Howling Griffons

"Here we stand and here we shall die, unbroken and unbowed. Though the very hand of death itself come for us, we will spit our defiance to the end!"

- Revered-Ancient Armand Titus, during the last stand on Khymara Elipsis

The Howling Griffons are a Loyalist Space Marines Chapter Founded in the 33rd Millennium from the gene-seed of the Ultramarines who fought in the Badab War and saw extensive action in the 13th Black Crusade, fighting against Chaos Plague Marines in the defence of the world of Amistel Majoris. The Howling Griffons take a special pride in their oaths, seeing each as the promise of an unending effort until the deed sworn in the oath is accomplished or the oathtaker has been slain in the trying. Before battle, additional oaths are often added to the Howling Griffons' already long lists of promises, some sworn for the Chapter as a whole and others that are far more personal for each Astartes. Once an oath is taken, a Howling Griffons Astartes goes to extreme lengths to complete it and it is never forgotten, even if decades have passed. Completed or satisfied oaths are taken as a badge of honour, often inscribed on parchments or directly into the Power Armour of the oathtaker.

Chapter History
The Howling Griffons are staunch traditionalists amongst their fellow Adeptus Astartes, who consider themselves first and foremost to be defenders of the Imperium of Man and an instrument of the divine Emperor's purpose. Their exact origins remain lost in the shadowed wars of the 33rd Millennium, but what is known is that they have always been a highly active Chapter. Few Space Marine Chapters can boast of such extensive campaign honours as the Howling Griffons. This Chapter is notable for having been at the forefront of a great many Imperial battles and campaigns throughout the ages. The Howling Griffons are also justly proud of their ability to engage almost continuously in conflict and successfully fight the most bitterly contested campaigns. Due to the Howling Griffons' glorious record, they have gained the right and title from the High Lords of Terra to recruit their initiates from several different worlds in order to sustain a high level of induction and combat the continuous attrition in the Chapter's ranks.

However, a dark shadow has fallen over the Howling Griffons' otherwise glorious history. The Chapter maintains a longstanding bloody vendetta against the foul entity that would become the Daemon Prince Periclitor the Foresworn, and the Word Bearers Traitor Legion from which this vile creature sprang. For millennia, the Howling Griffons have pursued the Periclitor's warband of Chaos Space Marines drawn from the Night Lords Traitor Legion, who are responsible for the death of the Howling Griffons' former Chapter Master Orlando Furioso and the entire 1st Company on the 5,000th anniversary of the Chapter's creation. During the 13th Black Crusade, however, the current Chapter Master Alvaro diverted his battle barge Force of Destiny from the war effort to pursue the Daemon Prince. Revenge was finally obtained when Periclitor was banished at the height of a titanic space battle between the Howling Griffons' 1st Company and the Chaos Space Marines of the Daemon Prince's warband.

Notable Campaigns

 * Arios System (220.M38) - Late in the year 220.M38 the Howling Griffons Chapter were preparing to celebrate the 5,000th anniversary of their Founding. As Furioso and the 1st Company made their way to the Chapter's homeworld, Lord Periclitor of the Night Lords and a substantial force of his Chosen fell upon the Howling Griffons' starship as it traversed the Arios beacon. The battle was a furious one, culminating with Periclitor and his elite boarding Furioso's battle barge aboard their Dreadclaw Drop Pods. The attack crippled the ship, and the defenders were forced to evacuate aboard their Thunderhawk and escape pods. The battle was continued upon the surface of Arios Quintus, where the survivors were surrounded and eventually cut down. The body of Furioso was mounted upon the front hull of his Thunderhawk, this permitted the body and its gene-seed to be successfully recovered.
 * Valerian Purges (Date Unknown) - The Howling Griffons, with the Imperial Guard's 108th Cadian Regiment, the "Wyverns", saw action in the Valerian Purges.
 * The Dennar IV Suppression (109.M40) - The Dennar IV Suppression was an Imperial military campaign carried out by the Howling Griffons against Chaos Cultists on the Agri-World of Dennar IV in 109.M40. During their long search for the Word Bearers Chaos Space Marine warband of Deklamus the Vaunted, the Howling Griffons 3rd Company under Captain Penvath Joachim responded to a planetary distress call from the world of Dennar IV in the Sangramentia Sector. This important supply world had succumbed to rot from within as the worship of the Ruinous Powers took root amid its flenser-cults and cult-clans. As the Howling Griffons descended on Dennar IV, they found only a handful of its city-states holding out against the horde of Chaos Cultists and daemon-possessed madmen, their walls packed with refugees fleeing the tide of mass-murder that had engulfed the planet. Vastly outnumbered, the Howling Griffons deployed to the savannah, and wielding their superiority in armour and air power to stay mobile and spearhead assaults against the Heretics, smashed the cult forces in great scything sweeps before driving onwards to relieve the city sieges. The Loyalist inhabitants of Dennar greeted the Howling Griffons as divinely-sent saviours, and gladly rallied to aid them in liberating their world from the dark forces that assailed it, selling their lives alongside the Spade Marines. The remaining campaign was bloody and ruthless, ever-afterward casting a nightmarish pall over the memory of Dennar's people. Since this victory, the Howling Griffons have maintained a lasting oath to protect the planet and the memory of the many martyred there for their loyalty to the Emperor, while the people of Dennar IV have kept faith with their saviours in providing them with victuals and the pick of their youth as Chapter recruits.
 * Jorun Retaliation (143.M41) - The Jorun Retaliation was an Imperial military campaign prosecuted by the Howling Griffons against the treachery of General Jorun of the 15th Heraklon Ironclads Imperial Guard Battlegroup in 143.M41. This entire Imperial battle group that should have been on its way to reinforce the lines of the Gothic War but instead turned Traitor and slaughtered their Commissariat representatives. The Imperium moved to act with decisive force as the foul taint of thexenos known as the Dark Eldar was found to be at the root cause of this perfidy, with Jorun and his personal cadre laid low and corrupted by addiction to the aliens' foul psychotropics and depraved practices, thanks to the dark arts of the Kabal of the Crimson Libation. The humans were no more than disposable tools used by the Dark Eldar to enslave planetary populations by treachery and brute force, with little risk to the aliens themselves. This could not remain unpunished, and the retaliation force the Imperium launched was fully intended to smash the Heraklons and their dark allies with brutal and overwhelming power, annihilating them without regard or mercy. The combined taskforce was comprised of the Howling Griffons Chapter (then about eight companies in effective strength) who were given overall command of the campaign, and reinforced with supporting companies from the Ultramarines and the Sons of Orar Chapters. The Traitor Guard was intercepted as they made planetfall on the Feral World of Asturia. Caught unprepared for such a fierce counter-assault, over 5,000 Renegade Guardsmen died in the first hour of the ferocious Space Marine attack, torn apart on their landing zones with much of their heavy armour yet to be unlimbered. As the battle was joined in full, the task of destroying the Traitors' command fell to the Howling Griffons 4th Battle Company who executed a Drop Pod assault into the heart of the disoriented enemy. Confronting not only the elite of General Jorun's Ogryn cadre, but also the inhumanly lithe and cruel forms of the Dark Eldar that rose around him, the Howling Griffons despatched them with Bolter fire and unshakeable resolve. It was Chaplain Armand Titus who fought his way to the Traitor general and delivered the Emperor's judgement despite suffering grievous wounds tainted with vile Dark Eldar poisons, cleaving Jorun's skull in half with his Crozius Arcanum. He would later be enshrined with all due reverence within a Dreadnought sarcophagus, in order to continue his service to his Chapter. The Traitors' morale collapsed with the death of their leader and the swift desertion of their foul xenos allies. The disordered and panicking Heraklons were ruthlessly hunted down and slain in the aftermath. The Renegade forces were utterly wiped out within only six hours of the battle's opening salvos.
 * Badab War (901-912.M41) - The Howling Griffons were assigned to convoy duties during the Badab War, allowing the Red Scorpions and Fire Hawks to return to their normal duties.
 * Caradryad Sector (905-906.M41)  - Shortly before the Badab War, the Howling Griffons' 4th Company as well as parts of their 6th, 10th and 1st Companies, carried out a lengthy search-and-destroy campaign within the Caradryad Sector. It can be safely assumed that a large number of planetary assaults were carried out during this action as the Howling Griffons were severely lacking in Thunderhawks and Drop Pods when answering the call for aid in the Badab War as they had not had the chance to return to Mancora and resupply their stocks of materiel.
 * Amar Persecution (951.M41) - Rapid strikes by the Howling Griffon brings the Amar Secession to a swift and bloody end.
 * 13th Black Crusade (999.M41) - During the 13th Black Crusade the Howling Griffons sent 8 companies to aid the Imperial defence. The 1st Company of the Howling Griffons, including Chapter Master Alvaro, were based on the battle barge Force of Destiny and sought to track down and eliminate a company of Night Lords Chaos Space Marines known as the Chosen under the command of the infamous Daemon Prince Periclitor.
 * Liberation of Vanqualis (Unknown Date.M41)- The world of Vanqualis was under attack by Orks when the Howling Griffons and the Imperial Guard's 901st Penal Legion defeated the Greenskin tide. Shortly after landing, the Howling Griffons turned on the Renegade Soul Drinkers Chapter, believing them to be the bearers of a Chaos artefact called the Black Chalice.

Chapter Organisation
The Howling Griffons are organised along the strict guidelines of the Codex Astartes, seeing this tome not so much as holy writ, but simply as the finest military treatise ever written. The Howling Griffons is also notably well-provided for in both arms and wargear. The Chapter's extensive forges on their homeworld of Mancora tirelessly work to keep the Howling Griffons supplied and to make good on battlefield losses as they occur. The capacity of their armouries are such that they are not only able to keep pace with the Chapter's aggressive nature, but they are also able to manufacture and maintain some of the rarer battle machines, such as the Land Raider Prometheus and advanced Mark VIII Errant pattern Power Armour in noteworthy numbers. Also of note is the Chapter's tradition of maintaining powerfulpsykers in its ranks, due in no small part to the recruits they adopt from their homeworld of Mancora. This planet's population is known to have a higher than average incidence of psykers born among its population. This has resulted in the Chapter's ability to maintain a strong Librarium down through the centuries, due in no small part to their own Codiciers taking an active role in culling and policing Mancora's population and weeding out those psykers who would be a danger to themselves and the population at large.

Chapter Combat Doctrine
The Howling Griffons strive to remain within the tenets of the Codex Astartes, keeping to its Codex-approved disposition and division of companies wherever possible. This made it standard for the Chapter's Battle-Brothers to master each discipline in turn as the Codex dictates. Competition within the Chapter for excellence is intense and encouraged, but is never allowed to spill over into discord.

Chapter Beliefs
The Howling Griffons take special pride in their oaths, seeing each as an eternal conflict to be pursued until the sworn deed is complete. Before battle, additional oaths are added to their already exceedingly long lists, some for the accomplishment of Chapter goals and others that are far more personal. Once an oath is taken, a Howling Griffons Battle-Brother goes to extreme lengths to complete it even over the course of decades. Completed or satisfied oaths are a badge of honour, often inscribed on parchments or directly into the Howling Griffons' armour.

Notable Howling Griffons

 * Chapter Master Orlando Furioso - Late in the year 220.M38 the Howling Griffons Chapter were preparing to celebrate the 5000th anniversary of their Founding. As Orlando Furioso and the 1st Company made their way to the Chapter's homeworld, the Chaos Lord Periclitor of the Night Lords and a substantial force of his Chosen fell upon the Howling Griffons' starship as it traversed the Arios beacon. The battle was a furious one, culminating with Periclitor and his elite Chaos Space Marines boarding Furioso's Battle Barge aboard their Dreadclaw Drop Pods. The attack crippled the Howling Griffons' starship, and the defenders were forced to evacuate aboard their Thunderhawks and salvation pods. The battle was continued upon the surface of Arios Quintus, where the survivors were surrounded and eventually cut down. The body of Furioso was mounted upon the front hull of his Thunderhawk, this permitted the body and its gene-seed to be successfully recovered.
 * Chief Librarian Mercaeno - Mercaeno fulfilled the oath of avenging Chapter Master Furioso's death by vanquishing the Daemon Prince Periclitor during the 13th Black Crusade. He then led the battle barge Cerulean Claw to Vanqualis in the Obsidian System to fulfill an oath to the ruling Falken family to defeat the Soul Drinkers who were mistakenly identified as the bearers of the Chaos artefact called the Black Chalice. Mercaeno had a titanic physical and psychic duel with Sarpedon in the Soul Drinkers' Space Hulk Brokenback. He broke Sarpendon's Force Staff and defeated him. However, before he could deal the death blow to Sarpedon with his Force Axe, Mercaeno met his demise at the hands of Eumenes, the Renegade leader of the Soul Drinkers. Sarpedon then defeated Eumenes and won the leadership of the Chapter back. Chapter Master Sarpedon of the Soul Drinkers now wields Mercaeno's Force Axe.
 * Dreadnought Confessor Armand Titus - Chaplain Armand Titus stands as an examplar of the valour and perseverance of his Chapter. Titus has been entombed within a Dreadnought since the fatal poisoning of his body by the Dark Eldar Kabal of the Crimson Libation during the Jorun Retaliation. As a revered Dreadnought Confessor, Titus remained an inspiration to the rest of the Chapter. Dreadnought Confessor Titus fell during the Badab War, during a campaign in the Caradryad Sector on the world of Khymara Elipsis when he led a desperate counterattack against an overwhelming force of Executioners Astartes. The surviving Howling Griffons found the wreck of Titus' Dreadnought laid out, surrounded by a ring of broken weapons, a shattered Executioners' standard placed in the war machine's lifeless grasp.

Chapter Colours
The Howling Griffons Chapter colour scheme is a quartered red and yellow design.

Chapter Badge
The Howling Griffons Chapter badge is a black griffon rampant. On Sigmar VI, the Insurgency Force from this Chapter wore a yellow, orange and brown camouflage pattern with smaller black spots.

Gallery
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