my DIY army. It's a work in progress

[Kovnik_Kel]

Well I think that this is the forum that this would go in.

Name: Excomunicatus Praetorus, Praetorians,
HOME: Mobile attack fleet. Recruitment has dwindled due to poor relations with Terra and Mars.
RULES: either Dark Angels or Heed the Wisdom of the ancients and No Allies.
FOUNDING: Unknown, Believed to be 13th
GENESEED: Despite being a chapter renowned for having excessive stores of knowledge, their own geneseed continues to be a mystery to them. It is possible that the Fabricator General or the parent chapter knows. However, leting that information go could be very damaging to Mars, having to acknowledge the circumstances of their founding, and for the parent chapter, having their geneseed attached to a nearly heretical chapter. The geneseed shows no signs of mutation and is fully functional. They believe that the geneseed may have come from the Imperial Fists or Dark Angels.

HISTORY: The chapter leadership is known to be ancient and unflinching in their loyalty to the ideas the emperor put forward. The drastic difference between this chapter and another is they believe in the classical Imperial Truth, that there is nothing that cannot be explained, a materialistic reductionist philosophy. They believe that while the terror of the warp presents strange and unique things, that they are completely explainable. This results in their denouncement of the Emperor as a God, and instead acknowledging him as a great leader and someone worthy of respect and honour.
At this point the particular military actions of the chapter are held to be a close and dire secret. A structure similar to the Dark Angels exists. One that provides certain information to higher echelons of the command structure. However, with numbers dwindling and the age of every marine being extensive, the majority of the chapter knows the complete history.
If others knew of the actions taken by this chapter, they would surely be annihilated immediately. Some action at some point caused certain parts of the adeptus mechanicus to "excomunicate" them. Despite this, the chapter maintains a large number of andvanced technologies and every member of the chapter has a knowledge of the technology to rival a techmarine.


More to come as I flesh them out.

[Celestial Guardian]

Just a couple of observations:
1) Praetorinas are an honor guard type of unit. I don't see the Imperium using it as a traitorous term. Did you mean Excoomunicate Traitorus? If so, that would be the status of the chapter and wouold interfere in your fluff as you have they are renown for their stores of knowledge.

2.) The High Lords and Inquistion determine the status of traitors. However, the Adeptus Mechanicus does have a seat on the council of the High Lords. You could still use this in your background, but just tweak it a little and then have the Adpetus Mechanicus pull all support from the chapter. This would mean little to no terminator and/or artificer armor, techmarines, and dreadnoughts. This is a very characterful approach. Where will you army turn for help in keeping their equipment running?

3.) There is a contridiction in your rules and fluff. If the Adeptus Mechanicus have pulled support thing s like dreadnoughts would be a small number. The Heed the Wisdom of the Ancients would go against this piece of fluff by alolowing the feilding of up to 6 of these machines. If you areookin for heavy kit, you may want to try Honour Your Wargear and feild Devastators instead. More shots and models Vs. vehcile armor and rules.

You have a very good start. The ideas are ther and just need alittle fleshing out. Have you given thought to you color scheme? Could be some useful stuff coming from just that and your actual playing style on the board. If you have any need of assistance please ask and I'll do my best to help out.

[Kovnik_Kel]

I think I can explain most of those points.

1. Something I havn't fleshed out yet is That this chapter, while general despised by the Mechanicus and the religion of Terra, is widely celebrated by the Imperial Guard. The reason for this is their belief that while the guard are inferior combatants, they were supposed to be the true benefactors of the Emperors actions. In otherwords, the marines weren't made to become the diefied individuals they are now, the people were the most important thing in the imperial truth. SO the term "Excomunicatus Praetorus" Is a term that multiple guard detachments have given them. Sort of a slang name if you will. The term Praetorian comes from their chapter name. They are praetorians of the old imperial truth, and are of no relation to the Praetorians that protected the emperor.

2. Im wishy washy on this I know. Because the implications of having my chapter outright excommunicated don't sit well with me. I am trying to have them teetering on that line though. The thing about the Mechanicus is that they will no longer aid this chapter and actively try to destory this chapter. Thats what I meant.

3. Im trying to allude to the reason the Adeptus Mechanicus hates them. The religion of Terra hates them because they see them as heritics. The Mechanicus hates them because of their open dabbling in technology. Im trying to leave that elusive. Maybe the chapter found an STC, maybe they stole something from the mechanicus, or maybe because they adhere to the way marines were pre-heresy they simply don't believe the "machine-god nonsense and attempt to build their own machines.


One other things I haven't quite written yet, and is a reason why I am hesitant to say they are fully excomunicated, is that they can be very divisive. As the inquisition contains varying views, so does the Terran Beaurachry, and to a much greater extent The Adeptus Mechanicus. Some Mechanicus would be very intrigued by why the Chapter has the technology it does, other might out right side with them.

[Celestial Guardian]

Good answers. You seem to have alot of though put inot this already. That's a good thing!

If you really want to run with the technology scheme maybe you could use Heed the Wisdom of the Ancients and run the Techmarines also. You could explain it in that the Adeptus Mechanicus have turned their back on them and the chapter has taken the knowledge into it's own hands.

If the believing that the Emperor is not a god, but only a great man is what has them on the brink, it's not that well thought out. Many chapters have this belief, the Salamaders Chapter chief among them who do exactly what your talking about, but still get Adeptus Mechanicus help. You could use the Adeptus Mechanicus representaive on the High Lords Council as the bad guy pushing for their excommunication. The rest of the High Lords don't see a legitamate reson for it, as they know the Adeptus Mechanicus themselves keep many secrets, and don't follow through with a large enough voting to ensure the chapter's destruction. This would fit in rather well and give you points to use later in campaigns and fluff writing.

Anyway, your on a great track. Some secrets for a chapter are fine and dandy, just try not to get lost in them. I hope to see more of your fluff in the near future, as I think your setting on a truely remarkalbe take.

You might want to look at my DIY Chapter as well, maybe there is something I missed that you could expand on!