6
Addendums
The Medallion of Storms
![]()
Essentially a Crux Terminatus knock-off, the Medallion of Storms is awarded to those Battle Brothers who have been recognized as veterans of their company. It does not confer any protective abilities on its bearers, but those bearing the medallion earn the right to the chapter’s most revered wargear and the duty of seeing it back in its hands. They are not trained in the use of Terminator armor, however; the scarcity of such armor means that it is still reserved for the 1st Company.
Addendum: Lord Coordinator
Lord Coordinator is the only title given out to Stormhunter captains, and only one captain may bear the title. The task of the Lord Coordinator is to represent the chapter as a diplomat as well as a warrior; he is charged with defusing situations and resolving tensions between the Stormhunters and another chapter. He is also responsible to, as the title suggests, coordinate the actions of multiple chapters, taking into account their strengths and weaknesses while maintaining respect between them and the Stormhunters. That is to say, my lord, they are meant to be ideal Force Commanders should the Stormhunters be involved in a campaign involving other chapters.
4th company captain Zacharius is the current Lord Coordinator for the chapter. As is befitting one, he is very polite, slow to anger, patronizing in his tone, and careful in his choice of words. Every time I have encountered him, he is smiling warmly. On the battlefield, his diplomatic behavior translates to a steely calm; he is slow to anger and difficult to fool or bait, even in the thick of melee, making him a deadly opponent.
The title of Lord Coordinator was established in 774.M41, when the Stormhunters fought the Eldar in the Kallahan campaign alongside the Novamarines and the Red Scorpions. Both were incensed by the Stormhunters’ disregard for the Codex Astartes, and the Stormhunters by their religious dedication to it. To avoid armed confrontation with these two chapters in the face of the enemy, the Stormhunters were forced to depart.
Addendum: Apothecaries
The Stormhunters maintain a larger Apothecarion than usual, at least in comparison to the likes of the Ultramarines. In fact, the Apothecarion has two leaders: the Chief Apothecary, Adrian Diogenes, and a Co-Chief, Mezzermius.
Apothecary Diogenes’s primary responsibility is the 1st company and Theridus in particular. He is a member of the Companions and responsible for their well-being. He also serves to lend credit to claims of miraculous recovery; he makes the judgment as to Theridus’s wounds, and then Theridus miraculously “recovers” overnight. This preserves the lie by giving credibility to the claim of being terribly wounded or recovering miraculously. Being a member of the Companions, Diogenes often goes to battle in Terminator armor.
Apothecary Mezzermius, on the other hand, is uninvolved in the affairs of the 1st company. I will explain in greater detail later.
Addendum: Shock Marines
The Stormhunters 7th company has a long history of armored assault, even in the face of their status as a reserve company. After the Damocles Crusade, captain Kamytzes formed his own squad designation known as Shock Squads. These marines are assault troops that ride to battle in Rhinos or Razorbacks and are given advanced close-combat training. They are adorned with blood-red helmets, often embellished with skull motifs and other patterns designed to cause fear in an enemy. Unlike other Stormhunters, these marines are not infiltrators and embrace the idea of drawing attention to themselves; they would not be seen until they disembarked from their vehicles, after all, and afterwards they would soon be in the thick of close-quarters combat.
Addendum: Company Champions
In most chapters, Company Champions defend the honor of their Company, their Chapter, and the Emperor and defend their Captain from enemy leaders. Among the Stormhunters; Company Champions act more as assassins than defenders of honor. Their task is simple: kill any foe who would dare to challenge them or their Captains to combat. To them, however, “kill” does not always mean “fight”; there have been numerous tales of a Company Champion slaying a foe with but a single swipe of his blade, letting virulent poisons do the rest. Most of them are hubristic individuals, and members of other Chapters see them as everything that is wrong about the Stormhunters.
Notable Events and Battles - Trifoculine - 819.M41
In 813.M41, sub-sector Astraea in its entirety was attacked by a massive Dark Eldar raiding party, led by what is now believed to be the Kabal of the Scarred Face. The Stormhunters were able to respond with two battlefleets, one led by 2nd company captain Cyrillus Scylitzes and 10th company captain Andronicus, the other led by 8th company captain Taurasios and 1st company captain Saren Andalusius. Even then, they were hard-pressed to deflect the Dark Eldar attacks, and Theridus himself was forced to intervene in order to triumph over them.
The attack on the Astraea subsector served as the catalyst for the Stormhunters’ development of a new biological weapon. Absolutely sick of Dark Eldar raids, his judgment most likely hampered by the loss of his Battle Brothers to the hands of the aliens, captain Cyrillus, with Theridus’s approval, began working with Apothecary Mezzermius to develop a permanent solution to the Dark Eldar problem. Using advanced techniques in Medicae, the Apothecarion began work on Trifoculine, a virus weapon meant to exterminate not just the Dark Eldar, but any Eldar anywhere; after all, an Eldar is an Eldar.
Development of the first Trifoculine bombs took six years. The Stormhunters first had to produce Genophage, a virulent toxin keyed to the genetic code of specific individuals. Five doses of Genophage were produced, each keyed to one of five Dark Eldar corpses found after the attack on Astraea. That was fairly simple; the difficult half was getting ahold of a Life-Eater virus, found in most virus bombs. Some time after the Horus Heresy, virus bombs had been largely replaced by cyclonic torpedoes as the primary tool of Exterminatus. Therefore, the Stormhunters had to requisition a virus bomb from the Armory world of Volusian Quintus.
The world of Volusian Quintus was unusually devoid of the reverence for Adeptus Astartes that almost all other Imperial worlds bear, and for reasons unknown. Thus, they were not especially helpful in granting the Stormhunters access to the virus bomb. It would take three years before they were granted their virus bomb, about two of which involved navigating through the red tape of the Departmento Munitorum. According to some of the lower-ranking Battle Brothers, the leadership appears to have been unwilling to start a conflict with another Imperial body, contributing to the slow rate at which they acquired the virus bomb.
In any case, the bomb was acquired, and Mezzermius and the rest of the Apothecarion got to work developing the virus. It took three more years, and I am certain the chapter’s leadership thanks the Emperor that the virus did not break free of its coffin and destroy them as well, but the Apothecarion managed to merge congruent components of each Genophage with the Life-Eater virus in order to synthesize the new viral weapon: Trifoculine. This weapon would consume the flesh of all Eldar within an area of effect and nothing else; the viral cells would starve and die soon after consuming all Eldar.
Then in 819.M41, seven months after they finished fashioning the first few Trifoculine bombs, the Gorni system was attacked by a Dark Eldar raiding party, again led by the Kabal of the Scarred Face. This raiding party was smaller than the one that attacked the Astraea subsector, but it was led by an individual who we believe to be the Scarred Face Archon, Anton Montan (we also believe that name to be a pseudonym, my lord). As fate would have it, a Stormhunters battlefleet led by captains Cyrillus and Kamytzes was in the area and was able to respond. Techmarines hurriedly modified a Vindicator’s Demolisher cannon to accept Trifoculine bombs, and the Space Marines joined the battle.
Captain Scylitzes was eager to test his new weapon, and so after deploying Tactical squads and Dreadnoughts to form a perimeter, he called for a Thunderhawk insertion of the modified Vindicator. When that succeeded, the Vindicator fired the Trifoculine bomb. It collided into a band of Kabalite warriors, releasing a virulent green cloud. What skin was visible on the warriors rapidly began to rot and disintegrate, and when bone became visible, it faded away into dust. The virus spread like wildfire. The flawless skin of the unnaturally beautiful Wyches quickly wilted and became gangrenous before falling off of their bones and melting completely. Wracks, Grotesques, and Talos Pain Engines fell to pieces completely before rotting away. All that was left was the alien wargear of the fallen and a few manned Raiders and Ravagers, and the latter not for long.
Fearing for his life, Archon Montan and his remaining troops fled for the webway. Cyrillus ordered his Vindicator to give chase and to fire a timed bomb at one of the fleeing vehicles. The timer was set for one half hour; if the fleeing Dark Eldar made it back to Commorragh by then, then the Trifoculine virus would spread throughout the Dark City, and if not, then at least there would be no survivors. The Vindicator fired just at a Raider just as it was leaving its effective range. The Raider was swift, but not swift enough this day; the bomb attached itself to the vehicle, mounting itself to the surface like a melta bomb, and the countdown began. Just a few minutes afterward, the battle was over.
It is unknown whether or not the Trifoculine bomb unleashed its virulent payload in Commorragh, but considering that there has been no halt to Dark Eldar raids since the failed Gorni raid, I can only surmise that it was detected and disarmed. With no other living Eldar cells to infect, the Trifoculine virus quickly died out and left the human populace as well as any flora and fauna unharmed. Captain Cyrillus and others vouched for the continued use of the Trifoculine bombs against all Eldar, but out of concern of possible reprisals from not just Dark Eldar, but those of the Craftworlds, Theridus commanded that the bombs be sealed deep within Our Beleaguered Home and to be requisitioned and used only should these foes appear in great force. It may be possible for you to requisition one such bomb for yourself, my lord, but I suffer no illusions that it will be easy.
The Blasphemous Laughter – 937.M41
In 937.M41, the Shrine World of Orthodoxy was attacked by the Shining Anvils, a Space Marine chapter previously thought loyal and that had acted with utmost valor in service to the Imperium. They overwhelmed the PDF garrison, laid siege to the Arbites precinct-fortress and an Adepta Sororitas abbey belonging to the Order of the Bloody Rose, and slaughtered Imperial citizens. Their Librarians loudly proclaimed to all Astropathic Relays in the subsector that they were purging the planet of a heretical population, and that the Arbitrators and Battle Sisters who still resisted were clearly tainted by heresy.
Orthodoxy was a world in the interior of Segmentum Tempestus. Long had it been a pious and loyal world, and there was no indication whatsoever that this had changed – no Inquisitorial investigation, no mandate of the High Lords, nothing. The Arbites garrison sent a plea for aid from the Astropathic Relay in their precinct-fortress, claiming that the Shining Anvils had succumbed to madness. An Astropath sheltered in the Sororitas abbey also sent a message to the same effect.
Surrounding systems sent what aid they could, but still the struggle continued. Orthodoxy’s plight apparently reached the ears of the High Lords of Terra themselves, because they ordered the Stormhunters, whose homeworld of Dystopia was somewhat near Orthodoxy, to retaliate and eliminate the Shining Anvils chapter. This was unprecedented on several levels. Even before they abandoned the Codex, the Stormhunters tried to and generally did keep hidden from Imperial eyes, preferring to wage their wars in secret, scorning celebrity for whatever reasons. I don’t know how much the High Lords knew, and neither does anyone in the chapter, but at the least, they knew of the chapter’s continued existence. In addition, the High Lords were calling on the Stormhunters to do something they had never done before: exterminate another Space Marine chapter.
The Stormhunters obeyed, and Theridus himself, traveling in the Battle Barge Fatum Iustum Stultorum, joined Captains Mordalius Pilate of the 3rd company and Captain Creon of the 6th company and their fleets and then made for Orthodoxy. When they arrived, they found an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor on the scene, Jorje Glaus, and they met on the Battle Barge. After some citizens began to vandalize Imperial property, disrespect officials, laugh incoherently, and attack other people, Inquisitor Glaus took the corpses and some of those of the Shining Anvils that had thus far been killed onto his Black Ship and his crew began to study them. He determined that they and the entire Shining Anvils chapter had been infected with an alien virus he called “The Blasphemous Laughter”.
Glaus had been tracking this virus since the Exterminatus of Kesslinger Tertius, where it had first struck. The Blasphemous Laughter slowly destroys a victim’s mental faculties, first causing him to callously mock and vandalize all that is sacred and continuing on until he is driven to homicide and destruction. Glaus, with the aid of Magos Xenobiologis Taufer, had just produced a vaccine for the Blasphemous Laughter when the Shining Anvils struck Orthodoxy.
With the help of the chapter’s Apothecaries, the Stormhunters were first inoculated against the Blasphemous Laughter, and then deployed to Orthodoxy to combat their once-brothers. The verdict, according to Our Beleaguered Home’s cogitator archives, was that the Shining Anvils fought stupidly. Their armor and heraldry was silver and light-green with golden embellishments, copious amounts of purity seals upon which nonsense prayers were written, and no helmets, the better to show their universally bald heads. All of them favored open combat, especially melee combat, whether it was feasible or not, and they had no care at all for cover. All of their vehicles were named “Indomitus”, “Purgation”, and other such Imperial buzzwords, and their leaders did very little actual leading. They were all that the Stormhunters were not, and the Stormhunters appeared almost to take pleasure in ambushing and killing them. The Marksman’s Honor was awarded to many Stormhunters after the siege of Orthodoxy in honor of their numerous headshots.
At the tail-end of the battle, when victory was all but certain, the Chapter Master of the Shining Anvils, apparently having dubbed himself “Supreme Super-Duper Grandmaster Ultimate Soren Darkslayer”, challenged Theridus to single combat, questioning his honor and his loyalty to the Imperium. In a typical display of Stormhunter pragmatism, Theridus, along with Captains Pilate and Creon, gunned Soren down with their boltguns.
With their leader dead, the Shining Anvils soon fought among themselves. They were all destroyed within the month, their bodies and gene-seed burned…if only to be sure. The Stormhunters returned to Dystopia to report their success to the High Lords, and Inquisitor Glaus vaccinated Orthodoxy’s remaining population and those of the surrounding planets and systems against the Blasphemous Laughter, destroying the xenos virus forever, at least to my knowledge. Orthodox would recover its former splendor in time and lose none of its piety in spite of all that had happened.
Special Units
FOE HUNTERS
Foe Hunters comprise most of the chapter veterans of the 1st Company, taking the place of Sternguard veterans in a typical Codex chapter. Each one answers directly to the 1st Company Captain, Saren Andalusius; they technically answer to Theridus as well, but as “Theridus” is of their number, it is irrelevant. Masters of stealth and deadly marksmen, they sometimes work alone, typically assassinating minor alien leaders such as Nobz or Shas’el. More often they are gathered into squads of ten to hunt down larger targets – Warbosses, Farseers, etc.
A 1st Company Veteran may only be bestowed the rank of Foe Hunter after 20 years' cumulative worth of fighting against a specific alien species. This species is chosen at the very beginning of his ascension to the rank of Foe Hunter, and the decision may not be changed after it has been made, although a Foe Hunter may spend another 20 years studying and fighting another alien species after that 20-year period.. The 20 years of 'training' for a Stormhunter involve mentoring of a 1st Company Veteran by a fellow Foe Hunter.
The veteran is taught how best to use cover and stealth to achieve his ends. In a few respects this is similar to the training Neophytes receive as Scout Marines, but using stealth in Space Marine power armor is much different and much more difficult than it is when in a Scout's carapace armor. For that reason, many Foe Hunters take to having their armor modified with stummers and other wargear to keep them from being detected. This modified armor is known as Furtim armor and Scout Sergeants, which I will describe later, are outfitted with the same armor.
Foe Hunters have access to the Stormhunters armory and reclusiam in almost its entirety. There are only three things that they do not normally have access to; bikes, jump packs, and Terminator armor. On the establishment of the Foe Hunters, Theridus decreed that “nothing shall interfere with the accomplishment of their unsung task.” I can only assume that the present-day Foe Hunters have taken this decree literally, and view jump packs and bikes as hindrances to quiet infiltration. Meanwhile, Terminator Armor is in such low numbers that it is reserved entirely for Theridus’s Companions and them alone. Nevertheless, Foe Hunters are trained in the use of Terminator armor in case they need to take the place of a Companion.
In addition to carrying out assassinations, Foe Hunters also take on the responsibilities normally taken by Terminator squads in other chapters. This includes the boarding and clearing of Space Hulks; in such cases, the Foe Hunters gird themselves in Void-Hardened armor. Theirs is an incredibly dangerous task as they are devoid of the protection and firepower of Terminator armor, but they make due.
Foe Hunters are notoriously secretive in their interactions with other Imperial institutions. The Stormhunters don’t like to admit it, but this has led to disaster in at least one circumstance. During the Junium campaign in 922.M41, the Stormhunters collaborated with the Dark Angels chapter to dislodge an unidentified xenos race from the titular system. The Foe Hunters partnered with the equally-secretive Deathwing in cleansing the Imperial Space Station Cosades of these xenos. The secretive nature of both groups meant that neither group was able to coordinate their efforts, and they soon lost the element of surprise against these xenos. All parties were lucky to have escaped with their lives.
STORMHUNTER SCOUT SERGEANTS
Like many chapters, the Stormhunters’ scout sergeants are among the most esteemed members of the chapter, responsible for imbuing within neophytes the values of the Stormhunters and teaching them the combat skills that they will use for the rest of their lives. Scout Sergeants of the Stormhunters, however, benefit from experimental developments in power armor that allow them to travel and sneak about along with their scouts.
Scout Sergeants go into battle clad in MkVI-F or MkVII-F armor, referred to as Corvus Furtim or Aquila Furtim armor respectively. Furtim armor has been modified to include enhanced cooling systems and, more importantly, stummers in the joints and actuators of the armor. These stummers are powered by the armor’s power pack along with the rest of the armor’s systems. The stummers greatly reduce the noise made by the armor as a Space Marine moves and the cooling systems make him harder to detect via thermal or infrared devices. The intrusive nature of these modifications – techpriests must remove the outer plating to install the devices – and the taboo nature of modification in general among the Adeptus Mechanicus mean that Furtim armor is rare and found only amongst the chapter’s Scout Sergeants.
Not often ones to be denied the joys of sniping targets from a distance, Stormhunter Scout Sergeants often take a Stalker-pattern boltgun to the battlefield. The Stalker boltgun possesses an extended barrel and scope attachment that, coupled with the use of Stalker silenced shells, allows the Sergeant to join his charges in picking off foes silently.
MORPHEUS-PATTERN DREADNOUGHT
Rammed down the throats of the Magos rulers of Secunda Tempestus, the Morpheus-pattern Dreadnought is a new design effective against mobs of infantry at range as well as being deadly in close combat. It bears two close-combat weapons with underslug storm bolters that can be replaced with heavy flamers as well as two shoulder-mounted Whirlwind missile launchers.
The Morpheus-pattern was born by request rather than on the battlefield, but its birth was just as fiery. In 313.M41, Chapter Master Theridus requested that the ruling Magos put a new design of Dreadnought jury-rigged by the chapter’s Techmarines into production so that the chapter might have a sizeable amount of them. Abhorred by the violation of a holy machine, the Magos refused. Nothing came of it then, although Theridus would continue to push for its development.
Just a year later, in a massive bout of coincidence, the Dark Eldar launched a raid on the Tempestus system – a foolish move in hindsight, but one that Theridus capitalized on. The Stormhunters stationed at Our Beleaguered Home, including Theridus and his Companions, fought off the Dark Eldar at Tertia and Quarta Tempestus, but Theridus would not send his forces to Secunda Tempestus until the Magos agreed to begin producing the new Dreadnought after the battle was done. Secunda Tempestus was guarded by legions of Skitarii, but it appears that even they had their hands full fighting the xenos, and the Magos acceded to his demand. From there, the Stormhunters joined the battle and, together with the Skitarii, managed to turn the tide, freeing many potential slaves and routing the Dark Eldar. The Morpheus-pattern Dreadnought was thusly born, but it would not see use until 384.M41, sometime after Captain Niketas was critically wounded.
STORMHUNTERS CENTURIONS
Centurion warsuits may be more common than Terminator armor in the chapter, but in keeping with the Stormhunters’ dim view of standing out in the open and being shot regardless of the protection provided by their power armor, most members of the chapter look upon them with disdain. Regardless, they recognize the warsuit’s protective capabilities and have managed to find a way to utilize it without endangering their persons.
The Stormhunters first received the Centurion warsuits in 407.M40 as a gift from the Forge World of Herzog Primaris. When Captain Tzimiskes of the 5th company returned to Dystopia with the new pieces of wargear, Theridus immediately called the leadership to Our Beleagured Home – a rare occurrence in the Chapter’s history – to discuss the use of this new weapon.
This gathering would finally take place in 409.M40, after the other Captains had finished with their prior obligations. Immediately, the council of leaders found themselves divided on the merit of the Centurion warsuit. Each side presented their arguments. Those against the use of the Centurion emphasized the unnecessary harm that may come to a Battle Brother despite its protections – sniper fire and exploitation of structural weaknesses could all be used to quickly defeat a Space Marine wearing the warsuit.
On the way to the gathering, however, the fleet of Captain Arethas of the 2nd Company and Captain Antony of the 10th company was attacked by a warband thought to originate from the Iron Warriors legion. The invaders were repelled, but at great cost – Captain Arethas, a wise and (relatively) moderate leader, was slain at the hands of a Warsmith. Those in favor of the Centurion’s use cited Arethas’s death, and the deaths of the Stormhunters under his command, as proof of their necessity, claiming that Arethas would not have needed to risk so many lives, including his own, had he the protection and firepower of the Centurion.
Ultimately, Theridus decreed that the Centurion warsuits would be used – but not by Stormhunters. Instead, they would be crewed by mere servitors and monitored by the chapter’s Techmarines. Neither side was wholly satisfied – those in favor of the Centurion’s use felt the use of Servitors a waste of the warsuit’s potential, and those against its use felt that now, instead of a Battle-Brother risking his life inside of a Centurion, now a much more valuable Techmarine would be risking his life outside of it.
Even after Theridus’s decision, the debate continues. The Centurions saw much use during the Damocles Crusade as damage soaks and fire support, but it appears Tau commanders quickly learned to target the Techmarines keeping the servitors in check, vindicating the fears of the Centurion’s opponents. In addition, those of other chapters who have seen the Stormhunters’ Centurions balk at the misuse of such powerful weaponry. Regardless, Theridus’s decision still stands.
GUERILLAS
The Stormhunters are not above using irregulars to their advantage. “Guerillas” is a blanket term for these irregular units, who could be anything from armed rabble and fanatical zealots to PDF forces/remnants and other militias. What they all have in common is that, not technically falling into one of the major Imperial organizations such as the Adeptus Arbites or Adepta Sororitas, they all fall under the command of the Stormhunters. These militias are given some training by veteran leaders, often a Foe Hunter or company Veteran. How much training is given depends on the captain who orders it and the situation.
It is an understatement to say that guerilla troops are not as reliable on the field as Space Marines. They do not possess the toughness of the Space Marines, though what they lack in grit, they make up for in numbers; a Stormhunter captain may opt to use them as cannon fodder. They are not fearless and will flee if outmatched, or even if it looks as though they will be outmatched. Worse is that they are more susceptible to the corrupting power of Chaos than the Space Marines, and though their indignation will keep them from submitting to alien domination, a long campaign can slowly break down their morale. It is up to the Stormhunters’ chaplains to stoke the fires of hatred within them so that they keep fighting.
COMPANIONS
From the very day Theridus cleared the jungles of Dystopia to make room for Our Beleaguered Home, he has been joined by ten warriors clad in Terminator armor. They have not always joined the battlefield as one, but it has been a rare day when he has been without them at all. These warriors are the Companions, Theridus’s honor guard.
The Companions are a rare ritualistic element in a chapter that normally eschews typical chapter traditions. Terminator armor is rare in the chapter; even the Foe Hunters usually go to battle in power armor. Because of its rarity, Terminator armor is reserved for Theridus’s honor guard. This also allows the 1st company to keep a fallen “Theridus” away from the eyes of the uninitiated; should Theridus fall, the Companions simply pull him away.
Whenever “Theridus” should die, a member of the Companions is chosen to take his place, assuming the weapons, the armor, and the identity of the late Chapter Master. When that happens, a new member of the Companions is chosen from among the oldest and most inveterate Foe Hunters. Unlike those chosen to become “Theridus”, Foe Hunters chosen for the Companions do not take the identity of the members that they replace; keen observers from outside the chapter (such as yours truly, my lord) may find the ranks of the Companions shift whenever Theridus makes a miraculous recovery. All Foe Hunters are trained in the use of Terminator armor, so all that is required upon being chosen is a three-month period of training to refresh one’s memory.
Leadership
THERIDUS
Theridus is the master of the Stormhunters and has been since their creation. At some 3,000 years old, those who have heard of him and his chapter find it easy to assume that he, not Dante of the Blood Angels, is the oldest Space Marine alive. His continued convalescences make him a near-divine figure amongst the Stormhunters, who are incredibly proud of the fact that their founder still lives, a fact that cannot be boasted by other chapters. What few except the 1st company (and you and I, my lord, as of now) know, however, is that Theridus is long dead, having been killed at Teresa Secundus, and every recovery has actually been a member of his honor guard assuming his identity. Theridus was never seen without his helmet; this in conjunction with the chapter’s lack of company colors made and continues to make assuming his identity easy.
Precious little details are available concerning the character of Theridus, although it can be assumed that he was fanatically loyal to the Emperor. Theridus’s armor, the Armor of Perseverance, and his wide choice of wargear imply that he was stoic, yet willing to adapt to counter his foes. In a rare moment of opportunity, I managed to covertly examine Theridus’s armor, and as it happens, there is a pict and vox recorder in his helmet. Theridus must have valued knowledge of his foes, observing their actions on the battlefield.
His successors have seen fit to use the recorder as well, but much more extensively, recording not just battlefield actions, but the occasional conversation with members of other chapters as well. Apparently, those who have known him for a long time have found him to be rather loopy, suddenly switching from one outlook to another and sometimes becoming belligerent where he once was patient. Of course, those within the Chapter’s 1st Company know that this is a result of another taking the previous Theridus’s identity when he falls, but this may be one reason why, despite his supposed age, he has considerably less influence than he should.
I have approached Theridus only a few times to ask him about the chapter. I admit, I was awed by him in his presence, and he seemed more a walking icon of the chapter than a man; doubtless this is the impression that other members of the chapter have of him. However, he is a calm, patient, and thoughtful individual, but also somewhat detached and fond of speaking in metaphor; it would seem he is fonder of speaking of the philosophy behind the Stormhunters than the technicalities, as would befit the founder of a chapter – all in all, a very convincing act. Of note is that he himself does not often visit the battlefield; usually he resides in Our Beleaguered Home. When the Stormhunters need him most, however, he departs in a Battle Barge, Companions and Foe Hunters in tow.
SAREN ANDALUSIUS
Saren Andalusius is the taciturn Master of the Foe Hunters, the title given to the captain of the 1st company. When Theridus is terribly wounded, it is he who takes charge of the chapter until such time that he recovers. In 1st company politics, he determines who replaces “Theridus” and who joins the Companions afterwards. As the chapter’s (current) kingmaker of sorts, he is thusly a very powerful individual. In practice, rulership of the chapter is divided between “Theridus” and himself.
In an organization as detached as the 1st company, Saren is the most distanced of all. Even as the Foe Hunters explained the truth to me about Theridus, no matter how much I pressed, they would not let me speak to Saren. Some Foe Hunters gladly speak about Saren, though. It would appear that he is a fan of the clandestine; from xenos leaders and arch-heretics to Stormhunters who learn too much without his authorization, all problems look like assassination victims. This secretive, borderline paranoid demeanor stands in contrast to most other chapters, whose 1st company captains are more…public figures.
MORDALIUS PILATE
Mordalius Pilate is the captain of the 3rd company. He is an aged and inveterate leader, his first command having been the Damocles Crusade. At 357 years of age, he is as old as some Chapter Masters, yet he possesses none of their clout on account of being a mere captain, and of a chapter as (relatively) unknown as the Stormhunters, no less. Mordalius is very much a typical Stormhunter, disdainful of the Codex and possessing a vitriolic hatred of aliens. He is a talkative man, eager to explain who the Stormhunters are, their beliefs and their mission, but this also makes him quick to passionately defend their values, something that causes friction with members of other chapters, to say the least.
Even if he should not command much clout outside the chapter, Pilate does command a lot of clout within it. Pilate has a habit of overtraining one or two squads out of those he commands in a specific field, such as tank-hunting or close-quarters combat techniques, depending on the situation they face. Since Space Marines are slow to fatigue, this pays off more often than not, and no matter how hard he is, his troops love him for the simple fact that it brings victory.
CO-CHIEF APOTHECARY MEZZERMIUS
Apothecary Mezzermius is the Stormhunters Co-Chief Apothecary alongside Adrian Diogenes and responsible for much of the Stormhunters’ understanding of the alien. As Co-Chief, he has the authority to lead Stormhunters of any company but the 1st into battle. A cool-headed, collected individual, Mezzermius cares deeply for his brothers and will risk life and limb to recover the gene-seed of the fallen of any chapter. He does not share the opinions on other chapters that his brothers share – a Space Marine is a Space Marine, regardless of origin (though he is aware of the existence of and despises Chaos Space Marines, obviously).
That said, Mezzermius has a chilly pragmatic side as well. He is fond of issuing combat stims through his subordinate Apothecaries by attaching them to other squads. He is also not above the use of poisons that he himself has concocted. This in conjunction with the fact that he has access to many of the chapter’s relics makes him a deadly opponent. Even that is to say nothing of his skill; it is thought that the Co-Chief is more skilled in combat than his counterpart, but neither have had much opportunity to test such a claim.
CHIEF LIBRARIAN ANTHEMIUS TZOURILAS
Oddly for a chapter that prioritizes hunting the alien, including Eldar witches, the Stormhunters are mostly indifferent towards the use of Psykers. Indeed, Librarians have often proven invaluable in the strategies and tactics of the Stormhunters, providing psychic protection and relocating encircled Battle Brothers in the blink of an eye. Even so, at first glance the Librarium seems distant from the rest of the chapter, just as the 1st company is. In reality, however, the reason it appears so distant is that Anthemius Tzourilas, the Chief Librarian, is keeping it that way.
Anthemius Tzourilas is new to his post, having only secured it after returning from service in the Deathwatch in 983.M41. He is titled as an “honorary member of the 1st company” and so, as befitting a member of the 1st company, is responsible for preserving the lie of Theridus. He does this by keeping other Librarians away from Theridus lest one become overcurious and attempt to discern his true identity, by censoring communiqués between the 1st company from the eyes of other Battle Brothers, and by identifying Stormhunters who know too much without Saren Andalusius’s authorization.
Anthemius is generally a calm and level-headed warrior, pragmatic like the rest of his chapter, though quite blunt. He carries a boltgun or combi-weapon and a force axe into battle, but he rarely uses the latter, preferring when confronted by a menacing melee combatant to, in the words of chapter serf Carausius, “just shoot the fething bastard!” His experiences in the Deathwatch have shaped him to a degree; occasionally, he orders troops under his command to capture rather than kill an individual alien so that it may be brought back for study.
CHAPLAIN-DREADNOUGHT ELIAS BALSAMON, MASTER OF SANCTITY
Like Theridus, Elias Balsamon has been with the Chapter from its very beginnings. Unlike Theridus, Balsamon did not experience “convalescences” after being seriously wounded facing the Orks on Teresa Secundus. Instead, he was given second life through another, more familiar process: internment within a Dreadnought.
Today, Elias Balsamon is the Stormhunters’ Master of Sanctity, and in some respects, “Theridus” could not have picked a better candidate. When not in combat, he loudly preaches the idea that Theridus has been blessed by the Emperor himself with eternal life to cast down the works of the xenos and bring death to every last alien in the galaxy. Suffice to say, he would likely be devastated by the truth that Theridus has long been dead; that is why he and the rest of the Reclusiam is generally kept out of the loop when it comes to affairs of the 1st company.
Elias Balsamon has also demonstrated a remarkably cruel streak in the form of his Atomizer Cannon, the only one of its kind owned and maintained by the Stormhunters. The Atomizer Cannon is a very rare relic from the Dark Age of Technology that completely obliterates a target, melting the target from within and blowing individual cells apart. This destructive capability extends to inorganic targets as well. Many chapters refuse to wield Atomizer Cannons, finding them deeply heretical and objecting on moral grounds, but Balsamon and the Stormhunters as a whole seem to have no objections to its use; no expense is spared in the quest to destroy all xenos. The use of Atomizer Cannons against mankind, however, is gravely forbidden, and if the Stormhunters should find themselves pitted against another Imperial organization…
Naturally, Balsamon is an inspiring figure on the battlefield, chanting battle hymns and spewing litanies and curses at the enemy. For all of his flaws, Balsamon is an inveterate and powerful warrior and critical to keeping the faith and loyalty of the Stormhunters.
VITUS FERRO, MASTER OF THE FORGE
The Stormhunters do not have an established history of remarkable craftsmanship or technological expertise as chapters such as the Salamanders or the Iron Hands do, but they maintain a few relics nonetheless. The Master of the Forge is responsible for maintaining these priceless and powerful artifacts and passing down the techniques needed to do so to his successors. Like many chapters, the chapter’s Techmarines are estranged from the rest of the chapter due to their loyalties to the Cult Mechanicus; in the case of the Stormhunters, the Master of the Forge is elected from among the chapter’s Techmarines rather than being chosen by Theridus…until recently.
Vitus Ferro became the Master of the Forge in the aftermath of the Cavalas subsector campaign in 985.M41, during which his predecessor, Catacalon, was slain at the hands of the Mega-Armored Warboss and his retinue of Meganobz while defending the Morpheus Dreadnought Hyaleas. Ferro was one of Catacalon’s students, and in retribution, Ferro participated in the ambush that killed the Warboss, slaying him personally with a blow from his Power Axe after softening him up with bolterfire. Declaring the act “worthy of Dorn and the Emperor”, Theridus appointed him to the position of Master of the Forge.
Since then, Ferro has been in charge of maintaining the chapter’s relics, including Elias Balsamon’s Atomizer Cannon, among others. I have never understood the disciples of the Machine God, but Ferro is strange, even for them. He speaks to himself and others about concepts far beyond my understanding (by his own admittance) in a sesquipedalian manner; his pitch, and the emphasis he places on syllables, varies greatly. It begs the question – if I can barely understand him, how do his battle-brothers put up with him?
While the other Techmarines have accepted Ferro’s appointment, there is some underlying resentment. Here I can see the consequence of keeping the staff organizations so distanced from one another; when one tries to intervene in the affairs of another, there is bound to be such resentment. In this case, the Techmarines, while still paying Theridus his due respect as Chapter Master, resent his meddling in “the affairs of the Cult Mechanicus on Dystopia” as Techmarine Atreos put it.
Ferro is nonetheless a formidable warrior like the rest of his kin, and he brings powerful artifacts of the chapter to the field. One of these is the Plasmatic Claw, a technological marvel of unknown origins. It is theorized to be built and used in the Great Crusade, but there are no records as to its use in that period, or as to how it appeared in the Stormhunters’ armory. Only the Master of the Forge knows how to operate such a machine, and its automated operation casts suspicion of tech-heresy upon him.
The second of his artifacts is the Imperator Loquitir boltgun, an Umbra Ferrox-pattern boltgun equipped with a bayonet with an incorporated power field, as well as fire selectors allowing him to switch quickly between several types of ammunition. Unlike the Plasmatic Claw, the innovations incorporated into Imperator Loquitir are entirely his own.
Images:
![]()
Stormhunters Vanguard Veteran. At least, I surmise him to be so, given his bionics and wargear.
![]()
Brother Mikhael Doukas of the 5th Company, seconded to the Deathwatch. Captain Evaristus has confirmed that Mikhael is his brother in blood.
![]()
Brother Zemarchus of the Foe Hunters, “chapter contact” to the Deathwatch. According to other 1st company battle brothers, he has been sent to inform Mikhael Doukas of Theridus’s death.
![]()
Stormhunters Terminator, presumably that of one of Theridus’s Companions.
![]()
Brother Ignatios of the 7th Company, a Shock Marine.
(Homebrew rules can now be found here; in addition to the rules, it also contains additional fluff for each new unit as well as the fluff blocks for special characters. Check it out and please let me know what you think!)
The Medallion of Storms
Essentially a Crux Terminatus knock-off, the Medallion of Storms is awarded to those Battle Brothers who have been recognized as veterans of their company. It does not confer any protective abilities on its bearers, but those bearing the medallion earn the right to the chapter’s most revered wargear and the duty of seeing it back in its hands. They are not trained in the use of Terminator armor, however; the scarcity of such armor means that it is still reserved for the 1st Company.
Addendum: Lord Coordinator
Lord Coordinator is the only title given out to Stormhunter captains, and only one captain may bear the title. The task of the Lord Coordinator is to represent the chapter as a diplomat as well as a warrior; he is charged with defusing situations and resolving tensions between the Stormhunters and another chapter. He is also responsible to, as the title suggests, coordinate the actions of multiple chapters, taking into account their strengths and weaknesses while maintaining respect between them and the Stormhunters. That is to say, my lord, they are meant to be ideal Force Commanders should the Stormhunters be involved in a campaign involving other chapters.
4th company captain Zacharius is the current Lord Coordinator for the chapter. As is befitting one, he is very polite, slow to anger, patronizing in his tone, and careful in his choice of words. Every time I have encountered him, he is smiling warmly. On the battlefield, his diplomatic behavior translates to a steely calm; he is slow to anger and difficult to fool or bait, even in the thick of melee, making him a deadly opponent.
The title of Lord Coordinator was established in 774.M41, when the Stormhunters fought the Eldar in the Kallahan campaign alongside the Novamarines and the Red Scorpions. Both were incensed by the Stormhunters’ disregard for the Codex Astartes, and the Stormhunters by their religious dedication to it. To avoid armed confrontation with these two chapters in the face of the enemy, the Stormhunters were forced to depart.
Addendum: Apothecaries
The Stormhunters maintain a larger Apothecarion than usual, at least in comparison to the likes of the Ultramarines. In fact, the Apothecarion has two leaders: the Chief Apothecary, Adrian Diogenes, and a Co-Chief, Mezzermius.
Apothecary Diogenes’s primary responsibility is the 1st company and Theridus in particular. He is a member of the Companions and responsible for their well-being. He also serves to lend credit to claims of miraculous recovery; he makes the judgment as to Theridus’s wounds, and then Theridus miraculously “recovers” overnight. This preserves the lie by giving credibility to the claim of being terribly wounded or recovering miraculously. Being a member of the Companions, Diogenes often goes to battle in Terminator armor.
Apothecary Mezzermius, on the other hand, is uninvolved in the affairs of the 1st company. I will explain in greater detail later.
Addendum: Shock Marines
The Stormhunters 7th company has a long history of armored assault, even in the face of their status as a reserve company. After the Damocles Crusade, captain Kamytzes formed his own squad designation known as Shock Squads. These marines are assault troops that ride to battle in Rhinos or Razorbacks and are given advanced close-combat training. They are adorned with blood-red helmets, often embellished with skull motifs and other patterns designed to cause fear in an enemy. Unlike other Stormhunters, these marines are not infiltrators and embrace the idea of drawing attention to themselves; they would not be seen until they disembarked from their vehicles, after all, and afterwards they would soon be in the thick of close-quarters combat.
Addendum: Company Champions
In most chapters, Company Champions defend the honor of their Company, their Chapter, and the Emperor and defend their Captain from enemy leaders. Among the Stormhunters; Company Champions act more as assassins than defenders of honor. Their task is simple: kill any foe who would dare to challenge them or their Captains to combat. To them, however, “kill” does not always mean “fight”; there have been numerous tales of a Company Champion slaying a foe with but a single swipe of his blade, letting virulent poisons do the rest. Most of them are hubristic individuals, and members of other Chapters see them as everything that is wrong about the Stormhunters.
Notable Events and Battles - Trifoculine - 819.M41
In 813.M41, sub-sector Astraea in its entirety was attacked by a massive Dark Eldar raiding party, led by what is now believed to be the Kabal of the Scarred Face. The Stormhunters were able to respond with two battlefleets, one led by 2nd company captain Cyrillus Scylitzes and 10th company captain Andronicus, the other led by 8th company captain Taurasios and 1st company captain Saren Andalusius. Even then, they were hard-pressed to deflect the Dark Eldar attacks, and Theridus himself was forced to intervene in order to triumph over them.
The attack on the Astraea subsector served as the catalyst for the Stormhunters’ development of a new biological weapon. Absolutely sick of Dark Eldar raids, his judgment most likely hampered by the loss of his Battle Brothers to the hands of the aliens, captain Cyrillus, with Theridus’s approval, began working with Apothecary Mezzermius to develop a permanent solution to the Dark Eldar problem. Using advanced techniques in Medicae, the Apothecarion began work on Trifoculine, a virus weapon meant to exterminate not just the Dark Eldar, but any Eldar anywhere; after all, an Eldar is an Eldar.
Development of the first Trifoculine bombs took six years. The Stormhunters first had to produce Genophage, a virulent toxin keyed to the genetic code of specific individuals. Five doses of Genophage were produced, each keyed to one of five Dark Eldar corpses found after the attack on Astraea. That was fairly simple; the difficult half was getting ahold of a Life-Eater virus, found in most virus bombs. Some time after the Horus Heresy, virus bombs had been largely replaced by cyclonic torpedoes as the primary tool of Exterminatus. Therefore, the Stormhunters had to requisition a virus bomb from the Armory world of Volusian Quintus.
The world of Volusian Quintus was unusually devoid of the reverence for Adeptus Astartes that almost all other Imperial worlds bear, and for reasons unknown. Thus, they were not especially helpful in granting the Stormhunters access to the virus bomb. It would take three years before they were granted their virus bomb, about two of which involved navigating through the red tape of the Departmento Munitorum. According to some of the lower-ranking Battle Brothers, the leadership appears to have been unwilling to start a conflict with another Imperial body, contributing to the slow rate at which they acquired the virus bomb.
In any case, the bomb was acquired, and Mezzermius and the rest of the Apothecarion got to work developing the virus. It took three more years, and I am certain the chapter’s leadership thanks the Emperor that the virus did not break free of its coffin and destroy them as well, but the Apothecarion managed to merge congruent components of each Genophage with the Life-Eater virus in order to synthesize the new viral weapon: Trifoculine. This weapon would consume the flesh of all Eldar within an area of effect and nothing else; the viral cells would starve and die soon after consuming all Eldar.
Then in 819.M41, seven months after they finished fashioning the first few Trifoculine bombs, the Gorni system was attacked by a Dark Eldar raiding party, again led by the Kabal of the Scarred Face. This raiding party was smaller than the one that attacked the Astraea subsector, but it was led by an individual who we believe to be the Scarred Face Archon, Anton Montan (we also believe that name to be a pseudonym, my lord). As fate would have it, a Stormhunters battlefleet led by captains Cyrillus and Kamytzes was in the area and was able to respond. Techmarines hurriedly modified a Vindicator’s Demolisher cannon to accept Trifoculine bombs, and the Space Marines joined the battle.
Captain Scylitzes was eager to test his new weapon, and so after deploying Tactical squads and Dreadnoughts to form a perimeter, he called for a Thunderhawk insertion of the modified Vindicator. When that succeeded, the Vindicator fired the Trifoculine bomb. It collided into a band of Kabalite warriors, releasing a virulent green cloud. What skin was visible on the warriors rapidly began to rot and disintegrate, and when bone became visible, it faded away into dust. The virus spread like wildfire. The flawless skin of the unnaturally beautiful Wyches quickly wilted and became gangrenous before falling off of their bones and melting completely. Wracks, Grotesques, and Talos Pain Engines fell to pieces completely before rotting away. All that was left was the alien wargear of the fallen and a few manned Raiders and Ravagers, and the latter not for long.
Fearing for his life, Archon Montan and his remaining troops fled for the webway. Cyrillus ordered his Vindicator to give chase and to fire a timed bomb at one of the fleeing vehicles. The timer was set for one half hour; if the fleeing Dark Eldar made it back to Commorragh by then, then the Trifoculine virus would spread throughout the Dark City, and if not, then at least there would be no survivors. The Vindicator fired just at a Raider just as it was leaving its effective range. The Raider was swift, but not swift enough this day; the bomb attached itself to the vehicle, mounting itself to the surface like a melta bomb, and the countdown began. Just a few minutes afterward, the battle was over.
It is unknown whether or not the Trifoculine bomb unleashed its virulent payload in Commorragh, but considering that there has been no halt to Dark Eldar raids since the failed Gorni raid, I can only surmise that it was detected and disarmed. With no other living Eldar cells to infect, the Trifoculine virus quickly died out and left the human populace as well as any flora and fauna unharmed. Captain Cyrillus and others vouched for the continued use of the Trifoculine bombs against all Eldar, but out of concern of possible reprisals from not just Dark Eldar, but those of the Craftworlds, Theridus commanded that the bombs be sealed deep within Our Beleaguered Home and to be requisitioned and used only should these foes appear in great force. It may be possible for you to requisition one such bomb for yourself, my lord, but I suffer no illusions that it will be easy.
The Blasphemous Laughter – 937.M41
In 937.M41, the Shrine World of Orthodoxy was attacked by the Shining Anvils, a Space Marine chapter previously thought loyal and that had acted with utmost valor in service to the Imperium. They overwhelmed the PDF garrison, laid siege to the Arbites precinct-fortress and an Adepta Sororitas abbey belonging to the Order of the Bloody Rose, and slaughtered Imperial citizens. Their Librarians loudly proclaimed to all Astropathic Relays in the subsector that they were purging the planet of a heretical population, and that the Arbitrators and Battle Sisters who still resisted were clearly tainted by heresy.
Orthodoxy was a world in the interior of Segmentum Tempestus. Long had it been a pious and loyal world, and there was no indication whatsoever that this had changed – no Inquisitorial investigation, no mandate of the High Lords, nothing. The Arbites garrison sent a plea for aid from the Astropathic Relay in their precinct-fortress, claiming that the Shining Anvils had succumbed to madness. An Astropath sheltered in the Sororitas abbey also sent a message to the same effect.
Surrounding systems sent what aid they could, but still the struggle continued. Orthodoxy’s plight apparently reached the ears of the High Lords of Terra themselves, because they ordered the Stormhunters, whose homeworld of Dystopia was somewhat near Orthodoxy, to retaliate and eliminate the Shining Anvils chapter. This was unprecedented on several levels. Even before they abandoned the Codex, the Stormhunters tried to and generally did keep hidden from Imperial eyes, preferring to wage their wars in secret, scorning celebrity for whatever reasons. I don’t know how much the High Lords knew, and neither does anyone in the chapter, but at the least, they knew of the chapter’s continued existence. In addition, the High Lords were calling on the Stormhunters to do something they had never done before: exterminate another Space Marine chapter.
The Stormhunters obeyed, and Theridus himself, traveling in the Battle Barge Fatum Iustum Stultorum, joined Captains Mordalius Pilate of the 3rd company and Captain Creon of the 6th company and their fleets and then made for Orthodoxy. When they arrived, they found an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor on the scene, Jorje Glaus, and they met on the Battle Barge. After some citizens began to vandalize Imperial property, disrespect officials, laugh incoherently, and attack other people, Inquisitor Glaus took the corpses and some of those of the Shining Anvils that had thus far been killed onto his Black Ship and his crew began to study them. He determined that they and the entire Shining Anvils chapter had been infected with an alien virus he called “The Blasphemous Laughter”.
Glaus had been tracking this virus since the Exterminatus of Kesslinger Tertius, where it had first struck. The Blasphemous Laughter slowly destroys a victim’s mental faculties, first causing him to callously mock and vandalize all that is sacred and continuing on until he is driven to homicide and destruction. Glaus, with the aid of Magos Xenobiologis Taufer, had just produced a vaccine for the Blasphemous Laughter when the Shining Anvils struck Orthodoxy.
With the help of the chapter’s Apothecaries, the Stormhunters were first inoculated against the Blasphemous Laughter, and then deployed to Orthodoxy to combat their once-brothers. The verdict, according to Our Beleaguered Home’s cogitator archives, was that the Shining Anvils fought stupidly. Their armor and heraldry was silver and light-green with golden embellishments, copious amounts of purity seals upon which nonsense prayers were written, and no helmets, the better to show their universally bald heads. All of them favored open combat, especially melee combat, whether it was feasible or not, and they had no care at all for cover. All of their vehicles were named “Indomitus”, “Purgation”, and other such Imperial buzzwords, and their leaders did very little actual leading. They were all that the Stormhunters were not, and the Stormhunters appeared almost to take pleasure in ambushing and killing them. The Marksman’s Honor was awarded to many Stormhunters after the siege of Orthodoxy in honor of their numerous headshots.
At the tail-end of the battle, when victory was all but certain, the Chapter Master of the Shining Anvils, apparently having dubbed himself “Supreme Super-Duper Grandmaster Ultimate Soren Darkslayer”, challenged Theridus to single combat, questioning his honor and his loyalty to the Imperium. In a typical display of Stormhunter pragmatism, Theridus, along with Captains Pilate and Creon, gunned Soren down with their boltguns.
With their leader dead, the Shining Anvils soon fought among themselves. They were all destroyed within the month, their bodies and gene-seed burned…if only to be sure. The Stormhunters returned to Dystopia to report their success to the High Lords, and Inquisitor Glaus vaccinated Orthodoxy’s remaining population and those of the surrounding planets and systems against the Blasphemous Laughter, destroying the xenos virus forever, at least to my knowledge. Orthodox would recover its former splendor in time and lose none of its piety in spite of all that had happened.
Special Units
FOE HUNTERS
Foe Hunters comprise most of the chapter veterans of the 1st Company, taking the place of Sternguard veterans in a typical Codex chapter. Each one answers directly to the 1st Company Captain, Saren Andalusius; they technically answer to Theridus as well, but as “Theridus” is of their number, it is irrelevant. Masters of stealth and deadly marksmen, they sometimes work alone, typically assassinating minor alien leaders such as Nobz or Shas’el. More often they are gathered into squads of ten to hunt down larger targets – Warbosses, Farseers, etc.
A 1st Company Veteran may only be bestowed the rank of Foe Hunter after 20 years' cumulative worth of fighting against a specific alien species. This species is chosen at the very beginning of his ascension to the rank of Foe Hunter, and the decision may not be changed after it has been made, although a Foe Hunter may spend another 20 years studying and fighting another alien species after that 20-year period.. The 20 years of 'training' for a Stormhunter involve mentoring of a 1st Company Veteran by a fellow Foe Hunter.
The veteran is taught how best to use cover and stealth to achieve his ends. In a few respects this is similar to the training Neophytes receive as Scout Marines, but using stealth in Space Marine power armor is much different and much more difficult than it is when in a Scout's carapace armor. For that reason, many Foe Hunters take to having their armor modified with stummers and other wargear to keep them from being detected. This modified armor is known as Furtim armor and Scout Sergeants, which I will describe later, are outfitted with the same armor.
Foe Hunters have access to the Stormhunters armory and reclusiam in almost its entirety. There are only three things that they do not normally have access to; bikes, jump packs, and Terminator armor. On the establishment of the Foe Hunters, Theridus decreed that “nothing shall interfere with the accomplishment of their unsung task.” I can only assume that the present-day Foe Hunters have taken this decree literally, and view jump packs and bikes as hindrances to quiet infiltration. Meanwhile, Terminator Armor is in such low numbers that it is reserved entirely for Theridus’s Companions and them alone. Nevertheless, Foe Hunters are trained in the use of Terminator armor in case they need to take the place of a Companion.
In addition to carrying out assassinations, Foe Hunters also take on the responsibilities normally taken by Terminator squads in other chapters. This includes the boarding and clearing of Space Hulks; in such cases, the Foe Hunters gird themselves in Void-Hardened armor. Theirs is an incredibly dangerous task as they are devoid of the protection and firepower of Terminator armor, but they make due.
Foe Hunters are notoriously secretive in their interactions with other Imperial institutions. The Stormhunters don’t like to admit it, but this has led to disaster in at least one circumstance. During the Junium campaign in 922.M41, the Stormhunters collaborated with the Dark Angels chapter to dislodge an unidentified xenos race from the titular system. The Foe Hunters partnered with the equally-secretive Deathwing in cleansing the Imperial Space Station Cosades of these xenos. The secretive nature of both groups meant that neither group was able to coordinate their efforts, and they soon lost the element of surprise against these xenos. All parties were lucky to have escaped with their lives.
STORMHUNTER SCOUT SERGEANTS
Like many chapters, the Stormhunters’ scout sergeants are among the most esteemed members of the chapter, responsible for imbuing within neophytes the values of the Stormhunters and teaching them the combat skills that they will use for the rest of their lives. Scout Sergeants of the Stormhunters, however, benefit from experimental developments in power armor that allow them to travel and sneak about along with their scouts.
Scout Sergeants go into battle clad in MkVI-F or MkVII-F armor, referred to as Corvus Furtim or Aquila Furtim armor respectively. Furtim armor has been modified to include enhanced cooling systems and, more importantly, stummers in the joints and actuators of the armor. These stummers are powered by the armor’s power pack along with the rest of the armor’s systems. The stummers greatly reduce the noise made by the armor as a Space Marine moves and the cooling systems make him harder to detect via thermal or infrared devices. The intrusive nature of these modifications – techpriests must remove the outer plating to install the devices – and the taboo nature of modification in general among the Adeptus Mechanicus mean that Furtim armor is rare and found only amongst the chapter’s Scout Sergeants.
Not often ones to be denied the joys of sniping targets from a distance, Stormhunter Scout Sergeants often take a Stalker-pattern boltgun to the battlefield. The Stalker boltgun possesses an extended barrel and scope attachment that, coupled with the use of Stalker silenced shells, allows the Sergeant to join his charges in picking off foes silently.
MORPHEUS-PATTERN DREADNOUGHT
Rammed down the throats of the Magos rulers of Secunda Tempestus, the Morpheus-pattern Dreadnought is a new design effective against mobs of infantry at range as well as being deadly in close combat. It bears two close-combat weapons with underslug storm bolters that can be replaced with heavy flamers as well as two shoulder-mounted Whirlwind missile launchers.
The Morpheus-pattern was born by request rather than on the battlefield, but its birth was just as fiery. In 313.M41, Chapter Master Theridus requested that the ruling Magos put a new design of Dreadnought jury-rigged by the chapter’s Techmarines into production so that the chapter might have a sizeable amount of them. Abhorred by the violation of a holy machine, the Magos refused. Nothing came of it then, although Theridus would continue to push for its development.
Just a year later, in a massive bout of coincidence, the Dark Eldar launched a raid on the Tempestus system – a foolish move in hindsight, but one that Theridus capitalized on. The Stormhunters stationed at Our Beleaguered Home, including Theridus and his Companions, fought off the Dark Eldar at Tertia and Quarta Tempestus, but Theridus would not send his forces to Secunda Tempestus until the Magos agreed to begin producing the new Dreadnought after the battle was done. Secunda Tempestus was guarded by legions of Skitarii, but it appears that even they had their hands full fighting the xenos, and the Magos acceded to his demand. From there, the Stormhunters joined the battle and, together with the Skitarii, managed to turn the tide, freeing many potential slaves and routing the Dark Eldar. The Morpheus-pattern Dreadnought was thusly born, but it would not see use until 384.M41, sometime after Captain Niketas was critically wounded.
STORMHUNTERS CENTURIONS
Centurion warsuits may be more common than Terminator armor in the chapter, but in keeping with the Stormhunters’ dim view of standing out in the open and being shot regardless of the protection provided by their power armor, most members of the chapter look upon them with disdain. Regardless, they recognize the warsuit’s protective capabilities and have managed to find a way to utilize it without endangering their persons.
The Stormhunters first received the Centurion warsuits in 407.M40 as a gift from the Forge World of Herzog Primaris. When Captain Tzimiskes of the 5th company returned to Dystopia with the new pieces of wargear, Theridus immediately called the leadership to Our Beleagured Home – a rare occurrence in the Chapter’s history – to discuss the use of this new weapon.
This gathering would finally take place in 409.M40, after the other Captains had finished with their prior obligations. Immediately, the council of leaders found themselves divided on the merit of the Centurion warsuit. Each side presented their arguments. Those against the use of the Centurion emphasized the unnecessary harm that may come to a Battle Brother despite its protections – sniper fire and exploitation of structural weaknesses could all be used to quickly defeat a Space Marine wearing the warsuit.
On the way to the gathering, however, the fleet of Captain Arethas of the 2nd Company and Captain Antony of the 10th company was attacked by a warband thought to originate from the Iron Warriors legion. The invaders were repelled, but at great cost – Captain Arethas, a wise and (relatively) moderate leader, was slain at the hands of a Warsmith. Those in favor of the Centurion’s use cited Arethas’s death, and the deaths of the Stormhunters under his command, as proof of their necessity, claiming that Arethas would not have needed to risk so many lives, including his own, had he the protection and firepower of the Centurion.
Ultimately, Theridus decreed that the Centurion warsuits would be used – but not by Stormhunters. Instead, they would be crewed by mere servitors and monitored by the chapter’s Techmarines. Neither side was wholly satisfied – those in favor of the Centurion’s use felt the use of Servitors a waste of the warsuit’s potential, and those against its use felt that now, instead of a Battle-Brother risking his life inside of a Centurion, now a much more valuable Techmarine would be risking his life outside of it.
Even after Theridus’s decision, the debate continues. The Centurions saw much use during the Damocles Crusade as damage soaks and fire support, but it appears Tau commanders quickly learned to target the Techmarines keeping the servitors in check, vindicating the fears of the Centurion’s opponents. In addition, those of other chapters who have seen the Stormhunters’ Centurions balk at the misuse of such powerful weaponry. Regardless, Theridus’s decision still stands.
GUERILLAS
The Stormhunters are not above using irregulars to their advantage. “Guerillas” is a blanket term for these irregular units, who could be anything from armed rabble and fanatical zealots to PDF forces/remnants and other militias. What they all have in common is that, not technically falling into one of the major Imperial organizations such as the Adeptus Arbites or Adepta Sororitas, they all fall under the command of the Stormhunters. These militias are given some training by veteran leaders, often a Foe Hunter or company Veteran. How much training is given depends on the captain who orders it and the situation.
It is an understatement to say that guerilla troops are not as reliable on the field as Space Marines. They do not possess the toughness of the Space Marines, though what they lack in grit, they make up for in numbers; a Stormhunter captain may opt to use them as cannon fodder. They are not fearless and will flee if outmatched, or even if it looks as though they will be outmatched. Worse is that they are more susceptible to the corrupting power of Chaos than the Space Marines, and though their indignation will keep them from submitting to alien domination, a long campaign can slowly break down their morale. It is up to the Stormhunters’ chaplains to stoke the fires of hatred within them so that they keep fighting.
COMPANIONS
From the very day Theridus cleared the jungles of Dystopia to make room for Our Beleaguered Home, he has been joined by ten warriors clad in Terminator armor. They have not always joined the battlefield as one, but it has been a rare day when he has been without them at all. These warriors are the Companions, Theridus’s honor guard.
The Companions are a rare ritualistic element in a chapter that normally eschews typical chapter traditions. Terminator armor is rare in the chapter; even the Foe Hunters usually go to battle in power armor. Because of its rarity, Terminator armor is reserved for Theridus’s honor guard. This also allows the 1st company to keep a fallen “Theridus” away from the eyes of the uninitiated; should Theridus fall, the Companions simply pull him away.
Whenever “Theridus” should die, a member of the Companions is chosen to take his place, assuming the weapons, the armor, and the identity of the late Chapter Master. When that happens, a new member of the Companions is chosen from among the oldest and most inveterate Foe Hunters. Unlike those chosen to become “Theridus”, Foe Hunters chosen for the Companions do not take the identity of the members that they replace; keen observers from outside the chapter (such as yours truly, my lord) may find the ranks of the Companions shift whenever Theridus makes a miraculous recovery. All Foe Hunters are trained in the use of Terminator armor, so all that is required upon being chosen is a three-month period of training to refresh one’s memory.
Leadership
THERIDUS
Theridus is the master of the Stormhunters and has been since their creation. At some 3,000 years old, those who have heard of him and his chapter find it easy to assume that he, not Dante of the Blood Angels, is the oldest Space Marine alive. His continued convalescences make him a near-divine figure amongst the Stormhunters, who are incredibly proud of the fact that their founder still lives, a fact that cannot be boasted by other chapters. What few except the 1st company (and you and I, my lord, as of now) know, however, is that Theridus is long dead, having been killed at Teresa Secundus, and every recovery has actually been a member of his honor guard assuming his identity. Theridus was never seen without his helmet; this in conjunction with the chapter’s lack of company colors made and continues to make assuming his identity easy.
Precious little details are available concerning the character of Theridus, although it can be assumed that he was fanatically loyal to the Emperor. Theridus’s armor, the Armor of Perseverance, and his wide choice of wargear imply that he was stoic, yet willing to adapt to counter his foes. In a rare moment of opportunity, I managed to covertly examine Theridus’s armor, and as it happens, there is a pict and vox recorder in his helmet. Theridus must have valued knowledge of his foes, observing their actions on the battlefield.
His successors have seen fit to use the recorder as well, but much more extensively, recording not just battlefield actions, but the occasional conversation with members of other chapters as well. Apparently, those who have known him for a long time have found him to be rather loopy, suddenly switching from one outlook to another and sometimes becoming belligerent where he once was patient. Of course, those within the Chapter’s 1st Company know that this is a result of another taking the previous Theridus’s identity when he falls, but this may be one reason why, despite his supposed age, he has considerably less influence than he should.
I have approached Theridus only a few times to ask him about the chapter. I admit, I was awed by him in his presence, and he seemed more a walking icon of the chapter than a man; doubtless this is the impression that other members of the chapter have of him. However, he is a calm, patient, and thoughtful individual, but also somewhat detached and fond of speaking in metaphor; it would seem he is fonder of speaking of the philosophy behind the Stormhunters than the technicalities, as would befit the founder of a chapter – all in all, a very convincing act. Of note is that he himself does not often visit the battlefield; usually he resides in Our Beleaguered Home. When the Stormhunters need him most, however, he departs in a Battle Barge, Companions and Foe Hunters in tow.
SAREN ANDALUSIUS
Saren Andalusius is the taciturn Master of the Foe Hunters, the title given to the captain of the 1st company. When Theridus is terribly wounded, it is he who takes charge of the chapter until such time that he recovers. In 1st company politics, he determines who replaces “Theridus” and who joins the Companions afterwards. As the chapter’s (current) kingmaker of sorts, he is thusly a very powerful individual. In practice, rulership of the chapter is divided between “Theridus” and himself.
In an organization as detached as the 1st company, Saren is the most distanced of all. Even as the Foe Hunters explained the truth to me about Theridus, no matter how much I pressed, they would not let me speak to Saren. Some Foe Hunters gladly speak about Saren, though. It would appear that he is a fan of the clandestine; from xenos leaders and arch-heretics to Stormhunters who learn too much without his authorization, all problems look like assassination victims. This secretive, borderline paranoid demeanor stands in contrast to most other chapters, whose 1st company captains are more…public figures.
MORDALIUS PILATE
Mordalius Pilate is the captain of the 3rd company. He is an aged and inveterate leader, his first command having been the Damocles Crusade. At 357 years of age, he is as old as some Chapter Masters, yet he possesses none of their clout on account of being a mere captain, and of a chapter as (relatively) unknown as the Stormhunters, no less. Mordalius is very much a typical Stormhunter, disdainful of the Codex and possessing a vitriolic hatred of aliens. He is a talkative man, eager to explain who the Stormhunters are, their beliefs and their mission, but this also makes him quick to passionately defend their values, something that causes friction with members of other chapters, to say the least.
Even if he should not command much clout outside the chapter, Pilate does command a lot of clout within it. Pilate has a habit of overtraining one or two squads out of those he commands in a specific field, such as tank-hunting or close-quarters combat techniques, depending on the situation they face. Since Space Marines are slow to fatigue, this pays off more often than not, and no matter how hard he is, his troops love him for the simple fact that it brings victory.
CO-CHIEF APOTHECARY MEZZERMIUS
Apothecary Mezzermius is the Stormhunters Co-Chief Apothecary alongside Adrian Diogenes and responsible for much of the Stormhunters’ understanding of the alien. As Co-Chief, he has the authority to lead Stormhunters of any company but the 1st into battle. A cool-headed, collected individual, Mezzermius cares deeply for his brothers and will risk life and limb to recover the gene-seed of the fallen of any chapter. He does not share the opinions on other chapters that his brothers share – a Space Marine is a Space Marine, regardless of origin (though he is aware of the existence of and despises Chaos Space Marines, obviously).
That said, Mezzermius has a chilly pragmatic side as well. He is fond of issuing combat stims through his subordinate Apothecaries by attaching them to other squads. He is also not above the use of poisons that he himself has concocted. This in conjunction with the fact that he has access to many of the chapter’s relics makes him a deadly opponent. Even that is to say nothing of his skill; it is thought that the Co-Chief is more skilled in combat than his counterpart, but neither have had much opportunity to test such a claim.
CHIEF LIBRARIAN ANTHEMIUS TZOURILAS
Oddly for a chapter that prioritizes hunting the alien, including Eldar witches, the Stormhunters are mostly indifferent towards the use of Psykers. Indeed, Librarians have often proven invaluable in the strategies and tactics of the Stormhunters, providing psychic protection and relocating encircled Battle Brothers in the blink of an eye. Even so, at first glance the Librarium seems distant from the rest of the chapter, just as the 1st company is. In reality, however, the reason it appears so distant is that Anthemius Tzourilas, the Chief Librarian, is keeping it that way.
Anthemius Tzourilas is new to his post, having only secured it after returning from service in the Deathwatch in 983.M41. He is titled as an “honorary member of the 1st company” and so, as befitting a member of the 1st company, is responsible for preserving the lie of Theridus. He does this by keeping other Librarians away from Theridus lest one become overcurious and attempt to discern his true identity, by censoring communiqués between the 1st company from the eyes of other Battle Brothers, and by identifying Stormhunters who know too much without Saren Andalusius’s authorization.
Anthemius is generally a calm and level-headed warrior, pragmatic like the rest of his chapter, though quite blunt. He carries a boltgun or combi-weapon and a force axe into battle, but he rarely uses the latter, preferring when confronted by a menacing melee combatant to, in the words of chapter serf Carausius, “just shoot the fething bastard!” His experiences in the Deathwatch have shaped him to a degree; occasionally, he orders troops under his command to capture rather than kill an individual alien so that it may be brought back for study.
CHAPLAIN-DREADNOUGHT ELIAS BALSAMON, MASTER OF SANCTITY
Like Theridus, Elias Balsamon has been with the Chapter from its very beginnings. Unlike Theridus, Balsamon did not experience “convalescences” after being seriously wounded facing the Orks on Teresa Secundus. Instead, he was given second life through another, more familiar process: internment within a Dreadnought.
Today, Elias Balsamon is the Stormhunters’ Master of Sanctity, and in some respects, “Theridus” could not have picked a better candidate. When not in combat, he loudly preaches the idea that Theridus has been blessed by the Emperor himself with eternal life to cast down the works of the xenos and bring death to every last alien in the galaxy. Suffice to say, he would likely be devastated by the truth that Theridus has long been dead; that is why he and the rest of the Reclusiam is generally kept out of the loop when it comes to affairs of the 1st company.
Elias Balsamon has also demonstrated a remarkably cruel streak in the form of his Atomizer Cannon, the only one of its kind owned and maintained by the Stormhunters. The Atomizer Cannon is a very rare relic from the Dark Age of Technology that completely obliterates a target, melting the target from within and blowing individual cells apart. This destructive capability extends to inorganic targets as well. Many chapters refuse to wield Atomizer Cannons, finding them deeply heretical and objecting on moral grounds, but Balsamon and the Stormhunters as a whole seem to have no objections to its use; no expense is spared in the quest to destroy all xenos. The use of Atomizer Cannons against mankind, however, is gravely forbidden, and if the Stormhunters should find themselves pitted against another Imperial organization…
Naturally, Balsamon is an inspiring figure on the battlefield, chanting battle hymns and spewing litanies and curses at the enemy. For all of his flaws, Balsamon is an inveterate and powerful warrior and critical to keeping the faith and loyalty of the Stormhunters.
VITUS FERRO, MASTER OF THE FORGE
The Stormhunters do not have an established history of remarkable craftsmanship or technological expertise as chapters such as the Salamanders or the Iron Hands do, but they maintain a few relics nonetheless. The Master of the Forge is responsible for maintaining these priceless and powerful artifacts and passing down the techniques needed to do so to his successors. Like many chapters, the chapter’s Techmarines are estranged from the rest of the chapter due to their loyalties to the Cult Mechanicus; in the case of the Stormhunters, the Master of the Forge is elected from among the chapter’s Techmarines rather than being chosen by Theridus…until recently.
Vitus Ferro became the Master of the Forge in the aftermath of the Cavalas subsector campaign in 985.M41, during which his predecessor, Catacalon, was slain at the hands of the Mega-Armored Warboss and his retinue of Meganobz while defending the Morpheus Dreadnought Hyaleas. Ferro was one of Catacalon’s students, and in retribution, Ferro participated in the ambush that killed the Warboss, slaying him personally with a blow from his Power Axe after softening him up with bolterfire. Declaring the act “worthy of Dorn and the Emperor”, Theridus appointed him to the position of Master of the Forge.
Since then, Ferro has been in charge of maintaining the chapter’s relics, including Elias Balsamon’s Atomizer Cannon, among others. I have never understood the disciples of the Machine God, but Ferro is strange, even for them. He speaks to himself and others about concepts far beyond my understanding (by his own admittance) in a sesquipedalian manner; his pitch, and the emphasis he places on syllables, varies greatly. It begs the question – if I can barely understand him, how do his battle-brothers put up with him?
While the other Techmarines have accepted Ferro’s appointment, there is some underlying resentment. Here I can see the consequence of keeping the staff organizations so distanced from one another; when one tries to intervene in the affairs of another, there is bound to be such resentment. In this case, the Techmarines, while still paying Theridus his due respect as Chapter Master, resent his meddling in “the affairs of the Cult Mechanicus on Dystopia” as Techmarine Atreos put it.
Ferro is nonetheless a formidable warrior like the rest of his kin, and he brings powerful artifacts of the chapter to the field. One of these is the Plasmatic Claw, a technological marvel of unknown origins. It is theorized to be built and used in the Great Crusade, but there are no records as to its use in that period, or as to how it appeared in the Stormhunters’ armory. Only the Master of the Forge knows how to operate such a machine, and its automated operation casts suspicion of tech-heresy upon him.
The second of his artifacts is the Imperator Loquitir boltgun, an Umbra Ferrox-pattern boltgun equipped with a bayonet with an incorporated power field, as well as fire selectors allowing him to switch quickly between several types of ammunition. Unlike the Plasmatic Claw, the innovations incorporated into Imperator Loquitir are entirely his own.
Images:
Stormhunters Vanguard Veteran. At least, I surmise him to be so, given his bionics and wargear.
Brother Mikhael Doukas of the 5th Company, seconded to the Deathwatch. Captain Evaristus has confirmed that Mikhael is his brother in blood.
Brother Zemarchus of the Foe Hunters, “chapter contact” to the Deathwatch. According to other 1st company battle brothers, he has been sent to inform Mikhael Doukas of Theridus’s death.
Stormhunters Terminator, presumably that of one of Theridus’s Companions.
Brother Ignatios of the 7th Company, a Shock Marine.
(Homebrew rules can now be found here; in addition to the rules, it also contains additional fluff for each new unit as well as the fluff blocks for special characters. Check it out and please let me know what you think!)
