The Radix Praetorians

I created a Space Marine chapter this week, Radix Praetorians. They want the Imperium to RETVRN to the times before the Imperial Creed dominated every aspect of life. Gold pauldrons to honor the Emperor’s vision, black armor to mourn it. Green for renewal. #WarhammerCommunity #40K #PaintingWarhammer

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— countelmdor.bsky.social (@countelmdor.bsky.social) Sep 6, 2024 at 4:52 PM

Chapter Designation: Radix Praetorians

Primogenitor Legion: Dark Angels

Founding: Ultima Founding

Astartes Generation: Primaris-exclusive

Home World: Caladax

Chapter Livery: Black armor, gold pauldrons, green accents

The Radix Praetorians, or the Order of the Renaissance, or sometimes just the Renaissance, see themselves as the guardians of the Emperor's original vision for an enlightened, secular Imperium of Mankind. They would like to see the Imperial Creed recede in power and prominence across the galaxy, in favor of a more rational and pragmatic philosophy to create another golden age for the Imperium.

They are not fundamentalist subscribers to the Imperial Truth, acknowledging the presence and threat that Chaos poses, but nor do they appreciate the rise of the Imperial Creed and its adherents, including but not limited to the Black Templars, Adepta Sororitas, and the Adeptus Ministorum. 

The Radix Praetorians are equally enthusiastic to purge the Xenos and Warp-tainted, though they may not throw their full support behind shrine worlds and the like, in favor of any other choices. Neither do they go out of their way to defend forge worlds, whom they reason can take care of themselves, though they do acknowledge the Adeptus Mechanicus's place in the Imperium as providers of wargear, and honor Archmagos Cawl's efforts through which they themselves were constituted.

The eastern fringe world of Caladax, a place of mostly temperate forests and mountains, was given to the Chapter as a place to set up a fortress monastery and to recruit from. The population are hardy folk with a long lived and vibrant culture that is largely agrarian, no-nonsense, and close to the earth. Observation of ecological trends and weather over millennia concerned the people more with explaining and coping with natural phenomena themselves than beseeching a higher power to do it for them. An equally well-heeled tradition for meritocratic government and cooperation has made citizens of Caladax wise, as well, resulting in a population that turns out a good number of chapter aspirants like-minded to the Praetorians' guiding philosophy. 

With it's close proximity both to the Cicatrix Maledictum and the T'au Empire, chapter garrison engagements with forces from either are common, as are those with several Necron dynasties and splinters of more than one Tyranid hive fleet. Abroad the galaxy as a whole, the Radix Praetorians can often be found patrolling the borders of the Maelstrom, Eye of Terror, and Great Rift. Some excursions through the Nachmund Gauntlet have seen chapter fleets delve into Imperium Nihilus, though the status of those forces is unconfirmed. 

The Radix Praetorians are not especially close to other chapters descended from the Dark Angels, lacking many of the martial traditions that brotherhood holds, but rumors suggest they have good reason to be combing the half of the galaxy blind to the Emperor's light along with the chapters of the Unforgiven. There is something or someone out there making an effort to hold it all together, and that suggests it is possible to separate the continued existence of the Imperium from the benighted institutions on their side of the rift.