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Deathwatch Reborn

Started by Necris, September 29, 2009, 08:50:10 AM

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Kallidor

#45
Name: Tane Laran (birth name Etroka Gieron). Each Prophet retains a birth name which is reserved for use by only his squad brothers and those closest to him and even then is rarely used. Instead each Prophet inherits a name from whichever Marine he takes his Progenoids from. Each Prophet inherits one name in this way and also a name given to him by his squad so in cases where a marine recieves Progenoids from a living Prophet he is called by his squad name first to avoid confusion. From this Prophets can trace their line back thousands of years.

A more sinister aspect to this tradition, and one known only to a handful of individuals in the Imperium, and most of those within the Chapter's upper echelons, is rooted in the Chapter's battles against the forces of Chaos. These has happened on several occasions in the Chapter's past and those Prophets involed in such engagements have been mind-scrubbed. These child-like marines are then restored to health over many, many years by the Chapters Librarians who not only teach them the basics of eating and cleaning themselves but also imprint upon them the history and deeds of their forebear.

Chapter: The Prophets of Hatred hailing from the deep Galactic North-West.

Rank in Chapter: Cenobite Mahtar, that is to say, the lowest rank (Cenobite or Battle-Brother) of the Mahtaron a specialist unit within the Chapter who act as battle-singers. The Mahtaron is closely associated with the Reclusiam and therefore a position of honour for any Marine inducted into its ranks. In recent times however it has become an onerous duty due to that link.

Personal Quirks: Laran is one of the unfortunates who have undergone mind-scrubbing. Due to this he has a youthful mentality at odds with his age; well into his 300's. Whilst few know of it the Prophets suffered a Chapter Schism which almost destroyed the Chapter and changed its outlook and operation forever. As the Chapter fought in more and more battles with the forces of Chaos the number of Marines it had who had not fought these heinous enemies before dwindled until eventually those who had fought Chaos and survived only to be mind-scrubbed were sent out again, and to be mind-scrubbed again should they survive.

Since the Chapter's commanders retained their minds and their experience of Chaos they became more effecient at dealing with such horrors, they were called upon more often by the Inquisition and the Adminstratum and whilst mind-scrubbing seemed to work, with even the most unhinged and psychotic survivors going on to become steadfast Brothers once more the taint of what they had endured was not completely erased.

Some of these Brothers had been mind-wiped so many times that the process began to have little effect upon them. The reconditioning broke down and these Brothers began to recall the horrors they had witnessed. For a rare few they remembered not only their previous life but the many lives they had lived threatening their very sanity.

They were careful not to show their inner turmoil as they were unsure of what retribution would be meeted out against and worse, they were suspicious of their fellows. Eventually they were drawn together, finally voicing their troubles and also their anger. Most if not all these indivuals insinuated themselves into positions of power within the Chapter, particularly the Reclusiam where they hoped to gain control over the new recruits.

Their minds were not the only things which had been twisted but even their gene-seed had become polluted but through various schemes they implanted new recruits and thanks to the Chapter's tradition of eating the brains of deceased brothers were able to corrupt all new recruits to the Chapter until they finally grew bold enough to reveal themselves.

Not all the Prophets had been exposed to Chaos and even those that had, not all became traitors. Hundreds died in the ensuing conflict and the Chapter was left traumitised and beaten. Of those who were left some chose to be mind-scrubbed again in the hope they could forget such tragedy, some did not and banded together into a company of defeated and tired old warriors. The rest began the painful process of rebuilding the Chapter but the wounds are still fresh.

Laran is unencumbered by the aweful burdens of his past but even so his mind is not fully healed. At times he loses himself in his battle hymns and even when not in combat his thoughts often wander, he grimaces and snarls and even punches the air and lashes out at invisible enemies as he acts out fights in his mind.

Armament: Laran wields an ancient relic of the Chapter, a sonic weapon which requires great skill to use as it is not so much fired at the enemy but played the growls, bellows and roars of the weapon able to liquefy flesh or shatter stone with even more pronouned effects against armoured foes. These weapons were a gift to the Chapter from the Tech-Magi of Accatran after they fought a series of campaigns against the orks over a period of several centuries. After the style of Legio Destructor the Mahtaron equips its members with loud-speaker which allows the Marine to augment and increase the volume of his voice, assaulting his enemies with deafening wails. Laran also carries a large chain-hammer. Two blocky weighted heads each house twin sets of rotating chain teeth allowing the wielder to crush his foes as well as shred them to pieces.

Any Deeds of Note: Whoever Laran was, he stood against the daemonic threat of Chaos and their vile human pawns many times and countless other enemies besides but his deeds, whilst undoubtedly mighty and heroic, have been expurgated from all Chapter records. However, the original Laran was as staunch and courageous as any marine might hope to be. Most notably he fought the Tau during the Damocles Crusade and went on to fight the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Behemoth during the First Tyrannic War. He eventually fell at Armageddon during the Second War where he not only fought but lead a unit of veteran guardsmen and Blood Axe mercenaries. He was last seen clubbing a wierdboy to death during an attack on a Gargant shortly before it overloaded and blew them all to pieces. It is these experiences which make him an ideal candidate for the Deathwatch but none can say if his successor has ever fought any of these aliens.

The Prophets of Hatred: The Chapter has artefacts and relics captured during battle and gifted by grateful allies. The Chapter has ancient standards from millennia past and its name can be found in Imperial records so old that only a few machines still exist that are even able to read the data crystals which contain such information.

Few recall the Chapter however whose name and deeds appear alongside the names of other Chapter's who seem to have disappeared from the face of the galaxy. Undoubtedly it must be down to errors and when the almost forgotten names of the Warriors of Providence or the Spectral Hunters, even The Cyclones, these refer not to a different Chapter but to the Prophets of Hatred, with these other names merely poetic license on the part of the chroniclers and archivists inspired by the noble deeds of the Prophets.

The Chapter has traditions and practices as diverse as the nations and people it recruits from. Their core beliefs are centred around the supremacy of war and its veneration. The Prophets believe that war as a pursuit is the greatest endeavour of mankind and take the Emperor as Warlord to be the embodiment of war. So for the Prophets war is not just something they do but it is their very essence.

According to Chapter records this philosophy finds its roots in ancient sayings, purportedly made by the Emperor during His conquest of Earth. It was these sayings which gave the Chapter its name. During the 19th Founding the Imperial Tarot was consulted and one reader was sent into convulsions after recieving a divine vision. They saw a great upheavel in the Imperium's future and also texts which would provide valuable insight to the faithful to move through this period. These tomes were locked away in the vaults beneath the Imperial Palace where they had rested unread for uncounted ages.

Amongst them were found what could only have been the Emperor's own words, "Perhaps people think that I have come to cast peace upon the world. They do not know that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth: fire, sword, war. For there will be five in a house: there will be three against two and two against three, father against son and son against father, and they will stand alone and if anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple." It was from this vision that the newly formed chapter was given the name Prophets of Hatred and only later would the great upheavel manifest itself as the Age of Apostasy.

With this creed the Prophets have sought to pruge mankind of weakness by bringing down the Emperor's sword to divide mankind and strengthen it through conflict. Undoubtedly this tenents have been influenced by the many battles the Prophets have fought against Orks for they cannot fail to see the hand of the Emperor at work when he sends a race fully adapted to the rigours of war, who rejoice in battle and live only for conflict.

Whilst the Prophets engage in war openly they also pursue other avenues. They do not just see their role as guardians of mankind as one that restricts them to simply defending from external threats but also as one that pushes them to root out weakness and destroy it. They have many agents abroad in the Imperium who make deailed reports upon the status of human worlds and when they find one wanting they send word back to the Chapter. Wherever there is war there are Prophets and wherever there are Prophets there is war, often during a mutant slave revolt or an civil uprising there might be seen in the thick of the surging crowds a figure in dark crimson armour. Wherever feral orks suddenly appear on a sleepy backwater world, screaming out of the jungles and forests equally as bizarre is the appearance of a company of Marines who arrive before distress signals can be sent and leaving only when half the world is ablaze.

In battle the Prophets often make use of infiltration. This is not limited to the simple skirmishers outflanking the enemy, sometimes the Prophets may have operated on a world for months or even years building up groups of militia fighters and guerilla warriors. This mode of warfare is taken from the Chapter's old duty of policing the space lanes. Boarding actions against numerically superior foes forced the Prophets to use more subtle means to overcome their enemies the lightning attacks of the Astartes during any land based attack useless in the cramped and twisting maze of corridors aboard a space vessel.

As a result the Prophets favour short range firefights and close asasults where their enhanced strength truly comes into its own and many enemies have been slaughtered by the sudden emmergence of a squad of Marines, their only warning the whirr of activated chainswords.


Appearance: The Prophets armour is a dark crimson. Their boots, greaves and kneepads, as well as arms and shoulder pads and their helmets are all a dark unpainted metal often with a bit of corrosion and a spot of rust. Laran's armour is pretty standard except for a few orky looking doo-dads and a bone necklace. The most notable feature is his helmet; this is a combination of the helmet worn by an Iron Warrior from the 2nd Ed. Codex Chaos, which has snarling teeth down the beak and the 'ears' from Kharn the Betrayer's helmet. If you imagine the 'ears to be at ninety degrees horizontally and vertically on Kharn's helmet then on Laran's they would be swept back and depressed to a forty-five degree angle. Also I see him having round lenses in his helmet rather than usual sort; if you've seen the film Short Circuit you'll probably understand what I mean. In effect these lenses would move around as he looks around just like proper eyes. Facially picture him as a Papuan, or better yet Stanley Gene.
Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Necris

All looking good so far I'm going to go read the IC and then post up the next part
This here is my very favourite gun...I call her rita.

The Order of the Iron Rose - Necris' Inq28 Plog

Kallidor

No problems with my character then Necris?
Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Koval

Gyaah! Tony, did you really mean this?
QuoteBrother Cabel was of the Iron Warriors and Demos was happy that none other than his own Chapter was better suited to the task he'd appointed him.

Necris

Kalliddor - nope

Koval - Oh bumfluff well thats my chaos side seeping through opps will fix that right now
This here is my very favourite gun...I call her rita.

The Order of the Iron Rose - Necris' Inq28 Plog

Koval

Just be thankful my Chaos side hasn't done the same, otherwise I'd have to post either a faux Index Astartes article on the Extinction Angels, or an Index Malleus on the Overfiend, to cover my tracks, and quite frankly, I fancy doing neither.

An Index Malleus on Pennatus, on the other hand...

Corvin

#51
I'll have a post up tonight.

Sorry if I'm a critic, and I haven't been around the Conclave in a while, so I don't know many of you "new" faces... but keep in mind that these guys are Marines.  Its good to "humanize" them, but only to an extent.  That's just my opinion though, and perhaps a bit critical, especially since I have not written anything like this for a while. 

EDIT: Post up. 

Necris

Corvin could you use a different text the blue is quite difficult to read maybe use teal or yellow
This here is my very favourite gun...I call her rita.

The Order of the Iron Rose - Necris' Inq28 Plog

Corvin

I shifted to the lighter blue, this one should be much better.  Let me know if it is still a problem though. 

Koval

Tony, question -- when, in the galactic timeline, is this taking place? Is it along normal Clave-time (009.M42) or has Silver Heresy III happened (013.M42)?

Just wondering, 'cos of Corvin's involvement.

Corvin

Hmm... I never knew the Silver Heresy was 4 years ahead of "current" time. 

Simeon Blackstar

Quote from: Corvin on October 05, 2009, 10:51:18 PM
I'll have a post up tonight.

Sorry if I'm a critic, and I haven't been around the Conclave in a while, so I don't know many of you "new" faces... but keep in mind that these guys are Marines.  Its good to "humanize" them, but only to an extent.  That's just my opinion though, and perhaps a bit critical, especially since I have not written anything like this for a while. 

EDIT: Post up. 

I agree to an extent, though I'll point out that the Chapter background I posted for the Paladins Benevolent supports a greater extent of human behaviour than normal.  You won't see Martell being afraid of anything or complaining of tthe cold etc.  The talking is mainly him sounding out a Marine whose Chapter philosophy could clash violently with his own through the apolitical medium of discussing the relative merits of close combat weapons.  ;)

Equally, I'm sure a centuries-old Space Marine Captain is going to have less time for such things than normal, so Corvin's reaction is entirely within character!

Koval

I think Rant quite exemplifies how different Marines are to normal humans -- he's so obsessed with efficiency that he economises his words, and has actually adapted his own brain to facilitate multi-tasking to a fairly impressive degree. See also, "every tool is a multi-tool"

I imagine that if the memory of Morel's Reach becomes too prominent, however, this either all goes out the window, or his speech degenerates into a continuous stream of "DIE!! DIE!! DIE!! DIE!!" as the life expectancy of everything around him is cut down to about ten seconds in a hail of bolter shells. You really don't wanna know what that Dominatrix did to him.

Necris

This here is my very favourite gun...I call her rita.

The Order of the Iron Rose - Necris' Inq28 Plog

Ventriss

Hello all,

Would just like to say i am really enjoying reading this!

Same i could not get sorted in time :(

I am sure there will be other times.

Paul
"That which does not kill us makes us stronger" Friedrich Nietzsche