MINOTAURS - The Minotaurs are a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter whose actual origins and Founding remain unknown.The Space Marine formation by this name at large in the Imperium today appears to bear little resemblance to accounts of its past. That there existed a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter called the Minotaurs, created during the Cursed 21st Founding of the 36th Millennium, is not widely contested in the Imperial record, but whether or not they are the same as the Chapter bearing the name that took part in the suppression of the Macharian Heresy in the opening decades of the 41st Millennium and the same Chapter that would later go on to play a crucial and bloody role in the Badab War and the Orphean War is not so certain. The Minotaurs possess a reputation for being unusually xenophobic Astartes, even for the Imperium, as well as often unreliable combatants who do not work well with other Imperial military units. The origins of the Minotaurs Chapter are shrouded in mystery, for the formation at large in the Imperium today appears to bear little resemblance to accounts of its past. Once, the Chapter was thought to belong to the 21st, so-called “Cursed” Founding, and to be a virtual outcast amongst the ranks of the Adeptus Astartes. Descriptions of the Minotaurs of old describe a force of berserkers that made war with savage abandon and eschewed all contact with other military forces. The Minotaurs of today have either mastered their former curse, or else they are a different body of warriors entirely, merely sharing the same name and similar heraldry. The truth may never be known, even at the highest levels, for all data relating to the Minotaurs’ origins and the current status of their gene-seed tithes is sealed by the highest possible authority. The Chapter is highly active in the prosecution of the Emperor’s wars, seemingly deployed according to the highest level pronouncements of the Senatorum Imperialis and rarely if ever answering calls to war from any other Imperial authority. Many of the operations in which the Minotaurs have been committed are notable in that they are against other Space Marine forces, often Renegades or isolated elements within an otherwise loyal Chapter that refuses to suppress its own. It appears that the Minotaurs undertake such missions with relish, perhaps testing themselves against the most potent enemy they can find—other Space Marines. Furthermore, on the rare occasion of the Chapter serving alongside brother Adeptus Astartes, the Minotaurs have displayed such open contempt that all manner of recriminations have ensued, up to and including the fighting of duels and other low level hostilities. It is often reported that the Minotaurs are disdainful of all other subjects of the Imperium and that they radiate a malign intensity that makes even the boldest Imperial general fearful of approaching them. One further detail marks the Chapter as unusual. While they appear to adhere closely to the organisational dictates of the Codex Astartes, the Minotaurs almost exclusively operate as a complete Chapter. While most Chapters spread their forces across multiple war zones, only coming together as a whole for the most momentous of conflicts, the Minotaurs rarely detach smaller forces away from the main body. This makes the Chapter a blunt instrument, but one capable of ripping through almost any enemy that dares to stand against it. This reality, combined with what appears to be a program of rapid psycho and surgical indoctrination of Neophytes, means that the Chapter is inevitably encountered as a single entity.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 13:21:59 +0000
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