Warriors from several Iron Hands successor Chapters sought out the Crimson Tide Chapter. They wanted to speak with its Techmarine. If they saw eye to eye-if they followed the same Adeptus Mechanicus doctrine-then joining this Chapter would be fine.
They reached the gates of our temporary quarters and stopped, agonizing over whether to go inside.
Inside the gates, only one of our Techmarines remained at our temporary quarters. As for why...
Tell me loud and clear! What tradition is engraved into our Chapter's bones?
Picking up trash! (Loudly.)
Throw him out! He must be an Alpha Legion spy!
Answer me! What is our Chapter's tradition?
Recovering Chapter relics! (Even louder.)
After "entrusting" everything to Maturio, thirty-odd Astartes vanished in a flash. They wandered around in groups of two or three, dragging enormous "coffins"-well, enormous metal boxes, anyway.
After checking that no one was watching, they scrambled through whatever lay on the ground and took anything they found: Dreadnought parts, Sentinel Walker arms, Chimera armor plates. Even if it was half a hand blown off by an explosion, they were to pry off its power gauntlet and toss it into the "big coffin."
Whenever they encountered anyone, they started weeping with heartfelt sincerity. "Brother, I'll bring you home! Even if you have to enter a Dreadnought, I'll bring you back to the Chapter monastery!"
Anyone who didn't know better would have thought they were hauling their comrades' bodies.
Given enough time, they could have dug up every last member of the Dark Nest Guard Chapter buried underground.
Amid our continuous funeral wailing, we encountered another Chapter that had started out picking up trash-the Sons of Medusa.
This Iron Hands successor Chapter consisted of exiles. The reason dated back to a group within the Adeptus Mechanicus who believed the flickering frequency of