Silver Skulls

The Silver Skulls were a Codex Astartes-compliant Loyalist Chapter of Space Marines who were a Second Founding Successor Chapter of the Ultramarines.

Chapter History
Although there is little information available on the Chapter in Imperial records, the Silver Skulls are said to be amongst the most renowned and honoured Chapters of the Second Founding's ranks. They have earned a reputation for victory, no matter the odds. The Silver Skulls rely upon their Librarians to keep up this reputation; the Chapter never deploys without consulting a Librarian's augury, and consider such utterances as the word of the Emperor himself. This is because the Silver Skulls believe that the Emperor guides their purpose and take to the battlefield only when portents demand it. Such mercurial behaviour does not sit well with some Imperial commanders, but victory is seen as ample compensation by most of the Silver Skulls' allies. Their homeworld is shown in the first Space Marine Codex as Varsavia but they do not seem to solely recruit from there, if at all. Apothercary Malus' and Captain Sephera's testimony in Codex: Space Marines (3rd Edition), makes it clear they also recruit from a world called Garanda II, recruiting the feral tribesmen from that planet's Ash Wastes. The information provided also alludes to this as being only one of many recruitment planets used by the Silver Skulls.

Notable Campaigns

 * Charadon Campaign (698.M41) - In 698.M41 the Chapter was part of a combined Space Marine force led by Chapter Master Marneus Calgar of the Ultramarines, consisting of elements of the Angels of Absolution, the Lamenters, the Marines Errant, the Silver Skulls and the Ultramarines. During a seven-year-long Imperial Crusade the force inflicted a series of major defeats on the Ork empire of Charadon which delayed the invasion of the Imperium by the WAAAGH! Argluk for thirty standard years.
 * The Corinth Crusade (698.M41-705.M41) - The Silver Skulls participated in the Crusade that fought under the command of the Ultramarines' Chapter Master Marneus Calgar alongside elements of the Ultramarines, the Angels of Absolution, the Lamenters, the Scythes of the Emperor, and the Marines Errant Chapters against the Ork WAAAGH! Skargor.
 * The Great Malagantine Purge (770.M38-791.M38) - As part of the Manus Irae (5 Astartes Chapters brought together, but only the Silver Skulls, Fire Hawks, and Charnel Guard are named) the Silver Skulls helped deliver the Emperor's wrath on the heretical Malagant Sector in the Segmentum Tempestus. This action remains a secret, even from the Inquisition, and has long been erased from Imperial history.
 * Lazar System Blockade (857.M41) - The Silver Skulls' Chapter fleet blockaded the dead worlds of the Lazar System for three years in 857.M41. Nothing got in or out, and no explanation for the blockade of this empty system was ever provided by the Silver Skulls.
 * Scouring of Ammas (892.M40) - During the Scouring of Ammas, Space Marines of the Silver Skulls Chapter first encountered the daemonic warband known as "The Soulmaw." Their champion was apparently destroyed by the Librarian Lucius Clave.
 * (954.M41) - Having survived the horrors of the Black Night, the citizens of Aragave, a vassal world of the Silver Skulls, are further tormented by an unidentified daemonic warband. When the Silver Skulls Chapter responds to the distress call, the daemons quickly vanish. These entities were suspected to be the daemonic warband called "The Soulmaw."
 * (955.M41) - With much of the Silver Skulls Chapter absent, the Soulmaw strikes against several worlds close to their homeworld of Varsavia. Chapter Librarians suspect an attack on their homeworld is imminent.
 * The Zeist Campaign (997.M41) - The Silver Skulls heeded the call of Marneus Calgar, the Lord Macragge, and provided Tactical Marine Squads to fight for the liberation of Augura (a staging point for Tau forces invading Imperial territory in the Eastern Fringes of the galaxy) during the Zeist Campaign against the Tau Empire in 998.M41.
 * The Third War for Armageddon (998.M41) - The Silver Skulls participated in the Third War for Armageddon. The destroyed Hades Hive, badly damaged during the Second War for Armageddon was once again the scene of heavy fighting during this conflict. Space Marines from the Silver Skulls Chapter were engaged in fierce battles in an attempt to prevent the Orks from looting valuable metals from the shattered hive for use in the construction of their gargantuan war machines known as Gargants. The five companies of the Silver Skulls at Hades Hive had to fall back from Yarrick's Hope Harbour after a tanker full of Orks and explosives rammed the docks. However, the Silver Skulls struck back at the foul xenos, having shown exemplary skill in infiltrating one of the Ork Roks to the south-east of the hive, fighting their way into the core of the fortress and using the Orks' own teleporter arrays to send thermic charges into the orbiting Space Hulks previously providing the Orks with a continual stream of troops and warmachines.
 * Beta-Garmon IV Expeditionary Force (Unknown Date.M41) - The 7th Company of the Silver Skulls were deployed in support of the Expeditionary Force.
 * The Gildar Rift (Unknown Date.M41) - The Silver Skulls Chapter fleet encounters and destroys a Red Corsairs strike force comprising several Executor-class Grand Cruisers. The surviving Renegades make planetfall on several worlds in the Gildar System, but the Silver Skulls are not to be thwarted so easily. In a matter of weeks, the Gildar System is declared free of the Red Corsairs' influence.

Chapter Organisation
Since Roboute Guilliman laid down the organisational dictates for the Space Marines in the Codex Astartes, it has become the presciption for the organisation and order of battle for almost every Space Marine Chapter for the last ten millennia. Being Scions of Guilliman, the Silver Skulls strive to emulate their forebears' example and do their Primarch proud. Though, like some Chapters within the Astartes, the Silver Skulls too have strayed from the precise structure laid out in the Codex. Yet the Chapter remains faithful to the spirit of the Codex's teachings. Their main deviation from its prescriptions is the inclusion of the specialist rank known as "Prognosticator" within their ranks The Prognosticators are those among the Chapter's Librarians who also serve as the Chapter's spiritual advisers. These devout individuals not only provide spiritual guidance for their fellow Battle-Brothers (similar to Chaplains) but use their powerful psychic abilities to perform the sacred duty of reading the signs and portents, particularly the Imperial Tarot, to determine whether or not their Chapter's might is warranted in accordance with the Emperor's divine will. The Silver Skulls Chapter are deeply superstitious and will never deploy into battle without first consulting the auguries.

Chapter Beliefs
A Chapter with a well-established reputation for victory, even in the face of overwhelming odds, the Silver Skulls never deploy for battle without consulting the portents. They rely on their Prognosticators for such auguries, and consider the prophecies that they deliver as the word of the Emperor. The Silver Skulls follow the precepts of the Varsavian Orthodoxy, a variation on the established creed of the Imperial Cult. Before becoming a full-fledged Space Marine, a Silver Skull Neophyte must pass a ceremonial ritual known as the Fast of the Ascension - a deliberation of the spirit. What this exactly entails is unclear to outsiders. If successful, the Neophytes must then pass one final thorough medical examination by the Chapter's Apothecaries to be welcomed and initiated fully into the Chapter. The Silver Skulls are also known to perform a service for the dead in honour of their fallen brothers, during which are intoned the prayers for the dead with respect and reverence. This Chapter also has a brutal reputation for being known as headhunters, wearing the decapitated heads and skulls of their enemies as trophies on their Power Armour. The reasons for this unusually barbaric custom remain unclear.

Notable Silver Skulls

 * Lord Commander Argentius - Current Chapter Master of the Silver Skulls.
 * Eddan Bourne - Captain of the 2nd Assault Company.
 * Lucius Clave - A Prognosticator (Librarian/Chaplain) of the Silver Skulls Chapter. When the Chapter first encounters the daemonic warband known as the Soulmaw, it is Clave who confronts the warband's champion and destroys him utterly.
 * Deiad - A Prognosticator (Librarian/Chaplain) of the Silver Skulls.
 * Apothecary Malus - Inquisitor Thraxx came to Varsavia to investigate the purity of the the Silver Skulls gene-seed. Apothecary Malus showed the Inquisitor the Silver Skulls’ Apothacarion, and the massive reinforced door of that protected the Chapter's gene-seed storage.  Thraxx was amazed by the level of protection the Chapter provided for its gene-seed and some people have suggested that, as a result, the Silver Skulls are obsessed with gene-seed purity. Yet the particulars of gene-seed storage in other Astartes Chapters are not generally known and so this belief concerning the Silver Skulls' obsession is just pure speculation.
 * Jordan Salvus - A Chapter Serf who loyally serves as the Lord of the Household (Quartermaster) for the Silver Skulls.
 * Captain Sephera - Chief of Recruits for the Chapter.
 * Vashiro - Chief Prognosticator (Librarian/Chaplain) of the Silver Skulls Chapter.

Chapter Colours
The Power Armour of the Silver Skulls is silver (including trim) with black shoulder plates. The Apothecaries of the Silver Skulls have both shoulder plates painted white and have a black vertical stripe painted down the centre of their helmet.

Chapter Badge
The Chapter badge of the Silver Skulls is a silver, stylized skull mask, similar to the pre-Horus Heresy Legion badge of the Iron Warriors.

Chapter Markings
According to some sources, the Chapter denotes company by the color of the squad badge. Other sources say that the heraldic colour is displayed as the shoulder plates' trim, with the 1st Company (the Veteran Company) using silver.