For Holy Terra Because space is scary

RPC – Ghost Vipers

And the winner, receiving the Assault and Scout squads!
Submitted by Richard:

The original Chapter is believed to have been founded in M35, but little else is known, as all records were destroyed by the Inquisition in early M40 after being wrongly implicated in the Sorensen secession. Reduced to half strength and implicated in the revolt by a fellow Astartes chapter (name not recorded)

The original chapter was placed under Inquisitorial authority after the revolt and given the options of being declared traitors or taking the Phoenix option.

The Chapter master Karl Diessen, knowing that the Chapter had been manipulated into the revolt and wrongly accused, swore revenge and chose the Phoenix option as the only way to bring justice to his fallen brothers and the Chapters survivors.

Inquisitor Brant was the architect of the Chapter’s re-founding under the Phoenix option, a resource used by the Inquisition on only 4 other occasions to save a chapter that had lost their way or had been subverted by external forces before becoming completely lost to the Emperor’s Light.

After Diessen chose exile for the chapter, Inquisitor Brant took what remained of the chapter’s fleet and military assets and directed them to the Hadrada subsector and the world of Belmincor.  A sparsely populated, arid world with continent-spanning deserts and massive mountain ranges, Belmincor was the polar opposite of the Chapter’s old home. Brant had revealed the existence of an abandoned fortress in the Kable mountains on Belmincor that was thought to pre-date the Imperium by millennia, and this he chose as the Chapter’s place of rebirth.

On arriving and making planetfall on Belmincor, the remnants of the Chapter, including all battle brothers, scouts, senior marines and even the chapters ancient and venerated dreadnoughts walked into the desert and scrubbed away the former colours of their Chapter with the sharp abrasive sands of their new home world. All battle honours and icons of their former life were removed and buried in a mass pit, the last items being the Chapter’s holy battle banners. With this last rite concluded and their old life expunged, the Marines in their now-bare metal war plate marched into the Kable mountains to take up residence in the derelict fortress. The symbolic long march would take days, so Diessen sent ahead the scouts to secure the fortress for their arrival and the establishment of the Chapter’s new home.

As the first scouts reported back it seemed to Diessen that there new home was cursed, and Brant had betrayed them, for nearly a dozen scouts had mysteriously died whilst investigating the ruins, and no reason could be found. The Chapter Master, his retinue, and the senior apothecary rushed ahead in Land Speeders to investigate the deaths. On arriving at the ruins they were greeted by Inquisitor Brant and his staff in a grand chamber of the fortress, and Chapter Master Diessen confronted Brant on the betrayal.

Calming the enraged Diessen, Brant revealed the deaths were the result of the ruin’s current occupants, a snake known locally as a ghost viper, and was significant as being one of the few lifeforms in the galaxy that was deadly to all other beings –  including Astartes.

Brant had planned the Chapter’s rebirth ever since their disgrace to culminate in this chamber as Brant revealed the schemes and machinations behind their downfall. An Inquisitor named Bartimus Tait was the architect of their fall, and Brant’s nemesis within the Ordos. Fearing that Tait had subverted an Astartes Chapter, Brant had set about uncovering Tait’s network of agents and trying to discover his plans. The revolt in the Sorensen system curtailed Brant’s investigations, and at first seemed a genuine intra-system conflict between trade cartels and local governance, an event all too familiar on a local system level, but then as the conflict escalated into open war and Astartes Chapters and Imperial Guard were called in, the conflict turned into a secessionist revolt by a cabal of local governors, and unfortunately Diessen’s Chapter found themselves supporting what they had thought were the system’s true leaders instead of the fomenters of the rebellion.

Tait had shown his hand in this as another Chapter (name unknown) attacked Diessen’s warriors before anything of the situation could be made clear, and named them traitors.

The result of this was Tait strengthening his position in the sub sector and that of the Chapter tied to his plans whilst ridding himself of a Chapter that would stand against him when his time to strike for power came.

Brant seized the opportunity to salvage a noble Chapter and reforge it into a weapon against Tait and his growing network of supporters in the conflict to come. Diessen, finally knowing the truth, pledged his warriors and all the Chapter’s resources in support of Brant and his clandestine war against the arch-traitor Bartimus Tait.  His only condition was that he would kill Tait and the traitor Chapter Master that had wrongly accused him of rebellion against the Emperor.

Renaming the Chapter the Ghost Vipers, and rebuilding his battle companies on Belmincor, the Ghost Vipers also took the unusual step of requesting assistance from the Raven Guard to help train his marines in the ways of clandestine warfare and lightning strikes that the first founding chapter were renowned for.

Diessen also began recruiting his own agents and informants so the Chapter would never be used as pawns in another’s power games again. Brant supplied specialised advisors to the Ghost Vipers to train the Chapter’s covert strike teams in working in the shadows and subverting and sabotaging enemy plans from the inside.

Organization and Tactics:

The Ghost Vipers appear to be organised as a standard Codex Chapter, but it has been noted that they never seem to increase their numbers above 750 Battle Brothers – yet casualty rates for the Chapter are incredibly low and no deviation in the gene seed has been detected.

Relying on lightning attacks and, what some would state as underhand tactics, the Ghost Vipers seem to know what the enemy are planning down to the last detail in many of the conflicts they have participated in. There are a few notable exceptions to this, especially when fighting Orks, the Chapter has fallen back on tried and tested tactics straight from the Codex Astartes.

Heraldry:

The Ghost Vipers take their name from the deadly snake they share their fortress monastery with, and also there Chapter colours. A bone white body with dark orange left shoulder, left knee and left fist, but this is not a hard rule in some companies. The amount of dark orange and the addition of more black is seen. The black is a mark of respect to the Raven Guard even though it is thought they are not the Ghost Viper’s progenitor legion.

In the years since the re-founding of the Chapter, a lot of new heraldry has been introduced by the recruits from Belmincors’ desert clans, and the dozen other planets the Chapter recruits from. As you would imagine, a lot of snake icons and winged serpents (by the assault companies) have been used, but also more macabre images of death masks and spectral icons too.

Notable Members:

Karl Diessen is revered by the Ghost Vipers as a visionary and the saviour of the essence of the original chapter. A vengeful warrior and aggressive leader, Diessen was also no fool and saw the short coming in his character as not the direction the Ghost Vipers should follow. Taking advice and council from Inquisitor Brant and his senior captains, Diessen is credited with remoulding his warriors into the covert ops specialists they are today.

Najash Riongera is the Chapter’s current Master and architect of their most recent victories. A Belmincor native recruited from one of the deep desert clans famed for their survival and hunting skills, Najash is nearing 300 years in service to the Imperium and is renowned for his strategic skills in the wider Segmentum, and is often consulted by sector generals and fleet admirals on strategies to end long-running conflicts.

Kendar Hassiophis is the Captain of the Assault Company and the Chapter’s premier swordsman. In combat he uses a power glave as his favoured weapon and has reaped a bloody toll of the Imperium’s enemies.

Harli Pythonidae commands the Chapter’s veterans of the First Company, and also is Castellan of Belmincor and charged with its defence.

Dargon Lanthanotus is the Chapter’s first Chaplin, and is also know as the ‘First Viper’ by many, as he tends to lead the first assault in any battle, stating that it’s up to him to lead the way as the vipers strike from the dark into the light. He casts a grim shadow to keep his charges safe – well, as safe as attacking an Ork bunker can get.

Cotho Viperidae commands the Chapter’s scout company officially, but also heads up the Ghost Viper’s more covert units. In the long clandestine struggle that saw the chapter come into being as the Ghost Vipers, the legacy of the network of agents that Diessen and Brant set up has been maintained and even expanded when necessary for a particular theatre of operations.

Langos Eupodophis is the senior captain of the Battle Companies, and is usually tasked with command of all standard Codex battle situations the Chapter encounters, which makes him the most well-known officer of the Chapter in Imperial circles apart from Master Riongera himself.