Seeing this thread got my creative engine running once again, so I'm writing this down so I don't forget. I firmly subscribe to the belief that a Chapter's Beliefs section is the single most important part of an Index Astartes, and consequently it tends to be the hardest section to write. This is the real meat of a Chapter, this is where you tell the reader what your Chapter is all about. Who are they? What are they like? What do they believe in? Why do they fight? What do they fight for? No one cares that your Chapter has totally rockin' space ships, that they are organized like XYZ, that their dudes are totally badass and you shouldn't mess with them. THIS is what every reader cares about. The million dollar question that every aspiring DIY writer MUST answer is this: "Why should I root for your Chapter?"
By running through the various major and minor Inquisitorial philosophies and determining who the Dark Swords would agree with and who they would violently oppose, I can start nailing down the basics of what the Dark Swords believe in so that the Beliefs sections will be a bit easier to write.
In order to prepare for this post I read up on my copy of Dark Heresy: The Radical's Handbook and the old Inquisitor rulebook and Thorian source book, both available for free on GW's website. For the sake of brevity I will try to only touch on certain philosophies that would be at least somewhat relevant.
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Thorianism - in a nutshell, they believe that the Emperor can be reincarnated and his soul should be resurrected in a new body. The most 'radical' of the Puritans, as it feared that the return of the Emperor could trigger an apocalyptic schism between believers and nonbelievers, among other concerns.
Not really sure about this one. The main creed and teachings of the Dark Swords don't really intersect with the main tenets of Thorianism, so I think the Dark Swords and Thorian Inquisitors may just be neutral to each other.
Some Chapters appear to espouse a vague belief in an afterlife, speaking of fallen brothers as being at His side, and that the Emperor will return at the end of all things to lead His people in a final confrontation with the forces of Chaos. If the Dark Swords are like this (perhaps they are), they would be closer in agreement with Anomolian Beholders, who prefer to simply watch and wait for the return of the Emperor.
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Amalathianism - Doctrine that was formally founded at the beginning of the 41st millennium, although the basic tenets have almost certainly been around for far longer. One of the widest held philosophies, generally characterized as conservative, wishing to maintain the status quo of the Imperium and regarding rapid change and revolution as dangerous if not outright heretical.
Perhaps a slight paradox here. I think the Dark Swords most certainly value order and stability; constant rebellions, social upheaval, subversive activity, all of these are not really good, and prolonged instability weakens the Imperium, not help it. Above all, the Dark Swords would prefer that the worlds under their protection stay orderly, stable, secure and productive, sending in their tithes on time and not causing much trouble. In general, this being a comment on what tends to happen in real life, it seems that in a developing nation, stability and security take priority over things like freedom, democracy and human rights. Just a generalization of course. But basically, people want a place to live/sleep, enough food to eat, a job or some other guaranteed source of income, that the streets are safe and confidence that they won't be mugged, raped or murdered by out of control criminal elements. After that, they start to worry more about things like democracy and human rights and whatnot.
But the Dark Swords are good men (more on that later), and they were taught by their first master, Lord Raziel Scryer, not to be blind to the problems and suffering of the ordinary people they are sworn to protect. They do believe in some change, and that can be cause for tension or hostility from more hard line Amalathians.
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Recongregators - The exact opposite of Amalathianism, Recongregators believe that the Imperium is slowly dying from too much corruption and stagnation, that it continues to survive in spite of monolithic organizations and weak or selfish leaders, and that drastic, sometimes violent change is necessary to rescue and revitalize the Imperium.
In general, Astartes Chapters appear to be more conservative in outlook and generally more in line with Puritan ideals, wishing to uphold the current order and kill lots of bad guys.
But, (and I suppose the nicer and more humanitarian ideal has become something of a cliche for DIY Chapters, but just go with it for now) the Dark Swords were taught not just to protect the Imperium, but to be sympathetic to the teeming masses that are its lifeblood, and to try to uplift and improve the lot of the common man when they can. Even the most cynical Dark Sword can agree that an Imperial population that is reasonably happy, prosperous, has a good lot in life and good prospects for the future, is treated reasonably well, is confident in the security of the state, and has a reason to believe in the Imperium and a stake in the Imperium, will be more loyal, less likely to rebel, cause trouble or make compact with the alien, the fiend, the secessionist and other enemies of the state, be more productive and generally just do as they're told.
The Dark Swords do not have actual political power; they don't lord over a realm like Ultramar, they consider themselves to be soldiers first and foremost, and they take pride in that fact, they would rather be killing bad guys than pushing around paperwork. If I offended any Ultra players with that... I fully intended to. Sorry.
Since they don't have political power, some of the powers that be in their local area of space might not feel threatened by them, or just consider them a nuisance. But, they ARE Astartes, the descendants of the God-Emperor himself, and the finest defenders of their turf, so that has to count for something. An Astartes Chapter tends to make plenty of friends, alliances and contacts, so they can pull plenty of strings - the local Mechanicus, friendly Inquisitors, planetary governors that owe favors for prior aid, that sort of thing. The more friends the Dark Swords have, the easier it will be to put pressure on people to stop doing things they don't like. They can campaign and speak, gently reminding Governors that better habits can help encourage more productivity and stability. And at the least, they ARE Astartes - they can just subtly remind people of that ("We think it would be good if you ran your administration like such and such; it'll keep our Inquisitor friends happy, and it'll keep us happy. Because if we're not happy with the way you do things, we'll just kill you.").
At the same time, Recongregators are considered Radicals. They might not sound bad, but if you choose to accept Radical's Handbook as fully or partly canonical, it's made clear that Recongregators can and will use methods that can be considered unsavory or outright unlawful and heretical to advance their agenda, and more extremist Recongregators may advocate more rapid and violent change.
The Dark Swords do want to affect positive change in their area of space; they recognize that the Imperium as it is, is not really how they want it, and they at least want it to be less corrupt and shitty. But they will not align themselves with any but the most mild Recongregators, if that. They obviously would never advocate violent change and upheaval, and even Recongregators in favor of slower change may advocate dubious methods that the Dark Swords would never agree to.
The average Amalathian might be ticked off that the Dark Swords would advocate reform and change at all, since those are four-letter words to them, and they denounce the "arrogance" of those who would second-guess the Emperor's plan rather than just let it unfold naturally. But, the Dark Swords are just interested in mild, measured change, and they would never openly associate with Recongregators if at all, so the hard line Amalathians can just shove it. They believe firmly that the Emperor helps those who help themselves; the Imperium's problems will not be solved by sitting on one's arse.
Monodominance - Mankind can only survive if every mutant, alien, psyker and traitor dies.
"Moderate" Monodominant. I'm thinking that virtually every Chapter, due to the very nature of Astartes, are going to lean towards Monodominance. It's continually reinforced in pretty much every piece of writing about the Space Marines that they are taught to hate the alien, the mutant, the daemon, the witch, anything that is not human, and to hunt them down and destroy them without mercy.
Now to qualify the "moderate" Monodominant, I feel like I need to bring up the Castigators by one Commissar Molotov, one of my favorite DIY Chapters to have come out of the Liber. I don't actually "like" the Castigators on a personal level (they are written as an incredibly nasty bunch of folks), but I like the Chapter because it is one of the very best written Chapters to have ever come out of the Liber (and that isn't counting the large amount of secondary detail written by Molotov since), and it is a Chapter that perfectly fits into the dark, dystopian themes of 40k.
One minor quibble I do have, is that the Castigators are so fanatical and extremist that they are completely blind to their own doctrinal hypocrisy, something that was completely intentional on the part of Commissar Molotov. It's not a right or a wrong thing, it just is, it's one of the themes of the Castigators that reinforces how unpleasant they are, and how taking one thing to an extreme (we hate psykers) ultimately runs into a wall (no psykers means the Imperium cannot function at all).
The hypocrisy thing works for the Castigators, but I'm not looking to make a repeat of the Castigators, of course, I'm looking to make the Dark Swords. The Dark Swords should embody the things I like, and the things I want or expect to see in an Astartes Chapter. For the Dark Swords, rationality still has a place in their creed. Sure, at the end of the day the Dark Swords, like every other Chapter, are racist, hateful, genocidal killing machines, but they are still rational. To be otherwise would be ignoring reality.
The average battle brother might hate, dislike or be extremely wary of psykers - and this attitude is entirely understandable if not ultimately justifiable, since a single vulnerable, untrained psyker could lead to the destruction of of an entire world by way of daemonic incursion. But at the end of the day, they have to face facts - without Astropaths and Navigators, the Imperium would not exist. And from a purely pragmatic standpoint, there is an argument for Librarians as a necessary defense against enemy psykers - I don't really understand how a Chapter intolerant of psykers gets on against enemy witches and sorcerers without leveling the playing field, as it were. Raziel's own thoughts on the matter and the teachings he imparts to his followers could go a long way toward encouraging acceptance of psykers. And at the end of the day, Librarians are still full-fledged battle brothers. I imagine getting your arse saved by the timely intervention of a Librarian will go a long way toward encouraging the rank and file to warm up to their psyker brothers.
Mutation is pretty much unacceptable under any circumstances, and mutants will be destroyed to protect the human populace.
Religious deviation may be a little more open to debate. The Dark Swords, like most Astartes, believe in the Emperor as a man, not a god. They view the teeming masses of humanity as technically 'wrong,' but it's not as though they know any better since the Emperor wields god-like power anyway. The Cult of the Savior Emperor is quite useful as it gives the ordinary people something to rally around and serves as a method of control so that ordinary people can be told what to do for their own good and generally refrain from causing trouble. The Dark Swords are not going to be too concerned if planet A wants to worship the Emperor a certain way and planet B another, unless significant differences lead to conflict and a breakdown of stability. Blatant heresy and turning to the Dark Gods is not tolerated and will be met with swift and overwhelming violence.
With rebellion and sedition, again it depends. Rebellion is a rejection of the authority of the Emperor and is unforgivable, but the Dark Swords can be willing to show some leniency, since it would be a waste of human resources. The offending population would have to show its remorse and willingness to contribute to the greater Imperium in order to earn forgiveness through mass conscription to the Imperial Guard and/or several years of forced labor (mining, working on a forge world, etc.). This is of course unpleasant and will probably result in death or an incredibly miserable existence, but since this is 40k, I suppose it is more 'merciful' than just putting an entire planet to death.
Exterminatus I think would only be advocated as a solution of last resort. I think Exterminatus is used way, way too often in story arcs, to the point where its hard to believe (do you really think the Imperium would be killing off planets left and right?). Unless that planet is really, truly, irredeemably lost, the Dark Swords will fight for it. Would it not be more sensible and more effective to use orbital strikes to 'cordon off' an area instead of just destroying the entire planet? Again, unless that planet was lost and there's no way to get it back.
Xenos is where it starts getting good. The Dark Swords hate aliens. Really, really, really hate aliens. Well, I'm not really sure how much more they can be "we hate aliens!" when the whole Imperium preaches "we hate aliens!." But, there have been some described incidents in the lore that make me scratch my head:
963 M41, the Ultramarines clash with the Tau on Malbede, then are forced to work together to fight off an awakening Necron force. Calgar allows the Tau to evacuate before nuking the planet.
895 M41 the Space Wolves sort of, informally work together with the Eldar to fight an Ork WAAAGH. Later on the Wolves formally receive the Eldar who are bearing the bodies of slain Wolves. However there is a mistranslation and both parties end up fighting properly like they should. The fact that the Space Wolves even consider parleying with the Eldar is what bothers me.
Then of course there's the infamous "forbidden romance" between the Blood Angels and the Necrons, courtesy of the one and only Matt Ward.
Yeah. So basically, all I'm saying is that the Dark Swords are not like that. They hate aliens. A lot. They've lost a lot of good men over the years to the Eldar, and they hate the Eldar the most of any of their alien foes. They hate the Orks, of course everyone hates the Orks. I suppose if they've gone over to Tau space and fought the blue fish-things, they hate them too. The Dark Swords have fought most major xenos races and countless minor ones (as in one or two planets at most), and driven many minor xenos to extinction or endangered status, and countless centuries of fighting have simply reinforced their hatred.
Every single alien in the galaxy is an abomination that must die and must suffer for the crime of existence, for daring to exist in a galaxy that belongs to humanity alone. The Dark Swords may be lenient on some other issues, but this is one where they will not budge. Every single xenos must die. Period. Hostile or peaceful, they all must die. Even the peaceful, nonthreatening ones are just going to be ignored until it is convenient for the Dark Swords to exterminate them so human colonists can take their worlds as is their right.
The Dark Swords refuse to work alongside any alien race. To them it is unthinkable, and they would rather die than sully themselves by accepting the offered hand of an alien, even for a moment. Imperial forces that willingly work alongside xenos or xenos mercenaries will be slaughtered to the man, or rather the Dark Swords will enlist the aid of friendly Inquisitors to condemn them, and with Inquisitorial support and cover the Dark Swords will then proceed to said extermination. Human worlds that willingly spit on their oaths of fealty to the Emperor and join with alien empires like the Tau, die to the last man, woman and child, the world reclaimed and repopulated with firmly loyal human colonists. This is one of the things that the Dark Swords will not forgive, along with standard Chaos cults taking over a planet. In rejecting the Imperium and joining with xenos, you reject the absolute authority of the Emperor and the manifest destiny and supremacy of mankind, and these miscreants must not be allowed to live lest their heresy spread to others. 1/13/12
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Xanthism - the Warp and Chaos can be mastered and enslaved, daemon weapons and dark power used to fight fire with fire.
This is obviously completely out of the question. No Astartes Chapter would ever, ever agree with the Xanthites. Well, except maybe the Relictors, but no one likes them. They're like the fat kid on the playground that everyone picks on.
It's a pity that Radical's Handbook describes the Xanthites as being fairly entrenched and politically powerful, at least somewhat tolerated, as well as being physically formidable. The Dark Swords would have to move carefully around a suspected Xanthite and enlist the aid of many Inquisitorial allies to help them if the Xanthite is hostile and demonstrates some sinister intent against the Chapter. Overwhelming support and evidence would be needed to bring down a Xanthite engaged in some great crime or heresy. 1/13/12
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Horusianism - A new 'Horus' can be created, a great leader or god-being invested with the power of the Warp to serve as a new leader of mankind.
Again out of the question. Good luck getting any Chapter to agree with a philosophy named after the Archtraitor. 1/13/12
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Istvaanism - 'Survival of the fittest'; Inquisitors that believe the Imperium is strengthened through trial and conflict, and will deliberately engineer conflicts to do just that. The weak die, and the strong emerge stronger.
Again, out of the question. I have this idea that the Dark Swords would be opposed in the Gorgon Cluster by a rogue cabal of Istvaanian Inquisitors who seek to engineer conflict in accordance with their philosophy; these rogue Inquisitors would be secretly aligned with members of the Alpha Legion, who seem to have a similar but ultimately unknown agenda.
I think of course writers tend to be influenced or get their ideas from the times they live through, or that the things they write are often a commentary or reaction or an examination of what is happening at the time. For example, the common storyline of an alien invasion has been used as a metaphor for a wide variety of events and trends, one of the most recent maybe as an examination of American fear of Soviet invasion and occupation. In the current era in which I live, I think it's inevitable that things like terrorism will pop up in my writings. People like the Alpha Legion and other Traitor warbands would be handled as terrorists, not just planetary invaders and conquerors, although the traditional invading and conquering is probably going to come up. 1/13/12
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Polypsykana - the psyker is the natural evolution of mankind into a new, higher race.
I'm not really sure why this is classified as Radical? Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this idea the entire point behind everything the Emperor did? He wished to protect Mankind until it fully evolved into a powerful psychic race, disciplined and strong enough to protect themselves from the predations of the Warp without the need for his direct protection and guidance.
I believe the incidence of psychic mutation is indeed on the rise, and the Dark Swords would catch on to this pretty quickly. They, by and large, don't really have anything against psykers, and since the psychic ascension of man is basically inevitable, they are interested in seeing this come to pass as soon as possible. In the meantime, however, the unfortunate psyker too undisciplined to control his power would need to be put down for his own good and the safety of others, much like a rabid animal. 1/13/12
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Xenos Hybris - Basically, learn what you can from alien civilizations and alien technology.
I don't know about this one. I didn't write that whole bit about 'hate the alien' for nothing. This is very definitely an anti-xenos Chapter. Knowledge is knowledge, sure, but this may be one of those things where they really are irrational and will just reject anything related to xenos.
I don't think they will mind just studying xenos technology in order to gain some insight into the alien mind, figure out some kind of weakness or how to subvert that technology or just figure out a more efficient method of killing aliens. Certainly they will never use alien technology beyond maybe taking an alien gun and whacking someone over the head with it, and maybe not even then. Use of alien technology or reverse engineering said technology does seem to go on far more often than the Dark Swords would like to admit. I don't know, this is one of the things that might be more up in the air. 1/13/12
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So, in conclusion, moderate Monodominant, Amalathian but leaning toward gradual, positive change for the people they protect. Basically not Radical at all. 1/14/12
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