Black Templars - Chapter Beliefs: All Space Marines are renowned for their fervent dedication, but the extent of the Black Templars' faith is often described as fanatical. They seek nothing less than to crush every last enemy of Mankind.The Chapter's dogma reserves a special hatred for particular enemies, specifically the mutant, the Heretic, and the witch. The reason for this is to be found in the Chapter's Founding, springing from the contempt in which Sigismund held those Heretic Astartes who had cast off their oaths and turned against the Imperium during the Horus Heresy.In assuming the mantle of the Emperor's Champion, Sigismund delivered the ultimate judgement on those who had betrayed the Master of Mankind, executing them by his own hand. It is the zeal to prosecute such crimes that drives the Black Templars in their crusades across the galaxy and beyond the borders of the Imperium, lending them the strength to face any foe.When a Black Templars battle-brother strikes down a champion of the enemy, he is enacting the judgement of Sigismund and through him the Emperor Himself, and continuing a tradition established at the height of the Imperium's most terrible crisis.For ten thousand standard years the Black Templars have crusaded to prove their loyalty, and this creed has become so embedded in their doctrines that they are utterly ruthless towards anyone or anything perceived as a threat to the Emperor. Unlike most other Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, the Black Templars have come to revere the Emperor as the one, true god of Mankind, just as the mortals of the Imperium do, and this belief has driven them to new heights of fanaticism.However, the Black Templars are first and foremost Space Marines, and so even their faith is superhuman in its focus and dedication. Their gruelling rites are every bit as tasking as their battle drills -- to the Black Templars, ceremonial dedications to the Emperor and their martial drilling are one and the same.The Black Templars have been known to mercilessly wipe out entire planetary populations to expunge the sin of heresy, while the mere presence of a witch on the battlefield drives them into a zealous fury against which few enemies have any hope of standing.The Black Templars' professed loathing of the witch even extends to those psykers in the employ of the Imperium. As a result, the Black Templars eschew the use of all Librarians in their ranks, unwilling to have any of their brethren touched by the taint of the Warp.When not engaged in battle, the brethren of the Black Templars are invariably to be found preparing for it. They pass their time in prayer and meditation, or engaged in exacting training rituals.Those Initiates entrusted with the training of a neophyte spend long solar hours passing on their knowledge to their young apprentice and supervising endless drills, practice sessions, and trials. The brethren frequently impose upon themselves many hardships, foregoing all but the bare necessities in order to purify themselves in the eyes of the Emperor and their Primarch, and to emulate the example of their founder Sigismund.When serving alongside the battle-brothers of other Space Marine Chapters, many Black Templars prepare themselves through long fasts and solar-week-long vigils in order to tolerate the presence of Space Marine Librarians. For those who serve a Long Vigil in the Deathwatch, fighting alongside a brother Space Marine who wields psychic power is a particular hardship, a trial they must undergo in order to serve the Emperor more fully and to strike down the hated alien.For this reason, great care is undertaken when selecting a Black Templar for secondment to the Deathwatch, for only a brother able to contain his deep-seated intolerance against psykers will be able to fight to his full capacity. Despite this, even these individuals are likely to pass every hour not spent fighting in deep contemplation and prayer, often cloistering themselves away from their fellow Deathwatch brothers in a personal shrine to the Emperor, Rogal Dorn, and Sigismund.In temperament, the battle-brothers of the Black Templars Chapter are united by the fiery zeal that burns within the heart of each, a fire first sparked by High Marshal Sigismund himself and stoked each day by the oratory of the Chaplains and by the exemplary texts that each brother reads every hour he is not on active duty.While each Black Templar is inspired by the same crusading drive to utterly crush the enemies of the Emperor, there nonetheless exists a degree of variation within the ranks. Those brethren only recently initiated into the Chapter as full battle-brothers might be driven to prove themselves in the eyes of their more experienced peers.Only when they have done so will they be granted the right and the responsibility to train a neophyte themselves. Throughout his service as an Initiate, the battle-brother gains experience and wisdom, until he may, if he survives long enough and is judged worthy, enter the ranks of his Marshal's household as a Sword Brother.These warriors have learned to temper the fires of hatred with the wisdom of their years, and they are an example to the entire Chapter.