Make Your Own Space Marine SUCCESSOR CHAPTER

Bonus tip! If you're feeling overwhelmed about making a whole Chapter from scratch, try starting with the lore for a Kill Team or a Boarding Patrol ^^

I just started my own chapter a few months ago, after nearly 30 years of being into 40k. They're called The Emerald Knights and they began as Dark Angels Successors. But their Chapter Master was one of Luther's pupils, and the lead Interrogator did not trust any of them. They were deployed on the edge of the galaxy to watch for traitors, then essentially abandoned. They had no help from the DA whatsoever. Later, their geneseed degraded and they could barely make new space marines. Then a Warsmith of the Iron Warriors besieged them for several years and tried to turn them, exploiting how the Knights were betrayed by their Legion. But eventually the Knights defeated their attackers. And when only one in four neophytes survived implantation, they had a choice to make. They cut open the chest of the dead Warsmith and found that his geneseed was pristine. So over several decades, they implanted neophytes, replenished their ranks, deleted the ruined portions of the Lion's geneseed and spliced in the corresponding portion of Perturabo's. By this time, THREE escaped warbands of traitors took up residence in their territory. Not having the numbers to purge them, the Knights sent out an astropathic call to the Dark Angels. They did not answer. The Knights used their very last astropath, pleading for anyone to come and help them destroy these enemy forces. And they were answered by a Black Templars crusade fleet, who brought the remains of their chapter on a mission lasting several decades. Today, The Emerald Knights possess a Deathwing, a Templar Wing, and are about 65/35 percentage Lion to Perturabo genetically. Their returned Primarch knows this and has no problem with it. Because the Lion fondly remembers Barabas Dantioch and how the Warsmith saved his life and died for The Imperium. Now The Emerald Knights travel towards Sotha, fighting for the Imperium and hoping to recover whatever relics remain of Warsmith Dantioch, a forbear they can now finally be proud of.

I’ve always been a fan of Carcharadons. I’ve been making different divisions based on shark names, Assault Intercessors are Makos, Dreadnoughts are Threshers, infiltration units are cookie-cutters, and my flamer Marines are tigers.

I've been working for the past three years on a Blood Angels successor chapter that is heavily inspired by ancient Irish and Celtic culture alot of the chapter's naming conventions are done through Gaelic which is the ancient language of the Irish people. Despite their heavy Irish influence they still possess all of the same genetic flaws as the Blood Angels and still follow Blood Angel combat doctrine.

I’m working on a second founding Dark angels successor with around 2.5k marines with most of which are Primaris due to the Chapter almost dying out on their home world in a 4 way war between the Eldar, Emporers children, and a tyranid splinter fleet. (Note the Chapter had around 100 battle brothers by the time Rowboat and his new marines arrived to save them)

Ive been working on the lore for a chapter called the Ash Paladins, a Chapter that actually does most of its recruiting from a Knight World they have close ties with, and gradually developed a chivalric, almost romantic culture as a result. SPOILER ALERT: Theyre secretly descended from the Emperor's Children.

I hope you guys enjoy, this was a lot of fun to make! More chonky vids coming soon!

I made the Chapter called the Gray Hussars, an Imperial Fist Successor Chapter but the Officers were drawn from the Black Templars, with the First Chapter Master being a former Castellan of the Black Templars. My Chapter are essentially Space German Knights like if you took the Teutonic Order and made them Space Marines. They were made in the 26th Founding to Garrison and Secure the Saras Sector, close to Ultramar and rarely leave the borders of that sector of Space. They have no home world but the First planet, Totenburg, they made a recruitment world was a lost world with a Germanic Culture that was technologically stuck in the 1910s. It was a world in competition between Liberal Democracies, Socialist Nations and the more Traditional Absolute Monarchies. They were in the middle of a world war the mirrored our First World War when the Gray Hussars arrived and negotiated with the Monarchs of the world to join the Imperium as a united world under the rule of the most powerful King of the World (Planetary Governor) King Wilhelm XII of Prussland. The Chapter crushed the Democracies and Socialist Nations and appointed hereditary aristocratic families to rule over them while setting up a Chapter Fortress. From the Planet came the bulk of the early recruits of the Chapters and the Chapter adopted the naming conventions of the world as well their history dating back to the Ancient Terran Germanic Kingdoms. They worship the Emperor as the God of Humanity and don't have a librarious like the Black Templars. They also always claim to be on Crusade so they don't have to abide by the Codex Astartes. For more google Gray Hussars and the wiki should come up.

I'm currently working on a chapter called "Keepers Of The Garden" ultramarine/salamanders successor chapter formed to deal with tyranids, who have a lot of dreadnaughts and are closely tied with my custom knight house "house Ironwood", the short story is they guard ironwood oasis forests on their home world and have grey knight inspired recruitment processes without the psychic stuff, they have dirtied white armor with blue accents and silver trims.

I love homebrew chapters, they're so awesome 😁👍

I was making a custom chapter for a couple of years now. It begins when i ran a couple of d&d games with some sort of OC, that was once a knight. Sudenly after those games i decided, that he had to be coming from a knights order, while at the same time 40k dropped primaris marines. So i started trying to kitbash something that would fit this very raw idea, since i want sure what they were about. In that period of time just for this sake of creating them i read alot of books and wiki, constantly changing them to fit not only my liking, but the universe they are about to be merged into. I repainted and reassembled my models couple of times, but that was worth it. Now they have have both desine i can enjoy and a back story fitting in the 40k world.

I've been working on an imperial fists successor that specifies on breachers squads and close combat but also un heavy artillery and dreadnought due to a genetic flaw that takes their mobility over time and only the veterans who don't die in battle due to becoming slower and heavier physically get the honour of being the dreadnought as a second chance , due to them being short lived they are seeing as a stubborn and never wanting to retreat but they are all loyal to their chapter master that is inside a relic leviathan dreadnought and has served the imperium for 1500 years , they don't use librarians because burn the witch but they have an unusual number of apothecaries and techmarines, even though they take their liberties they mostly follow the codex Astartes to not bring any unnecessary attention to them.

Creating your own chapter is a fun experiance, had an idea since I got into the setting around 2007, as I went got into the lore it helped me wedge them in the setting. Got me one of them "Ultramarines" successors with a name of what they are about SO on the nose, no one would actually guess it. (And yes, I did forget who the bad guys in Harry potter were) The Death Eaters, a mix of surviving loyalist Death Guard and World Eaters who use their combined specialities for a classical Hammer and Anvil style tactics, who pick from the nearby hive world gangers and shape them into something more. These guys got started simply from coming up with special characters like the Chapter Champion and Chapter Master and whatnot.

I ended up founding a loyalist subsect of Thousand Sons who remained loyal to the Imperium during/after the heresy. They firmly believe that the Space Wolves attacked Prospero due to the influence of Chaos and Horus, and that they are traitors who have fooled the Imperium into believing they're loyal. The Lions of Prospero know better, and have vowed that someday, they will have vengeance for their actions on Prospero. They also believe that Magnus was entirely unfit to lead them any longer, having let his legion be slaughtered on the planet's surface, and believe that no singular man should have full control over them. They have taken residence upon a small knight homeworld and formed a symbiotic relationship with them. The chapter has little in the way of armored support of any kind, so the knights fill in for them where they can. Each sergeant and above is the ruler of a plot of land on their new homeworld, and they are organized in a medieval heirarchy, ruled over by 3 high ranking officers that form a council. Each councilor leads a specific sect of the chapter, and they make up for each others shortcomings. The chapter is thus split into 3 distinct sections, each autonomous but part of a greater whole: the psychic branch of the chapter, focused on training all battle brothers in the use of their powers, no matter how small, and the support of the other 2 sects. There is the combat branch of the chapter, focused on all things war and battle, taking the front while supported by their more powerful psyker brothers. Then there is the loremaster sect, where the chaplains (loremasters) and techmarines reside, recording data and sagas from battle brothers during and after combat to fill their chapter libraries with the deeds of their greatest heroes, and where they entomb those deemed worthy within a dreadnought chassis to forever lead their brothers in the field. roughly 600 strong, VERY MUCH codex noncompliant.

I'm working on a salamanders successor chapter called the Phoenix Talons. Like the salamanders, they are very fire based and have a close relationship to civilians. They are specialized in retaking lost ground and lost planets, as well as extracting and evacuating civilians in the middle of war zones

I’ve been working on an Imperial Fists Ultima Founding successor called the Storm Chorus. Their chapter master, Grand Conductor Melodius Trenth, got inspiration from the Sisters of the Sacred Rose during a battle where they fought alongside one another. So, basically, Space Marines who sing

I’m working on one currently - Sons of the Phoenix, Salamander Successor. Dismembered or otherwise physically compromised salamanders are sent to specialist forgers taken from the most elite blacksmiths on Nocturn who provide bionic limb and organ replacements. Astartes who were “reborn” in this way eventually found a common ground with each other and would go on to form the Chapter taking a well known symbol of rebirth as their sigil, the Phoenix. As the chapter grew in both size and recognition from their parent legion, Vulkan He’stan himself put to work personally chosen machine workers and smiths to create a host of dreadnoughts for the Sons of the Phoenix, as the chapter was already deeply connected to rebirth The Forgefather saw the potential of a heavily armored dreadnaught centric deployment force. As every Son of the Phoenix was once a Salamander, the chapter continues many of the Salamanders traditions whilst adding a number of their own. They employ tactics much alike their Salamander brothers with many flame weapons on the battlefield however it is also common to see multiple dreadnoughts when the Sons engage a battlefield due to the nature of their “recruitment”. In a word the chapter symbolizes “Rebirth”. Their chapter words (commonly heard at induction ceremonies involving ceremonial ashes of fallen brothers), “Baptized in flame, reborn in ash”.

Excellent job, brother!

I started working on my chapter a few weeks ago. They are called the Black Fyrd (Based it off the Old Kingdom of Wessex, basically an English inspired Chapter) They were founded after many of the Imperial Worlds had been consumed by the Tyranid scourge. They are made up of recruits that have miraculously survived the Tyranids, so they have a particular dislike for the spidey boys. For this reason they were mostly sent to combat the Tyranids on worlds that can or cannot be salvaged. So their fighting style is more on defense and speed at the exact same time. So I would think they used heavily modified Javelin Attack Speeders or something. I'm still working out some details but that's what I have for the moment.

I should definitely get back to the Chapter I was writing! Ahem The Fireblades appear to be an Iron Hands Successor Chapter, but this is a well kept facade, as they are Emperor's Children successors. They know full well how the legion fell and what could lead to Slaaneshi corruption. As such, they've abandoned the flashy, artistic pursuits of the Legion of old in favor of pious, monasticism. They are very few, numbering around 150-300, due to their constant deployments against their hated, but powerful foe. They are the few who remember the friendship between Ferrus and Fulgrim, so to honor him, they forge Fireblades, power weapons in the style Ferrus's original Fireblade and use them to strike down the forces of Slaanesh. Their swordsmanship is the equal of any Demon or traitor, and their righteous fury can match that of any Blood Angel or Black Templar. They paint their wargear in simple greys, their symbol is an outline of the Aquila, a reminder of what they once had and strive to one day regain. Their Battle Barge, the Prodigal Son, is actually from the crusade era and is equipped with a rather large teleportarum, which the chapters terminator squad uses to great effect. The Fireblades favor Droppod and Terminator assaults, dealing devastating hammerblows to enemy weak points or slicing the head of the snake in one fell sweep. As there are so few of them, each battle brother is a valuable resource and is to be trained and utilized to the highest degree. As such, they are humble enough to know when they must withdraw and take care not to be drawn into wars of attrition; as usual, most chapters see this as cowardice, the Fireblades understand amd ignore such accusations as each marine is a courageous fighter even amongst Astartes. Similar to the Iron Hands, the Fireblades do not have a Chapter Master proper, but have a council, elected from amongst the many Chaplains, who serve the dual purpose of Chaplain and Captains within the chapter. Only those warriors who have proven themselves to be utterly unshakable and skilled are chosen by the council to undergo a Trial in which the marine will display his prowess as a swordsman and must best a Fireblade wielder in combat. Then a new Fireblade will be forged or an older one gifted to them, should the weapon suit them. Fireblades come in different forms depending on the wielder, they are encouraged to pursue and master their own unique styles of combat so that no enemy can exploit any potential similarities; this is their art and their pursuit of perfection. They also prefer very simple names, which are paired with their title, an example being their Head Chaplain/ closest man to a Chapter Master, Paul. Their most recent and greatest feat was their purging of a powerful Slaaneshi cult, who managed to summon forth the Keeper of Secrets, Fuwalafuwaloo. The chapter sweeped through the heretics, allowing Head Chaplain Paul and Councilman Chaplain Lucas to face the Greater Demon. The fight was a blur of violet and fire, but together, the chaplains banished the demon and in their fervour, permanently MAIMED the Keeper with holy fire, severing its lower right arm, for which it vowed revenge. However, Chaplain Paul nearly succumbed to his wounds, but was interred to a dreadnought. Chaplain Lucas's left leg was torn to shreds and his left eye was put out, though at the very least he now had the Iron Hands aesthetic. With Paul's blessing and that of the Council, Lucas was elevated to Head Chaplain and continues to serve as such in the Era Indomitus. The Fireblades long for the day that they no longer have to hide their heritage, where they can where the Aquila with pride once more and show everyone they are not sons of the traitor Fulgrim, they are The Emperor's Children! 🗡️ 🔥