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This article, Shadow Wolves, was written by Lycas Umbra. This is an Expanded Universe article. The lore expands upon established canon, but does not contradict it. |
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This article, Shadow Wolves, was written by Lycas Umbra. Please do not edit or 'acquire' this fiction without the writer's permission. |
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This article, Shadow Wolves, is currently under active construction. The author, Lycas Umbra, apologizes for the inconvenience. |
The Shadow Wolves are a newly reconstituted Successor Chapter, comprised entirely of Primaris Space Marines. This Chapter was created from various gene-seed of Primaris Space Marines that made up the ranks of the Unnumbered Sons, which were derived from various Chapters whose genetic lineage hailed from the stoic and proud Imperial Fists. In their original iteration, the Shadow Wolves were a proud Successor Chapter, created during an Unknown Founding, that were also created from the lineage of the Imperial Fists' Primarch Rogal Dorn. Unfortunately, their long and glorious history would end in tragedy in 987.M41, when their Chapter homeworld of Varadon was overrun by the foul xenos bioforms of the ravenous Tyranids.
Even though they were considered officially extinct, elements of the Shadow Wolves still remained within the ranks of the xenos-hunting Deathwatch and a strike force of Shadow Wolves were recently spotted fighting on Cadia in 999.M41, fighting against the Forces of Chaos during the 13th Black Crusade. Fortunately for the Shadow Wolves, they would received their salvation in the form of the resurrected Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman, who would reveal his ultimate contingency plan - the Primaris Space Marines.
Launching the Indomitus Crusade from Terra to take the fight to the enemies of Mankind, many of these newly revealed, superior bred Astartes would go on to fight within the legion-size formations of the Unnumbered Sons alongside Primarch Guilliman for the next century, while other newly formed Chapters would be created, comprised entirely of Primaris Space Marines. Thus, a new Founding occurred by order of Primarch Guilliman - the Ultima Founding. Following the end of the Indomitus Crusade over a century later, the gene-seed of several Unnumbered Sons created from the lineage of Rogal Dorn, were utilised to re-create the long-extinct Shadow Wolves Space Marine Chapter.
Following their inception, the Shadow Wolves went on to reclaim their former homeworld of Varadon and constructed a new orbital space fortress, which would act as their new fortress-monastery. Several decades later, the original members of the old Chapter began to make their journey home, back to Varadon, and later joined the newly reconstituted Chapter. They would undergo the painful process to become Rubicon Primaris, and formed the basis of the Chapter's leaders and veteran members, leading their younger brethren into battle with the foes of the Emperor.
Chapter History
In 987.M41 the Shadow Wolves' homeworld of Varadon was ravaged by a Tyranid splinter fleet. The Shadow Wolves attempted to defend their homeworld from the merciless Great Devourer. Swarms of Tyranids besieged the Shadow Wolves' fortress-monastery, as only a handful of the Shadow Wolves remained. With their blades broken and their bolters spent, The Shadow Wolves stood their ground as the fortress-monastery fell to the enemy. They died in honourable battle as they made their defiant last stand, still intoning the litanies of hate against the alien, chanting their bitter fury at their foes even as they were annihilated.
In the Chapter's final moment, a lone warrior - a battle-brother - though horribly wounded and on his knees beneath the Chapter's standard, attempting to maintain his Chapter's honour to the last, defiantly kept the Shadow Wolves' Chapter standard proudly upright, even as the Tyranids tore into him. He died in a brutal and glorified manner - which for an Astartes could only be described as a "beautiful death". With reports of the Shadow Wolves annihilation, the Imperium would forever show the chapter no more.
Indomitus Crusade
- "Several thousand Imperial warriors were using the mountain fastness as a fallback base. Alongside the huge regiments of Imperial Guard soldiers were thirty Black Templars, a strike force of the supposedly extinct Shadow Wolves Chapter, an armoured battalion of the Subjugators and a recon detachment of Flesh Tearers Scouts."
- — From the novel "Ragnar Blackmane" (Space Marine Legends) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Following the destruction of the fortress world of Cadia in 999.M41 during the 13th Black Crusade and the subsequent formation of the galaxy-spanning tear in reality known as the Great Rift, the Imperium was beset on all sides by the enemies of Mankind. Despite the darkness and bloodshed that engulfed the galaxy, the military forces of the Imperium defiantly stood their ground and refused to go silently into the long, black night of oblivion. Fortunately, fate smiled upon them in their darkest hour, in the form of the newly resurrected Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman. The Avenging Son fought his way from the Realm of Ultramar to Terra, and kneeled before the Master of Mankind Himself. After communing with his father, the newly invested Lord Commander of the Imperium declared the Indomitus Crusade - to bring the light of the Holy Emperor to the darkest corners of the galaxy.
To aid the Imperial forces in their endeavours, Primarch Guilliman revealed his ultimate contingency plan, in the form of the superior Primaris Space Marines - the next stage of evolution of the Adeptus Astartes. The newly reinstated Lord Commander of the Imperium decreed that those Chapters most devastated by the ongoing wars should be amongst the first to be reinforced with this new breed of transhuman warrior. Not only existing Chapters received these Primaris reinforcements though, for Guilliman also called for the creation of a host of new Chapters, comprised entirely of Primaris Space Marines, and so, the Ultima Founding was instituted. The warriors of these new Chapters were created entirely using the new processes discovered by the ancient Archmagos Belisarius Cawl and established with all the necessary weapons, armour and equipment that they would need to conduct their defence of the Imperium.
Rebirth
Following the newly instituted Ultima Founding, several Space Marine Legion-sized formations of Primaris Space Marines, all drawn from the lineage of one of the nine original Loyalist First Founding Legions, were assigned to the vast ranks of the Unnumbered Sons, known unofficially amongst themselves as the "Greyshields", they would go on to fight alongside the main force of Guilliman's Indomitus Crusade for over a standard century, well into the 42nd Millennium.
In 111.M42, Primarch Guilliman declared the Indomitus Crusade over and dispersed its military elements across the Imperium, reinforcing many worlds with new Chapters of Primaris Space Marines created from the ranks of the Unnumbered Sons. One of these newly formed chapters were given the name and livery of long extinct Shadow Wolves, in honour of the original Chapter that was wipe out to the last, defending their homeworld from the Tyranids. The Chapter was created entirely from Primaris Space Marines that came from gene-stock of the Imperial Fists, Crimson Fists, Executioners and other Chapters of the Last Wall. But unofficially and semi officially they where Luna Wolves graysheilds who served in the indomitus crusade.
After their formation, the Shadow Wolves Chapter set forth to reclaim Varadon. With Varadon now being a lifeless planet, a new fortress-monastery was constructed that orbits the planet. From here, the Chapter would be able to launch their operations to rid the galaxy of its threats to humanity. Over the next few decades after the Chapter's creation, the original surviving members of the Shadow Wolves started to arrive at the orbital fortress-monastery. They first arrived one-bygone, traveling with Rogue Traders and or by other means. These Astartes had been serving the Long Vigil in the Deathwatch, and were released from their service upon receiving word of the newly reconstituted chapter reached them. The largest and last group to arrive, numbered fifty-four battle-brothers. They arrived in two heavily damaged strike cruisers. This last surviving company had been fighting alongside the Space Wolves on Cadia before the plant was destroyed by the Forces of Chaos. All told, 100 original members of the Chapter willingly went under the blades of the Chapter's Apothecaries, and underwent the dangerous process of being transformed into Rubicon Primaris, and officially joined the new Chapter.
The original brothers were spread throughout the Chapter, becoming veteran leaders amongst the ranks of their Primaris kin. Some became captains, lieutenant, and sergeants, but a majority of them, alongside the few remaining Indomitus Crusade veterans, formed the ranks of the Chapter's elite 1st Company.
Notable Campaigns
Chapter Homeworld
First image of Varadon when the Shadow Wolves returned home.
Varadon was once a lush beautiful world, covered in a vast forest of giant trees and towering rocky mounts. Now Varadon is nothing more than a lifeless rock, void of any atmosphere. The Shadow Wolves do not set foot on Varadon's surface. They see that planet as a tomb for the chapter. Only in death, they may return home. When a bother is killed in battle, after their gene-seed and other organs are removed, their body is encased into a sarcophagus. Then in a ritual called 'The Home Coming', the company Chaplain will escort the sarcophagus to the surface where he lays the fallen brother to rest.
Fortress-Monastery
The Vigilant
Chapter Organisation
The chapter does not follow the standard Codex Astartes organization and looks very different to other chapters that do. Even each of its companies is organized differently from one another. The Chapter is organization structure is very similar to that of the Deathwatch. This is due to several reasons. When the chapter was first formed, each of the companies were Codex Astartes complaint. After several of the Chapter’s involvement in major companies and the losses of marines and the long, slow recruitment process, several companies out of necessity were combined to increase their fighting strath. With these losses and the thought of the death of the chapter, something had to be done. First was a change in combat doctrine, which then lead to the change in the organization of the chapter. A majority of its veterans had come from the ranks of the Deathwatch and had a profound understanding of the is organizational benefits. From an operations standpoint, it provides the flexibility and independents of each of the companies and their units during combat operations.
Currently, there are 6 Crusader companies of Shadow Wolves, that operate almost totally independently of each other. Each of the companies have a mixture of units types that are similar to that of the makeup and combat roles of the units in the Deathwatch, the units in the companies are given the same names. Company consist of
- 5 to 6 Fortis Kill Teams. These units structured around a core of Intercessors, Assault Intercessors, and Hellblasters for heavy firepower, are the majority and main fighting force of the companies.
- 2 to 3 Indomitor Kill Teams. The members in there Mk.X Gravis Power Armour, provied heavy fire support.
- 2 to 4 Spectrus Kill Team. The stealth of these mixed vanguard units of Infiltrators, Incursors, Reivers, and Eliminators, are the eyes and ears of the company.
Along with these units, new recruits will be placed into standard Intercessors squads. Lead by a veteran Sargent, these neophytes will be trained in all manors of weapons armor and equipment.
The Chapter companies include a number of officers and specialists who support the companies operations. The psychically empowered Librarians, the bellicose Chaplains, Apothecaries, standard-bearing Ancients, and the mechanically adept Techmarines and their Servitors, will often stride out to lead a strike force in battle, or provide essential battlefield support, spiritual leadership, psychic capability, and destructive combat prowess.
All companies, maintain a small fleet of Repulsor, Repulsor Executioner, Impulsor and Gladiators armored transports. The Company also has a complement of Storm Speeders of different patterns and Invictor Tactical Warsuit. Many companies also include a number of Primaris Redemptor Dreadnought.
Command Ranks
- Lord Commander
- The rank lord Commander is given to one of the High Commanders of the 8 crusader companies. His role is to act as a chapter master when one is needed and has the final authority in decisions concerning the chapter as a whole. The only time that he will be in command is when there are 2 or more companies fighting together, and there is a needed to organize missions between the 2. He still is responsible for the operations of his company.
- High Commander
- The rank High Commander. His duties are the same as a chapter master of other chapters but at a company level. There are eight high commanders in the shadow wolves chapter, each in command of one of the eight companies. Because of the sizes of Each of the companies, they operate more like a chapter.
- Company Commander
- The Company Commander or just Commander, is in command of one of the three demi companies. They are also part of the High commanders, company command staff.
- Lieutenant Commander
- Each Demi company has 1-2 lieutenant commanders. They are in command of units of various sizes drawn from the demi companies, depending on their mission.
Specialist Ranks
- Reclusiarch
- Chaplain
- Master of the Forge
- Techmarine
- Chief Apothecary
- Apothecary
- Chief Librarian
- Librarian
Line Ranks
- Veteran Sergeant
- Sergeant
- Battle-Brother
- Scout Marine
- Neophyte
- Aspirant
Specialist Formations
Chapter Beliefs
Due to the diversity inherent in the recruitment from multiple worlds, the Shadow Wolves are not as monocultural as some of the more rigid chapters. Their cultural identity is almost more akin to the diverse spectrum of self-identification that fills the honored halls of the Deathwatch fortresses. The Shadow Wolves do not consider this a liability; quite the opposite in fact, as they believe there is something strong and pragmatic to be gained from such diversity, and without forcing a singular compliant culture on their neophytes upon indoctrination. The Shadow Wolves have seemingly inherited the same fanatical zeal as is seen in the followers of Sigismund, but their fervor is instead focused on the deification and worship of their primogenitor, Rogal Dorn himself. The primarchs indeed had diverse and powerful effects on the ethos of their own legions and successors, but rarely has a chapter embraced such sanctimonious praise for their own genefather as the Shadow Wolves. It is likely that the oral traditions of the tribes used for recruitment pitted Dorn as a primal deity of their ancient beliefs, for many cultures within their recruitment worlds had been reduced to stone ages in the millennia since departing Holy Terra. This tradition is not lost after the tribal neophytes go through the completion of their training and integration into the chapter, and while the Shadow Wolves remain a culturally diverse organization, this prevailing ethos is firmly ensconced throughout the entire chapter organization.
Chapter Recruitment
- "In the Emperor's light or in the Darkest Night, The Evils of the Galaxy Shall Not Escape My Sight, For I am a Shadow Wolves."
- — Litany of Recruitment
The Shadow Wolves recruitment of Aspirants is a unique and long process. They are unable to draw from there home would do to it being wiped of all life, they are forced to look on other planets. Each of the companies is responsible for there own recruitment and is tasked to the Chaplains, Apothecaries, and lieutenants.
Even though the companies do their own recruitment, there are certain guidelines that must be followed. To be even considered, a potential Aspirant must have a certain combination of skills and qualities. They first must be a survivalist. Able to live in the most hostile environment, of a planet or its population. They needed to able to be stealthy, blend in, go unnoticed, disappear into the shadows. The last is they needed to be calculating, a planner, the ability to anticipate there foes action, what their action will be and how will their foes react to there reaction. There are also physical as well as psychological traits that they look too. The chapter companies have found that the best Aspirants with these requirements have been found in the youths in gangs of an under hive. But it is not just limited to this group. Companies have also taken Aspirants from Astra Militarum Planetary Defence Force units, as long as they meet the minimum age requirement and feral undeveloped worlds. Even though the responsibility is that of the Chaplains, Apothecaries, and lieutenants they, themselves do not actively do the recruitment. It is given to there most trusted surfs. As a company needed for Aspirants arises, a team of serfs is dispatched. The team consists of 3-9 surfs with the ranks of Medicae who assistant the apothecary. Sacratium assistant the Chaplin, and Adiutor assistant to the lieutenants. Once they are on the planet, they will blend into the population and watch. Looking for those that fit the criteria. Ones an individual is identified, the team will focus on them. Every action is scrutinized and analyzed. All this is conducted covertly without the subject knowing. During this, constant reports are being sent back to the companies for analysis. After some time, a decision is made whether or not the subject is to become an Aspirant. If not the team moves on to a new subject with the subject being none the wiser. But if so, their life is about to change.
The process can take years to find that one individual that will be worthy of even being a Shadow Wolf. Also, it is found that a planet population, produces an abundance of potential Aspirants. Because of this sum surf teams have been placed of planets permanently serving the chapter Those aspirants that do not become space marines, still have value to the chapter. The skills and abilities that were honed during training are used by the Shadow Wolves. Some serfs will be chosen to become operatives.
Operatives are dispatched to planets, cities and other zones of vital importance to a Shadow Wolves company's patrol area. The operatives purpose is to gather and send important back intelligence back to there company. without this intelligence, the company would not be able to confidently plan combat operations.
Combat Doctrine
The Shadow Wolves are unique in their proactive and clandestine approach to warfare. Unlike most of Dorn’s progeny who is masters of holding ground, defending emplacements and besieging enemy fortifications, the Shadow Wolves specialize in tracking and hunting the enemy, disrupting enemy battle formations and isolating stray pockets of confused enemies before their shadowy blades slice throats, eliminate sentries, and slip back into darkened leather sheaths. Most engagements are short-lived, application of timely overwhelming firepower, causing maximum attrition amongst the foe while minimizing their own casualties. They refrain from frontal attacks or attrition warfare. Fluidity, timing, and pre-planning allows the Shadow Wolves to dictate when and where battles take place.
The use of concealment and guerrilla tactics, cause the enemy to see the attacks as random but they are not. They are meticulously planned, forcing the enemy into just the right kill-zone, were the full force of the chapter can be unleashed. Once the enemy is wiped out, the Shadow Wolves slip back into the shadows in search of new prey. This approach to warfare seems to stem from the nomadic hunter tribes that roam many of the recruitment worlds of the chapter, where men develop the skills to stalk prey over miles, smell them on the wind, and be as still as death itself, for to lack these skills in their environment would mean a violent death at the hands of the indigenous mega-fauna.
This fundamental dominance of the pre-transhumance culture in fully developed battle-brothers may also be a sign as to why the Wolves maintain such stark dogma regarding Rogal Dorn himself, a cultural carryover that the chapter’s leaders have never willed to cast out of company practice. This all amounts to an organization of individual killers and autonomous agents who can operate independently in the field as well as they can stand together. In truth, Shadow Wolves likely feel most comfortable during solo wetwork, when they are closest to their never-buried cultural roots.
Notable Shadow Wolves
High Commander Lycas Umbra, of the Shadow Wolves 4th Company.
- High Commander Lycas Umbra - Current lord commander of the Chapter. High Commander Lycas Umbra was one the last Shadow Wolves to leave Varadon, as it was overrun by a Tyranid splinter fleet. As he was dragged to the open door of a thunderhawk gunship by a Black Templer, with what should have been a mortal wound to his abdomen, he fired his bolter providing cover for there retreat. After the fall of Varadon, he joined the Deathwatch and assigned to watch station Eye of Damocles. There he became a captain of the watch and earned several honors, He left the deathwatch when the news of the rebirth of the Shadow Wolves reached him and became the first of the original Firstborn to cross the Rubicon Primaris and be made into a Primaris Space Marine. Because of his service and actions, he was made Chapter Master of the Shadow Wolves. His first act was to reorganize the chapter into crusader companies and became the High Commander of the 4th Crusade Company and the First Lord Commander.
Deathwatch Service
Chapter Appearance
Chapter Colours
The Shadow Wolves' Power Armour is a dark purple, white shoulder pauldrons with silver trim. The skull or double-headed eagle icon of the Aquila on the chest is silver as well as the armor over the knees. Any iconography or trim on the armor is also in silver. On the left pauldron is the chapter symbol. The right pauldron is the company and squad symbol. The pauldron field is divided into a pattern based on the company's number and color. A roman style squad number is incorporated in the fields as well as any honors that the squad has earned. Example: The 4th company pauldron is divided into 4 quadrants alternating white and green. In one green field is the squad number and in the opposite would be an honor making. Rank and veteran status are still identified with a different colored helmet as dictated by the Codex Astartes. Veterans, if they wish to, replace their company pauldron with the Deathwatch one if they served. Other icons can be found on the armor of the marines. One that is most frequent is the templars cross. It is worn to pay tribute and honor there Primarch Rogal Dorn and the Black Templars that came to there aid on Varadon. Another icon is the wolfs head. This icon is mostly found on the veterans. It honors the original chapter and its Brothers that fought to the last.
Chapter Badge
The Shadow Wolves Chapter icon consists of a stylised ebon coloured wolf head facing forwards towards the enemy, centered upon a black crescent moon on a field of purest white.
Chapter Fleet
Chapter Relics
Relations
Allies
Enemies
Notable Quotes
By the Shadow Wolves:
About the Shadow Wolves:
