Setting:Tiji Sector/Deep Ones

Deep Ones
Battle Cry	"Embrace the storm."
Number	Unknown.
Founding	18th Founding (M36)
Successors of	Salamanders
Successor Chapters	None
Chapter Master	Isaiah Malim
Primarch	Vulkan
Homeworld	Kratos
Strength	Nine companies.
Allegiance	Imperium
Colours	Grey and teal with gunmetal details.

The Deep Ones are a chapter of Space Marines created as part of the Tiji Sector project, a collaborative work created by /tg/ to serve as an alternate setting for Dark Heresy. Famous for their cool, calm and collected approach to every situation even if loss is certain, the Deep Ones have a miraculous track record of somehow pulling victory out of the jaws of defeat, albeit often at a high cost. In victory they are meticulously merciless, destroying every last trace of their vanquished foes all with a serene smile on their faces.

History

Born specifically to protect the Tiji Sector in the late 36th Millenium, their creation was met with caution and hostility. For the most part the backwater sector was peaceful and calm and had no need of protection - even Ork incursions were rare. The reason behind their formation as a Chapter is unknown, even today.

Upon their arrival in the Sector, the quiet and contemplative Chapter Master Isaiah Malim chose the primitive garden world of Kratos his Chapter's home world. Despite repeated claims from the Adeptus Administratum that it was uninhabitable and required millennia of terraforming before it would be suited for human life, he was determined to claim the serene, primordial planet as his own. Even his Space Marines worked day and night to forge a fortress beneath the seething oceans, a labyrinthine city of metal structures and carved caverns. Even to this day the City Beneath the Waves is still being built and expanded upon, its winding tunnels and complexes growing across the sea floor like the roots of a great tree.

Another world that drew the attention of Isaiah Malim was Aquilum, an ocean world that belonged to a neighbouring system and the Adeptus Mechanicus, who eagerly plumbed its depths for precious resources. Rather than minerals and metal, the Chapter Master was interested in the alien ecosystem beneath the waves of Aquilum, full of cunning and lethal predators. Much to the chagrin of the Machine Cult, he claimed the world as a training ground for his Chapter. To this day the Deep Ones visit the waters of this world and venture deep into the sea not only to hunt the beasts that lived there but also to commune with them and learn from them.

After half a millennium of the Chapter's faithful service to the Imperium, darkness was brewing in the Tiji Sector. Isaiah Malim, jaded and weary after centuries of combat, led the Deep Ones less in warfare and more in spiritual and philosophical matters. After days of introspective meditation beneath the waters of Aquilum, the Chapter Master was struck by portent and foresight. A storm was coming that would change the Sector forever and his men had to be ready, if a single human was to survive the chaos. Isaiah returned to Kratos and recalls every last Deep One from every corner of the galaxy in an act that the Inquisition almost considered treason. Preaching to them of what he said seen, the elderly Chapter Master finished his speech by saying that they need not be afraid. They must embrace the storm, embrace the inevitable if they are to lead the rest of humanity through it. With that, Isaiah armed himself with a simple spear and ventured into the darkest depths of the City Beneath the Waves - and vanished forever.

A year passed after his speech and the Deep Ones steeled themselves, even as the Inquisition considered the extermination of the Chapter. On the final day of 606.M37, a warp storm engulfed the entire Tiji Sector.

These were the darkest days of the Tiji Sector and the Deep Ones. Many worlds disappeared from the Sector entirely while new ones were born. Daemonic incursions tore apart several planets that were helpless to stop the invaders. Only a handful of worlds truly survived the storm's destruction: Kratos, Aquilum, Nebraskus and Detaniax. The Deep Ones were largely responsible for holding this coalition of systems together and protecting them for over three thousand years, waiting for the warp storms to dissipate. During this time, the geneseed of the Chapter began to mutate and change in an irreversible way. Their Mucranoid organ is always active, constantly covering the Deep Ones' skin in a slick, waxy membrane that protects their bodies from harsh environments.

By the ninth century of the 40th Millennium, the warp storm had finally dissipated. When the Tiji Sector was rediscovered by the Rogue Trader Malleus Otum in the year 877.M40, his vessel was boarded by the sole battle barge of the Deep Ones. The High Regent of the Chapter met Malleus in his bridge and knelt for the man, announcing his servitude to the Emperor, his loyalty to the Imperium and offering everything in his power to assist with the reclamation of the Tiji Sector. Fleets of colony ships immediately began to arrive and the Deep Ones did everything they could to facilitate the recolonisation process. By the birth of the 41st Millennium, they were a proud Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes once more, serving the Emperor on battlefields across the galaxy.

For the past thousand years, the serene and meditative Deep Ones have been serving the Imperium to the best of their ability. Some Inquisitors question the location of the Chapter Master but none dare to doubt the loyalty of these meticulous, introverted Space Marines.

Chapter Worlds

Kratos

This bizarre world is very similar to Xomula - almost identical, in fact, except for the fact there are no gigantic monstrosities, only poisonous microbes filling the atmosphere and the water. It's a primordial world, bursting with new life. The gravity is heavy, and breathing the corrupt air is tantamount to a death wish. This is a difficult place to live, but there aren't any hideous Xenos to make the job even harder. For that reason, the Space Marines chapter of the Deep Ones has chosen to claim this world as their homeworld. There are few living creatures - human or otherwise - who can say they have lived through as much as a Deep One. They are rugged, grim survivalists, capable of outlasting almost any opponent in almost any environment. Their harsh lifestyle on Kratos only reinforces this.

Aquilum

Where some chapters might make initiates fight hand to hand with vile mutations or make grand arena fights, the Deep Ones will train initiates with power armor outfitted with extensive liquid oxygen tanks. The initiate will than be dropped with his fellow brothers into the oceans of Aquilum to perform a week long mission in the underwater caves inhabited by a ferocious species of Akulova Tyranus. The vile beasts work in ambush packs of 15 and have both arms and legs to better navigate their cramp underwater strongholds through miniature tunnels used to repel invaders.

If the Initiate survives this ordeal with his fellow brothers and brings back the nearly indestructible jaw of an Akulova Tyranus brood-king, he and the other initiates will become full fledged battle brothers.

Tactics

The chapter specialises at fighting in biohazardous warzones. In battle, they prefer to use terror tactics and attrition to eliminate their enemies.

Often deployed in hostile alien environments, the Deep Ones familiarise themselves with any world they descend upon and make good use of its terrain, turning the local flora and fauna and even the land itself against their foes. Often they will lure opposing forces into almost suicidal fighting conditions, trapping their enemies in situations where victory is almost impossible before they dare to strike. The Deep Ones are patient, preferring terror tactics, guerilla warfare, and attrition to pitched battles.

Vehicles are rarely used in the Deep Ones arsenal and even their choice in weapons is relatively bland, dedicating themselves to mastery of bolters, standard and heavy variants alike. Where they stand apart from other Chapters is their use of improvised traps and dangerous fauna that they tame, train and use as dedicated assault forces. They also employ the extremely rare Power Harpoon; normally, power weapons are far too rare and valuable to risk throwing away during a fight, but an attached grappling line not only lets them recover the weapon, but frequently the target's body as well, which is particularly useful if said body is still alive and needs to be hit again. This synergises well with their fighting style, as they can employ stealth and the harpoons together to kill and retrieve enemy soldiers while no one is looking at them, resulting in the incredibly unnerving experience of having one's team mates slowly disappear with no apparent reason for it.

Gallery

• 

  One of the Chapter's seafaring warships.

• 

  Deep One Space Marine

• 

  Alternative Chapter symbol.