Star Reapers



The Star Reapers are a Space Marine chapter founded at an unknown date and are suspected successors of the Raven Guard. They are a highly controversial and isolationist chapter, with a long, heavily shrouded history of ruthless brutality. Experts of lightning fast maneuvers planned with a detailed complexity unseen in most Space Marine doctrine.

Cloaked in a shroud of deliberate mystery and concealment likely created by agents of the Star Reapers themselves, the Chapter hides itself from the prying eyes of institutes such as the Inquisition and even other Chapters considered allies. Indeed, the only men that know every secret of the Chapter, are their master and the Emperor himself.

Despite this turbulent and murky history, the Star Reapers continue to destroy the enemies of mankind with ruthless precision from the void, only to return into the shadows whence they came.

History
The pall surrounding the Star Reapers can be traced back to two possible foundings, those being the 3rd or 13th. Records of early history are so riddled with misinformation that nothing can be labeled as fact. Early reports of sable armoured Space Marines answering to no recorded Chapter entering a handful or high priority warzones then disappearing have been noted. Often with the appearance of these Space Marines came incidents of sabotage, mass surrender due to intense psychological tactics or swift assaults from every direction but the expected. The earliest reports of these incidents are from 582.M35 and numbered over a dozen, with various degrees of reliability.

Syberius IV
While these early reports are little more than rumoured conjection, a concrete incident can be identified during the 7th Black Crusade, in which a force of "sable armoured Space Marines appeared from the void itself" above the world Syberius IV. This Chapter quickly asserted itself into the war effort under the command of a towering warrior reportedly named Hydraxon, identifying themselves as the Star Reapers. These warriors took to the field alongside the Sons of Orar and Iron Hands Chapters, as well as a handful of Guard regiments. In response to rapid assault by Word Bearers and Night Lords forces, the Star Reapers initiated a counter-attack.

Locating the weaknesses of the Chaos battle lines days in advance, the Chapter's scouts isolated key targets, weapons cache's, Night Lords infiltrators, command personnel and vehicular threats. The great offensive did not come then however. Swift raids from small bands of units unknown to the other Chapters present struck seemingly at random. This at first seemed to do nothing but bolster the defences of the Chaos forces, in hindsight it is clear this was a key stage in testing enemy strength and defences. Then, when the Chaos forces prepared to spring a well crafted ambush to catch these hit and run attackers, key anti air defences and power couplings were obliterated by concealed melta charges.

Then the entire Star Reaper's force attacked from three separate directions, obliterating the carefully constructed Chaos defence. High powered Gunships appeared from above and rained death upon the traitors while long concealed infiltrators appeared inside the enemy formations. An armoured spearhead of Predators and Rhinos smashed through sections of the perimeter completely untouched by early raids. Landspeeders cut off outflanking forces and harrowed any attempts at organised response. The entire force was in a state of chaos when the remaining Imperial forces launched the killing strike.

With that, the Reapers vanished as suddenly as they arrived. Their forces dived into the void where they appeared. They would resurface on numerous other occasions, seemingly ready to reveal themselves to the Imperium to a greater extent at least. During this period, allies were made with other Chapter's that shared or appreciated similar doctrine or beliefs as the Reapers.

Chapter Organisation
The few records that exist on the Star Reapers suggest that they are Fleet based, although some sources have named a number of home worlds they may have settled on for a time. This fleet based nature suggests that they have a fundamentally different, if not unique, structure from that of modern Codex Astartes chapters.

Star Reapers companies appear to mainly consist of a scouting force made up of experienced, fully armoured marines as oppose to the modern scouts. These marines bear minimal heraldry and operate as a fusion of modern scouts and tactical marines. A dedicated body of veterans for each company is also present, indicating that the Star Reapers likely eschew typical 1st and 10th company organisations as per the Codex Astartes. These veterans can be seen using Terminator Armour to engage in spearheads, teleportation strikes and serve as bodyguards to their Companies Captain. Assault Squads seem to have an equivalent similar to Destroyer Squads of old, however these units are designed for adaptable hit and run tactics or harrowing actions. A unit almost identical to modern devastators are also present, but this unit operates by infiltrating into a desired position then providing a surprise bombardment when least expected. Unusually, units similar to Vanguard and Sternguard veterans do exist, but it is unknown if they are also somehow inserted into a Company formation or have a Company of their own.

Chapter wargear and vehicular assets also appear unorthodox in nature and use. The starships operated by the Chapter are widely varied in origin and design, suggesting the Chapter is either very old or uses whatever it can. In addition, occasional refitted civilian ships have reportedly been used by Star Reaper forces to enter specific war zones unnoticed. This strangeness carries over to the equipment of individual marines, where some Space Marines can be seen with weapons and armour ranging from Heresy to modern era. Maximus armour helmets and Phobos pattern boltguns have been seen fused with Godwyn bolt pistols and Corvus era pauldrons. Wargear for high ranking marines can be traced back to ages past, and often is of controversial origins.

In terms of iconography, the Star Reapers eschew typical symbols and honour markings in favour of discrete and often mystifying markings indicating various unit placements or designations.