Space Marine Chapter Creation For Two

A dream I had last night, and the subsequent conversation with a friend, led to popping open the Rites of Battle supplement for Deathwatch, as well as for posting this thread.

Mission: Generate another custom Astartes Chapter.

Premise: Someone somewhere fucked up colossally and now the Chapter consists of precisely two Marines stuck bumfuck nowhere.

How the fuck did that happen? To answer that question, first we need to know why the chapter was founded to begin with. Can I get a d10?

Rolled 3 (1d10)

Strategic Prognostication. Prophesies, grim warnings, or any other manner of superstitious weird shit led to their creation. I wonder if the Tarot ever saw what actually happened to them in the end. Probably not.

Next we must know when the Chapter was founded. When did they first lay down the cards, gasp at them, and decree that a bunch of Marines must go here for some reason? For this I'd like someone to throw me a d100.

Rolled 61 (1d100)

That'd be 39th millennium, so all things considered relatively recent.

Next up we'll determine their Progenitor Chapter - which one of the First Founding Chapters donated their gene-seed for this project? Roll me another d100.

Rolled 10 (1d100)

Please don't be wolfs.

Maybe they did?

Maybe the chapter was just the seed that would flower into two warriors of renown and skill? What if these two where chosen by fate?

What if they are the wrong chosen ones? What if literally none of this was meant to happen?

Not Wolfs - Smurfs!

Makes well enough sense I guess: Space Wolves have a bunch of trouble with these things, even now getting only a 1% chance, whereas the Spiritual Liege just keeps on hogging up new dudes.

Such is the curse of the prophesies and predictions, and on any galaxy-wide empire heavily relying on such things. I suppose we'll only know whether these two were truly chosen once their mission, whatever that is, is completed - or they die trying.

Next we'll need to determine how pure their gene-seed is. Ultramarines tend to have it pretty good here, but this isn't reflected by the rules: their successor Chapters have the same odds of being fucked up as, say, those of Blood Angels. Toss me a d10!

Rolled 2 (1d10)

Pure! Spiritual Liege is strong in this one!

Or maybe not. We'll see.

Thanks to their pure gene-stock they get to skip a couple random tables, but we still get to roll on a chance of gene-seed mutation - although Ultramarines having spawned these guys, odds are still relatively low. Gimme a d100.

Rolled 4 (1d100)

Well, we get to ditch the purity comment, for it seems their gene-seed has gotten all sorts of messed up after all.

To determine what's that, I'll be needing a d10.

Rolled 3 (1d10)

Even so, there are NONE PURER.

>Mutated Catalepsean Node: The implant that allows the Battle-Brother to enter a half-sleep in which he can remain alert for danger has become dangerously mutated. The Space Marine is unable to sleep normally, and stays awake for days, even weeks on end without effect. However, when sleep does come, sometimes with little or no warning, it is wont to last for many days on end.

A mixed blessing, for sure, when there's precisely two of them left. Be sure to choose a safe place for rest, brother.

I hope the rest of the Chapter wasn't destroyed because someone fell asleep at the wrong time.

Next up, what're the Marines of this Chapter really good at? What Characteristics do they get their bonuses to? I'mma need a d100 for this.

I can imagine some neat chapter cultural rituals to put marines in a sleep pike trance. Maybe some Delphic influences

Or tantric if we want to looses ourselves of the greco-roman shackles of our Smurf ancestry

Rolled 82 (1d100)

Rolled 34 (1d100)

>Members of this Chapter are famed far and wide for both their skill with the blade as well as their leadership under fire. Space Marines of this Chapter gain +5 Weapon Skill and +5 Fellowship.

Handy with a blade, which is probably going to be a good thing if they're stuck on a feudal or even feral world. Bolters run out of ammo and there are no brothers there to command them or to take their commands, so they need to make do with what they have. Probably wandering about, defeating some enemies of mankind in a duel, then giving a good rousing speech to the Imperial citizens that needed their help to begin with. Then fall sleep at the inn basement for like a week.

But we're getting rather ahead of ourselves now. Next up, we're going to determine some legendary figures of old, battle-brothers from the dawn of the Chapter, and their heroic deeds. Who was their hero? To determine that, we need a d100!

>as well as their leadership under fire.
Something tells me they being reduced to only two Space Marines wasn't an accident but a conscious (last stand-ish) choice.

Rolled 57 (1d100)

What about this one? might be more interdasting

Rolled 15 (1d100)

Personally I think librarian and rando Battle Brother are better than Chapter Master. More interesting.

Shit, those two might be the two remnants

Going by these rolls, we have a Librarian as the greatest and the most esteemed hero of the Chapter, as well as a regular battle-brother as a secondary hero. Perhaps, as a nod to whose somewhat poorly-timed roll was just sort of jumped over, one of them eventually became a Chapter Master. Or perhaps not.

To find out exactly what these two brothers did to become legends, we're going to need two more rolls of d100. You may also name them if you like.

You misunderstand, that role was for specialty, not figure of legend.

I was saying that whatever that was may be more interesting than swordsman ship

Rolled 29 (1d100)

Rolled 9 (1d100)

That "regular battle brother" is from the Ultras proper. He's OG

Read the table

Rolled 72 (1d100)

I think we should name them after we find out.

What did our bookworm do?...

We also need to roll for what the battle brother was

Rolled 30 (1d100)

Chapter Master Augustus
>killed a fuckton of Orks
>LIKE A LOT OF ORKS
>seriously he solo'd these fuckers

Librarian Aurelius
>rebel scum
>sendthemarines.jpg
>Aurelius goes in with his strike force
>oh shit it's daemons
>figures out the Prince's true name
>banishes that fucker and all his hordes
>rebels are killed/sucked into the warp/whatever

Two heroes and two current survivors.

I think it'd be kinda lame to have the survivors BE the heroes. But some relation would be neat--like they're the genetic descendants of them or something. And they see flashes of their memory, and/or the enemies of their progenitors are hunting down the remnants of the chapter.

One could be a tarot-reading psyker.

The other could be a beatstick loose-cannon.

Perfect buddy cop duo.

Oh. I guess was right

So spiritual successors? They would be defacto chapter master an Chief Libby anyway

Ah, you're absolutely right - this guy was actually an Ultramarine, their gene-father.

And not just any Ultramarine - according to the rolls (either or ), he was the Ultramarines Chapter Master at the time. I don't think Marneus Calgar was yet alive back then, nor had the Tyranids arrived to plague the galaxy, so said Master got to fight a vast horde of orks, possibly single-handedly.

Then we have the Librarian, who according to would've been an enemy of the Eldar, but says he fought Chaos instead. I suppose we'll go with the latter, on account of such a descriptive account paints of the event.

Augustus and Aurelius - forever carved their names to the annals of the Ultramarines.

We can use on the next roll of the table instead, which is the Chapter homeworld. Roll of 72 points to Civilized World: this makes sense, these guys being descended from the Ultramarines after all.

But what's their homeworld like? Roll d100 to determine its predominant terrain!

>Chapter Master, that action is I'll advis-
>I ain't nobodies Master
>sigh

Yeah.

I think they should start out as normal dudes. Not novices, but just apprentices for their roles. So the psyker is only dabbling in his powers, the other guy was just a sergeant or lieutenant.

Then over the course of whatever campaign or games someone uses them for, they mature and grow as characters and take on the mantle of those who went before them.

What should their names be?

Oh, and we need to roll for homeworld. 1d100.

Rolled 93 (1d100)

Nice and cozy civilized world. Standard Ultra fare.

Wait, was he the CM of THE ultras, or was he a captain that got seconded to be the CM of the new chapter?

The latter makes more sense

A temperate world - indeed, about to be expected from Ultramar. In the grim darkness of 40k, it's the closest thing approaching comfy.

The wording on the tables would heavily lean towards the latter, yes. Combine his mighty single-handed ork genocide with the Emperor's Tarot origin of the Chapter, and it's entirely possible he sort of fit to some ancient prophesy or somesuch. "He's the One!" So he got a Chapter all for himself.

But moving on. Now, what was the Chapter's relationship with their home world? Did they rule directly or distantly, or did they set up a steward as a figurehead? Roll a d10 to find out.

Rolled 6 (1d10)

Distant rule, somewhere far away. This is a little more unusual of an Ultramarines successor, but then, their gene-seed was a touch tainted as well.

How did that taint happen, anyway? Did it have something to do with their first Chapter Master, and/or the orks? Was it what led them to be comparatively more isolated of their wards, or was that something else? More questions for later.

Next up, how is the Chapter organized? Do they comply with the Codex Astartes as a good Smurf would, or are there divergences here as well? A d10 shall decide.

Rolled 7 (1d10)

Codex it is. They may need to go around it a little bit to adjust for their unique sleeping habits, but surely the book is flexible enough to allow this.

Next, combat doctrine! All other things being identical, how do they like to wage war? Roll a d10!

Rolled 2 (1d10)

I guess they're good with swords but prefer to shoot?

Could reroll that, maybe.

Rolled 4 (1d10)

Let's try a reroll

Or we take that skill and apply it to guns.

Sniper marines. NO WAIT, Gunfu marines

>curve the mindbullet

>curve the SNEAKY mindbullet

Ranged combat! An interesting result, given how good they tend to be at melee. But we can work with this.

In war they prefer to gun down their foes, rain bolts and plasma and Whirlwind missiles on them until nothing survives, even though this is not what the Chapter is truly the best at. Melee, the close combat and swordsmanship, are what is left as last resort, or perhaps more likely, for duels and other such formalized and ritualized occasions.

Perhaps melee is for worthy opponents only, while the rest will simply be shot down as a duty, even a chore.

Alternatively, we may try to take the reroll and have them be stealthy instead, or we may just take the previous +5 bonus and move it away from weapon skill to ballistics skill. Whatever makes enough sense while painting an interesting mental image of our guys.

I'll leave the choice up to you. In the meantime, let's move on to the next table - Solo Mode abilities! Are they going to stick with the Ultramarine abilities, or do they have their own way of waging war? Roll up a d100 to find out.

Shift it to ballistics. Snipers, pistol duelists, and skilled gun fighters these marines excel at ranged combat at any range, be it right urban streets or wide open plains

It makes sense with their mutation as well.

Their snipers can stay awake for weeks at a time before crashing in their snipers nest, and tacticals can push an objective for days while the enemy breaks in resolve and resources

Rollan

Did we ever roll for terrain?

Rolled 73 (1d100)

Rolled 7 (1d100)

Dropped my dice

Rolled 7 (1d10)

It's a d10

>Ride of the Valkyries playing loudly in the background

If we take the stealth roll as well, we can have the enemy begin having losses before they even realize what is going on, scouts with sniper rifles hiding somewhere above. Or we could go with the buddy cop angle brought up earlier and combine it with more literal loose cannons, or perhaps gunslingers. Maybe all of these at once. We'll see.

Terrain roll was temperate.

>Quick reaction is the hallmark of this Chapter. While in Solo Mode, the Battle-Brother is considered to have the Lightning Reflexes Talent. At Rank 3, the Battle-Brother receives a +10 to all Dodge tests. At Rank 5, the Battle-Brother is considered to have the Rapid Reaction Talent. At Rank 7, once per game session the Battle-Brother may automatically pass any one Agility-Based test (for Opposed Tests, the Battle-Brother is considered to have rolled a 01).

Their snipers, it seems, are also well prepared at the enemy inevitably finding them and raining fire upon them in return. Nothing can surprise them and they will act swiftly once battle is truly joined.

We can take this roll for Squad Mode attack pattern. They stick with the Ultramarines guidelines for this one, getting the Lead By Example pattern - goes well with their Fellowship bonus, but less well with them having lost most of the Chapter.

We'll need one more d100 for their Defensive Stance!

Rolled 30 (1d100)

Holy shit, Gun-Kata marines. And here I thought this was going to be boring

Why, that was fast! They stick with the Ultramarines pattern for this one as well, rallying their brothers together whenever they seem to be faltering.

Next up, special equipment! What kind of unique gear do they get to bring with them to the battlefield?

Rolled 64 (1d100)

>Special Mount: While other Chapter’s may keep animals as companions, this Chapter uses them for what they were intended for—transportation. Examples: Fenrisian Wolf, Carnodon, very angry Grox.

Well, going with what we've established previously, the choice of an animal for this roll seems clear to me - a horse. A very big horse.

Or maybe it's something else? Would anything else fit better for the Chapter's image as it's forming in your head? Might they be riding something even weirder into battle?

In the meantime, we'll be moving on and rolling for the Chapter Beliefs. What manner of strange and unique religious traditions do the Chapters hold in practice? That'll be another d100!

Ugh, reroll?

Rolling
That roll wasn't for equipment. Stop randomly picking rolls for stuff

>Stop randomly picking rolls for stuff
I take the dice as they show up. If this isn't the way these things are supposed to be done, then I'll defer to your probably greater experience and we can go back and try to roll the equipment properly.

Whatever the next d100 is for, let me know in the post. Maybe that'll clear it up.

Nigger, you just look at what rolls are quoting which post. So THIS roll is for THIS post and THIS roll is for THIS post and so on

Pay attention amigo

Rolled 77 (1d100)

This roll is for Chapter Beliefs. I'm hoping something like the Doom Eagles, I think that'd be fitting.

Death Cult. It looks like you got your wish.

Shall we go back to rolling the special equipment properly now? Or are we sticking with the mount?

Rolled 30 (1d100)

Let's roll equipment one more time.

Rolled 40 (1d100)

Death Cult! Knew it, it's perfect.

I think we should reroll equipment. Doing it now.

here, go with the guy before me (since I got basically the same thing).

Why not both?

Why not have giant Gryphounds and have our jump packs have big ole wings on them.

Why not all three?

>Exotic mounts
>Bestial companions
>Modified jump packs

Link them all somehow

So this plus the marksmanship and death cult, anyone picking up a big game Hunter vibe? Pistol dueling to resolve matters of honour, firing lines etc all give off a somewhat English vibe. But let's not go overboard with it if that's a route we want to explore

>Modified Jump-Pack: Primarily seen in Chapters that favor the Assault Combat Doctrine, Battle-Brother’s from this Chapter modify their Jump-Packs (with a Tech-Marine’s help of course) to provide a more glorious sight to their allies and a more terrifying one to their enemies. Examples: Jump-Pack’s created in different shapes such as angel wings.

This'd go better with the old melee bonus, but hey, these guys are wielding pistols, so we can probaby easily still stick with our guns.

So far we've got some sneaky snipers, gunslingers in stylized jump packs, as well as great many beasts. Spotter birds working together with the snipers, perhaps, or flying along with the Assault Marines. Then another type of a giant beast - maybe horses, maybe something else - to help them go around.

While we still stir these thoughs around in our heads, the next roll would be Chapter Status, but that was kind of decided in the initial premise - really seriously endangered. After that, we've got Chapter Friends! Who're they rubbing shoulders with? Roll a d100 to find out!

Ooh, flying big game hunters? Killing things not just because they're the enemies of the Imperium, but also because they're really big and strong.

Rolled 5 (1d100)

I got some heretical ideas up in here.

>Ultramarines geneseed--but they were a successor of the Doom Eagles (since successors CAN have successors and it fits with what we rolled)
>their planet was feral when they got there, but they Roman'd that shit up
>and then they ran away to the mountains
>where there were giant genetically engineered birds from the DAoT
>which they tamed and rode n shit
>also maybe small birds and psyber eagles, White Scar style
>of course, the birds were all killed along with the rest of the chapter
>our dudes have the last egg(s), but have no idea how to hatch them

rollan

I guess they were cool with the bureaucrats before they got murderzoned? Kind of a weird one, should we keep it?

Rolled 56 (1d100)

I would contend Gryphounds and Gryphound accesories, and the genemodded from the DAoT is too snowflakey. Just make it a rare breed that lives in the same mountains

Our Roman, bird-taming Doom Eagle successors appear to have been good friends with the Administratum. Honestly I guess it makes well enough sense, and may have helped them with civilizing up the feral world they were granted, divvying more resources and attention to them.

Alternatively, we could pick Astropaths. If we go with this then it'd be almost ironic how the last two guys ended up going completely lost.

Again, your call. In the meantime - who were they enemies with? We've got history with the orks and Chaos so far, but those may have just been minor skirmishes. Roll a d100 to see who or what was the most persistent thorn in their side!

My reasoning for DAoT is

1) easier to explain and it's pretty common elsewhere in the fluff

2) they can go on a heroic quest to figure out how to crack the eggs with ancient genetic magitech.

Rolled 93 (1d100)

Hoping for Daemons just for that callback to the guy that got banished.

Or DE.

I suppose it makes sense for them to be the CURRENT enemies of our last survivors. Being out on the galactic fringe, the DE would have a wonderful time plundering the outlying human colonies and small xenos empires.

They do get around to do battle with all manner of foes, do they. First orks in their infancy, then later on Chaos attacks, now space elves. It's not known whether they were what dealt away with the Chapter to begin with, but they're certainly a persistent enemy to the final survivors, pillaging where they can and causing trouble on the quest.

Now it's time to decide the Chapter's name! If you have any good ideas already, feel free to throw in suggestions. Alternatively, roll a d100 to see what we get on the tables provided. Or maybe both: give a prefix and also a d100 and see what works better.

Corvus Malum, or in Low Gothic, the Doom Crows.

Doom Crows!

One final roll remains to be made, and that is the Chapter's advancement table: that'll be a d100.