Invaders

"The deeds of one bold warrior can alter the course of a battle. I have four such men under my command and our every deed changes the shape of the galaxy."

- Sergeant Daegon Incursa, Invaders 1st Company

The Invaders are a Loyalist Codex Astartes-compliant Space Marines Chapter of unknown Founding and origin.

Chapter History
The details of the Invader's Founding appears not to have been recorded in history. No doubt the details have been lost to the long centuries of war. The Chapter currently stands under strength. The cause of these grievous losses is highly restricted data, making it likely that the Chapter had been engaged facing the dread denizens of the Warp, potentially alongside the secretive Grey Knights Chapter. It is not uncommon for brethren surviving such campaigns to be subjected to deep-core mind wipe procedures, meaning that even were it true, the veterans of any such campaign would have no memories of the blasphemies they might have witnessed. Other conflicts in which the Invaders have fought are better known, however. In the middle of the last century the Invaders launched an assault against the Eldar Craftworld of Idharae, the xenos having been severely reduced in number following their actions in the war against the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Naga. Despite sustaining heavy losses, the attack was a success. Such a bold action would have been unlikely to succeed were the Eldar not so weakened, and it resulted in the Craftworld being reduced to a dead, drifting hulk of scorched and desiccated Wraithbone.

Four decades later, the Eldar enacted bitter vengeance upon the Chapter when the forces of the Craftworld Alaitoc launched a retaliatory attack upon the Invader's homeworld of Ogrys. This time, the tables were turned, for it was the Space Marines that were under strength, their numbers still returning to full strength following the losses they had sustained during the destruction of Craftworld Idharae. The Chapter was overwhelmed, their fortress-monastery destroyed and Ogrys reduced to ruins. Only 300 Battle-Brothers survived the battle, after which the Invaders were forced to take to their remaining starships as a space-bound Chapter, capable only of actions in support of larger formations.

Notable Campaigns

 * Craftworld Idharae (852.M41) - The Invaders' most notable engagement as a Chapter came in 852.M41 when they launched an all-out invasion of the Eldar Craftworld Idharae. Despite suffering casualties that included the loss of the majority of the Chapter's Astartes, the Invaders proved successful and left the once-grand Craftworld a ruined Space Hulk with its surviving Eldar population forced to flee into open space, where they eventually found sanctuary aboard the Craftworld Alaitoc.
 * Battle of Ogrys (895.M41) - The Invaders' brutal destruction of the Craftworld Idharae came home to roost some 43 standard years later when the Eldar survivors of the Invaders original assault, now with the full backing of the Alaitoc Craftworld, launched their own assault upon Ogrys, the Invaders' homeworld. Still recovering their numbers from the original attack upon Idharae, the Invaders were incapable of properly defending their fortress-monastery from the vengeance-minded xenos. The Invaders were quickly defeated by the Eldar and were reduced in size to a mere 3 companies of surviving Astartes, as well as losing most of their battle honours and much of their Chapter wargear and vehicles to the destruction of their fortress-monastery. The surviving Space Marines of the Invaders were forced to become a Fleet-based Chapter, moving their operations to the remnants of their Chapter fleet that survived the massacre on Ogrys. Still well understrength despite the century that has passed since the loss of their Chapter's homeworld, the Invaders were last reported serving as support for the Novamarines operating on the doomed world of Skyfall.
 * The Purging of Jollana (913.M41) - Destruction came to the Great Librarium of Jollana in 913.M41 at the hands of the thrice-reviled Chaos Sorcerer Ahriman of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion. Determined to take the secrets of the Librarium for himself, Jollana's defenders were wiped out and much of the Librarium was ruined. In the wake of Ahriman's attack, the Invaders despatched 3 companies alongside a relief army of Imperial Guard to Jollana to secure the Librarium. Unable to determine whether or not Ahriman's forces were still present in its catacombs, the Invaders nonetheless acted with their Chapter's famed recklessness and launched a full-scale assault—though Ahriman was long gone. As the Chapter's Drop Pods crashed home, they unknowingly triggered the complex system of sorcerous wards that Ahriman had left in place as one last act of devilment. Scouring the fire-blackened rubble for any trace of the foe, arcane energies began to build and were eventually released in a violent cascade of pink Warpflame that incinerated the Guardsmen to a man. The Invaders fared better, protected from the sorcerous assault by their Power Armour. Yet the dangers to assail the Invaders had only begun. As the fires guttered and died, the walls of reality were torn asunder and daemons burst through into the Librarium's great hall. A contingent of Grey Knights Space Marines then arrived in orbit of Jollana. The Invaders had been fighting for their survival for days. Under such circumstances, an Exterminatus order would normally have been executed, but in the case of Jollana, this was not a viable option. The datastacks of the Great Librarium contained knowledge that existed nowhere else in the galaxy, and so the Grey Knights were ordered to retake the Librarium rather than see it and its precious knowledge destroyed. The Grey Knights teleported into the bloody melee between the daemons and the embattled Invaders. Through their timely intervention, 15 Grey Knights rescued near five time their number of fellow Space Marines. Though they emerged victorious, the Chaotic threat remained. The combined force of Invaders and Grey Knights assaulted the Great Hall, confronted another horde of daemons as well as the dire threat of a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch known as a Lord of Change. Of the Invaders, only a dozen survived, and none would be permitted to retain any memory of their deeds that day by the Inquisition. Nonetheless, a great victory had been won for the Emperor. Though the rebuilding would take many long years, Jollana and its Librarium had been saved, and the daemonic threat against neighbouring star systems had been put down, at least for now.

Chapter Organisation
The Chapter adheres to the dictates of the Codex Astartes, though as of the last century of the 41st Millennium it stands greatly under-strength. After the attack on their homeworld of Ogrys and the loss of their fortress-monastery, the surviving Battle-Brothers of the Invaders were forced to take to their remaining starships and become a space-bound Chapter. Now they are only capable of supporting actions of larger Imperial formations.

Deathwatch Service
With the Chapter so reduced by the battles of the last century, it might come as a surprise that its masters should spare any Battle-Brothers to stand the Long Watch. Yet, despite the predicament the Chapter finds itself in, it continues to fulfil the ancient compacts sworn at the Apocryphon Conclave of Orphite IV when the foundations of the Deathwatch were first laid down. It has been noted that many of the oaths sworn by Invaders Battle-Brothers taking up the Long Watch relate to the Eldar, and it is no surprise that following its recent history the Chapter’s warriors should regard those duplicitous xenos with a special hatred. Deathwatch Battle-Brothers of the Invaders Chapter have been noted for their desire to engage the Eldar wherever possible, despite the fact that few appear to be active in the war zones of the Jericho Reach. Nevertheless, the Invaders remain ever watchful for the Eldar and all their kin, as if seeking any opportunity that might arise to slay these most dishonourable of alien foes.

Chapter Combat Doctrine
The Invaders are most skilled in the art of subjugating an entire world to the Emperor's will. They prefer to first crush all major resistance using a powerful orbital bombardment followed by a massed aerial attack using the Chapter's fleet of Thunderhawks. The Invaders next deploy Scout Marines and Tactical Squads to secure the staging areas required to unload the ground forces that will mop up the remaining pockets of resistance. This mopping-up activity is then carried out by Vanguard Veteran and Terminator Squads deployed from the elite 1st Company. Delighting in the carnage following massed aerial and orbital attack, the Invaders have proven their prowess again and again in the rapid subjugation of planetary governments.

Notable Invaders

 * Company Champion Brayden - In the years before the fall of their home world of Ogrys, the Invaders underwent many trials. Their most notable feat was a daring assault upon the Eldar Craftworld of Idharae. The entire Chapter gathered to leave the craftworld a floating wreck, and many valorous deeds were performed in Idharae's domes and tunnels. The 1st Company, under the command of Captain Ravinger, deployed en masse, teleporting into the centre of the craftworld and laying waste to all around them. As the Eldar reacted and more forces were drawn from the periphery of Idharae to deal with this immense threat, the Terminator-armoured veterans of the 1st found themselves fighting back to back, Storm Bolters and Assault Cannons running hot; Power Fists and Lightning Claws reaping a fearsome tally of Eldar warriors. In the midst of the battle, Captain Ravinger fell, his hearts pierced by the blade of a mighty Wraithlord ghost-construct. With victory in the balance, his champion, Brayden, rallied the company around the ancient and proud banner of the 1st and stood over the body of his lord. No count exists of how many foes Brayden slew in the hours that followed, but all who saw his deeds attested that he fought with the valour of Rogal Dorn himself. When the battle was won and the Masters of the Chapter convened to decide who would succeed Ravinger as First Captain, Brayden was unanimously nominated. Stepping forward under the gazes of the great and good of the Invaders, he humbly declined the honour, declaring that he was a warrior and a servant, not a leader, and that another would be better placed to command the company, another whom he would pledge to protect unto death. He nominated a Sergeant of the company and stepped back into the shadows, content that his duty would continue.

Chapter Relics

 * Gate Maker - Gate Maker is an Astartes master-crafted Artificer Combi-Melta gifted by the Invaders to the armouries of the Deathwatch. Though no part of this Combi-weapon is less than peerless, from the inner mechanisms of the bolt chamber to its hardened adamantium casing, the true virtue of Gate Maker lies in the Melta Weapon integrated into the main Bolter weapon. It is one of the most efficient tools of death in all the arsenals of the Deathwatch, being capable of breaching entry into a reinforced bunker with the barest trace of fuel expended.

Chapter Colours
The Invaders have green Power Armour with white Chapter markings, gold trim on the shoulder plates and a gold Aquila.

Chapter Badge
The Invaders' Chapter badge is a cracked, white skull superimposed over a white, 5-pointed star.

Gallery
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