Emperor's Spectres

Summary
"The Emperor's Spectres" is the name of a simultaneously little known and legendary Chapter of Space Marines rumoured to have been founded during the 13th, or "Dark", Founding. Due in part to this, most information regarding the "Emperor's Spectres" has been lost by Imperial Forces. Even the location of their home world, or even if they have one, is unknown to the Imperium. The Chapter revels in this secrecy, and have adopted it as part of both their battle-doctrine and their culture. This secrecy however comes at the cost of both mainstream Imperial support and the trust of some Imperial forces.

Essential Information
Name: The Emperor's Spectres.

Chapter Master: The Master.

Homeworld: unknown.

Marine Numbers: 1000 approx (presumed).

Gene Seed Ancestry: unknown.

Status: Active.

Founding
Little is known of the Founding of this mysterious Chapter for certain - not what world they hail from, not what gene seed ancestry they have. There are rumours and legends, but the most concrete of these is a single scroll detailing one account of a mysterious Chapter's founding. The Chapter is not named for certain in this scroll, referred to as "the angels of the Imperium" mostly, and as "the Emperor's spectral angels" once (a description from which the name "Emperor's Spectres" has been deduced - it is to be assumed that the scroll almost certainly refers to the Chapter for the purposes of this record). Needless to say, this is not a reliable source, as it is written in a florid style and not by a member of the Chapter itself (presumably a a chapter serf wrote it, perhaps explaining the purple prose and religious fervour).

In this time, the young Chapter did look out upon the people's of the Imperium, and the Angels of the Emperor, though stalwart in their duty, did despair of ever truly making a difference to the miasma of despair, hopelessness and fear they saw was ever-present in the Emperor's Realm.

For always the call came to the Angels of the Emperor from all corners of His realm, "save us, mighty Angels!", but try as they might to save all who cried in the darkness, the Angels could not do so, and for all their mighty steel and powerful faith, they felt so utterly helpless.

''"We must remedy this!" they cried as one, and so the leaders of the Angels came together and pondered this great problem.''

''For ten days the Angels did sit in contemplation, pondering ow they could possibly serve all the peoples of the Imperium. They pondered and pondered, and many a thought, some which I dare not repeat, was spoken in that place.''

"Alas," one Angel said to his brothers as they pondered the cause of their despair, "it would be a boon to our cause were we aided by one of the legends from deepest history, for truly only they could help us now."

''The truth of these words sunk in for the Angels: the Legends of the Emperor and his sons, the Legends of mighty heroes, were such that even though they could not aid any more, they still gave hope to the people of the Imperium. Indeed, it would be truly a boon were such legends to aid them now.''

It was then that the Master of all the Angels stood, turning his back to his fellow Angels, before turning back to them, a light in his eye.

''"My brothers," said he, "a Legend is stronger than all the swords of all the Astartes combined!" With a great fervour, he leant upon the table and spoke to them all. "A Legend may not offer concrete aid, but a Legend offers something far rarer in these times - hope in the darkness! My brothers - let us be that hope! Let us be a shining beacon across the Imperium!"''

''And so it was decreed. The Angels would not be mere men fighting to hold back the darkness. They would ascend to become legends to inspire the flames of hope for all the peoples of the Emperor, even unto the ending of time itself, so that far beyond any mortal influence they may have had, their legacy might never truly die!''

The rest of the text descends into gibberish about the greatness of the "Angels", but what can possibly be deduced from this is that the Emperor's Spectres deliberately chose to disappear from the records of the Imperium and become as they are now a shadowy legend.

The Legend
The contradictory description "little known and legendary" is entirely apt when referring to this Chapter. The true number of the Emperor's Spectres or any of their number's identity is not known for certain save for a handful of records from the highest Inquisitorial authorities, for when the members of the Chapter appear, they do not speak their names (and seldom speak at all). Nonetheless, tales of a shadowy Chapter of Space Marines in ghostly white armour bedecked in pale blue and white robes and tabards are rife in some of the less defended areas of the Imperium.

Captain Arganon Valus of the Emperor's Firebrands Third Company is the most recent individual to encounter the Spectres during a combat situation. On the remote Imperial shrine world Zephyrus, under attack from Chaos forces, the Firebrands Third Company - at that time occupying the Strike Cruiser Holy Lightning, together with the Fifth under Ollus Hurran - had been bogged down defending holy relics from a Chaos invasion. Valus' report reads as follows.

''We had expected a minor cultist rebellion when we initially landed on Zephyrus in response to their plea, but by the time we did so the situation had escalated into a full blown invasion. The PDF forces and troopers from the 119th Praetorian had managed to secure the civilian population in city-fortresses but there were several immovable and irreplaceable relics in a small Church in unfortified ground. Consulting with Captain Hurran of the Fifth, it was decided that my Company would hold the relics until reinforcements could be spared from either the additional inbound troops we immediately requested, or forces from the beleaguered cities.''

''We arrived at the small, undefended Church a few days later, and immediately fortified the position as best we could, though we were ill equipped for the task(1). It was not a few hours before the first attacks came - cultists, primarily, but supported by Traitor PDF and, worst of all, scattering a of traitor Marines.''

''We held out for six days, but I knew that the attacks could not be thwarted forever by the meagre defensive resources we had. There were simply too few defenders and too many Chaos forces to hold back. Worse, my communications with the Fifth revealed that, though the cities were holding, they were in no position to reinforce us as the enemy's attacks had yet to abate. Despite this, each man in my Company was prepared to sell his life dearly to defend the sacred relics from Chaos forces.''

''The latest attack began on the morning of the seventh day. As expected, the Chaos forces sent in hundreds of thousands of cultists. Low on ammunition, we could only grit our teeth and keep firing. Emperor forgive me, for I nearly lost hope in that hour. It was in that moment, I remember clearly, when the whine of drop pods and Thunderhawk engines began to fill the air. Irrationally, I began thinking that perhaps more members of our Chapter had arrived, and were reinforcing our position. This was ludicrous however, as more Firebrands would have informed us of their arrival. That is when I saw them.''

''Ghostly-white armoured figures emerged from ghostly-white pods and shuttles, pale blue banners bearing the Aquila and pale blue and grey robes covering them. They had dropped amongst the enemy and immediately began sowing chaos amidst their lines, disrupting the lightly armoured cultists with flamers and grenades. What must have been two dozen squads of Marines landed, some running up to our little fortress' gate.''

''I met the Commander of this group at the gate. Though I could tell from his armour, the extensive robes and the ornate power sword that he was the leader of this force, I could not identify from which Chapter he and his men came. The armour was the purest white I had ever seen, and almost seemed to glow. The eyes of his helmet glowed with an unnatural blue luminescence, and there were no markings upon his armour, not to discern his Chapter or Company or rank. He gave no name, but greeted me as an equal, and offered his forces assistance. Having no desire to argue and discerning no taint from the man's presence, I agreed, though cautiously.''

''For three more days, my men - ably assisted by what must have been two and a half companies of these warriors, including two Dreadnoughts and multiple las cannon teams - held off the enemy forces. In that time, these Marines gave nothing away Finally, word came through that the back of the main assault at the cities had been broken - due in no small part to mysterious bombing runs from unknown friendly forces that I suspected were more of my mysterious new allies - and the attacks on our position ceased.''

''As soon as this news came through, my mysterious allies quickly gathered their strength, their dead, and all evidence that they had ever been present, careful not to leave a single bolter - perhaps even a single shell - behind. I was curious at this behaviour, but my counterpart - who had not even removed his helmet in all the three days we had held the line - did not explain. As quickly and mysteriously as they had come, these Marines disappeared again. I found it strange how quickly they had come and gone, .''

(1) Emperor's Firebrands as a rule are lightly equipped, having little to no armour on the ground, and comparatively few Devastator squads.

The corresponding sensor logs of the Holy Lightning do not report a fleet in orbit of Zephyrus, but this does not preclude the possibility that the fleet presence of the Spectres was in fact concealing itself.

This is typical of any and all sightings of the Spectres, though it is the longest an Emperor's Spectres force has ever stayed in one place in over a thousand separate logs. The Spectres will land, assist Imperial forces, and leave as soon as their task is done, removing all trace of their presence as they do so. At best, there will be testimonies and pict recordings of their presence. At worst, hearsay and rumour surrounds them as they come, and on many outlying worlds they are already legendary as "the Emperor's spectral angels", a ghostly force that smites the enemies of the Emperor then vanishes. Though this is patently not the case, there is no doubting the positive effect this rumour has: Imperial morale is always boosted by rumour of these warrior's passing through a system, and the enemies of mankind have rightly come to fear their coming, so much so that in certain regions - specifically those less patrolled by Imperial forces - only the greatest of the more well known Chapters, such as Ultramarines, Dark Angels or Black Templars, have the same dread attached to the name.

Home World
Where they hail from, or even if they hail from one world, is a mystery. It is to be assumed that they have a home base somewhere, some remote location where they may go to rest their forces or resupply their ships. Any attempts to locate this haven, however, have so far been unsuccessful. Inquisitorial agents speculate that wherever the home of the Spectres is, it is most likely situated in the outlying, less defended sections of the Imperium, for that is where the Chapter has been most sighted.

Training
Though little is known about the recruitment process of the Spectres, what is known is that when they visit a world, they will sometimes take certain youths with them for training, usually orphans from whatever invasion they have thwarted. What trials these youths go through and what skills they learn, as well as what traditions are passed down to them, is unrecorded by any source.

Organisation
The combat doctrine of the Spectres, as recorded in the various encounters they have had with Imperial forces, appears to follow Codex Astartes principles, with a heavy focus on overwhelming force and lightning strikes. Beyond that, little is known, though it is to be noted that most appearances of the Spectres have been of more than one company.

Allies

 * The Emperor's Firebrands: the Firebrands consider the Spectres to be kindred spirits, as the Firebrands, too, patrol the outlying, under defended regions of Imperial space.
 * The Ecclesiarchy: to the Ecclesiarchs, the Spectres are a positive rumour to exploit and, more importantly, they have often protected remote Imperial worlds from threat.

Enemies

 * The Inquisition: naturally, any force that is from an unknown world, in unknown numbers, attracts suspicion - though the Inquisition know more than most - even the names of one deceased member of the current Emperor's Spectres - they still do not trust the Chapter, fearing some Chaotic or other Renegade influence.

Battle Honours

 * Battle of Zephyrus.
 * Sighted at Ragnarok
 * Sighted during the 13th Black Crusade.

Notable Members

 * "The Master": a Space Marine - or perhaps multiple Space Marines who have all held the same position - who seems to be the Chapter Master of the Spectres. In all accounts, an I,posing figure in cold white robes and cloak.
 * Kar Jonus: the only member of the Chapter whose name is known, Jonus held the rank of Captain in the Chapter, and is the only member of the Chapter whose body has ever been recovered. Most records on him and his life - as well as his testimonies regarding the Chapter - are held by the Inquisition.