Do and do not lors de la création d'un chapitre SM

Pour l'instant, c'est de l'anglais.
Ceux qui comprennent l'anglais peuvent voir les différentes "rêgles" à suivre pour ne pas faire rire les gens.

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As anyone who has ever decided to create their own DIY Chapter knows, the hardest part is finding something original, characterful and that hasn't been done a million times before. This list is intended to help DIY creators, old and new, to avoid some of the pitfalls and cliches that have grown up over the years and create characterful chapters that integrate into the 25 years of established fluff since, after all's said and done, that's what makes WH40k the game it is today.

The list is not intended to be hard and fast 'fluff nazi rules', rather, it's more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules. In fact, there are occasions when breaking some of the 'fluff laws' of 40k can actually prove to be worthwhile, and result in the creation something truly unique...

I'd like to thank all the members of the B&C who made useful contributions to the original discussion that led to the formulation of this list - it can be found in the Frateris Librarium here



The Do's of DIY Creation.



As before, these are not actual rules, rather, more what you'd call 'guidelines'. That said, the two Golden Rules are the closest you'll come to hard and fast rulings...


Golden Rule no 1: Do be as original as possible.
It’s often said that there are no original ideas, someone, somewhere will always have thought of the exact same thing you have. But, that doesn’t meant you can’t have an original DIY chapter.

It’s fine to be inspired by an existing official chapters, a book, a film, a period of history, a culture or whatever. Do try not to copy the idea wholesale; add something, take something away, twist it about a little, you might surprise yourself with what the end result is...


Golden Rule no 2: Do be prepared to accept criticism of your ideas, and to revise your IA accordingly.
Liber Astartes is all about the feedback. The whole point of this forum is to share your fledgling idea for a DIY with other people who are in a similar situation, and thereby to get as many different views on your work as possible. You don’t have to take all the advice you’re given, you don’t even have to like it, but there’s really no point posting in the first place if you aren’t willing to at least consider some the ideas generated by the community.

In general, most members are trying to help by providing feedback, so try to remember that. By the same token, I expect anyone who does provide feedback to make an effort to provide constructive criticism rather than simply labelling an idea as poor or worthless...

Your DIY is your baby, we all understand that – we’ve all been in the same situation smile.gif But it’s important to try not to get stuck on an idea long after it's potential has faded - don't be afraid to abandon an idea or rework it to fit at a later date. At worst you can always use the idea for your next DIY. A good IA will grow as you write it, taking on a life of it's own, don't be afraid to let it grow up...



Do read as much background material as you can get your hands on.
This is obvious, but the more you read, the more you will come to understand what is and isn’t possible within the framework laid down by GW for the 40k universe, and thus you will be able to write a chapter background that is not only plausable, but fluffy as well, and there’s no better feeling than creating a polished IA that fits seamlessly into the 40k universe.


Do specific research related to your chapter.
Find out all you can about the sector you’re basing your chapter in. Find out what events occurred in that sector, what planets there are, what enemies your chapter is likely to face… Find out about the geneseed of the original Legion your chapter is using, is there anything unusual about the geneseed – a minor mutation to one of the organs (Raven Guard), or organs missing (Imperial Fists)?


Do a rough outline of your ideas first
Creating a good IA is a holistic process, and as one part develops, it may inspire ideas that directly affect other areas of the IA. To this end it’s better to try and develop the IA as a whole, rather than spending time perfecting, say, the Homeworld section before moving on combat doctrine, only to find that you have an idea whilst writing the tactical summary that requires changes to the homeworld…
It never hurts to get the basics down to start off with:

- What geneseed are they?
- What founding were they?
- What is their chapter symbol/colour scheme?
- What is their Homeworld like, and what is the culture of the homeworld? (ie is it a Hive World, a Feral World, a Death World etc)
- What is their Combat Doctrine like? (do they prefer Close Combat or ranged fighting?)
- What is their Organisation like (do they follow the Codex or are they a bit different?)
- What is their Belief System?


Do keep it simple
You can’t beat simple ideas. A simple idea that is well written is infinitely preferable to a less well concieved and executed concept. In addition it's actually easier to write about a simple idea which is a nice bonus. You may also find that once you have the simple basics down, the ideas start to grow of their own accord into something more complex.


Do let the fluff dictate the traits, not vice versa.
Write your IA, then decide which traits fit into the fluff afterwards. It’s vastly preferable to do it this way round than trying to fit the background of your chapter to your favourite traits – you’ll end up with a skewed version of your original vision of the chapter as you try and twist the fluff to fit. The last thing you want to do is put the time and effort into writing a comprehensive IA, just to find that you’re really not that happy as it doesn’t match up with what you originally wanted…


Do use a stable geneseed
Established fluff dictates that 2/3rds of chapters are created using UM geneseed, with the Imperial Fist geneseed being second most common. White Scar, Salamander and Iron Hands are all used regularly, whereas Raven Guard and Blood Angel are rarely used due the genetic abnormalities inherent in their gene seed. Similarly, the Dark Angel gene seed is rarely used, and the Space Wolf gene seed has never been used since the creation of the Wolf Brothers in the 2nd Founding.


Do remember that ambiguity in the right place can be a good thing
Ambiguity, conjecture, conspiracy theories... when done in the right way it can lend an air of mystery to your chapters history. It is a way of inserting a juicy plot-hook into the story to tickle the reader. For instance, people still ask about the missing two legions, there is conjecture about Inquisitorial / Assassin involvement in the Celestial Lions downfall during the Third War for Armageddon and the destruction of the Crimson Fists Fortress-Monastery, and those metal hands that Ferrus Manus got - were they from fighting a C'Tan? Like a magician, don't reveal all your secrets.

Citation :

Do use a GW chapter if you want to
GW creates countless chapters and often never touches them again, providing the ideal opportunity for the novice DIY’er to take up the reins. These chapters can be broken down into two types:

The ‘established chapters’ - those where a name, colour scheme and some fluff exists – the White Consuls for example) and the simple ‘name and colour scheme’ chapter (like many of those in Insignium Astartes or this online directory for example).

One important caveat when taking up an ‘official’ GW chapter is to be prepared for the fact that GW might one day 'resume transmission' for your Chapter, fleshing them out and throwing all your hard work straight out the window. If that’s something you’re prepared to risk, then developing one of these chapters can be a truly rewarding experience.



The Don't's of DIY Creation



Gene-seed

Don’t claim your chapter is founded from traitor gene seed.
There’s simply no reason to do this, the Imperium has plentiful stocks of loyalist gene seed, and although they have stocks of the traitor gene seed, they are kept under time locked stasis seals. Of course there’s no reason you can’t have your chapter unaware of the origin of their gene seed (through loss or destruction of chapter records, for example), and instead hint (but without ever explicitly stating) that maybe they might have been created using a traitor geneseed…

Don't use Space Wolf gene-seed for your chapter.
This goes along the lines of using Traitor legion gene-seed for foundings. Only one other chapter to use the SW gene-seed, the Wolf Brothers, and they are no longer in existence. After this, the use of SW gene-seed was forbidden. The only fluffy way you can get away with SW gene-seed is by creating a Cursed (21st) or Dark (13th) Founding chapter, but it is highly unlikely that they would know who their gene-seed is from. It's easier to use the SW rules and come up with some other explination for their rules. Rename equipment and come up with a new idea why they have the rules they do.

Don't claim your Dark Angels successor chapter hunts the Fallen.
The established fluff clearly states that only the Unforgiven chapters (the DAs and their second founding chapters) are aware of the Fallen's existence. None of the 3rd founding or later chapters are aware of the Fallen. Your chapter is no exception. If you use the DA rules, there are plenty of reasons to provide an alternative fluff explanation for the ‘Hunt the Fallen’ rules. Just be creative.

Don’t mix or tamper with gene seeds.
Mixed/combined geneseed is a bad idea, those few occasions where manipulation of the geneseed has occured have resulted in bad thing happening to the Chapter in question (look at the Relictors or Lamenters, for example). Gene seed is the holiest of holies, it is part of the Primarch himself which is implanted into a Marine and makes him truly superhuman. To dilute or manipulate holiest remnants of the Primarch is surely the highest heresy possible.

The only real occasion you can get away with combined geneseed is by creating a Cursed (21st) or Dark (13th) Founding chapter, and even then, I’d recommend against it.



Chapter Origin

Don’t claim that your chapter is one of the missing legions.
Part of the charm of the 40k Universe is that we don't know everything, we don't know what happened to the two missing legions, we don't even know why all records of the two legions were destroyed. That's good though, and GW knows better than any of us that if they told us every little detail, and didn't keep some mysteries, people would lose interest pretty quickly.

Don’t claim your chapter is a loyal remnant of a Legion that turned traitor in the Heresy.
It’s a safe bet that any remnants of a traitor Legion that showed up in Imperial space today would be met with all guns blazing, and wouldn’t last long enough to have the chance to convince anyone they were still loyal…

Don’t claim your chapter is from the 2nd founding.
GW have the 2nd Founding locked down – the only leeway is with the UM 2nd Founding chapters – the Apocrypha of Skaros claims 23 successor chapters were formed from the UM, but GW has only named about 15 of them.

Chapters are not formed from lost/forgotten companies.
Any company or detachment of a chapter lost or forgotten by the parent chapter does not get to create their own chapter just because they paint their armour a different colour and change their name. A company of Dark Angels separated from the Chapter for however long, are still Dark Angels, and would simply be reabsorbed when they made contact with the Rock..

Don't claim your Chapter was created whole from another Chapter.
Having a cadre of Marines from Chapter X form the command nucleus of Chapter Y is reasonable, but a Chapter building up to the point where 1000 Marines break off to form another Chapter just isn't going to happen...

Don’t claim your chapter was created by (fill in your favourite Primarch here) in secret before the Heresy.
It just wouldn’t have happened. Before the Heresy, marines were formed into Legions. Why would any Primarch choose to dilute his power rather than simply add more men to his Legion? More to the point, with 20 Legions in existence, there was no need for “secret” chapters, there was more than enough manpower available.

Don’t claim to have your chapter created from a secret 21st Primarch.
There were 20 Primarchs. No more, no less. Don’t try and rip up 25 years of fluff by creating your own secret Primarch, it’s just stupid and pointless. When creating a DIY, you can define the chapter’s character however you want, and when it comes down to it, gene seed plays little or no role in this. Creating a new Primarch and gene seed line does nothing but ruin any credibility your chapter may have. Along much the same lines, don't claim the Emperor proivided your chapter's gene seed - only the GKs can claim this, and even then, it's only a rumour...

Don’t try to make your chapter fulfil one of the role of another Imperial organisation.
This usually turns out to be the Officio Assassinorum, for some reason. The role of Marines is not to assassinate enemy leaders, or hunt down heretics, or police a planet or any of the other roles fulfilled by other organs of the Imperial machine (Officio Assassinorum, Ordo Hereticus, Adeptus Arbites in case you were wondering!). Space Marines are the Emperor’s Angels of Death – they are a surgical strike force of near unstoppable bio-engineered killing machines. Whilst they may be called in when the situation escalates beyond the abilities of other Imperial Organisations, they deal with the problem then leave. They don’t suddenly decide that having pacified a rebellious planet (for example) that they will take over the duties of the Arbitrators on that planet. There are one million planets in the Imperium and only a million marines to guard them. Marines are too valuable to be wasted on roles that can be fulfilled by lesser men.

Don’t claim your chapter was founded by anyone other than the High Lords of Terra.
Only the High Lords of Terra (speaking on the Emperor's behalf) can order the founding of a new chapter. End of Story. based on the established fluff it is extremely unlikely that any Inquisitor (or AM renegade or whoever) could obfuscate the AM sufficiently for them to embark on the creation of a new chapter (which would undoubtedly be a significant undertaking even for the AM).



Assorted Clichés and Lazy Plot Devices

Don’t get your chapter lost in the warp.
For one simple reason – it’s old, boring and so overused. It adds nothing to your chapter’s history or character – there are so many other, better ways to lose your chapter for a few hundred years if that’s really what you want you do.

Don’t claim your marines are female.
Marine organs are keyed to male hormones. They don’t work in women. Feel free to read more on this debate here.

Don’t claim your marines are “nice”.
They aren’t. Marines are bio-engineered killing machines. Fair enough, chapters like the Salamanders may have a humanitarian streak, but they doesn’t make them cuddly and nice. They still chant Catechisms of Hate as they go into battle, and they will still kill anyone or anything that opposes the Emperor’s will. There is a big difference between helping out distressed refugees (for example) when there’s no fighting to be done and choosing to ignore the approaching tide of Greenskins in favour of picking up a little girl’s teddy bear out of the mud. The Imperium is a harsh place, and nice people don’t live long.

On the same note, a Chapter of 1000 Marines doesn’t become ambassadors or negotiate, they don’t form alliances with Xenos species. They kill them. End of story.

Don't claim your chapter was central to any of the major campaigns.
GW have many of their pivotal campaigns locked down. For example, The Battle for Macragge was the UM vs the ‘nids. No other chapters were present. This means your chapter wasn't there, however much you want them to have been.

The more recent major campaigns - Armageddon, EoT etc are ideal for us DIY-ers – they allow vastly more leeway for DIY chapters to play a "supporting role" - perhaps arriving as reinforcements or mopping up after one of the named engagements, or playing a role on a named planet that didn't feature heavily in the official fluff for the conflict. However, claiming your force played a pivotal role in turning the tide of the most decisive and well documented battle of a campaign is never a good idea...






RT's final thought: The most important thing to remember is that in the end, it's just a game. They're your models, you paid for them, you can do what you like, just as long as you have fun!