Index Astartes: Inheritors
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[//lars_J-D/@lars.j.dahl+] |
"For three millennia the Imperium of Man has fallen deeper into twilight. The Emperor's vision destroyed by the horror of the heresy, our golden age stolen. Even as one of His lost progeny re-emerges as a beacon of hope; stirring in the masses of humanity a dream of a better future, the oppressive fist of a corrupted Terra advances upon us.
The tyrannical regime of the High Lords and the Adeptus Administratum loathes any sentiments of hope and light, seeking to snuff it out, thus perpetuating their status quo. Our own kindred they send to annihilate us, our forerunners and my former brothers, the Death Eagles. This is a monstrous betrayal. And yet we stand; for we believe in a new dawn for the Imperium, we believe in the ascension of humanity, we believe in the light of the dawn star.
We will defy the twilight. A new sun will rise.
For the Emperor, beloved by all! For Volnoscere! And for humanity!"
[//Jarnail Ancient Solarion+]
Precis
A vigorous, idealistic and highly active Chapter, the Inheritors were ever-striving to regain ground lost during the War of the Beast, an ideal which frequently saw them fighting in and around the Pieride Waste. A lawless zone in the centre of Sector Morqub, the Waste was infested with orks, saharduin and other pirates; against whose strongholds the Inheritors frequently railed. As with their erstwhile allies, the Riven Lords and Red Fish, the Inheritors prided themselves on their loyalty to humanity.
The observed strategic tendencies of the Inheritors – a standard analysis made by the Ordo Astartes, and later used to supply intelligence to the Pentarchy in order better to combat the Partisans – were of a Chapter inclined towards liberation and defensive operations, rapid insertion strikes, combined arms warfare, and utilizing command and control of lesser troops.
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| [//Khalsa Kirat of the Silver Shield Guard+] |
Beyond anything, the Inheritors wished to preserve and restore the Emperor's vision, his hope for a golden future for mankind. When in combat, the Inheritors would thus put the preservation of civilian life before all else, as they saw their foremost duty being to protect the lives of the Emperor of Mankind's most faithful subjects. These ideals would shape the chapter into true champions of humanity – and cruelly also prove a fatal vulnerability when set in opposition to the ruthlessness of the High Lords of Terra.
Warcry "We are your shield, we are your sword, we are the light in the darkness."
Cognomen Lightbringers [//epithetSOURCEVAL: coined by population of Sigil//]); The First [in reference to beign the first to pledge to Volnoscere]
Founding Third [+//001.M32/]
Gene-Seed [+/XIXcovus_c/+]
Successor Chapters None recorded
Chapter Master Solarion [//epithetVAL=TRUE: 'Ancient'; 'Jarnail'/+]
Homeworld Hyperborea
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| [//Hyperborea_//Tithegrade=aptus non/+] |
Located in the Morqub sector, south of the Pieride Wastes, the Inheritors homeworld is the fifth planet of the Stolic system and is a planet of ice and death, memorably described by the Rogue Trader Ignatsio Reveel as a 'frozen hellscape as inhabitable and inhospitable as my first ex-wife'. Classified as a deathworld by the Adeptus Administratum, life on Hyperborya is is harsh and cruel. Due to its distance from the local star [//KS-37H/Indra+] Hyperborya is extremely cold and encapsulated by an icy shell, with only glacial fissures and massive penitentes jutting out from the surface. Shelter from the howling winds of the hurricane-strength blizzards is afforded only through descent into one of the many crevasses that litter Hyperborya. The same conclusions were clearly reached by both the aborginal inhabitants and the first human colonists that settled Hyperborea, because it is in these crevasses that the ruins of settlements can be found. Presumed to have been settled early in the Golden Age of Mankind, their seclusion, age and disrepair now hide any traces as to their original purposes. They are the places in which the clans of Hyperborya eke out their survival on the punishing iceworld. To venture outside is to invite the possibility of death by a myriad of ways, including starvation, hypothermia, and predation by megafauna. It is done only when completely necessary.
Fortress Monastery The Sundial
Centered on the magnetic north pole of Hyerpborea towers an impossible tall and massive spire, taller than any other object on the planet. This is the Sundial, fortress monastery and home to the Inheritors chapter. Speculated by the Chapter techmarines to have been a research station when first created, the disused Sundial was at some previous period heavily fortified for reasons unclear to all those still living, though commonly surmised within the Chapter to relate to the 'Anomaly', a partially-excavated object of unknown origin that lies far beneath the original structure, at the bottom of the deepest shaft and sink-tunnels that pierce the uncaring deathworld's mantle.
Appearance
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| [//Battle Brother, Second Company+] [//lars_J-D/@lars.j.dahl+] |
Historically poorly-supplied, the Inheritors venerate their battle-gear, spending a substantial portion of their free time in maintenance. This chimes well with their cultural ways, which encourage meditation and self-study. While Mark VI and VII armour is common, the Chapter boasts a surprising proportion of older armour marks, carefully maintained and fielded.
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| [//lars_J-D/@lars.j.dahl+] |
Red honour markings are frequent, echoing the helmet stripe. Used by the Boryan nomad-clans, red stripes are a culturally significant sign – a high-visibility marking that indicates both willingness to offer assistance and readiness to accept said help. The honour markings are thus unusual amongst the Chapters Astartes in recording not an individual's record or personal prowess, but rather indicating the thanks of a Battle Brother for assistance received. The markings are usually hand-painted by the grateful Battle Brother, but – in the case of post-mortem honorifics – are added by his squadmates.
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| [//lars_J-D/@lars.j.dahl+] |
The Chapter Badge is a silhouetted gauntet raising a five-pointed star; symbolising the dawn of a new era as mankind lays claim to the heavens. Note the battle brother here has inscribed his armour with teachings from the Laws of the Seven Pillars. Boryan script – traditionally restricted to the tribe's shamanic boge – is is crude and difficult to write. Historically, it was incised into ice with blows of a hail – a small hand-axe used by the clans – then coloured with a mix of ash, urine or blood. The practise has largely died out amongst the living population of Hyperborya, but lives on in the memories of its protectors, giving rise to the clan-legends of the Astartes as ancestor-warriors; a mingling of the strength of the world's predatory mega-fauna with the courage and intelligence of the world's honoured dead.
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Chapter history and culture
Sired from the noble lineage of the Death Eagles in the third great founding, the Inheritors were created as a part of the third founding during the dawning of the thirty-second millennium. Alongside resources, warships and a plentiful supply of geneseed, one hundred veterans of the Death Eagles were sent to Segmentus Pacificus to establish a base of operations for the fledgling chapter. The choice of the first Chapter Master was both unorthodox and idiosyncratic, as Solarion the Dawnstar was given command. A veteran of the Horus heresy, the ancient warrior was renowned for his wisdom, honour and ability to foster greatness in his brothers. |
| [//VALident: Solarion honorif 'Jarnail'+] [//lars_J-D/@lars.j.dahl+] |
Their Master's insistence on casting off the lessons of this former Chapter was aided by the vast majority of the newly-founded chapter being newborn initiates. Solarion and his staff deliberately fostered the incorporation of cultural aspects of Hyperboryan society into the Chapter cult, helping to shape it from the very beginning into something quite distinct.
So meagre is the deathworld's ability to support inhabitants that conflict almost inevitably leads to colossal attrition on both sides, regardless of the initial victor. As a result, disagreements are either highly-ritualised – or ruthless and swift. The vast majority of Boryan society, thinly-spread though it is, is rich, ancient and founded on mutual support, co-operation and patience. Almost without exception, the tribes follow the Laws of the Seven Pillars – the most accurate translation from the Boryan Low Gothic in regard to semantics – an ideology that has ensured the survival of the tribes in such a hostile environment. The basic tenets of the creed says that all are enjoined to be honest, treat everyone as equal, meditate on the Emperor and his plan and resist tyranny. The Inheritors took these ideals to heart from their inception, and thus a brother of the Chapter swears an oath never to lie, never to place themselves above the common citizen of the imperium, venerate the emperor as the greatest of all mankind, and fight oppression in all its forms.
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Rumoured gene-seed discrepancies
As the successor of the Death Eagles, the Inheritors were originally noted as belonging to the legacy of Corvus Corax. However, there were many conflicting reports and as secrets emerged from the inquisitorial investigation of the chapter's gene-seed, the genetic origin of the chapter came into question. During the War of the False Primarch itself, Inquisitor Pavel Vanthor referred to the infamous Adeptus Biologis report in which no genetic marker of the Raven Guard could be found. |
| [+ Battle-Brother Dalbir of the Second. Note adoption of Silver Star honorific on boltgun and knee, marking this as a late-War pict-Capture.//] [//edward_r/@death_of_a_rubricist+] |
Pursuing the ancient claim of falsification, Vanthor noted that the Inheritors displayed none of the isolationist, taciturn nature of their progenitors, nor any of the idiosyncratic stealth capabilities displayed by their supposed forefathers. They did, however, seem to display finely tuned and structured thought processes, enhanced speed, reflexes and eye-hand coordination, as well as natural leadership capabilities (especially towards mortal troops).
Vanthor's accusations – and their outlandish claims of the Inheritors' true forefather – were never able to be pursued or substantiated owing to the ongoing war; but his entourage is rumoured to have deployed elements of the Vigilants in their attempt to capture Inheritors for study.
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Rise, dirty politics, and decline
The Chapter's ideals shaped the Astartes into true champions of humanity, beloved by all those they would save and protect. It also drew a heavy cost. The Inheritors spent their first five hundred years on constant, relentless campaigning, leading to soaring losses. Participating in heated conflicts such as the war against the Tyvann Psychocraty and the cleansing of the Bhraga, the Inheritors frequently neglected their geneseed tithes and other rote duties to the Throne; refusing to accommodate Administratum investigations and claiming 'more pressing duties' when rebuked. Such wilfulness was marked by the Ordo Astartes. The political winds of the Imperium were ever against such independence as Solarion and his Inheritors cherished, and the Chapter found itself on a collision course with the Senatorum Imperialis.
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| [//Extra-Sectorial combat – Cityscape designate: Marlburg Landings +] [//lars_J-D/@lars.j.dahl+] |
However, before Inquisitorial censure could be pinned on the Chapter, The War of the Beast consumed the Imperium. A monumental and formative conflict for the chapter, the Inheritors saw a meteoric rise in both fame and fortune. Their skills and abilities saw the chapter emerging victorious from several battles deemed unwinnable, which led to the chapter being seen as one of the most promising chapters of the Third Founding, a rising star that outshone most of their brothers. Unwilling to sanction a propaganda darling, the High Lords – headed by the then-High Lord Acarlo Geldenstern of the Chartist Captains – ordered the Ordo Astartes and Administratum to cease their belligerence.
The next centuries saw the Inheritors continue its path towards greatness, and it seemed almost inevitable that the chapter would in time find itself as one of the most prominent chapters of the Sector; perhaps even of the Segmentum. Alas, a Magos minoris of the Adeptus Biologis – supposedly by mere chance – discovered discrepancies with both the chapter's gene-seed tithes, as well as the gene-seed itself. The chapter reacted furiously to what it saw as a repetitions of ancient antagonism, claiming never to have stopped sending their genetic material, and never reporting the missing gene-seed as lost. Such protestations, coupled with their withdrawal from communications, were grievous errors. Their long-lived political opponents seized upon their stubborn silence, claiming it to be evidence of guilt.
The next centuries saw the Inheritors continue its path towards greatness, and it seemed almost inevitable that the chapter would in time find itself as one of the most prominent chapters of the Sector; perhaps even of the Segmentum. Alas, a Magos minoris of the Adeptus Biologis – supposedly by mere chance – discovered discrepancies with both the chapter's gene-seed tithes, as well as the gene-seed itself. The chapter reacted furiously to what it saw as a repetitions of ancient antagonism, claiming never to have stopped sending their genetic material, and never reporting the missing gene-seed as lost. Such protestations, coupled with their withdrawal from communications, were grievous errors. Their long-lived political opponents seized upon their stubborn silence, claiming it to be evidence of guilt.
Further investigation headed by the Ordo Astartes was presented to the Adeptus Terra, revealing that someone had actively tried to obfuscate and hide both the missing gene-seed. These were accompanied by reports which put into question the legacy of the Chapter. When a delegation was sent to Hyperborya for the Chapter's answers, they were turned away; the garrison commander refusing them an audience and sent them back to Terra. Such high-handed actions were a terrible error; compounding their reputation as truculent and unreliable amongst the Senatorum Imperialis, whose members had long forgotten their former favour. These events lead to the stagnation of the Inheritor's ascension and saw them losing the support of many of their patrons both within and without the Sector.
When a small Adeptus Mechanicus delegation en route to Hyperborya was attacked and destroyed by unknown forces, the Mechanicus blamed the Inheritors for the loss of the delegation and unilaterally sanctioned the chapter, limiting the resources it would receive. This black mark was the first in a series of events that were to prove ruinous for the Inheritors, much to the chagrin – and open fury – of the ancient Solarion.
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War of the False Primarch disposition
The Inheritor would enter the War of the False Primarch in a less than optimal state. Due to half a century of brutal hit-and-run warfare against the Dain-Mir Eldar, preceded by the draining cleansing of Haramhadra, the chapter could muster just over six hundred Battle Brothers and seventy-five initiates. The battle companies had borne the brunt of the losses during the last century of warfare and thus had to draw upon the reserve companies to fill their numbers, putting most of them at below half strength. Only the fifth company, led by Subedar Daulatbir, known colloquially as The Hold of Winter, had not been reinforced, owing to their ongoing actions against the resurgent xenos of the Bhraga Ecumene.As the thirty-fourth millennium saw the beginning of its seventh century, the Inheritors were tasked with cleansing the rimwards regions of the Segmentus Pacificus, pitting them once again against their bitter fot, the vile aeldari of the Dain-Mir craftworld. Thus the ill-fated Amritsar Crusade was launched.
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| [//Pellucid Strait ambush+] [+//paul_c_l_d/paulsmallus+] |
The Inheritors had been in conflict with the Craftworld ever since their inception as a chapter, but this had mainly consisted of targeted strikes, raids and smaller skirmishes. The chapter had hard-won experience in combating this particular breed of xenos, and would normally been a prime candidate for campaigns against psychic enemies.
The Amritsar crusade, however, seemed doomed from the very start. Having been given little to no time to prepare by the Administratum, the Inheritors' hastily assembled force departed with depleted munitions and fuel; and forced to leave a substantial portion of its force to patrol the simmering with the warlike Bhraga.
As the Inheritors entered the battle space, they were outraged to find that the intelligence gathered by agents of the Inquisition revealed to be woefully out-of-date, or even intentionally altered to present a false image of the theatre of war. Far from withdrawing, Dain-Mir was both heavily entrenched and prepared for the invasion force. Unwilling to alter their course of action, the Inheritors continued to execute their plan, their officers working frantically to adapt to the straits in which they found their fleet. Despite their evident courage, skill at arms and the tactical brilliance for which they were famed, the chapter would certainly have perished as slowly but surely the Inheritors were whittled down by continual ambushes, traps and the psychic might of the ancient xenos.
Were it not for the brooding power of the Inheritor's flagship, The Burden of Wrath, the fleet would likely have been forced apart by Dain-Mir squadrons in the first battle of the Pellucid Straits. Built before the Great Crusade, the battleship once belonged to dread World Eaters Legion; commanded by the Captain of the Sixth company, Brutus Sairhak. Appropriately inherited, the ship's new masters predominantly use the Burden of Wrath for direct planetary assaults by the Inheritors. The ship is a brutal pugilist, able to go toe-to-toe with the most powerful of battleships. While I do not regard the Inheritors as masters of void combat, the Burden is a powerful asset; and while perhaps not directly comparable to a Gloriana class vessel, it would be a foolish admiral who counts it merely as a ship-of-the-line.
[//Incepted tactical analysis; attr. Gorlon Hamb; equerry to Master Enoch+]
Unwilling to retreat, and with no recourse to reinforce and repair, eight years into the crusade the chapter had lost scores of their warriors. A crisis of faith had begun to emerge within the chapter. Had they lost their way? Was this defeat to solidify into lasting infamy and failure?
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| [//identVAL: [patternunresolved]: Queryspool initiated+] [//lars_J-D/@lars.j.dahl+] |
The climax of the crusade seemed to be approaching as both the Inheritors re-deployed; striking out for temporary harbour on the planet of Hong-Qi with all their remaining forces. Despite gathering their remaining might in terrain hostile to the fragile Eldar warriors, the Inheritors were repeatedly drawn into forlorn hope situations and almost completely overwhelmed. On the thirteenth of Secundus, as a thin rose dawn broke across the broken settlements, Jainail Solarion prepared his warriors for a glorious death.
It was a death postponed; for it was at this point that a second, silver sun arose. A massive fleet translated into the system, launching an immediate storm of fire on the gathering Eldar craft. The Inheritor's rescue from destruction was heralded by many within the Chapter as nothing less than miraculous, a sign that the Chapter had earned deliverance from the God-Emperor himself
Rebirth
Solarion's pursuit of the mystery fleet that had driven off the Eldar of Dain-Mir led indirectly to the formation of the Quadrargenta, recorded in the attached datapacket. From this point on, Solarion and many of the Astartes under his command were utterly dedicated to Volnsocere, who the Chapter hailed as the literal son of the Emperor. Buoyed as much by the dispelling of their spiritual malaise as the vast influx of equipment and weaponry gifted to them by the Silver Stars, the Inheritors launched a huge recruitment campaign, almost stripping the Boryan clans of a generation of youths and dangerously overloading Zatmanje, their orbital recruitment and training station.
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| [//Inheritors advance fearlessly into the burning habs of Forbearance, determined to keep lines of retreat open for as long as possible+] |
Those Scouts able to be raised to full Battle Brother status following the abandonment of the Amritsar Crusade were honoured to be personally invested by the Vox Volnoscere, the Primarch's equerry. As events moved on and it became clear that the High Lords' were attempting to silence the efforts of the Silver Stars, the Inheritors increasingly became evangelical in their support for the 'returned Primarch'. Deploying far and wide across the sector, individual combat squads of Inheritors redoubled their humanitarian efforts, raising the profile and support for the Silver Stars and Volnoscere across dozens of worlds. The Chapter's reputation as stalwart defenders of truth undoubtedly helped to sway many wavering groups.
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| [//Inheritor Veterans were on the forefront of the Corewards Campaign, stalwartly resisting Pentarchy efforts on worlds across the front. They were active from Choreopsis to Ishim, recruiting and evangelising for the Silver Stars and the 'Dawn Star'.+] [//lars_J-D/@lars.j.dahl+] |
Perhaps unexpectedly, such scepticism was mostly found within the lower-ranking members of the reserve companies. The Scouts were steeped in devotion to the 'Returned One' from recruitment, and the veterans likewise saw Him as harking back to a bygone time of myth and heroes. By the opening of the Corewards front in Morqub, many of the most experienced members of the Chapter were decorating themselves with fetishes and trinkets relating to the Silver Stars, treating even spent boltgun shells dropped by line Silver Stars as precious relics.
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| [Inheritors in the later stages of the War, Pao Fung Theatre. Note the heavy damage to the warplate on both; and adoption of Silver Stars heraldry on the leftmost figure. It is possible that this Inheritor is wearing a suit scavenged from the battlefield, or that he has repainted his own plate.+] [//lars_J-D/@lars.j.dahl+] |
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Organisation
As with most chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, the Inheritors are close adherents to the codex Astartes, with only a few neglectable idiosyncrasies. The first is the exceedingly large amount of storm shields, combat shields and other assets mostly used for defense, present in the chapter armoury, which neatly complements the chapter's preferred way of war. Furthermore, this facilitates the maintenance of so-called Breacher squads commonly seen during the Horus Heresy and Great Crusade. While not as specialised in void warfare as some of the other Chapters during the War of the False Primarch, the Inheritor's mastery of sword-and-board combat meant that they were wonderfully well-prepared for shipboard combat.The second, and more divergent variation is the presence of the Aghori ('wisdom holders') caste. A practice criticised by their detractors, the Inheritors no longer maintain a formal Librarium or Reclusiam, but a combination of the two. The chapter's Librarians also function as their Chaplains, performing all the tasks of the aforementioned roles.
The chapter also maintains two specialized formations unique to the inheritors, one who represents the ideals and soul of the chapter whilst the other is seen as the necessary evil. Firstly there is the noble Silver Shield Guard, foremost champions of the Chapter's First company, who embody the chapter's ideals and virtues of protecting the weak and self-sacrifice. Clad in artificer armour and armed with storm shields and power swords, they are the living bastions of hope that are always deployed in the most demanding and dangerous combat zones, to protect those who need it the most.
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| [//The silver shield guard would fall to a man during the Massacre at Acylus, with Brother-Khalsa Kirat as the sole survivor, commanded to flee by Jairnail Solarion.+] |
Reflecting the Boryan cultural expectation of Necessary Balance the second formation is seen by many within the chapter as the dark foil to the Silver Shield; a necessary black stain on the chapter's otherwise radiant persona. Known internally as the Brotherhood of the Dark Sun, each company has within its ranks a single unit of these dark, brooding warriors, whose demeanor and dark visage sets them apart from the rest of the chapter.
Unleashed upon the enemy only when the company's Aghori are in perfect accordance, these cadres of specialized and highly trained warriors excel at one thing in particular: the hunting and annihilation of psykers and psychic abominations. Established in the dark days of defeat following lengthy conflicts with the Eldar, Bhraga, and other psychically-attuned xenos, these units were formed as an in extremis sanction; only deployed when utterly necessary and seek to eliminate their target with extreme prejudice.
During the creation of the brotherhood, debts of gratitude were made to the sinister warriors of the Wormwood Sons, for help given in dire circumstances. In return for some unknown bargain, that benighted Chapter opened their black vaults for a select few Inheritors, who were burdened with the powers of unmaking the witch. Such Atom-blessed tools included such lost terrors as psy-shielded jump packs; hexagrammaticly warded and psycho-insulated armour; aether-shock weapons and toxiferran warheads.
Prior to the War of the False Primarch these units worked unrecorded; a reluctantly utilised shadow of this shining Chapter. In the aftermath of the Massacre at Acylus, the Brotherhood flocked to Volnoscere's side en masse, and would make up a significant core of the nascent Marines Medicant.
***
Inheritors, in your recognition of him as your liege, see clearly. Serve him as you do the Emperor himself. As you yourself pass into meta-humanity, ward well your conscience. Let it ever be clean; and your brow ever clear. Come and be counted.
[//Attr. Vox Volnoscere; at the investiture of the Inheritor's Tenth+]