Black Templars
Black TemplarsThe Black Templars are a Loyalist Second Founding Space Marines Chapter derived from the Imperial
Fists' gene-seed and their Primarch, Rogal Dorn. Their origin can be traced back to the Imperial Fists’ defence of Terra during the Horus Heresy. Since that time, the Black Templars have been on the longest Crusade the Imperium of Man has ever known to prove their loyalty to the Emperor of Mankind. They are not a Codex Astartes-compliant Chapter and maintain a very different Chapter structure and Chapter culture than is the norm amongst most Astartes Chapters. The Black Templars are the best-known example of a Crusading Chapter in the whole Imperium; their doctrines, traditions, and organisation reflect their particular approach to prosecuting the Imperium’s wars. The Chapter is divided into a variable number of self-contained and highly mobile forces known as Crusades, each commanded by a Marshal, whose only superior is the High Marshal of the Chapter himself. Under most circumstances, the Chapter is divided into no more than three separate Crusade forces, though during especially calamitous times the number has risen to several times more. Crusade forces are such large and powerful bodies that they are usually sub-divided into tactical bodies known as Fighting Companies, analogous to a standard Codex Astartes company, and each of these is led by a Castellan. With the successful conclusion of a war for which a Crusade force has been raised, the various Fighting Companies within it are likely to be assigned a new mission, redeployed piecemeal to bolster other Crusades already in the field, or sometimes amalgamated into the High Marshal’s household until such time as a new Crusade force is mustered. Each Crusade force is raised from available Fighting Companies in order to prosecute a particular foe, purge a specific region of space or attain a definite goal. Many of these wars are planned and undertaken by the Chapter itself, according to the wisdom of its current High Marshal and other highly ranked Chapter officers, but others are undertaken as a result of petitions from other institutions within the Imperium. In the main, the High Marshal of the Black Templars is likely to receive only the highest-ranked petitioners, generally those with a warrant from the Senatorum Imperialis and therefore speaking with the direct authority of the High Lords of Terra and the Emperor Himself. On occasion, however, the High Marshal might agree to hear the petitions of especially highly placed Inquisitors or even well-regarded Rogue Traders, though he is under no obligation to offer such men any aid. Many times in its glorious history, the Chapter has gone to war alongside other august bodies, and a complex web of mutual obligation and honour has evolved. The Chapter’s propensity for launching such Crusades is not merely a point of history or tradition, but something deeply rooted in its psyche. The Chapter was formed during the Second Founding from those Battle-Brothers of the Imperial Fists Legion most disposed towards aggressive and bold styles of warfare and, furthermore, in whom the events of the Horus Heresy had imprinted an unstoppable drive to continue the Great Crusade and avenge the treacheries committed by the Traitor Legions. Perhaps these Battle-Brothers were the most recently recruited of the old Legion, their raw zeal yet to be tempered by the experience born of duty for which the Imperial Fists were so honoured. Regardless, the drive of those original Black Templars became instilled in the new Chapter from the beginning. The processes by which its gene-stock was cultivated imbued it in future generations on a genetic level. By a combination of raw zeal, genetic enhancement, relentless psycho-conditioning and the continuous reinforcement of the Chapter’s histories and battle honours, each Battle-Brother is an exemplar of the crusading warrior-knight, fired with righteous anger and driven to avenge every wrong ever done to the Imperium of Man by every Traitor, fiend, and alien ever to have existed. |