Name: Steel Sentinels. Unofficially, "The Watchtower", or, more recently, "The Blind Tower".
Colors: Silver with rust-red highlights
Symbol: Eye over a tower. Originally open, now shut.
Battlecry: "YOUR END IS IN SIGHT!"
Doctrinal drift: Revere the God-Emperor as the pinnacle of humanity, but take issue with the corruption of His word the Imperium has made over the millennia. Prognosticators are believed to be the voice of the God-Emperor, and the well-being of humankind is the prime goal.
Codex deviation: Not quite a breakdown of the hierarchy, but it's definitely looser. Just as each battle-brother is expected to listen to their CO, the COs are expected to listen to each battle-brother; squad leadership is relatively fluid within each squad, and promotions are highly meritocratic. Techmarines have distributed the Mechanicus' secrets throughout the chapter out of necessity and practicality, although they are still the undisputed masters of those practices. The Chapter-Master is primarily advised by an informal council of the most-respected Astartes within the ranks, but any and every battle-brother has the right to speak with them. A small branch has also developed that specializes in mortal bureaucracy and economics, though they are considered deeply strange by the rest of the chapter; another branch, more highly-considered, specializes in training auxiliaries in both operating alongside the chapter as well as in the beloved art of Bolter marksmanship. One squad in particular has taken up the specific role of being the Chapter's gremlin-wranglers. Furthermore, the 7th company - unofficially called “the postcognition corps”, “the dust-sifters”, or “those mad bastards” - is almost entirely dedicated to exploring the ruins of #14/2.
Culture stuff: Many battle-brothers receive tattoos pertaining to their accomplishments, and tattoo artistry is thought highly of within the Chapter. One of the highest honors is to be deemed worthy of the Scalpel tattoo, marking one as among the best medics in the chapter - not as skilled as the old Apothecaries, but one of the closest the Chapter has to them. Regicide [read: chess] is popular, though an extra piece, the Prognosticator, is added, which moves like a King but can be switched with any piece that will be imminently captured. It is considered a rite of passage to convince one of the neophytes that you're one of the Prognosticators, even though the Prognosticators are constantly trying to get the practice stamped out. Although everybody has the right to speak their mind to power, you are expected to consider how to use that right wisely; a reputation for giving little thought to one's ideas is one of the worst a battle-brother of the chapter can acquire.
+1 to this
This is good! +1
Add a company or at least a couple squads to permanent "exploring the ruins of our Death World for secrets and lost technologies" and I'll be very happy with it. But +1 anyway.
+1
Information spreads slowly and we only figured out that our name wasn't unique some time after becoming renegade, which motivated us to change names to The Watchtower.
I can concur with this.
+1 to this
The Chapter were dubbed the
Steel Sentinels after their Founding some Terran centuries ago but after going Renegade, they have struggled to survive. Over time, the sense of purpose the Prognosticators and their visions give has become their bedrock and they've incorporated this into the name of their Chapter,
The Watchtower, or
The Sentinels of the Watchtower, for some.
The Chapter's colours are silver with rust-red highlights, and they hold an eye over a tower as central to their iconography. In the past, the eye was opene to the dangers to the Imperium but now, it has been closed. The symbolism this represents is a matter of rare, spirited debate. Their battlecry rings like thunder over the battlefield as their boltguns flash like lightning, "YOUR END IS IN SIGHT!"
The Chapter doesn't consider itself to have forsaken the God-Emperor but believes that His Word has been corrupted by fallible men over the millennia. To the Astartes, the Prognosticators are the voice of the God-Emperor and all that they do is ultimately done for humanity.
The Chapter's hierarchy has loosened in the absence of the Imperium's sight, with a sense of mutual respect between lower and higher ranks growing pervasive. The Chapter believes that the lowest of Astartes has the potential for glory and so encourage the rank-and-file to communicate with their commanding officers. The Chapter Master himself is advised by a council of the most-respected Astartes but any battle brother has the right to make themselves heard by him, in person, if possible. The Chapter has adjusted slightly to managing its mortal assets, with the 7th Company dedicating itself to exploring the ruins of #14/2. Incidentally, 7th Company has one of, if not
the highest turnover rates in the Chapter.
The Chapter's internal culture has drifted only slightly from the
Silver Skulls, with the overwhelming majority of Astartes boasting a handful of tattoos and the many of the more accomplished being covered head-to-toe. Few of these are for the aesthetic, more important are the achievements they indicate, a rare and revered scalpel, usually under the right arm or over the first heart, testifying their skill at medicine, and a much more common link of bolt rifle shells over the waist or chest attesting to mastery of the boltgun, with each shell indicating a higher degree.
The Chapter prizes hand-eye coordination and keeps a constant regimen of bolter rifle drills but when they aren't training, often hone their prowess by playing an energetic sport similar to tennis of old, involving chain nets and heavy steel balls. Some joking propositions have been made to use the gremlins as a substitute but rockcrete action has yet to be taken. Aside from this, a variant of Regicide featuring a piece called the Prognosticator is popular and has to a slight degree supplanted hours of prayer common to their Loyalist counterparts. Notably, there is an informal rite of passage where an Astartes is to convince a neophyte that they are one of the Prognosticators, which the Prognosticators themselves revile but haven't been able to suppress entirely.
The Chapter has been in the Nebula Sector for less than a century and have been little affected by the primitive local cultures, but one tradition of the frigid civilized world of #5/5 has seeped through, in the form of bagels, occasionally consumed by some in lieu of less palatable fare.
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Topic: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k) (Read 26777 times)