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The Dawnbringers are a chapter of former Greyshields, noted for their laurels won under the command of Guilliman in the Indomitus Crusade. They draw recruits from the world of Ultima Thule in the Segmentum Solar, but source recruits wherever the opportunity arises given the desperate nature of the times and their space-borne campaigns far from this original, relatively secure seat. For the Dawnbringers operate primarily from their battle readyfleet, at the core of which is the fortress-monastery on their battle barge, Lucifer. However, unusually it is not the nature or culture of their homeworld that defines the Dawnbringers as a chapter: it is their varied geneseed.
Exceptionally for an Ultima Founding chapter, the Dawnbringers are not a successor chapter to one particular legion and its Primarch's geneseed. Rather, they are assembled from loyalist veterans stemming from a mix of genesires who operated as one united force for the duration of the Indomitus Crusade, and appear to have access to a cocktail of different genesires' legacies for the indoctrination of their recurits. Though a particular geneseed often predominates in a particular company of the chapter, such as the stoic Second company and the ferocious Sixth, each such company is seasoned with other, dissenting, voices who advocate adaptive tactics and prevent over-specialisation. This flexibility contributes greatly to their exemplary combat record; and it may be this performance which caused Guilliman to accede to a personal petition by their furture chapter master that they continue to pursue the crusade's agenda as one force, rather than splitting into geneseed-based successors.
That such an unusual request should have been granted must speak volumes to the esteem won by the future Dawnbringers forces in the Indomitus Crusade, but it hardly seems credible that mere favour alone could sway a returned Primarch. Perhaps Guilliman was mindful of the role that loyalty to legion and genesire played in the Horus Heresy, so that personal loyalties rose above loyalty to the Emperor and the ideals of the Great Crusade. Perhaps the Dawnbringers are an experiment, modelled on the internal rivalry of the Deathwatch, in a more independent, tactically flexible form of fighting unit; but if so, to whom are they ultimately accountable?
Perhaps, some whisper, other influences were involved in their formation. The Dawnbringers are unusually well supplied even among the space marines, at times employing unusual or experimental equipment such as special issue ammunition usually seen only among specialists such as the Deathwatch. Even more strikingly, the Dawnbringers bear one shoulder pauldron richly inscribed and decorated with imperial truths entwined around the sigil of the Inquisition. Few are inclined to question one possessed of an Inquisitorial emblem, and it is rumoured that the Recongregators - a faction of the Inquisition committed to reform of the Imperium - may also sponsor Guilliman's initiative. So, too, such a mark of favour suggests that the chapter may have friends in high places; perhaps even so high as to lie among the High Lords of Terra.
Whatever secrets underlie this chapter, though, lie securely with Roboute Guilliman and the Dawnbringers' taciturn, crippled chapter master Iactus Sarpedon. Certainly they are forthright upholders of the Codex Astartes, and support the ideals of a united, progressive Mankind and the risen Primarch against what some might call the more reactionary or traditionalist institutions of the Imperium - in particular the Ecclesiarchy and some segments of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Zealous followers of the Emperor above all, they nevertheless conceive of the Emperor more as embodying an ideal than as incarnating a deity: he is a self-sacrificing embodiment of the Imperial Truth - a phrase echoing back to the dimly recalled ambitions of the original Great Crusade. Their name; their motto "Spes in Tenebris" ("Hope in the darkness"); their warcry "The sun rises!": all proclaim a desire to bring light, or enlightenment, to dark places. The chapter has an idealistic faith (embodied in their structure) in the tolerance of diversity within unity, in the spirit of heroic and necessary sacrifice, and even in an idealistic (if coldly utilitarian) humanism. But these ideals put them ironically at odds with many who fight at their side for the survival of the Imperium. So, too, in a brutal and desperate time, the Dawnbringers' ideal of sacrifice can become a brutal calculation as civilians or other imperial forces are expended to minimise the overall loss to humanity. Theirs is a bright, but fraught, vision.
Now, following running engagements along the Cicatrix Maledictum, the Dawnbringers have responded to emergency signals from Vigilus by deploying a large part of their fleet in aid. As the galaxy grows ever darker, it is on Vigilus that the light of hope brought by the Dawnbringers will be tested.
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And so - I'll be starting the muster of Dawnbringers reinforcements this month. Unfortunately (for my 40k efforts) there is a Necromunda campaign starting next month, so my Dawnbringers will have initially to play second fiddle to the paintin of my Delaque gang, the Black Adders. However, I pledge nonetheless to complete one Space Marine Captain, Aeneas Herax, and an easy to build set of 3 intercessors - with that rather modest start. I can test out my paint scheme and get into the groove for more progress next month.
All product images on this blog courtesy of Games Workshop except to the extent either evident or indicated otherwise.
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