+ inload: The Codex Astartes and the Nova Terra Interregnum +

+ No Clear Voice: The Codex Astartes
 and the Nova Terra Interregnum +

+ The widely-respected and even-handed Master Maxellus of the Ultramarines. His death during the early stages of the Interregnum, at the hands of the xenos Inheritors of Orison, saw the Ultramarines' influence on their successor Chapters wane. +

The disruption that befell every part of the human galaxy during the Nova Terra Interregnum caused many regions and organisations to fall into anarchy, conflict or despair. Against this, the clean, pragmatic guidance of the Codex Astartes continued to serve the increasingly isolated Astartes Chapters well – at least in the short term. Largely owing to pressure from the growing Imperial Cult, by the end of the crisis the Codex had come to be regarded as a pseudo-religious text to a number of Chapters; an inviolable and holy relic of a more enlightened time.

+ A tendency to drift + 

With little outside influence, increasingly eccentric adaptations and interpretations of the Codex became normalised amongst many Chapters as the decades of the Nova Terran Interregnum stretched out. In some, this saw Chapters look for equivalences within their ranks, to help provide a stable point of comparison for calibration or self-correction. The Brazen Claws and Black Consuls, along with many other Codex Chapters, saw the behaviours of their Techmarine contingent as a pattern for how to treat the Codex; coming to regard its tactical advice as akin to the application of the Martian cult's strictures to their Chapter. The result was an increasingly literal application of the Codex's advice, allowing little or no interpretation. That the Claws and Consuls operate so differently today indicates the wildly varied results of placing such a narrow, one-dimensional view on an inherently flexible document.

With interactions failing or dropping away between Imperial institutions during the increasingly hostile and suspicious period, the mediating influence of inter-Chapter communication was frequently lost. This period therefore saw an increase in the numbers of Chapters outright rejecting the teachings of the Codex, or applying it in egregious ways. Chapters as varied as the Inculcators, Chapter Castellan and Imperius Reavers – all largely operating in Nova Terran territory and thus especially isolated – began to apply the Codex in selected circumstances only, coming to depend instead on received Chapter wisdom. The more isolated the Chapter from its fellows, the greater this tendency. The Gatebreakers, a minor Chapter confined to the fringe of the galaxy, began to regard their compiled appendices – collections of Chapter and homeworld myth and idiom – as having equal authority and value around this period, for example.

+ Increasingly eccentric: Gatebreakers +

While the Nova Terran Interregnum resulted in Astartes behaviours that could later be reconciled with other Chapters, it also created fundamental rifts between Chapters and the wider Imperium. The Iron Hearts, for example, rejected the authority of all save their first Chapter Master Rubinek, and came to regard him as a Primarch.

Such was the degradation of reliance on the Codex and the resulting conviction on other guidance by the Chapters Astartes that the effects were often characterised as heresies by the Ecclesiarchy in the heightened fundamentalist atmosphere of the centuries to come. This would lead to literal excommunications of whole Chapters, or inter-Chapter conflict as some moved to support the Ecclesiarchy in persecuting perceived deviance. Even the vaunted Salamanders were forced to defend their homeworld of Nocturne from open hostility from an alliance of Old Imperial fundamentalists supported by elements of the Hammers of the Emperor and the Stellar Steeds; starting a millennia-long emnity between the Chapters.

+ Fires of Nocturne [IMGcredit: Omricon]+

After a period of mutual suspicion and antagonism that lasted centuries, the rising Eccelsiarchy eventually reached an uneasy modus vivendi with the collective Astartes Chapters through the intervention of the High Lords of Terra: a distinction was recognised between merely non-standard behaviours and unacceptable heresies. The result was the official recognition of 'Chapter Cults'; which were granted permission for limited and private deviation from standard Ecclesiarchical teachings. Of course, such a matter was largely a paper bull. Powerful as the office of Ecclesiarch was to become, even it found restraining the Astartes en masse impossible both practically and politically.

+++

+ Orthodoxy +

Of course, Chapters reacted differently to isolation, and some – particularly ancient and honoured Chapters such as those from the First or Second Founding – continued to maintain good communication and with other Space Marine or Imperial forces. Events such as the Feast of Blades – a competitive tradition followed those of Rogal Dorn's geneseed – became important politically, as well as socially; and Chapters of Imperial Fist geneseed were amongst the least affected by the turmoil of the Nova Terran Interregnum. By and large, such Codex-adherent Chapters continued to apply the strictures of the Codex closely, while continuing to apply intelligent interpretation and application in novel circumstances.

+ Ever reliable: Imperial Fists + [IMGcredit: Stuntwedge] +

This is not to suggest that all Codex Chapters were unaffected. The Ultramarines were politically isolated during the period, leaving the Primogenitors bereft of stable leadership. Many Ultramarine Successors saw themselves as having a greater claim to authority than the incumbent Master of Macragge, the inexperienced Ollonius.

+++

+ Blood and leadership +

Nor were the Blood Angels exempt from the tendency to drift. Despite spirited attempts on the part of the Chaplaincy for the Chapter – and its successors – to remain grounded and faithful to the spirit of the Codex, the Angels' inherent tendency to introspection and their numinous nature saw an increasingly aureate aesthetic developing during the period.

As with other Codex-adherent Chapters, Blood Angels sergeants continued to be drawn from the ranks. Selected from amongst the most courageous and charismatic line brethren; or those who demonstrate some natural talent for initiative or creativity, Sergeants are given additional leadership training, and are then mentored by the Captain and Lieutenants of their Battle Company or former Reserve Company.

The Codex's method of identifying warriors to advance within the confines of the Chapter had long proved sufficent. During the Nova Terra Interregnum, however, the Blood Angels' leadership began to believe that – owing to their bloodline's longer lifespan than other Astartes – promotion was too slow; leading to a degradation in the ambition and drive of their warriors.

+ Sergeant Paulo, Third Company, Ninth Squad (WIP) +

Whether this was true or not was of little consequence; the rumour itself began to obsess the Chaplaincy and from there flowed into the Chapter more widely. The Blood Angels, ever vigilant for inner corruption, began to evince a Chapter-wide martyr complex that led to a number of incidents of unnecessary self-sacrifice in the early years of the Crisis. This was only identified by the reassuringly pragmatic Master Formosus, who instigated a series of reforms to redirect the energies of his brethren – not least of which was the launch of the Alien Wars; an attempt to mobilise all Astartes to the aid of Imperial humanity at large, regardless of political affiliation or religious convictions. On one hand, then, the Alien Wars were a high-minded and noble call to arms; and on the other a necessary distraction for the perceived survival of Formosus' own Chapter.

Taking advice from the Codex, Formosus reorganised the Chapter, blowing out the figurative cobwebs to dispel complacency and reinvest his brethren with purpose. Officers were required to diversify and adapt the men under their command, reorganising their forces down to the individual; moving brethren from squad to squad and even across Company. Formosus reinstated a number of mid-tier positions – some of which had lain fallow since the dark days of the Horus Heresy. Chief amongst these the resurrection of the old position of Squad Leader – dynameis – amongst the Chapter. Each sergeant was to nominate or be assigned an official second, to take command and, if necessary, to operate separately from the sergeant's direction. The Brethren Dominion, as the seconds were known collectively, would represent the squad's animus and continuing progress. They habitually bore a new banner into battle, marking them out with the squad's panoply.

Thus warriors of potential, but with little chance of becoming Sergeant owing to the position being occupied, were granted a measure of authority. While this made leadership rather more complex and granular – exacerbated by the diversification and inclusion of numerous duties that had built up over previous centuries – Formosus regarded this as a worthwhile compromise to protect the spirtual well-being of the brethren.

The reforms and subsequent Alien Wars were seen as largely successful in revitalising the energy and ambition of the Blood Angels; and had the knock-on effect of creating an internal organisation that was as labyrinthine and byzantine as any amongst the Chapters Astartes. A Blood Angel might be a simple battle brother to an outsider, but each would have upwards of a dozen ritual roles, duties and titles that gave him a firm footing and place within the Chapter. The various choirs, circles, dominates and other ritual and fraternal groupings quickly came to sit alongside more familiar terms as Company and Squad for the Chapter; and would remain so for nearly a millennium.

+++

+ Squad Paulo WIP +

SQUAD PAULO Sinistro e Dexter: 

Brother Pontormo (Wormwood 1:03)

Brother Daumier (Kyniel 1:54)

Sergeant Paulo (Tatanon; Keeper of Tears 3:02)

Brother Gorgidas (Parmiel 1:25)

Brother Megasil (Porosa 1:54)

+ Incremental advancement on the Devastators – I've blocked in the metallics and painted the Sergeants' face – but I wanted to try and push on while enthusiasm for the Blood Angels is high. At this rate, I might even have something in place for GW's Armies on Parade event. +