The Doctrine of the Revenants Chapter

The Doctrine of the Revenants Chapter, known more informally as the Doctrine of Peace, is the Chapter's philosophy and their manner of combat on the field. The Doctrine is a complete document, short but to the point and designed to serve as a guide for the Marines of the Revenants as well as for the inhabitants of Peace. It is a modified and improved version of an ancient doctrine set down for the Legions of Tears, the Imperial Guard regiments raised by Peace. It was modified and codified as a full Doctrine by Librarian Kryptus of the Revenants.

The Doctrine is used not only by the Legions and the Revenants, but also by the Brotherhood of Peace - the Revenants, despite being those who first created and used it, treat it merely as a revered rule set; the Brotherhood of Peace have ascribed it a fervent religious significance, partly due to the fact that most of their senior command are Chaplains and thus fervently religious.

The full version of the Doctrine of Peace is many pages long, detailing many different ways in which a Revenant must fight and devote himself to his cause. The following summary is at the beginning of every copy of the Doctrine.

The Doctrine of Peace: Summarised Version.
This is the Doctrine of the Revenants Chapter Astartes; we are so named because from the moment we become one with Gene Seed, we are the walking dead, with no home, no family, no purpose other than too serve the Imperium of Mankind. It is our most important tenet, second only to the Codex Astartes of battle and the tenets of Imperial rule and faith. All Marines of the Chapter will adhere to its tenets utterly on pain of demotion or, for the worst offenders, exile.

1. The Scout Company is hereby relegated to training positions only, and must not be sent to war. A Scout Marine, though by virtue of their place amongst us a proven warrior and a wise human, is still, when compared to a full Battle-Brother, nothing more than a child, a novice who knows nothing of the true horror of war. To send such children into the crucible of war is inhumane and cannot easily be accepted, even by we, the Angels of Death. Therefore, let it be that the Scouts are taught the art of war by their elders, trained in the many skills of war away from its true horror, and be judged ready by selfsame elders, only then to don power armour for the first time. When these recruits are ready, let them be assigned to more experienced squads of Marines, hardy soldiers who will take it upon themselves to make sure the new Marine is both ready for battle and kept alive in his inexperience, for from such Marines will the future heroes of the Chapter be chosen. This will require an additional battle company to make up the available men the Chapter may call upon.

2. War has never, will never and should never be considered a pleasure, or a glory, or anything other than a horrid necessity. Although others amongst the Adeptus Astartes may enjoy slaughtering worlds full of sentient beings, Xenos or otherwise, we humans are supposed to be civilised creatures; to be shown to enjoy slaughter is to show our enemies we are of no worth as moral beings and thus worthy of extermination by them. Let us make war cleanly; let the Bolter and the Chainsword be death on swift wings, to smite our foes swiftly and end their threat against us with no unnecessary prolonging or torture. Let our strikes be true, delivered with precision and strength. Let the enemies of man die and find their own peace, while we fight for mankind's.

3. Though war is a horrid thing, a Marine of the Revenants must always be ready for battle; the people of the Imperium of Man depend on us to defend them from all evils; they see us as their greatest hope, and perhaps it is true. In any case, to fail them would be the worst of all failures; a failure to our blood, our kind, our brothers, our Primarch and our Emperor. A Marine of the Revenants must always be at the height of physical prowess. We will not falter in our duty to mankind. We will not fail in our sacred charge.

4. All of our enemies, even those of the foul legions of Chaos, deserve nothing more or less than our pity. We owe our fallen brothers (may the Emperor take pity on them) the Eldar, who show some measure of civilisation, and even the foul Orks some measure of respect (in the latter case if only for their marshal prowess) and we must never resort to torture or cruelty, as such things are barberous in the extreme and worthy only of disgusting monsters. We will kill, but we will not gloat or glory in it.

Let this be the Doctrine of our Chapter even unto the ending of Mankind itself. Let civilisation be our herald, and let us be an example to all not just of humanities physical strength, but its strength of spirit as well.

Ave Imperator.

Addendums to the Doctrine.
In its time, the Doctrine of the Revenants Chapter has had to change to fit with a changing universe. The following addendums have been added, listed here in order first of to which segment of the Doctrine they have been added, and then by which date.

Segment 1.

In times of great need, the Scout Company may be called upon to give support to the forces of the main Chapter. In such times, the full brothers must endeavour to protect their young charges at all times.

Segment 2.

An exception to this is when dealing with the Tyranid horde; the Tyranids are monsters foul and destructive, and thus must be swept aside with all piety. When facing them, a Marine must exercise full prejudice, the zeal of a warrior, in order to utterly cleanse the filth from existence and safeguard the Imperium.

(this added by Marius Tron, who hated the Tyranid's greatly.)

Segment 3.

(this segment has seen no alteration since it was first put down on paper.)

Segment 4.

Exceptions to this are the Tyranid horde, who are barbaric monsters (this again added by Marius Tron) and the Necrontyr, whose motivation and providence are unknown, and whose threat is so great that any means necesarry to annihilate them are sanctioned.