of high-impact fire. If they survive to become mature and capable warriors, they will eventually be elevated to the veteran ranks of the Snarlers.

• Snarlers – If Howlers survive long enough to mature into seasoned Astartes, they are promoted to the ranks of the Snarlers. These veteran Astartes are extremely reliable and resilient warriors who form the core of many a hunt. The inherent aggression of these Primaris Space Marines is balanced by an icy calmness, an ability to assess the battlefield situation quickly and respond rapidly to the movements of the enemy. Rather than charging headlong into close-quarters fighting, Snarlers prefer to take down their prey at range, but will not shy away from visceral hand-to-hand combat if it best serves their Company. All Snarlers carry a bolt pistol sidearm as well as belts of frag and krak grenades to blast apart clustered and heavily armoured foes, respectively. Packs can also be equipped with auxiliary grenade launchers to fire their explosives at distant enemies. Most Companies have many Snarlers in their core line, and when deployed for war they often fight alongside packs of Tearers and Blasters.
  • Feral Snarlers - When Howlers are promoted into the ranks of the Snarlers, they start as the Feral Snarlers. As still young and fool-hardy warriors, the Feral Snarlers will take almost any risk and plunge headlong into the thickest of the fighting, equipped with Chainswords and Heavy Bolt Pistols.
  • Swift Snarlers - Another subset of the Snarlers, the Swift Snarlers are culled from the ranks of the Feral Snarlers when the Chapter needs swift, hard-hitting assault force comprised of Bike Squads.
  • Hell Snarlers - Those members of the Chapter, who have been serving longest amongst the Snarlers' ranks, are promoted to the position of the Hell Snarlers. Equipped with variants of Bolt Rifles and donned in Gravis Pattern Power Armours, these senior Snarlers are used to secure ground, blunt enemy counter-attacks, and are immovable in the defense.

• Tearers - By far the most gregarious and jovial of the Primaris battle-brothers, Tearers wade through the battlefield in search of the thickest fighting, their war cries and gruff laughter ringing loud through the clangour. They find endless satisfaction in dispatching the enemies of the Imperium, with the largest hordes and most terrifying monstrosities giving them the greatest joy. Yet they are not impetuous or hot-headed like the warriors who fight in close support packs, and their crushing advances are not made merely for the purpose of personal glory. The hammer blow of an Tearer charge is carefully aimed to smash enemy formations, thus creating openings for other Maws of Fenris packs to pick off the fractured remnants. Only when their battle-brothers are sharing in the violence do Tearers allow themselves to truly revel in the fighting by unleashing endless storms of fire upon the foe. Some Tearers eschew the use of 'long-ranged' guns, such as Boltstorm Gauntlets, and instead march to battle armed with Flamestorm Gauntlets. Equipped with the same power-field generators, these variant gauntlets are equally deadly at extreme close quarters but are mounted with flamers in place of bolt weapons. The wide blanket of burning promethium laid down by flamestorm gauntlets makes them indiscriminately devastating against enemies who dare to approach the Tearers.

• Blasters - Blasters are masters of plasma warfare. Like the Primaris Space Marines themselves, the armaments borne by Blasters are products of millennia-old design, crafted by the Archmagos Dominus of Mars, Belisarius Cawl. The most common of these weapons is the Plasma Incinerator, a variant of the plasma guns used by other Warrior Spirits with an even greater range and ability to melt through armour. The Heavy Plasma Incinerator is more devastating still, requiring a back mounted ancillary power core to unleash its blasts. The assault plasma incinerator sacrifices a modicum of this destructive potential to accommodate an array of targeting augurs and can be fired with relative accuracy even when the Blaster wielding it is charging at full pace. Blasters have a strong bond with the weapons they carry, believing that their own saga and that of their weapon's machine spirit are inextricably intertwined. When facing the most monstrous of foes, the Blaster may call upon this machine spirit, rousing its bellicosity to help fell the horrendous beast. If the furious energy the weapon releases should also kill the Blaster himself, then it is indeed a heroic last verse in their shared saga.
  • Melta Blasters - Melta Blaster Packs are subsections of the Blasters. They stride through waves of incoming enemy fire, bringing burning destruction to the foe with their anti-armour Melta Weapons.

• Trackers - For some Maws of Fenris Astartes, the close-knit and boisterous brotherhood of the Pack (squad) is not well suited to their personality, as they yearn for the open spaces and isolation of the Tûndarian plateaus. These Primaris Space Marines are selected to become part of a Company’s Trackers force, providing reconnaissance, and disrupting enemy movements. These Space Marines are often already Veterans and ruthless killers who are trained in covert operation. They operate behind enemy lines as saboteurs, assassins and infiltrators. As the elite reconnaissance troops, the Tracker Packs are trained to operate without support across the deadliest frontiers of the galaxy. Ranging far ahead of the main battleline, they slip deep into hostile territory and prosecute a full-spectrum campaign against the enemy. Every component of the enemy is sabotaged and dismantled: communications are cut off, supplies are demolished, and moral sapped by psychological terror-strikes. When the enemies are on their knees, the Trackers emerge from the shadows to perform the killing strike. Trackers prove no less devastating when fighting in concert with conventional battleline troops. The 10^th Company of the Maws of Fenris Chapter consists entirely of Tracker Packs.
  • Rioters - Tracker Rioters are responsible for disrupting enemy communications and sabotaging targets of opportunity. Their back-mounted Omni-Scramblers intercept signals across a broad spectrum, scrambling frequencies and shutting down enemy communications. When the time comes for the Rioters to fight directly, they emerge from their hiding places under cover of smoke grenades and cut down their foes with disciplined volleys from their marksman Bolt Carbines.
  • Raiders - Raider Packs fulfil an aggressive, close-quarters gunfighting role within Astartes forces. Their mission typically sees them storming defended positions, flanking, or spearheading advances to rapidly knock out key enemy assets such as power generators and communication centers.
  • Rangers - Ranger Packs are the guerrilla warfare specialists of the Primaris Space Marines. They do so with a sudden fury and shocking violence, for the Ranger Packs fulfil the role of terror troops that sow fear and confusion amongst their foes. Each member of this Primaris squad is outfitted in Mark X Phobos Armour. The suit’s lighter-weight ceramite and streamlined design allow for greater mobility, and its servo-motors are engineered to be completely silent. Above all else, Rangers depend on stealth and secrecy to accomplish their missions.
  • Ravagers - Ravagers are Vanguard Primaris Space Marine snipers that utilize a range of exotic and deadly ammunition tailored to their target. These warriors serve as dedicated marksman and fire support specialists that haunt the shadows of the battlefield seeking out targets of opportunity and bringing them down from a range.
  • Restrainers - Restrainers are fire support warriors, equipped with Jump Packs, Grav-Chutes, and shock-absorbers. Although they are equipped similarily to Howler troops, Restrainers do not strike into battle from low orbit. Instead, they rely on Jump-packs and grav-chute arrays to maneuver into enfilading positions where their Accelerator Autocannons will tear through heavily armoured enemies and light vehicles.

• Grey Wolves - Grey Wolves are those Astartes in the Maws of Fenris' ranks who have gained considerable experience in the service of their Chapter and serve in the Chapter's elite 1^st Company. It is their duty to lead packs into battle or provide a body guard to important members of the Chapter on the battlefield, especially the Varg Lords. They also often serve as the Pack Leaders, leaders of Squads, imparting their knowledge and experience on their younger charges and serving as the equivalent of standard Space Marine Sergeants. Grey Wolves Packs are exclusively a part of the 1^st Company of the Chapter. They are Maws of Fenris' equivalent of Veteran Marines.
  • Varg Guard - Some Grey Wolves, having achieved feats of exceptional valour and martial prowess, may become members of the Chapter's Varg Guard. These mighty Astartes serve as the Maws of Fenris' version of an Honour Guard. Eventually, it is possible for a Varg Guard to rise to the position of Varg Lord, the mighty officers equivalent to standard Space Marine Captains who command one of the 10 Companies that comprise the entirety of the Chapter.

Command Ranks

• Varg Master - The Varg Master is the Maws of Fenris' equivalent of a Chapter Master. Chosen from among the Chapter's Varg Lords, the current Varg Master is Olof Styrsson, who has led the Chapter for over a standard century, ever since its founding in 999.M41.

• Varg Lords - A Varg Lord is the Maws of Fenris officer who is the equivalent of a standard Space Marine Captain and who commands one of the 10 Companies that comprise the full Maws of Fenris Chapter's military force. A Varg Lord is always accompanied and protected by a contingent of Wolf Guard specifically loyal to him. The Chapter's Companies are led by the 10 current Varg Lords. The current Varg Lords of the Chapter include:
  • Egir Varulv - Commander of Onn (1^st Company).
  • Cnut Kinnrost - Commander of Twa (2^nd Company).
  • Leaifa the Unyielding - Commander of Tra (3^rd Company).
  • Woden Vargfrost - Commander of For (4^th Company).
  • Fjornir Red-Grin - Commander of Fyf (5^th Company).
  • Jakup Jakup Helstorm - Commander of Sesc (6^th Company).
  • Ingulfr - Commander of Sepp (7^th Company).
  • Little Einar - Commander of For-twa (8^th Company).
  • Leir Morgensson - Commander of Tra-tra (9^th Company).
  • Gorm - Commander of Dekk (10^th Company).

• Battle Leader - A Battle Leader serves as a Demi-company leader, with two assigned per full company of 100 Space Marines. Battle Leaders act as the right hands of their Varg Lords by providing flexibility and helping to direct their Battle-Brothers in engagements. Space Marine Battle Companies are frequently divided into two Battle Demi-companies of 50 Astartes each in order to spread their forces across multiple combat zones. In most of the Maws of Fenris Chapter's missions, command of each Demi-company falls to a Battle Leader, who leads his brothers unflinchingly into battle. Maws of Fenris have given their Battle Leaders a ceremonial duty as bodyguards to their company's Captain, the three fighting together as one.

• Pack Leader - A Pack Leader is an Astartes noncommissioned officer who commands a squad (pack) composed of Space Marines. Pack Leaders are selected from hardened Veteran Maws of Fenris who have survived and thrived through several solar decades, or even standard centuries, of hard and brutal campaigning in the name of the Emperor of Mankind. It is essential that a Maws of Fenris pack be led by a canny and daring individual capable of divining the flow of battle for those opportunities that will allow his squad to maximise its tactical advantages, and it is quite common for Pack Leaders to be seconded from their Chapter's elite 1^st Company. This is to ensure that the mainstay of the Chapter's battle forces are led by the most experienced of its warriors.

Specialist Ranks

• Forgesmiths - The Forgesmiths are the Chapter's equivalent of Techmarines. Sent off for training at Mars with the Adeptus Mechanicus like all Techmarines. Upon returning to their Chapter, they become custodians of the Chapter Armoury -- maintaining the Chapter's equipment and forging all necessary replacement wargear. Forgesmiths also have a place in the transformation and initiation of new recruits.

• Varg Priests - Like the Wolf Priests of the Space Wolves, the Varg Priests are a unique officer class within the Maws of Fenris Chapter. A combination of the roles of Chaplain and Apothecary found in Codex-compliant Chapters, the Varg Priests administer to the physical and mental well-being of the Chapter's warriors and also choose the Aspirants to the Chapter from among the tribes of Tundar.

Pict-capture of Varg Priest of the Maws of Fenris Chapter

• Rune Bards - The Maws of Fenris Rune Bards are same as other Codex -compliant Chapters’ Librarians, carrying their unique name as a recognition to their Fenrisian, more shamanistic origins. They are psykers who survive Chapter’s rigorous screening and training to bend the powers of the Warp to their will for the benefit of their fellow Battle-Brothers and in service to the Emperor of Mankind. Rune Bards examine the minds of all Aspirants to the Chapter for any sign of Chaotic taint or treachery. These Rune Bards do wear the Psychic Hoods of Librarians and carry Force Weapons. Beyond their psychic duties, the Rune Bards also record the great deeds of their Chapter and commemorate the Chapter’s oral history of ever-growing saga.

Chapter Belief

Many of the customs and beliefs of the Maws of Fenris are entailed by the Chapter’s Fenrisian members, which represents numerous tribal traditions of the frozen planet. In the course of time and after several Tûndarians joined the ranks of the Chapter, has the Maws of Fenris assumed various of the local ways and beliefs into their Chapter culture, shaping it into more unique form.

The Maws of Fenris share the beliefs of their Fenrisian cousins, venerating Leman Russ and the Emperor, the Allfather, as the ultimate pinnacles of mankind, but not as a godly entities and so they do not hold the Imperial Creed as their faith and have little regard for the Ecclesiarchy.

It is the Maws of Fenris' belief that  Russ left Fenris and journeyed into the Eye of Terror to find the fabled Tree of Life, a font of uncorrupted Warp energy hidden somewhere within the Immaterium that bears fruit said to be able to heal the Emperor and restore Him to full life. When that day comes, He will rise from the Golden Throne to begin a new Great Crusade to unify the galaxy, and Leman Russ will return from the void to lead all his genetic descendants into glorious battles that will outshine all the past written sagas.

To the Maws of Fenris, the wolf’s head and the solar eclipse that serves as their Chapter badge is a potent and important symbol, representing both their style of warfare and echoing the ominous prophecy of the forthcoming Wolftime.

The Chapter believes that as long as the five elementals – earth, water, fire, air and space – animalistic powers of the nature heed the call of the Rune Bards the Maws of Fenris will never falter on the field of battle.

Slain Maws of Fenris are generally burned in a pyre, a tradition of the past for Space Wolves, reviewed by their successors. The dead are burned on the erected slope, high above the Untersrike valley. Following the death of a particularly important, high ranking or respected member of the Chapter, a sending away feast is held in his honour. Before the feast, the Company Rune Bard learns stories about the deceased of variable length and nature from every member of the Company and retells these tales during a period of ritual feasting with lengthy rest periods between each tale. The sending away feast lasts for an indeterminate amount of time, however long it is necessary to tell all of the Rune Bard's memorized stories, and as such, can last for solar days or even weeks. During the feast, the feasting chamber is sealed, and none may enter or leave until the conclusion of the feast.

Mythical Wolves

The legacy of the Wolves of Fenris has followed the Chapter from the bitterly cold Fenris to the vast steppes of Tûndar. When they are first inducted into the Chapter, Aspirants are taught about the Wolves of Fenris -- the legendary pantheon wolves of Fenrisian mythology – which are always beside them in battle, whether at on Fenris, or on another world like Tûndar, or amongst the stars. Each of the Wolves of Fenris has its role as the protector of the Maws of Fenris. Each Company takes its name and symbol from one of the mythological wolves, chosen by its current Varg Lord. Likewise, among their Fenrisian cousins, when a Varg Lord dies, another is chosen to replace him from the slain leader’s Wolf Guard. The new Varg Lord then adopts a new symbol and name for his Company from the Wolves of Fenris. Unlike the Space Wolves Great Companies, the Maws of Fenris warriors do not embellish their wargear with their Company heraldry. This privilege is reserved only to the Varg Master and the Varg Lords. The legends of the Wolves of Fenris are told and revised to the members of the Chapter on the nights of feasting. From these sagas, Maws of Fenris must heed teachings and guidance for the many battles that lay ahead of them. Yet they must be vigilant, for each of the spiritual wolves are beasts in their core, constantly luring the savage spirit that lurks within the sons of Russ. For the Thirteenth Wolf, the barbaric Wulfen, stalks persistently their souls.

There are seven mythological Wolves of Fenris, who have great importance to the Maws of Fenris and to their beliefs. These wolves include:

• The Great Devourer - Depicted as a wolf devouring a star, the Great Devourer is an ominous symbol from Fenrisian mythology and the most important spirit to the Chapter.

• Haegr the Mountain Wolf - Haegr the Mountain represents the element of earth and teaches the Maws to endure the harshest of elements without complaint. Haegr endures all and when faced with the worst of environments it is to Haegr that the Maws of Fenris look to for example.

• The Sea Wolf - The Sea Wolf is a beast of the deadly Fenrisian oceans and the element of water, the totem of all those who sail and do battle on the waves.

• The Fire Breather - The Fire Breather is the totem of fire element. Sometimes, this element is also connected to the Fire Wolf, forcing these two rival spirits into share the status of the fire element.

• The Fire Wolf - The Fire Wolf heralds either glory or doom in the legends of Fenris. In Tûndarian mythology he is forced to share the position of the fire element with the Fire Breather spirit.

• Ranek, the Hidden Wolf - Ranek is the Wolf who stalks the shadows and teaches the young Maws the virtues of stealth and hunting, for the fang from the dark is sometimes doubly as wounding as any other. In the Tûndarian mythos, Ranek is associated with the air element.

• The Wolf that Stalks Between Stars - This Wolf was the totem of Leman Russ and the totem of space element. The Stalker Between the Stars teaches the sons of Russ that wherever they walk, no matter how distant, they bring the glory of Fenris with them.

Furthermore, there are other seventeen wolves in Maws of Fenris’ myths, which meanings for the Company are either unknown or the same as for to the Space Wolves:

• The Blackmane
• The Bloodied Hunter
• The Dark Wolf
• Drekan the Thunderwolf
• Freki & Geri the Twin Wolves
• The Ice Wolf
• The Iron Wolf
• Lakkan, the Runed Wolf
• Lokyar, The Lone Wolf
• Morkai
• The Night Runner
• The Spirit Wolf
• The Sun Wolf
• Thengir the Wolf King
• Torvald the Far-Sighted
• Wolf of the Red Moon
• The Wulfen

Chapter Gene-Seed

The Ultima Founding of Space Marine Chapters was the first Astartes Founding over ten millennia to see the creation of Space Wolves successor Chapters. Thanks to Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl’s inventiveness and tireless travails, the rampant genetic instability that led to the tragic liquidation of the Wolf Brothers Chapter was finally averted. Yet, many of the genetic idiosyncrasies distinctive to the Vlka Fenryka were left untouched, for Cawl believed them to be part of the Emperor’s original design.

Therefore, Maws of Fenris Astartes show features like elongated fangs, golden irises as well as outstandingly accurate senses. Like their Space Wolves brethren’s, the hair of the Fenrisian-born members of Maws of Fenris’ becomes hirsute and coarse as they grow older. Hair colour starts to turn grey, as their corner teeth grow into true, wolf-like fangs. Even their skin becomes thicker and hairier. These traits in their fully matured form are usually emblematic of a Maw of Fenris who has promoted as Intercessor. Those who are lucky enough to survive through the bellicose centuries, find their hair eventually turning white as snow, and their wolf-like fangs becoming veritable tusks.

It’s worth noticing that none of the Tûndarian originated Astartes have not yet shown possessing any of the transformations of appearance that their Fenrisian-born battle brothers do as they age. This is believed to be related to the genetical divergencies between Fenrisian and Tûndarian genomes. But on the other hand, Tûndarians are so fresh addition in the ranks of the Maws of Fenris, that any knowledge covering their genetic inheritance isn’t yet completely certain.

Curse of Russ

In addition to the advancements in their gene-seed, Primaris Space Marines possess three additional gene-seed implant organs compared to their Firstborn brethren and their gene-seed is far more genetically stable than that of their forerunners. Primaris Space Marine gene-seed has only a .001% chance of genetic deviancy from the original baseline with the passage of each generation, which makes it nearly immune to the severe genetic instability suffered by Chapters such as the Blood Angels and Space Wolves over the course of their existence.

It has been even proposed that within the Primaris Marines, the key to curing the Wulfen’s curse - that plagues the Sons of Russ - may be found. But this hope has been proven to be futile, for there are rumours and reports circling around the galaxy of packs of Primaris Space Wolves’ and their successor Chapters’ that have succumbed to the bestial affliction. These reports speak for the fact, that through their genetic link to the Primarch Leman Russ, even the battle brothers of Maws of Fenris are just as susceptible to the Curse of the Wulfen as any other of their Space Wolves brethren.

Deathwatch Service

For decades, the Maws of Fenris waged the Emperor’s war against the alien and heretics, fighting in the galaxy’s eastern region. Over the years the Battle-Brothers of the Maws of Fenris have become exceptionally skilled at abolishing xenos warriors.

The Maws of Fenris Chapter is well represented in the ranks of the Deathwatch, the Chamber Militant of the Inquisition’s Ordo Xenos. Maws of Fenris have been undertaking the Long Watch since the early days of their founding, for some Maws of Fenris service in the Deathwatch offers an opportunity to compose new passages in the ongoing saga of their life. It takes a special type of Battle-Brother to leave the close-knit Packs of Tûndar to join strangers from other Astartes Chapters. Though Maws of Fenris are extremely introverts and craggy toward those who are not their kin, eventually they come to regard the members of their Kill-team as brothers, treating them as if they too were from the steppes and marshes of Tûndar.

But not all Maws of Fenris join the Long Watch out of personal glory hogging, for their Chapter has always being under the scrutinizing eyes of the High Lords and the Inquisition. These men make sure that the Maws of Fenris Chapter is viewed as loyal servants of the Emperor’s will, an arrangement which benefits both the Chapter and the Ordo Xenos. The Deathwatch recognizes the Maws of Fenris’ heavy burden of unjustified distrust, and over the course of many decades a brotherly relationship has been forged between the Deathwatch and the Maws of Fenris.

Chapter Combat Doctrine

By the time of their founding, the Maws of Fenris Chapter has come to rely on the holy dictates of the Codex Astartes to meet any given tactical situation.

Albeit the forces of the Maws of Fenris do follow the teachings of the Codex, they have slightly different approach to martial strategy from their Codex-compliant brother Space Marines. There are several distinct types of squad, or Pack, in each Company, and each fulfills a different role in battle. As a Maw of Fenris progresses through his life, he may rise through the ranks until he is old, and his fangs are long. If his bravery and might are without question, he will be asked to join the Wolf Guard, or even become a Varg Lord himself. Most Maws of Fenris begin their careers as Howlers, hot-headed young warriors who cannot wait to prove themselves, charging in howling Packs at the front lines of the enemy in their efforts to garner personal glory. The Howlers are the shock troops of the Maws of Fenris and spearhead most assaults. If they survive to become mature and capable warriors, they will be elevated to the ranks of the Snarlers, tempered by battle but nonetheless to give their lives in the name of honour. When the Maws of Fenris are truly mature, their hair grey and their canines pronounced, they are likely to be inducted into the Tearers, veteran soldiers who are disciplined and steady even in the heat of battle, and hence are entrusted with the Chapter's heavy weapons.

The bravest and strongest of the Maws of Fenris, after proving themselves in a feat of exceptional valour or martial prowess, may become Old Wolf. The Old Wolves either lead less experienced Packs of warriors into battle or form a retinue for the mightiest warriors of the battleforce, the Varg Lord, as the Wolf Guard. Few can stand against these heroic warriors, equipped as they are with the best wargear in the Chapter's armoury, making them virtually unstoppable in close combat.

Unfortunately, the Maws of Fenris do not specialize in any particular form of combat doctrine as many of their brother Chapters. Given that they are the successors of the Fenrisian Space Wolves, it is almost certain that the younger Maws of Fenris will abandon a standard tactical structure in favour of simply rushing headlong at the enemy, howling at the tops of their lungs. Nonetheless, their battle tactics are undeniably effective; the Maws of Fenris have fought in a similar manner on a thousand battlefields since their conception and are unlikely to stop, for better or worse.

The Maws of Fenris are well known for having most of the Company initiate campaigns with Drop Pod landing. Such an assault is a thing of bloodcurdling beauty, with dozens of Drop Pods descending from the nightly sky like howling harbingers of the murder make. After reaching the planet’s surface, the Chapter uses Inceptors and Grav-Chute equipped Vanguard Suppressors to harass the enemy, and then hit the foe with a full assault when they are at their weakest and most frazzled. The Maws of Fenris aim for destroying the enemy piece by piece, never allowing them to force a decisive or static engagement.

Although preferring to keep the foe at arms-length, as their officers were thought during their time in the ranks of the “Greyshields”, the Maws of Fenris are more than happy of engaging in bloody close assaults and are rightly feared by the enemies of the Imperium.

Overall, the Maws of Fenris are considered a powerful and effective Chapter when undertaking direct, rapid assaults or carrying out surgical strikes intended to achieve specific operational objectives.

The Wulfen and the Vargserkers

Like any other Sons of Russ, the Maws of Fenris suffer from a flaw in their gene-seed found in the gene sequence of Leman Russ. This flaw often leads them to take on many canine traits as they age, such as enlarged canine teeth, yellow eyes and abnormal growths of hair. Unfortunately, in some cases the mutation proceeds too far and transforms them during the heat and passion of battle into more bestial, wolf-like humanoids. These Space Marines are called Vargserkers - the Wolf-warriors - by the other members of the Chapter because they grow elongated canine teeth and bestial claws. The only time that the Maws of Fenris turn into fully wolf-like humanoid mutants called the Wulfen is when they are exposed to large amounts of Warp energy (such as the Space Wolves’ 13th Company in the Eye of Terror). In this case, the metamorphosis is not a Chaotic mutation, but rather a defensive mechanism induced when the Maws of Fenris’ altered DNA is flooded by the power of Chaos, for such bestial mutants actually possess more resistance to Chaotic corruption than standard Astartes.

Space Marines who fully mutate into Wulfen are usually ostracized to the Wintry Mountains, the enclosed hinterlands of Tûndar, or sorrowfully put down by their Varg Priests. The "Mark of the Wulfen" normally manifests itself at the Neophyne state of Space Marine development and thus new Maws of Fenrises must spend time during their training in scenarios designed to determine which of their number will suffer from the change.

Notable Members

• Varg Master Olof Styrsson - The first, and so far only, Varg Master of the Maws of Fenris is Olof Styrsson. He is one of the original Primaris Space Marines created by Belisarius Cawl on Mars. Awoken during the Indomitus Crusade, he rose to lead his Primaris brothers to dozens of victories and was eventually chosen by Roboute Guilliman to lead the newly founded Maws of Fenris at the end of the Crusade.
• Varg Lord Woden Vargfrost - Woden Vargfrost is the Varg Lord of the 4^th Company. As a Rubicon Primaris, Vargfrost is one of the longest serving members of the Maws of Fenris. His long and distinguished career spanned over seven centuries, starting from the ranks of the Space Wolves. With his inside knowledge, Vargfrost has helped Varg Master Styrsson to mold the Maws of Fenris into the Space Wolves successor which they are today, as well as maintaining the political relations between the two Chapters.
• Varg Lord Erik Gorebjorn - Varg Lord of the 3^rd Company, who went missing with his entire Company while they chased a Chaos warband into the Eye of Terror. In his absence, it is assumed by the other Varg Lords that Gorebjorn has died, but Varg Master Styrsson is certain that he and the other members of the 3^rd Company will someday return to their midst.
• Varg Lord Leaifa the Unyielding - The young Varg Lord of the 3^rd Company, who started as Company's regent when Varg Master Styrsson didn't believe in Erik Gorebjorn's and his Company's demise.
• Varg Lord Cnut Kinnrost - A immature, mouthy, egotistical and impulsive Varg Lord of the 2^nd Company. He fosters these traits of his character, often inflating his Company's already remarkable acts of war as well as his own accomplishments. There are several rumours and tell tales surrounding this young Varg Lord and his weapon of choise, a Pyrithine Spear - the signature weapon of the Adeptus Custodies. Majority of these rumours are originated by Kinnrost himself, mostly to aggravate his fellow officers and to deceive all the others, for his own amusement. Though Cnut Kinnrost's maners are juvenile and impish, he always puts the honour and well-being of the Maws of Fenris before anything else.
• Varg Lord Egir Varulv - Prior to the early days of the Maws of Fenris, Egir Varulv looked up to Olof Styrsson as his rightful leader and a father figure. As the loyal Varg Lord of the Chapter's 1^st Company, Varulv was proud, irascible and someone who could inspire men to cry out for Varulv's return if he were to die. After the horrendous events aboard Spoils of Virtue, Varulv became inexplicably melancholic and reserved in his actions, putting the well-being of his men always above of everything else.
• High Rune Bard Vyed Rimehearted - The Master of Thunder and Lightning, Vyed Rimehearted is the Maws of Fenris' mightiest Rune Bard (Librarian).
• Rune Bard Mokci the Keen-Spirited - Mokci the Keen-Spirited is the first Tûndarian who has become a Rune Bard of the Chapter.
• Wolf Guard Josef Bloodied Fang - Member of Olof Styrsson's Bodyguard. Bloodied Fang is known for his desire to partake in any given Drop Pod assaults.
• Dreadnought Hammar Icethunder - One of the Chapter's mighty Dreadnoughts.
• Dreadnought Solgeirr the Sun-Stalker - One of the Chapter's Redemptor Dreadnoughts who participated in the Liberation of Tûndar.
• Dreadnought Thorbenorn - One of the Chapter's Dreadnoughts who participated in many battles with the Varg Lord Cnut Kinnrost's 2^nd Company.

Chapter Appearance

Chapter Colours

Maws of Fenris Heraldry and Markings.

The Maws of Fenris wear steel grey Power Armour except for the belt buckle which is dark grey. The Aquila or Imperialis on the chest plate is silver, with Imperialis’ skull is white. A company symbol is located on the right shoulder pauldron. It’s colour indicates an Astartes’ battleline assignment. To honor their Fenrisian traditions, the older warriors of the Maws of Fenris often adorn their armours with exotic tokens taken from Tûndarian beasts, such as pelts and teeth. These tokens are evidence of long service of their bearer.

A Maws of Fenris company’s markings differ from those outlined by the Codex Astartes in utilizing symbols on their right shoulder plate instead of different colored trim and numbers. Their Company iconography is based on the imagery used by the Fenrisian tribes from which their Company’s original captains were recruited.

Chapter Badge

The Maws of Fenris' Chapter badge is a black wolf’s head pointing downwards, centered on solar eclipse with yellow rim, centered upon a field of crimson red. It represents the Great Devourer, an ominous symbol from Fenrisian mythology.

Chapter Armoury

The Maws of Fenris Chapter Armoury is located deep within the sprawling immensity of the Wolf Pit on Tûndar. It is here that the Chapter's weapons and wargear are maintained, its vehicles and artillery pieces tended to between each combat engagement and its Dreadnoughts slumber away the solar decades until they are woken again to battle.

It is beneath the banners of the Chapter Armoury that all of the Maws of Fenris' heaviest military material and tools of war are gathered. The Armoury is both a location and a martial organisation within the Chapter, a self-contained fiefdom behind whose titanic adamantium blast doors and sconce-lined arches the word of the Chief Forgesmith's (Chapter's Chief Techmarine) is law. Usually, the Armoury is manned by numerous Techmarines, but with the Maws of Fenris Chapter this is not the case. Instead, the lack of Primaris Techmarines is made up for by Martian Tech-Priests on loan from the Adeptus Mechanicus. It is said, that the required Techmarines for the new chapter are still in training, and Mechanicus Adepts are filling in as a stop-gap to be later replaced by full Techmarines. Or perhaps it’s that Cawl and the Mechanicus don’t want all their new secrets getting out.

The Chapter Armoury is a realm of clanging piston hammers and rumbling forge-furnaces, of sombre chants, crackling braziers, the whine and snap of precision servo-tools from artificers' alcoves and the omnipresent scents of lapping powder, engine oil and sanctified incense.

Hulking Servitors lumber through the ruddy light hefting slabs of tank armour or gunship munitions weighing tonnes at a time. Tech-Priests move to and fro from one repair cradle or arming bench to another, robes of crimson draped over their mechanically augmented forms, their critical bionic eyes always fixed on the work of Chapter Serfs and repair Servitors.

Here are the battle tanks of the Chapter restored to full fighting strength after even the most gruelling campaigns, the Machine Spirits of field guns and Bolt Rifles and aircraft ministered to and readied for their next engagement. Here, too, are magnificent masterworks of the armourer's craft created, artificers labouring sometimes for their entire lives to craft a single exceptional weapon to be borne by the Maws of Fenris' greatest heroes.

It is from the armoury that Maws of Fenris strike force commanders requisition any vehicles larger than armoured transports to join their warriors as they go to war. The Maws of Fenris are fortunate to possess many especially venerable vehicles bearing deadly technology from bygone ages, not to mention a prodigious cadre of Dreadnought Battle-Brothers whose sarcophagi can be stirred to wakefulness when war beckons.

Chapter Fleet

• Whip of Russ (Unknown Class) – The Whip of Russ is a warship of the Maws of Fenris.
• Perun (Strike Cruiser) – The Perun is a Strike Cruiser of the Maws of Fenris’ 3^rd Company.
• Suologievra (Unknown Class) – The Suologievra is a warship of the Maws of Fenris’ 6^th Company.
• Wraith Wolf (Battle Barge) - The Wraith Wolf is the flagship of the Maws of Fenris.

Chapter Relics

• Fjendegarmr - Fjendegarmr, or the Foe-Hound, is a master-crafted Thunder Hammer wielded by the Varg Master of the Maws of Fenris Chapter, and it is considered as a revered Chapter relic. Forged by the master artisans of Mars and currently wielded by Olof Styrsson, it was gifted to him upon his ascension to the rank of the Chapter Master of the Maws of Fenris.
• Tradskaere - Tradskaere, the Thread Cutter, is a heavily modified Guardian Spear, currently wielded by Varg Lord Cnut Kinnrost. The Thread Cutter incorporates the deadly Melta Beam, resembling the Pyrithine Spear, an variant of the regular Guardian Spear. As the signature weapon of the Adeptus Custodes, it is unusual to see anybody to wield such a weapon outside of their order. For this, Varg Lord Kinnrost is often questioned of the origin of his unconventional weapon of choice, but evermore he evades from answering truthfully by telling outlandish and pretentious yarns of how he obtained this exceptional spear, never telling the same story twice. In truth, no one knows who made it, but it is speculated that the truth lies somewhere between the lines of Kinnrost's pompous tales.

Relations

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Allies

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Notable Quotes

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By the Maws of Fenris:

"We are the Maws of Fenris, Predators of Tûndar. We protect those who stand behind us. Respect those who stand beside us. But those, who stand against us. They we'll devour"

— Varg Lord Fjornir Red-Grin, 5^th Company of the Maws of Fenris

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Gallery

Maws of Fenris example livery of battlefield roles of the Chapter.

An unknown Maws of Fenris Intercessor Veteran of Erik Gorebjorn's Tra (3^rd) Company.