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Would having fluff that says my IG hate SM be too against canon?

My Guard, the 'Reinslate Defence Auxilary', live on a world too cold to survive. Blizzards rage almost constantly, literally freezing anything within the hour. They managed to build huge, floating cities, above the clouds, deep in the atmosphere where the coldness of the planet masks their heat letting the planet seem uninhabited. Currently, there are over forty of these cities hovering over Reinslate, the three biggest being: Aleria, Grallion, and Fyreth. They move over the city, making small detachments of farmers to collect food, but mainly they import their food from nearby star systems.
Because it seems uninhabited, enemy such as the ever-attacking Ork, send many troops to Reinslate, searching for supplies and the rich mines of Promethium. Which ever cities are close enough to help send small squads of troops down to the surface through grav-chutes to combat the invaders.

Because of this solitude from the imperium, who has seemed to barely recognise their existence, the IG of Reinslate are fiercely loyal to their cities, and their cities only. They inherantly dislike the Space Marine, mainly for their lack of attention or help.

This fluff just about justifies everything, from the drop-troop doctrine to the Xeno-fighter and the battles between SM and other IG.

What my question is, would the diplaying of anti-imperium banners or SM heads on sticks be too farfetched? It wouldn't be evil, just defiant.

Sorry about the wall o' text guys, but I could use some input before I drop anti-imperium stuff only to be called a traito legion which I don't want.

Thanks for looking and any help!

I don't think that having anti-imperial slogans and banners makes you be on the chaos side, but I definitely think that it would bring the inquisition down on you if they became aware. Could be the start of a good story.

Who are SP (re: SP heads on sticks?!)....I like your theme, however...any Imperial Governor showing even the seeds of dissent would be labelled heretic and dealt with!

So in that sense, if you feel anti Imperium one of two outcomes would be plausible, i) the above and ii) Chaos would probably take you under its wing and in short time convert you to the worship of Chaos!

If SP is supposed to be SM (Space Marines) then I think you'd be pushing the evenlope a little too far! For an IG army too lay waste to a Space Marine Battle force (and parade the heads on sticks) then you would definately find yourself on the recieveing end of a crusade!...The rest of the chapter would not rest until your planet had been cleansed! So again, you'd have a choice of Chaos or death!

Thats my take anyway

Yes, I think that any SM units arriving on planet might be a little perturbed to find their chapter brothers helmets adorning trophy poles.
The Inquisition would also keep a close eye on any world expressing such sentiments.

I could however, see a PDF showing disdain for any Marines. Kind of "Yeah, you're big and tough but where were you when......" kind of attitude.

Yes SP was supposed to be SM, I fixed the typo.

It is a bit evil now that you mention it. I just want to see how far I can take it.

Thanks!

Fluff wise, it would take about a hell of a lot of IG to take down a Marine, let alone enough to create a decent trophy rack!.....I don't think for a minute it would be feasible without the help of Chaos Space Marines.....

A more feasible statement would be the corpses of dead Adeptus Arbites, perhaps the Arbites tried to control the army after they had won a decisive victory against the orks, alone and without the help of the Arbites and other agencies of the Imperium......

Another more feasible story line would be the dead and butchered forms of Sorotitas (Sisters of Battle) and various Imperial priests....maybe for the same reasons as the Adeptus Arbites....

However, any trophy bearing defaced Imperial icons or servants of the Emporer will be viewed (and rightly so) by other Imperial forces as sure signs of heresy.....

Create this army and you will have taken your first steps along the dark path....

i agree with msot of the seniments so far, any guard regiemnt doin that wouldn't las tlong, you could simply jus tbe renegads not choas worshipers but just a indpendant world

just to quote fire warrior here (poor game but a good quote0

its something like

'Bloody Astartes, they think they are so much better than us!' (guardsmen 1)
'they are and don't you forget it' (imperial guard sergeant)
'bloddy astartes mumblings (guardsmen 1)

As everyone else said You may have a lot of trouble doing that, but you could have your planet as a death world and the Emperium abandoned it thinking there were no survivors. And the reminants of a regiment have been attempting to contact them ever since, but the atmosphere has to much interferance. Which leads them to build towering cities.

In the end though. it is YOUR army and you can design whatever history that you want for them.

And, as is often the case, you will find yourself playing against SM players from time to time. It makes no difference to the game, it is just your backstory, so go wild with it.

I can see it more as a type of cross branch rivalry. Much like army and marines. In America

Slightly off topic, but within the realm of imperial forces hating the space marines:

I had written up a back story for my Witch Hunters (SOB only) that gave them a reason to hunt down space marines, be generally distrustworthy of them, and demystified their origins. As a shrine based off of the Officio of Internal Prosecution, they were tasked with cleansing corruption at any level. Having been trained to be skeptical, scrutinizing, and paranoid it was only a matter of time until they became even more fanatical and demented. Their world was originally on the fringe of the imperium, but having cleansed most of the population they have moved their shrine to an inquisitorial starship. Eventually they encountered friendly Bloodangels and the rage was seen as a possession, just as the space wolves teeth and eyes were considered a mutation. Since the space marines were in such a position of power the shrine shifted its focus to combat 'traitor marines' wherever they were found. The current Canoness of the shrine has since focused her efforts inwards, and many of the sisters have been led to believe that the Space Marines are guilty first, and innocent second. They were no longer in awe of space marines, as it became clear that they were mortal instead of the gods that some imperial citizens believe. No trophies are kept as everything is to be cleansed with holy fire, but there are often bits of burnt space marine on their bases.

I found the backstory helpful both for the metagame of a heavy marine presence, and for the explaination as to why there were constant skirmishes between my forces and the other imperials. I rarely fought 'real' forces of chaos, or even the lesser evils such as eldar and tau.

When you get right down to it, space marines are'nt even human, I can see a world with strong anti-mutant sentiment looking at SM's like kindling for the fire.

I agree with Zeep

These are all nice stories, and yes...its your army you can do what ever you want with it.....

...but you are playing WH40K, and there is a huge fluff arena for the game....no doubt you will play against other hobbyists..

So to that end, elevating IG above SM is like rewriting the fluff...changing Imperial sentiment is again, like taking Lord of the Rings and making Sauron the good guy and Gandalf a bad guy....at that point, you're not playing WH40K (or LotR) but a different game.

I can understand an IG unit overunning a small exped' force of SM scouts, and taking trophies...yeah why not, a couple of thousand IG approaching as friendlies,a nd at the last minute opening up..wham...five men down!

But, what then..the Marines say, oh well, next....and off they go! No way, they'd come down and hand you your arse......

I think SM trophies are a little bit strange for an IG regiment. But I think you can write on the banners such things:" For Grallion!" or "Long live *here the governors name*". It could be very fun and really themed

Man I've got to defend the guard here. It's starting to sound like Delephont is saying that if there are more than 5 space marine scouts on a planet, then no human being could hope to kill any of them.

There are thousands of space marine chapters, many are formed and many are wiped out every year. If you read the taros campaign you will see an example of space marine leadership making a drastic miscalculation. And getting their butts kicked.

IMO, one bad decision from one overzealous and overconfident captain could easily cost a space marine chapter a full company. They are huge well armed well armored and very well trained soldiers. But this mystique of them being unbeatable is just propaganda. You just don't hear about the ones that get stomped. If 100 space marines landed in oklahoma tomorrow afternoon and announced over international channels that earth was now their property how long do you think it would take humanity to kill or capture them all?

If they wanna drop some cyclonic torpedos from orbit on us, fine we're dead. but just like general custer, marines can get in over their head, when they get too cocky. If the game of 40k is any indication. A competent imperial officer with a sufficient force, stands a very good chance of routing a marine force.

Back to topic. You put space marine or even other guardsmen heads on your backpacks, and the inquisition is coming for you. However, you have the resources of an entire planetary system with which to defend yourself. The trick is, who have you pissed off, and how high up on the food chain are they. Piss of the High Lords of Terra? Well, then a grand crusade will just obliterate you in a year or 2. Get on the inquisitions radar? Well, you are in a bit of trouble. Perhaps an assassin may pay your Governor a visit. But, If they want to 'erase' you. They have to mobilize the fleet. Fueling hundreds of starships with valuable and limited fuel. They need to arm and fit those ships. they need to muster an imperial guard task force of an unknown size. And they need to chart a stable course through the etherium. All this is gonna take what 5 years? 10? There will be losses, which incur cost. There are many other unknowns about the strength of your defense. You can rest assured that somewhere on terra an old hunched man sits in front of an abacus. There he calculates the value of your systems imperial tithe, versus the cost of reclaiming your system. If his calculation comes up negative, you probably aren't going to see any imperial response until you annex the next nearest imperial system. (which I'm sure you will eventually do, once you are comfortably thinking you are untouchable )

I don't believe that the imperium cares at all about justice. But i feel that there is nothing more grim and more dark than cold heartless calculations. So, we lose a billion people, and a planet rich in valuable minerals. Whatever it's not worth the lives and the costs of going and getting it back. Cut and run.

I like the idea of a non-affiliated IG army. There is something very characterful about how short their existence is destined to be.

@Shep

yes its propoganda!

You can't apply real world logic to this scenario, but I think your logic is sound.

Maybe I should give the scenario some more consideration. Like, for instance, what are the Space Marines doing on the planet in the first place? are they there to help defend the planet or attack the planet?

If a Marine company is dispatched to help a planet and the defenders actually ambush and kill the Marines, fair enough, the IG will lose alot of men! but its not impossible.....however, you go parading your trophies, and the Company is reported lost, you have a Marine CHAPTER coming in hard and fast......and granted, you may get good with a company of Marines, MAYBE! but a chapter on high alert....no chance.....and if you say there is a chance the Chapter will get their arses handed to them, well, then you ain't playing WH40K.....

If the SM are hitting the planet on an attack run, you have the same outcome!

In answer to the point that SM chapters are lost "every day"...well, come on, thats not entirely true (according to the fluff)...lets think about how long it takes to "make" a Marine...if you're losing chapters everyday, after, not very long, you ain't got Marines left!

GW have designed (fluff wise) the Marines to be the ultimate force, why are we trying to buck this idea? If Marines arn't the ultimate force, then hey...Tyranids are just big cuddly bears, and Orks wear fish-net tights!!!!

The other thing to bear in mind, with the Chapters being destroyed....SM companys or battle forces are not deployed at a whim, thats the IG....SM forces are usually used selectively, so any force being petitioned for a mission is already sanctioned by the High Lords or at the very least under the watchful eye of the Chapter Master....either way, SM forces don't just vanish off the map, and certainly not without a followup (its a pride thing too!)

In fluff terms, the reasons why a SM force will be destroyed, could probably be down to powerful alien or chaos forces, accident, or perhaps internal fighting.....but very unlikely to be from attack from loyalist IG!

HaLLuCiNaTiOn i like your thinks in some of the books like the 2nd space wolf book most humans dislike SM because of the HH .
but as for the trophies. if you had a battle stander with a few skulls for victory and maybe e couple eagles....