"There is no greater glory than being first warrior to spill the foe's blood."
- — Sergeant Vayren, Storm Lords 3rd Company
The Storm Lords is a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter and a rare Second Founding Successor Chapter created from the gene-seed of the White Scars.
The Storm Lords have always maintained a strong sense of rivalry with the White Scars. They frequently compete with their forebears for glory, and have been known to go to reckless lengths in order to emerge victorious.
Chapter History[]
Storm Lords Chapter Colour Scheme as displayed by a Firstborn Veteran Space Marine of the 2nd Company.
As Second Founding successors of the White Scars Chapter, the Storm Lords can trace their history back to a time when Jaghatai Khan hunted across the stars. The Storm Lords were founded in the wake of the tragic events of the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium.
Storm Lords Chapter Colour Scheme as displayed by a Primaris Marine of the 3rd Company. In the Storm Lords, the helmet colour denotes company.
Sharing their genefather's battle lust and aggressive style of lightning warfare, the Storm Lords have ever sought to best the deeds of their progenitors, and the two Chapters often compete on the field of battle to amass the greater glory.
Since those bygone days, the Storm Lords have amassed a long list of battle honours, serving the Divine Emperor for over ten millennia.
The Storm Lords are particularly renowned for the ferocity with which they hunt Ork WAAAGH!s; the walls of the feasting halls within their fortress-monastery are covered in the scalps of slain Warbosses.
Brotherhoods (companies) of the Storm Lords have recently deployed to the beleaguered world of Armageddon, where their Land Speeder squadrons have earned the honour of drawing first blood against Warboss Deffdrekka's Speed Freeks, much to the chagrin of the White Scars.
Notable Campaigns[]
- Battle of Corusil V (084.M31) - The Storm Lords accompanied the White Scars force led by their Primarch Jaghatai Khan to the world of Corusil V to take vengeance against the Drukhari who had ravaged the White Scars homeworld of Chogoris and the wider Yasan Sector in the wake of the Horus Heresy. The White Scars and their successors defeated the Drukhari, but not before their Archon fled into the Webway through a nearby portal. Jaghatai Khan and much of the White Scars' 1st Brotherhood followed. The portal closed permanently behind them. The fate of the Great Khan remains unknown.
- War of the Beast (544-546.M32) - The Storm Lords were one of the Chapters that fought to defend the Imperium in the middle of the 32nd Millennium from the massed Greenskin forces of the Ork Warlord known as The Beast.
- Death of the Witching Moon (013.M41) - The Forge Moon of Keziah, in the strategically vital Agathon System, fell into an unnatural eclipse during which its population was driven to murder and madness in an endless night of horror. The dread forces of the The Tenebrae and Company of Misery reigned as dark kings amid the nightmare, and the baleful light of the "Witching Moon" that Keziah had become spread calamity and Warp-tainted phenomena wherever it now fell, threatening the entire star system. The first Imperial attacks by the Astra Militarum, squadrons from Battlefleet Ultima and the Inquisition were hurled back in tatters by the madness of the black light and the Warp-fuelled savagery of the defenders. It was only by the unexpected arrival of the Charnel Guard Chapter, accompanied by a sacred band of Adepta Sororitas battle-sisters of the Order of the Black Sepulchre bearing the holy Imperial relic known as the Book of Tears before them, that the imminent loss of tens of billions of lives on Agathon Prime was prevented, and the insanity-inducing radiance of the Witching Moon was held back. The Charnel Guard led a fresh assault as further Adeptus Astartes, including the Storm Lords, Iron Hands and Angels Porphyr, and Adeptus Mechanicus reinforcements arrived, fighting a brutal battle of tank and gunship clashes across the soaring metal canyons which razed the moon's surface and chamber-by-chamber Zone Mortalis actions to purge Keziah of the shadow that had befallen it. The Heretic Astartes inflicted fearful losses on their besiegers before they were driven into the deeper darkness of the Warp. In the wake of their retreat, all life was purged from Keziah before it was given back to the hands of the Machine Cult for tech-exorcism and eventual reclamation as a Forge Moon.
- Blackfist Scalping (882.M41) - The White Scars joined forces with two of their Successor Chapters, the Storm Lords and Solar Hawks, to combat WAAAGH! Blackfist on the Agri-world of Lycelle. Competition between the three Chapters was fierce, with each trying to outdo the battlefield deeds of the others in the name of Jaghatai Khan.
- Retaking of Rynn's World (Late 990.M41) - The Storm Lords participated in the effort, alongside units from 5 other Space Marine Chapters and elements of the Astra Militarum and the Imperial Navy, to free the Crimson Fists' Chapter homeworld of Rynn's World from the Orks of WAAAGH! Snagrod 18 months after the Orks overran that Agri-World in the Loki Sector.
- Third War for Armageddon (998.M41) - The Storm Lords committed two brotherhoods of their Space Marines to the defence of the Segmentum Solar Hive World of Armageddon where they fought alongside the Salamanders Chapter and their own genetic forebears, the White Scars, to free that world from the grip of the Orks of WAAAGH! Ghazghkull.
- 13th Black Crusade (ca. 999.M41) - The Storm Lords were one of the Chapters that answered the call to defend the Cadian Gate during the 13th Black Crusade of Abaddon the Despoiler.
Chapter Organisation[]
The Storm Lords is a Codex Astartes-compliant Chapter with one minor deviation -- their helms rather than their pauldron trim is painted in their company colour as proscribed in the Codex.
The Chapter is known to have some preference for the use of fast-moving vehicles like Assault Bikes and Land Speeders, just like the White Scars.
Notable Storm Lords[]
- Sergeant Balzach - Despite his current status as the bloody-handed Chaos Lord of the Skulltakers Chaos Space Marine warband, Zhufor, "the Butcher of Vraks," was once known as Balzach, a sergeant of the Storm Lords Chapter. Balzach was captured by members of the World Eaters Traitor Legion and converted into a traitorous killing machine using a mix of drugs, torture, and psycho-corrective surgery. Since his conversion, Zhufor has lost all memory of his past life as a loyal servant of the Emperor.
- Hasdrubal - Hasdrubal was a member of the Deathwatch who hailed from the Storm Lords Chapter. He was a member of a Kill-team led by Sergeant Decurius tasked with infiltrating a Sslyth nest on the planet Kolagar. Hasdrubal, along with his teammates Zameon Gydrael and Thorne, fought their way through to a specific point of the nest and planted a virus bomb to wipe it out.
- Tulwei - Tulwei was a Storm Lord who was a founding member of the Deathwatch during the War of the Beast. He took part in the search for an Ork psyker on the world of Valhalla who could be used as a conduit to direct the Null anti-psychic energies of the Sisters of Silence into The Beast's WAAAGH! on Ullanor to defeat the greenskin menace to the Imperium.
Chapter Appearance[]
An example of the iconography utilised by the Storm Lords; top row (left-to-right): Chapter badge, command and Veteran icon; bottom row: battleline icon, close support icon.
Chapter Colours[]
The Storm Lords' power armour is painted in a halved colour scheme; the right side is entirely red whilst the left side is white. The backpack and the Aquila or Imperialis on the breastplate are black.
The white squad tactical specialty symbol -- battleline, close support, fire support, or command -- is indicated on the right shoulder pauldron whilst the Chapter iconography is painted on the left.
Veteran status is instead displayed through the use of a laurel icon on the helm of a contrasting colour.
Unlike their progenitors, who utilise unique Chapter iconography to designate squad number which is based upon the imagery used by the tribes of their Chapter homeworld of Chogoris, the Storm Lords instead utilise Codex Astartes-approved squad designations, which are indicated by a white Low Gothic numeral painted directly in the centre of the squad specialty symbol or to either side of it.
Most unusual, the Storm Lords' helm colour denotes company designation in accordance with the Codex -- i.e. White (1st Company), Yellow (2nd Company), Red (3rd Company), Green (4th Company), etc.
Chapter Badge[]
The Storm Lords' Chapter badge is a white skull superimposed over three red lightning bolts in a triangular pattern on a field of white.
The symbol matches the traditional tribal markings of their forebears' nomadic tribes on the White Scars' Chapter homeworld of Chogoris.
Sources[]
- Codex: Armageddon (3rd Edition), pp. 18, 32
- Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (8th Edition), pg. 35
- Codex: Space Marines (9th Edition), pg. 70
- Codex: Space Marines (8th Edition) (Revised Edition), pg. 41
- Codex: Space Marines (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), "White Scars Successor Chapters," pg. 136
- Codex: Space Marines (6th Edition), pp. 8, 14, 39, 77, 143
- Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pg. 8
- Codex: Space Marines (3rd Edition), pg. 47
- Codex Supplement: White Scars (8th Edition), pg. 28
- Codex: Ultramarines (2nd Edition), pg. 43
- Deathwatch: The Flesh of the Angel (Short Story) by Ben Counter
- Gathering Storm - Volume One - Fall of Cadia (7th Edition), pg. 96
- How To Paint Space Marines (2004), pg. 81
- Imperial Armour II - Ork, Eldar and Dark Eldar Vehicles for Warhammer 40,000, pg. 31
- Imperial Armour Volume Thirteen - War Machines of the Lost & The Damned, pg. 23
- The Last Son of Dorn (The Beast Arises Series, Book Ten) (Novel) by David Guymer, Ch. 1
Gallery[]
