Hammers of Dorn
| Hammers of Dorn | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Battle Cry | Unknown | |
| Number | Unknown | |
| Founding | Unknown | |
| Successors of | Imperial Fists | |
| Successor Chapters | Unknown | |
| Chapter Master | Unknown | |
| Primarch | Rogal Dorn | |
| Homeworld | Unknown | |
| Strength | Perfectly 1000 | |
| Specialty | Being perfectly adherent to the Codex, trolling to hell and back the Ultramarines, having superior firepower and putting emphasis on Devastators, Terminators, Dreadnoughts and Vindicators (basically emphasis on things that kick the shit out of everything) | |
| Allegiance | Imperium | |
| Colours | Black and Brass (or orange) | |
A Successor Chapter of the Imperial Fists, this is what you get when you try to out-perform Ultramarines and Red Scorpions in Codex compliance. The Hammers of Dorn were created in an unknown founding and are known to maintain a friendly (for a given definition of friendly) rivalry with the Ultramarines.
The Hammers of Dorn are ridiculously compliant with the Codex Astartes to the point that they'll call out the Ultramarines on every divergence from the great book of war Roboute Guilliman wrote. They also extend it to other Ultramarine Successor Chapters (by the Four-Armed Emperor, I wish I could be this absurdly petty). Also note how their chapter symbol looks like the flag of the Soviet Union, a nation also ridiculously obsessed with following rules.
These marines take pride in Rogal Dorn further than any Imperial Fists Successor (as well as the Imperial Fists themselves), for Dorn fought alongside the Emperor during the final stages of the Horus Heresy during the Siege of The Emperor's Palace. This caused them also to believe that while Roboute Guilliman was a great strategist and tactician, only the sons of Dorn are capable of mastering the Codex he wrote, infuriating the Ultras and their successors (not to mention trying to steal the Ultramarines' boyfriends greatest rivals, the Word Bearers, away from them).
Coincidentally, the Hammers of Dorn weren't the only sons of Dorn who zealously followed the codex. But they are a better example of Dorn's sons going on to passionately follow the book their father initially didn't like. Whereas the Exemplars had a little bit of 'I'm just following this to piss off daddy and everyone else who I butted heads with to a point of partially sucking off the Ultras' vibes, the Hammers seem to have some 'let's troll the descendants of its founder' vibes.
Although it would seem that they fail at reading the Codex as a great book of everything and instead as a guide on how marines are supposed to be (ironically meaning they unintentionally succeed in interpreting it how Guilliman intended it to be read), it could also be said that they read the Codex cover to cover and learned how to use every tactic in it, while also using their brains. They've actually been pretty successful at utilizing it in a multitude of campaigns, notably the Damocles Crusade where their rapid adaptability actually gave the Tau problems. Even though they follow the Codex to the letter, they do put emphasis on firepower and protection (hence their frequent use of Devastators, Terminators, Dreadnoughts and Vindicators). This technically means that they actually don't strictly follow the Codex as they wouldn't be able to emphasise anything if they did (unless the Codex supports this method of warfare, of course). They did start running into issues against the Tau when Farsight cracked the Codex and used it to predict their every action.
This lore blurb of the Tau learning the codex enough turn it against the marines is bullshit, because it's completely impossible. If the Hammers weren't fully following the Codex, Farsight couldn't have gleamed enough of its tactics to predict them. If they were fully compliant, they still wouldn't have used all of its tactics because there was no need to do so. If they did, it would just be an endless series of counters by each side until Farsight dies. He's facing attrition and power-armored attackers who possess the speed and initiative to better utilize a codex they know far more of than a guy trying to copy it.
The codex is also a massive all-encompassing book that took years to create by someone who can conceive every aspect of a planetary invasion down to the slightest detail in moments. It's so massive that no marine -even an Ultramarine- could ever memorize it entirely. Each marine must know a different piece. That means a Tau brain wouldn't be physically capable of comprehending enough of the Codex to predict how Space Marines would use it. If a Space Marine can't do it, a mortal can't do it, let alone a species the Eldar abandoned due to their "crippling lack of creativity". No species, even the Eldar, has ever decoded the Codex. Not even the traitor primarchs have the answers to predict the Codex's actions. The only few beings who could have (and then fully employ it) never faced the Tau. This is why no species tries to out-counter the Codex. They just focus on mastering their own way of war. The Tau way makes them insanely vulnerable to artillery and rapid assaults. In conclusion, this part of Codex astartes lore (much like a disturbingly large amount of GW writing) can be dismissed as shit writing.
Their emphasis on Terminators sounds strange given the suits’ rarity, but they probably noticed the Codex suggests (but does not require) having the First Company split up with one squad for each Company when half the Chapter are reserve Companies and therefore don’t even get deployed as Companies. So, just take the Termies from the Reserve Companies and give them to the ones meant for active duty.
Given how fanatical the Hammers are about the Codex, they're probably not terribly happy about Guilliman coming back and starting a full rewrite of their rulebook. A sentiment /tg/ can sympathize with, actually. If they have a problem with the author of the Codex: Astartes changing it, then they weren't loyal to it for the right reasons. I mean, if you obey something because a primarch wrote it and then the primarch changes it and you have a problem with the changing...well, really, it just means you're an idiot. No idea on their opinions of the Book of the Five Spheres, if any.