Black Templars - The Crusades: The Black Templars have no Chapter homeworld, instead opting to live within their crusade fleets. They are ever-vigilant, and are always ready for battle. They do establish Chapter keeps on every world they conquer or reclaim for the Imperium, both to provide a source for new recruits and to act as staging posts for crusade fleets operating across the galaxy.They have been known to abandon these keeps, only to return and reclaim them later, usually exterminating anything foolish or unlucky enough to have taken up residence in their absence.Each crusade fleet is overseen by an officer with the rank of "Marshal" (equivalent to a captain or force commander in a Codex Astartes-compliant Chapter), while the Chapter Master, known as the "High Marshal" (currently High Marshal Helbrecht) travels between crusades on his personal flagship, the battle barge Eternal Crusader.There are usually at least three Black Templar crusades operating at any one time, although at one stage there were 14 known to the Imperium (during the "Treachery of Dalmark"), with each crusade ranging in size from the deployment of a hundred Space Marines and their fleet support to crusades containing several standard Codex Astartes companies.It is said that only the High Marshal has any idea of the Black Templars' full numbers, but it is rumoured in the Inquisition that they actually number close to 6,000 Space Marines. That would make them nearly as large as some of the original First Founding Space Marine Legions after the terrible losses of the Horus Heresy, and means that the Black Templars are one of only three Chapters of Astartes (the others being the Space Wolves and the Grey Knights) thought to violate the 1,000 Space Marines to a Chapter limitation as proscribed by the Codex Astartes.Such a force united would be nigh unstoppable in the Imperium of the 41st Millennium. The potential size of the Black Templars has resulted in close scrutiny by some of the more Puritan members of the Inquisition. Each Space Marine Chapter is limited to a strength of approximately 1,000 Astartes by ancient tradition and the orders of the Imperial Regent Roboute Guilliman in the wake of the Horus Heresy, so that no one person can ever again command enough military power to start another successful rebellion against the Emperor.The Chapter's history of zealous loyalty to the Emperor and the inability of any Inquisitor to find evidence supporting the claims of unusually high standing troop numbers has spared the Black Templars from further revelation of their true numbers. However, this has not prevented the Inquisition from trying to reveal the hidden size of the Black Templars.The larger Black Templar crusades contain multiple fighting companies, each led by a Sword Brethren of the Chapter who has been raised to the rank of "Castellan", equivalent to a lieutenant in a Codex-compliant Chapter. The largest crusades will be personally led by the High Marshal (as High Marshal Helbrecht did during the Armageddon Crusade called during the Third War for Armageddon).Since the individual squads of each fighting company tend to form and disband on an ad-hoc basis, most fight together out of familiarity and comradeship more than any imposed organisation. Rough squads form with 5 to 10 initiates (fully-fledged Black Templar battle-brothers) with no more than an equal number of neophytes (Black Templars-in-training). These squads have no sergeants, because the experienced members are quickly elevated to the rank of Sword Brethren, who take on the role of non-commissioned officers.Due to their preference for engaging their foes in close combat, few Black Templars are willing to use heavy ranged weapons. As a result, Devastator Squads are unusually rare amongst the Astartes of this Chapter.The Black Templars deviate from Codex Astartes-compliant Chapters, including the Imperial Fists, in one primary way. The Chapter's zealous hatred for mutants and inherent distrust of the Warp and anything related to it means that the Chapter possesses no Librarians and maintains no Librarius. The Grey Knights, known for their utter incorruptibility and genetic closeness to the Emperor, represent the only Imperial psykers that the Black Templars will take as allies.The Black Templar's extreme revulsion to fighting alongside any individuals tainted by the Empyrean would normally prevent them from being allied with anyone with such abilities. The Grey Knights are the exception as the Black Templars consider it an honour to fight alongside Astartes whose membership was originally chosen by the Emperor, who bear a portion of His direct genetic inheritance and not one of whom has ever been corrupted by the tempations of Chaos -- a feat that not even the zealous Black Templars can claim.This attitude towards psykers can prove to be challenging for those Black Templars who are chosen to serve in the Deathwatch and must learn to fight alongside the Librarians of other Chapters as part of a kill-team.