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The origins of the Red Scorpions are a complete mystery. No records remain of the Chapter’s founding, or from which Primogenitor Chapter their geneseed was first taken. This mystery has led to some distrust amongst the Imperium’s hierarchy, who feel that a Chapter with a questionable history may have questionable loyalty. In five thousand years of service the Chapter have disproved this, fighting in defence of the Imperium with steadfast loyalty to their Emperor. They have responed to calls for aid on thousands of occasions, and been willing to assist the Imperium’s agents whenever needed.

Battle Brother in MkVII armour

One well recorded incident in the Chapter’s history was during 857.M38, when the Chapter was called to assist in the prolonged siege of the traitor stronghold of Helios. The Chapter deployed in force, but their mistrust of the Imperial Guard regiments already involved meant the lacked the heavy artillery needed to breach the walls for their assault. The Red Scorpions’ Commander refused all aid, being determined that the Chapter would not be tainted by those forces which had already been exposed to the traitor’s corruption during siege. To solve the Chapter’s artillery problem the Master of the Forge came up with a solution – mounting extra Whirlwind launchers on their Land Raiders to assist in the preliminary bombardment. This proved effective, and the Land Raider Helios was born, firing salvoes into the fortress before moving forwards to disembark Assault squads and Terminators into the breach.

At the end of M.39 the Red Scorpions undertook the Ordon Crusade. It saw the entire Chapter deployed deep into the wilderness space of the Ordon Rift in Segmentum Tempestus, operating entirely independently for over 300 years. The circumstances surrounding the extended expedition remain unknown. For 300 years the Chapter was out of contact and many thought it destroyed. Only when the Chapter declared the crusade at an end did it resume communications and return to the Imperium. Whatever happened within Ordon Rift remains a secret within the Chapter.

Upon their return the Red Scorpions took part in the Badab War, when the Astral Claws Chapter led a rebellion against the Emperor, and Space Marine Chapter fought Space Marine Chapter. The Chapter was involved in several bloody ship-to-ship boarding actions against the renegade Executioners Chapter. More recently they have also seen successful operations against Hive Fleet Kraken and growing Ork Empire of Urgok the Unstoppable.

The location of the Red Scorpions’ battle fortress is top secret. Few (except for high-ranking members of the Administratum), know where the Red Scorpions are currently based, or where they draw the Chapter’s new recruits from.

Veteran Sergeant in Terminator armour

Since the Ordon Crusade the Red Scorpions have been based upon a large battle station in orbit around the moon of Zaebus Minoris. The Zaebus system is isolated deep in the Ordon Rift. Before establishing the Chapter at this semi-permanent base, the Red Scorpions had no permanent homeworld, for they were always on the move in their fleet.

The small, arid world of Zaebus Minoris is inhabited by a primitive human culture of roughly stone-age development. Missionary Galactica reports that these tribes each have a central temple complex, at which each newborn male child is presented to the gods for their approval. On the first full moon of the newborn’s life it is presented to the High Priest and placed upon the temple’s stone altar. The tribesmen believe that the gods look down from the moon in judgement upon their children. In the night, those that are judged inadequate die (usually from exposure). Most are allowed to live, the infant being returned to its father at dawn to begin a normal life amongst the tribe. A few – those judged to be the very best be the High Priest – are taken by the gods. For a tribe this is the greatest honour and shows they have the gods’ blessing. All tribes hope that their children will be taken, to live amongst the gods as one of them.

Of course those children that go missing are indeed taken, selected by the Chapter’s Apothecaries, (after vigorous genetic screening) to begin the process of becoming a Space Marine. As these newborn recruits have had no experience of their primitive culture they carry none of this cultural baggage with them. As they grow they will have no memory of their parents, background or culture, and life within the Chapter will be all each recruit ever knows. Because recruits are inducted at an early age, the Red Scorpions exhibit no cultural influence, unlike other Chapters that recruit from primitive cultures.

Veteran Sergeant in artificer modified MkIV armour with Iron Halo and Terminator Honours

The Chapter conforms to the standard Codex pattern of ten companies. First company being Veterans and Terminators, 2-4th company are Battle companies. 5-7th are Tactical companies. 8th is an Assault company. 9th is a Devastator company. 10th is the (reduced strength) Scout company.

The Captains of each company of the Red Scorpions are known by the honorary title of ‘Commander’. The Chapter Master is traditionally called the ‘Lord High Commander’. As a matter of tradition, the Chapter’s second-in-command is always the Master of the Apothecaries.

Remarkably, the Red Scorpions shows very little in the way of geneseed corruption, a fact they are rightly proud of and have gone to great lengths to ensure continues for another five thousand years. The Red Scorpions have a fanatical belief in their own purity, and this has led to the Chapter’s isolationism. They believe that geneseed corruption weakens the Chapter, and as the protectors of Humanity, in turn this weakens the Imperium. Protecting the Chapter’s purity is their core belief.

The Red Scorpions’ beliefs remain something of a mystery. They do not seem to venerate any Primarch above any other, preferring instead to venerate only the Emperor. They revere Roboute Guilleman as the author of the Codex Astartes, and this has been taken to indicate that the Red Scorpions may be a successor of the Ultramarines, but there is little evidence to support this, and without detailed comparative investigation into the Chapter’s geneseed, (prescribed by the Chapter itself), no evidence can be gathered.

The Red Scorpions are strict adherents to the Codex Astartes, although their Chaplain’s have their own interpretation of the text. As they see it, they do not deviate from it in any way. Those Chapters that deviate are suspect in the Red Scorpions’ eyes. As a Chapter they are extremely xenophobic, hating all aliens and all deviation from the pure human form. They will not serve alongside abhumans, and have littleliking for other fighting forces, which they view as inferior and untrustworthy.

The Chapter’s armour is a very dark charcoal grey. They always have a mustard yellow/sandy broad helmet stripe. Other trim such as shoulder pad edging, chest eagles and a knee-pad can also be in the same yellow, and this varies between individuals. The shoulder pads are black. The left shoulder pad bears the Chapter symbol of a red scorpion in a white circle. The right shoulder pad bears squad markings, name scrolls, etc.