White Consuls
| White Consuls | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Founding | Second Founding | |
| Successors of | Ultramarines | |
| Chapter Master | Cymar Xydias & Titus Valens | |
| Homeworld | Formerly Sabatine (now a Nurgle-corrupted daemon world) | |
| Strength | Severely Undermanned | |
| Allegiance | Imperium of Man | |
| Colours | White & Blue | |
The White Consuls are a Second Founding chapter and also one of the Astartes Praeses, based on the world of Sabatine close to the Eye of Terror. Due to the extreme distance, it is a rare thing for the Chapter’s representative to appear in the Senate of Primogenitors led by Marneus Calgar, and when it does occur it is a cause for great celebration. The White Consuls, alongside the other Astartes Praeses, are bound to protect the Imperium from the depredations of the whatever spews forth from the Eye of Terror, therefore are routinely on the front lines during Black Crusades. Apparently they're also adherents of the Imperial Creed for some reason, which is rare for astartes, let alone a Second Founding chapter.
Organisation
As part of their duties in fortifying the Eye of Terror, the White Consuls have instigated an unusual deviation from the Codex Astartes. The Chapter is ruled not by a single Chapter Master, but by two. One of these remains upon their homeworld to oversee the defences and commands a standing force made up of the chapter reserves and scouts to respond to Chaos incursions through the Cadian Gate, while the second chapter master oversees the operations of the Chapter’s forces in war zones elsewhere in the Imperium.
It is completely obvious that this separation of command is not sanctioned by any entry in the Codex Astartes, therefore the White Consuls are Awesome for taking the initiative to create a unique situation that works well for themselves rather than dogmatically following the Codex Astartes. (It is also a very fluffy excuse to field TWO Chapter Masters on the tabletop, except not really, because the whole point of having two is that they're not in the same place or even doing the same thing). It is most likely due to the Chapter’s great distance from Ultramar and their forefathers that they have not been challenged on the matter.
Like their progenitors however, the White Consuls do maintain sovereignty over nearby system and its officers must spend a portion of their duties administrating those worlds if they intend to increase in rank. While in this position they are referred to as Proconsuls, which is where the Chapter name comes from. This position also requires those officers to oversee the local PDF forces as well as what squads of Space Marines are assigned to them. This means that the White Consuls have a unique perspective when fighting alongside mortal forces.
History
They feature in Anthony Reynolds Word Bearers series. Like other Successor Chapters from the XIII Legion, the White Consuls have a strong hatred of the Word Bearers, further magnified by the death of their brother Chapter, the Black Consuls. However, before the launch of the 13th Black Crusade, the Word Bearers launched a campaign on one of the White Consuls protectorates.
Half the Chapter was deployed, with offers of assistance coming from the rest of the Astartes Praeses and the Grey Knights, but the Word Bearers used a Necron relic to cut off warp travel, stranding the White Consuls with only their PDF. The meatgrinder that followed took a heavy toll on the White Consuls, but was nothing compared to the slaughter that occurred when the Necrons showed up wanting the relic back. The combined Word Bearer and Necron campaigns wiped out half the Chapter, including one Chapter Master Valens and most of the First Company, with only three White Consuls surviving. Additionally their protectorate was all but destroyed, with most of the PDF (and civilians, but who cares for them) slaughtered by the World Bearers and Necrons, and land tainted by Chaos. All in all, a bad day.
They were more or less crippled by a Death Guard warband shortly after the fall of Cadia--with the bulk of their forces off fighting Abaddon, one of their chapter masters was killed, their geneseed stocks wiped out, and their whole planet turned into one giant satanic petri dish after it got swallowed by the Great Rift. At least some became part of the Terran Crusade, and the last surviving captain was even commander of Guilliman's personal security until the early stages of the Indomnitus Crusade. Since then, they have managed to recover well with the influx of Primaris marines, as they were able to send out 5 companies by the time of War of Beasts.
Pretty much the only notable White Consul is
Vitrian Messinius who is a Captain and Master of Recruits who commands the Indomitus Crusade Fleet Tertius' Battlegroup Saint Aster as a Lord-Lieutenant as well as being in charge of Roboute Guilliman's security (probably due to him getting shanked ) and is part of his personal retinue, the Victrix-Guard sounds Roman enough right Games Workshop?
Relics & Wargear
It can be assumed that the White Consuls are very well equipped, as the Astartes Praeses must be to maintain constant battle status on the edge of the Eye of Terror.
They do have one unique relic that is known, though it is actually not in their possession: The Gauntlet of Sabatine is a sanctified, master-crafted power-fist that is the bane of mutants and will do additional damage to them. However, the gauntlet was lost on the planet of Polyphemnos when its bearer was overrun by a horde of cannibal Ogryns. It has since somehow fallen into the hands of those bloody magpies.
