The Collectors are going to be a converted CSM chapter where each model will have alot of time spent on it so that the army looks as good as I can possibly make it. I will try to game with the army but it will be prodominantly a modelling and painting project so anything that looks good will be included over what works well. The main reason for this army is because I am moving to Vietnam for a year therefore I need something that is going to take me a long time as I wont have access to new models over there. Anyway the fluff.
The Collectors aren't an official Chapter of Space Marines. They don't fight under the banner of the Imperium or the Legions of Chaos. Instead they fight for one man. the man who created them...Varlack Creed. Of the origins of Varlack Creed little is known other than he was an extraordinarily gifted genetic scientist who had fallen under the suspicion of the Inquisition in the year 125 M.42, until he disappeared assumed lost on remote Hive World, Drachus. What experiments he conducted in the human Genome and the possibilities for adapatation whilst there have remained unverified; however 20 years after his disappearence news of a Horde of genetically enhanced gangs emerged. Led by a man known only as the Sequencer, these gangs had begun systematically gaining control of the hive world and enslaving it's populace in the name of 'research'.
When news of these atrocities reached the Inquisition they initially deemed the uprising the problem of the local milita as hive world tyrants were not uncommon and were kept under control by other gangs. However when the gangs began overwhelming the worlds militia's and syphoning off it's industrial energy and wealth the inquisition was forced to act. The 108th Cadian Regiment was deployed to restore order to the planet and capture dead or alive the man known as The Sequencer. Within 19 days of the Regiment making planet fall they had activated a distress becon. They reported being overwhelmed by gangs who fought with unusual speed and ferocity using lighting hit and run tactics. The confused and distorted communications being recieved spoke of squads been deliberately led into ambushes and captured alive.
When the Fleet commander recieved the distress call he relayed the transmittion to high command. A request was immediately made to the Imperial Fist Space Marines. They had recently been called upon to supress an ork uprising in a near by sector of space and were the nearest Chapter when the transmittion was arrived. The Company Commander of the Imperial Fists surveyed the reports being recieved and immediately ordered a full tactical deployment of the company.
The hive was reduced to ruins. The gangs although stronger and quicker than an average humans were no match for the elite space marines. However the man known as the Sequencer was never found. The world was quickly brought back under the control of the Emperor and the marines left the world to the Imperial administrators. One of these administrators was Prusius Hode, he conducted a post intervention study of the Imperial Fist deployment and made some alarming discoveries. The gangs had repeatedly attempted to capture Imperial fist combat squads alive despite appalling losses to themselves. This made no apparent sense. The imperial Fist's denied the gangs were ever successful however Prucius discovered in a restricted access file that on one occasion a squad had been captured and more alarmingly never retrieved.
battle analysis indicated that soon after the squad were captured the gangs methods had changed leading to devastating losses and subsequent annihilation. Prucius studied the origins of the war and the man known as the Sequencer, the more he discovered the more he became filled with a sense of horror and foreboding. The gangs had timed their push for absolute power of the world almost exactly as the Imperial Fist Space Marines had arrived in the local sector of space. More alarmingly no squad within the 108th Cadian Regiment could be found that had activated or sent the distress becon. There could only be one conclusion.The Sequencer had wanted the Space Marines to arrive and crush the rebellion. The entire uprising had been orchestrated by one man to provide the perfect bait. For the sake of capturing five Space Marines he had sacrificed 20 years and 10 million lives. This was a most diabolical intelligence.....
Unbeknown to the Imperium Varlack Creed conducted countless experiments upon the marines he had captured, utilising the Marines ability to survive and recover from trauma to prolonge his research into decades. Eventually after years of research he isolated the one thing he had been looking for, the Space Marine gene-seed and how to reproduce it. Varlack Creed offered the gene-seed to the remaining members of his gang. Most died in agony as their adult bodies rejected the gene-seed but some didn't; some survived. Using these individuals Creed discovered the means of implanting the gene-seed successfully in an adult body and preventing the bodies own immune system from causing complete internal organ failure. Now he was finally ready to achieve the pinnacal of his research and become a Space Marine. After his ascension Varlack realised being a Space Marine was more than just the body. It was the armour that inspired fear and awe. Using his old hive networks he sent out a transmittion.
Any man who could kill a Space Marine and deliver the head, body and armour to Creeds Ship, the Locus, would be turned into a Space Marine.
This was an offer that was unique in the history of the Mankind. A chance to become one of the greatest warriors mankind has ever produced. The most ruthless, cunning and powerful members of gangs, cults, tribes and societies all over the galaxy began scheming of ways to capture one of the Emperor's elite. However capturing a Space Marine is not easy, as Varlack himself had discovered. This ruthless selection policy much like evolution itself ensured that only the best and most deadly killers arrived to collect the rewards for their ingenuity. And so Varlacks army grew. Each new warrior was implanted with the gene-seed, the face of the dead marine was fused to the shoulder pad of their old armour to serve as a warning and a reminder. The armour was painted black and the Chapter symbol bound in chains to symbolise the future that awaits all who oppose the Collectors.
Despite the Imperiums greatest minds endevouring to track down Varlack Creed he appears to possess a singular level of intelligence. A true genius he is able to always remain one step ahead and spins numerous webs of misdirection. Fake distress becons, lightning raids on already engaged forces and inter space boarding actions have all been used by Creed to expand his ever growing army. For the first time in their history the Space Marines have something to fear.....capture by the Sequencer.
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I'll keep you posted on the progress.
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