Ashen Claws - Ancient Pact: During the Heresy, the Ashen Claws refused to cast their lot with either the Emperor or the Archtraitor Horus. Despairing at the chaos engulfing the galaxy, and their own Primarch's disgust at their slaver practices, they had turned against both the Imperium and Chaos, unleashing devastation on the Night Lords and their home sector of Nostramo. Afterwards, they had slipped away, disappearing from both Imperial space and those records that survived the Heresy's carnage. Few now living knew they still existed, let alone where they made their home. The Carcharodons Chapter were among those few.As Renegades, the Ashen Claws were hunted -- loathed by all those who counted themselves as faithful servants of the Emperor, who considered it their foremost duty to destroy any such Renegades. Living outside of Imperial law and the light of the Emperor, the Ashen Claws were forced to take extreme measures in order to survive. This included their dealings with their fellow exiles, the Carcharodons. Over the millennia, the Ashen Claws' resources and manpower had been bled dry by their long exile. This forced them to deal with other Astartes of a similar dark reputation. There was an ancient pact between the Carcharodons and the Ashen Claws, forged some time ago in the distant past, almost ten millennia earlier.It is the duty of the Carcharodons' Reaper Prime, beyond the Captaincy of that Chapter's 3rd Company, to ensure that the Chapter is constantly supplied with fresh Aspirants. This was normally achieved during the so-called "Red Tithes," when the Chapter's Edicts of Exile permitted it to descend on an Imperial world and harvest the population. The vast majority of those taken would go on to become slaves and serf labourers in the Chapter's great fleet, providing the means by which the Carcharodons Astra could continue to function in exile. Those of the right age and temperament, however, would undertake the trials. Few would survive to become 10th Company Initiates. The degree of attrition during the induction process was higher even than that of most Space Marine Chapters, but it was the unavoidable legacy of the Carcharodons' unique nature.The Red Tithes, however, were not the only means of recruitment. During times of desperation the Chapter had recourse to another brotherhood, one that, like the Carcharodons, had chosen the path of exile -- the Ashen Claws. However, when dealing with these outcasts, the Carcharodons had to step lightly, for negotiations with such Renegades was tricky at best, and at worst, often resulted in bloodshed. The Carcharodons only dealt with their Renegade brethren in the most dire of circumstances, especially when their own numbers had grown too thin to be replenished by the Red Tithes. This was a direct result of sustaining too many casualties at a rate that could not be replaced, due to the Carcharodons' never-ending War in the Deeps. And they could not increase their rate of recruitment without compromising the induction process or dedicating extra companies to the Tithes.War matériel was the price of currency the Carcharodons had to pay for their harvest of flesh. But dealing with their erstwhile brethren was a dubious undertaking, for Atargatis was a dangerous place. The Ashen Claws did not treat the Carcharodons with the respect they deserved. The Ashen Claws' Master would often try to provoke the senior officer of the Carcharodons' sent to deal with them -- taunting, setting the Carcharodons' representatives against each other, seeking to cause them to act rashly, so that their hand in the negotiations would be weakened.