Swords of the Emperor - My DIY Chapter

Swords of the Emperor - Adeptus Astrates (SotE)
The Swords of the Emperor hail from the Ulric system in the Aphallon sector on the Eastern Fringe. They claim to have been raised during the 21st founding in the 36th millennium just prior to the Age of Apostasy, but there are no records to support this, nor any records of them in any founding.

The entire Ulric System is claimed by the Swords of the Emperor. It contains two habitable worlds (Ulric III and Ulric IV) as well as moon bases around Ulric IV, V and VI. Ulric III is a civilized world that houses a lot of the manufactorum that supply the fighting vehicles and arms of the Chapter. Ulric IV is a feudal world where the majority of the recruiting takes place.

The cities of Ulric III are dominated by the vast forges dedicated to the Swords of the Emperor. Mingled in with the forges are massive statues of heroes of the chapter and cathedrals dedicated to the glory of the Emperor. The people of Ulric III maintain a number of martial arts and competitive combat sports. It is from these competitions between the youth that recruits from Ulric III are drawn.

Ulric IV is two worlds in one. The lowlands are dominated by deadly jungles and lethal reptilian predators. The highlands are rocky and mountainous. It is also in the highlands where the fortress cities of the Ulran tribes live. The Ulran Clans maintain simple black powder firearms and steel melee weapons. They also use simple hot-air ships to travel between cities and avoid the jungles below. Every year, the first born sons of each family between age 12 and 15 join together to make a trip to the hidden fortress monastery deep in the jungle. The survivors of this journey have passed the first trial of recruitment and those that survive the next trials will at least become chapter serfs.

Their parent geneseed is from the Ultramarines chapter and as such it has all of the implants working. The only issue known is that members of the Swords of the Emperor tend to have a much higher metabolism than normal marines. This has lead to some issues in campaigns where they are in the field for extended periods of time. After awhile, their power armour's system can no longer meet their bodies need for nutrients. A byproduct of the high metabolism is that the SotE have better fast twitch muscle than other Astrates. Their reflexes and reaction times are the same, but they are faster on foot.

The Swords of the Emperor are somewhat of an enigma to some Imperial agencies. They dress and act like the knightly and heroic warriors of the Adeptus Astrates, but they don't fight that way. They utilize their scouts and other sources of intelligence as well as mis-information they leak and often supply to other Imperial forces. This enables them to set ambushes and traps for their enemies. On occasion this has caused some forces to be left waiting for support that never comes. If the enemy doesn't take the bait, this can be disastrous for the unknowing ally. In one particular engagement with traitor legions, the Dark Angels were left with a flank unprotected and suffered a high number of casualties because of it. The Dark Angels and some of their successors still bear a grudge for that battle.

In battle, the Swords of the Emperor prefer to use their Vanguard and Assault squads as the hammer. Often, they will attack from an unknown direction while their tactical and devastator squads hold the enemies attention. Depending on the forces at their disposal, they have been known to deploy large numbers of Serfs in carapace armour as a diversion. These combat serfs undergo some basic gene-enhancement that cause them to look like very broad and muscular humans. Their deployment often causes forces that aren't familiar with Space Marines to think they are the Emperor's finest. That thought only holds until the mustered attack forces find drop pods raining down on their positions or in their rear.

The Swords of the Emperor have a distaste for mechanized warfare and as such will let their serfs man many of their armoured vehicles except landraiders. This distaste has lead to a low number of Techmarines amongst their numbers. Due to this, their Techmarines rarely make appearances on the battlefield.

The Chapter stands as a bulwark against the threats to the Apallon sector and the Eastern fringe. Traditionally this has meant keeping the Orks of the Barion system in check, but in the past few hundred years, this also includes Tau and Tyranid encroachments.

The Swords of the Emperor are organized differently from other codex chapters. They maintain the 10 companies in name, but the 1st and 10th are permanently allocated to the other companies. The second through fifth companies are each about 200 marines strong. That includes 1 command squad, 9 tactical squads, 4 assault squads, 3 devastator squads, 4 5-man teams of 1st company veterans and 4 5-man teams of scouts. Each of these companies also have 2 chaplains and 2 librarians attached. Companies 6th through 9 are organized with over 50 marines in 1 command squad, 2 tactical squads, 1 assault squad, 1 devastator squad, 1 5-man 1st company veteran team and 1 5-man scout team. Each company has between 50 to 100 ten man chapter serf squads to assist in battle.

Battle cry: "Unsheathe the swords!"

Deathwatch:
Chapter Demeanor: See but don't be seen.
Chapter Flaw: We stand alone. Other Imperial forces are distrustful of the Swords of the Emperor.
+5 Agility +5 Weapon Skill
Solo mode: Quick reaction is the hallmark of this chapter. While in Solo Mode, the battle-brother is considered to have the lightning reflexes talent. At rank 3 the battle brother receives +10 to all dodge tests.
Squad Mode: Attack Pattern - Tactical Finesse
Defensive Stances - Swift Advance
Specialty Restriction: Techmarine