The Builders of Calais

[Intrepid]

Taking a break from 6th Ed rumor-mongering, I thought I'd work on the fluff for my Judgment Condors Marines. This is an attempt to explain how a relatively young Chapter (with a high attrition rate, being near the Eye of Terror) might be able to field a full Terminator company. Not that I intend to field such an army on the tabletop but my fluff has two such companies working closely with the Imperial Navy, and it's an interesting fluff-challenge.


Calais was a ranking Tech-Priest who ran seminaries for aspiring Techmarines. After a major cortical implant upgrade, he began having visions of STCs from the Omnissiah. Given provisional sanction to apply his visions to the plight of Marines' increasingly rare equipment, he created the Builders: self-contained, automated factories. The first Builder made psychically-attuned crystals used in psychic hoods. The next Builders made Terminator armor suits, high-quality mind impulse units, warm woolen socks and a refreshing lemonade. (Calais was unwell towards the end and died after the fifth.)

The Builders were declared hale and enshrined in the headquarters of the Judgment Condors Chapter for safe-keeping. The Condors eagerly claimed most of the Terminator suits produced, much to the frustration of other Marines. They also enjoyed the warm, woolen socks and made a sacrament of the tasty lemonade.

Then disaster! Fearing what the Builders of Calais could do to their future, the Eldar made a craven assault upon the JC headquarters. They took advantage of the JCs' heavy use of hypnotic conditioning and subverted their programming, causing all the defending Marines to fall asleep with a spoken word.

The craven assault would have succeeded except for Brother Hondo. Crippled from an explosive decompression in a recent combat, he was waiting for implants to repair his ruined ears when the Eldar struck. Unable to hear their evil, he was the only conscious Marine during the assault. Too weak to fight, Hondo chose instead to switch the door labels of the Terminator Builder with the Sock Builder. Reinforcements arrived before the Eldar could destroy more than the one.

The advanced technology was preserved but the Admech were still furious at the loss of the Woolen Sock Builder. As penance, all Judgment Condors now wear itchy polyester socks.


Any comments? Suggested revisions? Anybody curious can google the "Burghers of Calais", a weak inspiration for this fluff. It's an interesting bit of history, though not very relevant to 40k.

[Marius the Possessed]

Hm, seems okay, there's just a couple things that jump out at me:

1) Why are these Builders not built on a Forge World, why let untested equipment serve Space Marines? It's both innovative designs and they lack human parts, so that's already toeing the line with Martians. In all likelihood they'd haul Calais to the nearest Forge World to build and test these things, not let a young Chapter (and one therefore without long and distinguished ties to the Mechanicum) both test and keep them so that they could supply multiple Chapters, not just one.
2) You should probably expand on the reason for the Eldar attack. If you want to keep with the comedic theme, have the lemonade Builder be the critical one

Other than that, its fun to see someone not taking their background so seriously and just having a bit of fun with it.

[Intrepid]

have the lemonade Builder be the critical one

I hate to imagine that kind of penance...

I guess it is a hole that the AdMech would leave the Builders in the hands of someone else. I thought the STC angle would be needed to get the Builders sanctioned but that would also make them even less like to be left with heathens. What if Calais built them while lecturing in the area and the Marines refused to turn them over because Calais intended the machines for their benefit? The AdMech might go along with that if they were unsure whether the Builders were true STCs or frauds. (A major tenent of my Chapter's fluff is being on good terms with everybody except other Marines, if that helps.)

Could be fun to expand on the Eldar attack. Let me think about that one.

[Marius the Possessed]

I'd don't think they'd go along with it, but there wouldn't be much they could do about it; in their eyes, all machines, especially possibles STCs (remember they have launched entire Expeditionary Fleets after rumours about them) are their property by divine right. The only reason they would storm the Fortress Monastery is because, well, its a freakin' Fortress Monastery of a Space Marine Chapter. At best, they'd grudgingly accept the status quo; at worst, they'd refuse to supply the Chapter and could even try to use other means to crack it open to get these Builders (starting rumours to make the Inquisition investigate, divert an Ork Waaagh! towards the Monastery, etc etc).

[Intrepid]

Maybe I should drop the STC angle entirely. Calais was a respected tech-priest who went crazy after getting the implants and started innovating. The Admech wanted nothing to do with the borderline heretical devices but the Marines were more pragmatic.

You should probably expand on the reason for the Eldar attack.

Here we go! I won't even ask to have this story fluff-checked. This one's just for fun.

Once upon a time, the Techmarines and lay mechanics of Third Company (Naval Liaison) became famous for their mastery of the secrets of teleportation...even able to build teleporters from scratch! The resulting demands for service calls almost destroyed Third Company's effectiveness.

"I'm sorry, Admiral," the Captain said, "but the Grey Knights' teleporters are on the fritz again. You know how impatient those Ordo Malleus boys can get...worlds burning, millions dead, yak yak yak. Well, I'm sure you will prevail against the Eldar pirates in our absence. Don't let them take you alive."

Then Brother Hondo spoke up, asking permission to remain with a single squad of Terminators. He argued that the presence of a couple Marines would be sufficient to bluff the Eldar into thinking the rest of them were still around. Loath to quit the field of battle entirely, the Captain gave his permission.

Hondo went on to mount a risky yet effective boarding action, crippling an Eldar ship at the cost of all his men. Fearing more attacks, the Eldar disengaged and returned to Craftworld Ulthwe. Their body count was off by one--Hondo was still alive!

Hondo managed the longest successful infiltration of Ulthwe. The Emperor's grace, the Eldar's arrogance and possibly Hondo's extensive personal collection of good-luck charms enabled him to skulk for eight months, foraging whatever he could and using his Terminator suit to float outside the Craftworld when the occasional search team was sent out.

When the damaged ship he arrived in had been repaired, Hondo (unable to speak the Eldar's tongue) took a chance and stowed away once again. The gambit paid off: angry at being beaten by mon-keigh, the ship returned on a mission of revenge! Hondo scuttled the ship (again) and almost fled to safety before it exploded. His Terminator suit barely protected him, holding together but decompressing explosively.

Now completely enraged at the Judgment Condors in general, and Hondo of Third Company in particular, the Eldar Farseers planned the most humiliating, painfully retributive strike they could: the destruction of the Builders of Calais!


When the dust settled, Hondo refused to have his hearing repaired, relying instead on battle-sign, his helmet's transcription function and a keyboard duct-taped to his suit, and took the name "Hondo Hears-No-Evil". He also wrote the book "My Life Among the Eldar: One Hundred Recipes" and, a few injuries later, became a popular commandant-instructor of recruits. (Being deaf, his students could whine and complain all they liked so long as their lips never moved.)

On a related note, Third Company was no longer permitted to excel at the mysteries of teleportation. They're supposed to break stuff, not fix stuff, and teleporters became a lost art once again.

[Captain Corrigan]

Well, its undeniably original. And also very entertaining. Some of the stuff in there cracked me up, this should be reposted under jokes and humour.

+rep

-Corrigan

[pilot00]

On behalf of the Dark Angels chapter i extend a trading invitation to the Judgment Condors:

For a cache of 4k pairs of socks we offer 100 plasma cannons and 5 makro cannons. Interested?

We are planing an alpine operation so we gonna need some socks...

[Intrepid]

No deal. Now that the sock builder's gone, the old socks have become treasured relics... My Marines do knitting between combat assignments.... it's horrible.

[pilot00]

We can offer a few fluffy sweaters as a plus...

[Captain Corrigan]

We can offer a few fluffy sweaters as a plus...

Aye, and Magos Beskis will chip in with an offer of 10000 high quality leather boots made using an ancient shoe making STC he discovered while serving alongside the inquisition.

-Corrigan