Argent Stars

The Argent Stars are a Loyalist Non-Codex Compliant (originally Codex Compliant until they sustained too many losses) Space Marine Chapter of unknown founding and are a Dark Angels successor chapter. Known for their initial contradiction of seemingly staunch loyalty to the High Lords of Terra and their propensity to act on their own without many knowing their true goals, this chapter has raised more than a few questions and has answered almost none of them.
During the centuries following their founding, the chapter became known for their tactics of shock and awe before a bombardment of missiles and raids of devastator squads. Most of the attacks the chapter conducted left none alive to tell the tale, and thus the chapter has been a subject of many accusations of corruption from the Inquisition and even fellow Space Marines. These accusations only increased when, unknown to the wider Imperium, the High Lords of Terra released their direct hold on the chapter, much to the worry of both the Administratum and the Inquisition.
Today, the Argent Stars act under their own rule entirely and have frequently been seen operating with an equally secretive chapter: the Dark Angels.
The chapter is also known for frequently suffering massive losses, yet somehow always finding a way to return to optimal strength. However, the destruction wrought by the 13th Black Crusade and the opening of the Great Rift may have created a time the chapter cannot fully recover from without the integration of Primaris Marines.
== History ==
===Questionable Origins===
Very little is known of this iteration of the chapter as it was made under the strict orders of the High Lords of Terra and is thus under their direct scrutinizing eye and censor. They are reported to have descended from the 1st Legion, although the truth to this matter, like most matters regarding this chapter, is conjecture at best. Rumors that still persist to M42 suggest that the chapter was created solely to help hold back the tide of the Eye of Terror and the consistent Dark Crusades. Other rumors suggest that they, similar to the Minotaurs, acted as a form of enforcer for the High Lords wishes, ensuring that the taint of Heresy never spread beyond containment. Indeed, several incidents in their history implicate some truth to both possibilities. What is strange, however, is that despite this factual loyalty to the High Lords (although not to the evangelical extent of the Minotaurs), the chapter often seemingly acted under its own ruling system and would even go off the record for operations and campaigns. 
What is for certain in the current knowledge of the Imperium is that the Argent Stars was given complete control over an uninhabited desert world in a relatively unknown system in Segmentum Obscurus. The planet has since recently been dubbed "Eternium" by scholars and is located a few solar hours from an acceptable recruitment world of feudal techno-barbarians and savage tribes. It was on this world that the chapter built its rolling, nomadic Fortress-Monastery and grew its numbers to a staggering amount, bordering full manpower. Due to their allegiance with the High Lords, the chapter was also equipped with a high number of master-crafted weaponry and armor.
Only the High Lords themselves have the information regarding the true reasoning behind the chapter's creation, information they have kept under lock and seal for multiple millennia.
===The First Sighting===
The chapter was first released upon the foes of the Imperium following the devastating 5th Black Crusade in a high-risk search-and-rescue operation within the Elysia Sector. The surviving Guard Regiment fighting a straggler daemon horde on Ciepra Prime witnessed the chapter arrive in a ravaging flurry of Thunderhawks and Storm Eagles. Landing upon the decimated hive world, waves of tactical and devastator squads mowed down the encroaching horde of daemons in a spectacle of blood and splayed limbs while dozens of lines of Predators and Land Raiders dueled with the heretical armored companies, thundering them with shells the size of mortal men. Within the span of three solar days, the horde was shattered and obliterated. The commanding officer of the Regiment, Commander Ripdus Dufrane, met the leader of the Space Marine assault, Captain Aradiel, and knelt before him in gratitude for saving their lives and asked for their names. Aradiel only nodded before requesting immediate pick-up from the orbiting Battle Barges. The chapter left without uttering a single word beyond orders and battle cries; this was ordered by the High Lords themselves who wished for the chapter to be kept from record for as long as possible. The exact outcome of their given operation or who it was they were looking for was never revealed.
===Destroying, Rebuilding===
Unfortunately for the High Lords, however, the Argent Stars would be officially added to Imperial Record during an infamous series of battles on Plorix-III against the traitorous Night Lords who were attempting to claim their stake to the mineral rich world. Two standard solar weeks of battle destroyed the landscape of the lush feudal world, scarring the population and reducing the vast forests and towns to nothing more than smoldering cinders and ruins. Mountains of bolt shells rose into the blackened sky and lakes of blood seeped into the dirt and pits of gore dotted the fields. Nearly half of the chapter's 1000 marines were killed; the legion suffered nearly as much as the chapter, or seemingly so as they retreated from the sub-sector before they could suffer anymore. The chapter master himself was slain in those battles, beheaded by a Chaos Lord during a frantic duel that split the very crust of the planet itself. The Chaos Lord was subsequently gunned down and dismembered by the Honor Guard and 1st Company who had finally broken through the barricades set up by the traitorous legion. It is said that the lord's very head is kept in a glass box deep in the bowels of their Fortress-Monastery, its face forever expressing pain and torment. Despite being entered into official records by the surviving Guard Regiment of the planet, the High Lords did not send any reinforcements to aid the chapter due to the desire to either keep their connection hidden or have the chapter wiped out entirely and then act.
Anger towards this, alongside suspicion to their true purpose, can be seen as the primary reason towards their acts of complete secrecy.
Following these events, Captain Aradiel was named chapter master, a wise decision as he was one of the only possible candidates to realize the danger the chapter was in and not succumb to the fiery zeal others had and requested a time of respite. The time was granted and for the next four decades, the chapter rebuilt its numbers and only small units were sent to complete the missions of the High Lords. It was during this time period that the chapter discovered a great cavern in the oceans. Capable of breathing underwater due to the modified biology of a Space Marine as well as their armor, the chapter managed to further explore the cavern and found that it was filled with a metal that proved to be highly conductive with electricity yet could possibly still provide a defense similar, but not superior, to the standard ceramite used to produce most armors throughout the Imperium. The new Librarians would study the metal further alongside the Tech-Marines to see if the metal could be used to produce a limited set of armor for a special Marine unit. 
The testing took many months and several injuries, but in the end, the metal was able to be forged into a second layer of sorts that would be set over the standard power armor. A specially constructed generator would be added to the backpack in order to produce the electrical current through the new layer, the ceramite protecting the wearer from the incredible shock. The current was such that a single punch could send bolts directly towards the target location. Thus, the Tempest Storm unit was created to serve as a special auxiliary for the 1st company and by the time the chapter had utilized, stocked, and hid the conductive metal, they had reached full manpower once again.
=== Crusading, Unleashing ===
It was also around this time that Aradiel mysteriously vanished after wandering off into the cavern where the metal was discovered during a last minute charting of the metal veins. Some of those that were near him reported hearing a deep moaning noise off in the distance and believe he went off to investigate it, intending to return quickly; it is further believed that he was devoured, possibly by whatever made the noise in the depths of the ocean. Further investigations only discovered his discarded chainsword, his hand still attached to it, furthering the belief that he had perished at the maw of some unknown beast. Hasdiel of the Honor Guard was named the new Chapter Master, a role he kept through the 6th Black Crusade. He would eventually perish at the hands of a Chaos Dreadnought during a campaign into the Skoonov Sector sometime during M37.
Long up until the 12th Black Crusade, the chapter remained under the eye of the High Lords. More and more renegade planets were brought under the subjugation of the Imperium once again, either by outright surrender or the need of re-population with new colonists following the utter annihilation of the original population. More and more heretical cults were snuffed out and obliterated. More and more chaos warbands disappeared from the public eye, the only hint of their existence left behind being burning pits where countless shells had blown the landscape apart. More and more Inquisitors looked into their actions, despite no proper evidence supporting the accusations and rumors ever being discovered.
When Abaddon the Despoiler launched the 12th Black Crusade, the Argent Stars would find their path changed completely. Such was the size of the conflict that the unconventional tactics of the chapter were needed in full without any possible censoring or reigning in by the Administratum and thus, the High Lords officially released their direct hold on the chapter, finally giving them the freedom seen by many of the other chapters. Many within the Administratum argued against this decision, highlighting the sudden arrival of Tempest Storm as well as several moments of suspicious radio silence with the chapter as major reasons why they should be held under control like the Minotaurs. The causalities the Imperium was facing silenced many of those arguments for the moment.
The now free Argent Stars proved to be a valuable asset during the conflict, mainly due to their specialized electric unit and expert usage shock and and and armor assault tactics, now released at full strength. However, they, like most of their kind, faced heavy losses during the conflict, though nothing like their practical war against the Night Lords millennia ago, whom they faced once again in a brief skirmish in space, the halls of their ships filled with the dead. Aided by Imperial Guard Regiments and with knowledge of the first encounter passed down over the years, the chapter was able to successfully combat the savage tactics of the Night Lords for a time. Following the end of the conflict, the chapter returned home to begin planning for their new path and rebuild once again.
== Current Status ==
===New Beginnings, Joining the Pride, Prototypes===
The chapter master, Sachiel, received many honors for his leadership during the crusade and was now free to rule his chapter as he personally saw fit without the hearsay of the Administratum and the High Lords or the need to keep actions off the record. A self-searching crusade was enacted to learn their of their sires fully and not simply through the words of Administratum agents and legends. Connections with the Dark Angels were created and more of the 1st Legion's history was taught to them, including combat doctrines and tales of countless heroes and of the Lion. Sachiel ensured that the chapter adopted a chapter structure similar to their gene-sires so as to further their separation from the High Lords, who he slowly and secretly began seeing as inhibitors on the Space Marine forces; this belief was only furthered as he looked through what personal records the chapter kept on its history.
Eventually, at the beginning of the 13th Black Crusade, the Argent Stars were completely reforged into proper successors of the 1st Legion, now proudly adopting the status of "Unforgiven." The 1st and 2nd companies became the specialized homes to the marines deserving of their place with them. The 1st company became the permanent home to the greatest of the chapter's warriors and the Tempest Storm, almost exclusively following a close combat style of warfare. The 2nd company became the permanent home to the armored lines, now supported by two prototype heavy tanks: the Tempest Predators, twin Predator tanks encased in a second layer of the conductive metal; these prototypes are only deployed in the most dire of battles and are almost revered by the Armoury's Tech-Marines and Servitors.
=== A Damned Legion, Hunting the Warboss ===
During a defensive mission in the middle of the 13th Black Crusade, a devastator squad from the 9th Company of the chapter was caught in an ambush on Kasr Sonnen. Chaos Forces, believed to be a splinter Night Lords warband, had managed to completely surround the squad and the small Guard Regiment they were assigned to support. The squad, full of marines taught the art of war the Lion and his legion used before and after the Horus Heresy, managed to hold off the warband for a considerable time. Massive casualties were inflicted on the encroaching warband, but the forces of Chaos can be as violent and tenacious as the most savage Ork warboss. 
Over the long, seemingly endless days of battle, all routes of escape were destroyed or blocked off and the chances of mounting a counter attack were dwindling by the second. Two brothers were lost in the fighting and one more was whisked off into the shadows, his screams becoming ever distant. Chances of evacuation were shot when the orbiting Gladius Frigate and Thunderhawks were assaulted by the arrival of Dark Eldar. The rest of the chapter was preoccupied in the fighting near Cadia itself, yet again suffering massive losses that appeared impossible to recover fully from. The Guard Regiment, only one hundred strong, fell by the dozens. Yet the squad persevered through the decay and despair, constantly assisting the Regiment set up defenses and kept morale alive; for the longest time, it was as if Space Marine and Imperial Guard were one and the same, a type of kinship between post-human and human forming. Only one in the squad remained taciturn and straightforward: Sergeant Zazriel, for he knew that a leader could not afford to be human in trying times such as this.
The battle raged on for days. Days turned into a week.
And then, right as it seemed that the dark clouds surrounding the survivors would blanket them, the sky was lit aflame and from nowhere did the Legion of the Damned appear. Several dozen skeletal marines of black flame marching forward with negative fear, each one that fell instantly rising again. The sergeant of the squad rallied his 6 surviving marines and advanced with the Legion, pushing their foes back towards the darkness. The Dark Eldar ships in orbit were ruthlessly burned from the inside out and descending towards the planet, the wreckage crashing into the planet's crust. The warband was defeated and run off. The Legion vanished once again.
The squad would be evacuated that same day with what remained of the Regiment after it was declared that Kasr Sonnen was lost to Chaos. This Regiment in particular would become close allies with the chapter, going so far as to rename themselves after the 6th Company, becoming known as the Cadian 111th "The Iron Stars."
Following the devastation of Cadia and the Cadian Gate and at the onset of the Indomitus Crusade, the Argent Stars, now only 400 marines strong and down to a fraction of its fleet, set out with the Imperium's forces to help in the destruction of the Chaos and Xenos forces once and for all, their sights set especially on a particular Ork Warboss that has plagued them for millennia. Gloomclevah the Berzerker, a Blood Axes Warboss of renowned size and strength, measuring almost eleven feet in height and rippling with scarred muscle, has long been considered the eternal enemy of the chapter besides the Night Lords. It is currently unknown how the Ork has lived as long as it has, especially when it appeared to have died in M38, and the chapter will not stop its hunt until its head is in a glass box next to the Chaos Lord from Plorix-III. Aiding the chapter in this hunt are several Unforgiven as well as the remnants of the Cadian 111th, who each swore a life debt to Zazriel's squad in particular.
== Notable Campaigns ==
* Battles on Plorix-III (ca. 726.M36) - Night Lords Conflict. Half of the chapter killed. Aradiel named Chapter Master until his disappearance. 
* 6th Black Crusade (901.M36) - Full Strength
* Skoonov Slaughter (ca. M37) - Chapter Master Hasdiel lost along with 3/10th of the chapter. The lack of gene-seed forces the chapter to modify its structure.
* Torching of Loyir-IV (ca. 432.M37) - World Eaters Conflict. Planet destroyed on orders of High Lords.
* Assault of WAAAAGH! Gloomclevah (ca. 690.M37) - Ore Blood Axes Conflict. WAAAAGH! destroyed, but Gloomclevah and some of his forces managed to escape.
* 7th Black Crusade (811.M37) -
* 8th Black Crusade (999.M37) -
* Return of Gloomclevah (ca. 101.M38) - Ork Conflict. Gloomclevah seemingly killed in action against 4th Company Lieutenant Octiel after being bisected and kicked off a cliff into a ravine.
* The Coming of Night (ca. 400.M38) - Night Lords Conflict. Campaign stricken from official records.
* 9th Black Crusade (537.M38)
* Rise of Gloomclevah (ca. 757.M38) - Ork Conflict. Gloomclevah suddenly assaults the sub-sector of the chapter, managing to deal massive damage to the recruitment world before retreating back into space.
* 12th Black Crusade (139.M41)
* 13th Black Crusade (999.M41) - Most of the chapter lost.
* Hunting the Warboss (ca. M41-M42) - Allied with several Unforgiven Chapters and the Cadian 111th, the Argent Stars head out to end the perpetual threat of Gloomclevah, who seems to gathering more and more Greenskins to his horde.
== Gene-Seed ==
The gene-stock of the Argent Stars is pure, having been drawn directly from the lineage of the Dark Angels, and such has no known mutations or deficiencies.
Category:Space Marines
Category:Space Marine Chapters