Halcyon Knights

Halcyon Knights (Hallowed Guard? Thousand Kings?)

A loyalist chapter of Space Marines stationed on the remote paradise world of Eulalia.

The geneseed for the Halcyon Knights chapter was originally provided on request by the Adeptus Mechanicus. They desired a home guard for a human world recently rediscovered by an Explorator detachment which promised valuable archaeotech discoveries. Though what they hoped to find remains classified, it was evidently deemed important enough to justify the expense. While Eulalia is an idyllic world full of cooperative and affable humans, local mythology frequently referenced elven creatures occupying the world's vast forests, and contact with such was claimed by graybeards as recently as two generations prior to the world's rediscovery, setting the AdMech's gear teeth on edge. Evidently what they hoped to find was important enough to justify the creation of a new chapter- many suspect the Halcyon Knights are successors of the Iron Hands because of the AdMech ties.

Through the first years of occupation the dig went well, and the unharried Marines had time to establish a gorgeous monestary-fortress and begin recruiting from the local population. When a sudden warpstorm severed Eulalia from the rest of the Imperium, things turn a turn for the grimdark. Within the Explorator contingent was a secretly heretek Magos who took no time at all to establish himself leader of Eulalia in absence of Imperial mandate. Hoping to uncover the great archaeotech cache before the storm abated, he greatly accelerated the dig's schedule, and began a mass cull of the general population for servitor labor. When the locals inevitably rebelled, the self-proclaimed Archmagos of Eulalia called upon the Halycon Knights to restore order. Many of the Halcyon Knights recruited from Eulalia quickly joined his side, as unbeknownst to the Astartes heretek elements within their AdMech allies had tampered with the stock hypnoindoctrination equipment, hoping to gain a chapter of Astartes loyal to them before all else.

The Chapter Master, however, was for all his warrior's training a kind man, who knew that human lives are the Emperor's currency, and in his hearts of hearts believed that they should not be spent so cheaply. The mission the Knights were founded for was important, but more important was to uphold the purpose the Adeptus Astartes as a whole were created for- to protect the Empire of Man. So it was that the Halcyon Knights denounced the Archmagos of Eulalia as a heretic and blasphemer against the Emperor, and marched with the rebels against the dig site. It was not long before many loyalist techmages joined them.

What followed was a short, messy, confusing conflict of which there are few good records, thanks to the long period Eulalia spent obscured in the Warp before the tale could be collected by Imperial officials. The event would prove transformative to the Halcyon Knights, redefining their mission- they place the preservation of the Emperor's chosen people above all other concerns, and will fight and die to preserve the meek. This resolve is embodied by their panoply- each Astartes carries a Stormshield and trains rigorously with his brothers to form a unified phalanx at a moment's notice, creating a wall of Astartes to put between their foes and those the Knights swore to defend. An Astartes of the Halcyon Knights will sooner abandon his bolter and the arm holding it than his shield, and to survive a battle but lose one's shield is a great dishonor.

The Knights have diverged from Codex standards a great deal in the time they've been separated from the Imperium, and to the minds of many could be considered renegades, as they often defy orders that would endanger or harm civilians- as the Knights put it, their loyalty is to the Emperor and his people, and as their critics would note with the Emperor otherwise occupied the Knights themselves decide what that means. The Knights eschew all stages of hypno-indoctrination, and maintain strong ties with their families and native communities during their service. Rather than the typical serfs, the chapter employs the descendants of the loyalist Adeptus Mechanicus, who have become an official arm of the Chapter, known as the Artificiers. Many aspirants to the fortress-monestary hope to serve as not as Astartes but as Artificiers, and the two components of the chapter work together closely. The greater Adeptus Mechanicus abhors this relationship, as the Artificiers do not venerate the Machine God properly, directly worshipping the Emperor in his aspect as the Omnissiah instead, and obey the Chapter Master as their absolute leader. More galling, it's unknown to the AdMech what became of the archaeotech the mission was initially dispatched to seek, though they suspect much. So far this schism has not led to open conflict, but tensions between parent and child are palpable.

The Halcyon Knights have been known to interfere with other Imperial operations in the region, usually in the form of unrequested reinforcements to struggling Imperial Guard detachments or overtaxed PDF forces, once even going so far as to fire on Inquisitorial ships executing an order of Exterminatus. This behavior has made the Knights very popular with the rank and file of the Guard, and unpopular with the Inquisition, as well as certain Commisars who feel the Knights' behavior coddles the Guardsmen and dulls their edge. The effect on morale is however undeniable, and more than one broken line has been salvaged by Knights with jump-packs creating a living wall of cover to drive back the foe.

Occasional but mostly nonviolent contact with Xenos races during Eulalia's period of isolation from humanity  has lent the Knights a lax view of Xenos. They will trade and ally with them if need arises. There are even whispers that the local myths could indicate the Eulalians have Eldar blood, though the Inquisition assures anyone who asks that such foul interbreeding is strictly impossible.