Ashen Apostles

Ashen Apostles armorial with the iconography of the Grand Clerics Sect

Speaker of the Faith of the Grand Clerics Sect

### **Specialty**

Diplomacy, Policing Actions, Suppression of Ideological Revolt and Anti-Chaos Operations.

### **Colours**

Light Grey, Dark Grey and Black usually adorned with prayer scriptures and high gothic chants engraved on their armour (Right Arm and Gauntlet differs between Sect)

### Successor Chapter(s)

N/A

"*This is the domain of the Emperor, just as all things that have been or will be. We are the Emperor's sons, his chosen divine, his angels of death and because of this, it is our duty to protect his domain from these heretical thoughts. These filthy subhumans taint this planet and it is our duty to cleanse it until all that remains is ash* "
— Unknown High Speaker during the 'Fire Pit' Campaign
The **Ashen Apostles** are a Loyalist Space Marine chapter descended from an unknown parent Chapter founding during the 21st 'Cursed' Founding. The chapter earns the distrust of other chapters simply being born during the time of the Cursed Founding, however, is not the only thing that earns them the distrust of other Astartes. The Apostles preference for diplomacy rather than all-out war has made war-loving chapters such as the Space Wolves and Black Templars dislike the Apostles even more. When in and out of battle the Apostles are some of the most fanatical worshipers of the God-Emperor of all the Adeptus Astartes and because of this, many of the worlds the Chapter has conquered are now highly religious due to the Apostles' influences. Because of this, the chapter has often been accused of slackness in pursuing defeated enemies, as they often attempt to bring rogues back into the fold of the Imperium rather than eliminate them entirely.

## Chapter History

### The Enlightenment (998.M36-003.M37)

Upon the creation of the chapter during the 21st Founding, the chapter, unnamed at the time, was sent to deal with a possible chaos cult growing on the planet of Ymittre II. Upon investigating the main hive of the planet, they discovered a large chaos cult within the hive. After this discovery, the chapter immediately began burning down all of the hive levels that had cult activity within them. After successfully destroying the cult by burning down approximately 24% of the Mid-Hive's levels, some of the Astartes within the chapter began preaching to the masses while still covered in the ash of the burned hive floors. While doing this, the hive's populace quickly began referring to them as their "Ashen Apostles" bringing them into the light of the Emperor. During this, the new chapter began to take on the name and spent a very large amount of time preaching to the denizens of the hive before leaving in their ships.

After cleansing Ymittre II, the Apostles began to visit the rest of the system's planets, searching for and cleansing any chaos and corruption present and then spending very long periods of time preaching to the masses. This led to the chapter being adored by the citizens they brought the Emperor's light to, yet it also brought the spite of the Inquisition, as they believed the chapter to be lax in pursuing their goals.

However, upon spending so much time extinguishing the heresy of chaos, some of the chapters began to find new goals in the light of different, much darker gods than the Emperor.

### The Great Splintering (041-046.M36)

After spending years investigating and destroying possible chaos cults, some within the chapter began to turn to chaos themselves. This slowly began as a small cult of a dozen members within the bowels of the chapter's flagship, however, this number increased when the cult gained and important leader, 4th Captain Zachariel Mhontas.

After Mhontas joined the cult, he began a complete reform of it, renaming it the Enlightened, and attempted to induct every member of his company into it. Any members that refused would very quickly meet their demise in a tragic accident. After 30 years of recruiting, the entirety of the 4th and 6th companies had joined the cult, along with some others from other cults. After this, Mhonats had decided that if people would not join him, they would die, and everyone he saw as a threat along with them. All of this eventually culminated at Xarik I.

#### The Betrayal at Xarik I (041.M37)

On 041.M37, most of the Chapters bulwark gathered in the Xarik system after supposed reports of heretical activity. The last Census of the planets, however, was 800 years outdated, so the Chapter was cautious of what forces the enemies had. But this was all but an elaborate ruse in order to put the loyalist forces of the Chapter in a disadvantageous position, so that the Enlightened may dispose of them swiftly.

## Notable Campaigns

### The Fire Pit (153-154.M37)

The Fire Pit is the name given to the Imperial Campaign, officially known as the Lorhan Hive Massacre, which was an Imperial Campaign against the Chaos-tainted hive city of Lorhan on the planet Yrat II. The original stages of the campaign consisted of the chapter sending squads of Space Marines down into the hive to destroy any chaos corruption while Ecclesiarchal representatives within the hive preached to the upper hive.

Once it was revealed that the Hive's Governor, Borad Klannis, was the leader of a large heretical cult in the upper hive, the chapter personally killed every noble within the Hive under the fear that they may be part of the cult, until they left and orbitally bombarded the hive until it was completely levelled. In order to make sure no taint was still there, the chapter flooded the underhive with mass amounts of promethium and then set it alight. Only when the fire stopped did the chapter leave, deeming the hive cleansed.

## Chapter Organisation

The organisation of the Ashen Apostles is fairly different from what is dictated within the *Codex Astartes*. Firstly, the Reclusium and most Command roles within the chapter have been merged into one organisation, meaning the roles of Chapter Master and Master of Sanctity have been merged into the single role of the Master of the Faith. Also, rather than having 5 Battle Companies, 4 Reserve Companies, and a Scout Company like *Codex*-compliant chapters, the Ashen Apostles instead have the 4 Great Sects - the Undying, the Stalwart Brothers, the Watchful Vanguard, and the Soaring Dragoons - and 1 Command Sect - the Grand Clerics.

### Great Sects

#### The Grand Clerics

* **Master of the Faith (Chapter Master)**
* **Lord Speaker (Captain)**
* **High Speaker (Lieutenant)**
* **Speaker of the Faith (Sergeant)**

#### The Undying

* **Black Warden (Sect Captain)**
* **Black Conqueror (Veteran)**
* **Black Drakes (Veteran Assault)**
* **Black Champion (Terminators)**
* **Black Archai (Dreadnought)**

#### The Stalwart Brothers

* **High Zealot (Sect Captain)**
* **Zealous Brother (Battleline)**
* **Zealous Protector (Fire Support)**
* **Zealous Dragon (Close Support)**

#### The Watchful Vanguard

* **Lord Praetorian (Sect Captain)**
* **Praetorian Brother (Battleline)**
* **Praetorian Protector (Fire Support)**
* **Praetorian Ancient (Venerable Dreadnought)**
* **Archaic Praetorian (Dreadnought)**
* **Watchful Eye (Scout)**

#### The Soaring Dragoons

* **Red Drake (Sect Captain)**
* **Red Dragon Squad (Close Support)**
* **Red Stallion Squad (Bike Squad)**

### Specialisations

#### Curatae

Due to the Apostles' stringent views on psykers, the Curatae of the chapter are very rarely used in battle situations and are instead mainly used to protect and update the Chapters many libraries of history and lore. There is always to be at least one Curatae onboard a ship of the Apostles in order to protect its Librarium.

### Order of Battle

#### Headquarters

**Master of the Faith, Ptor Vidora**
**High Baron, Donum Janisse**
**The Divine Knights**
**Command Squad (Chapter Banner Bearer, Cog Smith, Authi & Holy Mender)**
**Master of the Cog, Grassin Cormell**
**134 Servitors**
**11 Predator Battle Tanks**
**7 Land Raider Heavy Tanks**
**15 Land Speeder Scout Vehicles**
**14 Stormtalon Gunships**
**15 Assault Bikes**
**Master of the Medica, Yoren Lakuara**
**16 Holy Menders**
**Master of the Scroll, Lucien Piorta**
**3 Authi**
**6 Editi**
**4 Graphi**

#### Great Sects (Companies)

**Black Warden Dorman Kalees**
**3 Lord Speakers**
**7 High Speakers**
**19 Speakers of the Faith**
**15 Black Conqueror Squads**
**3 Black Drake Squads**
**6 Black Champion Squads**
**2 Black Archai**
**4 Holy Menders**
**High Zealot Loras Blanyte**
**6 Lord Speakers**
**8 High Speakers**
**29 Speakers of the Truth**
**23 Zealous Brother Squads**
**4 Zealous Protector Squads**
**3 Zealous Dragon Squads**
**3 Archaic Zealots**
**5 Holy Menders**
**Episcopi**
**Lord Praetorian Sandor Nortal**
**4 Lord Speakers**
**6 High Speakers**
**24 Speakers of the Truth**
**Praetorian Ancient Talus Dorian**
**17 Praetorian Brother Squad**
**7 Praetorian Protector Squads**
**2 Archaic Praetorians**
**4 Holy Menders**
**Red Drake Gregor Donturne**
**3 Lord Speakers**
**5 High Speakers**
**17 Speakers of the Faith**
**12 Red Dragon Squads**
**5 Red Stallion Squads**
**3 Holy Menders**
**2 Cog Smiths**

## Chapter Beliefs

"*Great holy armies shall be gathered and trained to fight all who embrace evil. In the name of the God-Emperor, ships shall be built to carry our warriors out amongst the stars and we will spread the Imperial Creed to all the unbelievers. The power of the God-Emperor will be felt far and wide, and the wicked shall be vanquished.*"
— Speech by the Master of the Faith during the outset of The Penance Crusades, ca. M36
## Chapter Gene-Seed

At the current moment of time, the gene-seed of the Ashen Apostles seems to be amazingly pure. None of their gene-seed has any deformities, leaving the Apostles to believe that they are purer than chapters with abnormal gene-seed, often looking down upon them.

## Notable Ashen Apostles

* **Master of the Faith Ptor Vidora** -

* **Master of the Scroll Lucien Piorta** -

* **Master of the Medica Yoren Lakuara** -

* **Master of the Cog Grassin Cormell** -

* **Black Warden Dorman Kalees** -

* **High Zealot Loras Blanyte** -

* **Lord Praetorian Sandor Nortal** -

* **Red Drake Gregor Donturne** -

* **Praetorian Ancient Talus Dorian** -

## Deathwatch Service

During the chapter's entire history, they have yet to send a single brother to stand the Long Watch. This is because the majority of the chapter believes that the threat of xenos is nothing compared to the looming shadow of Chaos. Because of this, the chapter is on fairly bad terms with the Ordo Xenos as they believe they are cowardly for not supplying the Deathwatch with fresh Astartes.

## Chapter Fleet

The Ashen Apostles exist as an entirely fleet-based chapter due to them never stopping their constant repentance and faith Crusades. Because of this, the chapter has a fairly large fleet when compared to non-crusading Chapters.

The Chapters fleet consists of the following ships:

* ***The Iron Library* (Infernus Class Battleship)**:

* ***Radiant Angel* (Battle Barge)**

* ***Repentant Angel* (Battle Barge)**

* ***Steel Wall* (Strike Cruiser)**

* ***Sword of Mercy* (Strike Cruiser)**

* ***Golden Saviour* (Strike Cruiser)**

* ***Winged Vengeance* (Strike Cruiser)**

* ***Bloodied Author* (Strike Cruiser)**

* **(Vanguard Class Light Cruiser)**

* **(Vanguard Class Light Cruiser)**

* **(Gladius Class Frigate)**

* **(Gladius Class Frigate)**

* **(Gladius Class Frigate)**

* ***The Steel Hammer* (Nova Class Frigate)**

## Chapter Relics

* ***The Kiss of Faith***: The Kiss of Faith is a large ancient two-handed Power Maul linked back to the days of the chapter's founding. The Power Maul is generally wielded by the Master of the Faith and is currently in the possession of Ptor Vidora. Most of the metal on the Power Maul is dark steel, with dark leather-wrapped handles. During combat, the Power Maul can ignite on fire via a device within the center of the head.

* ***The Book of the Faithful***: The Book of the Faithful is the oldest document within the Ashen Apostles' libraries, currently stored within the Iron Library. The date when the book was written is unknown, however, it is assumed to have been created during the origins of the chapter. The book contains an entire history of the chapter, noting all battles, dates and people of interest. The book is currently stored deep within the Reliquary of the Iron Library.

## Chapter Appearance

### Chapter Colours

The armour of the Ashen Apostles consists of three different colours. Most of the armour consists of a light grey, except for the inner helm, trim and inner pauldrons. The right arm, inner helm, and inner pauldrons consist of a darker grey than the grey used for most of the armour. The trim and some other small parts of the armour are pure black. The brothers of the chapter also tend to write high gothic prayers and scriptures in white upon their armour. The right vambrace and gauntlet differ between the 5 Sects. The Grand Clerics have their vambraces and some other details a dark grey, the Stalwart Brothers have a white and black right vambrace, the right vambrace of the Watchful Vanguard is a deep purple, the right vambrace of the Soaring Dragoon Sect is a dark red and the Undying have their right vambrace and helmet is entirely black.

Armorial of the Stalwart Brothers Sect.Armorial of the Watchful Vanguard Sect.Armorial of the Soaring Dragoons Sect.Armorial of the Undying Sect.
### Chapter Badge

The symbol of the Ashen Apostles differ slightly between the Great Sects, however, it always keeps the same bone white scroll within the centre. The Brothers of the Grand Clerics have a burning scroll as their insignia, the Stalwart Brothers have a Sword going through the scroll, the Brothers of the Watchful Vanguard have a Shield within the scroll, the Brothers of the Soaring Dragoons bear a scroll with a feather within it and the Brothers of the Undying have a burnt, charred black scroll.

### Enemies

#### The Enlightened

Since the creation of the Enlightened chaos Warband from the Apostles' 4th and 6th companies, they have hunted down and destroyed any semblance of them within the galaxy. Where the Enlightened go only devastation arrives once the Apostles come, as they have been known to exact *Exterminatus* against worlds at the mere rumour of the Enlightened's presence.

## Notable Quotes

### By the Ashen Apostles:

"*There are two sides in any war, the faithful and the unfaithful. The loyal and the traitor. The warriors of the Him upon Holy Terra and all who seek to oppose him. In the beginning, all human life is precious and can be put to use, the only difference is choices. The choice to remain loyal or betray your Imperium. The choice to praise He upon the Golden Throne or worship false gods within the infernal sea. The only difference is where they will end, the traitor will die alone, unloved and uncared for by his 'gods' while the faithful die a hero praised by the ones they have saved. Now tell me, what side are you on?* "
— Master of the Faith Ptor Vidora after annexing the world of Nureta I
### About the Ashen Apostles:

*Feel free to add your own*

 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

[Source]

## Gallery

Ashen Apostles High Baron (Chapter Champion) Donum Janisse.Ashen Apostles Zealous Brother of the Stalwart Brothers Sect;Ashen Apostles Praetorian Protector of the Watchful Vanguard Sect;Ashen Apostles Red Dragon Sergeant of the Soaring Dragoons Sect;Ashen Apostles Black Conqueror of the Undying Sect;Ashen Apostles Land Raider Crusader, *Vehement Wrath*, of the Stalwart Brothers Grand Sect.