Xenos Hunters Fluff Workshop [Updated 9/14]

[DarkElf27]

Xenos Hunters Fluff Workshop

This is a thread I'm going to be working on creating realistic background for my chapter of Space Marines, as well as posting writing based on their beginnings and continuations.

The second post is going to contain direct information about the chapter, it's origins, it's contents, it's characters, and the like. The third post will contain actual fiction based on those parameters, describing their history from a literary sense.

The main point of having all this information in this thread is so I can get feedback, advice, and criticism so that I can make this army as fluff-accurate as possible. Feedback essential!  

[DarkElf27]

Background Information and Fluff

Xeno Hunter Legion has always been my Space Marine chapter. Space Marines were my first army, and while I rarely use them in actual games, they've been my closest focus where background and fluff for them have been concerned.

Previous incarnations of their history have been riddled with inconsistencies, improbabilities, and incompatabilities with established fluff, so I'm going ahead and scrapping the whole thing, and starting anew, holding to similar basics by more realistic means.

Origins

The origin of the Xeno Hunter Legion has always been the hardest part to fit into established fluff, but after reading Galaxy in Flames, I found a much more viable solution to fit a very similar principle.

When Horus turned his back on the Emperor, he made his stand on Isstvaan V after devastating the loyalist Marines in the fleets he called to him. When the counterattack came, the Raven Guard spearheaded it (as I understand it), and took massive casualties.

Now, here's the part where I'm going to wedge my own fluff in. As I understand it, Horus made his plans so that he would have time to fortify while a Warp storm prevented Imperial forces to get to him for some time. As such, it would be logical that some eddies and tides of that Storm that remained when the counterattack came underway.

A portion of the Raven Guard fleet was caught up in one such eddy, a small portion consisting of 9 ships. I've spent some time deciding which ships these would be, and picked a Dictator-class cruiser, two Dauntless class light cruisers, and two squads of 3 Cobra-class destroyers. The only name I have set right now for these vessels is Swift Retribution for one of the Dauntless cruisers, I'm open to suggestions for the rest of them.

The Xeno Hunter Fleet: Naming

Dictator-Class Cruiser: Redemption
Dauntless-Class Light Cruiser: Swift Retribution
Dauntless-Class Light Cruiser: Dire Sanction
Destroyer Group 1: Shade
Cobra-Class Destroyer: Deception
Cobra-Class Destroyer: Lurking Fate
Cobra-Class Destroyer: Remora
Destroyer Group 2: Talon
Cobra-Class Destroyer: Cunning Strike
Cobra-Class Destroyer: Foeseeker
Cobra-Class Destroyer: Noble Aspiration

Other current details I'm working out on the pre-warp fluff include exactly what the crew complements of these ships are, how many Space Marines should be aboard them, and the reasoning for Space Marines to be aboard standard Imperial vessels. My current explanation for the latter is that they are tasked with ship-to-ship operations instead of dropping to the surface, the Space Marines would be present to participate in the boarding of traitor vessels. I also would like to know the approximate complement of fighters/bombers/gunships that the Dictator can carry.

The Xeno Hunter Fleet: Specifications

Dictator-Class Cruiser: The Redemption
-Fighter Complement:
-Bomber Complement: 12 Starhawk Bombers
-Gunship Complement: 6 Thunkerhawks
-Drop/Assault Pod Complement: 20 drop pods, 12 assault pods
-Crew Complement: 6,128
-Imperial Guard Complement: 1,450
-Space Marine Complement: 400
-Docking Facilities: 2 strikecraft hangers, repair/refit facilities for larger vessels.
-Other: N/A
Dauntless-Class Light Cruiser: The Swift Retribution
-Fighter Complement: N/A
-Bomber Complement: N/A
-Gunship Complement: 2 Thunderhawks
-Drop/Assault Pod Complement: 4 drop pods, 2 assault pods
-Crew Complement: 1,745
-Imperial Guard Complement: 650
-Space Marine Complement: 100
-Docking Facilities: N/A
-Other: N/A
Dauntless-Class Light Cruiser: The Dire Sanction
-Fighter Complement: N/A
-Bomber Complement: N/A
-Gunship Complement: 2 Thunderhawks
-Drop/Assault Pod Complement: 4 drop pods, 2 assault pods
-Crew Complement: 1,729
-Imperial Guard Complement: 600
-Space Marine Complement: 100
-Docking Facilities: N/A
-Other: N/A
Destroyer Group 1: Shade
Cobra-Class Destroyer: The Deception
-Fighter Complement: N/A
-Bomber Complement: N/A
-Gunship Complement: 1 Thunderhawk
-Drop/Assault Pod Complement: 2 assault pods
-Crew Complement: 247
-Imperial Guard Complement: 150
-Space Marine Complement: 30
-Docking Facilities: N/A
-Other: N/A
Cobra-Class Destroyer: The Lurking Fate
-Fighter Complement: N/A
-Bomber Complement: N/A
-Gunship Complement: 1 Thunderhawk
-Drop/Assault Pod Complement: 2 assault pods
-Crew Complement: 261
-Imperial Guard Complement: 150
-Space Marine Complement: 30
-Docking Facilities: N/A
-Other: N/A
Cobra-Class Destroyer: The Remora
-Fighter Complement: N/A
-Bomber Complement: N/A
-Gunship Complement: 1 Thunderhawk
-Drop/Assault Pod Complement: 2 assault pods
-Crew Complement: 229
-Imperial Guard Complement: 150
-Space Marine Complement: 30
-Docking Facilities: N/A
-Other: N/A
Destroyer Group 2: Talon
Cobra-Class Destroyer: The Cunning Strike
-Fighter Complement: N/A
-Bomber Complement: N/A
-Gunship Complement: 1 Thunderhawk
-Drop/Assault Pod Complement: 2 assault pods
-Crew Complement: 459
-Imperial Guard Complement: 400
-Space Marine Complement: 50
-Docking Facilities: N/A
-Other: N/A
Cobra-Class Destroyer: The Foeseeker
-Fighter Complement: N/A
-Bomber Complement: N/A
-Gunship Complement: 1 Thunderhawk
-Drop/Assault Pod Complement: 2 assault pods
-Crew Complement: 443
-Imperial Guard Complement: 400
-Space Marine Complement: 50
-Docking Facilities: N/A
-Other: N/A
Cobra-Class Destroyer: The Noble Aspiration
-Fighter Complement: N/A
-Bomber Complement: N/A
-Gunship Complement: 1 Thunderhawk
-Drop/Assault Pod Complement: 2 assault pods
-Crew Complement: 462
-Imperial Guard Complement: 400
-Space Marine Complement: 50
-Docking Facilities: N/A
-Other: N/A

 

[DarkElf27]

Fiction

The first bit here that I have is the start of a story detailing the origins of my Imperial Guard commander, and is basically a narrator's view of an Imperial force subduing and taking over a primitive human world previously cut off from the Imperium.

Keller's Story

A shrieking from the sky was how it started. A swift wail, tearing across the skies. Men and women ran from their houses, looking to the heavens from which the flying war machines appeared on that clear day in late spring. At first, the constructs stayed among the clouds, not descending low enough for any but the sharpest of eye to see. When darkness fell, a rash of new stars in the sky moved, separate from the other stellar objects that had been so scrupulously mapped by the priests and their disciples, seen as a sign from the gods, though of what nature was cause for an instant conflict. Overnight, a dozen kingdoms were in uproar.

The next morning, they touched the ground for the first time. They were men, though men with powers unheard of. Armor, stronger than steel, and lighter. Rod-like weapons that decimated those that resisted in beams of crimson flame. Small, mobile fortresses, impenetrable by any means, and armed with weapons capable of razing a fortified stone wall in a single roaring shot. Most of the kingdoms resisted, but that resistance lasted only hours; men in plate mail with swords and crossbows stood no chance against these invaders. Beaten, the kings were banished, and replaced with new figures from among the newcomers, bringing with them new laws, and a fundamental shift in ideology; worship of the Emperor, a divine warrior seated among the stars, who protected all Humanity from the utmost evil. The newcomers left soon after, with thousands of men, as well as wagon after wagon loaded with supplies, from clothing to stone to the seeds of local crops. It would be hundreds of years before they returned.

 

[DarkElf27]

Fleet specifications added, estimated as best I can. Note the difference in the complements of the two Destroyer groups; Shade is meant for long-term covert operations and is outfitted more with sensory and stealth equipment, as well as additional stock required to last months longer away from resources than other ships. The Talon group is meant more for combat, and as such is manned with much more in the way of combat troops, and crew to man more weaponry.