Knights Inductor
| Knights Inductor | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Battle Cry | Light Up The Night! | |
| Number | 314 | |
| Founding | 21st (ca. M36) | |
| Successors of | Desert Fangs | |
| Successor Chapters | None (looking to found one at next Founding) | |
| Chapter Master | Zakis Randi | |
| Primarch | Rachnus Rageous | |
| Homeworld | Aprior | |
| Strength | ~3000 | |
| Specialty | Conflict resolution | |
| Allegiance | Imperium | |
| Colours | Azure on Ceramite, camouflage | |
The Knights Inductor chapter is an attempt to create a viable chapter of Reasonable Marines. The first tales of the Knights Inductor were penned by an Anon known only as LongPoster, telling the story of one Inquisitor Rightina Immam and her visit to the Aprior Sector, hoping to investigate them for heresy. She found it in large quantities. Unfortunately, the tale was left unfinished, and the Knights Inductor were all but forgotten, until another Anon, creatively calling himself "Not LongPoster," continued their story.
Index Astartes: Knights Inductor
Origins
"Our progenitors despised us, and our leadership didn't understand us. We were lost, until Captain Norys helped us find ourselves." - Chapter Master Zakis Randi
Of all of the Space Marine Chapters, none are so legendary in their hatred of the enemies of Man as the Desert Fangs, now known only as the "Angry Marines" since the Horus Heresy. The Angry Marines were also renowned for their resilience against the corruptions of Chaos. This was believed to be their rage shielding them from Chaos' whispers, but in M36, a Magos Biologis by the name of Jakobus Hamundr discovered records from before the Heresy on the Angry Marines' gene-seed. The information was incomplete, but it seemed that the Primarch of the Second Legion was a Null of phenomenal power, and that his anti-psychic nature imprinted itself on his gene-seed. The effect had been suppressed for unclear reasons, and supplemented with the burning hatred which earned the Angry Marines their name, but Hamundr was convinced that he could restore it in order to create a Chapter with the same warp-resistance as the Angry Marines, but without the instability of the Angry Marines' berserk rage. The Angry Marines would not cooperate with a successor less angry than they, so Hamundr was able to get a Doom Eagle leadership team to instill a properly Codex-compliant nature in the new Chapter.
The next Founding turned out to be the Cursed 21st, and Hamundr's plan soon went awry. The Warp-resistance worked well enough, but while the Knights were not afflicted by the iconic berserk rage of their progenitors, neither did they exhibit the proper disdain for or hatred of Mankind's enemies. The Chapter's leadership decided that a crusade would harden the Knights' hearts with the fires of war, and so the Knights Inductor set off for the nearby war-torn world of Kronos VI.
Kronos VI was a Hive World home to several munitions manufactora; the working class had suffered for generations under the yoke of their planetary leadership, and then they realized that they outnumbered their rulers by about six orders of magnitude. The Munitorum demanded that order be restored by any means possible, and the standard practice for such situations was that the rebellion be annihilated.
The Salamanders had also sent a detachment to Kronos, under the command of one Captain Carolus Norys. Where the Angry Marines shunned the Knights for their dispassion, and their leadership pushed them in a direction they did not truly desire, Norys gladly took the fledgeling Chapter under his wing, and the Knights soon saw him as their spiritual liege. He instilled in them a sense of guardianship: that their purpose was to protect the Imperium first, and only to exercise force in the service of that purpose, and even then, to minimize collateral damage while doing so. Rather than destroying the rebellion, the Salamanders and Knights Inductor worked to address the populace's demands for better living conditions and a government more responsive to their grievances, overseeing the revitalization of the primary hive city. Their solution took longer than a simple extermination campaign would have, but it resulted in a stable government, better living conditions for the Kronans, and a more productive world in the long run. The Knights Inductor knew that they had found their purpose at last: to seek troubled systems, repair them, and leave them better off than before.
Homeworld
"The only creature I've ever met with a more callous disregard for life than yours was a Dark Eldar Archon, and at least he had the courtesy not to proclaim his devotion to virtue while he murdered billions." - Chapter Master Jakob Morridus, shortly before executing Canoness Sarah Azaniel
At first, the Knights Inductor were a fleet-based Chapter, having dedicated themselves to repairing the Imperium world by world. Eventually, their crusade took them out to the Eastern Fringe, where the Astronomican's light pushes against the intergalactic calm in the Warp, setting up a great turbulence; in M40, the turbulence erupted into a full Warp Storm, enclosing the sector which the Knights Inductor were pacifying. With no means of leaving, the Knights decided to put down roots and push their skills to their limit in improving the sector.
Aprior was the most populated system in the sector, and was riven by internal division and external threats, so the Knights decided to improve that system first. They appeared to the fractious Apriori, and offered a deal: cooperate with us, and we will build a noble, bright future together. The Apriori were skeptical at first, having been disunited for so long, and several factions objected to the idea of unity or cooperation with their former enemies. The Aprior Commandery of the Order of the Sacred Rose was the most outspoken of these, especially when they learned that the Knights Inductor were willing to tolerate trade with xenos or attempt to rehabilitate heretics in the pursuit of peace, and when their objections failed to attract popular support or produce results, they deemed the sector heretical, and sought to put it to the torch, starting with their home system of Marion. The Knights Inductor were able to stop the Sisters on the world of Dvi-Marion by incapacitating the Sisters' orbital assets, trapping them on the ground. The Knights tried and convicted the Sisters of crimes against humanity for the brutal tactics they employed, and offered a choice: use their expertise to help the Apriori, or be executed. The surviving Sororitas were reformed into the more scholarly and defense-focused Order of Reason's Light, in line with what the Knights Inductor felt was a more reasonable interpretation of the Decree Passive.
Once the Knights extinguished the immediate threat of rebellion and started to implement their social policies, quality of life started to improve for those Apriori who cooperated with them, and support for the Knights grew rapidly. The Apriori banded together and set to work fortifying their world, and then spread, first to nearby stars, and then to the whole sector, driving back the threats of the cosmos and advancing the Knights' social programs as they went. The worlds of the Aprior Sector are varied, but their societies have several common policies dating to this era: citizens are regularly screened for genetic mutation, starting before birth, and extensive public education programs include civil defense training to ensure that all Apriori citizens can contribute to their worlds' defensive efforts.
The Knights Inductor use these programs to identify children who are compatible with their gene-seed and have the potential for combat aptitude. Because Aprior is largely composed of Civilized Worlds as opposed to Feral or Death Worlds, there is not an easy way to identify which of these children are truly Space Marine material without actually putting them through training, so the Knights simply train them all: when flagged children reach age twelve, their parents are contacted and offered the opportunity to allow their child to go through training. There is no penalty for refusal, but having a child in the Knights Inductor is a high honor, and even those who do not become Knights are skilled enough to excel in the Chapter Staff, the Apriori Armed Forces, or almost any other technical or military career field, so most parents accept.
As the Knights Inductor were the leaders of the fleets which settled the Aprior Sector, they legally rule every planet therein. In reality, the worlds outside of the Aprior Subsector are largely self-governing, so long as they meet certain standards of economic viability, self-sufficiency, and protection of the rights of citizens.
Worlds of the Aprior Subsector
The Aprior System proper has six planets in it. Aprior Primus and Secundus are very close to Aprior and are used for mining and manufacturing; Tertius is in the habitable zone and houses the majority of the subsector's population; and Quartus, Quintius, and Sextus are gas giants, with moons used for manufacturing, military research and training.
Aprior Tertius is similar to Old Earth, although it is larger, with surface gravity almost twice that of Terra. Because it was the first world in the sector to be colonized, Aprior Tertius is the most populous world in the sector, the sector capital, and the primary base of the Knights. It is usually called Aprior Regius to set it apart from the other worlds. Regius is largely urbanized and industrialized, although the Regians have instituted environmental and social policies to prevent the pollution and decay normally associated with industrialized, highly populated worlds.
One major feature of Regius is the Torch, the Fortress-monastery of the Knights Inductor, buried within a mountain range. The Knights typically avoid ornamentation, but the Torch is the one exception. A granite tower rises a thousand meters above the mountains, with a perpetual light at the top: the Eternal Flame, symbolizing the achievements of humanity through adversity, the illuminating light of reason and understanding, and a beacon of hope for a better future. The names of fallen Knights are engraved upon the Eternal Flame's tower. Every city on Regius and most worlds in the Aprior Sector have a small replica of the Eternal Flame upon which they engrave the names of residents who have given their lives in the various Apriori Armed Forces.
Nyx is a white dwarf from an eons-old supernova; its sole remaining world, Thanatos, is a dead, cold lump of rock notable for containing a metal with potent anti-Warp properties. A Necron tomb was discovered in the process of mining; it seems that its presence is related to that of the metal, though it is unclear which came first.
Romulus and Remus are a binary star with two planets: one gas giant orbiting both, and one hot rocky world orbiting Romulus.
Tarquin is a star similar to Aprior, with a "double planet" orbiting it: two Agri Worlds in each others' Lagrange points.
Beliefs
"As we proceed in our duties, consider the Emperor of Man. Despite his genius and continuing honorable courage, he made a number of avoidable mistakes, even from the foundation of the Imperium. Even with the greatest ability, and noblest goals, mistakes happen. Therefore, let us admit to our own errors, that we may refine our ways." - Knights Inductor Invocation
Unlike most Space Marine Chapters, the Emperor is not worshiped as a god among the Knights Inductor, but as a man: the Knights Inductor believe that he is powerful, worthy of admiration, and in many ways the best that mankind has to offer, but not perfect. They are scrupulously careful to avoid blind devotion, because doing so would blind them to their own imperfections. A significant part of the Chaplains' sessions with the Space Marines is spent in reflection, to recognize and learn from their failures and shortcomings and improve going forward; reminding themselves that even the Emperor can make mistakes helps keep them humble.
The Knights Inductor's practice of recruiting from the worlds they pacify has given them a personal understanding of and respect for the diversity present in the Imperium, not to mention several millennia of experience in forging a viable alliance out of many disparate members. They believe, from personal experience, that every Imperial world and citizen is able to contribute to the Imperium and worth protecting, and that protecting the Imperium, rather than seeking and destroying the Imperium's enemies, is their primary purpose.
Combat Doctrine
"Any Space Marine can apply force and destroy a target. The true measure of a Chapter is how it can achieve victory without force." - Captain Roland Darren, Third Company
Knights Inductor gene-seed makes them steadier but not as quick, relative to other Space Marine Chapters, and they use tactics to play to their strengths. Rather than making high-visibility close-quarters assaults, they use camouflage and more exotic stealth techniques to mask their deployments and strike from long range, usually with heavy mechanization thanks to the Aprior Sector's thriving industrial base. The Knights Inductor amplify this advantage through advanced electronic and psychological warfare, tricking enemies into reacting to forces which aren't really there, or even surrendering in the face of apparently overwhelming opposition. Then, while the enemy is jumping at shadows, they employ surgically-precise strikes to eliminate enemy leadership or destroy enemy linchpins.
The most peculiar "combat doctrines" of the Knights Inductor have to do with their preference to limit or even avoid combat if it is reasonable to do so; they have found that a nonviolent resolution is preferable to a bloody war, and that, by not exterminating the enemy, prisoners taken can supply information and be used as bargaining chips, or even defect entirely. They may also leave a detachment behind after major combat operations are complete to help build a stable situation, rather than perpetuating needless and wasteful conflict. These practices have earned the Knights Inductor the moniker of "Reasonable Marines" among Imperial citizens.
Sometimes, this involves tolerating or cooperating with people (human or otherwise) whom more puritanical chapters would have exterminated; the Knights Inductor (and Apriori) are not picky about their allies, so long as they behave. When the encroaching Tyranids and Necrons calmed the Warp storms surrounding the Aprior Sector, Inquisitor Rightina Immam was sent to identify any deviations which had developed over the thirteen hundred years of isolation, and she was alarmed to find such tolerance; she immediately called an Inquisitorial council to examine the Knights and judge them (see Report #SUP/tg/2803229).
Radical Inquisitors, exemplified by Johannes Krieger of the Ordo Hereticus, advocated cautious acceptance of the Knights Inductor. Krieger acknowledged their deviations, but argued that their experience made them useful to have in the Imperium, and that their Warp-resistance and, in extreme cases, Warp-nullifying effect is especially valuable to the Inquisition. As a Recongregator, he also suggested to his like-minded colleagues that some "deviations" might be put to good use in the Imperium, such the Apriori genetic screening and public education policies. On the other hand, the more Puritanical Inquisitors, led by staunch Monodominant Inquisitor Lord Avius Damnos, claimed that no utility can justify the degree of Apriori deviation. He and his colleagues in the Ordo Malleus tried to rouse the Imperium in a Crusade against the Aprior Sector.
The Radicals gained the upper hand, if only through bureaucratic inertia: the Aprior Sector did not appear to be threatening enough to expend the effort to initiate a Crusade and the costs of eliminating an experienced and firmly-entrenched foe, especially when more immediate threats are always all around, though Inquisitor Rightina was dispatched to monitor the Aprior Sector as a concession to the Puritans.
Teron I
Captain Darren has earned the honorific "Master of the Deal" for his successes in defusing conflicts without bloodshed; the "Non-War of Teron I" is one of his more famous accomplishments. When a Tau strike force claimed to own the Imperial world of Teron I, the local Imperial Guard Regiments were provoked to mobilize, which would invite a weightier response from the Tau Empire, and could only escalate from there. A long meat-grinder war was in the making, but cooler heads within the Administratum realized that the IG Regiments were needed to fight the Tyranids, and that driving out the Tau would leave them dangerously under-strength for such a deployment. Fortunately, Darren's Battle Barge was in the vicinity, and the Administratum asked him to handle the situation.
Rather than preemptively striking the Tau, as the IG force commander suggested, Darren established a defensive perimeter against a sudden Tau attack, and used some technological trickery to give the appearance of having many more Marines deployed than he actually had on hand. When he engaged the Tau diplomatically, he was able to convince them that the resources required to take the world by force would be better spent colonizing non-Imperial worlds, playing on the fact that the Tau desired expansion more than bloodshed.
In the debriefing session thereafter, Darren was asked what he would have done had he not convinced the Tau to leave without a fight. For his answer, Darren whistled, and twelve Terminators deactivated cloaking devices, appearing as if from nowhere. After the flustered leadership calmed down, Darren assured them that he was "well prepared for a hostile reception."
Organization
"There is no specific regulation to the number of Marines in a chapter." - Sergeant Aeron Sacres, Fourth Squad, Fifth Company
The Knights Inductor operate under the Codex Astartes, although they use Squads of twenty-four Marines rather than the conventional ten, in order to provide more options for dividing up in battle. That said, they are troubled by the degree of centralization required by the Codex, and so they have established an Eleventh Company in order to experiment with a decentralized organization scheme similar to that employed by the Space Wolves or Black Templars.
Instead of being trained in the Scout Company, Eleventh Company Neophytes train aboard their Company's vessels and with the Tactical Squads, while the Eleventh Company draws its Scouts from its reserve Assault Squads. Eleventh Company Veterans are distributed more or less evenly among the Squads (unless they are working in Terminator armor) so that all Squads can benefit from their leadership and the Veterans can learn from up-and-coming Marines. Finally, the Eleventh Company maintains its own vehicle pool and maintenance department, as well as a small space fleet, so that they are minimally dependent on the Chapter's resources.
So far, the Eleventh Company has been successful, and the time has come for its ultimate test: to leave the Aprior Sector on a crusade to repair the Imperium, one world at a time. If they can do well, the Knights Inductor may make further use of the so-called "Project XI" organization scheme, sending more Companies on their own Crusades, with an eventual eye towards creating a Successor Chapter or two at the next Founding.
Gene-seed
"Our Primarch is lost. All that remains of him is our gene-seed, and through that, he is always with us." - Apothecary Stephan Aigle
Like their parent Chapter and Legion, Knights Inductor gene-seed has mutations in the organs that affect the brain. These mutations enhance the abilities of Nulls to the point that they can manipulate the shape and strength of their "null aura" to some degree, while psykers' abilities are severely blunted, if not outright deadened. All Knights Inductor receive significant mental resistance to Warp powers and emotional stabilization, allowing them to keep a cool head under all circumstances and resist corruption. It also seems that the psychic resistance makes the gene-seed itself less vulnerable to further mutation. These traits endear the Knights Inductor to the Inquisition, especially the Deathwatch, encouraging them (and thus the other Imperial factions) to turn a blind eye to the Knights' more deviant practices and beliefs. This resilience comes at a cost: the Omophagea has been rendered ineffective, training takes up to a decade longer as the Neophytes are less susceptible to hypnotherapy, and a Knight's reaction time is about 15 percent longer than that of the average Space Marine.
The Knights Inductor still need psykers for astropathic communication, so Neophytes who happen to be psykers are trained and armored without implants, though this leaves them less capable in combat than their counterparts in other Chapters. The Knights Inductor also need Blanks to become full Marines to ensure they have proper psychic warfare units, so their recruitment program places special emphasis on identifying Blanks for the Librarius; thanks to this program, they have about as many "Silencers" as most Chapters have Librarians.
Null Knights
The mutations in Knights' Inductor gene-seed make them all but immune to Chaotic corruption, but have left them open to other fates. The Necrons originally planted the Pariah gene in humanity, and when the Desert Fangs encountered the tomb on Voralia, the Necrons were pleased to see how much their plan had matured. Knights Inductor are already much stronger and faster than a normal human being; their potential power after upgrading was nearly limitless. Over the years, some three dozen Knights Inductor have been captured, augmented with Necron technology, and conditioned to see all life as essentially chaotic; they now serve the Necrons, reborn as Null Knights.
Battle-Cry
"Light up the night!"
It's based on their motto "Ex Tenebras, Lux" ("From Darkness, Light")
Deathwatch Rules
- Chapter Purpose
- Counter to Chaos
- Chapter History
- 21st Founding (M36)
- Chapter Progenitor
- Desert Fangs
- Gene-Stock Purity
- A New Generation
- Chapter Demeanor
- "See, But Don't be Seen."
- Gene-Seed Deficiency
- Missing Omophagea
- Chapter Flaw
- We Stand Alone
- Chapter Characteristic Modifiers
- +5 Willpower, +5 Ballistic Skill
- Figure of Legend
- Captain Carolus Norys, Salamanders Second Company
- Deed of Legend
- Early mentor and spiritual liege to the Chapter
- Chapter Home World
- Aprior Regius (Civilized)
- Chapter Home World Terrain
- Varies
- Home World Relationship
- Stewardship (most worlds in the Aprior Sector have representative governments, like most worlds the Knights pacified while fleet-based)
- Organization
- Codex, with squads of 24 rather than 10.
- Combat Doctrine
- Codex
- Solo Mode Ability
- Mental Fortress
- Squad Mode Attack Pattern
- Fire for Effect
- Squad Mode Defensive Stance
- Regroup
- Specialty Restriction
- None
- Special Equipment
- Customized Technology (their long isolation has resulted in technological advancement, without the Mechanicus to keep their techmarines under control)
- Chapter Belief
- The Emperor Above All (more accurately, The Imperium Above All)
- Chapter Status
- Over Strength (~3000, looking to found a Successor at the next Founding)
- Chapter Friends
- Apriori PDF and Guard, Salamanders (and successors)
- Chapter Enemies
- Necrons, Inquisition (Puritan)
- Battle Cry
- "LIGHT UP THE NIGHT!"
- Heraldry
- Balance
- Livery
- Camouflage (in combat), or Azure on Ceramite (ceremonial)
- Custom Chapter Advances
- Death From Afar
Tabletop
True Reasonable Marines would be pretty broken on the tabletop, but Knights Inductor can be used in Epic and Apocalypse games as a fluff reason to have many different armies cooperating -- the Knights Inductor aren't picky about their allies, so long as they behave.
Gallery
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A depiction of a Knight's left pauldron, painted azure for a ceremonial occasion.
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Knights Inductor are known for their preference for stealth over high-visibility close-quarters assaults.
Writefaggotry
Several stories and other pieces of fiction have been written about the Knights Inductor, including:
- An Investigation into the Heresy of the Reasonable Marines
- Return of the Reasonable Marines
- Apriori Public Service Announcements
- Tales from the Aprior Sector