Knights Radiant Order Association (Warhammer 40k)

[Heir of the Void]

So, I was creating a Chapter of Adeptus Astartes (Warhammer 40k Space Marines) who all happen to posses magic powers, when I realized that, hey, these are badass, superhuman (space) knights clad in power armor, just like some other awesome dudes I know. So I figured, why not make one a reference to another.

 

However, I ran into a problem, and I was hoping to get some help.

 

Basically, I've distilled the forces of the Space Marines into 10 distinct groups, and I want to name one after each order of the Knights Radiant. The categories are as follows:

 

Tactical Marines: All-around ground forces armed with rapid-fire rocket-propelled explosive bolt launchers and a chainsaw sword.

 

Devastator Marines: Heavy Weapons Guys, they are armed with a variety of long-ranged and powerful weapons. I'm thinking Dustbringers for these dudes.

 

Assult Marines: Marines specialized in Close Quarters Combat, they are armed with pistols, enhanced CQC weapons, and equipped with Jetpacks.

 

Techmarines: Responsible for monitoring the technologic aspects of the chapter, they repair vehicles in battle and fight with the rarest and most advanced weapons.

 

Apothecaries: Responsible for healing their Battle-Brothers and enhancing new Marines, they heal their wounded brothers in battle and give innates the implants that turn them into Space Marines.

Chaplin: Responsible for the Spiritual health of their Battle-Bothers, they are among the scariest members of the chapter and improve the morale of other Marines, and monitor them for corruption.

 

Librarian: They have the strongest Magic Powers of the Chapter. The blow things up with their brains (and do a bunch of other things, but those are boring).

 

Terminators: Marines specially trained in the use of the superheavy Tactical Dreadnought Armor, a heavier (and awesomer) version of normal power armor.

 

Biker Marines: Space Marines on Jetbikes or Attack Motorcycles. What's not to love?

 

Scout Commander: While Neophyte Marines crew vehicles and serve as scouts, some full marines chose to stay as Scouts and lead squads of innates into battle.

 

Vehicle Commander: While Neophyte Marines crew vehicles and serve as scouts, some chose to stay a vehicle commanders, directing the various armored combat vehicles the Chapter fields in combat.

 

So, which orders of Knights Radiant should each of these groups of Marines be named after?

Edited November 12, 2014 by Heir of the Void

[Unhinged]

Apothecaries-Edgedancers given that Lift uses regrowth to heal a slit throat I figured this would work well for Apothecaries

 

Terminators-Stonewards no real justification here it just seems to fit.

 

Assault-Marines-Skybreakers the whole gravity surge seems pretty in line with jump packs.

 

That's all I have for right now. on a side note what type of army is it, are they just generic marines or are you using one of the specialty codex's (blood angels, Space wolves etc)

[Heir of the Void]

Apothecaries-Edgedancers given that Lift uses regrowth to heal a slit throat I figured this would work well for Apothecaries

 

Terminators-Stonewards no real justification here it just seems to fit.

 

Assault-Marines-Skybreakers the whole gravity surge seems pretty in line with jump packs.

 

That's all I have for right now. on a side note what type of army is it, are they just generic marines or are you using one of the specialty codex's (blood angels, Space wolves etc)

 

Thanks for contributing.

 

Stonewards definitely fit Terminators. "Resolve, strength, and dependability" are exactly what you want in a Terminator, and I think that psychic powers centered on Cohesion and Tension could be useful for Terminators. For example, a Cohesion power could be used to buff their armor (to protected them from AP2 attacks, perhaps) or Tension could be used to... buff the artificial muscle fibers in their TDA suits, perhaps?

 

I was thinking of making Apothecaries Truthwatchers, given that they also have the surge of Progression, and thus (probably, Ym was able to heal someone, and he was most likley a Truthwatcher) have regrowth, and mostly that I feel like Edgedancers fit Scout Sergeants so much better.

 

See, Edgedancers 'remember the small things' (“I will remember those who have been forgotten.”), which I think fits a Marine who chooses to stay with the scouts pretty well. They pass up on the glory of being a fully armored Battle Brother to help the Scout Marines progress. In addition, I think the Edgedancer powers of Friction and Progression would be more useful to a Scout Marine.

 

I was thinking the Skybreakers would be the Chaplains. The Skybreakers were the lawkeepers and 'Military Police' of the Radiants, and I think they would fit the Chaplains of my chapter pretty well. I was thinking that the Windrunners would be Assault Marines, given that you are right about the Gravity control fitting Jetpacks, and that Adhesion could be useful in CQC to stick enemies, decreasing their number of attacks or initiative characteristics. Kaladin certainly used it well in CQC.

 

As it happens, this would require a highly modded Vanilla Marines codex, given that everyone has psychic powers (this chapter is a group of Loyalist Thousand Sons). It would more likely use either an extremely modified Grey Knights codex or require one to be built from the ground up.

 

This would be awesome (and slightly cheesy), because I could set things up that all your Stonewards roll on the 'Stonewards Powers' table to generate their psychic powers, which I could ensure were all useful to Terminators. This would present problems like, for example, a shooty unit generating assault buffing powers or an assault unit generating Witchfire powers that they can't use when in CQC. Therefore, the effectiveness of there psychic powers would increase without their psychic powers becoming mechanically better.

[kaellok]

Tactical Marines:  These would be squires.  Since Windrunners get the most, and Skybreakers fit with Assault Marines, I would grudgingly make these Windrunners, but it really doesn't fit a specific Order. 

 

Devastator Marines:  Dustbringers.  Just, Dustbringers.

 

Assault Marines:  Hard call, between Windrunners or Skybreakers.

 

Techmarines:  Clearly the Bondsmiths

 

Apothecaries:  Truthwatcher.  Not a great fit, granted, but probably the one that they fit the best. 

 

Chaplain:  Lightweavers.  They're responsible for the morale of the unit, and Lightweavers were responsible for the spiritual sustenance of the Radiants.  Basically the same thing.

 

Librarians:  Elsecallers.  Duh.  (I mean, Jasnah.  Perfect fit.  Like, absolutely perfect.)

 

Terminators:  Stonewards.  I agree that this fits them perfectly.  Also my termies tended to hold as long as I needed them to before dying gloriously, so that fits.

 

Bikers:  Edgedancers, although I'm not happy with this classification.  But, bikers are essentially light cavalry in WH40K, and although Edgedancers seem to have played the role of Combat Medic / EMT, it's surprisingly similar. 

 

Scouts/Scout Commanders/Vehicle Commanders:  Willshapers.  I mean, they have Transportation and Cohesion, with a love of adventure.  Sounds like more than a few scouts I knew in the Army. 

 

It's a bit surprising how well many of these fit.  Anyone know if Brandon ever played, or was friends with people who played, 40k?

[Unhinged]

Tactical Marines:  These would be squires.  Since Windrunners get the most, and Skybreakers fit with Assault Marines, I would grudgingly make these Windrunners, but it really doesn't fit a specific Order. 

 

Actually I'd label the scout marines as squires just like how squires haven't fully become knights scouts haven't become full marines.

[Heir of the Void]

Tactical Marines:  These would be squires.  Since Windrunners get the most, and Skybreakers fit with Assault Marines, I would grudgingly make these Windrunners, but it really doesn't fit a specific Order. 

 

Devastator Marines:  Dustbringers.  Just, Dustbringers.

 

Assault Marines:  Hard call, between Windrunners or Skybreakers.

 

Techmarines:  Clearly the Bondsmiths

 

Apothecaries:  Truthwatcher.  Not a great fit, granted, but probably the one that they fit the best. 

 

Chaplain:  Lightweavers.  They're responsible for the morale of the unit, and Lightweavers were responsible for the spiritual sustenance of the Radiants.  Basically the same thing.

 

Librarians:  Elsecallers.  Duh.  (I mean, Jasnah.  Perfect fit.  Like, absolutely perfect.)

 

Terminators:  Stonewards.  I agree that this fits them perfectly.  Also my termies tended to hold as long as I needed them to before dying gloriously, so that fits.

 

Bikers:  Edgedancers, although I'm not happy with this classification.  But, bikers are essentially light cavalry in WH40K, and although Edgedancers seem to have played the role of Combat Medic / EMT, it's surprisingly similar. 

 

Scouts/Scout Commanders/Vehicle Commanders:  Willshapers.  I mean, they have Transportation and Cohesion, with a love of adventure.  Sounds like more than a few scouts I knew in the Army. 

 

It's a bit surprising how well many of these fit.  Anyone know if Brandon ever played, or was friends with people who played, 40k?

 

Thanks for contributing.

 

OK, so I like the idea of making Tatical Marines squires, whatever the Codex Astartes says, as it makes sense that the generalists who have not speclized would be the newest guys. However, I had a fairly hard time reaching 10 'orders' of Marines as is, and bumping Taticals down to squire might leave me with only 9 orders, and that's terrible.

 

So, the ones we're all in agreement with are these:

 

Dustbringers as Devastators: This one just makes perfect senses.The name fits to a 'T', and the powers work out nicely as well. Friction gliding could be used to 'skate' across the battlefield to quickly reposition for optimial firing, and division could be used to soften armor before shooting or to 'divide' space to create a 'tunnel' around the muzzle of their guns for more accute shooting. Locking this one in.

 

Stonewards as Terminators: Again, the name fits very nicely, and the personality if fitting to the role they serve. Totally Confirmed.

 

Truthwatchers as Apothecaries: Agreed, this is probably where they're going to fit best. Healing powers are obviously useful here, and I'm sure I can come up with something useful for illumination. I'm confirming this one to.

 

OK, so that's good.

 

I was originally thinking of Edgedancers as Scout Commanders, as Edgedancers can heal, and thus preserve wounded scouts, as they are a valuable chapter resource, but after checking my notes on Willshapers, I think that they fit here better, and I'll defer to someone who's actually served as for the personality of Scouts.

 

I was thinking of the Bondsmiths as vehicle commanders, but on second thought, anything with 'smith' in it needs to be a techmarine, and the Power Armor a Techmarine cares for is one of the strongest unifiying factors of a Chapter.

 

I was initally thinking Skybreakers as the Chaplins and Lightweavers as Libraians, as 40k Chaplins tend to dress all in black and be even scarier than the guys they advise, but that quote about 'providing spirtual sustinace' for the Radiants Chapter makes me question that. Still, as I had the Windrunners as Assult Marines, I'm not sure what the Skybreakers would be, if not Chaplins.

[Heir of the Void]

Actually I'd label the scout marines as squires just like how squires haven't fully become knights scouts haven't become full marines.

 

Yeah, but the Orders are all too specfic to fit Taticals very well, so making them squires would make more sense.

[kaellok]

It's hard to fit the Orders exactly to all of the force types.  I mean, some are basically exactly the same, and as an old WH40k fan that makes me happy in ways that it probably shouldn't.  But the Tactical Marines don't seem to match up with any specific Order well at all.  At least so far as we know, there wasn't an Order that was much larger than all of the rest; just one that was much smaller.  So, while thematically it might fit better for squires to be scouts, I don't see anything that fits Tactical Marines better.  I'm not really happy with where that puts Windrunners, but I don't see a better option.  (Unless you have two different squads of Assault Marines, one painted Windrunner color and the other Skybreaker.)

[Heir of the Void]

It's hard to fit the Orders exactly to all of the force types.  I mean, some are basically exactly the same, and as an old WH40k fan that makes me happy in ways that it probably shouldn't.  But the Tactical Marines don't seem to match up with any specific Order well at all.  At least so far as we know, there wasn't an Order that was much larger than all of the rest; just one that was much smaller.  So, while thematically it might fit better for squires to be scouts, I don't see anything that fits Tactical Marines better.  I'm not really happy with where that puts Windrunners, but I don't see a better option.  (Unless you have two different squads of Assault Marines, one painted Windrunner color and the other Skybreaker.)

 

I know what you mean about that making you happy, and  I feel the same way .

 

Agreed about the Tac Marines not really fitting any particular order. I've come up with what might be a workable list, but it shoehorns the Edgedancers as vehicle commanders, which I'm really not very happy about. Still, friction could world well with a vehicles, I guess.

Anyway:

 

Truthwatchers: Apothecaries

 

Skybreakers: Bikers

 

Lightweavers: Chaplains

 

Elsecallers: Librarians

 

Stonewords: Terminators

 

Willshapers: Scout Commanders

 

Dustbringers: Devastator Marines

 

Windrunners: Assault Marines

 

Edgedancers: Vehicle Commanders?

 

Bondsmiths: Techmarines

 

Anyway, the fluff for these guys is basically as follows.

 

A rouge trader is investigating a Space Hulk, when he enters a derelict Strike Cruiser. He makes his way toward the center of the craft, where some power signatures are still active. He gets there, and discovers a couple hundred Thousand Sons Marines in stasis. Basically, when the rest of the Sons decided to get their Heretic on, these guys decided that the whole 'betraying mankind' thing might not be such a good idea an decided to GTFO. They raided the armory, stole a bunch of geneseed, and evacuated. Tzeentch didn't like this, and decided to use the back of his psychic hand. Every non-marine on the ship was kill in his counterattack, and without enough survivors to even begin to attempt to effect repairs, the Marines retreated to Stasis pods.

 

Needing to get rid the 'Thousand Sons' brand immediately, the Marines adopt the Chapter name Knights of Arcana, but they need to find some way to beat their Mutagenic tendencies. I'm trying to find some way to tie the Spren in here, but so far, I'm drawing a blank.

[Heir of the Void]

Another idea I had: the Ryshadium Pattern Jet ‘bike'.

 

Basically a vastly oversized jetbike, the Ryshadium possess a powerful, some would say sentient, machine spirit, and will only be ridden by those it chooses. It also serves as a psychic catalyst for its rider, who must be a powerful psyker.

 

Ryshadium Pattern Jet ‘bike’ ------------------------------------------200 points

 

Armor: 13/13/12 HP 3 or 4

Unit Type:
• Vehicle (Fast, Skimmer, Chariot)

Unit Composition:
• 1 Ryshadium Pattern Jet ‘bike’

Wargear:
• 2 Plasma Accelerators
• 2 Coaxial Assault Cannons
• Flux Shielding

Special Rules:
• Psionic Steed
• Chariot

Transport Capacity:
• 1 Independent Character

Options:

• May replace its Assault Cannons with one of the following:
- 2 coaxial Psycannons------- +20 (or 40?) points

 

Wargear:

 

Plasma Accelerator: S 10, AP 2, Range 48’’, Heavy 1, Gets Hot!
-The Plasma Accelerator is a devastating weapon from the Great Crusade Era, capabale of accelerating already dangerous plasma to extreme speeds while encasing it in a field that keeps it coherent as it bores through armor.

Flux Shielding: 4+ invulnerable save on the front and side arcs

Psionic Steed: This unit serves as a psionic resonator for its pilot. Anytime the pilot suffers a Perils of the Warp, you may remove 1 hull point from the Ryshadium to negate this. In addition, the pilot knows the following power, which is added after powers are generated but before the game starts:
-Repair steed: Restores 1 HP to the user’s chariot for each Warp Charge harnessed for this power.