[ellerbe]

Hello everyone.
I have spent a great deal of time working on the background for my new space marine chapter. I also have images of the actual homeworld but I have not yet taken any pictures of the marines yet. I will hopefully get that done this week for your viewing.
However, I would like to ask your (OBJECTIVE) ideas for those willing to help. I would love to hear your thoughts. This is still a work in progress but I was wondering if anyone might be able to provide me with some ideas regarding (background) and i am really stumped with what rules i should codex would fit my background.

Help please?

Thanks






MY VISION:
In short, my vision has always been creativity. I love having the option of developing my own history, culture, and gear for my guys as well as making unique conversions and even trying my hand at the VDR when they were released some years ago. I have always been an ambitious hobbyist even if I often bit off more than I could chew. But having the ability to create my own chapter along with its history, various campaigns, new innovative rules, model conversions, and the like is a lot of fun. On the flip side, I avoid generic armies as I’d much prefer a rich and detailed background that I like to “hopefully” bring to the table top.
THE DARK FOUNDING:
The Soul Reapers Chapter was founded during the time of the 13th founding now known as “The Dark Founding”. Lost to the Imperium of Man more than millennia ago, the Soul Reapers are a Chapter of Space Marines with a unique secret that they guard to the extreme. The Soul Reapers Chapter has been able to build its own small empire in the Phylex system. Phylex is a star system locked with-in a cluster of unique stars known as the Goul Stars. The Goul Stars lay on the extreme edge of the Ultima Segmentum. The extreme nature of the Goul Stars cause cosmic radiation spikes that spread solar burst and powerful electro-magnetic storms throughout the system which block radio waves, and mutates psychic noise. As a result, this supernatural phenomenon obscures light and sound making its planets and moons invisible to most mechanical & astropathic transmissions. There are several Goul Stars but Phylex’s Goul Star is the Violet Star. There are six planets in the Phylex system & between them they have nearly twenty moons.
THE CHAPTERS DARK SECRET:
The Phylex star system is completely governed by the Soul Reapers Chapter. There are six companies in the chapter and each has its own planet of which to govern and conduct recruiting exercises. The system has an abundance of powerful Psykers of various types, and the Soul Reapers above all value this commodity greatly. As a result of the solar radiation being emitted from the Violet Goul Star, most of the chapter are psykers. However many of their psychic abilities may be very weak or dormant. Those that are selected by the Librarium are trained as a Librarian and are among the most powerful psykers in the Phylex system. However, the Chapters gene-seed is slowly reconfiguring itself as a side effect of the unique solar radiation. Currently all that is known is that the Violet Goul Star causes psychic mutation but no physical mutation. But who knows what horrors lay ahead of the Chapter.

CHAPTER ORGANIZATION:
The Soul Reapers chapter currently has six companies. Each company is lead by a Captain, Epistolary Librarian with four initiates, and a Chaplin. The socio-political structure of each planet is directly connected to the infrastructure of the chapter. The Chapter Master “Solaris” over-sees the overall functionality of the Chapter and all company captains receive orders from him. Planetary governors are known as Judge Magistrates. Each Judge Magistrate reports to the Company Captain that the planet is assigned too. In addition, the Judge Magistrate is responsible for recruiting & organizing the Planetary Militia and acts as its General. This cycle is the same for all six planets.
I. First Company- Veteran Company
II. Second Company- Assault Company
III. Third Company- Tactical Company
IV. Forth Company- Siege Specialist Company
V. Fifth Company- Stealth Company
VI. Sixth Company- Armored Company
VII. Planetary Militia- Militias are organized on all planets.

CHAPTER BACKGROUND:
The actual founding date of the Soul Reapers Chapter is unknown. The original Chapter Master’s name was Quintus. Soul Reapers scrolls indicate that Chapter Master Quintus stumbled into the realm of the Goul Stars when trying to escape the intense gravitational pull of a near-by black hole nearly eight centuries ago. Having survived the extreme gravitational pull of one of the many black holes found in the Goul Star realm Quintus founded the first battle fort on the dark planet “Phylex Prime”. Rich with promethium ore and many other raw materials, Quintus was able to build the Chapter a new home. Eventually killed during the battle of Taran by an Ork Warlord, Solaris succeeded him as Chapter Master and it was at that time that the decision to stay in the Goul Stars was made. Four centuries later, Solaris discovered the faint effects of the Violet star.
“Current Known Effects”
· Visions of Supernatural Shadows “entities of an unknown nature”
· Acute to extreme development of Psychic & Paranormal abilities
· Eye retinas color change (Ghostly Violet Glow))
· Seems to have obtained an immunity to the toxic atmosphere of the Phylex system.
“Draw Back”
· Use of Psychic powers during electro-magnetic storms seems to rend a psykers consciousness from his body. It is believed that the shadows are the consciousness of past psykers suspended and trapped in the ghostly atmosphere.
· Seems to cause an unknown change in the chapters Gene-seed.
· Lose of Chapter memory prior to Chapter Master Quintus
Considering the vast benefits of living in the realm of the Violet Goul Star and weighing them against the draw backs, the entire chapter began to grow significantly as psykers and forge huge battle forts on all six Phylex planets. The moons are used as training facilities and sentry points for detecting xenos or any other incoming threats.
The Soul Reapers have been active on the outer fringes seeking out Ork settlements and Tyranid Hive fleets to eradicate before the Red, Green, Blue and Onyx Goul Stars are discovered. The supernatural mutational effects that these stars could have on these xenos could mean the end. Chapter Master Solaris has vowed to keep knowledge of the Goul Stars a jealously guarded secret, especially from the Inquisition.

SOUL REAPERS HOME WORLD​

PHYLEX PRIME​

FAMOUS BATTLE:
“BATTLE FOR THE OCCLUDUS GATE”
100112.M41- The Death Spectres strike vessel “Honoured Prophecy” assaults the Soul Reapers 2nd company Battle Barge “The Ravager” at the Occludus Gate. 2nd Company Captain Salk of the Soul Reapers chased an Ork Space Hulk into the Occludus system. Scans of the Soul Reapers warp signature indicated high levels of Goul Star Radiation. The Ravager was attacked by the Death Spectres “mistaken for Chaos” and Warboss Badzappa escaped. With knowledge of the Death Spectres Chapter seemingly knowing about the location of the Ghoul Stars, Chapter Master Solaris can take no chances of the Death Spectres spreading the word to the Imperium. Soul Reapers Chapter are at war.
Rival: Death Spectres Chapter
Hated Foe: Tyranids & Orks

 

[Sancraer]

so are you looking for adapted rules from the codex or just more fluff?
if its rules i suggest looking at other varied chapters and working from there. (maybe your librarians can have a librarian honour guard etc.)
Remember that you'll probs only be allowed to run these rules if your enemy agrees (though the fluff is fine) and GW may not appreciate someone doing a better job than them (lol) so don't try and run stuff in tournaments.
I'll get back to you when i know exactly what you are wanting: comments, new ideas, new rules?

 

[ellerbe]

I'd like your thoughts on the fluff for sure. Any new ideas you have i would love to hear them. and I have not even thought about new rules yet. but you got me more excited!! Please lay it out for me.

Thanks for the compliment also

Any thoughts from anyone?
Please use the edit button instead of double posting. Also, please do not bump threads.

Thank You
Alzer

 

[Sancraer]

I like the chapter and you've thought the fluff through.

Some things to think about:
1). Who else occupies the planets? Is it just your chapter, another 40k race or a new species? If it is a new species then maybe design a unit around that species.

2). Librarians should of course have a bonus when using powers: maybe like one of the eldar runes, 3D6 for test or maybe a new power. As this radiation nullifies standard physic powers then maybe they should be like pariahs and incapacitate a physkers abilities if within 18" or whatever

3). Invent a unit called a Initiates, who are lesser librarian. I would make them cost about 30/35 points have WS4, BS4, S4, T4 (being sm), W1, Ld7, Sv 5+*(invulnarable).
They would have a force weapon and bolt pistol standard (you can add weapons if you want) and would assist the librarian in some way - I'd consider a rule which gave the librarian an extra physic power per turn per Initiate. (can't use same power twice).

4). The chapter master should have a power that replaces combat tactics for one turn. I suggest an activation of the mutated gene seed which results in +1 to all stats except armor and leadership but turns leadership to Ld3. This would represent their seed going insane and them losing control of thier bodies and mind as the radiation contols them and wrips the enemy to shreds. The lower leadership is because of the space marines fear of this physcic presence.

Which brings us onto fluff
I suggest that you reveal eventually that the planets are actually living entities and that this radiation has allowed a unique bonding with the planets mind, allowing the Soul Reapers to access places no mortal has ever been. For this you could write a whole seperate list of physcic powers (majke sure their not insane or even your friends won't accept these rules). You could make the Soul Reapers stupidly awesome but remember to A) up their points, (or) b) lessen a different stat or give them some dodgy rule that hinders them. If you don't feel like that you can just change the Hqs to make them cooler.

Independent Characters
All can act as initiates to librarian (though commanders and chapter masters woudn't out of pride). All/most of their weapons could have the force weapon upgrade for 5-10pts but they can't use a physcic power when they don't use it (cos that'd be ridicolous).

Please remember these are only my suggestions and I am just trying to add little details to the amazingly good core ideas here.
Ty for reading and please post your new ideas up here. This chapter has captivated my attention, which is usually very hard to do.

 

[rafis117]

To an extent this thread belongs in the Fluff forum.

 

[ellerbe]

WOW,

I really like your ideas. You have really given me a lot of food for thought. I really appreciate your ideas and i want to thank you for really putting some time in to help me with this. I have really spent a great deal of time and research trying to come up with some unique and detailed ideas for my chapter. I will consider your ideas greatly and i will see how i can impliment them.

I have taken the liberty of building a detailed breakdown of all six companies and every marine in the chapter will have a name that i will write on the front of their bases. I will post the background work that i have done for 2nd company. My pdf files and word files are too big for attach here so i will need your email address sancraer to send you the pics of the ghoul stars and i will be taking pics of my 2nd company captain, librarian, dreadnaught, and assault squad which i've recently finished. They are painted to a professional level and i spent about 3 hours on each model.

Again i really want to thank you for your insight. I will post what i've done for my 2nd company details shortly. In 20 minutes or so. Please look it over and provide any ideas or insights that you may have. I've decided to complete 2nd company first. Will have to email you pics though


EDIT: SOUL REAPERS CHAPTER

2ND COMPANY “Assault Company”

DETAILS:

The Soul Reapers 2nd company is the assault company for the Chapter. Charged primarily with spearheading the attack as the first to be sent in most battle zones as a strike force or a battle company and often supported by 1st, 4th, and 6th companies. Tasked with the responsibility for seeking out ancient relics that might provide insight as to the secrets of the Ghoul Star’s unknown power, and to reclaim the knowledge of the chapters lost history, 2nd Company Captain Salk has been tasked to search for answers.

HQ 2nd Company

2nd company is headed by Captain Salk, a hardened veteran who takes the creed of the chapter literally “Honor and commemorate your deeds to prove your worth”. Captain Salk has been with the chapter for several centuries and is supported by his most trusted advisor “Epistolary Librarian Azurius”. Captain Salk runs the planet Phylex V and has appointed Korax as the Judge Magistrate and General of the Soul Reapers Planetary Military Militia. Captain Salk’s military prowess is well respected and he was recently asked to join 1st company as the Chapter Masters personal honor guard but Salk felt it best to continue to serve as 2nd Captain. Captain Salk knows more about the Death Spectres Chapter than any other Captain and to show his most proud moment, he now carries a special relic blade “The blade of Ancients” taken from a Death Spectres Librarian at “the battle of unknown truths” near Erwynn’s World.

Azurius is the most powerful assault Librarian in the chapter and is always seeking out ancient relics to aid in the quest for uncovering the supernatural secrets of the Violet Ghoul Star. Azurius is accompanied by his 4 librarium initiates Ikor, Cronos, Ortiz, & Mo’Kan.

Chief Chaplin Drago is the head of the Reclusium in the Chapter and he may appear in any of the six companies. He is of a dark and rigid visage. Keeping with the Soul Reapers creed “You Keep What you Kill”, Drago has adorned himself with skulls, chains and trophies collected from the chapters enemies. Drago’s zeal and visage shows the courage and warrior prowess that he commands from his company and in doing so, every marine is pushed to the extreme in upholding the honor of the chapter.


[U]MOST RECENT CAMPAIGNS[/U]
109845.M41- BATTLE OF THE ABYSIS “Ork Warboss Gorebrain’s Waaargh!!! On planet Cronos III, the Soul Reapers were investigating an old relic when the Orks arrived and began laying waste to the populace. 2nd company Captain Salk and his assault marines confronted the Ork warband on the ash plains of Cronos. The warboss was finally killed by assault Sargeant Manal and his Great Ax claimed as a trophy to commemorate the victory.

101045.M41- Chaos Pirates! Chaos Lord Var’kell attempted to corrupt and plunder an imperial city near Vanquilis when Captain Salk arrived to support a nearly ruined planetary defense force. Chaplin Drago now wears the chains once worn by the now decapitated Chaos lord.

101046.M41- Dark Eldar Raid on Planet Prism near the heart of the Ultima Segmentum. Captain Salk was conducting recruitment exercises when the raid began. Many were lost to the raiders.

100144.M41- Encountered the Eldar of Bel Tan on Occludus after the battle of the Occludus gate with the Death Spectres Chapter. Sergeant Morloc rips off the wings of a swooping hawk exarch and has them grafted to his power pack as his trophy.

234998.M41- “The Ring of Blood” On the run from the Deamon Primarch Angron, Chapter Master Solaris recently found a piece of the Soul Reapers lost history. A Chaos Sorcerer Lord named Sindre located the shrine of Blood. This Shrine was build after the Istevaan V massacre by the World Eaters Chapter as a portal for the Deamon Primarch Angron to return and lay claim to the Hoax Prime system near the Cadian gate. Chapter Master Quintus of the Soul Reapers Chapter thousands of years after the heresy, halted the Cult of Blood from summoning Angron but at a great price. After the death of Chapter Master Quintus, his successor Chapter Master Solaris ordered 2nd Captain Salk & 4th company Captain Mazz to search the holy grounds of Hoax Prime for the Relic of Vaal in order to deal with the Chapters gene-seed issues. Angron ordered the Skull-Taker and his Bloodletters to Hoax prime but the Second & forth Companies combined might proved itself worthy and the Deamons were banished to the warp and Second company Champion Blaine now carries the Shield Relic of Vaal as his personal Icon.

313333.M41- Hive Fleet Virus approaches the Ghoul Stars. Ongoing Campaign


These are actually based on games that i have actually played out with my friends. I have also converted my models to follow the fluff. You will see this when i email you the pics unless i can figure out how to load the pics in this tread. I look forward to your review and ideas. These are my original thoughts but i am sure will change later as the ideas develope more. I will start to look at your previously mentioned ideas very closely.
----------
I love the idea about the planets actually being an entity. That is really unique. I will build from this concept.

I look forward to your thoughts

 

[Canew]

Since there's discussion of rules here, too, I'll leave it where it is.

Personally, I've never been a big fan of "home grown" rules, so I'll stay out of that discussion, but for fluff, I'll take a stab.

Overall, this is certainly unique, but I'm definitely getting the "not fleshed out" feel here. In particular, I see a lot of "mysterious" things happening with no explanation. You owe it to your fluff to really think up an explanation for that. Leaving it "mysterious" says you're either going the GW route and deliberately keeping people in the dark, or you just don't know. A good writer knows EVERYTHING about what he's writing about, even things the reader doesn't care about. That knowledge is power, and it shows up in what you write.

One glaring problem in all of it is this paradox of the planets' emissions masking or somehow interfering with the warp, yet there's no problem with their inhabitants being not just psykers, but VERY powerful psykers. How is it that radiation that blinds the astronomicon (which uses the warp to "see") can so strongly enhance a person's ability to use the warp at the same time? That's a conflict that really needs to be worked out.

My humble suggestion: the secret is in the suggested idea that the planets are somehow living beings of their own. A creature that large could, in theory, attract so much warp energy that to those who "see" in the warp (Astronomicon), it appears "dimmer" around that planet, much like opening the outside door on a cold day sucks the heat out of a room. This would also explain why something that lives on the planet/creature's surface for a long period becomes more warp-savvy. Sort of like picking up radiation by simply standing too close, only in this case the "victim" inherits warp sensitivity.

Of course, there's another, even bigger problem here. A planet that is invisible to the warp and sealed off in part from the warp would be pretty hard to get to and from via traditional spacecraft which travel from star system to star system by using... the warp. How is it that starships can make it in and out of the system? And please, please, PLEASE don't take the "lazy way out" and say something like, "Well, they've developed special shielding," or "They have highly-advanced warp engines." Yawn. There's a better way out than that.

If you don't answer this critical question, your fluff will hit a serious snag. I realize they arrived by accident, but surely at this point your chapter doesn't live on this cluster of planets without ever moving? That would be like raising an army of knights on horseback, only to keep them garrisoned in a castle with the drawbridge up. What would be the point?

Again, I think the solution to the problem lies in the idea of these planets being entities(SERIOUS props to Sancraer for coming up with that one). It could be that the chapter master somehow makes contact with these entities. Perhaps it is then that he learns that these creatures have become their own problem, in that their unique properties have cut them off from all visitors, and they've spent an eternity living a lonely, sad existence, and the marines visiting are the first time anyone has ever contacted them? Maybe the entities even helped arrange for the chapter to "accidentally" arrive, as an overture to begin dialogue? This could lead to a very interesting relationship, though it would be built on compromise. The marines, after all, would have had to have somehow gotten over their "kill anything we don't recognize in the name of the Emperor" attitude, but I'll leave it to you to work out the details of that one.

If you choose to go this route, it explains and solves many, many problems. First, it explains why the chapter keeps it a secret (they don't trust the Imperium to react favorably to this). It would also provide a nice explanation as to how ships can come and go: the chapter convinces the entity/entities to allow it to happen. Ever watch Star Trek: Deep Space 9? The pilot episode (one of the only truly good ones, in my opinion, but we'll save that debate for another thread) involved Captain Sisko doing the same thing with an entity inside a wormhole. He convinced it to allow passage back and forth through it. Your chapter master could do something similar here.

This doesn't fix everything. The other big problem I sense is, if these entities/star systems/whatever really are having such a strong effect on the warp, I find it hard to imagine this would go unremaked by the Imperium or the Chaos forces. The only thing known to be this powerful is the Hive Mind. Now, you could maaaaaaaaaybe get away with saying at the distance it's at, it only looks like a garden variety permanent warp storm/fluctuation, which MIGHT keep the Imperium satisfied, but over time, wouldn't this attract chaos? You could do some very interesting campaigns around that idea.

Another campaign idea is that these unique warp properties might attract the attention of psychic "nulls" like Culexus assasin candidates. Maybe they are coming to investigate whether this might be a home for them? That would certainly prompt your chapter to act to preserve its secret, leading to a war with the Inquisition.

Also, don't forget there's another use for psychic nulls: pariahs. The Necrons might be attracted to a system like this, giving you even more campaign fodder.

If I were you, I'd write up a more complete fluff storyline and put it in the fluff sub-forum, if you haven't already, and see what the fluffmeisters have to say. Good stuff! Keep it up!

 

[ellerbe]

Canew, awesome critique. Really good insight. You have my word canew & sancraer, i will not take the lazy way out. I want this hobby of mine to be enjoyable and one of the things that i love about it is the joy of doing this kind of thing. I will study what you guys have provided me with and i will go back and start revising. I will post the new revision in the fluff section. I am new to the librarium forum so you'll need to excuse me if i posted something in the wrong spot.

Thank you both for your help and lookout for the revision. Please feel free to critique it so that i can keep improving it. If you get anymore ideas let me know. I am eager to complete this project but i enjoy the journey more.


Note: Revision may take 1 or 2 days to complete!

Thanks

 

[ellerbe]

Ok here is the Revision. I hope that its better. I tried to take your advice and dig a little deeper on this one. I hope that its ok to post it here. I also posted it in the fluff area but i am assuming the Canew and Sancraer missed it yesterday. Please excuse me if i missed posted it. Again i am new to forums so its a "learning in progress thing". I would like to continue to build on this so any advice would be helpful.

Enjoy

SOUL REAPERS

CHAPTER
MY VISION:
In short, my vision has always been creativity. I love having the option of developing my own history, culture, and gear for my guys as well as making unique conversions and even trying my hand at the VDR when they were released some years ago. I have always been an ambitious hobbyist even if I often bit off more than I could chew. But having the ability to create my own chapter along with its history, various campaigns, new innovative rules, model conversions, and the like is a lot of fun. On the flip side, I avoid generic armies as I’d much prefer a rich and detailed background that I like to “hopefully” bring to the table top.

THE DARK FOUNDING:
The Soul Reapers Chapter was founded during the time of the 13th founding now known as “The Dark Founding”. Lost to the Imperium of Man more than millennia ago, the Soul Reapers are a Chapter of Space Marines with a unique secret that they guard to the extreme. The Soul Reapers have been able to build their own small empire in the Phylex system. Phylex is a star system locked with-in a cluster of unique stars known as the Goul Stars. The Goul Stars lay on the extreme edge of the Ultima Segmentum. The extreme nature of the Goul Stars cause cosmic radiation spikes that spread solar burst and powerful electro-magnetic storms throughout the system which block radio waves, and mutates psychic noise. As a result, this supernatural phenomenon obscures light and sound making its planets and moons appear invisible to most mechanical & astropathic transmissions. There are five Goul Stars but Phylex’s Goul Star is the Violet Star. There are six planets in the Phylex system & between them they have nearly twenty moons. The others are “The Ruby Star of the Kanotos System, the Emerald Star of the Lardium System, the Sapphire Star of the Tanzanite System, and the Onyx star of the Zircon system.

CHAPTER BACKGROUND

THE BEGINNING
At the time of the earliest of days, when the oldest dying stars spanned the galaxies and sentient anomalies spread over the largest areas of the outer fringes expending massive amounts of solar radiation creating warp storms so powerful that they could ravage the known worlds or create life. Both a gift and curse, thousands of species that were originally created had perished and others were blessed with unnatural gifts,….. even rarer still, immortality. According to the lore of the Necrontyr, one such species that lived in a world scourged by the radiation of a massive violet star eventually resulted in a curse that caused them great suffering and drastically short lives and later lead to the birth of the Necrons.
In these early years these anomalies feed on the life force of sentient beings. After the birth of the Necrons and their millennia long ravage of the known galaxies with the wars of creation and destruction concerning the Old Ones and the C’Tan, thousands of these sentient stars were destroyed and others dimmed out of light and into shadow. Life as it seemed would come to an end and the anomalies became nothing more than mere Ghost.
During the wars of the Eldar and the Necrons came an oracle of power. The Sphere of Destiny, an orb of shimmering light found on the world of Scalus V during the pinnacle the Eldar reign was discovered in a crypt kept in complete shadow. Farseer Taldeer could feel the ancient power of the sphere as she sought out a route through the webway when, their ancient enemy, the Necrons awoke. All out war broke out between the Craftworlds of the Eldar and the Necrons that lasted thousands of years. During what is now known as the Age of shadow, the Sphere of Destiny was taken to the Eldar Homeworld for the Farseers of old, to commune with the gods to receive the true revelation about the Sphere. After Taldeer was granted the revelation of knowledge, she was ordered to remove the Sphere from the worlds of the Eldar for its power was too great for the minds of mortals. In it was said to be remnants of an ancient consciousness that has been exiled for all time. Taldeer traveled far from the Eldar home world when the galactic explosion happened that brought the Eye of Terror into being. The essence of Slaaneshes birth was so immense that the immaterium began to bleed into the material realm providing an excess of warp energy that sent a shock wave across the galaxy. Having survived the blast, Taldeer looked down and noticed that the Sphere of Destiny had been cracked and some of its essence was escaping. She looked to conjure a sealing spell when the first flicker of shadow occurred and the Necrons materialized just before her. A wraith assaulted the Farseer and as it seemed, the Necrons too were seeking the Sphere. Before her death, Taldeer conjured a powerful teleportation spell which sent the sphere to a nearby exodite planet to forever be hidden from mortal eyes. Over the coming ages, the once dimming lights of the remaining ancient stars, ghouls or ghost of their former selves, anomalies, now revealed to be living sentient creatures began to flicker into life anew.

A REVELATION OF THE DISTANT PAST
The actual founding date of the Soul Reapers Chapter is unknown. The original Chapter Master’s name was Quintus. Soul Reapers scrolls indicate that Chapter Master Quintus stumbled into the realm of the Goul Stars when trying to escape the intense gravitational pull of a near-by black hole nearly eight centuries ago. At the helm of the battle barge “The Justice” Fleet Master Alco commanded the bridge for evasive actions. The black hole it seemed was either expanding or moving. Having tracked an immense Ork space hulk deep into the Palien Belt, both ships were in danger of being devoured by the black hole when a warp flare of incredible power caused the space hulk to explode into darkness. Its remnants and debris caught in the extreme gravity smashed into the Justice causing a warp engine to rupture. Ship serfs and servitors quickly went to work when the darkness vanished. Before Chapter Master Quintus, and the Justice lay an uncharted star system orbiting a huge violet star. In need of serious repairs the decision to land on the largest of the habitable planets were made. Having survived the extreme gravitational pull of one of the many black holes found in the Goul Star realm Quintus founded the first battle fort on the dark planet “Phylex Prime”.

THE PACT
“A Gift or a Curse”-
The surface of the planet was dark with a violet hue lighting the skies by day. Ship surfs reported moving shadows or what appeared to be ghost on the surface. Many of the indigenous creatures were huge and Phylex’s predators dark colors seemed to bend light and allow for perfect hunting. Their eyes perfectly adapted to the darkness. More reports filled the fleet masters’ quarters as ship serfs gossiped and reported unknown entities. After the first couple days on the planet, Quintus summoned the chapter’s captains for a meeting to discuss the projected plan for reaching orbit. As the battle helms was removed from each captains head, the look of shock in each marines face was unnerving. The retinas of everyone’s eyes had a bright violet glow and the marines had no ideas what else to expect until the Librarium started reporting problems filtering out strange voices in their heads. Not multiple voices but a single voice. That appeared to be reaching out to them via the warp when the chapter serf entered the room and began to speak. One by one they entered speaking as one, uttering the same words at the same frequency as if being controlled by something. Twenty serfs filled the room standing before the masters speaking in a single voice. Their eyes white and clear as the Star spoke through them.
One self waved his hand as the past was revealed to the masters. Before them, they watched the black-hole chase them and the Ork space hulk through the Palien Belt where they were navigated to the safty of the ancient Phylex Violet Star. The entity explained that the black hole was no black hole at all, but was the Onyx Ghoul Star of the Zircon system. Ancient and dark, filled with malice over the eons of slumber in the sphere of destiny. The story about the sphere and their imprisonment along with the actions of the Eldar and Necrons were viewed as if the masters were there themselves. A pact would be made. In exchange for recovering the spear of destiny and the chapters indiscretion, the Phylex violet star offered Quintus a home for his chapter and safe travels in and out of the Ghoul star realm. The Pact was sealed for all time but eventually Quintus was killed during the battle of Taran by an Ork Warlord, and Solaris succeeded him as Chapter Master Four centuries later, Solaris discovered the faint effects of the Violet star.

THE CHAPTERS DARK SECRET:
The Phylex star system is completely governed by the Soul Reapers Chapter. There are six companies in the chapter and each has its own planet of which to govern and conduct recruiting exercises. The system has an abundance of psykers of various types, and the Soul Reapers above all value this commodity greatly. As a result of the solar radiation being emitted from the Violet Goul Star, most of the chapter are psykers. However many of their psychic abilities may be very weak or dormant. Those that are selected by the Librarium are trained as a Librarians. However, the Chapters gene-seed is slowly reconfiguring itself as a side effect of the unique solar radiation. Currently all that is known is that the Violet Goul Star causes psychic mutation but no physical mutation. But who knows what horrors lay ahead of the Chapter.

EFFECTS OF THE PHYLEX VIOLET STAR
“CurrentKnown Effects”

· Visions of Supernatural Shadows “entities of an unknown nature”
· Acute to extreme development of Psychic & Paranormal abilities
· Eye retinas color change (Ghostly Violet Glow))
· Seems to have obtained an immunity to the toxic atmosphere of the Phylex system.

“Draw Back”
· Use of Psychic powers during electro-magnetic storms seems to rend a psykers consciousness from his body. It is believed that the shadows are the consciousness of past psykers suspended and trapped in the ghostly atmosphere.
· Seems to cause an unknown change in the chapters Gene-seed.
· Lose of Chapter memory prior to Chapter Master Quintus
Considering the vast benefits of living in the realm of the Violet Goul Star and weighing them against the draw backs, the entire chapter began to grow significantly as psykers and forge huge battle forts on all six Phylex planets. The moons are used as training facilities and sentry points for detecting xenos or any other incoming threats.
The Soul Reapers have been active on the outer fringes seeking out Ork settlements and Tyranid Hive fleets to eradicate before the Red, Green, Blue and Onyx Goul Stars are discovered. The supernatural mutational effects that these stars could have on these xenos could mean the end. Chapter Master Solaris has vowed to keep knowledge of the Goul Stars a jealously guarded secret, especially from the Inquisition.

FAMOUS BATTLE:

“BATTLE FOR THE OCCLUDUS GATE” “In search of the Sphere of Destiny”
100112.M41- The Death Spectres strike vessel “Honoured Prophecy” assaults the Soul Reapers 2nd company Battle Barge “The Ravager” at the Occludus Gate. 2nd Company Captain Salk of the Soul Reapers chased an Ork Space Hulk into the Occludus system. Scans of the Soul Reapers warp signature indicated high levels of Goul Star Radiation. The Ravager was attacked by the Death Spectres “mistaken for Chaos” and Warboss Badzappa escaped. With knowledge of the Death Spectres Chapter seemingly knowing about the location of the Ghoul Stars, Chapter Master Solaris can take no chances of the Death Spectres spreading the word to the Imperium. Soul Reapers Chapter are at war.
Rival: Death Spectres Chapter
Hated Foe: Tyranids & Orks

CHAPTER ORGANIZATION:

The Soul Reapers chapter currently has six companies. Each company is lead by a Captain, Epistolary Librarian with four initiates, and a Chaplin. The socio-political structure of each planet is directly connected to the infrastructure of the chapter. The Chapter Master “Solaris” over-sees the overall functionality of the Chapter and all company captains receive orders from him. Planetary governors are known as Judge Magistrates. Each Judge Magistrate reports to the Company Captain that the planet is assigned too. In addition, the Judge Magistrate is responsible for recruiting & organizing the Planetary Militia and acts as its General. This cycle is the same for all six planets.

I. First Company- Veteran Company
II. Second Company- Assault Company
III. Third Company- Tactical Company
IV. Forth Company- Siege Specialist Company
V. Fifth Company- Stealth Company
VI. Sixth Company- Armored Company
VII. Planetary Militia- Militias are organized on all planets.