Ghosts of the Forge

Armour Colouring

Maintaining the overall colours from their parent chapter, the Salamanders, the Ghosts also favour a black left knee pad.

In addition, the power pack is mainly green rather than wholly black

Chapter Icon

To the left is the Chapter Icon depicting a skull over crossed hammers

Founding

25th Founding (Bastion Founding)

Late 40th Millenium

Successor

Unconfirmed successor to the Salamander Chapter

Chapter Master

The current Chapter Master is Captain Pet'ra Lok'lin

Homeworld & Allies

Ru'koth is their adopted homeworld, with their known allies being the "Knights of Perdition" Space Marines Chapter

History:

With the Dark Marches Crusade a distant memory in the annals of the Imperial Records, much knowledge had been lost of the worlds restored in the Segmentum Tempestus.

After millenia of silence, early in the 40th Millenium, worlds around the outer regions bordering the Leyak sector started receiving garbled messages appearing to come from within the Leyak Sector itself.

Dismissed at first, these messages seemed to tell of a coming apocalypse. It was only after the loss of contact with several Imperial Outposts that the High Lords of Terra launched the Moradin Campaign to halt potential Chaos or Xenos incursions.

The campaign forces were drawn from the Salamanders Chapter with the newly formed 316th Imperial Guard acting as the bulk of the military representation.

During warp travel to the Leyak Sector the Campaign's vessels were forced off course by Warp Storms and translated back to real space inside the Erathis Sector, a sector cut off from the Imperium since 856.M34.

It took the Moradin Campaign's forces 1872 standard solar years to make it back to the Leyak Sector and it was during these years that the Salamander Forces became the Ghosts of the Forge.

With their orders never changing, the Ghosts were committed to the campaign they'd been deployed to carry out after which they were granted the home world of Ru'koth. This adopted homeworld is primarily where they recruit from, with it's populace heading normally one of three ways: to the Ghosts, the Stone Cold 316th or to one of the heavy industrial sectors of the planet.

Notable Battles & Campaigns

You cannot kill what is already dead

Captain Pet'ra Lok'lin

098.M40 | Waaagh!Iron Jaw

Shortly after translating back to real space in the Erathis Sector the campaign came to the aid of Nentir, a planet who was on the brink of annihilation through the Waaagh! of Gruumsh Iron Jaw. During the next 8 solar months the campaign crippled and broke the Ork forces, ending the Waaagh! with the death of Gruumsh Iron Jaw.

167.M41 | Bahamet

While making their way back to the Leyak Sector distress calls reach the campaign forces from the planet Bahamat. Dark Mechanicum forces were locked in combat with the Imperial Settlers of the planet, but rumours had reached the Ghosts that during the battle Imperial Forces had aged centuries in mere seconds. With the added belief that this could be the Song of Entropy in the hands of a Dark Tech Priest, the Ghosts and the 316th made planetfall to recover the lost Artefact of Vulkan.

It soon became apparent that the Dark Mechanicum were backed by the Death Guard Warband "The Tainted Hosts" in an effort to gain a foothold in the region with a rich resupply base.

After a ferocious pitched battle with the forces of the Dark Tech Priest "Helstrom Bilchak" and "The Tainted Hosts" it became clear to the Ghosts that the feared loss of the Song of Entropy to Dark Forces was the work of Entropy Cannons from "The Tainted Hosts".

With heavy losses of the local populace, the 316th and the Ghosts the Dark Mechanicum and "The Tainted Hosts" were eventually defeated.

231.M41 | Armenthia's Hope

The battle for Armenthia's Hope was to shape the future of the chapter....

A warp rift had opened near the planet and it was besieged by a daemon incursion of a scale not seen by the Ghosts before.

While valiant efforts were made to push back the forces of the immaterium, the world was eventually deemed lost and evacuated. The survivors were brought aboard the campaign's vessels, assigned duties and folded into the ranks of the Imperial society and Civilisation.

However, these new additions brought with them some old traditions that quickly spread.

It's from this notable conflict that the Ghosts first encountered the Ghost Dance, which was to shape the fabric of the chapter over the coming centuries

797.M41 | Vecna

It was during the cleansing of Vecna that the Ghosts first encountered the Knights of Perdition, a Blood Angels Successor Chapter.

Vecna had become the target for the Hive Fleet Scylla and the Ghosts and the rest of the Moradin Campaigns forces responded to the pleas from the planet for help, despite still struggling to rebuild their forces after Armenthia's Hope.

The Tyranid attack was ferocious and the Ghosts were on the brink of destruction when another chapter of Astartes, who had also responded to the planets call for aid, arrived.

The Knights of Perdition bolstered the Ghosts contingent and swarmed the Tyranids, cleansing them from Vecna and claiming victory for the Imperium.

922.M41 | Calain

The attack of Hive Fleet Sucubus on planet Calain was well underway when the Ghosts of the Forge and the Stone Cold 316th made planetfall to come to Calain's aid.

In an effort to bolster the local defences and drive back the swarm, a large force was committed to the cause to try to sway the tide of the war.

Despite their best efforts the damage was already done, so focus switched to the planets evacuation of any remaining populace, and the planet declared Exterminatus.

Sadly, while evacuation was achieved the numbers were not high, and so the remaining Calainians joined the Moradin Campaign fleet.

966.M41 | LS-831

The Ghosts of the Forge and the Stone Cold 316th finally make it to the Leyak Sector and translated from the warp near planet LS-831. With ernest the work began in tracing the source of the original messages traced back to the Leyak Sector over 1800 standard solar years previous.

Planet after planet was recorded as nothing more than barren rock, having traces of civilisation scrubbed from their surfaces. The only sparse links remaining to the scrambled messages received over 18 centuries previous, was to a "Great Awakening".

034.M42 | Vordrast....

In the northern half of the Segmentum Pacificus, within the Vordrast system, resided Vordrast itself, an Imperial world like any other, with crowded Hive Cities, towering spires and arcane technology

The campaigns around Vordrast were ones that would have lasting influence over the Ghosts that were drawn to the system in response to a vox broadcast from the Battle Cruiser "Helldiver".

Little did the Ghosts know that along with the other forces of the Xenos, Imperial and Chaos warbands that were drawn to the sector, that they were being pitted against one another for the Gods of Fate to find themselves a champion.

On each of the Battle Barges, the banners hanging from the walls of the Black Parade began to smoulder and catch light, but with an eldritch fire that didn't consume the banners themselves.

The careful observer would also see the subtle addition beneath the Chapter Emblem. A combination of ancient Terran symbols, the significance of which is also lost to the annals of time.

Once the Ghosts translated out of the Vordrast system, the banners returned to normal, though this was but the beginning of the Ghosts unending, but unknowing service to the Morai

The Three gathered and watched over Vordrast with the same relish that a Bird of Prey watches the dying man become carrion.

Champions had risen, and fallen, in the days since they’d summoned their pawns.

Which one would float to the top? The star children? The Ork’s? The Aeldari? The Humans?

They could feel the wrath of the Ruinous Powers as the Moirai played out their own games to secure a way into the Great Game, and to prove that even the Gods themselves cannot escape Fate.

Except, that wasn’t entirely true….
There was one God who cared not. One God who was pleased with each passing day that violence was wrought upon Vordrast.

But he doesn’t realise, that with each drop of blood spilt, refilled and spilt again that the Fates were getting stronger and soon they’d all bow down to tread the path that Fate has chosen for them.

Culture:

In common with other chapters, the Ghosts of the Forge often partake in ritualistic manners in the preparation of battle, known as the Ghost Dance.

After the battle of Armenthia's Hope, and the integration of the local populace into the then forces and resources of the campaign, the Ghost Dance became a wide spread belief and tradition

They devoutly honour the memories of the dead, and have a strong belief that an individual should be able to trace back their successors. Gene Seed becomes more than the necessity of how to become an Astartes Warrior, it's the history of that Gene Seed that makes the warrior what he is today.

The Ghosts believe that the spirits of the dead can be summoned to aid them in battle, and will perform the ritualistic Ghost Dance, led by a Chaplain on the eve of Battle.

The Chaplin becomes known as "Charon", the Ferrymen that transport the dead back across the Ethereal plains, and it's during this process that a Battle Brother will become feverishly overwhelmed by the what they call the "Eidolon" or the spirit image of the dead.

It's not uncommon for the Ghosts of the Forge to wear individual pauldrons or parts of armour that date back centuries, or even from the days of them being Salamanders, which they believe bond the spirits of the dead to them.

Chapter Tactics:

Due to being whipped into a frenzy by the Ghost Dance, the Ghosts perfer to drop on the enemy as quickly as they can, with long range fire power softening the target of the attack.

Relishing Close Combat, they prefer to use Drop Pods, Jump Packs or Transports to get into the enemy lines. When there, they employ the use of close range Flamers or Melta's in recognition of their Salamanders heritage.

The Vanguard Veterans of the 1st Company are exclusively equipped with Lightning Claws, specialising in Close Combat after decades and decades of battle.

These veterans of war are so closely linked to those that have passed to The Black Parade, they have become known as the "Soulbound" and are mainly appointed as Chapter Master Pet'ra Lok'lin's bodyguard

Captain Pet'ra Lok'lin

Chapter Master of the Ghosts of the Forge

Pet'ra Lok'lin was the youngest son of a family working in the munitions factory on Vecna when Hive Fleet Scylla descended on to the planet.

The Ghosts of the Forge responded to the call for aid by the planetary governor, and along with the Knights of Perdition, purged the world of the Tyranid attack.

The Ghosts, along with the planet, were on the brink of destruction so a number of the young were selected as potential asperants, and this was the start of Lok'lins journey.

Quickly rising through the ranks, showing a strong preference for close combat, especially with his Thunderhammer, Lok'lin became Chapter Master shortly before the Vordrast Campaign.

It is here where Lok'lin has become the unknowing pawn of a power hungry to prove its worth....