'Counts-As' Straken and some 'Fluff'.

The economy of the Imperium is reliant on the tithes required from the planets under it's control. Though these resources can be almost anything, the most common is also the most expendable...manpower...


Arcturus Prime, largest planet of the Arcturus system and main recruitment centre for the Night Reapers Chapter is of course no exception. Having a strong martial tradition, those amongst the population of Arcturus Prime that fail the extensive testing needed to become a Neophyte of the Night Reapers are still easily forged into more than capable soldiers and Arcturan regiments have fought in battles all across the Imperium of mankind.


Early on in the creation of these first regiments it was announced by the then Night Reapers Chapter Master that their progress would be monitored in order to evaluate training methodologies and to ensure that their conduct in no way dishonoured their home world and by extension the Night Reapers themselves. By attaching small units of Marines to these Regiments data on anything from enemy fighting methods to environmental conditions and any number of other important information could be added to the Chapters databases. Of course there were other reasons as well...


In the wake of the Horus Heresy the Legions were not only split into smaller fighting units but also lost control of the vast resources provided by the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard. However there was no rule that prevented a Space Marine Chapter from offering advice and guidance to those same organisations. It was therefore decided that these duties would become the responsibility of the Night Reapers 12th Company. The 12th were instructed to join these regiments at locations scattered across the galaxy and to return all knowledge gained to their masters in the Fortress Monastery for analysis.


Numbering anything from a single Marine, but rarely anything larger than a Combat Squad these 'advisers' became a common site in all the Arcturan Regiments. Though these advisers were rotated from Regiment to Regiment in order to maintain the greatest flow of information (as well as to prevent those men from 'going native') occasionally issues of logistics resulted in particular Marines staying with the same units for considerable periods of time.


One such Marine has been attached to the 100th Arcturan regiment for several decades and is now so integrated into its structure that he has the honoury title of Company Commander...

Straken has a better than Marine Stat-line in most areas so why shouldn't I use a Space Marine to represent  him?

I'll tidy-up the model and if I decide I like it I'll paint it in Chapter colours with the exception of the bare arms which I plan to paint a Metallic Colour in order to represent certain of his bionics as well as to justify S6 and a  6+2D6 armour penetration roll, lol.

Thoughts and Comments are (as usual) most welcome.