Index Astartes: Blood Phoenix (part 2)

Homeworld

Benu was once only sparsely populated due to the fact that its surface is primarily rock. Mountains rise high above the surface of the planet which is devoid of any water. If not for the numerous caverns which honeycomb the mountains and the streams hidden within, life would be near impossible. These caverns were where the survivors of the warp storm lived during the horrors of the Millennium of Isolation. Now the valleys between mountain ranges hold the majority of the planet’s civilization, deep wells dug to access the underground rivers below.

The Blood Phoenix maintain their fortress monastery built into the largest volcano mountain in the northern hemisphere. The remnant of the original Blood Angels strike cruiser, the Fire of Vengeance, provides the foundation and backbone of this mighty edifice. Thousands of servants walk the hallways and intermingle with the population in the nearby capitol of Kross’s Shield. The government is maintained by the civilian population, reporting to the Chapter Master and his staff. The ruling senate is decided upon by a vote of the population, with the Primary Judge being selected by senatorial vote. The Primary Judge oversees the senatorial meetings and reports to the Chapter’s Administratum Prefect, a civilian Chapter serf of high standing.

 Whilst isolated from the rest of the Imperium, the people of Benu did not fall lax in their education or industrial development. Scientists have made several notable advances in the interim, the greatest being added insight for the chapter's apothecaries in genetics. Also of importance to the system was the revelation of pressure stable bio-spheres that enabled them to re-populate Oraxys's oceans.

Combat Doctrine

The Blood Phoenix are successors of the Blood Angels, Ultramarines, and the Imperial Fists. As such, they train in every aspect of warfare as dictated by the Codex Astartes. The first Chapter Master recognized an advantage in sharing doctrines from all three Chapters and initiated good relations with their parent Chapters and all other Chapters as well. The result is a very customizable force, with each company specializing in the tactics inherent from a founding Chapter of marines. For Captains, it is required that they first serve with the Deathwatch to learn from their brothers the tactics of the other Chapters. Upon their return to the Blood Phoenix and promotion to Captain, they implement the specialties of one for their company.

The necessity for survival was paramount when cut off from the rest of humanity during the Millennium of Isolation and as such they have become masters at moving from cover to cover whilst laying down suppression fire. Preservation of ammunition was also important and therefore a Blood Phoenix initiate is always armed with a combat knife and is trained to master it in battle before he is ever issued a boltgun.

Organization

Ever since the founding of the Blood Phoenix, the Chapter has adhered to the tenets and doctrines of the Codex Astartes in most things. Having had to use their only ship as a land based defensive structure, they were at first bereft of a fleet. Their parent Chapters provided them some initial support with strike cruisers, the first of which they rechristened Resurrection. Over the following years they slowly built their fleet. Currently the Chapter maintains two Battle Barges, six Strike Cruisers, ten rapid strike vessels and a number of smaller warp capable ships.

The only main variance from the Codex Astartes organization is slight. No color variation is shown to depict company. Any markings are minimal, such as a number on the left knee pad or inclusion with the squad markings. For the most part, the company is not shown on the marine’s armor as it is rare that more than a single company is sent to the same theatre of war. Special theatre badges are denoted on the marine’s right knee pad, or in decoration medals attached directly to the armor in various locations.

Beliefs

The Blood Phoenix venerate the Emperor as the ultimate gene-father of the Adeptus Astartes but do not worship him as the god that the Imperium holds. They recognize Sanguinius, Roboute Guilliman, and Rogal Dorn as their primogenitors and Primarchs, but mostly give honor to Marlin Sanguis as the savior of Benu. The Chapter maintains a strict schedule of holy days, the most important being The Day of Sacrifice and The Day of Rediscovery. For The Day of Sacrifice all recruits and any brothers currently in system gather to hear again their histories from the time of isolation. They recount every battle, whether a victory or defeat, for something can be learned from each. The day culminates in the recounting of Marlin Sanguis’s defeat of Ax’horra in that climactic duel. During The Day of Rediscovery, a great feast is held for all brothers, a shadow of the feast given in their honor by the Chapter Masters so long ago. But the Chapter does not recognize this day alone, for the general population of the planet also celebrates and the Blood Phoenix participate by throwing a parade through the streets of Kross’s Shield before nightfall, ending in an aerial display by a contingent of Thunderhawks, Stormravens and Stormtalons.

Gene Seed

The Blood Phoenix recruits from all populated planets in the Larys system. Though the civilization on Benu is rather advanced, youths interested in the martial life will still participate in grueling games of stamina and strength. As the final rite of passage to manhood, these boys will enter the deepest caverns in the volcanic mountains and hunt down the dangerous lava worms which thrive there. They are allowed no weapons other than a combat knife. Many do not return, but of those that do, they are then tested by the Blood Phoenix to determine if they would make suitable marines. Those that do not meet the high standards of the Chapter are enlisted in the planetary defense force. Both Oraxys and Kiln have similar practices, the final rite of hunting being the man-eating razorfish on Oraxys and the territorial plainstrider on Kiln.

The Blood Phoenix gene-seed comes from the Primarchs Sanguinius, Roboute Guilliman, and Rogal Dorn. Somehow, due to their isolation by the warp storm perhaps, no flaws have yet surfaced among the Chapter, despite any inherent to their parent Chapters. Thanks to breakthroughs in genetics, due in part to the civilian population’s relationship with the Chapter, the Apothecaries were able to further stabilize their sample. As such, the life-span of the Blood Phoenix marines is especially long and resilient.

Finally, there is a very high rate of both genetic matching and a steady influx of possible neophytes due to a fundamental change in the Blood Phoenix Chapter’s approach to recruitment. During the Millennium of Isolation, their numbers began to dwindle quickly. The two remaining Apothecaries consulted with the leading geneticists of Benu, a science that had been researched there prior to the warp storm’s appearance.

Together they mastered implantation procedures to such a degree that they could delay the process until two years after the onset of puberty. Where the implantation process and conditioning that neophytes undergo still deprive the brothers of natural reproduction once they have been fully inducted into the Chapter, the first two years of a recruit’s life are now spent as a semiphyte.

The Apothecaries are better able to determine whether an aspirant is a genetic match prior to the implantation process. Once an aspirant has been cleared as a match and undergone their trial in the caverns, they are given the first oath of dedication and then named semiphyte, dedicating their time to procreating and continuing their genetic line to increase the chances of future aspirants also being genetically suited to the gene-seed of the chapter. After two years as a semiphyte, the implantation process and hypnotherapies begin in earnest. The neophyte never knows his possible children as such.

The Chapter has the normal contingency of serfs, but in addition they also have the Elutus Conjugatas, a dedicated sorority of women who have volunteered to be midwives to future Blood Phoenix aspirants. Amongst the people of the Larys system, it is an unequaled honor to serve as one of the many mistresses to the semiphytes.

The Elutus Conjugatas is an order in its own right, headed by a special addition to the customary Administrative staff of the Chapter, the Domina Ignis, who is at equal rank with the individual company captains. The Blood Phoenix are one of the few space marine chapters that have a female member of the Administrative staff, let alone one with such a high standing within the leadership.

The War of Reclamation

The marines of the Blood Phoenix Chapter did not rest once they had been rediscovered and welcomed back into the Imperium. In 377.M32, just two years after being organized into a new chapter, they began a decade long campaign to reclaim the other worlds in the Larys system. Usually, if left unchecked, a warp storm would have detrimental effects on a planet's entire ecosystem. Librarians of the new Chapter surmised that by condensing resistance to a single planet, they had managed to lessen this effect on the other planets in the system.

While Risa was indeed devoured in such a way, Kiln was still salvageable. Its forests were gone, now only vast grasslands of short stubble, but life still existed. The Blood Phoenix took heart and set upon a relentless campaign to rid the world of any chaos trace that remained. Imperial advisers from the Ordo Hereticus had been on the verge of declaring exterminatus, but Chapter Master Jansen was able to convince them to give his chapter a chance to save the planet.

Nearly five hundred Blood Phoenix landed on the surface of Kiln, while the remainder of their force was sent on crusades alongside their brother Chapters or left on Benu for defense. For the first year, they were joined by a retinue each from the Blood Angels, Imperial Fists and Ultramarines as further tribute to their honor. Within the first week they had established a beachhead at one of the old mega-factories and over the following years used this as their base of operations on the planet's surface. Every year another victory was achieved until finally, after nine years of constant battle, the last vestige of taint was eradicated and representatives of the Ordo Hereticus declared the planet cleansed of all heresy.

Next the force moved on to Oraxys, which had only a minor presence of chaos due to the drastic change to its ecosystem that resulted in the once lush planet becoming an ocean planet. Ninety eight percent of the planet was now covered in water. Hunting down what taint remained on the surface was much simpler and the Blood Phoenix undertook this action with a smaller force. Once Oraxys was clear, the Larys system was once again free of taint and under the control of the Blood Phoenix.