User:BioChimes/Sandbox

Unfinished armies and half baked schemes that have yet to come to fruition...

' Note: Name something 'Lightning Raptors', for the Emperor's Unification Symbol '

A Storm at Dusk - Unification Era Short Story


''Through the mud and fire, from the dusk till dawn. Here we stand.''

Albyon Skies
"How long will they be? We've been here for hours"

From the summet-heights of the western storm barrier the small cluster of scruffy weather-beaten adolescents could see far across the rust and stone city; the Red-Gate stand as a crimson titan in the cold dust and poison-rain of Albyon's center.

The sky flashed white and gold.

''"I can see..." ''

Tyro's voice became drowned by a sudden torrent of angry sound. The sky breaking and burning in the voilent chemical winds, sending a twisting shudder down though the lightning-catchers.

"I can see lights to the west!"

The electric tang of ironised metal filled the air with a sharp tear-inducing mist setting the gathered gutter rats wheezing and puffing, though never taking their eyes off the far-away string of dust lamps with the determince of a firefly. The future was coming, and none of them wanted to miss the event.

"He's here! He's here! Him and all his Thundermen!"

Tyro could no longer contain himself.

"Quiet," Aerron hushed, taking Tyro by the arm "keep your voice low..." The sky split with light and sound, quieting Aerron's pronouncement and sending a shower of sparks and rockcrete fragments down upon the group.

"Yeah he's here. The one who murdered our mothers, our fathers! His Thundermen are monsters, death and metal is all they are! So shut your mouth, Tyro and be quiet!"

Realizing his fault Aerron loosened his grip, the younger boy slipping from his grip to fall on to the chem-stained iron floor with a sad sigh.

He knew Tyro felt just as he did, betrayed.

Children of Ixx
"The hour is late... later than you think. Soon they shall return. The forgotten ones and those who are long since dead. Soon."

- The Prios of Ixx

The Children of Ixx are a fleet-based Space Marine Chapter of unknown founding and Gene-seed who have only recently revealed themselves to the galaxy at large and are known for their strange, almost alien demeanour and unorthodox Chapter layout. According to some unconfirmed accounts, the Children of Ixx are connected in some way to the enigmatic Carcharadons Chapter, though the exact nature of the relationship (if such a relationship even exist) is obscure.

History "I am Ixx. I swim in shadow. I stride the darkness. I am searching for the lost ones, who shall one day return..."

- A common saying among the Children of Ixx

Though rarely seen by outsiders, the Children of Ixx (who curiously fancy themselves a 'Cohort' rather than a Chapter) have earnt a reputation for being merciless if not fickle warriors who have been known to abandon their supposed allies in the middle of conflict, and withdrawing to the-gods-know-where after some unknown objective has been accomplished. While these warriors have never been actively hostile toward Imperial commanders, many have began to doubt their loyalty regardless of there assurance that they follow the Emperor and his truth. Arriving out of the darkness of the void-beyond in the later part of the 40th millennium without even the slightest telling of who they were of where they came from, these warriors (who are oft reported by some to be clad in dull grey Astates plate of an archaic fashion) came to the Citadel of Intohimo Secondus aboard their rag-tag fleet of battle damaged ships with two demanded. Firstly, the leader of the group, who identified himself only as the 'Prios of Ixx' demanded a tithe of war so that his men could restock and be on their way; and second, he demanded to know the whereabouts of 'Ixx'. Just who or what Ixx actualy is remains a mystery to all but the Chapter, though by the name 'Children of Ixx' the Intohimoans guessed the mythic Ixx to be some kind of saint or prophet that the Astates follow.

"This place is cursed. See how the shadows lengthen in the light of that star. You should leave, and never return. Take your people and run. I am Ixx. I stride the darkness. But this place is... wrong. Run while you still can."

- Mosc Ixx, on the Intohimoan System

During the Intohimoan war the Cohort revealed themselves once again. According to some accounts the illusive Astartes had briefly occupied the Veron Base before launching a singular attack on the forces of Chaos in the ruins of Cadon, before disappearing as quick as they arrived. Despite a frantic search conducted by the loyalists in the system no trace could be found of the Children on Ixx - their absence allowing the Veron Base to be once again being flooded with green-skins as they fled the destruction of the forge-moon.

Organization "I am Ixx. I am his herald."

Due to their reclusive nature, very little is known of 'Ixxian' tradition and structure. In the few combat actions they are known to have taken part in their 'allies' have been observed that the Children of Ixx seem to have almost no ranking system or unit formation. Instead, it seems that their fighting units contain an almost random amount of Marines of differing specialties who are lead by an officer (or possible religious leader) known as a 'Prios'. Usually numbering from only as little as three Marines too as many as thirty, these groups of warriors act as a unstoppable grinding force on the field of battle - never giving an inch of ground until their unknown objective has been accomplished. At such a time they will retreat without pause, into the depths of space.

Appearance 

"Ten-thousand-years he has waited. His time is close. Ixx. Ixx. Ixx."

- Chanting overheard by survivors of the Hazor City Massacre.

Swifts
"Swift as wind! Bright as lightning!"

- Original motto of the Swifts Chapter

The Swifts were a Codex-compliant Space Marine Chapter of the 21st 'Cursed' Founding formerly of the now dead world of Swifthome. After the event known as the 'Lightning Cry' the Chapter was sundered into two distinct factions, the Swifts of Iron Stone and the Swifts of Second Step, who have been feuding ever since.

Originally tasked with the defense of the human colonists of the Broken Ring Cluster, the Swifts were for many years a proud and honorable Chapter with great skills in airdrop and assault tactics. In modern times the Swifts factions have all but abandoned their cause, leaving the Cluster to the mercy of the Xenos pirates that raid the area.

Early History

A lot may be said of the Chapters of the cursed 21st Founding, but 'noble' is not a word usually associated with them. Though the Swifts, regardless of their fated origins were noble.

For hundreds of years after their creation the Swifts shone as a shining light of brilliance in the darkness of Segmentus Obscurus. Gaining a reputation for being an assault force of unsurpassed speed, these almost impossibly fast Astartes seemed to have been untouched by the horrible ill fate of their founding; their Gene-Seed appearing to be surprisingly pure - though the Chapter displayed supremely heightened reflexes and shining yellow, almost golden eyes that 'shone like sunlight', which was put down to a there-to unknown Gene-Mutation.

Known to the people of the Broken ring cluster as the 'Swifts', 'Swift wings', 'Light bringers', 'Auras', and a plethora of other names, the Swifts kept to the traditions of the population - believing that only through utter dedication and tireless effort would the Emperor deliver them from darkness, the people of the Cluster were waveringly fervent in their dedication to the Imperial Creed, and so to were the Astartes of the Swifts unmovingly loyal to the ethos of Codex Astartes.

The Chapters homeworld of Swifthome stood at the heart of the Broken Ring Cluster. A network of tunnels and a labyrinthine web of sprawling hab blocks and environ bubbles covering its surface served as the Chapters Fortress-Monastery - having very little in the way of atmosphere and an impossible high gravity made survival outside the sealed space of the manufactured buildings unthinkable. As the planet had no local population, it fell to the multitudes of space-bound and orbital communities with in the Cluster to provide aspirants for the Swifts - The Galligar Stack, the moons of Idol's Turn, the stone-farms of the Hydrospark Locality, and many more residences offered eager new recruits for testing.

The Lightning Cry Incident

In the early part of the 37th millennium, five centuries after the Chapters Founding, the 'curse of the 21st' finally made itself known.

Aboard the Chapters proud flag ship, the Battle-Barge Lighting Cry, a violant argument broke out between the then Chapter-Master Maxxa Fleetfoot and the Master-of-the-Fleet, Vellox the Quickling. It is said that Vellox, unhappy with the Maxxa's handling of a situation involving Cluster settlers who had unsolicited contact with the Alien Eldar, made the unthinkable boast that he, a mere Captain, would be far more suited to the role of Chapter-Master than the "witless and tactically uncouth" Maxxa.

It was with those few words that the Chapter was forever sundered. The once proud and honorable Astartes later to become the Swifts of Ironstone became almost at once a savage group of bloodthirsty murderers who stood behind the current Chapter-Master to expel the rebels from the vessel. Fleeing with his honour in tatters, Vellox the Quickling and all those who followed him became embittered and resentful of their lost kin, constantly paranoid for their fear of sudden attack. These misery filled Astartes became obsessed with revenge, and would later be renamed the Swifts of Second Step.

Fire and Ice - The Curse of the 21st revealed

Opening a vox-link to every and all Swifts units, Chapter-Master Maxxa Fleetfoot demanded at once that the traitor Vellox was to be hunted down and slain without delay. Believing that the rest of the Chapter would obey, Maxxa was completely unready for the outrage from fully half of the members of the Chapter - the rage and sorrow, the 'Fire and Ice', the Chapters hidden curse had seemingly spread though out the remainder of the Swifts without a word - each Swift to his side and waited for the unavoidable bloodshed as the bipolar aspects of the Chapter were revieled. Each side opposed the other with complete assurity, never doubting themselves and never even thinking on the petty disagreement that sparked the division.

Ironstone

"I am the true master of the Swifts. Recognize me!"

- Maxxa, Chapter-Master of the Swifts of Ironstone