Space Marine Chapters: Mantis Warriors

History

The Mantis Warriors were founded as part of the 598.M35 founding, created to help relieve the White Scars in monitoring and countering the many threats harboured by the Maelstrom.

Badab War

During the Badab War, the Mantis Warriors sided with the rebel Astral Claws, the Executioners and the Lamenters. The first recorded involvement by Loyalist Marines came in 904.M41, when the Mantis Warriors attacked and captured the Fire Hawks ship Rapturous Fire. In 907.M41, as loyalists were besieging Badab, two chapters were drafted to investigate the worlds occupied by the Mantis Warriors and Executioners. For example, there were battles on the Gargathea III between the joined forces of the Astral Claws and Mantis Warriors and the Loyalist Raptor Space Marines. After a harsh encounter, the Loyalists were victorious and drove the rebels from the planet.

In 912.M41, the rebellion was defeated, and the Astral Claws were nearly destroyed. The Mantis Warriors were granted the Emperor's forgiveness and sent on a one-hundred-year crusade. Their Chapter Master, Khoisan Neotera, was stripped of his honour and armour and imprisoned in Penitentiacon in isolation for the rest of his life. As part of this penitent crusade, their homeworld, Ootheca, was forfeited to the Space Sharks Chapter, which had taken part as loyalists in the war. This meant that for the crusade, the Mantis Warriors would be forbidden to recruit new members, and as of the end of M41, they were critically short of personnel.

Post Badab War

Many Mantis Warriors believe their Chapter is cursed, and many outside the branch still regard them as traitors despite their official pardon. "A chapter on the edge of the law, teetering on the brink of oblivion and approaching the borders of extinction, fighting desperately to regain its place amongst the chosen. They were not outlaws or renegades but had no home in the Imperium of Man."

The Mantis Warriors have formed a specialized fighting unit within the Chapter, named the Praying Mantidae, a cadre of warriors tasked with tracking down the renegade Astral Claws. These elite units are given training above that given to "normal" Marines. The Geneseed of the Mantis Warriors has a flaw - it does not function properly with the Preomnor implant. As such, when a Mantis Warrior sets himself into a specific frame of mind, the Prenomor gland secretes a potent neurotoxin that permanently changes the marine's physiology; the frame of mind in question is one of deepest penance and piety. This neurotoxin alters the marine's sense of space and time, significantly increasing his reaction rate to near-precognitive states and strength. To a human, it would seem that the warrior stepped aside before anything happened. Unfortunately, this marvellous gift comes at a price - the change is irreversible, and the marine's sight becomes tunnelled to the point of not noticing anything that is not a target. The Mantis Warriors call this state of mind the "Battle haze."

Each Company has a unit of Battle Brothers who have given their all to the Emperor and, in acts of such faith, have entered the "Battle-haze." These units are called Mantis Religiosa. The Battle-Brother who discovered this genetic flaw was called Maetrus, a Captain, who, after organizing the "Praying Mantidae," subsequently fell into the "Battle-haze" while battling a Company of Astral Claws. When the Astral Claws had been broken, and their forces were fleeing, Maetrus plunged after them into the Eye of Terror with single-minded determination, never to be seen or heard from again.

Dark Imperium

Since the formation of the Great Rift and their penitent Crusade, the Mantis Warriors have been unable to recoup their losses and are slowly being eroded.