DE LA PATERNIDAD Y PRUEBA DE LA FILIACION

some of honour and the accumulation of glory, and all too many of violence and dominion by force. Only a few dreamed of service and dying in the defence of Man those who cannot defend themselves.

When the new Space Marines woke from their surgeries, they were irrevocably divided into two groups. Those few who dreamed of defending the people rose as normal Space Marines, the Angels of Death who are humanity's most capable guardians. Many were not so blessed. They found that their will was no longer their own – arcane devices buried within their skulls and the strictest of chemical conditioning now kept them firmly under the control of their officers. For their sins, they were to be condemned to an eternity trapped within their own minds, released only to fight the enemies of the Imperium. They would never ascend the ranks, only serve and die for the Chapter and Mankind, faceless giants in power armour bound to the will of their commanders. Such was the punishment for those who sought power for themselves, and not for the service of the Emperor and his people. Such is the punishment today.

Organisation

A true son of the Emperor does not need to be told to do what is right – he knows. And those who do not must be punished for their ignorance.

–Captain Thaddeus Fetladral Though the Steel Dogs' new recruitment methods granted them an influx of new soldiers, it required adjustments in their methods. Originally, the Chapter favoured relatively subtle battle plans, relying on deception, surprise and any manner of other dishonourable tactics to counter the often superior numbers of Chaotic forces. The Steel Dogs were less concerned with immediate glory than with the greater duty of defending the Imperium and containing the forces of Chaos within the Eye of Terror. The damnati, as those who fail the final test are known, are mistrusted and

viewed with contempt. Since they are not promoted (or even seen as competent by some commanders), the Chapter thus has a correspondingly smaller pool from which to draw its specialists and officers. The Steel Dogs have modified their tactics to compensate. The Chapter's battle plans still use their original tactics where possible, but they are often forced to rely on the massed infantry of the damnati and use subtler stratagems to that hammer blow. Methods of utilising the

damnati on the

battlefield often bear a marked resemblance to the older combat styles of the Space Marine Legions, some of which are still preserved within the Codex Astartes. Where modern Marines rely on extremes of skill and precision, the ancient Legions relied as much on weight of numbers and overwhelming firepower. It is these tactics the Steel Dogs have been forced to embrace.

Supplementing direct confrontation with their subtler strategies has allowed the Steel Dogs to continue to engage

larger Traitor

formations, but the

Battle Companies are almost constantly reinforced by elements from the Reserve Companies in order to provide the necessary numbers to support such frontal engagements. This has spread the Chapter thin across their areas of responsibility, and they now endure a frenetic pace attempting to

deal with the increasing number of threats with correspondingly reduced resources.

Meanwhile, the command staff of the Steel Dogs has become relatively inexperienced due to the smaller cadre from which they can be drawn. The Chapter does its best to ensure that all

Captain Esca Blackblood is unique among the Steel Dogs. As leader of the Second Company, his service has been exemplary. But it is his origin that makes him singular – Esca is the only officer in the Chapter who failed the test of morals at the end of his tenure as a Scout.

For seven years, Esca served as a damnati in Josen’s Squad of the Second Company. When holding an isolated village outpost during the campaign on Garibaldi’s World Sergeant Josen and his deputy, Brother Shepherd, were both killed by Eldar raiders. Conventional wisdom in the Chapter would have it that a squad of damnati left leaderless should be forced to follow their last orders until finally relieved – Josen’s Squad should have been annihilated. Instead, Esca took command. Seizing his dead Sergeant’s comm array, Blackblood coordinated the defines of the village and its people, then lead a counterstrike against the raider base in the nearby wastelands. Though many of the Eldar escaped into the Webway, the destruction of the Webway gate left Garibaldi’s World safe from the Eldar, and concluded the campaign successfully.

Victory was sweet, but the dilemma of the victorious Esca Blackblood was a difficult one for the Chapter. Though skill at arms is no sign of the moral capacity to be a true servant of the Emperor, Blackblood had gone out of his way to ensure that the village under his squad’s protection was exposed to as little danger as possible. Furthermore, it became evident upon inspection that his various control implants had all become almost completely non-functional. Esca had done what his duty to the Emperor demanded without compulsion.

In light of these circumstances, Esca was reluctantly confirmed as a sergeant. Despite the nervous view taken of him by the Chapter command staff, casualties among his superiors and skill at command saw the young sergeant rise to captain soon enough. Blackblood’s skill and frequently demonstrated dedication to the good of the Imperium have caused some in the Chapter to whisper concerns that the Chapter’s methods of selection may be prone to error. However, none have yet dared to air these concerns publicly. In the mean time, the Second Company and its captain serve the Emperor with strength and purity equal to that of any other company of the Steel Dogs.

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