Knights of Lydda

[Celestial Guardian]

Knights of Lydda
Adeptus Astartes Chapter

Origins
The Knights of Lydda were first created during the 20th Founding with Imperial Fist geneseed to deal with the xenos threats which spanned through out the the Imperium of Man. Many of the initial training missions were fought against different xenos races. These missions helped to instill the chapter with a fierce hatred for the entirety of all xenos races. To them having a xenos race on Imperial soil is just as bad as having a heretic on Holy Ground.

The Knights of Lydda were assigned a permanent post in the Eastern Fringe. It seemed that this was the doorway through which a lot of the alien infestation of the Imeperium was coming from. The Knights of Lydda were to stop any threat of alien contamination of the Imperium found here.

Lydda, found in this region, was given to the chapter as a recruiting ground as many of it's initial marines were drawn from this medieval world. The beliefs of the chapter are like those of the knights that populate the lands. The quite simply translate into protect the weak and destroy all that oppose the righteous rule of the Emperor. The Knights of Lydda live by this code and die by it. There is no parlay with these warriors, you are on the Emperor's side or you are a traitor.

The Knights of Lydda have fought bravely in many engagements against various opponents. Though trained to fight primarily alien cultures, they have had a descent amount of battle experience with the forces of Chaos as well. The illustrious battles fought by this noble chapter span many volumes in the chapter’s Librarium and have shrines to victory and fallen warriors across many of their occupied planets and space faring vessels.

George the Dragon Slayer

During a chance encounter with the powers of Chaos the 1st Chapter Master earned his namesake. On the feral world of Disopsis he killed the mutated daemon prince Koratos, who was transformed into an abominable melding of human and dragon. Koratos Belonged to the Alpha Legion of traitor marines. After a titanic battle seeming to last for hours George slew him with Ascalon, his faithful power lance, ushering in the legend of George the Dragon Slayer. Within hours of drawing from the field George himself was laid low by the grievous wounds inflicted by his enemy. Since this time the traitorous Alpha Legion has been a prime target for the Knights of Lydda as well as a well hated foe.

The legend of George is told to all recruits as an example of what service the Empeor expects of his Knights. Each member of the chapter hopes to leave his own saga in the Librarium of the Ark of the Covenant to inspire the rest of the chapter in acts of selfless bravery.

The Gresnik War
The Gresnik War began as a small operation, which quickly spiraled out of control. Imperial Guard regiments were sent to Opathia Prime to quell an Ork rebellion. It seems that the Guard was ill informed of their true enemy. Though green of skin and emmensly muscular, Gresnik was not an ork as the Guardsmen were led to believe, he was in fact a Chaos Champion.

After losing four major cities and the lower continent, the Guard called for help. They still had not seen Gresnik, only his minions who resembled orks. The Knights of Lydda answered the call immediately. After a small warp jump the initial battle was fought in the city Heratomolie. The dense structure of the city hurt the Knights combat doctrine and hindered them at every turn. Until this point in their illustrious history they had been able to make the enemy come to them, now the advantage belonged to the enemy. For months wave after wave of attacks by the Knights were put down. In a brash decision by Chapter Master Gregory Harriston, the entire chapter was to fight in this particular theater of war.

Two forces were to assemble to share in a decisive strike to lure out the elusive Gresnik. The first was a mobile strike unit of scouts supported by devastators stationed in fire points through out the battle zone. The second was an entire company of assault marines who would wait to harass and destroy the enemy forces brought into light. After months of recon, firefights, and repositioning of forces the Knights had lost many battle brothers. On the three hundredth twenty second day of fighting a ray of hop shined on the Knights of Lydda. The scout recon groups spotted Gresnik himself.

Gresnik was a being of pure muscle tainted green with the rot of Nurgle. A massive power claw formed his right hand while a huge three bladed bionic formed the left. It was easy for any marine there to understand why they were under the assumption they were initially fighting orks.

Gresnik made way for the approaching chapter forces killing two squads of scouts in his attack. As he stood over Scout Sergeant Charles Pollinius about to strike the killing blow with the power clawed right hand, the power sword of Gregory himself stopped it. The tow were locked in combat while the rest of the Knights of Lydda regrouped and took their fight to the remaining forces of Gresnik’s army. Gresnik was finally laid low when Gregory decapitated his mutated head from his body.

All of the fallen brothers had been taken to the apothecaries of the fleet ships for removal of their geneseed. It was here that Gregory the Pious learned of the exact number of the fallen. A full three quarters of his men had died on this world. Gregory consulted the only member of Imperial Law in the field, Inqusitor Marcus Grimm of the Ordo Xenos. The decision was the planet of Opathia Prime would be declared exterminatus. The Imperial forces bombarded the planet with virus bombs and left it to die. The Knights left for Lydda to re-forge their strength and their numbers pledging that an onslaught like this would never be allowed to happen to the chapter again.

Reconstruction
Following the Gresnik War, the Knights of Lydda were all but driven into obscurity. The reconstruction of the chapter was of supreme importance and could not be ignored. Putting themselves into seclusion on the surface of Lydda the chapter drove forward searching for worthy aspirants to fill the void left by the fallen brothers of the chapter. During this time of seclusion in mid-M38 a vision of prosperity came upon them. This miracle of the Emperor came to them in the form of Jerrulis Resinger, a young masonry serf who had a particular skill with the blade.

During the two hundred and fifty year reconstruction of the chapter, Jerrulius advanced in rank. Once achieving the mantle of Company Champion, Jerrulius led his company of scouts into battle of overwhelming odds with the Eldar. The result impressed Chapter Master Gregory Harriston so much that he took the captain under his wing to become his successor. After Gregory's fall on Damascus XIV, Jerrulius assumed the mantle of Chapter Master.
During this time he saw to completion of the reconstruction efforts of the chapter and instilled many tenants on how to maintain a fighting force including the policy of establishing keeps upon uncontested Imperial worlds to recruit from. It is to the practices laid out in the Bellicus Doctrina written by Jerrulius himself in his forty ninth year as Chapter Master that the fate of the Knights of Lydda have not faced such a dire need for recruits again.

Lydda
Lydda, the fourth planet of the Nemarkus System lies in the Daedelus Subsector of the Eastern Fringe. It is a medieval world under the Light of the Imperium for many millennia.

Lydda orbits the yellow sun of Nemarkus. This star is blankets the lands of Lydda with light and warmth while the three planets before it are too hot for habitation.

Only two major continents are found on Lydda. The largest of which is Braxus. Across the blue seas lies the subcontinent of Jacea. The oceans of Lydda contain nineteen island chains, but few of these are actually inhabited.

Native animals of this world include the Pegusi (winged horses), the Great Raven ( a bird of titanic size), and the Lava Snake (a large reptile which usually resides in the steam vents of volcanic sites). These seemingly mythological creatures are an everyday sight and with species such as the Pegusi, breeding farms have been implemented in many areas of the world.

The people of Lydda are organized into a feudal structure. Each kingdom supplies it’s needs from the people for specific services and militia. In return the rulers of each land grant titles of nobility and grants of land. Serf labor is a large portion of the inhabitants. It is this structure that makes Lydda such a good recruiting ground. Any boy can leave his position, even as a serf to join the ruler’s army and prove himself on the field. During such a proving the chapter serfs who maintain the keep on Lydda are also looking for recruits to bring in for possible induction. Each initial martial testing in the lands has applicants from the age of eight to thirteen subjecting themselves to various test and in some cases armed warfare in which only the victor walks away. When a combat trial is held the chapter serfs present make the first selection of recruits and all others are left to serve out their lives in the service of the lord holding the trials.

The planetary population is aware of the presence of the chapter. It’s serfs are regarded as a caste of their own among the inhabitants. These individuals are seen as the Emperor's emissaries as are the Knights themselves. If a chapter serf makes a request for the chapter from a ruling lord it is immediately filled. No ruler wants the wrath of the “Knights From the Emperor’s Stars” to be visited upon them.

Local legends refer to the “Knights of the Emperor’s Stars” as the Emperor’s chosen army. They revere these tales and when a Knights of Lydda ship is spotted overhead all who see it immediately inform their lord so that offerings may be made to satisfy the needs of these men who serve the Emperor’s glory. It is a common fantasy of many of the planet’s youth to be taken to the stars with the chapter and live their lives in service. It is a dream only few ever get to realize.

Beliefs
The Knights of Lydda are a zealous chapter in the tenants of it’s belief system. Their only mission in life is to destroy the forces which threaten the security of the Imperium of Man. Each marine holds dear the teachings and veneration of the Emperor and is a member of the Imperial Cult.

The Sons of Lydda believe the Emperor himself chooses each of them and lays forth a mission to be completed. To die in battle is a completion of your task. If a marine was to die of subterfuge from another the marine is prayed for by his brothers and the Chaplain states his cases before the Emperor in the marine funeral services in hopes that the Emperor will still see fit to allow entrance to the fallen brother. Any marine who is guilty of an aggression to his brother marine is required to participate in ritual combat if the party grieved brings the offense forward. The prize of such combats is high as it may even cost the life of the marine. However, in the hundreds of years since the Knights of Lydda was formed this stricture has only been imposed four times.

Recruitment
Recruiting is done from several worlds now, most notably Lydda itself. Each world is instilled with a keep that is run by chapter serfs. These individuals see to the need of the Chapter on each world by providing any needed resource needed by the chapter.

Every year on Lydda the tournament of Pages is held at the parade grounds of each of the twenty-three kingdoms. The purpose of the tournament is to provide a recruiting ground for new soldiers to be inducted and trained into soldiers by each feudal kingdom. All eight-year-old males of the realms are required to participate upon penalty of death. It is during this time that the Heralds of the Knights of Lydda, usually in the form of high-ranking serfs from the militia, come forth to claim some of the youths present for induction into the chapter.

The Tournament of Pages is a military affair using blunted weapons and tests of skill such as riding, jousting, and swordsmanship to show potential soldiers to the kings of the realms. These tests, though watched and held in relative safety, have known their fair share of casualties among the entrants. Winning the tournaments is not enough to be chosen by the serfs for recruitment into the Knights of Lydda. They have been given specific criteria known only to them and the chapter leaders. It is by these standards given to them that the aspirants are chosen, many times the winners of these tournaments are not included in the three taken by the chapter in each land.

Training
The collected aspirants are brought to Nirvana, the chapter’s keep. Here they are initially trained in survival techniques and unarmed combat by the serfs who were once themselves aspirants. During this time the surgical procedures for implanting the geneseed and various other organs to turn these young men into space marines begins by the stationed Apothecaries. See Datafile: Creation of a Space Marine

Once a certain maturity level has been established the aspirants are sent out on the Trial of Fire. This trial has the aspirants traveling to the mountains north of the keep with the goal of obtaining the head of the Inferno Drake (a fire breathing wyvern type, dragon class lizard inhabiting the caves near the mountain lakes). When the aspirants return the head is presented to the Apothecary Sergeants at the Ceremony of Fortitude as proof of their ability to work as a team.

After the process of implantation and psycho-indoctrination (see above datafile attachment) the aspirant receives a final test, The Journey of Steel. Taken to the most war torn and intense battlefields of the planet, armed with only a sword, shield, comm.-link, and flak armor, the aspirants must return to Nirvana within 30 days. Each aspirant is expected to have a trophy from a fallen foe. These trophies are usually in the form of a weapon, most notably a sword.

Those who fail a trial or reject the geneseed implantations are inducted as chapter serfs. These men often serve in a militia company on the field either next to or in lieu of their masters. From this militia the Heralds are chosen to procure the next generation of aspirants for the chapter.


Technacium
The Technacium is a guild of techpriests that have been with the Knights of Lydda Chapter after their rescue from the Necron held Carpathis. To these individuals the restoration of technology is the epitome of their existence. The dream they have is quite lofty indeed. They are bound by their beliefs to restore the technology that has been lost over the ages. These priests have attached themselves to the Knights of Lydda as advisors and operate a small frigate, which has been refitted as a forge ship. A member will always accompany a force sent out by the now crusading chapter.

In this quest for technology the Technacium has violated a major rule of the Imperium. They dabble with xenos technology in order to open the door to recreating many of the vehicles and systems lost to antiquity. With nothing more than wreckage from the battlefield they begin their work. Often times the result of one of their projects is directly used by the Chapter in a form that has been modeled especially for it’s personal use. The Tenants of Reverse Engineering are closely observed and utilized by the Techancium when working on such projects. Though they have the Techmarines and chapter serfs do most of the actual work, they supervise the operation at hand and contemplate it's outcome.

By recruiting the Techmarines into the Technacium they have given themselves workers that can operate in forms they cannot. Normal men cannot delve into the secrets of the Machine God, but the Techamrines are initiated in these secrets already and due to this make perfect lab assistants. As such, each Techmarine of the Technacium has his own workshop aboard the strike cruiser his company is assigned to. The vehicle bay is where this workshop has been created especially for them. Each workshop includes all the tools needed by the Techmarines as well as a personal Tech-chapel loaded with view screens and data slates for their projects and a small sanctum in which they will observe the rights of the Omnisiah. The Techpreists on the other hand reside solely on their forge ship. All the resources they need are at hand for their work and those that aren't are found and acquired by the Knights themselves.

When the Techancium has completed a project by reverse engineering and replacing everything they can with Imperial technology the templates for the project are downloaded into their personal files. If the Adeptus Mechanicus knew of their study into the technology of xenos races they would surely report them, thus bringing the Inquisition down upon the priests themselves, as well as the chapter that shelters them.

Chapter Organization

1st Company
Veteran Company
Captain, Chaplain, 10 Apothecaries, Standard Bearer, Techmarine
10 Veteran Units with access to Terminator Armor
Dreadnoughts
Land Raiders
Rhinos
Razorbacks
Space Marine Bikes

2nd-5th Companies
Captain, Chaplain, 6 Apothecaries, Standard Bearer, Techmarine
6 Tactical Squads
2 Assault Squads
2 Devastator Squads
Dreadnoughts
Land Raiders
Rhinos
Razorbacks
Space Marine Bikes

6th-7th Companies
Reserve Companies
Captain, Chaplain, 10 Apothecaries, Standard Bearer, Techmarine
10 Tactical Units
Dreadnoughts
Rhinos
Razorbacks
Space Marine Bikes

8th Company
Captain, Chaplain, Apothecary, Standard Bearer, Techmarine
10 Assault Units
Rhinos
Razorbacks
Space Marine Bikes

9th Company
Captain, Chaplain, Apothecary, Standard Bearer, Techmarine
10 Devastator Units
Rhinos
Razorbacks

10th Company
Scout Units
Animal Mounts (Scout Bikes)

Combat Doctrine
Rather than form various specialized companies the Knights of Angelus use a rather unorthodox manner of massing troops for an engagement. Through the tenants set forth in the Bellicus Doctrina as well as the Codex Astartes a force is assembled. Information is gathered on the enemy and terrain and then the members of the War Cabinet present will decide on the appropriate force to be deployed according to all available information. These forces can take any form and are not limited by the strictures of the Codex Astartes, but expanded upon to become effective forces against any and all foes encountered in the field of battle.

The captain of each unit is part of the War Cabinet. The War Cabinet also includes the Chapter Master, Chief Librarian, Master of Sanctity and the Master Tech (Techmarine for the 1st Company), who speaks for all the Techmarines in the Chapter. This organization deals with all aspects of the chapter from assignments to maintenance and training. When in a war zone the War Cabinet Officials decide all actions as a groups and have autonomy when needed due to circumstances that do not allow for the meeting or acknowledgment of the Cabinet.

The chapter apothecaries are aware of the fact that the Betcher's Gland does not work, as is the case with the Imperial Fists from which they are derived. It is due to the fear that other organs may begin to shut down that the decision was made to train all sergeants in the art of the Apothecarium. The idea was that if the chapter to monitor the organs and the changes to a space marine they could effectively find a way to keep the organs from shutting down. Only the veteran and tactical squads of the chapter are afforded this honor, all other units must report every 6 Terran months to an infirmary so that check ups can be made.

The Fleet
The fleet forces of the Knights of Lydda are set to planetary assault format. Even though they have built the fleet around this role they are capable of everything from ship to ship actions to excursions to the battlefields of various planetary bodies.

The fleet consists of the Battlebarge “Ark of the Covenant”, the strike cruisers “Bright Sword”, “Broken Lance”, “Dragon’s Bane”, “Penitent Warrior”, “Vengeance”, and “Soul of Mons” with four more currently under construction. A further accompaniment of three Firestorm frigates, three Sword frigates, six Cobra destroyers, three Gladius frigates are part of the Knights of Lydda Fleet as well as the accompanying forge ship Technus of the Techancium.

A large contingent of drop pods and Thunderhawk gunships are present aboard each of the marine vessels. Thunderhawk transport variations are also in compliment aboard these vessels in order to bring down heavy war kit such as rhinos and Land Raiders to the battlefield.

Current Operations
The Knights of Lydda are currently on their continued crusade to cleanse the galaxy of all xenos races. Among the many planets of the galaxy several previous wars were fought by the Knights of Lydda establishing honors lost, even if it was once they had moved on. The current crusade focus is to reclaim worlds lost to the various xenos races who have overrun them after the Knights have moved on to a new battlefield, and procure lost relics of the chapter. Any time that a piece of their lost history can be restored, the Knights make it a point to gather the texts, and/or artifacts that the world in question is rumored to have. The Knights look for anything that the chapter was or may have been involved with. Although the librarium shelves are filled with the exploits of many battles and heroes they aim to make sure their glorious heritage is not forgotten or lost. To let the heritage of the chapter fall even if by the deeds of one man not to be recorded is a most grievous insult to the chapter. It is for this reason they see themselves on a crusade of penance.

Most recently the spear Ascalon was recovered from the desert world of Cyrene. This weapon killed the daemon prince Koratos. George used this power weapon to kill Koratos before he succumbed to his own wounds and hour later. The spear has been reclaimed by the current Chapter Master Charles Polaris, as his Badge of Office, as it was before the spear was lost to a Chaos champion of the Alpha Legion (of whom Koratos was a member).

The Knights of Lydda are now on their way to the edge of the Eastern Fringe to where Tau, Chaos, and Tyranid activity has been brought to light. Only a small warp jump from the Daedelus Sector and the Nemarkus System housing Lydda itself. The chapter has set sight on the region as is ready to make war.

Battle Cry
“For our homes and our altars!”
Battlecry origninated on the sulphur plains of Salpahrus IV where the Knights battled against a chaos cult backed by the Alpha Legion, threatened to consume the system itself. The originator of the cry is unknown, yet it persists to this day upon the battlefield.

Player's Notes
The Knights of Lydda is designed to be an all-comers army that is not bound by the current Space Marine Codex. When deploying a force a player has the choice of straight codex or any combination of traits from the Traits System to build his/her force upon. Any gaming combination is legal in both friendly and tournament games in which the Traits system is allowed.

[Lord Commander Erus]

Wow... I have just now read this. Awesome piece of fluff.. Inspires me to do such a thing... Hmmm..

[Petey1016]

Very nice, i have read many of these at BnC but i must say that yours is the most original to date.

[Captain Slow]

wow, one of the most indepth WIP chapters ive ever read about, and more importantly i enjoyed reading it. very cool, and more importantly, very well done! it meshes with the standardised 40K brillaintly! very cool, Very Very cool.

[Petey1016]

I take it you have models to show for this chapter???

[Celestial Guardian]

Right now I have 2 finished models (thanks to my secret santa). With it being near freezing here priming has become a problem. After all i have at least two companies of marines plus vehicles and various scratchbuilds to finish also.

As far as B&C goes they hated it. I kept running into "marines can't ride horses! Their armor would crush them!" I learned to translate this to "I didn't really read it or I would have seen you were talking about scouts".

The fluff, like everything else at my house is still unfinished also. I still have some characters to flesh out as well as adding some new things of my own.

Thanks for the encouraging words guys! I can't wait to read about your armies, I'm sure I'll be pleasantly suprised! If you liked this one you should try Erus' Black Saints thread also. I picked up somthings reading this that helped me to write my own!

[Lord Commander Erus]

If they can find my threads.. They are scattered all over the high places and heavens of the fluff forum... >.<

[Zeb[edee]]

Thats awesome o.0 A couple of minor spelling mistakes but a great read nonetheless.
Where did you come up with that story btw? I have never seen anything like it, mixing the knights of old with space marines of the 41st millenium is a great idea.

[Petey1016]

why do you always have to look at spelling and grammar first? weirdo lol.

Whats your name on the B&C

[Celestial Guardian]

Same as here, but I haven't been there since joining 49K Terra. I like this community alot better because it's a joint effort instead of people telling me what i can and can not do with my army...

We just won't get into that though...

[Lord Commander Erus]

Originally Posted by Celestial Guardian

Same as here, but I haven't been there since joining 49K Terra. I like this community alot better because it's a joint effort instead of people telling me what i can and can not do with my army...

We just won't get into that though...

Hehehe.. I went there once.. My ideas seemed to piss of a few people, and when I didn't relent after berating, and my logic and arguments could hold or refute there own, I was quietly ignored...

[Rellik]

wow VERY cool!

[TheGingerkid]

I saw Lydda, and thought it said Lydia.
LoL.