Crimson Bulwark: Difference between revisions

The Bulwark favors ranged combat, with the bulk of marines armed with heavy firepower and high temperature weaponry. Melee specialists are either veterans who wear heavy armor or penitent assault squads. Penitent assault squads are composed of the marines who feel significant guilt, grief, or rage at the chapter's losses during the first pox war, and aim to earn absolution through visceral melee combat, commonly using flames to purge the enemy and purify themselves.  

=== Chapter Serfs and Men at Arms ===

A marine is known only by their first name until they have earned an accolade in battle, at which point they earn the right to bear their clan name and inscribe it on their armor. Each armor, once inscribed, is kept within that clan as much as possible, earning more inscriptions with every successful clan brother, a fact the machine spirit responds to. While rare, armor may change clans if there are no eligible brothers from that clan or chance of future brothers (ie, if the clan went extinct). The exception is terminator armor, which more often changes clans and bears many clan inscriptions (carried out by the brother, the chief Epistolary, the master of the forge, and the chapter master) in a delicate process to coax the machine spirit to the new user. Repurposed armor goes through a similar process, with the exception that the former clan has a reason for the change inscribed under its deeds (ex, Clan Ioolach, Awarded the Emperor's Light in defense of their clan against the most evil traitors of the plague god). While multiple clan members may be brothers simultaneously, each impacts the honor of their clan equally regardless of rank. As such, clan nepotism is never a concern as a brother promoted to a role they are not capable of will have a severe risk of disparaging the clan. That coupled with the overarching clan that is the Bulwark removes any risk of mixed interest.

== Recruitment ==

=== Dreadnoughts ===

Marines chosen for internment into Dreadnoughts are those too wounded to continue service and have normally (but not always) mastered their grief. Dreadnoughts loadouts almost always mirror their marine's former specialty, with former devastators using lascannons or assault cannons with a missile launcher, former assault marines using flamers and Dreadclaws, and former tactical marines using a combination. Almost any marine is eligible for internment, provided there is no other way to save them, they're compatible with the mind interface, and most importantly, mastered their grief. Dreadnoughts will generally maintain their fiefdom in title only, choosing a battle brother they trust implicitly as a steward in their absence. A dreadnought that falls to the grief (however exceedingly rare) will charge the nearest enemy, even going as far as threatening serfs to help deploy him from orbit if he's stuck on a ship, where the dreadnought will continue until he meets his end or slaughters enough to satiate his wounded pride. The chapter also possesses several relic Dreadnoughts, though how they gained possession of them is a history destroyed when the chapter records were destroyed. A different type of brother is interred in each dreadnought, with the Leviathan being the only pattern redeemed marked brothers can be interred in. Even though they have lost the stigmata, they still carry their quest of repentance and thus the dangerous Leviathans are the perfect fit.  While the chapter does remove the sarcophagus from the Leviathans between battles, extended operations sometimes prevent this from occurring and thus the interred brother must be of exceptionally resolute mind and willpower, which the veteran redeemed possess after surviving the guilt for so long. The most veteran Leviathan dreadnought still in service is brother [[Barca the Black]], one of the most respected redeemed marked in the chapter's known history.

== The Crimson Grief ==

Marines who lose their clan or fiefdom lose a piece of themselves, and as penance burn one of their limbs off.  As part of this penance, the marine receives an augmentation that,  whenever the brother is not in battle or training or chaplain services, randomly and occasionally simulates the pain of burning a limb. The Marked will generally form up into squads geared towards close combat with an emphasis on flame based weaponry, with both knee plates painted black instead of only the right called 'The Ashen Stigmata' to represent them kneeling in the ashes of their fiefdom. They will generally maintain their company rank but will never advance unless, however incredibly rare, they regain their honor and avenge their village. The only way for them to regain their honor and status is to both eliminate those directly responsible for the destruction of their home, and perform an unbelievably heroic feat against an enemy (for example, Marked Brother Anthron Buchler single handedly brought down a Rotbelcher helbrute in close combat after the monster and his retinue had killed his whole squad, killing both the commander (interned in the brute) responsible for his village's destruction and performing a feat few could match. As a result, he was allowed to remove the Ashen Stigmata and purifier pattern augmentic and return to a status of honor among the Bulwark, becoming a bearer of sorrow of his lost fiefdom and regaining the respect of his brothers. A brother who regains his honor is eligible, although exceedingly rare, to be awarded stewardship of either a dreadnought's (at the interred brothers discretion) or deceased brother's (at the chapter master's discretion) fiefdom and merge clans. Awarding the wrong fiefdom or clan to a redeemed battle brother is a serious moral offense to the chapter, and thus the chapter master closely consults with his captains and chaplains before considering any reward of stewardship.