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Index Astartes: Dreadwolves - updated April 6th

Started by Masked Thespian, January 19, 2014, 05:31:15 PM

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Masked Thespian

Hey everyone.  This is an Index Astartes article for my latest army, a group within the Space Wolves known as the Dreadwolves.  I'm looking for some feedback on this, in particular the believability of what I've laid out here.  I, for one, hate "special snowflakes"; a special snowflake is someone that absolutely has to feel special, usually by violating some core tenet of whatever project they are participating in.  In 40k, this tends to manifest itself in things like, "Oh, he's the only Grey Knight who's ever turned to Chaos" (despite background stating that NO Grey Knight has ever turned to Chaos).  However, I'm worried that I've stepped too far into this territory due to certain aspects of my army's background and I'd like some other people to take a look at it and tell me if I've gone too far.

Please let me know what you think.




EDIT: I've spent a few hours tonight rewriting this, and I'd again appreciate feedback.  I'm going to keep the old version in a spoiler, but there's a new version later on in the thread, specifically in this post.




Spoiler
Index Astartes: Dreadwolves

Origins

Amongst all of the Great Companies of the Space Wolves, foremost amongst them versed in combat in the abyss of space is the Great Company of Engir Krakendoom, the Sea Wolf.  The Space Marines under his command do not fear the dark vacuum that exists outside of their starships and are greatly experienced in such combat conditions, such as zero-gravity combat and exposure to the cold void of space.

Though the whole of Krakendoom's Great Company is well known for its starfaring ways, the Dreadwolves are the first amongst their peers in this aspect of war.  An elite group of warriors within that Great Company, the Dreadwolves have honed their proficiency for ship-to-ship combat through many years of practice and conflict.  They utilise some of the best, and oldest, equipment available to Space Marine or man in order to maintain their combat superiority amidst the lonely stars.

Their leader is a Space Marine named Magnus Blackwolf.  A calm, calculating man outside of battle, Magnus leads the Dreadwolves from the forefront in combat where he is a whirlwind of rage and destruction.  It was Magnus who first coined the name Dreadwolves, and his role in their founding is why he leads them to this day.

Twenty-three years after taking command of his Great Company, Engir Krakendoom and his men found themselves aboard the Space Wolf Strike Cruiser Well of Urdr, returning to Fenris after a long conflict far to the galactic north of Segmentum Obscurus.  Despite looking forward to a well-earned feast in The Fang in celebration of their victories, the Well of Urdr responded immediately to a garbled planetary distress signal.

As the Strike Cruiser shifted into real space from the warp, it was immediately beset by weapons fire from a previously undetected vessel and its escorts.  In an agonisingly short space of time, sustained lance fire and bombing runs by Doomfire Bombers laying in wait reduced the Well of Urdr's weapon batteries and engines to smoking slag; the ambush had been so well coordinated that the crew had barely been able to raise their void shields in order to protect themselves.

Their attacker soon revealed itself; the Doomblade was an old cruiser of the Devastation class.  It lazily swung alongside the Well of Urdr, knowing that it had all the time in the world to line up the killing blow.

Refusing to be defeated without making eye contact with his enemy, Krakendoom ordered every Space Marine aboard the ship to the Thunderhawk transports and Caestus Assault Rams located within the relatively undamaged launch bays, whence they sailed across the dark void to meet their foes face-to-face and blade-to-blade in a potentially suicidal assault.

The Doomblade's crew was not expecting a boarding action; they had thought that they had crippled the Space Wolf cruiser and were in the process of picking it apart a little at a time.  So overconfident in their victory were they that they didn't bother scrambling any fighter squadrons to defend themselves and their defence turrets only started spitting death at their oncoming foes during the final moments of the Space Wolves' approach.  Numerous shots missed the boarding vessels and whilst a few struck home, most of the damage was superficial or was otherwise unable to halt their advance.

The Space Wolves boarded the vessel in multiple areas.  Their primary target was the engine room; to capture the engine room meant that the ship's self-destruct mechanisms could not be used to deny victory.  The lance batteries were the secondary target, to prevent the Well of Urdr from taking further damage in the battle.

Krakendoom and his Wolf Guard bodyguards crashed into one of their foes' launch bays and swiftly disembarked, stalking past dark Swiftdeath Fighters and silent Dreadclaw Assault Boats as they cut down anyone unlucky enough to be caught in the launch bay when they landed.  Spreading out from their points of entry, the Space Wolves overran the vessel's crew in short order.

Upon reaching the bridge, Krakendoom discovered that the cowards in charge of running the ship had intentionally crippled their own vessel in order to deny the Space Wolves a prize; despite being unable to destroy their own ship, they had been able to vent atmosphere in several critical sections and sever power to others.  Worse news still was an incoming transmission from the Well of Urdr; it had detected another ship entering sensor range.  A Styx class heavy cruiser known only as the Hand of Death was approaching the drifting starships at a swift speed.

The boarding craft were damaged and spent and neither ship in the hands of the Space Wolves were capable of firing main weaponry.  Engir turned to his most tactically minded attendant, a former Blood Claw recently inducted into his Wolf Guard in the recent campaign by the name of Magnus Blackwolf, for ideas in this seemingly hopeless situation.

Magnus pondered momentarily, before a grim look crossed his face as he recalled their landing upon the ship.  Calling their surviving Rune Priests and Iron Priests to him, Magnus outlined a plan as brilliant as it was heretical.  Using the surviving members of the Doomblade's crew as living sacrifices, the Priests would seek to perform an unconventional ritual to sate the bloodthirsty machine spirits of the Dreadclaw Assault Boats sitting in the launch bays, which the Space Wolves could use to lead another boarding action against this new enemy.

Krakendoom was unsure of the proposal.  He knew that Logan Grimnar had openly defied the Inquisition following the events of Armageddon, and that the cold war that followed led to a costly battle over Fenris itself.  It was one thing to take a stand against the Inquisition on matters of morality, but to use the artefacts of the great enemy?  It seemed like a step too far towards damnation.

Magnus pointed out that the axe Morkai, blade of the Great Wolf himself, had once belonged to a champion of the ruinous powers, but that it had been reforged into a tool to push back the darkness.  He admitted that the tales of the Long Fangs around the campfires telling of Dreadclaws devouring their passengers troubled him, but, aided by the Rune Priests and Iron Priests, convinced his lord that with enough spilt blood and raw flesh that the machine spirits could be convinced to transport the Space Wolves safely across the void.

In the end, Magnus's scheme was successful.  Dreadclaw Assault Boats soared across the vast distance and made contact with the enemy ship before it entered weapons range of either the Well of Urdr or the Doomblade.  Space Wolves disgorged from the ancient drop pods, which cut and burned their way through the Styx's hull armour, and swarmed the Chaos ship.  Krakendoom's Dreadclaw took him directly to the bridge, almost as if it could sense his desire to slay the foul minions of Chaos.  Krakendoom and Magnus together avenged the damage to their vessel upon a Chaos Space Marine champion and his entourage, seemingly the captain of the Hand of Death.

The Doomblade proved to have been too thoroughly crippled by its crew's efforts, and the Space Wolves were forced to destroy it lest it fall into the hands of the ruinous powers.  The Hand of Death, however, was captured nearly completely intact.  Upon repairing their engines, and confirming that the distress call had been a hoax, Krakendoom's Great Company returned to Fenris with a great prize.

Upon returning to their homeworld, Krakendoom realised the usefulness of keeping a cadre of Marines, trained in the use of Dreadclaw Assault Boats, and ready to board any given enemy vessel.  He sanctioned Magnus to handpick a selection of his Great Company and to maintain training in the art of boarding warfare.  Taking a cue from their spoils of war, Magnus named the group the Dreadwolves, after the assault boats that would bear them into battle.


Homeworld

As with all Space Wolves, the Dreadwolves' homeworld is the icy death world of Fenris.  However, the Dreadwolves, as do most of Krakendoom's Great Company, consider their Battle Barges and Strike Cruisers as much of a home as they do the planet of their birth.  In fact many members of the Dreadwolves tend to remain aboard their starships when they return to the Fang, preferring the cramped bunks and artificial gravity to the more natural conditions found on the planet below.


Combat Doctrine

The Codex Tactica Imperialis refers to certain battlefields as the 'Zone Mortalis' - the fatal ground.  The contested decks of a void warship contain many limiting factors such as close confinement, limited access for attack or escape routes, as well as treacherous environments, which makes it a murderous venue for warfare.  As a result of this, the Dreadwolves do not allow Blood Claws in their ranks; the future of the Chapter is far too important to allow raw recruits, keen on proving themselves in the heat of battle, to throw their lives, and gene-seed, away in the deadly arena that is the Zone Mortalis.  Blood Claws are seen within the remainder of Krakendoom's Great Company, just not with the Dreadwolves.

The Dreadwolves maintain a large amount of specialised equipment to facilitate their combat capabilities, beyond the assault boats that they share their name with.  A higher-than-average number of the Dreadwolves are armoured in Mk.III "Iron Armour" suits of Power Armour; the Mk.III was originally designed for ship-to-ship boarding actions with augmented frontal defences and ablative armour plates to the fore and the Dreadwolves make full use of its defensive capabilities.  Tactical Dreadnought Armour is made readily available to members of the Wolf Guard attached to the Dreadwolves, and Terminator-armoured Wolf Guard-led squads of Grey Hunters are not an uncommon sight.

When assaulting a ship, sometimes the crew throws nearly insurmountable obstacles in the way.  To combat this, the Dreadwolves make use of an older form of meltagun in combat.  Called the fusion cutter, it uses archaic and currently unduplicatable technology that was later used in the development of Chainfists to envelop a rotating chainblade in a power field to carve into impediments in its path, whether that be barricades or sealed bulkhead doors.

Lone Wolves attached to the Dreadwolves serve a unique function within the group: that of the breacher.  It is the task of a Lone Wolf to force entry into sealed and well guarded parts of enemy ships and create a beachhead for his brothers-in-arms to swarm into.  It is considered the most dangerous job available in the Dreadwolves and any Space Wolf who has lost the rest of his pack relishes the chance to spend his life in this way so that his brothers may win the day.  As the first into any given fight, Lone Wolves in the Dreadwolves often engage the strongest and fiercest of foes, granting them a glorious saga regardless of whether that saga ends that day or not.  Lone Wolves often wear Terminator Armour and are armed with a Chainfist in order to breach adamantine bulkheads, with a Storm Shield to enable them to penetrate the enemy's defences as far as they can before they fall.

When the Dreadwolves are called to fight upon the open field of battle, their battlefield doctrine changes due to the difference in battleground.  Still lacking in Blood Claws, and their jump pack-armed and bike-mounted contemporaries, the Dreadwolves mount up in a multitude of vehicles and seek to push the fight to their foes.  Dreadclaw Assault Boats serve in their secondary function as a drop pod, and Caestus Assault Rams, normally used to punch through a ship's hull, serve as a delivery system for the most vicious of warriors.  Though open plains and forested woodlands are not the Dreadwolves' favoured combat environment, they are still Space Wolves and they fight as well as any other.


Organisation

The Dreadwolves are led by Magnus Blackwolf, a relatively young member of Krakendoom's Wolf Guard.  A man seemingly at odds with himself, Magnus simultaneously walks two opposing paths. Outside of battle he is a calm and calculating man, able to formulate devastating plans of attack that utilise every resource he has at his disposal to their greatest effect. In the heat of combat, however, an animalistic rage overcomes him and the quiet tactician gives in to a berserker fury unmatched by few who have not fallen to the curse of the Wulfen.

Before taking the Test of Morkai, Magnus was an apprentice vintner and brewer in the tribe of the Black Wolf, a skill he maintains to the present day. With the years of experience only afforded him by his genetically enhanced nature, he has become a master of his art and his wares are often sought by many of his battle brothers. Every year, at the Feast of the Emperor's Ascension, Magnus presents the High King of Fenris, Logan Grimnar himself, with a cask of his rarest and most potent brew; mead produced from the honey of the Catachan Scutellata, insects with venom so deadly that even a Space Marine's enhanced physiology cannot prevent death if stung by even a single one.

Leading from the front, Magnus is always the first to step foot on any enemy vessel.  As he slaughters his way through the enemies of the Imperium, he inspires his followers to greater and greater deeds in the name of the All-Father, Leman Russ.

Magnus's remit within Krakendoom's Great Company enables him to pick the most suitable members for the Dreadwolves.  This doesn't necessarily mean the strongest or most skilled fighters, but instead those who are most suited for fighting in the conditions that the Dreadwolves excel at.  Packs with excellent teamwork score very highly in this respect as often in the narrow corridors and cramped spaces of a starship then only people you can rely on are your packmates.


Beliefs

The largest deviation from traditional loyalist thinking within the Dreadwolves is the use of Dreadclaw Assault Boats.  Usually, only the most radical of Inquisitors are wont to use the weapons of the enemy against themselves, but the Dreadwolves have blended their native Fenrisian beliefs with those of the Iron Priests in order to make use of these deadly armaments of war.

To a Dreadwolf, a Dreadclaw is nothing more than the largest wolf they have ever encountered and is just as dangerous.  They are treated as if they were savage beasts that would tear your throat out if you turned your back on them for even a moment.  They are afforded a great deal of awe and respect as they know that any of the great metal beasts could choose to devour them at any given time.

The Dreadwolves, in conjunction with the Rune Priests and Iron Priests, both of whom maintain watch on each vessel that carries Dreadclaws, utilise horrific bloodletting rituals in order to satiate the assault boats' thirst for blood, and sacrifice numerous grox to each one on a regular basis.  Often, the slaughtered grox are left within the Dreadclaw and, upon returning to it, no remains are even found.  Occastionally, live grox are left within the Dreadclaw, and its horrific screams can be heard throughout the entire ship.

To this day, no member of the Dreadwolves has ever gone missing whilst using a Dreadclaw Assault Boat, so the rituals used to placate them seem to work.  However, Magnus is constantly wary of such a thing occurring or, worse, discovery; he fears that, should the Inquisition find out about their practices and use of seemingly heretical equipment, they would attempt to eradicate the Dreadwolves or, worse, the entire chapter.  It is a weight upon his shoulders that he bears willingly.

Aboard each of the Strike Cruisers seconded to Krakendoom's Great Company, there exists an area of the ship set aside for pursuits not normally found aboard Space Marine vessels.  Storage areas, normally used for training or for equipment stowage, have been converted into seemingly-natural gardens, complete with an artificial sun and climate.  The leader of the Dreadwolves, Magnus, was an apprentice vintner before he became a Space Wolf, and his long years as a Space Marine have allowed him to hone his skills beyond those of mortal men.  He keeps a variety of bees and other insects aboard the ships in order to produce nectars and honeys that he can distil into potent alcohols.  The gardens also serve as the home and breeding grounds for the Grox herds used to pacify and maintain the Dreadclaw Assault Boats.


Gene-seed

The Dreadwolves share the same gene-seed as that of the rest of their chapter, which contains all of the strengths and weakness inherent to the Canis Helix.  Due to the necessity of the rituals involved in the maintenance of the Dreadclaw Assault Boats, a larger than average contingent of Wolf Priests are seconded to the Dreadwolves, so any abnormalities in their gene-seed would likely be picked up upon quickly.


Battlecry

The first thing that the enemies of the Dreadwolves hear, after the thunderous crashes of assault boats impacting upon their ship's hull, is the low whisper coming from every boarder, "Wolf!"  That one word gets repeated, over and over, increasing in volume with each utterance, until the entire boarding party is screaming it at the top of their lungs.  As the cries reach a crescendo, the leader of the party, usually Magnus himself, breaks into a ferocious wolf howl, quickly echoed by every member under his command.  As the howls suddenly cease, the enemy is left trembling in the eerie quietness as the slaughter begins.
Regards,
MT.
Quote from: Ravager Zero
Freaking mod-ninja. :P

Although, given that you're in Japan now, I suppose that's entirely legit. :shifty:

Chris

I'm replying now, having not read the OP yet. But this is a sign that do intend to, however i have 2000 words to write before Monday night and I've not even started research... If I haven't got back to you by Wednesday MT, PM me as a reminder...

I love a good Index Astartes, and I know it can be crushing if no one replies or helps in its construction... Bear with me and I'll get you some feedback!

Masked Thespian

Regards,
MT.
Quote from: Ravager Zero
Freaking mod-ninja. :P

Although, given that you're in Japan now, I suppose that's entirely legit. :shifty:

Tom

Hi MT, nice to see you active again. I've had a read through your Dreadwolves' background and in general I think it's very good. I don't think it suffers too much from you trying to make your space wolves too unique. I especially like the idea of the Dreadwolves as void-combat specialists that maintain older tech that aids in that environment.

In general I think if you like what you've come up with then you should stick to it but a couple of things that bothered me a little were the name Magnus for your leader and the continued use of the dreadclaws. Wikipedia tells me that Magnus is a Scandinavian name but that it comes from a Latin root that was adopted by the Old Norse language. I think I'm being pedantic here but perhaps a more Nordic name would sit better? Furthermore (and probably more importantly in terms of 40k background) the name Magnus immediately makes me think of Magnus the Red! I feel like no Space Wolf could share the name of a traitor primarch, let alone primarch of the Thousand Sons (By the way you should definitely read Prospero Burns if you haven't already).

As for the dreadclaws, I feel like it's just slightly too heretical for the dreadwolves to keep using them and keep sacrificing to them. I guess you had a similar concern and so tried to make the practice less extreme by turning the sacrifice into animal rather than human sacrifice but I think that's not grimdark enough for 40k. What chaos-tainted war machine is happy with dim-witted animal souls when it could easily have trans-human? I suggest that either you think of a plot where the dreadclaws are somehow modified or cleansed (I don't know how - is it possible?) so they don't require the sacrifice of lives... perhaps a token sacrifice of blood from each space wolf as he boards for combat (something like the chalices of the blood angels)? That or make the dreadclaws a one-off use that only occurred because the circumstances were so dire and are now a secret taint that threatens the continued existence of the dreadwolves?

Masked Thespian

Quote from: Tom on January 20, 2014, 06:33:50 AM
In general I think if you like what you've come up with then you should stick to it but a couple of things that bothered me a little were the name Magnus for your leader and the continued use of the dreadclaws. Wikipedia tells me that Magnus is a Scandinavian name but that it comes from a Latin root that was adopted by the Old Norse language. I think I'm being pedantic here but perhaps a more Nordic name would sit better?

Magnus Blackwolf is based on a LARP character that I used to play; he was a fantasy viking alchemist (which has been translated into the game as being a vintner) who tended to go rather frenzied in battle (because I...  uh...  enjoyed LARP battles probably a little more than was healthy, and that's being translated into the game as Saga of the Warrior Born).  I came up with the name thanks to the wonderful, and sadly now deceased, Magnus Magnusson as it seemed like a Nordic enough name for such a character.  I'm not really willing to change the character's name as a result of how personalised he is to me, but the points you have raised have been noted.

Quote from: Tom on January 20, 2014, 06:33:50 AMFurthermore (and probably more importantly in terms of 40k background) the name Magnus immediately makes me think of Magnus the Red! I feel like no Space Wolf could share the name of a traitor primarch, let alone primarch of the Thousand Sons (By the way you should definitely read Prospero Burns if you haven't already).

That is something that I've considered.  I don't know how other Space Marine chapters do it, but my knowledge of the Dark Angels is that they keep secrets from their younger members until they reach higher and higher stations within the chapter, and I assumed that the same might happen in the Space Wolves.  In retrospect, the secrecy of the Dark Angels is one of their defining traits, so perhaps it's not a good idea to take that and apply it to all other Marine chapters.

Does anyone know how new Marines are named?  I assumed that they chose their own name, so it wouldn't be inconceivable for Magnus to choose his name despite pressure from other Space Wolves.  In fact, as a rash and foolhardy Blood Claw, perhaps he kept the name IN SPITE of everyone's opposition to it.  Maybe, after a long time, as he matured he regretted his rash decision but has no choice but to stand by it and be known by the name one of the Space Wolves' greatest enemies.

Prospero Burns is on my "to read" list.  How many other of the Heresy novels should I read in the lead up to it, though?


Quote from: Tom on January 20, 2014, 06:33:50 AMAs for the dreadclaws, I feel like it's just slightly too heretical for the dreadwolves to keep using them and keep sacrificing to them. I guess you had a similar concern and so tried to make the practice less extreme by turning the sacrifice into animal rather than human sacrifice but I think that's not grimdark enough for 40k. What chaos-tainted war machine is happy with dim-witted animal souls when it could easily have trans-human? I suggest that either you think of a plot where the dreadclaws are somehow modified or cleansed (I don't know how - is it possible?) so they don't require the sacrifice of lives... perhaps a token sacrifice of blood from each space wolf as he boards for combat (something like the chalices of the blood angels)? That or make the dreadclaws a one-off use that only occurred because the circumstances were so dire and are now a secret taint that threatens the continued existence of the dreadwolves?

The truth is that I've written this background to try and justify their inclusion.  I love the Dreadclaw model, and am gutted that Forgeworld has discontinued them.  I really want to include them in this army but I don't want to go too far and, in my own words, be a special snowflake.  Having it as a one-off isn't really on the cards.

I actually thought that the simple act of sacrificing was grimdark enough, because it's not something that your average loyalist Space Marine tends to do, and could well draw the attention of the Inquisition should the secret get out (let alone the fact that they're using Chaos equipment).  The inclusion of the human sacrifice came about naturally as I wrote the story recently, but the idea of grox sacrifice was part of the idea from the very beginning (around three years ago or so, when I first had the idea for this army); the idea always was to combine the native Fenrisian rituals with those of the Techpriests of Mars.  I like the idea of the Space Wolves each sacrificing blood to the Dreadclaw as they board it, similar to a blood brother ritual, and I may well include that.  I'm not sure that I could justify modifying or cleansing them, though; the background says that the entirety of the Imperium abandoned the design because they couldn't cope with it and I do feel that it's a little special snowflakish to suggest that my army somehow did something that the entirety of the Imperium failed to do.  For the record, I feel that placating the machine spirits with flesh and blood to be somewhat okay, since it's using their native beliefs to work with the existing spirits rather than changing/purifying/replacing them.

As an aside, the only model I actually have made and painted for this army is a "Space Wolf Dreadclaw."  When I first started on the army three years ago, it was the first (and currently only) model I actually managed to glue up and paint.

Spoiler




Regards,
MT.
Quote from: Ravager Zero
Freaking mod-ninja. :P

Although, given that you're in Japan now, I suppose that's entirely legit. :shifty:

Chris

Well that was fun...
Loved the back story of the founding of the Dread Wolves, I liked the general feel of it, but then I'm a sucker for back story.

I think in general its a very good, well thought out, well reasoned and well loved idea. But my question would simply be, why?

I think as a circumstantial story that 'Once this happened', but I can't really see a Great Company adopting something as common place.. I can't remember where, but I read somewhere that Space Marines were the boarding specialists of the Imperium. Primarily the IG fought on the grounds with Marines on larger scale campaigns, but the SM's were used for boarding as the IG were not capable and competent enough. Then within that, Terminator Armour was primarily developed to aid in boarding actions...

Now I understand that was the ideal for the SM's, but I simply don't see how any Chapter would adopt another section who excel in something that they already excel in and have it as a norm.
Does that make sense?

All round, a really good piece of fluff, but it just feels fairly unnecessary.

Masked Thespian

#6
Bear in mind that, according to Codex: Space Wolves, "Engir's men excel in ship-to-ship conflicts and boarding actions; when the Space Wolves ply the Sea of Stars it is usually Engir Krakendoom's Company that leads the way."  It is 100% canon that Krakendoom's Great Company is specialised in boarding actions (though also takes to open field warfare and utilises a large number of transport vehicles and Swiftclaw Bikers when it does); essentially, my army is the part of his Great Company that is specialised in ship-to-ship combats, with my potential addition of the Dreadclaws (which I'd rather not remove but may have to).
Regards,
MT.
Quote from: Ravager Zero
Freaking mod-ninja. :P

Although, given that you're in Japan now, I suppose that's entirely legit. :shifty:

Tom

Quote from: Masked Thespian on January 20, 2014, 04:50:49 PM
The truth is that I've written this background to try and justify their inclusion.  I love the Dreadclaw model, and am gutted that Forgeworld has discontinued them.  I really want to include them in this army but I don't want to go too far and, in my own words, be a special snowflake.  Having it as a one-off isn't really on the cards.
If it's all about the model what do you think of this one?
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff/LEGION_KHARYBDIS_ASSAULT_CLAW.html
It's bigger so that might cause trouble, and it doesn't have quite the same character of a dreadclaw but in some ways that might be an advantage.

Masked Thespian

#8
I've seen that one, and I do like it, though not as much as the Dreadclaw.  Forge World have also told me that they're planning to release a new, pre-heresy, Dreadclaw later this year.

However, the more I think about it, the less I think I can actually do the idea of an Imperial army that uses Dreadclaws.  I am still really in love with the idea that they could be placated with rituals and sacrifices, but I think that to try and do that with one of the Big Four chapters is too much.  If I drop that aspect of the army, it'll still be be boarding focussed and part of Krakendoom's company, but I'll need to think up a new name for them, as well as a new origin story.
Regards,
MT.
Quote from: Ravager Zero
Freaking mod-ninja. :P

Although, given that you're in Japan now, I suppose that's entirely legit. :shifty:

Masked Thespian

I've spent some time tonight polishing this Index Astartes article based on feedback from here and another couple of forums.  In particular, I've made the villain of the piece a little bit less stupid, as well as made the use of Dreadclaw Drop Pods much more of a mystery rather than as a given thing.

=====

Index Astartes: Dreadwolves

Origins

Amongst all of the Great Companies of the Space Wolves, foremost amongst them versed in combat in the abyss of space is the Great Company of Engir Krakendoom, the Sea Wolf.  The Space Marines under his command do not fear the dark vacuum that exists outside of their starships and are greatly experienced in such combat conditions, such as zero-gravity combat and exposure to the cold void of space.

Though the whole of Krakendoom's Great Company is well known for its starfaring ways, the Dreadwolves are the first amongst their peers in this aspect of war.  An elite group of warriors within that Great Company, the Dreadwolves have honed their proficiency for ship-to-ship combat through many years of practice and conflict.  They utilise some of the best, and oldest, equipment available to Space Marine or man in order to maintain their combat superiority amidst the lonely stars.

Their leader is a Space Marine named Magnus Blackwolf.  A calm, calculating man outside of battle, Magnus leads the Dreadwolves from the forefront in combat where he is a whirlwind of rage and destruction.  It was Magnus who first coined the name Dreadwolves, and his role in their founding is why he leads them to this day.

Twenty-three years after taking command of his Great Company, Engir Krakendoom and his men found themselves aboard the Space Wolf Strike Cruiser Well of Urdr, returning to Fenris after a long conflict far to the galactic north of Segmentum Obscurus.  Despite looking forward to a well-earned feast in The Fang in celebration of their victories, the Well of Urdr responded immediately to a garbled planetary distress signal.

As the Strike Cruiser shifted into real space from the warp, it was immediately beset by weapons fire from a vessel lying in ambush.  Outranged by the mystery ship, the Well of Urdr attempted to close swiftly upon the dagger-shaped vessel as a torrent of weapons fire pushed its void shields to their limit.  A burst of lance fire overloaded the Well of Urdr's void shield generators and tore through the ship's hull in an orgy of blossoming yellow and orange flame.  The primary bombardment cannon was destroyed and the doors to their launch bays were fused shut by molten slag and blocked by fallen debris.  The Well of Urdr swung hard to port to try and bring its own weapon batteries to bear, but discovered another treacherous trick up its enemy's sleeve as six full squadrons of Doomfire Bombers bore down upon them. 

With their launch bays inoperable and unable to scramble any kind of defence, the Space Wolves looked on impotently as the bombers strafed the Well of Urdr, concentrating fire upon the massive engines located in the aft section.  Servitor-slaved close-range turret fire downed many of the attackers but more still were allowed to expend their payload, crippling the engines.

During this assault, the bridge crew of the strike cruiser identified their attacker as the Hand of Dread, a Styx-class heavy cruiser known to be in possession of the ruinous powers of Chaos.  Their database on this particular ship indicated that its captain preferred to finish his enemies off at extremely close range, taking his time to tear apart his enemies piece by piece.

As the Hand of Dread lazily started to manoeuvre into a killing position, Krakendoom swiftly called a meeting of his Wolf Guard to seek their counsel.  Though all of them wished to fight, without engines or weapons on target they believed that they could not strike back against their foe.  A new member of the Wolf Guard named Magnus Blackwolf, a former Grey Hunter recently inducted into their ranks during the prior campaign, spoke up and pointed out how the hubris of the enemy captain could be taken advantage of in an unexpected way.

The bridge of the Hand of Dread was filled with a palpable sense of excitement at their upcoming victory.  The captain smirked and reclined in his chair as his underlings carefully manoeuvred his ship to approach the drifting vessel of the False Emperor's lackeys without being exposed to their enemy's remaining active weapons.  He shuddered with delight at the thought of carving the ship into great hunks of twisted metal and adding pieces of it to his own ship's hull as trophies.

He felt a slight tremor in his ship but thought nothing of it until a static-filled, panicked report came through to the bridge that there were enemy Space Marines aboard his vessel.  He could not understand how that was possible; his void shields were still operational and their launch bays were crippled.  As he stood to order the killing blow to the enemy strike cruiser, angry red runes flashed all across his bridge as his ship's void shields inexplicably failed immediately before the sounds of teleporting reached his ears.  The last thing he saw was a dark-skinned Space Wolf angrily swinging a massive axe at his neck.

Magnus's gambit had worked; by using the ancient Caestus Assault Rams within the launch bays to break their way free of the ruined bay doors, Magnus had led a small strike team of Space Wolves to board the Hand of Dread and cripple its void shield generators, allowing a larger portion of the great company to teleport aboard.  Krakendoom himself teleported to the bridge and slew the captain personally.

The Hand of Dread was captured nearly completely intact after the Space Wolves rampaged through the ship, slaughtering its leaderless crew to a man.  Upon repairing their engines, and confirming that the initial distress call had been falsified as bait for the trap, Krakendoom's Great Company returned to Fenris with a great prize.

Upon returning to their icy homeworld, Krakendoom realised the usefulness of keeping a cadre of Marines specialised in the art of war of close quarters fighting who would be ready to board any given enemy vessel.  Impressed by the ingenuity to have come up with such an audacious plan as well as by reports of his personal tally in the ensuing combat, Krakendoom specifically called upon Magnus to handpick a selection of his Great Company and to maintain training in the art of boarding warfare


Homeworld

As with all Space Wolves, the Dreadwolves' homeworld is the icy death world of Fenris.  However, the Dreadwolves, as do most of Krakendoom's Great Company, consider their battle barges and strike cruisers as much of a home as they do the planet of their birth.  In fact many members of the Dreadwolves tend to remain aboard their starships when they return to the Fang, preferring the cramped bunks and artificial gravity to the more natural conditions found on the planet below.


Combat Doctrine

The Codex Tactica Imperialis refers to certain battlefields as the 'Zone Mortalis' - the fatal ground.  The contested decks of a void warship contain many limiting factors such as close confinement, limited access for attack or escape routes, as well as treacherous environments, which makes it a murderous venue for warfare.  As a result of this, the Dreadwolves do not allow Blood Claws in their ranks; the future of the Chapter is far too important to allow raw recruits, keen on proving themselves in the heat of battle, to throw their lives, and gene-seed, away in the deadly arena that is the Zone Mortalis.  Blood Claws are seen within the remainder of Krakendoom's Great Company, just not with the Dreadwolves.

The Dreadwolves maintain a large amount of specialised equipment to facilitate their combat capabilities.  A higher-than-average number of the Dreadwolves are armoured in Mk.III "Iron Armour" suits of Power Armour; the Mk.III was originally designed for ship-to-ship boarding actions with augmented frontal defences and ablative armour plates to the fore and the Dreadwolves make full use of its defensive capabilities.  Tactical Dreadnought Armour is made readily available to members of the Wolf Guard attached to the Dreadwolves, and Terminator-armoured Wolf Guard-led squads of Grey Hunters are not an uncommon sight.

Lone Wolves attached to the Dreadwolves serve a unique function within the group: that of breaching the enemy's defences.  It is the task of a Lone Wolf to force entry into sealed and well guarded parts of enemy ships and create a beachhead for his brothers-in-arms to swarm into.  It is considered the most dangerous job available in the Dreadwolves and any Space Wolf who has lost the rest of his pack relishes the chance to expend his life in this way so that his brothers may win the day.  As the first into any given fight, Lone Wolves in the Dreadwolves often engage the strongest and fiercest of foes, granting them a glorious saga regardless of whether that saga ends that day or not.  Lone Wolves often wear Terminator Armour and are armed with a Chainfist in order to breach adamantine bulkheads, with a Storm Shield to enable them to penetrate the enemy lines as far as they can before they fall.

When the Dreadwolves are called to fight upon the open field of battle, their battlefield doctrine changes due to the difference in battleground.  Still lacking in Blood Claws, and their jump pack-armed and bike-mounted contemporaries, the Dreadwolves mount up in a multitude of vehicles and seek to push the fight to their foes.  Their assault boats, usually designed solely for ship-to-ship transportation, have been seemingly retrofitted to serve in a secondary function as a drop pod, and Caestus Assault Rams, normally used to punch through a ship's hull, serve as a delivery system for the most vicious of warriors.  Though open plains and forested woodlands are not the Dreadwolves' favoured combat environment, they are still Space Wolves and they fight as well as any other.


Organisation

The Dreadwolves are led by Magnus Blackwolf, a relatively young member of Krakendoom's Wolf Guard.  A man seemingly at odds with himself, Magnus simultaneously walks two opposing paths. Outside of battle he is a resourceful man, able to formulate devastating plans of attack that utilise every resource he has at his disposal to their greatest effect. In the heat of combat, however, an animalistic frenzy overcomes him and the calm, quiet tactician gives in to a berserker fury unmatched by few who have not fallen to the curse of the Wulfen.

Magnus is the cause of some unrest within Krakendoom's Great Company.  His name is a bitter reminder to all who know their sagas of the Space Wolves' greatest foe, the Primarch of the Thousand Sons.  When Magnus was an initiate and shed the remnants of his old life, including his former name, he chose his new name without knowing the history of the Space Wolves.  Despite being pressed upon by the Wolf Priests to choose differently, he stubbornly kept the name out of some sort of youthful rebellion so common to new Space Wolf recruits.  In the years since, he has come to regret his choice but accepts the clouded looks shot at him by the older and more superstitious Long Fangs with dignified silence and a slightly furrowed brow.

He also is considered something of a youthful upstart despite spending almost a hundred years as a Grey Hunter; there were a number within Krakendoom's Wolf Guard who were surprised about his swift appointment to the position he holds to this day, not to mention the unease he caused among them when his plan in battle caused them to use the teleporter system of the Well of Urdr, something not traditionally done within the Space Wolves.  Despite winning most of them over with his competence and valour in battle, there is still the occasional jealous whisper behind his back.

Before taking the Test of Morkai, Magnus was an apprentice vintner and brewer in the tribe of the Black Wolf, a skill he maintains to the present day. With the years of experience only afforded him by his genetically enhanced nature, he has become a master of his art and his wares are often sought by many of his battle brothers. Every year, at the Feast of the Emperor's Ascension, Magnus presents the High King of Fenris, Logan Grimnar himself, with a cask of his rarest and most potent brew; mead produced from the honey of the Catachan Scutellata, insects with venom so deadly that even a Space Marine's enhanced physiology cannot prevent death if stung by even a single one.

Leading from the front, Magnus is always the first to step foot on any enemy vessel.  As he slaughters his way through the enemies of the Imperium, he inspires his followers to greater and greater deeds in the name of the All-Father, Leman Russ.

Magnus's remit within Krakendoom's Great Company enables him to pick the most suitable members for the Dreadwolves.  This doesn't necessarily mean the strongest or most skilled fighters, but instead those who are most suited for fighting in the conditions that the Dreadwolves excel at.  Packs with excellent teamwork score very highly in this respect as often in the narrow corridors and cramped spaces of a starship the only people you can rely on are your packmates.

When questioned upon the origins of the group's name, Magnus remains stoically tight-lipped.  It has been theorised that the name was literally chosen to inspire dread in their enemies, whilst some point to the name of the enemy vessel where they first cut their teeth.  Others still point to the drop pods used by the Dreadwolves, citing similarities to those used by the forces of Chaos, known as Dreadclaw Drop Pods.  Regardless of the truth, Magnus refuses to speak of it to outsiders.


Beliefs

As members of the Space Wolves chapter, the Dreadwolves follow the same Fenrisian beliefs that the rest of their fellows do.  A highly superstitious lot, the Dreadwolves usually perform a number of rituals, led by Wolf Priests and Rune Priests alike, dedicated to the ancient Fenrisian deities as well as to Leman Russ on the eve of any conflict.  Whispered communal prayers are not uncommon as the troops settle into their assault boats.

The Thing (pronounced "ting") is an assembly of the Dreadwolves, often brought together to reminisce about the loss of battle brothers after a battle or campaign.  Any member can speak their mind at a Thing and often tell tall tales or recite sagas of the glorious fallen to the sounds of uproarious laughter and the flowing of copious quantities of ale.  Things can also be called to discuss important matters regarding the group itself, such as campaign planning and leadership disputes; these Things are a much more sombre and serious affair.

Aboard each of the Strike Cruisers seconded to Krakendoom's Great Company, there exists an area of the ship set aside for pursuits not normally found aboard Space Marine vessels.  Storage areas, normally used for training or for equipment stowage, have been converted into seemingly-natural gardens, complete with an artificial sun and climate.  Magnus keeps a variety of bees and other insects aboard the ships in order to produce nectars and honeys that he can distil into potent alcohols.  The gardens also serve as the home and breeding grounds for a small number of Grox herds, but when questioned Magnus never answers why this is.


Gene-seed

The Dreadwolves share the same gene-seed as that of the rest of their chapter, which contains all of the strengths and weakness inherent to the Canis Helix.  For some unknown reason, a larger than average contingent of Wolf Priests are seconded to the Dreadwolves, so any abnormalities in their gene-seed would likely be picked up upon quickly.


Battlecry

The first thing that the enemies of the Dreadwolves hear, after the thunderous crashes of assault boats impacting upon their ship's hull, is the low whisper coming from every boarder, "Wolf!"  That one word gets repeated, over and over, increasing in volume with each utterance, until the entire boarding party is screaming it at the top of their lungs.  As the cries reach a crescendo, the leader of the party, usually Magnus himself, breaks into a ferocious wolf howl, quickly echoed by every member under his command.  As the howls suddenly cease, the enemy is left trembling in the eerie quietness as the slaughter begins.
Regards,
MT.
Quote from: Ravager Zero
Freaking mod-ninja. :P

Although, given that you're in Japan now, I suppose that's entirely legit. :shifty: