Emperor's Sentinels



"I don't know if they're brave or just crazy."

- An Imperial Guardsman when asked about the Emperor's Sentinels

The Emperors Sentinels are a 23rd Founding loyalist space marine chapter of Ultramarines decent originally created to defend the Janus Sub- Sector from Ork attacks due to the sector's history of Xenos raids. Since their founding the chapter has gone on to win many victories in the Emperor's name and have become particularly adept at combating Xenos forces.

History
This chapter was created during the 23rd "Sentinel" Founding, which actually served as the inspiration for the Chapter's name. The purpose of the chapter was to defend Sub- Sector Janus' precious twin Forge Worlds, Amos and Argos, from Ork attacks, most notably the overwhelming raids made by the Red Rippaz Klan. Unfortunately, the Emperor's Sentinels were a little to eager at the start and plunged headlong into the fray, losing almost half the newly- formed chapter in the process. Forced to go on the defensive, the Sentinel's began to develop a unique strategy in which they would hold line until the enemy began to waver and then deep strike hard and fast where the Orks were weakest before disappearing to behind their battle line. With these "defend and strike" tactics the Emperor's Sentinels not only held off the Ork's advance but brought the battle to the greenskins, eventually forcing them to retreat from the sub- sector. From that day forward, the name "Emperor's Sentinel's" became synonymous with bravery and defiance against the odds.

Notable Campains (in recent years)
The Icarus Assault - 243.M41- Icarus was a strange world of shattered landscapes and mysterious floating "earthbergs", some the size of continents. But despite it's peculiar landscape, the planet was rich in rare minerals used in the making of weapons and armor, and so the Adeptus Mechanicus transformed Icarus into a mining world. Then one day, miners stumbled upon an ancient vault buried deep within the planet's core. Thinking that it might contain xenos technology the vault was cracked open by the manufactorem workers, and a tide of evil was released. Bloodthirsty Xenos, later named "Spikers" by the those who survived the first assault, poured from the vault in thousands. The Xenos stood as tall as Space Marines, with bone- pale skin and arms ending massive chitinous spikes. They overran every manufactorem on the planet as more and more emerged from the vault, but not before the planet's distress signal was received by the Emperor's Sentinels, who dispatched the 2nd Company in purge the planet of aliens. Doing that was easier said then done, but despite heavy losses the 2nd pushed through the Xenos tide to the source of the infestation, the vault. Within the vault the Sentinels discovered that the Spikers had once been a advanced alien race known as the Draecon. The Draecon thought they could harness the raw power of the warp, and payed a terrible price for their hubris. Their planet was torn apart and they them selves where transformed into savage mutants. Even worse, the space marines discovered that Icarus was in the terminal stages of it's destruction and would soon implode upon itself. Upon realizing the planet was doomed the Sentinels retreated, fighting their way through hordes of Spikers and making it off planet just in time to watch Icarus tear itself to pieces.

The Red Rippaz Return -436.M41- Still vengeful over their defeat at the hands of the Emperor's Sentinels, the Red Rippaz Ork Klan massed into an enormous WAAAGH! under the leadership of Warboss Bludshredda. Attacking the Janus Sub- Sector once again, the Orks caught the Sentinels off- guard as only the 3rd and 6th companies where currently stationed in the sub- sector along with Chapter Master Lyctus Meleager and his honor guard. But the greatest blow came when Meleager died on the field of battle at the hands of Boss Bludshredda. All would have been lost if the young captain of the Emperor's Sentinels 3rd Company, Helos Dorium, had stepped up to challenge the Warboss. Bludshredda proved to be a fearsome opponent but Helos prevailed by decapitating the Ork with his power sword. Bluddshedda's death threw the ork forces into diseray. From there the 3rd company took the battle to the Orks, not stopping until every last one was killed. Later, Captain Dorium would be premoted to Chapter Master for his act of bravery that turned the tide of the war.

The War of Woe -731.M1- What started out as a Chaos cult uprising on the planet of Tyrador, quickly turned into a massive daemonic incursion as more and rebellious psykers became conduits for warp- spawn to enter the materium. During this drawn out campaign the Emperor's Sentinel's 5th Company fought side- by- side with forces from both the Crimson Fists and Ultramarines chapters and well as the 451st Caidian Regiment of the Imperial Guard.

Current State of the Chapter
The Emperor's Sentinels are currently at full chapter strength of 1000 battle- ready astartes, although this could change at any time.

Homeworld and Recruitment
Janus Prime is a hive world of continent sized-cities and lush forests. Unfortunately the forests are inhabited by massive, savage beasts known as Goliaths. These creatures regularly attack Janus's cities and are only kept safe because the Harriers, a elite group of hunters that specializes in killing Goliaths, which is no easy feat. In fact, the Sentinel's scout company in named the "Harriers" in their honor. The Emperor's Sentinels recruit only the most hardened and worthy Harriers to join their ranks.

Once inducted the initiate goes through several trials all designed to push him well past his limits as well as trials designed to test their knowledge of tactics and battle strategy. If he succeeds he becomes a scout.

The Emperor's Sentinels fortress- monestary, Bastion Keep, was built to be unasialible. It has only one entrance, which is heavily fortified and well defended, and every inch of the walls are bristling with automated weaponry.

Chapter Culture
The Emperor's Sentinels are a codex chapter like most Ultramarines successor chapters but their beliefs are quite different. They believe the in order to achieve anything in life, you must be willing to go up against impossible odds. This mantra is drilled into every initiate's head, and is followed by every member of the chapter. This makes them tenacious even for Space Marines, and some might say even suicidal. This belief has also earned them a very high casualty rate, due to the fact that the Emperor's Sentinels refuse to retreat from battle even when vastly over- matched or outnumbered, adding to the belief that they are stubborn to the point of insanity. The Sentinels also abhor Xenos, especially Orks, not because of any religious reason like some chapters but because they have been attacked one to many times by one alien race or another.

Tactics
As mentioned before, the Emperor's Sentinels use a defensive battle strategy, only striking where the enemy is weakest and then withdrawing back to a defensive position. However, they often employ variations of this tactic such as a "bait and switch" strategy where an enemy force is lured into a bottleneck, like a canyon for example, while less than half of the Sentinel's forces is stationed in plain view at one end, presenting themselves as a soft target. When the enemy takes the bait and is lured into the bottleneck the rest of the Sentinel's forces deep strike into the enemies' flank. Both forces attack the the enemy on either side, and kill every last one. Alternate strategies like this are usually used only when the required criteria is met (in this case some form of bottleneck or choke point), otherwise the Emperor's Sentinels fall back on their standard tactic.

Although these tactics are not exactly "codex approved", the Emperor's Sentinels do follow the Codex Astartaes to a certain point, prefering to only adapt their time- honored strategies in absolutely necessary. This is just one more example of the Sentinel's stubborn nature.

Companies
1st Company "Angels of Vigil" - Captain Acamas

2nd Company "Prophets" - Captain Sestos

3rd Company "Justicars" - Captain Xanthus

4th Company "Avengers" - Captain Lycaon

5th Company "Crusifiers" - Captain Abydos

6th Company "Xenos Bane" - Captain Chromis

7th Company "Shield Bearers" - Captain Pandarus

8th Company "Watchmen" - Captain Axios

9th Company "Void Guards" - Captain Telamon

10th Company "Harriers" - Captain Telamon

Chapter Fleet
The Emperor's Sentinels are know to have the following ships in their chapter fleet:

Lightbearer (Battle- Barge) Vigilance (Battle- Barge) Defender (Strike Cruiser) Bringer of Deliverance (Strike Cruiser) Emperor's Arsenal (Strike Cruiser) First Strike (Strike Cruiser)

Heroes
Lyctus Meleager(Deceased) - the third chapter master of the Emperor's Sentinels, Meleager was a legend among the Sentinels, and it was said that before he died during the Second Battle for Janus, he killed a thousand orks.

Helos Dorium - the current chapter master of the Emperor's Sentinels, Helos is very young, only recently becoming Captain of the 3rd company before he became the Chapter Master. But, what he lacks in experience he makes up for in tactical brilliance.

Allies
The Ultramarines - the Emperor's Sentinels maintain a close relationship with it's parent chapter, and fought alongside them on numerous occasions.

The Crimson Fists - the Emperor's Sentinels formed a close bond with the Crimson Fists during the War of Woe.

The Adeptus Mechanicus - The Sentinels have good relations with the Adeptus Mechanicus, due to the fact that they protect not one but two of their forge worlds.

(feel free to add more if you like)

Enemies
The Red Rippaz Klan - Althougth defeated twice by the Emperor's Sentinels, the this dangerous Ork Klan is still at large and there is no telling where they will strike next.

(feel free to add more)

