MACERATORS
Bane of the Dead
Homeworld: Dreggen, Indor sector, Segmentum Tempestus
Geneseed: Blood Angels, Flesh Tearers mentor
Founding: 21st
Colour Scheme: Green, gold trims and eagle, red face plate
Symbol: Three blood drops within a circle
Origins
Born of the genetic experiment that was the 21st founding, the Macerators, yet another addition to sanguinious’ growing brood, were born of Blood Angel and Flesh Tearer stock. The exact reasons behind this combination have long since been lost or forgotten, but reasons are unimportant when the end result is success. And the Macerators were a success. At least that was what everyone assumed.
HOMEWORLD
Dreggan is a green jewel of a world covered in vast dark forests and deep fresh water seas, it teems with life and is a perfect world for human habitation, at least it would have been if the seas werent filled with deadly bacteria and the forests home to beasts seemingly drawn out of nightmares. Humanity clings to the margins of Dreggan, the coasts, the forest edges, the high mountains and islands, constantly on guard against disease and the fanged horrors, which lurk in the deep woods waiting for the foolish and unwary. There are several different civilisations on Dreggan, the most powerful is the Moldran Empire, also known as the the island empire, its mastery of the seas and use of high technology has made it the dominant force on the planet. The centre of the Moldran empire is the isle of Moldra, the largest island on Dreggan, it is a tranquil and ordered land of rolling patchwork fields well tended woodland, straight roads and white marble cities. A stark contrast to the wild beauty of the major continents where the rest of the population struggles to survive, and despite being within the cloak of the Empire it is still a struggle.
The Macerators fortress monastery, or Sul-Abra, is built upon the summit of Tlall Orssa, the white giant, located in the Asphan mountain range high above the tree line where the air is pure and the wind is sharp. The only other foot print the chapter has on Dreggen is the Bloody stone, the training fort for new scouts. Located deep in the Spider Haunt on a colossal meteoric stone, now stained red with iron oxide from the fortress walls, the Bloody Stone rises from the surrounding greenery like a slumbering titan. To the local population the Bloody Stone is a cursed place to be avoided at all costs, only the dead walk its weeping halls. In comparison Sul-Abra is a revered and mystical place where the warriors of heaven reside, it is said any man who can survive the ascent can ask any boon and it shall be answered.
GENESEED
The Macerators are believed to be of pure Blood Angel stock, though there is a suspicion it may have been mixed with Flesh Tearer stock in an attempt to correct the problems of that particular geneseed and thereby offer a solution to the continued degradation of the Flesh Tearer chapter. If that was its intended goal, if such a mix had taken place, then it was a failure on several levels. The Macerator geneseed is stable with few detrimental mutations other than the black rage, a bizarre compulsion to eat the flesh of the fallen, be they friend or foe and a general sharpening of teeth. However if the mixing of the geneseed had been devised as a means of reigning in the black rage in the Flesh Tearers then it worked, as the probability of a Macerator succumbing to the rage is now actually less than even that of the Blood Angels, to the extent they dont require a Death Company. Unfortunately the only solution for the Flesh Tearers would have been to forgo using their own geneseed in favour of that of the Macerators, something they were unwilling to do no matter the cost.
In many respects they were right to do so, as a problem with the Macerator Omophagea almost led to extermination for the chapter by the Inquisition, a problem that had developed over millennia and stemmed ironically from the Flesh Tearers ritualistic cannibalism of the enemy. While the practice of eating live captives did not translate, the consumption of dead tissue from the battle field became common practice. Problems arose as an unforeseen mutation of the geneseed caused the Omophagea to be come hyper stimulated, and so along with the victims genetic memory their came an intense rush of pleasure. Over time the urge to consume flesh lost its ritualistic meaning and simply became a practice in gratification, and so the Macerators chapter blindly walked into addiction. Once discovered the problem was easily corrected, new recruits were simply not implanted with the organ, or if they had been they were banned from consuming the flesh of the dead.
ORGANISATION
The Organisation of the Macerator chapter follows the strictures laid down within the Codex Astartes exactly, though it seems more an effort to fit in than because they hold the codex in such high regard.
DOCTRINE
The Macerators make full use of long range weapons and tanks, and will even use orbital bombardment to dislodge a stubborn enemy if need be before moving in to deliver the final blow. The bombardments have been know to last up to a week, when it ends the Mecarators are already moving in. Often, if not always they time their attack to coincide with the cessation of the bombardment exactly, so the enemy doesn’t have time to react to the immediate threat as they are still wondering why it is so quiet.
The Macerators did not have the same temperament as their Flesh Tearer mentors and so pure close assault tactics were never going to stick. The early deaths of their mentors due to the Black rage further widened the gap between the chapter they were named for. The sight of their chapter master losing himself to the rage was seared into the minds of those who witnessed it and it was their fervent desire that the Macerators would never sink so low. Sadly the curse of Sanguiniuos caught up with them in the end, and for many, if not all, the predilection the Macerators developed for consuming the dead was far worse than the aegis the Flesh Tearers or Blood Angels laboured under. So far did they fall they even consumed the flesh of their fallen brothers and allies, an act for which they were almost excommunicated.
BATTLE-CRY
‘Your flesh is mine’