Warmaster's Triumvirate XXX

Maybe you could have the age system implemented in your Legion too

The ago of Marines is often indicated by service studs om the forehead, but those denote a century of service. Considering the Crusade only lasts 200 years or so, that wouldn't be a fantastic way to do it.

The Knights of the Round are the half-Astartes he rolled with back on Avalon, right?

Calling them knights is pretty cool, but having full blown Marines be referred to as pages and squires seems odd. That might be something the start doing once they become a chapter: neophytes are squires, initiates pages.

...

Looks sweet as man.
I thought you were just gonna go with Birdperson from Rick and Morty. ;)

Much better now

He's staring into my soul and I think I like it

Threadly reminder that Mot did literally nothing wrong.

Aside from existing?

Yeah, he even fucked up doing nothing

Hey I don't see you creating your own warp god despite being universally hated.

Linares is a God btw

>He had to make his own god because the real Gods wouldn't have anything to do with him

o i am laffin

So, I posted this many, *many* threads ago, and seeing that we have advanced far enough, I bring this up again:

>Marduk dies at the Siege. Gods so dissapointed they sentence his soul to lurk in the Warp for the rest of forever
>Lambach tries to revive Raj. Fails utterly for 10 milenia
>Fast forward to the End of Times
>13th Dark Crusade
>Marduk is back, he has become Warp Incarnate. So OP even the gods are scared.
>Loyalists get their asses handed over to them so hard that they request assistance from the Seps
>WTF we are next so Ok
>Climatic battle:
>Linares 1-on-1s Warp Incarnate and gets so rekt that is about to enter Sus-An, if not to simply die. But
>Suddenly, Lambach
>He appears on the Battlefield, along a stubby figure that happens to be Raj
>Lambach has gambled with Isha to get Raj back, maybe freeing her or w/e
>Linares is about to collapse, see them both, realises that Lambach is back, and Raj is alive
>ManlyTears.windataslate

Then, the group of Non-Chaos Primarchs beat Marduk in a climatic fight, ending the 13th Black Crusade, or at least stopping it, negating its momentum.

I can either kill Linares, because let's face it, one does not just simply 1-0n-1s Warp Incarnate, or make him enter Sus-An. If it's the later, then he may or may not be in the final battle.

I have another course of action. Linares has always been kinda Khornate, enjoying fighting above much things, and sometimes being posessed by an irrepresible fury. Maybe, during the battle, Linares is beaten and dies. But Khorne refuses to just let his soul go, so he claims it and turns him into a DPrimarch.
I don't like at all this aproach, but if you guys like it, we may go for it. We still have the option of having a "neutral" DPrimarch, While he just kills w/e he finds in his way, he may assist the Non-Chaos forces too, as Daemons aren't intrinsically evil. But this is true snowflake

>New thread
>Expected prettiest primarch edition
>Got replaced by memebjörn

It hurts more than it should

Cuck'd

At the moment, I'm planning on having it be hinted at that Einchurt is coming back during the 13th Black Crusade, but I'm somewhat unsure myself of actually bringing back non-Daemon Primarchs

I don't see the Warp-incarnate thing.

however regarding the fate of Marduk, I was actually having a random idea the other night.

>Be Marduk Engur
>Get murderdeaded at Siege of Terra
>Soul enters the warp
>Tainted and altered it persists, the gods unwilling to let go of their pawn they invested so much in
>But they want to punish it
>Marduk is hurled into realspace in the body of an infant towards the feet of the Chaos Sorceress Eris Carcosa who has been used as a Chaos oracle since the Leviathan Host retreated into the Eye of Terror
>She raises him as he ever so slowly grows to his former self, which takes surprisingly long without accelerated growth
>He reveals himself after 10'000 years of fighting, conquering, gaining favour and subduing his enemies until the Host is completed once again, all sworn to his cause
>The greatest unified chaos warhost since the Brotherwar emerges from the Eye, the End Times has come!
>Marduk Engur, Champion of the Gods, with a lifetime of war and Chaos burning in his soul, comes to set the galaxy ablaze, and his erstwhile brotherlegions join his rampage
>The 13th Black Crusade is underway

On that point, actually, what's our opinions on the End Times and non-Chaos Primarchs coming back?

Linares comes back from the Warp, and well, many Separatists are alive, and the Chaos guys may be launching attacks in person. I don't think that having non-chaos Primarchs around would be pretty balancing

>Warp Incarnate
It's a thing discussed already, but I'm unsure about the actual result of the discussion. I think that Marduk comes back much powerful than before. Maybe coz the Gods resurrect him and he visits Molech, or coz Warp Incarnate or however we are calling him

>Your idea
I like the thing of him being born again. We could make him visit Molech so he becomes Steamroller the Primarch

To this day, I have no fucking idea what happened on Molech. I think I might have read the article in the lexicanum, but nothing rings what exactly is on that planet and what happens there.

In Molech there is a warp gate. The Emperor crossed it and got most of his powers. Then Horus did the same, to stand a chance against him.

>MFW the origin of the emperor's powers has been retconned twice now

First it was he made a pact with the gods but didn't deliver, then he was the reincarnation of some-odd numbered amount of psychers creating a quasi-warpgod with their suicide pact.

And now he's back to square one. What the sausage.

Marduk is blasted to fuck and gone by all of the everybody. He of course has the favor of all 4 Gods, and they'd like to keep taking advantage of their Marked investment. So they *should* bring him back. But within the Warp they try to get a leg up over each other (Because of course they are the Chaos Gods, that's what they DO), by giving Marduk's mangled soul just a touch more of their individual power, to claim twenty-six percent of the pot. And of course the other Gods can't allow this, so they up the ante. And up and up and up and up.

So for XXXXgazillion years in a realm where Time Has No Meaning, the Gods are playing this side game (Perhaps this distraction is also what keeps them from fucking Hashut over, amusingly enough). But eventually this "Big Ball O Fun That Used To Be Marduk" is just too damn convoluted and unstable for even the Gods to keep hold of. We know the Gods are "psychic hurricanes" from Canon. So now they've made this distorted low-pressure system that slips from their grasp and goes fuck knows where to do fuck knows what. But eventually, this hurricane makes the loop and comes back to make landfall in the Materium.

>cont.

I'd like to know what you people think to be the most fitting fate for Linares.

Personal opinion, I'd like to have him survive, but I understand that a Primarch is OP outside the Brotherwar and the 13th Dark Crusade.

From the Galaxy's perspective, this "White Hole" version of the Maelstrom/Eye of Terror bursts into being, hemmorhaging Warp-Shit everywhere. Loyals respond, maybe Seps respond also. But they don't know what's coming. Marduk, Chaos Spawn to end all Chaos Spawn, the Leviathan Incarnate. Completely insane, ridiculously powerful (but still not up to the Big 4's level, since he can still manifest), and now it's Final Boss time because if left unchecked, Leviathanduk is about to unleash the Chaos version of the Tyranids as he pulls daemons into realspace simply in the wake of his passage assfucking reality.

Marduk finally gets to be the absolute destructive force he always wanted to be, and Chaos both wins and loses at the same time, since the Gods built this thing by accident, but they also might actually have to stop him, because Marduk-Leviathan might actually WIN the great game (because he's not playing a game at all) and kill all Chaos' foodstock.

If desired, therefore this leads into a "bookend" moment where just for one moment in history, Loyals, Seps, *and* Chaos Legions all have to deal with the same threat at the same time, lest they all be vaporized by the 4 Gods' one-upsmanship struggle that went malignant and started a life of its own.

This is a good solution. We have the common OP enemy, the final boss, and is Marduk.

I disagree on the 3vs1 thing. Chaos is supposed to fuel the End Times, not try to avert it. There may be Chaos-allies or Chaos-affiliated groups, sects or Warbands who decide it is not in their interest and their alliegance to Chaos is for their own gain, but "THE" traitor legions should stand behind Marduk as the Lord of the End Times and support his cause.

I did base this concept on the "Chaos doesn't want to win, they want the game to go on forever" canon perspective. Marduk threatens to break the game completely, starving the Gods, returning all things to the Warp, which then eventually returns to a still, calm pond as it was in the beginning of time.

Personally I like that better than "Oh yeah, Chaos just wants everything dead, GG no re" which seems very linear and boring to me personally.

Then make it a common enemy for pretty much everyone else except the Nids and the Crons

I like this idea, a lot. Marduk and Linares should be thrown up at the same time I think, maybe Linares atop him trying to kill him before he exits realspace. He fails obviously, commandeers a traitor ship and tries to contact some one "¡Cuiado, maricones!"

And because it's Chaos, I think the best way is to have them both fueling (accidentally building Leviathan-Marduk) AND averting the end times (being forced to help kill Leviathan-Marduk), because....

Chaos.

Nah, better to pop out *just* before, so he can reunite with everyone like "Yo, I'm back". Like a week or two after Linares' come back, Leviathanduk appears and everyone is like "lol you brought him with you?"

>chasing a tasty snack
>crashes into reality
>man i just hate it when that happens dont you

I thought the entire point of the Ouroboros Kult is to keep the galaxy in a cycle of creation and destruction and measured conflict to fuel their masters without creating a situation that would starve them. And again feed into our AU themes of civil war and division

This would also feed really well into Rahman and Kincaid's Eldar Sister War idea, where the Eldar Pantheon stumbles onto the scene and smacks Chaos in the dick. Marduk the Leviathan could either be their window of opportunity or be caused by said dick slapping.

Actually keked

Nice.

It would be interesting for Linares to go from Flash Gitz/Text To Speech Kaldor Draigo/drunken illegal immigrant Doomguy to a dude running away from an ever growing like of chaos mutations and """"gifts""""

Well, there's a lot of ways you could take it, yeah. This is just one possibility.

I simply prefer the "Chaos fights among itself perpetually, but the one thing they agree on is that things should keep getting eeeeeever so slightly more grimdark by the day, but never actually bring an end to the conflict."

It just makes sense to me. Cyclical universes just seem needlessly complex.

As a means to perpetuate the timeline and allow for more story, yes, having the option to continue the plot is crucial and more appealing. It is also very true that Chaos is, at its core, self-interested and therefore has no endgoal. It just exists in a continuous state of eating souls and shitting warpstorms (much like a certain corpse on a golden chair).

That second point is why I say there should definitely be a divide in the Chaos legions, some who will definitely want to LET THE GALAXY BURN and some who prefer to continue the Materium to exist in a form to exploit for themselves. Marduk simply should not be alone with his own daemonzerg.

This brings us to another point that I don't believe we addressed: Why do the Chaos Legions follow Marduk? For the most part they resent the Emperor and the Imperium, but they don't have the same reasons to fight as do the OU traitors. They very clearly declared for Chaos, and Marduk with his Abyssal Faith is their main source of knowledge. So the first time around, they definitely bought into the idea that Chaos wins, everybody dies. Why wouldn't they join in another time once their Dark Messiah comes back around?

I wasn't sure if we kept that one around but fair enough, the Ouroboros Kult is a perfect example for the internal divide in the "chaos" faction. Let's have the Kult and his allies inform the rest of the galaxy of Marduk's munchies, while other Chaos legions totally agree that this galaxy needs to go down the drain.

Easy.

>the idea that Chaos wins, everybody dies.

Chaos didn't win the first time, and everyone didn't die. Between that and Chaos' inherently divisive nature, it's perfectly natural that for every 1,000 Chaos Marines that behold the emergence of Marviathan, there are 1,000 different opinions regarding what the proper course of action is. Most of which will conflict in some way or another.

There's going to be plenty of Marines that go "BEHOLD THE PURE FORM OF CHAOS, OUR GUIDE TO ETERNITY HAS SHOWN US THE WAY!"

And there's going to be just as many that go "Fuck that guy, he got turned into a Spawn. And winners don't get turned into Spawns. That thing that used to be Marduk has got to die. And hey, maybe if WE clean up the Gods' mistake..... DAEMONHOOD!!!"

Here there be treasure. And Marduk's corpse marks the spot...

Alright, with that reasoning I can live.

I do want to say though, just to put it out there, that I kind of get some bad Power Rangers vibes from this. Marduk was supposed to be this charismatic, eerily beautiful champion of chaos, terrible in his magnificience, like Sauron or some shit, and the second time he comes back he's this bloated eighteen-store tall monster consisting of tumours and teeth, and there's chaostumours with teeth spawning out a warpportal in his anus.
I guess what I'm trying to say is I'd actually want a more classy role for the second coming of the Chaosmessiah. It's mostly about the mental picture. Maybe we can find a middle ground?

It *does* showcase how far he falls, I suppose. Part of Sauron's fall (if I remember my Silmarillion right which I might not be) was a line in the book that went something like "And he would never be beautiful and fair, and never be able to decieve Man in such a way again", more or less.

Terrifying forces of nature are still beautiful, from the right perspective.

But him coming back as a cosmic, country sized Spawn is a great reason for division.

You would have the party that follows it like preening birds to a hippo, and those that see a true end times as a really fucking bad idea.

Status Quo versus Age of Sigmar.

>Terrifying forces of nature are still beautiful, from the right perspective.

Marduk was a Good Friend(tm)

Well I did say I will support the notion. I see the value of Marduk being divisive. It's just my own ego that would have loved to have Marduk as a wholesome being that can still charm people into servitude.

The End Times probably don't permit much time for charming people, I would imagine. With as much shit weighing down on the 40k galaxy, when it finally snaps in half presumably it cracks hard and fast.

But, maybe before everything goes to shit, Obi-wan style ghost-images of Marduk start appearing all over the Galaxy seemingly at random, re-enacting all kinds of shit that he did in life, whether constructive or destructive. And of course different people interpret this all kinds of ways, following the phantoms, trying to kill them, trying to get them to speak or make contact or acknowledge their existence, etc.

As the Leviathan rises, it pushes forward an Emotion-Wake of fragmented memories and ripples that Marduk left on the universe before he was destroyed, which starts fucking with everything everywhere.

That does sound like a good plot element. Count me in.

Sorry Phant man, Einchurt and I were to easily amused by our own antics.

Also, a suggestion for people with image editing skills/programs:

We should have a size chart for our dudes, so we can gape in awe at Pacha's stature, and wonder when the manlets will learn.

They brang back Rowboat and are almost certain to bring back at very least Russ and the Lion when they get their own Codexs. So Linares coming back shouldn't be an issue.

I'm not sure how I feel about buffing Marduk up to some sort of Super-Chaos final boss.

I'll think ponder on it overnight.

>Raj
Isha gets free somehow, doesn't she? That's what makes the Eldar Empires go off, ne?

Fuck yeah. Makes Marduk into a proper Old One type horror.
Nobody sees it coming, though, since Eris claims that she's been recieving advice from Marduk's spirit.

Think that's Melkor.

Marduk doesn't manifest physically at first.
That comes a ways into things. At first, Marduk comes in dreams. Usually nightmares for mortals that leave them writing strange stories and drawing strange pictures before blowing out their brains.
Eventually, Marduk's call becomes stronger and more focussed. He's able to appear to his brothers, radiant in chaotic light. He's ascended. He's glorious. He's returning to lead them all in a completion of their great work. Glorious.
He's coming. So they follow the warp storm, knowing that Marduk moves within it. He continues to communicate through dreams and the like.
Marduk is coming. Everyone knows it, it's written on a billion hive city walls in spray paint, hidden in crosswords, scrawled in spidery cracks as windows break.
Marduk is coming.
And finally, at some planet, he manifests. They're not sure at first that that's Marduk, they think it's something he's made. They don't realize that he's come to chaos like Leto to a sandworm.

I...think? I dunno, I just proposed it because it seems unlikely that a god would share the secret of reviving someone for nothing. Although Isha could just be that good

Isha escapes following either the Brother's War or at sone point when Nurgle's power wanes, yes. By M41, she's speaking through her Everqueen.

Perhaps Lambach could play a part in Nurgles power wane? Not sure how though?

Maybe he goes full edgy and fights him in his own subtle ways

We might be able to tie it into a Black Crusade. We've got 12 of them to fill in, so there will surely be room to work with there.

Makes sense, not a bad idea.

Should note that Eresh Khial's awakening is directly linked to Deshain going on a murderspree in Commoragh.

...

I'm really not caught up on all this Eldar stuff. And I don't mean the stuff you've proposed, I mean Eldar lore, period.

I've been wondering about our Traitor legions. In order to differentiate the Traitors and Separatists, we've said that the Chaotic corruption sets in way quicker. As a result, they become more like the 40k Chaos Marines we know.

What I'm wondering is the following: how does this effect the indiviual Traitor Marines? How do they experience this? How does the indiviual marine justify their actions, beyond obeying their gene-sire?

How do our Chaos Space Marines think?

The Loxodontii may be completely into Chaos in the Individual level, each one following a certain tendency but with their own ambitions, acting solely by their lust for power.

Correct me if wrong

For the Chosen of Hecate they almost all felt betrayed by the Edict of Nikea. They all strongly believed in the cause of psykers and even those that weren't psykers still had close ties with squad mates that were. Being forced to watch them die, or to struggle in battles that would once have been easy really flipped their switch.
They definitely wanted to rebel againzt the Emperor but didn't want to fall to Chaos though. Most of them hate the Nurgle curse and if Lambach hadn't of isolated them from the galaxy before Ullanor they might have just sided with Frédéric and become Seps.

I would question the speed at which some of these Marines accept these dangerous creatures. This also largely effects traitors from non-traitor legions.

For the Iron Ancients, I do believe they'd share the Chosen's sentiments. They've seem the pain caused by the Imperium and could very likely rebel. Would it be believable to have them start using daemons quite quickly?

I haven't decided exactly when they start using Plauge daemons but I definitely know they are using them by the Siege.
They start using Zombies almost right away though so it probably doesn't take them too long.
With most of them being scholars they would have learnt about summoning and binding fairly quickly I'd think.

Marius von Kreimann goes to Chaos because he's very into the occultism of Rheigmarkch's Old Beliefs, which is basically Chaos worship. Einchurt himself is also interested in the Old Beliefs, which is where von Kreimann gets it from, but Einchurt isn't so pants on head about it

Is it too early for random anons to pitch Successor Chapters?

Nah man always welcoming new members.
Jump in the discord and say hi.

Go for it.

I'm still working out the stuff for the chaos phantoms-- they'd mostly Slaneeshi, under the logic that if they're going to go in for illusions, might as well be a pleasant one. They're like Cypher from the Matrix about it.

The big reason that the average Soaring Host guy goes over is because he feels like the Imperium is out to get him, then Lambach comes over and shows them all this cool chaos magic stuff and Marduk says that it is the next step in human and cosmic evolution. Marduk and Lambach are basically the only dudes who ever had your back, so you listen. Not like there's much of a choice, the ships are coming for you and you need to get moving.
Also chaos is intoxicating. It lets them soar, let's them taste the colors of the wind as they run, I mean holy crap, this is amazing. They can fly and be proud of their genefather.

Not every Legion in this AU has Successors, but sure, nothing wrong with pitching ideas if you see something you'd like to write about.

...

I know that the Steel Souls are supposed to all die against the Hive Mind, but what other Legions won't have Successors? For that matter, do they even split up into Chapters after the Brotherwars?

As far as the Loxodontii go, their entire culture is centered around esotericism. Shamans and High Priests of Babylon V, Stargazers in the chapters, they're all basically using snake oil and rattles in ceremony to divine the future and bless their soldiers' equipment.
Their fall to Chaos isn't so much "Yeah, we hang with Chaos Spawns and Daemons now", but more along the lines of "The Snake Oil actually works! We told you all this time and now we can prove it!"
In that regard they completely surrendered to Chaos on an individual level. Some see it as an option for their own gain, although everyone agrees that the Warp is the ultimate authority, that all lives and dies because Chaos gives it motion. Chaos is their master, whether they like it or not.
now as I stated in my doc and several times in the discord, the Loxodontii's geneseed defect makes them extremely hungry. With Chaos driving them over the edge, the impulse to feed overrides the logic brain, and many Astartes care more about immediately sating their hunger than any long-term goals. Only the most strongwilled manage to keep focused, and they ascend to leaders simply by lack of competition. It basically boils down to each warband finding new sources for food.
As far as Daemons go, many register them mostly like a fellow packmember or a beast of war. Mutations are seen as gifts or tests by the gods.

Eternity Wall
Commander Galehaunt of the Star Warriors fired the twin assault cannon of his command apc into the oncoming ranks of the dead, knowing it was futile but needing to vent his rage. The Chosen of Hecate were attacking in force.
He had been given overall command for the defense of Eternity Wall space port and had successfully repelled countless enemy pushes since the start of the siege. This attack, however, was different. Warmaster Je’she had seen fit to send reinforcements to Eternity Wall and now the Star Warriors manned the defenses alongside their brothers of the Titan Marchers. Lord Primarch Raj Vokar himself was among their number and while the Primarch had assumed temporary command of the defense effort the Titan Lord had been nothing but gracious in not usurping Galehaunt’s command. Making sure to listen to and consider every single piece of information Galehaunt could provide and ensuring that the commander was included in every single tactical decision.

For all their efforts it seemed only a matter of time before they were overrun though. They hammered firepower into the enemy, but they seemed endless. Hordes of ex imperial citizens now infected with the blight of undeath clamored at the defenses, easily hurled back but no less distracting, and in enough numbers could even drag down a mighty astartes. More worrisome were the risen corpses of Space Marines. They moved like automatons, firing boltguns until whatever ammunition they had was spent then using their fists or guns as clubs, for the most part the walls proved an adequate defense. Even though he knew they were dead firing on those who were once his battle brothers disturbed him.
Horrific... daemons, the word felt wrong but he could think of no other to describe them, lopped at the flanks. Their horribly distorted forms spewing maggots, bile, pus and other organic fluids. Rusted, cruel looking blades held in their bloated hands stabbed at Galehaunt’s men. Easily parting their armour where they struck and turning flesh necrotic.
Behind all of these foes came the Chosen of Hecate legionnaires, some looking more horrid than their daemon allies. Blasting at the Space port’s defenders with heavy weapons. Once noble Dreadnoughts now corrupted beyond recognition strode towards the walls with impudence hammering them with all the deadly fire power they could bring to bare. These became a target priority for Galehaunt’s defenders. One, Seraphium scrolled on its nameplate was struck by two Lascannon shots. Smashing great rents into its chestplate. A foul green ichor gushed from the wounds but still it came on. The Multi melta on it’s right arm turning a section of wall into slag before tearing into the mush with it’s left handed chainfist. With this breach in the wall the undead host immediately began to pour inside the Eternity Wall.

Galehaunt’s Star Warriors and Raj’s Titan Marchers rushed to plug the gap. Trying in vain to bring down the rampaging Dreadnought. Even as one Marcher clamped a melta charge to it’s leg Dreadnought’s brother, Kyros strode through the breach and gunned the Marine down with it’s assault cannon.
Galehaunt turned his own twin assault cannon on the lead, wounded Dreadnought stitching it’s already torn chassis with a trail of bullet holes as more and more of the undead flowed through the breach, dragging several of Galehaunt’s men down with sheer weight of numbers, behind them came the Chosen of Hecate warriors, several throwing sickly green lightning. The warriors struck by this warp lightning would burst like rancid pustules or wither and decay where they stood, only to rise moments later to swell the ranks of the Chosen.
Galehaunt’s driver gave a shout, giving the commander just enough warning to fling himself free of the cupola just in time to watch his mount explode. From another breach in the wall a third Dreadnought, this one named Eusebias had split his tank with a precision shot from its twin-linked Lascannon. With it’s target neutralized the ancient turned its baleful gaze to more of the Star Warriors armoured support. Galehaunt drew his claymore chainblade and cursed the fact that the Emperor had seen fit to gift these traitor swine with so many of the venerable Dreadnought relics.

He was just about to give the command to fall back as he swung his blade in expert arcs shattering undead legionaries around him, when the mighty form of Raj Vokar joined the fray, barreling into the swollen ranks of the undead like a cannon ball. The Titan Marcher Primarch’s vast array of weaponry cut a swath through the Chosen forces. A ball of super charged Plasma melted Kyros to slag while a volley of Krak missiles slammed into Seraphium, finally bringing the avatar of death low. Blowing out the ancients powercore in monolithic explosion that engulfed several of the Chosen astartes and a vast number of the undead in the immediate area. Raj paid them no heed as he continued on his rampage, underslung heavy bolters spitting death, flamers burning all around him to a charred crisp. For a brief moment in the face of such an onslaught the undead hordes faltered. Only for a moment…

A sickly green mist, almost viscous to look upon flowed in through the breach. Where it touched a fallen warrior the body would with with unholy power. Striding amongst it came Lambach Kropor, the gene sire of cursed Chosen of Hecate. With an air of arrogant confidence the Master of Undeath met his brother's eye and begun to purposefully move toward the turban clad lord of Titans. The rich, thick green cape billowed behind him, the hood pulled low over his brow. The air around him crackling with psychic energy.
A massive force polearm was held in the relaxed grip of his right hand, it’s blade shining luminescent green with warp energy. With a casual wave of his free hand the shattered corpses of the fallen began to restitch themselves and rose from the ground to once again resume their attacks on Galhaunt’s men. None dared stand between the two titanic figures.
“Raj, my brother it is good to s…”
Before he could finish his sentence the Titan lord opened fire with everything he had. Missiles, bolt rounds and high impact shotgun slugs struck home, several seemingly passing through where Lambach stood, others detonating on a kine shield the powerful psyker had summoned around himself. Several struck the Primarch tearing great rents in his armour and flesh alike. Halting the master of the Chosen’s advance in his tracks. Miraculously the wounds that Raj inflicted repaired themselves as swiftly as they were inflicted and again Lambach begun his stoic march weathering every shot the Titan Lord threw at him. Craters in his flesh that would have given any one of his brothers pause reknitting themselves at an astonishing speed.
As Lambach drew nearer Raj really turned it up. Adding shorter ranged flamers and melta guns blasts to the lethal cock tail of destruction he now hurled at his forsaken brother. To a point where Lambach virtually disappeared from sight.

Surely, nothing could survive such an inferno Galehaunt assumed. Even one of the Emperor's mighty sons would perish. Eventually Raj was forced to stop firing as ammo belts and powerpacks ran dry. As the smoke cleared the figure of Lambach still stood, horrifically burned and maimed beyond recognition. For a split second it appeared as if the Primarch would fall, little more than a charred corpse but then the body took another step.
“Not very polite my dear brother” words uttered from a throat that was so utterly destroyed that it was surely incapable of making such a sound. Yet even as Galehaunt watched the body of the Master of Undeath regrew to what it was. By the time he had made the last few paces to stand face to face with the Titan Marcher Primarch, Lambach Kropor was whole once more.
Still without saying anything Raj drew his Master crafted Power Falchion and Galehaunt knew things were becoming desperate. Raj Vokar was famed for the knowledge of his ranged superiority and his utter disdain for a close quarters fight.
Galehaunt fought valiantly to try and reach the Raj’s side, slashing his way through undead and traitor alike. The fighting was fierce and a lesser swordsman would have been downed swiftly, but Galehaunt was among the best swordsmen of his Legion and his talents were known the universe over.
Between the two Primarchs there was a brief exchange of blows, periodically interrupted by a burst of flame whenever Raj’s auto loaders had generated enough fuel. The Titan Lord fought well and any Astartes would have been instantly overwhelmed but it was clear that he was completely outmatched by Lambach.
The Master of Undeath knocked aside blows from the Master of Titans with a languid ease his return strokes almost always scoring a wounding blow. The greenish blade of the famous Venus Gospel parting Raj’s thick armour with ease.

Lambach seemingly tired of the game just as Galehaunt cleared the crowd, his black and red armour now vastly more red as it was spattered with gore. Galehaunt gave a cry as Raj was impaled through the chest. The mighty form of the Primarch struggled for a moment before sinking to his knees. The Commander of the Star Warriors made to rush to Vokar’s aid when seemingly from nowhere a blow like a thunderclap smashed him into his back, many of his vital organs spilling from a hole in his torso. For a moment he maintained his footing before his prodigious strength gave out and he toppled to the ground. A Chosen of Hecate warrior with a powerclaw and jump pack stood over him.
“Watch your hero die now little whelp” The warrior hissed as Galehaunt fought for the last few moments of his life.
“Je’she and the others will stop you Lambach, you dogs of Marduk will not win, even if I am not around to see it, you will be repelled, slay me now and be done with it”.
“Raj, as I tried to say it is good to see you” Lambach’s smile struck his brother as almost sad.
“I assure you, I am not here to slay you my friend, Marduk told me to take the Eternity Wall, not to slay my brothers. You will be around to see, but not what you think”. Lambach shrugged and sat on his haunches to get to eye level with Raj.

“I know you have had your own doubts about this ‘Imperium’ that has been built, Kincaid’s silly little attempt at religion? If only he knew what I know Raj if only the fool knew that the real gods hate us, feed off of us would he be so quick to label our father as one? I think not brother. You have seen today the gift the gods can give. The power. It does not come freely Raj. Things have been promised, oaths I can never hope to undo and yet…” The Master of the Chosen stared over his brother's shoulder at the Imperial palace “and yet perhaps our Father is not so different hmm? Your defenders here are defeated Raj, either dead or in full scale retreat. Take word to Je’she now that this port is mine tell him of what you have witnessed here today, I give you my word none will stop you and I will see you again brother, when our father is defeated and we can put all of this behind us”.
The hordes of Undead parted making a narrow passageway for the Titan Lord to take for a moment it appeared Raj would speak again but the horde closed the gap and The Master of Manaan was blocked from Galehaunt’s view.

“You fool Kropor” Spat the warrior with the power Claw. Nurgle would have gifted you greatly for that soul, you insult our master by throwing away such a boon”.
Lambach slumped to a sitting position looking more drained than Galehaunt knew was possible for a Primarch. Clearly whatever foul sorceries he had used to survive Raj’s onslaught had taken a much heavier toll than was Galehaunt first thought. The Primarch looked almost incapable of moving and yet another Dreadnought, this one with the name plate Mendel stood protectively between the Primarch and the wayward warrior.
“Not now Atreus” Lambach groaned. “Nurgle will have my brother and his sons, but I will not force him”.
“You got lucky... my lord” using the title seemed overly disdainful. “If your power had run dry before Raj Vokar’s ammunition I wonder if he would have released you?”. The Primarch did not respond.
Galhaunt’s vision faded to black and he welcomed the embrace of death when suddenly he was pulled back. His eyes reopened and he climbed shakily to his feet. Commander Galehaunt was confused, he could see through his own eyes but he had no control over his body. Screaming on the inside but outwardly silent Galehaunt’s body fell into step with the other slain legionnaires forced to watch but helpless to do anything as his body marched towards the Imperial Palace.

From what I remember all the Loyalists split up and (with the possible exception of the Forge Lords) the chaos legions do the same. The only legions where the creation of chapters might be brought into question are the Separatist ones. Of the 7 of them I know the Pale Hounds have successor chapters and as you said the Steel Souls don't.I believe the Corsairs Gallant, the Dusk Phantoms and the Iron Guard might have successor chapters but I'm not sure and I've got no idea if the Ussaran Liberators and the Dragoons Triumphant have chapters or not

Good show man. Great read. I like the emotional weight behind it, and I think that reading it from Galhaunt's point of view makes it all much more interesting.

My only real gripe with it would be the capitulization. I feel like, at times, certain bits are a bit difficult to follow because of it. Still, the story itself is good, and with a few touch-ups, absolutely fantastic.

The Blades don't split completely after the Brotherwar because they can't. Their numbers at that time are a little bit over Chapter-strength, and a good chunk goes right to the so far only Successor that they have, the Divine Crusaders (!Black Templars), so the rest of the Legion creates the Silver Blades chapter, under-strength from the beginning.

The Dragoons remain as a singular fighting force, but since they are the "premier" fighting force of the Seps, Chapters become a smaller command and elite structure to Regiments, which are comprised of both Skitarii and Mortal Auxillia.

The Dragoon regiments are pseudo independent, stationed about Sep and Dragoons space like Imperial Guard units, with a Chapter being the battle space owner and superior element that will support Regiments as needed. I'm basing the post Heresy Dragoons on the Roman and American military as far as structure goes

But do these chapters develop a different culture from the main body of Dragoons Triumphant? I imagine it'd be like a 'legal' version of what the Dark Angels do; they individual chapters take on their own imagery and names, but they're all Dragoons Triumphant once it comes down to it.

Marginally. The chapters would have have different names and variant culture, but the greater divides would form in the Regiments, since they are formed from the local systems and the legion as a whole never really fights as a singular force, just like a modern military doesn't deploy en masse

Also, why would the Loyalists break down into chapters and dissolve the legions? Isn't the Great Crusade still going on in their mind? They still have half a galaxy to conquer

After the Scouring, I think the loyalists realize that, for the immediate future, the Ultima Segmentum is lost. After the losses they've suffered, countless burned worlds, hundreds of thousands dead Asartes and mortal men, and the loss of a Primarch, the Imperium needs to consolidate what it still has. It needs to ensure it's own safety.

The Codex Astartes would still be written, much like it happens in the OU. It's primary purpose is to prevent another Brotherwar from happening, by removing the massive concentrated power of the Primarchs. Je'She would also try to use this in order to disarm Kinnévail and the Doomsingers, as he still wouldn't trust them.

The decentralization of power allows the Astartes forces to refocus. The threats they face now are way different from the Crusade.

So basically, to answer the question of whether or not the Loyalists still think the Crusade is going on; no. They are aware that the Crusade has ended and that, while the forces of Chaos were fended off, they lost to the Separatists.

That's my interpretation anyway.

Thanks for the reply guys, I think I'll do one Successor Chapter/Warband per faction.