The Burnt (the fluffy origins)

The air was thick with acrid smoke wafting from the burning bodies of his brothers. If he still had a nose it might have burnt with the acidic residues that contaminated this once verdant planet. Luckily for him he had long ago been interred in the belly of his iron beast. It was one of the few reasons why he had survived the coming of the Ordo Hereticus when so many of his brothers had faltered in their faith.

The Ironclad Dreadnought lumbered thought the charred debris of his home. The sharp crack of bones could be heard reverberating from the once pristine walls of his beloved monastery. The remains of his heretical brethren unable to withstand the immense weight of his iron form. The all-consuming fires had tempered his resolve, like an artificer’s forge tempers steel. Even if he could, he would not shed a tear for his lost brothers, for he had lost them long ago when their hearts had turned from the emperor.

Reaching the waiting Stormraven he turned and took one last look at the planet of his rebirth and consigned its blackened image to the furthest depths of his memory coils. He knew he would never look upon its beauty or upon the faces of it once abundant populace again. As he was winched into place at the rear of the Stormraven, a lone Techmarine thought he hear an uttered prayer through the static of the dreadnought speakers, but the dreadnought’s unyielding visage expressed nothing but silence.

The Burnt are a small remnant of a space marine chapter whose records have been “lost” long ago. The chapter's home world was deemed to be tainted after an investigation but the Ordo Hereticus. An Exterminatus was ordered and the entire plant was burnt to a cinder. Luckily the chapter's strong hold was a deep crust mining facility that had been depleted of viable minerals and now converted into the chapter's fortress monastery, unluckily only a hand full of the chapter where actually in the safety of the monastery. As such only very small highly devout group of marines survived alongside a proportionally high number of dreadnoughts. They renamed there chapter "The Burnt" and took to the stars to prove there undying faith in the God Emperor.

I wanted to approach this space marine project in a way that would allow me use a hopefully unique colour scheme and also leave me room to create a back story that isn’t confined by the current fiction. Much like the Dark Angels their origins are shrouded in the cloak of heresy and mistrust, whilst being sufficiently ambiguous to allow me to flow their story in a direction of my own choosing. As I win and more likely lose battles with this fledgling army it will somewhat shape how I add units as well as develop the story line. Currently I will be focusing on a 1000pts Zone Mortalis list which I intend to complete for the 2014 Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge.

I will update my blog with fluff, hobby progress and hopefully battle reports as I mould this army to my will…