Drakes
Bastards: A Disavowed Third Founding Chapter of Black Templars
Origin.
Following
the 10,000 years of crusades of the Black Templar fleet, Captain
Drake was sent in search of a planetary base in which the chapter
would come to know as home. The mission was a simple one, scout out
the planet surface of Corvenus VII, find a suitable and defensible
position, then call in the fleet. Captain Drake took to the mission
enthusiastically as always.
Two days
into the mission, Captain Drake and a single Tactical team came under
fire from both Chaos and Ork forces. A reinforcement call went out
across the fleet, there came just one reply...”I am pulling the
fleet, stand fast...for the Emperor”, then the communications fell
silent. High Marshal Helbrecht had ordered the fleet to move on to
the next planet, Corvenus VIII and left them to die. What cowardice
was this?! There was no explanation, Drake felt the betrayal deep in
his core, rage consumed every corner of his mind.
The battle
raged as they fought toward a rocky outcrop for cover. Help was not
coming, this was to be their final stand, taking as many heretics and
beast alike with them. Drake ahead of his squad, carved a bloody path
through the Chaos ranks, clearing the way toward the outcrop. The
tactical squad were in awe, they had seen Drake in combat but not
like this. Their fire was impressive, slaughtering all that were
foolish enough to engage their Captain from the flank.
Finally at
the outcrop, Drake turned to his squad, “Your High Marshal and the
Emperor have abandoned you my brothers! All we have is each other,
fight for your brothers lives, if you ever needed something to fight
for, THIS IS IT!!”
Eventually,
through the clouds came 2 ships of the fleet. They had ignored their
orders and taken up position to join the fight. Drop pods pored from
the ships, communications crackled back to life, before long
Dreadnoughts and fire support joined the fight, smashing the enemy
forces.
The
actions of those two ships Commanders had saved Drake and his squad.
When the guns fell silent, the commanders of the ships now disavowed
from the chapter for breaking order, confident with how Drake
conducted himself in previous battles, promoted Captain Drake to Lord
Drake. A new leader to an officially unfounded chapter, he named his
force Drakes Bastards (as void of official parent chapter).
Lord Drake
would be seen leading forces against the Heretics, Mutants and
Beasts, supporting and often rescuing Imperial forces. Though the
distrust of them was strong throughout the Imperium, with every
mission, more that were left to die would join them. Their ranks grew
and grew, at 2,500 strong, this would pose a particular threat to the
Imperium as in accordance with law, no Chapter may exceed 1000 men, a
law firmly in place following the Horus Heresy by decree of Roboute
Guilliman. The Imperium looked the other way when it came to Drakes
Bastards, they knew of the mighty force growing but as they were no
longer Serving the Emperor and the Imperium were not yet willing to
brand them as Heretics due to their support (although not asked for),
there was little that could be done.
The army
comprises of various forces from the Adeptus Astartes. There are
notable similarities and differences to their respective Imperial
counterparts. Due to the lack of the Imperial armouries, some
equipment has been modified and even improved upon without the strict
standardisation that was rampant across the Adeptus Astartes. The
mission for Drakes Bastards is to save their brethren where they
can, although not aligned with the Emperor, they fight shared foes.
Despite their differences, they are every bit (if not more) fanatical
in the destruction of anything not human.
