Gulf Knights

"As many as are required, though no more than are needed."

- Chapter Master Kassius Vayne, when asked how many Battle-Brothers he would spare for the Rygerian Crusade. The Gulf Knights are a small Semi-Codex Compliant Space Marine Chapter located in the Kattarn System, in the Ultima Segmentum, on the outer edges of the Imperium of Man. They are an old Chapter, though one wouldn't know it by looking at them, and have undergone significant changes since their inception many centuries ago. Even in the face of all their tragedies and trials, they maintain a bright and assured manner that some take as naive optimism. By all appearances, they are a young Chapter, despite having operated successfully for many millenia. They possess some of the youngest officers and Space Marines amongst all of the Astartes, and one of the youngest Chapter Masters in the their history. From their Fortress-Monastery on their new homeworld of Kattarn, they are best placed to strike out at the enemies of the Imperium with deadly precision.

Early History
The early centuries of the Gulf Knights were tragic ones, full of woe and strife although little of it was of their own doing. Upon its inception many centuries ago, the Gulf Knights were as ordinary a Astartes Chapter as could be imagined. They followed Roboute Guilliman's Codex Astartes to the letter, counting their full strength at one thousand Battle Brothers with a full complement of vehicles, heavy weapons and a full fleet of starships. Following several early victories, the Gulf Knights seemed to be on the road to greatness, until the Chapter's first homeworld of Metrus was subject to a great calamity that wracked the Gulf Knights to their very core. Although now known to have been one of the earliest appearances of the Tyranid menace, and a vastly inferior force to what the Imperium currently faces, the infant Gulf Knights did not understand the new foe they were fighting. Like their current homeworld of Kattarn, Metrus was on the very fringes of the Imperium and its isolation was its doom. The Chapter suffered greatly in the fighting that followed, losing over 80% of its personnel, equipment and vehicles, as well as the entirety of its Spaceborne assets. Reinforcements responded to their distress beacon too late to render any real assistance, but saved the Knights of Metrus from total destruction.

Recovery and Reformation
Relocated to the fringe system of Kattarn, the Gulf Knights were relegated to a support role while the Chapter rebuilt its strength in the wake of what had happened. They deployed only very rarely, often in support of larger Chapters such as the Green Barons, a frequent partner and enduring ally even now. During this period, the Gulf Knights developed their reputation for precision infantry assaults, succeeding where larger and better equipped forces had failed through sheer cunning alone. However, they also developed an infamy amongst fellow Astartes in their unwillingness to commit large-scale forces to any given engagement, their hard-learned caution taken as selfishness by other Chapters, perhaps unfairly so. Events across the Imperium, however, prevented the Gulf Knights from being restored to their full strength, leaving them with only half their due number of Space Marines and few armoured vehicles and starships. The Gulf Knights refused to let this new shortcoming hold them back, and put their notorious cunning to work reforming the Chapter around what they had learned since the Tragedy of Metrus. The importance of the ten companies was diminished and individual squads became more significant. The result was a more flexible Chapter designed around precision infantry deployments of single squads of Tactical marines rather than whole companies. The Chapter would never regain its former numbers, but they have never let it hold them back. Recovered and reformed, the Gulf Knights embarked on many campaigns in the wake of their reformation, winning many victories for the Emperor and emulating the successes of their infancy.

Recent History
Recent events have only found the Gulf Knights more resolute than ever in their quest to prove their worth. Fighting in the Ultima Segmentum, their most frequent foes have been Orks, Tau and Eldar. They have distinguished themselves most recently in campaigns against the Waaagh! of Ork Warboss Deffgutz Squigrencha in the Babat System and against major Tau incursions in the Adrakand, Lexillus and Cadricon systems. As of 965.M41, they have been a constant and vital part of the ongoing Rygerian Crusade, the fight to retake the home sector of their enduring allies, the Green Barons, from the Tau Empire.