Phoenix Brethren

A renegade chapter operating secretly in the thinly settled Podomos Reach with the tacit support of a few merchant chartists, frontier governors and an equally secretive Mechanicus sect.

First Founding
Originally the Flame Falcons the Brethren are one of the hard luck 21st Founding Chapters. Towards the end of their first century of existence a strange new ability appeared among the Falcons; in the heat of battle some of them would burst into shimmering white flames that left the Marine unharmed but sometimes reduced his opponent to ashes. The Chapter took this as a sign of the Emperor's favor. The Inquisition thought differently. Several Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus descended upon the Chapter's homeworld of Lethe supported by the Grey Knights in a surprise attack on the unsuspecting Flame Falcons who put up an extraordinary defense that actually required the Grey Knights to call on the nearby White Consuls Chapter for additional support. The fortress-monastery of the Falcons was completely destroyed after more than a year of desperate fighting and the Chapter declared perditus. Unknown to their enemies the full Battle Brothers of the Chapter had sacrificed themselves to cover the escape of the Scout Company and a cadre of Apothecaries and Techmarines bearing the precious geneseed, and the Chief Librarian with his most promising acolytes.

Second Founding
The suriving Flame Falcons landed on Zode II, a frontier agri-world of the Podromos Reach, in a hijacked cargo ship with nothing but their armor, personal weapons and the geneseed. They numbered six squads of young Scouts each headed by an experienced Sergeant, 10th company's Chaplain and Apothecary, four other Apothecaries and an equal number of Techmarines carrying the rescued geneseed, the Chapter's sole Librarian Epistolary and three young Lexicani, all under the command of Captain Markus Kronus. They discovered that Zode II and its neighboring systems had been suffering raids from the Craftworlds of Dylath-Leen and Ilek-Vad for several decades. Repeated appeals to the sub-Sector Governor on Thraan had gone unanswered and the advent of  a company of Astartes - even in the Flame Falcon's state - was greeted as a miracle direct from the Emperor.

Captain Kronus took command of the ad-hoc force of militia and a few cheap mercenary bands who'd been trying to protect the half dozen or so frontier worlds laid an ambush for the raiders that had them retreating in bloodied confusion the next time they came and followed it up with a raid on Dylath-Leen, the nearest of the craftworlds. Tricked into believing a counter-attack by a full company of Astartes was on its way Dylath-Leen and her ally Ikel-Vad retreated into the inter-arm void leaving the handful of Frontier systems in peace.

No explanations were offered or asked but the leaders of the those worlds clearly realized that the Flame Falcons were running from something and offered a tacit refuge. The Falcons accepted but chose to settle on Zode II's dead twin to avoid bringing down retribution on their mortal friends should the Grey Knights or Inquisition find them.

Renegade Millenia
The Flame Falcons assumed a new name, The Phoenix Brethren, symbolic of their fiery rebirth. As the millenia passed they began to feel secure in their back-system fastness even occasionally making forays beyond the Reach but for the most part they dedicated themselves to defending the coreward Frontier from the Eldar on Dylath-Leen and Ilek-Vad and from the stranger, darker things luking in the burnt out systems and dead worlds of the inter-arm void.

They excavated their fortress monastery beneath a jagged range of low mountains near Zode I's equator, growing gradually from a company sized bunker to a maze of barracks, storage magazines and Thunderhawk bays capable of housing a full Chapter of Marines and a colony of Chapter Servants. They drew their recruits and supplies chiefly from Zode II but nearby systems also contributed. An alliance with the secretive and heterodox Mechanicus Mission on Sarnath brought them weapons, armor and other material of war - as well as more than a few enemies to fight.

The Frontier governors welcomed having an Astartes Chapter among them and were not inclined to ask embarrassing questions. The Administratum on Thraan tranquilly ignored the Brethren's existence as it was not registered in their data banks. The Sub-sector Governor and the Imperial Naval and Guard commanders on Hlanith deliberately hid this very useful resource from the Sector Governor, and most especially from the official Astartes Chapters.

Favored Weapons/Tactics
As a successor Chapter of the Raven Guard the Phoenix Brethren share their progenitors' prediliction for carefully coordinated small unit strikes on targets selected through painstaking intelligence gathering. Unlike the Raven Guard the Brethren do engage in frontal assault relying on the Shock and Awe inherent in being attacked by ten foot armored giants on fire!

Like the Raven Guard they are deployed as a heavy infantry force. During their exile they had no access to Marine specific vehicles such as Predators or Land Raiders, and of course no Dreadnoughts. They did have jump-packs, land speeders and attack bikes as well as rhinos and thunderhawks supplied by the Adeptus Mechanicus on Sarnath. The Chapter had no warp capable ships and relied on a few friendly Chartist Captains for interstellar transport. Since their return to the Imperial Fold they have had full access to the resources open to Astartes Chapters the most important of which are their six new Strike Cruisers.

Predictably the Brethren go in for flamers and plasma weapons in a big way. You might say setting things on fire is their signature tactic. Their Mechanicus allies were able to supply them with power armor, mainly suits of the ancient Corvus design, and even a few sets of Terminator Dreadnought armor. HOW was a question the Brethren prefered not to ask.

Chapter Culture
The Phoenix Brethren are one of the rare Astartes Chapters to worship the Emperor as God, not just venerate him as the epitome of Humanity, reasoning that their 'gift' of the 'Sanctifying Flame' could only have been bestowed by God.