Astral Claws - Chapter History: The Astral Claws is a name that is vilified within the Imperium, synonymous now with infamy and treachery, and in time perhaps a name that will eventually be wiped from history altogether, but it was not always so.For more than five thousand Terran years, the Astral Claws Space Marine Chapter stood shoulder to shoulder with the finest of the Imperium's warriors, their deeds were legendary and their honour unquestioned.It was their glorious record of exemplary service that won them the singular honor of the overall command of the Maelstrom Warder force when they were assigned to the Badab Sector in 587.M41. Lufgt Huron rose to prominence and the leadership of his Chapter in 697.M41.It is remarkable to Imperial scholars today that one man, even one as extraordinary as Lufgt Huron, could bring so mighty and loyal a force over to the brink of heresy and rebellion, yet he managed to do so.Some argue that Huron was no more than the result of the Chapter's overweening arrogance and self-importance, and that a man like Lufgt Huron would never have been allowed to rise to command in another Chapter, nor would any other Chapter so carelessly and knowingly have followed him into damnation.The Astral Claws is believed to have been part of the 10th Founding although some sources differ on this. Created amid the dark times of the Nova Terra Interregnum, few records remain surrounding this Founding, which was believed to have been initiated to counteract the rapid erosion and contraction of the Imperium's borders during this period.The few such records that survive relating to the Astral Claws in this era paint them as a Crusading Chapter, despatched from warzone to warzone in order to battle Mankind's enemies.Evidence of their presence can be found in Departmento Munitorum records relating to the Perfidian Wars and anti-Ork purges of Lord Solar Jurastis Macro, while further traces of their exploits can also be found on battle shrines relating to the later battles against Nova Terran forces during the Cataclysm of Souls that brought the Interregnum to its end.One of their most acclaimed victories occurred during the defence of Cadia from the 5th Black Crusade, for which their Chapter's standard was taken for display in the halls of the Eternity Gate in the Imperial Palace of Holy Terra itself.For much of the 37th and the early 38th Millennia, the Astral Claws appear to have confined their range of operations to the Segmentum Obscurus. Their deeds are mentioned repeatedly in the Apocrypha Kaali, a valuable historical resource compiled by, and still held in the great Scholastica Corpus on Cypra Mundi, which details the turbulent events of the Occlusiad War and its aftermath.The Apocrypha further mentions the Astral Claws as having "three sons" which most likely implies that three Successor Chapters had been drawn from their ranks, which would be a remarkable number if true, given their relative youth as a Chapter at the time, and if so, a testament to the high regard in which they were held.Matters seem to have taken a darker turn for the Chapter in the early 38th Millennium however, as the Astral Claws are recorded as being destroyed in action during the Altid Crusade while fighting alongside the Dark Angels in 288.M38.It is not until the fall of the Gorgon Pentarchy nearly eighteen standard centuries later that the Astral Claws are reported again fighting at full strength, with some mention of them undertaking a penitent crusade in-between.Their war record for the 39th and 40th Millennia records that the Astral Claws were a fleet-based crusading Chapter, ranging within the Segmentum Solar and the Segmentum Tempestus, responding to emergencies and adding their strength to ongoing conflicts, often tipping them in the Imperium's favour.Some commentators at the time accused the Chapter of a greater lust for glory than the rewards of duty. One action by the Astral Claws which was to have unforeseen repercussions later was the relief of the besieged Executioners Chapter at Stygia-Aquilon.The battle engendered a blood-debt between the two Space Marine forces that Lufgt Huron would later call on to gain the Executioners' aid during the Badab War.