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.