u/Salmon_1935

The Iron Hearts are a chapter featured in the Short story “Hell in a bottle”, but very few relevant details are told about them.

Their chapter master’s name is Rubinek, and they used to train themselves through VR simulations.

These simulation include fairly complex AIs that simulate the behavior of Civilians and are powered by an artefact from the old time before the age of strife:
The Mimesis Engine

Eventually, fearing that this type of training would desensitize them to the danger of actual warfare they later left the Engine in the hands of a single assistant.

This was a terrible mistake and the machine was infiltrated by a chaos lord of Khorne and his Blood Letters.

Being forced to feed on AIs they started to starve and eventually managed to escape by possessing the adept responsabile for maintaining the machine.

What happened to the chapter next is unknown, only one company was away from their Fortress monastery, so it’s unlikely that they weren’t able to defeat a strong, though weakened opponent.

Considering how wasted a tool such as the Mimesis Engine was in their hand and by their name alone, I think they take the danger a of War VERY seriously.

They are probably Ultramarine successors that take great care of their planning and greatly consider the disastrous consequences that a mistake can make, yet they clearly lack creativity, being so focused on their work that they neglected the invaluable piece of machinery they had in their basement, not thinking much of it.

They probably also pretty close to a warp Storm to have something like this happened to them.

I think their symbol is, naturally a metallic heart, but with a black Skull in the middle

How would you color the Iron Hearts?

One of the chapters involved in the Fourth War for Armageddon, these guys are Self proclaimed successors of the Executioners, possibly founded before the Iron Champions and the now dead Crimson Axes.

Their homeworld of Keletros is actually in the Segmentum Solar, but they’ve been pretty active everywhere across the galaxy, though their achievement are rather minor compared to those of most chapters.

I saw someone saying that they are a big nod to Skeletor, and I kind of get it, The Skull symbol, the planet Keletros and the chapter’s yellow, but I think it’s more of a play on skeletons as a whole.

Speaking of Keletros, I speculate it could be a catacomb world of sort, one of the few places where people aren’t turned to corpsestarch.

On the planet’s surface lay hundred of burial ground, interconnected by underground tunnels.

Here the Skull Bearers train and pray.

They take their duty as protectors of mankind very seriously and though they understand the need of corpses for sustinance, they have made various agreement with many Hive worlds to be able to at least preserve the bones of their fellow men.

Despite the grim circumstances they live in I like to think that Keletros isn’t that bad of a place above ground, with farmlands and natural beauties in abundance, and the Skull Bearers themselves could be a very friendly chapter, though a bit boastfull of their heritage.

Large monument to a skeletal Specter of Dorn would be present inside an underground Fortress monastery, power through geotermica energy and hidden deep at the center of the planet.

The reason they might be on Armageddon other than recovering the dead, could be trench warfare. If they are so good at digging tunnels to store bodies, they might be just as good at digging and reinforcing the trenches of Armageddon

How would you embellish the Skull Bearers?

The Crimson Scythes are a cryptid member of the Astartes Praesis.

Often wearing hoods and hiding their rank, making it harder to determine who really commands the chapter

I like the idea of them at least showing some clear company distinction on their shoulder, not enough to understand their role in the chapter, but at least determine which company you’re talking to.

These guys are definetely on the stealthier side, infiltration, guerriglia tactics, but also…

These guys could be the Inquisition’s eyes among the Astartes Praesis, an additional safe guard to make sure a Legion isn’t formed

Their symbol is probably something generic, like a faceless hood with two scythes crossed behind it

How would you color the Crimson Scythes?

An Ultima Founding successor of the Dark Angels, the Prime Absolvers are a rather odd’s one out among the Lion’s Sons.

Chapter Master Dagiel Harn, learned of the Fallen from Azrael himself, yet he refused to let his chapter join the Unforgiven.

Despite building an inner circle for himself to discuss of matters related to the Fallen, he doesn’t see them as any different from any other warband.

Focusing their efforts on the Fallen could leave the Imperium exposed to Other heretical forces, and the Prime Absolvers feel like they have the responsability to protect the Imperium and its citizens before their parent chapter’s honor

What do you think of the Prime Absolvers? Do you think the Dark Angels and the Unforgiven might sabotage them out of spite? Or will they accept their choice without much bikering?

Probably one of the most iconic obscure chapter thanks to their “odd” name

All we know about these guys is that they are Codex compliant and serve in the Deathwatch

Despite the name I don’t think they have a large percentage of psychic, quite the opposite honestly.

I think the Chapter’s Librarians could be Blanks and the chapter specializes in preventive attacks to suppress chaos worship.

Naturally, the chapter’s Librarians cannot serve in the Deathwatch and are often kept separated from the rest of the chapter, only working with their brothers once equipped with special dumpening armor.

The “Thousand” could be referring to the Librarians

How would you embellish the Brotherhood of a Thousand?

I’ve noticed we didn’t memed much yet about our own obscure Lore and head canons, so I’ll start with my version of the Emperor’s Shields

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/40kObscurechapters/s/Tm6K6Paz2N

Another chapter native to the Segmentum Solar, the Emperor’s Wrath are currently engaged with their first three companies against the forces of chaos in an attempt to reclaim a region of space near Cadia

Their home system doesn’t have planets, for it’s but a large asteroid belts

The biggest Asteroids had been hallowed out and turned into Hive cities under the chapter’s control, similarly to how The Coweled Wardens create their out posts, just on a far larger scale

They have an unfortunate reputation to be a bit too trigger happy with their Exterminatus, often destroying entire planets before the Imperial forces on it have faced defeat, so blind is their hatred for the Xenos that they’ll kill anything between them and the aliens if it means to kill them for sure.

Their Exterminatus aren’t as frequent and absurd as the Bringers of Judgement, but also, since they only perform it during active conflicts they waste a LOT of imperial resources.

Naturally, these records had made them very unpleasant to work with, leading to them being almost isolated from the rest of the Imperial forces.

Considering they are currently on Crusade, I don’t think they’re humble enough to change their ways to get better support.

I think their symbol would be a white depiction of the screaming visage of the Emperor’s, proudly standing out over Blood Red shoulders trimed in black

How would you color the Emperor’s Wrath?

One of the 18 chapters of the Astartes Praesis, The Iron Talons are allegedly White Scars successors

With a Thick Guttural accent, a tendency for torturing heretics and their passion for knitting skin capes…

Yeah they are not hiding to be Loyalist Nightlords, I mean come on, Nostramo has been brown to bits and you still have the accent?

Overall though, they seem to be pretty chill outside of engagement, probably because their geneseed is very likely chimeric and lacking Curze’s crazy genes.

They’ve even helped other chapter like the White Consuls defending planets far away from theor post, like Boros Prime

What do you think of the Iron Talons? Do you wanted a more hybrid chapter? Are they too Night Lord adjecent? Or not nearly enough?

The Halo Dragons feels to me like they’re a lot more interesting than they appear

Maybe it’s the contrast between their iconography and their black armor, somehow the red insigna and the green aquila always stick out to me.

They are mainly known to operate against the Tau, so maybe they’re White Scar or Raven Guard successors.

I like to think them as White Scars successors, I kind of like how their scheme would fit with jet-bikes, though I expect them to be more focused on jump-pack assaults, going 1 on 1 with the Tau mechs using power claws

How would you embellish the Halo Dragons?

Some might find them silly, but I love these colorfull goof, they are extremely charming to me

I can see them being very Imperial Fist coded, though they could lean more on their Roman aesthetics

They could attack forming a Phalanx, with Terminator units in the middle, a secret surprise to throw against their foes

Being probable Imperial Fists successors, I think they might engage in a bit of Civil Engineering, focusing on protecting the Imperium not just against the enemies of mankind, but also mankind itself.

Their homeworld could be an enourmous metropolis world, designed to be both efficient and pleasantely liveable, not without any surveillance of course

Using such team-work heavy tactics they might double in team sports to better work together, maybe Teams from the chapter’s company might fight one-another in tournaments.

Soccer, Basketball, Baseball, these guys look like they would play sports

Love the idea of having fans of different companies bikering with each others and perhaps they can differenziate each company using tilting Shields depicting different symbols, like actual Sports teams.

How would you embellish the Emperor’s Shields?

I recently covered the Genesis Chapter, the very first Ultramarine successors and the ones responsabile for the defense of the Espandor System during the plague war.

This lead me to create an interesting theory about the colorless chapter known as The Espandors being successors of the Genesis chapter created during the Ultima founding.

But let’s start from their presumed homeworld: Espandor

Espandor is a Cardinal World, densely covered in forests with it’s two major cities located at the outmost west point of each of its two continents, while smaller agricultural settlements thrive, scattered across the globe.

Being the farthest away from Ultramar out of all the key worlds of the realm of the Ultramarines, it falls to the Genesis chapter to be the protectors of the planet and his surrounding systems since they are the closest, but why would it need its own chapter?

Though it’s pretty clear that the Espandors take aspirants from the very system and planet they take their name from, I believe they operate farther away from the realm of Ultramar.

They could be a Crusading Fleet based force that aspires to create small colonies to expand the reach of the Realm of Ultramar and contrast the advanced of the Tau Empire.

Despite being a bright red they prefer to operate in territories more similar to their home planet, planting traps and ambushes with the help of devout pilgrims that offer to assist the chapter in their war and witness the Angels of the Emperor Up close.

These Marines are bright because they need to attract enemy troupes.

While most Astartes charge their enemies, the Espandors seemingly retreat, allowing their devoutees and the trap they set to do their job for them.

There is a darker reason for them to take in pilgrims however.

The Tau have a weakness that most chapters fail to see, Empathy and Compassion

When faced with a dirty, wounded, malnourished mortal they hesitate to shoot, and that’s when the Espandors charge

They respect the sacrifice that these pilgrim take for the good of mankind, but they won’t hesitate to gun them down alongside the Xenos they fight, for the oath these mortale take is the same as those of the chapter’s Astartes, and only death can end such duty.

With this in mind they are greatly against the servitorification of their fallen flock or the internment of a battle brother into a Dreadnaught, because it would nullify their sacrifice

I think their symbol is a world like that of the World Eaters without the jaws, a reminder of what the Espandors and their followers are fighting for

The Aquila on their chest changes color depending on the company, in this case the battle brother belongs to the 4th company

How would you color the Espandors?

The Raven’s Watch has been a persistent presence in the WD magazine, which gave us countless bits of information on the chapter.

They have a strong Rivalry with the Ork Warboss that annihilated their 6th company, and sargeant Gylain actively hunted for them during the Third War for Armageddon

They also defended the planet of Kitab against Hive Fleet Eumenides, though the result of that conflict is currently unknown

During the Ultima Founding, the 6th company was entirely rebuild using Primaris Marines

They seem to have a certain affinity with Dreadnaughts as every conflicts they were involved in saw them on the battlefield, which is an interesting piece of information.

Maybe what remained of the old 6th company was made into Dreadnaughts, giving the chapter a hefty amount of these juggernauts

Maybe their Raven Guard gene curse is a bit difference for them, instead of having degrading depression they feel a deep sense of connection with other human, making the loss of a battle brother or even a civilian much more impactfull, while at the same time their hatred for aliens and mutants is multiplied by 10 folds

How would you embellish the Raven’s Watch?

Another successor of the Imperial fist

Created during the 34th millenium and assisted temporarily by the Crimson Fists, the Sons of Dorn were given rulership on the Feudal World of Archea in The Segmentum Solar.

Their deeds never reached beyond their sector, that was until their first Archean chapter master, Polius Lichius Alexandros “The Great”, who lead the chapter to a great and succesfull Crusade towards the eye of Terror, reclaiming countless world in the process, which inherited the Archean culture and venerate the chapter to this day

After 6 centuries of immense success, a Champion of Nurgle managed to lay low Alexandros.

Afflicted with a terrible plague, he was interred in a stasis chamber that was put inside the Temple of Resilience in the Chapter’s Fortress monastery on Archea, his poisoned blood still used to test aspirants in a final test of resilience.

Appius Flavius Alexandros “The Mad” a later chapter master of the same lineage as Alexandros the Great, was unfortunately corrupted by the plague in his predecessor’s blood.

During the Age of Apostasy, Alexandros The Mad, actively sided with the traitorous High Lord Goge Vandire, by forcing his chapter to retreat when called to intervene, while he hoarded resources to prepare his own heretic crusade to conquer Terra.

After the Chapter Master’s suddenly developed psychic abilities he became a mad Tyrant that ruled Archea like his personal playground.

After performing a psychic flaying of the Souls of some rebelling officers, a civil war broke out inside the chapter and Alexandros the Mad was forces to flee into the eye of Terror with 200 of his most loyal followers.

Soon they became a warband dedicated to the eradication of the Sons of Dorn, pledged to chaos undivided.

All we know about this warband is that their armor is “Glossy Black” and The Mad has now grown a pair of Ebony Wings. So I’m going to dub these guys “The Ebony Wings” for now.

Soon after the end of the Civil war, the chapter’s Librarians forsaw that one day, a chapter master of the lineage of Alexandros as great as him will fight and defeat their dreaded Nemesis, putting an end to his mad rampage

Quintus Decius Alexandros “The Blind” appear to be just that.

When most of the chapter was busy fighting near the Eye of Terror, during the 13th Black Crusade, Quintus was recovering from a wound in the Fortress Monastery, When suddenly Archea was attached by a splinter fleet of Hive Fleet Leviathan.

The planet was almost completely consumed, but in his final stand, Quintus faced the Hive Lord controlling the swarm head on, and in the insuing fight, the effect of his predecessor’s blood he tasted centuries before awakened, releasing a blast of psychic Blank energy that cut off the Tyranids From the Hive mind, just as the 4th company managed to return to their homeworld to crush the Tyranid threat

Unfortunately, being a blank now, made him unbearable to be around, so the chapter’s Master of the Forge created a costumized armor to dumpened his powers

Quintus, now called Alexandros the Blind, is probably one of the most powerful Blanks in the settings, a perfect match to face the psychicly enhanced Alexandros the Mad.

What do you think of the Sons of Dorn? Will Alexandros The Great Be able to be healed from his sickened slumber? Will we ever see a final showdown between them and the Ebony Wings?

An obscure chapter that took part in the Dark Crusade against the Drukhari

The only thing of note is that one of their captains, Albrecht, was heavily reviewed by the Ordo Xenos before being assigned to command the chapter’s forces against the Xenos

He still died though so…. L Albrecht I guess

Still their name is quite unique and sparked a couple of interesting concepts.

I imagine them being an extremely superstitious chapter, never inducting left handed children into the chapter and coloring their dominant arm gold, believing left is an unlucky direction

They wear costum seals to keep away bad luck, performing ritual gestures before going into battle, anything to keep lady luck on their side.

With this logic they might treat their servants better than most out of fear of rebellion, but not spoil them too much to make them arrogant.

The name could come from a sword with a cross like blade possessing some unique aura similarly to a Primarch.

A Chaplain always blesses a captain going to war with this sword, giving them the confidence they need to vanquish their foe.

It’s a glorified Placebo effectively that boost people’s confidence

They sweat plentifully when Albrecht didn’t return, but they rationalize it with stuff like: “Ah But of course, he didn’t perform the correct handsign before going to war!”

Maybe the coping is an effect of the blade’s influence

The stripe on their helmet signals the marine’s company, in this case signaling maybe the 9th

Naturally their insigna would be this very sword and would be on their right rather than their left

How would you color the Cruciform Swords

Ah yes, the “We have Emperor’s Warbringers at home” chapter

To be frank here, they do look cool and oddly military themed.

They really have some Rambo/Catachan vibes you know, they would look sick on a jungle world, not much as guerriglia tactics like with the Raptors or Mantis Warriors, but full Predator Ambush.

Jumping off of trees wielding double Axes like that One Tick tock of a viking jumping into a lake from a cliff

Sprinting out from a Bush to rip an Ork in two with their bare hands

Like real out of nowhere violence, sudden, unexpected, bloody

And after a good bloodbath, they’ll go back to their barracks and just, play cards or something.

I imagine they’ll deploy using airdrops into dense forest, just close enough to let the enemy know they’re coming, then they’ll sprint through the jungle in groups of 3 or 4, hunting for anything that moves, may it be an animal or an enemy.

I can see them hunting during missions not just for sport, but too support the larger human militia that needs to be on top of their game.

While the War Bearers spread chaos through the jungle, the mortale perform the real guerriglia warfare.

Sabotaging equipment, stealing resources and when the time is right, capturing objective as the enemy tries to get a hold of the Marines, assuming they are the real threat and not just Shock Troupes

How would you embellish the War Bearers?

These bastards don’t have a single high definition picture of them, not their symbol, so this is the best we’re getting until someone finds a higher definition image.

These Imperial fist successors might be one of the few chapters to not receive Primaris reinforcements

Not because they were deemed unworthy, but because it’s almost impossible to reach them

These poor fuckers were an Imperial Fist company that got swallowed by the eye of Terror during the 11th Black Crusade and since then they got stranded on a planet swallowed by the eye and they’ve been trying to survive as best they could ever since.

Considering only the Vorpal Swords were able to survive something similar, they have some pretty crazy achievements on their belt

The name suggests that they might have witnessed the legendary Legion of the Damned, and inspired by them they changed their armor from yellow and red to black and bone.

Not sure how these fuckers are still alive, but you can’t deny that surviving so long inches away from a portal to the realm of chaos is an impressive feat

What do you think of the Fists of the Damned? How long will they last? Will the Imperium Be able to reach them?

One of the most detailed colorless chapters out there, The Defenders Obscurus, as the name suggests, are one one of the main chapters responsabile for the defense of the segmentum obscurum.

Descending from Imperial Fist geneseed, they prove themselves worthy successors in M42, holding of the entirety of Hive Fleet Ouroboris as it devoured their whole world.

The Imperial Fists sent a fleet to assist their successors, but even after that, the surviving Defenders Obscurus and their reinforcements were on the verge of collapse in a grimly similar way to the Shadow Wolves.

When all seemed lost however, a Torchbearer fleet, with Custodes and Sisters of Battle in tail tool the Hive Fleet by surprise.

This marked the annihilation of Hive Fleet Ouroboris, crushed by the Imperial Fists and the Defenders by one side and the Torchbearer Fleet by the Other.

Though severely weakened, the survival of the Defenders Obscurus marked an important victory for the Imperium, that managed to reduce the Tyranid threat in the Segmentum obscurum

I think the chapter’s symbol would be a lantern, a symbol of light and hope among the darkness of the segmentum Obscurum

Their Left knee’s color helps to distinguish between companies similarly to the helmet colors of the Adulators.

How would you color the Defenders Obscurus?

Yeah these guys are rough, they kind of look like strawberry gummybears

Nonetheless it’s important to give them a chance to shine as well.

Oddly enough they use for their insigna the same symbols of the Imperial Paladins, Just reversed

Perhaps there’s an on going rivalry between the two, an oath that one of them refused to uphold or perhaps one chapter took possession of a relic the others had previousely claimed.

Their Insigna might also represent this rivalry having reversed symbols

The Destruction of the Imperial Paladin’s 4th company is definetely something the Crimson would make fun off constantly, leading them to launch a party on Nereus to defeat the Xenos that had corrupted the 4th of the IP and kill it to prove their superiority.

Would be pretty funny of this company got also corrupted and now they face the same shame because they kept trying to one-up each others

Not enough space marine chapters are this petty, except maybe the Hammers of Dorn, but their beef with the Ultramarines is extremely one sided.

How would you embellish the Crimson Paladins?

Probably the Ugliest Dark Angels successors and the worst victims of the green plague of the DA successors

The Penitent Blades are the aerial warfare specialists of the Unforgiven, having a much larger 2nd company to accomodare additional squads of pilots

But their existence might also be tied to their parent chapter’s interest in the anomalous planet the Blades call home.

No name nor location is listed for this mysterious planet, but it’s described as an amalgamation of floating island suspended kilometers above an ocean of Acid.

Once again, the Dark Angels Interest in this planet is a safely guarded secret, probably hidden to most of the Penitent Blades as well.

The Penitent Blades are one of the most straight forward successors of the Lion’s ilk, they’re aerial specialists located on a weird planet to better control it, a fairly simple origin that night not offer much in terms of lore, but considering the complex schemings of the DA and their successors it’s nice to finally see a chapter of the Unforgiven that are somewhat easier to understand.

A shame they suck balls in the drip department.

What do you think of the Penitent Blades? Are you willing to look past their scheme and start painting them? Do you prefer more mysterious and dubious DA successors such as the Cowled Wardens and the Shrouded Skulls?