Gila Monsters

"From this point on you are to think of the Chapter as your own body, your brothers as its blood, and your bolter as is its eyes. The same pair of eyes the enemy will peer into and be riddled with the fear of dying by your hand."

- Chapter Master, Reptolis Mackan addressing a Batch of Neophytes.

The Gila Monsters are a loyalist Codex-abiding Successor Chapter claiming to have been produced from the gene-seed of the ever humble Salamanders. Enigmatic has been their place of foundation among their brethren with no definitive period of time marking their creation in the domains of the Imperium.

A significantly substantial amount of their history has been recorded in the strife of the 41st Millenium, solidifying their presence among the other Successor Astartes legions in the relentless quarrel against the adversaries of the Imperium of Man, with their soft-spoken acts of heroism in the aiding of Imperial citizens in the midst of combat. But a surprising lack of their deeds has ever been placed in Imperial Records, making much of their conflict hear-say or mere myth among those that hear of these gallant warriors.

History
Little is of knowledge on the creation of the Gila Monsters, with a vague reference to the confirmation of their inception was to aid in the reclamation of sectors devoid of the Emperor's light in a rather undefined era, but has been suspected to be the 22nd Founding. But with recent Imperial records, much of their origins have been claimed to be of the infamous 21st Founding, often regarded by many of the Imperium as the 'Cursed' Founding. With numerous Chapters, regardless of the confirmation of such a claim, refusing to participate and interact in any manner with the assumed descendants of the Salamanders, gazing their existence as sinful in nature. The assumption they are such a dreaded facet of Imperial history is only emboldened with the multitude of rather questionable behaviors laid about across their rather brief actuality, and only increases with every passage century.

Rumors of Gila Monsters have arisen of various neophytes (and on rare occasions veteran members of the Chapter) under gene-seed falling to an unquenchable bloodlust in the heat of battle. With many observant battle-brothers of other legions who have reluctantly fought alongside the supposedly 'cursed' Chapter commenting that such rampant rage bears resemblance to the genetic flaw of the Blood Angels, bringing into question their heritage as heirs to the Salamanders.

Notable Campaigns
What little knowledge is of their campaigns is kept confidential or the outright lost in recordings, making whatever information of their exploits miraculous. A total of total of five of their campaign have been documented, with their third despite being of the name known to all, is left incredibly vague in description and the events that conspired very much up in speculation. Following such, the Inquisition has kept a rigid and vigil eye upon the actions of the Chapter, from the falling of pins to the firing of bolters.
 * The Growing Tide on Veneteza (Unknown to 789.M38): There what is commonly labeled as their first official venture into the eternal strife of the Imperium, the Gila Monsters undertook the task of the extermination of a growing green skin WAAAAGH! on the isolated planet of Veneteza. The period of time such a campaign endured is left undefined by various Imperial records as the documentation of the feud commended in the middle of the conflict but has been suggested that lasted for numerous decades. Nobz of considerable might with their own sects of Ork boyz constantly joined the fray ever five years to aid the Warboss, Toof 'Asha, which made the battle one of immense turmoil and of out-lasting the enemy. Though with significant losses, with the Gila Monsters losing a total of a hundred Astartes in the aftermath, the victory was claimed in the name of the Imperium with thousands of dead orks beneath it.
 * Siege of Caladus V (899.M40): On the later years of the 40th Millenium facets of the Black Legion raided the homeworld of the Gila Monsters through the immaterium.With the Raiders roughly estimated to be in the hundreds, nearing the total of nine-hundred the lone Chapter had harbored, including neophytes that they have recently recruited into their ranks. Much of the fighting and casualties was away from the monastery-fortress of The Cove, with the Archenemy incapable of breaking the potent rigid guard of the supposed children of Vulkan, even with the aid of malicious daemons they coaxed into fighting their war. After months of defending their land, stalwart to let such traitors defile and claim it as their own, the number of denizens of the Warp began to increase in total numbers rounding about a thousand. As their wall began showing cracks in the foundation, mysterious warriors in chrome-clad aided the Chapter in the annihilation of the chaotic forces. As soon as they came they had vanished, with a final response to the thanks of Chapter Master, Repotils Mackan, was a mere scoff from one of the grey-cloaked saviors with their departing.
 * The Grand Engima (Uknown.M40 to 100.M41): Quite possibly one the most controversial and famous of their supposed exploits, was their vanishing from the very face of Imperium for around a century before reappearing into gaze with an incredible number of assumed casualties as a result of their resurgence, with their numbers dwindled to around four-hundred space marines. The very first Gila Monster to be seen post this vanishing by the Inquisition was a neophyte of an unknown name afflicted with a ravenous thirst for violence and blood before being put down for assaulting civilians and killing an inquisitor on Caladus V. Various members of the Ordo Hereticus claim that the feral Astartes was spouting "Heretical sayings that insulted the Emperor and his Imperium" With little explanation still provided too what caused such an incident to occur. Though regardless of cause, since this event the Inquisition has kept the Chapter under an extremely watchful eye, waiting to sanction them as Excommunicate Traitoris for even the slightest stench of Chaos in their ranks.

Rescue/Massacre of Avaius (200M.41 to 700M.41)
The most ambitious of the campaigns ever directed by the 'Cursed' Chapter, following the imprisonment of their Chapter Master, Reptolis Mackan, at the hands of the Dark Eldar the entirety of the legion waged a full-scale war against the sadistic deviants on the planet of Avaius. All of the Gila Monster forces mobilized with wrath and fury to recover their Chapter head from their clutches. Within hours of contacting the surface of the planet, all companies struck vital Dark Eldar structures, laying siege to them for several brutal weeks as they pushed back their forces conquering their land.

Their hatred became manifest in the form of meltaguns in which their scorched every mile of earth they had claimed for in the name of the Emperor. This gargantuan crusade fueled by a personal vengeance lasted a total of five hundred years, with the revelation of multiple other planets oppressed hand of the Dark Eldar converting the rescue of a respected comrade to an act of liberation from devious Xenos. Centuries of warfare on the planet of Avaius deteriorated Gila Monster moral, as their germinated so did the number of Dark Eldar that combated against the vengeful Chapter, forcing a temporary tactical retreat for them to gather their forces and resupply on their homeworld.

Decades later the Gila Monsters returned to the forefront of the conflict assaulting lesser planets drenched in the presence of the Dark Eldar before plunging meltas and bolters first into the atmosphere of Avaius, vanquishing any number that laid foot upon the regions held in the palm of the Gila Monsters while evacuating the captured to Caladus V. Reptolis Mackan ransacked an eye and mental tranquility was fully in the process of escaping his captors in the Drukhari base he had been held in which was referred to as the "Flaying Grounds". Slaying a number of the Dark Eldar he had encountered once he was released from his bonds when temporarily struck with a fiendish lust for the death and flesh of his adversaries before fleeing from the establishment with little but multiple scars and a broken boltor.

Around the time of his escape, his Chapter was already undergoing the process of lambasting the planet with devastating concentrated strikes upon a major center of Dark Eldar collusion in attempts to search for their Chapter Master. Once in view of his men, Reptolis in maddening pace amidst in the firing of shots and wailing of dark lances he charged towards them shouting to confirm the presence of his Master Astartes in their strife. Once all the forces of the Gila Monsters had pushed into the heart of the Dark Eldar swarm the Xenos in defeat fled the premises with the 'Cursed' Space Marines claiming victory in the name of the Imperium.

Several Astartes died in the events of such an incursion to save their leader, with the estimated number of losses rounding hundred and seventy-five. Reports of this crusade did not reach widespread in the outer Imperium, with those that have claimed ear to the feat being spit by several chapters as a mere farce. Amusingly some kid such an act was a by-product of the chapter simultaneously going feral and hallucinating their brothers as Xenos while mauling each other to death.
 * A Grand Rift (999.M41): The last known venture of the Gila Monsters Chapter; post the events of the Rescue/Massacre several centuries in advance, they repopulated what they had lost in their fearsome battle against the Dark Eldar of Avaius. With the birth of the matured Eye of Terror, now taking form and spearing through half of the Grand Imperium of Man, half of the companies with the exception of their Chapter Master dove into the machination of the destruction of Cadia to seek out their brothers in need who were engulfed by such fissure, never to be seen or recorded again. Battle-Brother Kamado and Captain Guiver, now housed in the walking tomb that is a Dreadnought, led the charge of such an expedition with a memorial of their bravery of undertaking the lethal journey forever recorded in the interior walls of The Cove alongside other valorous Astartes of exceptional merit and skill. From this point onward, there have been no further Imperial Records of the Gila Monsters, a Chapter accused of deviation and heresy by Inquisitor hand and riddled with the ridicule and contempt of its fellow legions.

Home World


Caladus V is a planet of rather martian nature, with the grounds of the small spheric dwelling of the Gila Monsters Astartes bearing the colors of a reddish orange that with distance give the distinction of a brown shade and depending on the season, pink. The surface of the planet is primarily populated by the abodes of several mountain ranges, sealing off paths to major routes to the Mountain Fortress of The Cove. Several hundreds of thousands of cliffs and ravines are spittled about the, proving not only immense pain for land passage for oncoming adversaries but exceptional locales for rigging locations to blow for those unfortunate to be of the enemy with the alleged descendants of the Salamanders. No manner of moons cling to clinch the orbital reach of Caladus V, making it lack atmospheric spectacles beyond the twinkling spots of light in the night.

The planet is incredibly unforgiving to those not of the able-bodied, with the feeble in a matter of days dying of the intense heat that lays across the surface like a suffocating blanket. During the night, beasts of rather docile but ultimately instinctual thought roam the darkness, scavenging and preying upon the weary and tired, consuming what remained of the ambitious or idiotic traveler that trailed alone. The climate claimed by the night is of an equally intense manner, with freezing temperatures capable of even laying dead an unarmored or unadapted Astartes in hours. Only the natives of Caladus and the Gila Monsters (with the handful of exceptions of passing marines) have sustained peak functionality in the twilight cycles of the planet.

The Cove
Their fortress-monastery is aboded deep in the flesh of a colossal mountain, hugged by a multitude of malformed, jagged rocks scaling heights comparable to the very peaks themselves that plague Caladus V. The entrance is grand in size, with it being comparable to the maw of a grotesque creature in appearance; tearing asunder the Astartes living from the rest of the planet is an gate in size akin to the monstrous throttle of the mountainside. The doorway is adorned with armaments to leave a lethal greeting to all who attempt intrusion into the sacred Gila Monster keep. Numerous creatures of Caladian myth dress the reaches of the opening mural, striking even more fearsome look upon the already Imperial barrier. A comment by onlookers of the gateway has noted the presence of a slight humming once confronted with the legion's massive blockade, leaving some quite unsettled once met with such an anonymous noise.

In the entrails of the base lay walls coated with the imagery and deeds of a multitude of past and present Gila Monsters who have given their lives to serve and protect the wider Imperium from the clutches of the Ruinous Powers while wielding bolter and courage in hand. Immortalized are the deeds as well of those of beyond the Chapter who have aided the Gila Monsters in moments of desperation, such as the Space Marines of Wazari II, the Silverbacks. Much of the Astartes base is much a series of corridors, almost like a collection of tunnels leading to vital areas of importance such barracks and munitions. The spine of the citadel is gargantuan corridor housing several thousand natives of Caladus V, acting as a free-range market of sorts where numerous Rouge Traders visit at times to clinch a look at the delicacies the planet has to offer.

Notable Gila Monsters

 * Chapter Master, Reptolis Mackan: Born of Caladus, he is the Chapter-Head of the forces of the Gila Monsters, through centuries of conflict he has been molded into a wrathful and fearsome combatant and leader on the field of combat, leading charge with a meltagun most lavished in victory and blood. Much of his arsenal consists of artificer armor evoking the air of a grim beast among even the most hardened of Astartes who have confronted the likes of Reptolis, with the jingling of the skulls of the nobs he has slain laced around the reaches of his waist, making presence known to all with every step. A power-ax basked in the entrails of the Ork Warboss, Toof 'Asha, bagging with him the belief that his raw, ignorant strength runs amok in its form; engraved on its blade are the words Press Forth to Death Their Lives in High Gothic. Both the events of Avaius Rescue/Massacre, much of the mental stability that has kept the Chapter Master has left the recesses of his dome, only leaving a disheveled commander with wit as forward as the shots of his melta and a blazing fury against the entirety of Eldar kind.
 * Battle-Brother Kamado: Among the numerous conflicts that the Gila Monsters have participated in, Kamado is of the respected and known among his Astartes compatriots as a companion true to title. Through the carnage of the galaxy, the seasoned Gila of supposed hundreds of battles fledges forth with a crimson flaked boltor into the depths of the most heretical in the Imperium, boosting the morale and courage of guardsman and brother alike with mere presence. Much of his panoply has been ridden of any manner of color, with only tinges of what might he have looked left to speculation and mind. Few have ever gazed beyond the vestiges of his dome, but those who have spit of scars most worn on his visage, fleshy trophies and reminders of numerous quarrels and battles in the Emperor's name.
 * Captain Guiver: Was a marine formerly of the Ultramarines, out of fear and dread of being tracked by the likes of a Chaos Lord with an eternal vendetta against the descendant of Guilliman. He fled the Chapter to join the likes of the White Scars in thought of protection in the ranks of the sons of The Great Kahn; with the passing of time he had claimed reputation of a respected combatant of the legion, known for his quick wit in the fever pitch of conflict with the usage of little to no resources to craft a weapon. But with time he the grasp of Chaos had caught onto to the then Ultramarine; fleeing one more from a Chapter he had come to know as his own, finding refuge in a 'Cursed' Founding legion, the Gila Monsters. Ascending once more through the ranks he gained the rank of Captain, and with time with past had come to claim his life once more, leading to a confrontation which placed the Astartes in the trailing crypt that is a dreadnought.
 * Standard Bearer Geicos: An Astartes of an immense zeal so grand he is often mistaken to be the Reclusiarch of the legion, Ancient Geicos lugs the burden of laying the honor of the Chapter in the midst of feuds most scarlet upon his shoulders. Through centuries of bloodshed he had gained a resolve most rare even among the most devout of Astartes legionnaires, for even if boltor be destroyed or blade felled to ruin or body ached to limit, the Chapter and fore-most the Imperium will come before his corpse on the battlefield and that those who bear thoughts most devious upon the glorious empire will be met with a hand most ballistic in his sight. Throughout a number of campaigns he has undertaken the roles of not only Ancient but that of a Chaplain and Commissar, bolstering Gila Monster spirit with voce viva whilst laying dead the coward that attempts to flee the killing ground, for heresy is found in those who place life in self rather than the God-Emperor.

Recruitment Process
Much of the process is of straightforward nature when it is selected for the next member of the Legion, thought severe rigor and lethality is abound. Out of millions of the Caladian populous, fifty of the most able-bodied men compete in the arena to gain access to the Gila Monster gene-seed; for three days of slaughter among ''the chosen", as they are referred to, must battle each other until there resides only a singular standing blade is on the field. Of that one, he must soon after trail the Caladian twilight in search of a reptilan creature comparable in size to that of an Astartes and flay it with his own hands and consume the meat that lay in its once beating hide to assimilate it's strength to chosen's own. With beastial coat on being, the man he must then rest in the reaches of where the sun strikes fiercest, gaining the wrath and volatile fury of the sphere of plasma itself for a total of three days without the need for resource most vital for survival. Once then will he be claimed into the palms of the Gila Monsters to be of the Emperor's Angels of Death.

Notable Quotes
By:"The only graves dug was that of the enemy's pride. Though we be of broke body, the only tool needed to truly bring anger manifest upon those filthy Xenos is that of the mind grafted to you by our Lord, the Emperor, heresy would it be to allow such a divine gift to rot. Pick up your bolters. Aim them. And when I shout, there better be a corpse on the other side."

- Standard Bearer, Geicos, Speaking to Battered Gila Monsters on the Closing Days of the Massacre/Rescue of Avaius "Like our brothers of the Salamanders, we will keep gallant in the strife riddles the galaxy that remains aflame for millennia. For none is lost truly until the very heart and mind are."

- Unnamed Gila Monster "I'll give that bloody bastard Khorne a good lickin of my fist in the Warp once I get ahold of em."

- Captain Guiver Moments Before Heading Into the Great Rift

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