Ostrogoths

Ostrogoths or XI Legion is one of the first and original twenty Space Marine legions who hail from Ostrogar. Though they are led to believe they are successors of Ultramarines due to some series of events. Their Primarch is Ostrominus. Their chapter homeworld was invaded by Tyranids and consumed to the last, although there are few survivors left from the invasion, such as Fritz, Ostrominus the 27th - the current Chapter Master of Ostrogoths, Regulus and Marinus. They carry the Ostroskull instead of Imperial Skull, as tradition. Also, all Chapter Masters have to sacrifice their healthy right eye upon their ascension to the title "Ostrominus", the last rite of becoming the Chapter Master of the Ostrogoths.
== History ==
They were the XI Legion, proud and strong. But they never fit in with the others, Ostrominus disliked his brothers for their childish squabbling whilst they mistrusted him for his choice of orange in his legion's colour scheme. Magnus however - being an outcast himself - bonded with Ostrominus and forged a brotherhood the likes of which the Imperium had never seen.
And so it was after the Council of Nikaea and Magnus's subsequent destruction of the Emperor's work that Ostrominus learnt of Horus's plan to have the Wolves of Fenris destroy the Thousand Sons.
The wolves descended upon Prospero - the Homeworld of the Thousand Sons - with vengeance and loathing. Brothers spat upon their oaths and slew each other without mercy. At the eye of the tornado were the Gods themselves. Magnus fought a valiant battle. However, the Crimson King could not hold off the savagery of Russ and he was forced to flee via sorcery, betrayed by all he had once loved.
It was at that moment an Ostrogoth's ship came into orbit above Prospero and fired upon the Wolves. The void-warfare did not last long for the Ostrogoths were only there to wound the Wolves, to send a message.
So it was that the Ostrogoths were the first of all legions to openly renounce the Emperor. Ostrominus was so stricken with grief at his failure to save Prospero and the Thousand Sons that he cut out his own right eye in honour of his brother Magnus, the Crimson Cyclops.
Following his example, the Ostrogoths destroyed their heraldry and replaced it with the grisly new visage of their mournful primarch. The Ostroskull would forever represent their brotherly love for the XV Legion and new eye-for-an-eye attitude towards the Imperium of Man.
They then prepared their defences for the retribution the tyrannical Imperium would surely send. They were not wrong in their predictions, the Wolves were coming.
The skies of Ostrogar were aflame with Fenrisian Blue. Tens of thousands of Space Wolves burst through the atmosphere and swiftly deployed on the rock world below. A cacophony of violence centred on two beings of genetic perfection. But the conflict would not last forever. Weakened by his recent bout with Magnus, Russ was eventually wounded by Ostrominus, who cast him to the ground, bloodied and defeated.
With the Wolves stricken by their primarch's sudden defeat, Ostrominus unleashed his ultimate weapon: Created during the Dark Age of Technology. To the Wolves, it was a machine of hatred and rage, vengeance and fury. It howled a symphony of destruction that pierced the Emperor's Dogs to their core.
Driven back by the Ostro-Hoover, the Space Wolves fled Ostrogar with wolf pelts between trembling legs, too ashamed to write down their defeat in Imperial Archives.
Where Russ had failed, Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines vowed to hunt down the remaining Ostrogoths. With his legion weakened and no desire to see any more of his beloved sons die, Ostrominus ordered a withdrawal form Ostrogar, to scatter into the farthest reaches of the galaxy and disappear. Meanwhile, Ostrominus set course for the Eye of Terror to find his brother Magnus.
Against Ostrominus's wishes, Franz of 1st company vowed that he would defend Ostrogar to the last, giving the rest of the legion time to flee. Honouring his courage, Ostrominus promoted Franz to a new title, Ostrominus the 2nd, Commander of the Ostrogoth Legion. Then, with a heavy heart, he left his son to die.
And so the legion split apart and fled. The new renegades painted their armour in the colours of other legions to avoid persecution. 1st company boldly faced the tide of Ultramarines. And through their sacrifice, the XI Legion survived. Ostrominus the 2nd died an unsung hero, his relic power-fists were scavenged from his body - repainted and named Gauntlets of Ultramar.
In parting, Ostrominus sent one final message to his father. And so it was the Ostrogoth Legion ceased to be, they became ghosts and phantoms.
An unknown informant had convinced Ostrominus of the survival and location of Magnus. His small force screamed into oblivion to find his lost brother.
Elsewhere in the Warp, the last ships of the XI Legion blasted to their own refuge. One ship, the Ostrogoth gene-stock carrier, Taginae's Wrath was suddenly ripped from the Warp only days after its departure. The immobilised ship came face to face with the intervening craft. Captain Theodoric stood at the bridge, baffled. Right before he could give the order to blast the ship out of the space, a mysterious Astarte appeared in Theodoric's throne room and made him submit to his will.
And so Captain Theodoric - now better known as Ostrominus the 3rd - was moved to stasis with his Ostrogoth gene-stock to be awoken in the 38th Millenium.
Upon their wake, their memories of treason were expunged and they were led to believe that they are successors of Ultramarines and their Primarch was in fact, Roboute Guilliman.
=== Fall of Ostrogar ===
In 921M41, Ultramarines of Ultramar came to Ostrogar to chose their next Chapter Master for them, due to the unfortunate death of their former Chapter Master, Ostrominus the 26th. But during the ceremony, Tyranid spores began landing on the planet's surface. Curiously neither their void shields nor defence batteries were functional, thus two Astartes who noticed the invasion - Regulus and Marinus - had to sound the alarm. Captain Fritz was swiftly chosen to be the next Chapter Master and became Ostrominus the 27th.
After a long-lasting battle against the Tyranids, Ostrogoths were in the brink of destruction. Almost all Ostrogoths were slain by the Tyranids in combat after fighting bravely against the filthy Xenos but to no avail. At this point, sole survivors of Ostrogar managed to call for support and Ultramarine fleets of Marneus Augustus Calgar entered Ostrogar's orbit, launching an assault on Tyranids, ultimately defeating them.
=== Rebirth ===
After being taken in by the Ultramarines due to being the sole survivors of their own Chapter - Ostrogoths, Regulus and Marinus are sent on a Crusade against a newly detected Xeno threat on a planet. Though after all other Ultramarines aboard the ship made the planetfall, two Ostrogoths decided to commandeer the ship away, for their own purposes, betraying the Ultramarines. They repainted their armour in Ostrogoth colours and began their journey into the Tau space to raze the vessels they manage to find.
=== Night Lords ===
However, blind to the needs of their non-super-human crew, they starved most of the ship to death due to lack of resupply. Then, they ran into a vessel of a traitor Space Marine Legion: Night Lords. While they somehow mistook the Night Lords as Imperial Fists, the Night Lords boarded their ship, slaughtered most of the remaining crew and decorated the walls of the corridors with their flayed skin. Seeing the sight, it became clear to Regulus and Marinus that they were horribly wrong.
Seeing the very low chance of survival against so many foes, they decided to feign allegiance to the Night Lords, claiming that they took the ship all by themselves, scaring the Ultramarines out of it and ultimately starving the ship's crew to death on purpose. When asked which Chaos Warband they are from, they called themselves the Deficators and gained access to the hospitality of the Night Lords.
These particular Night Lords were in need of assistance in the very sphere which they were specialised in - Terrorisation. They were in search of new and more horrifying methods of terrorisation and seeing how these "Deficators" were able to scare off an entire company of Ultramarines off of their own ship, they decided to ask for their guidance.
== Notable Ostrogoths ==
* Ostrominus
* Franz, Ostrominus the 2nd
* Theodoric, Ostrominus the 3rd
* Ostrominus the 26th
* Fritz, Ostrominus the 27th
* Regulus
* Marinus
* Batboy
Category:Warhammer 40k
Category:Imperium
Category:Adeptus Astartes
Category:Space Marine Chapters
Category:Ostrogoths