I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but here goes. Any and all feedback, comments and criticism would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.
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The Dragons Bane chapter of Space Marine is located deep within the Ultima Segmentum.
They reside in the 'Mil Espaine' system, on a pair of twin planets, Eriu and Prydein. The 'Mil Espaine' system is situated roughly halfway between Baal and the Ghost stars.
(I've used this map (
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g60/Driseamail/40k/galaxy_db-1.jpg), to illustrate the placement, the twin planets are highlighted.)
Of the two planets, the Chapters main residence is Eriu, with 5 of the Chapters 6 companys being based there, and the 6th based on the larger planet, Prydein.
The individual companies recruit independantly of the others, except for the High Company, which draws its marines from the ranks
fo the other five companies.
This unusual recruitment practice, coupled with the individual companies tendency to jockey for position has led to the companies referring to themselves in terms of their geographical location, for example, the Northern Company have their main headquarters on, and recruit from, the northern most contininet which exists almost entirely within the artic circle to the north of the planet.
The two exceptions to this are the High Company, and the Meoir Company. The Meoir draw their recruits from the larger of the two planets, Prydein, which is an agro world. The warriors of the Meoir rarely go into battle with their chapter brothers and indeed, are largely responsible for the domestic defenses of the 'Mil Espaine' system.
The High Company are ostensibly based at Tara, the main Headquarters of the Chapter, located on an island just off the north-west coast of the large eastern continent on Eriu, although they tend to spend most of their time based on board the Chapter fleet. Unlike the other companies, the High Company does not recruit from any specific location, but takes in only the best from the other five companies.
-+- The Dragons Bane chapter is fairly insular, and in many regards resemble the Space Wolves, not least in their love of drinking and feasting. However they do not appreciate the comparison being made to their faces, as the origin of their chapter is considered a sore point as all information on the origin of ther chapter, beyond that it originates from the around the time of the fifth founding or earlier, has been lost from the Imperial archives on Terra.
They will work grudgingly with other Imperial forces, but they prefer to work alone. The six individual companies of the chapter vary in this regard, with the Meoir, Northern and Eastern companies being the most Imperial friendly, followed by the Southern company, and finally the least friendly and most insular company, the Western company, the Warriors of Connaught.
-+- The warriors of the Meoir are led by Lord Argyle, a seasoned veteran who has only recently taken the position of Lord of the Meoir after the assencion of the former Commander, Gwalchmai Du'bara to the post of High Lord of the Chapter 25 years previous.
The company have a knack for interstellar warfare, manning as they do, most of the systems defensive systems. They also have a higher recruitment rate than the other chapters, as every 100 years, they choose one tenth of their number to partake in a crusade, the details of which are known only to the head of the Chapter, the High Druid and his retinue and the Lord of the Meoir. The warriors themselves are only informed of the details after having been chosen and dispatched to their destination. None ever return.
-+- Conchobar MacNessa is the Lord of the Northern Company and is one of the oldest marines in the Chapter, and is still slightly bitter that it was the younger Gwalchmai Du'bara who was elevated to the Position of Chapter master and not himself. For all that, he is a committed and powerful warrior, dedicated to the Imperium and to the eradication of all that taints it.
His company, residing on the most mineral rich continent are also the richest, their warriors clad in the latest armour and have many more vehicles than the other chapters. They have also traditionally enjoyed a position of power within the chapter as nearly half of all chapter masters have been drawn from their ranks.
-+- The Eastern Company is led by Conaire Mor. He has led the Eastern Company for over 5 decades now. For all that he has a particularly brusque personality, and has no great personal liking for the political machinations within his own chapter and indeed, the imperium in general, he is well aware of the importance of playing the game so to speak, and as such maintains a strong relationship with both the Adeptus Mechanicus on Mars and the Southern and Meoir Companys within the chapter.
-+- The Southern Company is led by Cu Roi MacDairi, a quiet marine, who is perhaps one of the most respected men in the chapter. A former Assualt marine who has risen through the ranks of the company for nearly 400 years, he has used his position of authority to mold the Southern company into a specialised fast attack company, utilising not just landspeeders and bikes, but also several innovations unique to the Dragons Bane chapter such as Attack Chariots and his own personal transport a -+(sorry, keeping that one under wraps for now, still havent finished drawing up the plans for it, let alone built it)+-.
-+- The commander of the West Company, Balor Fir'Bolge, is a ruthless tactician who has little regard for those not under his direct command. He tends to be suspicious of others, often believing that his company are under utilised and under appreciated. He also resents the amount of authority that the Druids of the chapter wield, believing that they should know their place as nothing more than weapons to be weilded by the Chapter.
His company is also the least 'imperial' of the companies in the chapter. None of the marines in his company have eagles on their chestplates, rather bare metal chest plates, often with lightly engraved celtic knots and sworls.
-+- The marines of the High Company are the best of the best, bravest, strongest and the smartest of the other five chapters are handpicked and sequestered to Tara and join the ranks of chapter legend.
Gwalchmai Du'bara, the High Lord of the Dragons Bane chapter is the youngest Chapter Master in the known history of the chapter. At a mere 115 years of age he has already led the Meoir Company into successful countless engagements and has spent the last 25 years doing the same with the chapter as a whole. His worth was recognised by the previous Chapter Master, who personally appointed him to the Position of Lord of the Meoir and awarded him the title of 'excubitor', the highest award that can be given in the chapter, although the reason behind it are lost to all but those in the inner circle of command and those to whom it is awarded, though they are sworn to secrecy. Currently there are less than 30 marines bearing the title within the chapter.
As High Lord of the Chapter, Du'bara also bears the title of High Lord of the Eriu and the Steward of Prydein, as it is part of the chapters legend that they may claim ownership of Eriu, but it's twin planet is held in their care, to be watched over its former lord, believed by many to be an allussion to the Emperor, returns to claim it.
-+- The organisation of companies with Dragons Bane is distinctly non-codex, with six battle companies of roughly 200 men, as opposed to the usual 10 x 100.
The companies, and their equivalent are as follows;
- High Company (1st Company)
- North Company (2nd Company)
- West Company (3rd Company)
- East Company (4th Company)
- South Company (5th Company)
- Meoir Company (6th Company)
Each company in the Dragons Bane bears the chapter heraldry, a coiled, red Dragon on a Golden disc upon it's left shoulder, and the companies own heraldry on their right shoulder.
The company heraldry is as follows:
High company: The warriors of the High Company bear no heraldry on their right shoulder, instead they bear a plain golden pad, to represent the unity of the High company, whose warriors are drawn from all five companies.
North Company: The North companys shoulder pad is a red cross laid on top of a golden background. In front of that sits a silver shield, with a red hand.
West Company: The West company is represented with a split white/black pad, with a black wing sprouting on the white side, and a white arm holding a chainsword on the black side.
East Company: The shoulder pad of the East company is green like the rest of the armour, with a golden dragon rearing its head.
South Company: The Southern company is represented by three golden (crowns/explosions) on a deep blue background.
Meoir Company: The Meoir companys heraldry is a red lion rampant on a gold shoulder pad.
-+- Druids wield a lot of authority within the Dragons bane chapter. The Druids are a seperate caste of marines, consisting of three distinct types of marines, chaplains, librarians and apothecaries. They will tend to work closely together, although there has been known to be some jockeying for position amongst them.
All three castes wear white armour, with robes and armour detailing highlighting the differences. For example, the Chaplains wear Black robes and have a black right shoulder pad, whereas the Apothecaries wear Red robes and have red armour detailing.
At present the Chief druid is a Chaplain, Arawn Annw, and thus chaplains have the most power among the druids, which is a shift from the days of Arawn Annw's predecessor as Chief Druid, an Apothecary known as Crearwy, who is also the most recent marine fortunate enough to have been chosen to continue the fight inside the armoured shell of a revered Dreadnought.
-+- The colour scheme of the chapter is shown below, using the Eastern company as an example...
The individual companies shoulderpads are also shown below...
At present I don't have a drawing of the Meoir shoulderpad, as I'm still refining that design.
-+- Also, just to explain the odd markings on the example shoulder pad, since this army is largely based on Irish celtic mythology, with a dash of welsh and arthurian myth for flavour, I've decided to use ancient irish Ogham scrip to delineate squad numbers, so for example, the example pictured, with two diagonal lines cutting through the vertical line denotes that the marine is from squad 7.
-+- So, in Summary...
Chapter Name:
Dragons Bane Founding Legion:
++unknown++ Chapter Founders:
Nuada Current Commander:
Gwalchmai Du'bara Chapter Colors:
Catachan Green, Bleached Bone, Gold Chapter Insignia:
A coiled red dragon Battle Cry:
++undetermined++ Homeworld(s):
The twin worlds of Eriu and Prydein Chapter
HQ:
Tara Chapter Strength:
Roughly 1200+ -+- Any feedback would be appreciated. I'm still pretty new to this, so I'm sure theres plenty I've missed, but I am trying to get as complete a picture of the army as I can given that I'm still learning the rules and haven't even had a single game yet.
