Laurentian Blood Brethren

The Blood Brethren are the fighting force of Laurentia and favored companions in arms to the Astartes of the Hallowed Glaive. They are those of Laurentian kin who have chosen to serve on the path of blood in the trinity of service to the Imperium and the Chapter.

Blood Brethren of Laurentia carry the blessings of the Emperor's warrior angels and are endowed with augments and arms by the Cult Mechanicus Cambria. Throughout Sector Gondwana, they are renowned as elite heralds of the Astartes and as the chosen of the Triumvirate.

## Service in Blood

*"Service is perpetual. Forever must books be re-written, lest their knowledge falls to oblivion. Forever must steel be forged, lest the works of humanity fall and decay. Forever must blood be spilled, lest the enemies will conquer all which humanity learned and forged." - The Litany of Laurentia, v. 329132*

Through blood the Brethren serve on a path of war, fighting the beast and the heretic and all which stands against the Imperium. Their service is dedicated wholly to the Astartes of the Hallowed Glaive. In training, in battle, in death, they seek to aid the emperor's angels in their crusades and conquest.

## Recruitment and Augmentation

The Blood Brethren are drafted from both the proudest and the lowliest of their kin.

Their elites are more often than not would-be initiates, valiant souls who braved the deadly seasons of the ring where they fought beast and machine to prove their worth as brothers to the chapter. Among all potential initiates, only a fraction may ever be chosen and those who may never ascend the **Spire of Creation** will continue to fight on, to find their way into the Castellum, where the path of war awaits them.

But into the ranks of the Brethren are also pushed those who fail to seek any other path and have descended from the spires into the underhives of their cities. In the chaotic catacombs where the Spires meet the ring, the weak of body and mind will perish, leaving only ruthless survivors to be forced into service by the elites of the Blood Brethren. There, they will serve as trainees either to be indoctrinated and recruited as proper brothers in arms or to die by the hands of more worthy recruits.

All who join the Blood Brethren undergo intensive training from a young age, growing up in their assigned units and receiving roles according to their talent and strength. In rituals performed by the Cult Mechanicus Cambria, they are changed and augmented, their minds cleansed and focused on their path.

These periods of technological enhancement are the only times the brethren do not spend in strict combat training and education in the arts of war as they are practiced by the Hallowed Glaive.

Knowledge of the tactics and strategies employed by the Astartes is most important to the soldiers of the Blood Brethren, for it is needed to serve the chapter with utmost efficiency.

Once augmentation and base training is finished on the World of Laurentia, the Blood Brethren will be sent alongside proven initiates to the battlefields of Sector Gondwana, where they will fight alongside the Astartes Battle Brothers.

## The Highest Honor

Fighting alongside the Astartes of the Hallowed Glaive, the highest honor a Blood Brethren may receive is the tutelage of one Battle Brother, who chooses to recognize the mortal in their service. From there on, the Brethren may serve as a Battle Brother's squire and answer to the orders of his Lord alone.

This highest honor may be extended to entire units of Laurentia's Blood Brethren, leading to bonds in battle between Astartes and mortals, which are nearly unheard of in the rest of the Imperium.