Index Astartes: Storm Tyrants
'Obey only certainty. Follow only strength.'
[//Chapter adage+]
Précis
Inspired by Hegemon Cyzicus Ilios' idealistic vision of the Great Crusade, the Storm Tyrants were led by their commander into the dubiously-legal seizure of the Myrean Cluster in M32. His vision of a perfect human dominion was pursued by his successors, seeing the systems forcefully reshaped over a period of centuries.
Increasingly concerned that their dominion would be discovered and censured, many within the Chapter felt that rumours of a Returned Primarch offered the chance of vindication of their pursuit of empire – chief amongst them Hegemon Hektor Tiberius, their dynamic and charismatic leader at the time of the War of the False Primarch.
As the Extinction Fleets came after the Primarch and his followers, cracks began to form around the Chapter´s faith and purpose. Two factions formed within the Storm Tyrants: those who favoured isolation, and those who wished to pursue the chance – however slim – of returning to the glory days of the Great Crusade. The internal conflict would come to consume, define, and ultimately sunder the Chapter.
Storm Tyrants Chapter Icon |
Warcry “Servants of the Storm; Masters of Mankind!”
Cognomen Stormbreakers, Thunderers
Founding Officially unrecorded: spec. Second? [+//001.M32/+]
Gene-Seed spec. [+/Xferrus_m/+] [//+ ignosco ident: +/??[??/+]]
Successor Chapters [None on record]
Chapter Master Hektor Tiberius [//honorifval=TRUE: 'Chosen of the Curia'; 'Hegemon of Myrea'+]
Homeworld Capital of the Myrean League Shieldworlds, Myrea Prime is the most complete of its kind, built and improved over time to be the apex of the Shieldworld project and the very last line of defence. It is the most fortified, industrialised and populated planet of the star-cluster; the cultural heart of the Storm Tyrants' Myrean League. The necessity of its defence and continuation is inculcated into every one of its citizens from birth.
+ Myrea Prime + |
Fortress Monastery In the past, a trio of colossal forge-barques (Storm of Iron, Phlegethon and The Wrath of Tartarus) served the Chapter as their base of operations. After their settlement of Myrea Prime, the planet quickly came to house the bulk of the Storm Tyrants' own assets. As it developed into the largest military training facility of the League worlds, the world was crowned by the mighty Iron Citadel fortress-monastery, from which the Storm Tyrants came to guide their design and assert their dominion.
Appearance The Storm Tyrants' heraldry is spare, simple and clear, reflecting the pragmatism of the Chapter's culture. Besides the cold blue pauldrons, the remainder of the armour is plate silver. The Chapter's symbol is a lightning bolt, held firmly within an upright gauntlet.
[//Battle-brother Kreon Adraxes - 3rd Battalion Line Company+] [//Pict-capture conflict-ident: Defence of the Calydon Gate+] |
The Storm Tyrants have a tradition of repairing and restoring the silver only at the end of a successful operation (assuming, of course, this does not impact operational efficiency). As a result, the silver varies in tone from near-reflective to dirty gunmetal, dependent upon how long the individual has been in the field – and how successful they have been.
[//Marine of the Second Battalion Line Company; Definite Stanchion campaign+] [//jorge_p/@adeptus_avocado+] |
Ignoring their super-Company structure, the Chapter's standard markings otherwise fit closely with Codex standards, with helms marking rank, and squad markings being borne on the marine's right pauldron. The main point of difference is the presence of a Battalion marking, unique to each of the four Battalions. The Third, for example, typically bear their Battalion marking on the left knee.
Standard rank and specialisation designations are summarised below:
[//Bold stripes in various tints denote rank. A brow-band of silver is usually retained+] |
Honorifics typically involve extending the blue beyond the pauldrons, and frequently includes the application of yellow. For special operations, Storm Tyrants are granted considerable leeway in their appearance, and are actively encouraged to vary their uniform; returning it to plain silver and blue at the end of the campaign.
During the later stages of the War of the False Primarch, for example, an entire demi-company on Outopus was sighted in the non-standard scheme pictured below. Showing huge variance from the Chapter's scheme, the blue was extended over the chest, helm, backpack and upper legs; while the forearms and gauntlets were coloured yellow.
So markedly different was the scheme from any known forces that Orthodox reports of the conflict suggested a hitherto-unknown Chapter operating in the sector – demonstrating the value of the Codex practice of varying one's heraldry to mislead and misdirect the enemy.
[//DECA-579: Active on Outopus+] [//jericho_a/@5_grots_in_a_humie_suit+] |
***
Chapter organisation and tactical doctrine
Prior to their 'adoption' of Myrea Prime, the then-fleet based Chapter kept excellent records – indeed, they are notable for the exactness and precision – which are duplicated in the depositories on Terra. At the time, the Storm Tyrants were noted for their mastery of siegecraft and fortification, excelling in both the construction and destruction of the most indomitable defences. Accustomed to fighting in detail and apread across multiple warzones, the Chapter's senior officers created a council of peers called the Curia to allow for operational efficiency when operating in isolation. As the now-pulped masterpiece Mythos Heliopolis read:
'The core tenets of the Storm Tyrant’s warrior creed are those of strength, sacrifice and self-reliance, and as such they are not ruled like other Chapters which appoint life-long commanders to lead them until weakness takes their lives. The Storm Tyrants are ruled only by the strong and only for as long as they can prove their strength and value as leaders.'As such, the Storm Tyrants are not led by a Chapter Master but rather by the Curia, a democratic assembly of senior officers and veterans that decide the fate of their Chapter and together elect a Hegemon to lead them. The Chapter’s Hegemon is chosen from the strongest, most ruthless and capable warriors, siegemasters, logisticians and commanders of their brethren, the true apex of their martial traditions and skills. The Hegemon is imbued with much of the absolute power of a traditional Chapter Master, but when it comes to major decisions, campaigns and resource deployments the Hegemon must make his case to the Curia and earn their approval.'
[//extr. Mythos Heliopolis, Expunged+]
The officers of the Curia – indeed, of the Storm Tyrants in general – were known for their depth of understanding of the arithmetics of warfare. The Chapter's training encouraged the pursuit of combat engineering, large-scale logistics and grand-strategy planning (in turn leading to their Battle Brothers' noted skills in less martial pursuits, such as architecture). This led to them excelling in siegecraft, void and urban warfare, with a preference for long-range artillery barrages, close-range firefights and Zona Mortalis engagements. The Storm Tyrants were also renowned for their widespread use of bionic enhancements, preferring the unyielding strength of the machine to the unreliable weakness of the flesh. Indeed, it is by this sole measure that the Chapter is reckoned to have been a successor of the Iron Hands, for no direct geneseed records for the Chapter exist – itself unusual, though not necessarily cause for suspicion.
There is every reason to suppose that such traditions continued during the War of the False Primarch, although their previously largely Codex structure had clearly deviated substantially by the time that they joined the Partisans. The following is a stratego-tactical analysis ordered to be distributed by Stapan Stanizar Gorn of the Charnel Guard immediately prior to the invasion of the Myrean League:
[spool]The Storm Tyrants are organised into four Battalions of three hundred space marines, each led by a Tetrarch. Each Battalion is assigned to guard one of the four main Shield Worlds of the Myrean League (viz: Myrea Prime, Calydon Prime, Agreum V and Lemmas IV). The organisation and tactical disposition of the Battalions is intended to make each completely self-sufficient, with their own complements of armour, ships, auxiliaries and logistical support elements.
Each Battalion is divided into three specialised Companies of one hundred space marines, led by Centurions: the Siege Company, the Assault Company and the Line Company. Each Company is then subdivided into Maniples and Squads, led by Legates and Decurions.
- The Siege Company is composed of each Battalion’s veterans, siegemasters, techmarines, dreadnoughts, artillery and heavy vehicles.
- The Assault Company is composed of each Battalion’s Assault marines, light vehicles, fliers and scouts.
- The Line Company is composed of each Battalion’s line Astartes, Devastators, Support squads. These companies are also responsible for the Battalion's light transports.
Driven by core principles of strength, sacrifice and self-reliance, as such the Storm Tyrants select their officer corps from the strongest, most ruthless and resilient of their brethren. Moreover, an officer of the Chapter will not only have to excel in strategy and martial skill, they will also be expected to have expertise in large-scale logistics, architecture and engineering, siegecraft, void combat and the full scope of warfare from grand campaign strategic planning to the rapid calculation of tactical fire zones in a shattered urban ruin.[spool=cont.?]
***
Chapter history
'The Storm Tyrants were born without lineage or memory, with no history on Imperial record and no ancestry to bind them to their Astartes brethren. Their birthing was but the clash of fire against stone, their blood naught save iron to hold back a tempest.'
[//Babajide of the Jade Talons+]
Made to be architects of war and masters of siegecraft, for every citadel the Storm Tyrants broke and every fortress they razed, the Chapter obsessively designed a dozen masterpieces of civilian architecture, their halls filled with drawing boards and scale models of perfect cities, advanced industrial infrastructures and ornate palace complexes that would never be realised. Though they had the gift to build great wonders, the Imperium demanded of its space marines only death.
For centuries they restlessly fulfilled this demand, being recorded as participants in some of the most brutal and attritional sieges of the late Scouring. Despite their successes, their unknown pedigree and the nature of their talents meant they were overlooked in glory, given scant recognition for their victories or sacrifice. As such, strength, sacrifice, independence and self-reliance became the pillars of their warrior creed. The orphan Chapter strove ever further in their drive to improve, choosing only the strong to lead them and avoiding all possible reliance and interaction with external entities.
[//Master ordinator of the Storm Tyrants 4th battalion, Ethun Alluens, consults Sergeant Zino Sedon during the Agreus Campaign.+] [//nathan_s/@natedungeon+] |
***
The War of the Beast and the founding of the Myrean League
In M32, Cyzicus Ilios, a ruthless and idealistic warrior who had served in the campaigns of the Scouring, was elected by the Curia, as Hegemon. It was his explicit goal to inspire and lead his brethren in realising the greatness they had been denied for their preceding history. At the time of his election, the Storm Tyrants were counted amongst the unyielding defenders of Segmentum Solar during the War of the Beast.
Encouraged by Ilios, the best architects and engineers of the Chapter began to envision the realisation of an ideal realm. It was one based largely upon their own mythologised and fragmentary understanding of the Great Crusade: a time when the Emperor and his Primarchs built a united Galaxy under the might of the Legions.
It was to be an enlightened dominion, free of the 'inept tyranny of Terra' and the 'cruel superstitions' of the growing Imperial Faith, as Ilios put it. It was to be free of the meaningless quarrels and personal ambitions of baseline Humanity, guided instead by the superior designs and untainted iron will of transhuman minds. An ideal society founded on discipline, cooperation and efficiency where every component works tirelessly towards a common goal rather than pull it apart in pursuit of their selfish ambitions.
***
After many frustrating decades as the Chapter planned in secret, an opportunity at least emerged for them to begin the realisation of their dream. During the turmoil that followed the assassination of Drakan Vangorich, then-High Lord of the Assassins, Ilios led the Chapter on a punitive Crusade out of Segmentum Terra towards Segmentum Pacificus; supposedly pursuing first orks, and then 'quelling rebellious Imperial systems' – duties well within the purview of an Adeptus Astartes Chapter, and such that they would raise few suspicions amongst a reeling and struggling Adeptus Terra.
This culminated in the founding of the Myrean League, with the Chapter claiming the isolated star cluster through dubious right of reconquest. The errant Chapter would no longer wait to be granted a chance to realise their grand design, they would now take it at gunpoint and defend it to the bitter end.
Under lofty ideals, the Myrean League was founded by decree of Hegemon Cyzicus Ilios. Envisioned as a self-sufficient dominion, furnished with perfect cities and hyper-efficient manufacturing complexes, the planets of the cluster were to be defended by impenetrable defences and inhabited by strong and diligent people working and prospering in efficient harmony.
Despite their sincere idealism, however, when it came to achieving their goals the Storm Tyrants knew only the way of iron and blood. As such, the Myrean League would be built over the span of centuries under the iron fist of the chapter and the slave labour of countless generations of Myreans.
***
Realisation of a dream
'Humanity is weak and must be shepherded by the strong in order to achieve greatness.'
[//Hegemon TIberius+]
The systems of the Myrean star-cluster were initially blockaded by the Storm Tyrants' fleet, their worlds occupied and their populations enslaved – supposedly temporarily – under the Hegemon’s authority.
Overseen by conscripted militias and Astartes taskmasters, the entire population of the cluster was forced into planet-sized labour camps and put to work in countless new mining colonies, shipyards, refineries and manufactoria to provide the resources and infrastructure to realise their design. In exchange for their lives and those of their descendants, the Hegemon would deliver them an utopian realm, 'like unto that brought by the Emperor and his Primarchs during the Great Crusade, cruelly and all-too-soon shattered.'
***
From fleet to demesne
Within scant few years, the colossal forge-barque Iron Tyrant – related to the ancient Tiamat and Promethean designs – was dismantled and reassembled as a fortress-monastery and industrial complex on Myrea Prime, which would serve as the central node of their expansion throughout the cluster. The armoury yards and industrial manufactoria extracted from the pre-imperial behemoth provided the Storm Tyrants with all the macro-industrial machinery, building components and military equipment necessary to quickly secure the cluster and lay the foundations of their great design.
Over the following centuries the worlds of the Myrean star-cluster would be rebuilt from the ground up and its people indoctrinated to be the lifeblood of the new Myrean League. Anarchic and organically-developed hives were gradually replaced with fortress-cities built to be perfect in form and function, increasing the efficiency of civilian life and incorporating defensive capabilities in every aspect of their architecture.
The manufacturing output of the cluster was reorganised for maximum yield, specialising and escalating the industrialisation of every world; forcing indentured Adeptus Mechanicus elements to increase automation beyond the limits of their religious creed and pushing the enslaved population of the cluster into a ceaseless work routine through a complex system of overlapping shifts.
The people of the cluster were forcefully indoctrinated into adopting the ideals of their masters, their minds broken by endless work and rebuilt over time to become the perfect citizens for the Myrean League; strong, obedient and disciplined workers with a strong collective mindset. Over the span of multiple generations the Myreans no longer needed to be enslaved and forced into labour. Bred to adopt the Storm Tyrant’s ideals as their own, the Myreans would eventually embrace their duties as workers, administrators and soldiers with the same zeal as their masters.
The crown jewel of the Storm Tyrant’s defence-oriented design would come with the construction of the Shield World systems, a concentric network of fortified planets, fleet anchorages and defence stations that linked together the defences of the Myrean League into a unified and invulnerable fortress.
Although the Storm Tyrants had planned further stages of development and expansion of the Myrean League, the core of its industrial and military capabilities including the shield worlds were considered complete by 700.M33. Through iron and blood they had achieved their goal, ruling over a thriving realm predicated upon the pillars of strength, sacrifice and disciplined service in the name of collective prosperity.
Over the following decades the Chapter would come to focus on developing colonies on the surrounding systems and bolster their ship-building capabilities; both to expand the reach of their freighter fleets and protect them with new warships.
Everything, however, would change with the sudden and unexpected arrival of one of the Emperor’s lost sons.
***
Disposition during the War of the False Primarch
The Storm Tyrants were ever insular. Hyper-focussed on the Myrean League, they pursued few external campaigns – sufficient merely to avoid the ever-present risks of investigation and censure. They made few overtures to create regional alliances. Their inclusion as a member of the 'Steel of Heliopolis' was given little but lip service, the Chapter's Curia regarding their members' attendance at the occasional honour celebrations given in their favour a pointless and wasteful exercise.
As a result, the Storm Tyrants had few strong alliances beyond the Myrean League itself. The Star Wardens and Iron Guard largely repaid the Chapter's standoffishness with like indifference, and the Spacewolves openly mocked the Chapter's supposed unwillingness to stray beyond its borders.
Despite this isolationism, the Chapter made sure to keep its ear to the ground through contacts in the local Imperial Navy base at Interlude Quay. Rumours and stories of the so-called 'Primarch' therefore started to filter into the reclusive planets of the League around 838.M33, following the first Helepolian Void War.
[//First Company Terminators board and destroy a Red Talons Cruiser during the Saphrax War+] [//nathan_s/@natedungeon+] |
At the time of the War of the False Primarch, the Hegemon of the time was Hektor Tiberius, hailed by all within the Chapter for his dynamism and the purity of his belief in Cyzicus Ilios' original vision. Tiberius was galvanized by the potential of a true son of the Emperor returning. Dazzled by the potential for the Imperium to return into the supposed golden days of the Great Crusade, the Hegemon was eager to pledge the Chapter to a strong leader that would demonstrate the ideals that the Chapter had pursued for long centuries, and in so doing find validation from the 'Last True Son' of all their struggles and sacrifices.
However, after centuries of isolation and ideological ossification, many within the Storm Tyrants' ranks had become radically entrenched in their stubborn independence. Their conservative inclinations were compounded by the violent opposition the 'Primarch' began to meet in Sector Morqub, with many within the Chapter openly opining that declaration of support for Volnoscere would lead to the destruction of the Myrean League.
Unwilling to submit to the arguments of these naysayers, Tiberius prepared and then stated his case to the Curia, and eventually convinced them to send a delegation to find more about the so-called Primarch Volnoscere. The delegation was to be given the mission of returning with more information so that the Curia could better decide which side to support.
***
Early war: secrets and lies
The scheming Hegemon capitalised on the fact that the Curia never specified the size or disposition of this 'delegation' – and as a result he sent his most trusted Centurion, Phosis of Calydon, at the head of the bulk of the 1st Battalion (which was under the personal command of the Hegemon). Nearly a quarter of the Chapter thus became embroiled in the escalating war, with both sides unsure of their allegiance. The few Reports of Storm Tyrants in combat with both Partisan and Orthodox forces during the early–mid period of the war can almost certainly be attributed to Phosis of Calydon and those under his command.
During the Sorrowful Years, Phosis was careful to avoid prejudicing the delegations' support, avoiding Astartes entanglements and attempting to act as a neutral party to Orthodox and Partisan forces alike. Nevertheless, they were perhaps inevitably drawing into a number of engagements. Eventually, during the Sorrowful Years, battlefield losses and their growing internal division shattered the Battalion into multiple warbands pledged to different sides. It is unclear whether they ever met the Primarch.
***
Mid-war
As the Curia waited for Phosis to return and the war continued to escalate around them, the Storm Tyrants' opposing views regarding the Primarch started to become entrenched, leading to the formation of two internal factions; those who favoured declaring for the Partisan cause, on the basis that it best served the ideals of the Chapter; and those who preferred to withdraw into their 'perfect defence' and allow the war to pass by – in essence, waiting to see how the land lay at the close of the war.
As a nominally neutral region, the Myrean League had largely been left to its own devices as the Extinction Armada had translated into the Sector. Leaving the Storm Tyrants to their own devices was initially done on the orders of Master Enoch, who – for all his lack of strategic oversight, was canny enough to recognise that antagonising the Storm Tyrants served no good purpose. From his point of view, the bulk of the fighting would occur in Morqub, so there was no reason to destabilise a region like the Myrean League.
As the Red Talons and Death Eagles fortified the Sector's critical planets, the Storm Tyrants therefore sat idle, perturbed but perhaps relieved that they had not come under suspicion. As the war in Morqub built, the Pentarchy Chapters came closer and closer to League Space, perhaps noting that the Storm Tyrants had not spoken out in condemnation of the 'False Primarch'. The two Chapters repeatedly needled the Steel of Heliopolis Chapters – the Storm Tyrants, Iron Guard and Star Wardens – during the early parts of the war through plausibly deniable raids and disruption of supply lines. The five Chapters engaged in extremely limited skirmishes during this period.
***
Late war
The demilitarised region that resulted around the border between the Myrean League and the other subsectors of Heliopolis was not officially retracted until after the Edict of the Diet of Fools had been enacted – at which point Gorn, by then in de facto command of the Pentarchy, reckoned that the swollen Chapters under his command were able to deal with the potential fifth column threat that the Storm Tyrants had previously posed. Nevertheless, it was not until after Operation Gauntlet was in full swing and Heliopolis was aflame that they actively attacked the Myrean League.
As Operation Gauntlet launched and the Partisans suddenly struck deep into the heart of Sector Heliopolis, the endless arguments and heated discussions of the Storm Tyrants' Curia, previously theoretical, became much more pressing. The senior officers of the pro-partisan and isolationist groups became consumed in increasingly argument and counter-argument on the course of action that best protected their interests – all while the Primarch's First Army Group – the bulk of the Silver Stars and the Argent Heralds – closed on the region.
If they sided with the being claiming to be a Primarch, so the crux of the argument went, the vast resources and fortified position of the Myrean League would change the course of the war in the sector, leading to the triumph of their ideals of the Great Crusade. Defeat, however, would surely mean annihilation.
If, on the other hand, they declared for the Orthodoxy, the Storm Tyrants could likewise turn the tide of the war in the sector by strengthening the already puissant Pentarchy. Even in victory, however, the ideals and practices involved in the construction of the Myrean League would be cast into the light, where they were likely to be met with censure by the Orthodoxy, leading again to their annihilation.
There was no easy decision. Although siding with the Pentarchy had less chance of a immediately fatal ending, the speed of Operation Gauntlet meant that the Partisans – and in particular the Silver Stars themselves – were already at the border marches of League space. Should the pseudolegion prove hostile, so the argument went, could even the Myrean League stand against them? Perhaps fittingly, it was the Storm Tyrants' own idealisation – some would argue fetishising – of the Astartes Legions and the Great Crusade that gave this argument such weight in the Curia.
The growing internal conflict reached a new height with the Red Talon´s annexation of the frontier world of Lemmas, making the High Lord´s intentions regarding the Myrean League more obviosuly hostile and forcing the insular Tyrants to send envoys to the other chapters of the sector – the Steel of Heliopolis – in search of allies.
When the Star Wardens replied by organizing a meeting between the Chapters, along with the Iron Guard, the Tyrants sent an envoy from each of the two factions. To represent the Pro-Partisans and proudly bearing the skull-headed eagle upon his armour went champion Pallas Nemoch, the ambitious and cunning equerry to the Chapter Master and one of the most zealous supporters of his ideals. Towering over him in his hulking suit of cataphractii plate marched brother Hasdrubal, a veteran terminator known for his cold pragmatism and architectural expertise, likewise branded with the unyielding tower sigil of the Fundamentalists.
***
Decisions
Even as Nemoch attempted to find answers from the Star Wardens and Iron Guard – by now both having declared for the Partisan cause – war came to Moreaumunda Lesser, and events overtook the Storm Tyrants. A comparatively minor void skirmish, which had began as a routine supply interdiction, eventually led to the destruction of a Myrean League flotilla within League territory proper. It was at this point that it became clear to the Curia that the war had escalated to such a level of violence that neutrality was no longer an option. The void was bloodied, and the predators lurking within now saw only prey. Whatever their choice, Hegemon Tiberius argued, the Storm Tyrants would have to state their allegiance fast or risk annihilation.
The opposing Tetrarchs, choosing pragmatism in the face of the gathering storm, began to withdraw the forces under their command to their stronghold systems. After a heated session that almost ended in violence, two Tetrarchs joined the Hegemon in favour of joining the Partisan cause, and so the Storm Tyrants officially joined the war on the side of the Partisans.
A period of seven years passed in which the Storm Tyrants fought dutifully and effectively alongside the Silver Stars and their allies, and formed an essential bulwark and place of safety for the Partisans as a whole. The Myrean League became an anchorpoint for the Primarch's entire plan – in seeming vindication of Hegemon Tiberius' early decision. This was the high point of the War for the Partisans; but it was not to last.
As the late war ground on, and the waning numbers of the Partisans began to tell, the Storm Tyrants were increasingly forced onto the back foot; to bring all their defensive might to bear in order to blunt the assaults of the Pentarchy – each attack bringing with it brutal losses. However in their isolation, they had greatly underestimated the colossal strength of their enemies, and with each consecutive wave of reinforcements their defences, even shored up by the remnants of eleven Chapters, started to buckle and crack.
The Siege of the Myrean League that formed the bulk of the late War would ultimately take seventeen years of brutal attrition. Many, however, came to believe that the Storm Tyrants could have resisted for longer – were it not for their own internal divisions that weakened their unity and the strength of their defences.
[//Storm Tyrants and Silver Stars in action during the Siege of Myrea+] [//edward_r/@death_of_a_rubricist+] |
***
Perditus qui haesitat.
[//Aphorisms+]