Aacharns

Aacharns armorial with Chapter iconography.

Aarcharns Firstborn Battle-Brother of the 2nd Company, 7th Battleline Squad.

The **Aacharns** are a *Codex*-compliant Loyalist Space Marine Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes from the 25th Founding, the so-called 'Bastion Founding', of unknown genetic lineage. The Chapter is unique in that while it is strongly compliant to the *Codex Astartes*, it also rigorously follows a unique splinter sect of the Imperial Cult in which they believe that the Emperor' ascended to divinity upon sitting on the Golden Throne and that His soldiers must honor Him by defeating His foes in a ritual hunt and marking them as claimed in his honor, via scrimshaw.

## Chapter History

The Aacharns were founded during the 25th 'Bastion Founding' to fight off threats in the region near the planet of Temokla, particularly Ork Warbands gathering to the northwest of the planet. The chapter was assembled and served dutifully despite strange mutations and after returning from slaying a Bloodaxe Warboss they found a Lord Inquisitor on their homeworld with a writ from the Ecclesiarchy to go on a penance crusade to atone for their mutation. Upon receiving this the chapter was sent out to fight a crusade against an Aeldari Craftworld and after fifty years were caught in a warp storm. The chapter was sucked into the warp, trapped until fourty years later when a chaos cult attempting to call a Greater Daemon they were worshipping instead opened the storm sufficiently that the fleet was pulled back out.

## Chapter Homeworld

The Aacharns' homeworld of Temokla is a planet in the Segmentum Obscurus very nearly the size of Terra and covered in vast seas with small rocky outcroppings jutting from its crust. The Temoklae people live in small thalassocratic societies based around bunker-like structures built into the rocks to hold living spaces, storage and geothermal power plants. The Aacharns themselves are the only planetary governing force, and the captain of the 2nd Company serves as Regent of Temokla and the Grandmaster as its ruler.

### Fortress-Monastery

Mt. Sun's Reach is one of the few large land masses on the planet of Temokla with a large mountain to its southeast. A fortress juts from its side with large artillery defenses and a large network of catacombs and hallways that can be filled via levies to drown invaders. A large spire hanger sends out storm talon units for training drills and for mobile policing, hovering across the water.

## Chapter Organization

The Aacharns adhere very closely to the *Codex Astartes*, tailored slightly to their specialized amphibious and aerial warfare capabilities. The Chapter is divided into multiple specialized units, with each unit designated to fulfill a specific role in aquatic, coastal, or naval operations. They possess dedicated naval assault squads, deep-sea-based recon teams, and specialized assault units for storming enemy-held coastal fortifications.

### Officer Ranks

* **Chapter Master**
* **Captain**
* **Lieutenant**

### Specialist Ranks

* **Reclusiarch**
* **Chaplain**
* **Chief Librarian**
* **Librarian**
* **Chief Apothecary**
* **Apothecary**
* **Master of the Forge**
* **Techmarine**
* **Chapter Champion**
* **Company Champion**
* **Ancient (Standard Bearer**
* **Honoured Ancient (Dreadnought)**

### Line Ranks

* **Veteran Sergeant**
* **Veteran**
* **Sergeant**
* **Battle-Brother**
* **Scout Marine**
* **Neophyte**
* **Aspirant**

## Chapter Recruitment

The chapter generally raises all of its aspirants on-site at their fortress-monastery in order to prevent factionalism and affiliation to individual hunting bands from forming in the chapter. To the Aacharns the only tribe or hunting band of any meaning in the chapter is the chapter itself. These youths are trained in a myriad of forms of combat and are assessed through many trials at the discretion of the Master of Recruits they are subjected to implantation of gene-seed and permitted to continue their training.

## Chapter Culture

The Aacharns are richly attuned to the traditions of warrior-hunter bands prevalent on the large war-skiffs used by the Temoklae. They follow a unique splinter-sect of the Imperial Creed believing that the Emperor ascended the Golden Throne to Godhood to fend of the demon and the alien from the Immaterium and that "Our Lord's Hunt" (the Aacharn's term for the Great Crusade) begins anew in realspace. For this reason the Aacharns' ritually hunt Xenos and demons in the same way that regular humans might hunt game animals. Their skulls and hands are collected as trophies, scrimshawed with Hexagrammatic Wards and protections by their Chaplains and then scrimshawed with religious iconography and prayers to the God-Emperor by the battle-brother who claimed the bones. In many cases, these will be mounted on the armor of the battle-brother in order to show his faith in the Emperor and to seek favor in battle.

## Chapter Gene-Seed

### Gene-seed Mutations

The Aacharns are known to have a number of genetic mutations. The Aacharn's Occulobe has a strange defect which causes the chemical barriers from the Bioscopea to be altered, making mutant forms of its hormones secrete into the eyes. The smooth muscles of the eye become overactive, making them able to constrict or dilate at will like an eagle but at the same time, the mutated Melanochrome leeches dark pigment from their skin and eyes causing them to have a leucistic appearance to their skin and hair with bright blue eyes. This makes them somewhat sensitive to bright light. The result is Astartes with a degree of photosensitivity but extremely keen eyesight at long distances and enhanced visual clarity underwater. This makes the Aacharns excellent snipers, with even neophytes rivaling Ratlings and even highly trained Tau with coilguns. They are also made dangerous combatants underwater and at night. Whether gene-seed with this mutation was given to them by the Adeptus Mechanicus due to being fitting of their homeworld is unknown.

## Combat Doctrine

The Aacharns are adept at ensuring that they meet the enemy in an advantageous kind of engagement. They focus primarily on advantages of reach and cover that most threats cannot use such as amphibious assaults, utilizing their unique connection to their shallows-based homeworld. They excel in aquatic and coastal operations, employing swift strike forces and utilizing their knowledge of the enemies' movement patterns to their advantage. Their combat doctrine emphasizes flexibility and small units focused on skill-at-range. They seamlessly transition between naval engagements and other warfare, harnessing the power of the environments most unbefitting their enemies to conquer them in combat.

## Deathwatch Service

The Aacharns' make good quality brothers of the Long Vigil, but it is often the case that they avoid serving openly as members of their chapter in order to prevent the alarm being raised by their appearance in inhospitable chapters such as the Dark Angels and their successors. For this reason, most Aacharns' seconded to the Deathwatch are Black Shields who have both of their progenoids painfully removed prior to leaving their parent chapter.

## Notable Members

Durim Vaal- Durim Vaal was a wise and capable 2nd company captain who ascended to the rank of Grandmaster in the year 740.M41, a short time before the beginning of the Time of Ending. Vaal was known to be a capable orator and tactician even as a neophyte, leading a mixed force of scouts

## Chapter Relics

The Aacharns possess several relics associated with their warfare:

* ***Trident of Tides* (Master-Crafted Power Weapon)** - The *Trident of Tides* is a master-crafted power weapon that channels an ocean blue distortion field, capable of generating devastating blows.
* ***Aquiline Shell* (Artificer Power Armour)** - The *Aquiline Shell* is a unique artificer power armor variant that allows the wearer to seamlessly transition between aerial and aquatic combat via an enhanced grav-chute system and highly adaptable force multiplier circuits in the suit's artificial muscles.

## Chapter Appearance

### Chapter Colours

The Aacharns primarily wear navy blue coloured power armour with the colour white as a secondary colour on the pauldrons, arms, couters (elbow guards), vambraces and gauntlets.

Due to their religious beliefs, the Aacharns ritualistically hunt and slay xenos and daemons, taking their bones and skulls as personal trophies. These grisly tokens are then scrimshawed with hexagrammic wards of protection by their Chaplains. Battle-Brothers are also known to scrimshaw various religious iconography and prayers to the God-Emperor on these claimed bones and will display them upon their battle-plate as a sign of their faith.

Navy blue coloured squad specialty markings (Fire Support, Close Support, Battleline, Veteran and Command) are displayed on their right shoulder pauldron inset, indicating a Battle-Brother's assigned battlefield specialty. A small white Roman numeral is centered upon these markings, indicating a battle-brother's assigned squad. A much larger white Roman numeral stenciled on their left poleyn (knee guard) indicates company assignment.

### Chapter Badge

The chapter badge of the Aacharns is the head of an eagle, styled similarly to that of the Raptor Imperialis with a barbed fishing spear pointing diagonally to the right. The badge is painted in the chapter's dark blue coloration.

## Notable Quotes

### About the Aacharns

 White Scars Successors
 Space Wolves Successors
 Imperial Fists Successors
 Blood Angels Successors
 Iron Hands Successors
 Ultramarines Successors
 Salamanders Successors
 Raven Guard Successors
 Unknown Lineage
 Renegades

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