Blood Drinkers Fandex : Chapter Fortress

Well it's been a couple of months since I've posted on this subject, I keep going back and tweaking what I've already done as ideas get refined and new ones come to mind; it's a blessing and a curse as it means the material gets better but forward momentum is lost. It's a character trait which affects my painting efforts as well, as I'm constantly going back over finished miniatures to bring them into line with my newer stuff.

Anyway, here is a new addition to the Blood Drinkers Fandex detailing the various Chapter facilities of their homeworld.

Chapter Fortress
"Honour the Emperor! We are His Shield. Obey the Emperor! We are His Sword" Blood Drinker Vow of Undertaking.

Located in the north western hemisphere of San Guisuga is the Krake Rift; a former oceanic canyon running north to south for ten thousand miles, reaching down almost seven miles in its deepest sections. Hidden from the murderous heat and radiation of the surface; in the cool darkness of the depths is the great and ancient fortress monastery of the Blood Drinkers.

The fortress is built into both sides of the Rift with gun emplacements, landing platforms, crenellated towers and gothic spires jutting out from the sheer walls like the teeth of a titanic beast; a semblance that resulted in the Chapters shadowy stronghold becoming known as The Maw

Spanning the expanse and joining the two sections of The Maw together is The Bridge of Echoes, an immense construction wide enough for three Super Heavy Tanks to pass along its length line abreast. The polished osmiridium crossing is lined with statues of former Chapter Masters, their eternal gaze falling upon all who pass by, as scrying devices and gun servitors hidden within the statuary scan for any intruder.

Much more of the fortress is constructed within the rock face, catacombs, shrines, forges and vast armouries creating a labyrinth that even an Astarte, with his unnaturally long life, may never fully explore, notable among these are...

The great Basilica of Sanguinius, a mighty marbled space able to house the entire Chapter at prayer; devotion watched from on high by a glittering statue of the Primarch, held aloft by gravity fields and surrounded by grand frescoes of his deeds. Here in this sacred place the Blood Drinkers practice their sanguinary rites; rituals and observances shrouded in secrecy and kept hidden from all outsiders even brethren from the other Chapters of their bloodline.

Beneath the temple are the Catacombs of Lament, the final resting place for all Blood Drinkers who have fallen in service to the Emperor; at its heart is the Sepulchre of Vladarius, the stewardship of which resides with the Sanguinary Guard. The legendary Astartes tomb is a place of pilgrimage for every Battle Brother of the Chapter and those that kneel at the foot of his sarcophagi make silent oaths to be worthy of the honour of a place amongst the great heroes buried within his presence.

For those Marines whose duty carries them beyond death and into internment within one of the Chapters Immortals, the Hall of Hushed Caskets awaits. Here these ancient Dreadnoughts sleep away the centuries, tended by the Chapters Artisans, until once again called to battle.

In stark contrast to the finery of the Basilica, the Reclusiam Chapel of The Grove is a dark forbidding place; a green obsidian chamber lit by pale glow-globes, whose wan light is scattered eerily off the surface of a moss fringed mirror pool at its centre. It is here that the High Chaplain will conduct the solemn rites of the Moripatris when a Battle Brother falls to the Black Rage.

These doomed warriors of the Chapters Death Company are placed within the Vault of Forlorn Hope; an oubliette of cryo chambers suspended beneath the river of magma that flows far below the fortress at the base of the Rift. The Vault can only be reached via teleportarium, the coordinates and access ciphers held by a select few of the Chapters highest ranking officers; knowledge of its very existence is another of the Chapters closely guarded secrets.

High above The Maw hangs it's formidable outer defences, the Acheron asteroid field; remnants of the Helios systems other planets and moons torn apart during the cataclysm. The field screens any approach to San Guisuga and shrouds the entire system; it is now heavily laced with orbital mines and the few clear channels to the planet are controlled by forts built into the larger rocks. Their vast arsenals of servitor gun batteries and garrisons of vigilant Redguard are ever watchful.

Between Acheron and the surface, geostationary above the Krake Rift, is The Flame of Helios; a Ramilies Class Star Fort which operates as port for the Chapter fleet. At its center is a high tower, atop which burns an eternal beacon that acts as a guide for vessels approaching through Acheron's channels. The tower and its beacon were added to the completed fort in 280.M31 by Sostratus the Chapters Master of the Forge at the time; it's construction marked the forts consecration to the Blood Drinkers. Chapter legend has it that the skilled Artisan managed to capture an ember of Helios Major itself to feed the flames.