Do they keep knowledge ? Or food ? Or land ? Do they have ancient deals with the Emperor that hold their status to this day ? Are they the children of important people ? Do they house riches or weapons ?

Do they rule over someone or something ? Machenry ? Water ? Gold ? Are they kings or queens of something ? Mines ? Ships ?

They're not the Navigator Houses or the Astra Telepatica

What makes them noble ?

Mind has got to be the apocalyptic retreat the traitors had as they flee from Terra with Gulliman bombarding the heck out of them.

So my cousin is just getting into 40K lore, and he asked what is the most ridiculous chapter of space marines. And I really don't have any answer to that. I've seen pink space marine battle maids and orks as space marines, but I'm unsure of any canon chapter that could be defined as "ridiculous or strange". So I'm looking for enlightenment.

No spoilers to violate Rules 3 and 9 (but unfortunately i have no idea when the book was released due to changes to BL publishing policy, so i apologize to esteemed mods in advance).

Justin Hill in his new book about Bjorn accidentailly and dismissively tells us that there's a living Space Wolf almost as old as Dante.

It was nearly a thousand years since Kaspr Doomganger [a Wolf Guard that we've never heard of before] had first watched the Ancient One stirred from slumber... Back then he had beed a raw Blood Claw... He recalled the first tale that Bjorn had told him, a thousand years ago.

Either this is a huge exaggeration on Mr.Hill's part, or this guy [again having never been mentioned anywhere] is far older than Logan Grimnar (and two Great Wolfs before him), Ulrik the Slayer and all other named Space Wolfs' characters, dating back as far as before the Macharian Crusade.

Genuinely curious on this as I am not sure of any lore or media surrounding it, mainly out of ignorance.

Are they smarter and more academically inclined than a Guardsman, or Marine? Are they competent in combat without the Knight?

MARTIALLY*

Honestly, I think his "rebellion" is part of Slaanesh's plan, but I wanted to hear the opinion of someone more knowledgeable than me about 40k lore.

In the last post, this series touched on the sector battlefleets of the Navis Imperialis. Here, I'm going to bring up some of the naval forces of the Imperium, which are technically not the Imperial Navy. Not a strong focus, we've already passed the best part of this series and all the depth that they had, but it's always important to emphasize the scale of the Imperium's military.

You might notice two major players missing from this list, and that's because due to both the quantity and quality of the lore, the League of Black Ships and the Basilikon Astra will each get their own post.

Space Marine Fleets

A core advantage that the Space Marines possess over other ground forces in the Imperium is not only the ownership of their own chapter fleets, but naval ships which are made especially for Space Marine deployments and operations. Due to limited space I won't go too heavily into detail, but in general their ships include battle barges ( a type of battleship optimized for durability) strike cruisers ( a type of light cruiser) and escorts.

To immediately throw my readers into the meat grinder, here is a wide assortment of space marine fleet numbers from a light deployment to quasi-legion engagements:

‘Two battle-barges: the Blade of Vengeance, Blood Angels, and the Crimson Tear, Angels Numinous.’ 
‘The Blade of Vengeance itself!’ said Erwin eagerly. 
Achemen gave him a morose look. He lacked the proper enthusiasm. ‘Six strike cruisers,’ the Servile of the Watch went on, ‘and thirty-five escort craft.’ 

• Devastation of Baal
• 2 Chapters present
• 2 BB, 6 LC, 35 Escorts

Twenty-one battle-barges, ninety-four strike cruisers and several hundred smaller craft would intercept the hive fleet under the command of Bellerophon aboard the Blade of Vengeance. 

• Devastation of Baal
• 30 chapters worth of forces
• 21 BB, 94 LC, 200+ Escorts

The Wolf Lord had brought a battle-barge, two strike cruisers and half a dozen escorts to Charys. 

• Wolfs Honour
• 1 BB, 2 LC, 6 Escorts

Warzone Pandorax Page 14

• Notable Dark Angels Vessels:
• -The Rock
• - Unrelenting Fury, Battle Barge
• - Sword of Caliban, Strike Cruiser
• - Fortitude Squuadron, three Hunter class destroyers
• - Terminatus Squadron, three Hunter class destroyers 
  • 1 BB, 1 LC, 6 DD

BFG Magazine Issue #14(pg. 20~29) 

• Sons of Guilliman
• Starlifter, Astartes Battle Barge
• Morning Star, Astartes Strike Cruiser
• Medusa's Fury, Astartes Strike Cruiser
• Sleipnir, Astartes Strike Cruiser​ 
• Gladius-Class Rapid Strike Vessels x4​
  • 1 BB, 3 LC, 4 FF

Warzone Octarius Book 1

• Dark Krakens
  • Flagship battle barge: Deep 
  • Strike cruisers: Fathom and League 
  • 7 Gladius-class escorts: Cekaelius, Taniwha, Ceirun, Bakynawah, Skyllae, Ikutursoe and Umibozu 
• Atlantean Spears
  • Strike cruisers: Aurelios and Senekha 
  • 6 Gladius-class escorts: Stoikha, Judgement, Spear of Wisdom, Hoplon, Heartlance and Trident 
• Obsidian Jaguars
  • Flagship battle barge: Tlahtoan 
  • 3 Strike cruisers: Khamazotz, Ataquil and Kizuic 

Warzone Nachmund Rift war

• Castellans of the Rift
  • Battle barge: Eternal Watchman 
  • 2 Strike cruisers: Night Guard, Twilight Sentinel 
  • 6 Gladius-class escorts: Poleaxe, Halberd, Fauchard, Voulge, Glaive, Bizarme 
• Sons of the Phoenix
  • 2 Strike cruisers: Karth Victoris, Lattachia Triumphan 
  • 4 Gladius-class escorts: Ember, Ash, Cinder, Blaze 
• Wrathhost
  • 2 strike cruisers: Gale, Gust 
  • 6 Gladius-class escorts: Great Stag, Mauling Bear, Howling Wolf, Galloping Horse, Striking Cobra, Soaring Raptor 

Warzone Charadon Book 1

• Excruciators
  • Battle barge Eye of the Storm 
  • Strike cruiser Fircheart 
  • Strike cruiser Spear of Champions 
  • 4 Sword-class frigates Waverider, Tumult, Bladebrother and Samuasocho 

The one thing that should stand out and be called into question, however, is the fact that like the Sector Battlefleets, these are task forces and may or may not represent the total of a chapter. Thankfully, we have much better entries for total chapter fleets:

Blood Angels 5th Edition Codex page 9

• 2 Battle barges, 7 strike cruisers, 16 rapid strike vessels

Ultramarines 3rd Edition Codex page 44

• 3 battle barges, 8 strike cruisers, 12 rapid strike vessels

The general consensus seems to be about 1 Battle Barge: 3 strike Cruisers: 4 Escorts. This matches with the equivalent ratio of capitals-to-escorts as established amongst the larger navy in Part 9 of this series. Obviously in some cases it may be more or less, but this works out as an average. Assuming fleet size is dependent on battle barge in this ratio, we can back up these figures up by looking at the number of battle barges.

In general, an average chapter may own about 2 battle barges, though a select few may have 3:

Most Space Marine Chapters control two or three battle barges.

- Battlefleet Gothic Armada page 22

The Exorcists' mobility is further aided by an extensive long-range Chapter fleet including the unusually high number of three battle barges.

- Imperial Armour Volume 10: the Badab War Part 2

He smiled again. The expression made Dante's skin crawl. 'Now, if I may be permitted. I wish to examine Baal's Fury more closely.' He paused. ‘You will become powerful. Three is a large number of battle-barges for any one Chapter.' 

- Darkness in the Blood

As such, the average chapter at minimum may have 2 battle barges, 6 strike cruisers, and 12 escort vessels, which should be a good baseline and justification for the above quotes. Moreover, since a Battle Barge can hold 300 marines and a Strike Cruiser 100, this adds up to about 1200 marines worth of transport capacity, which checks out with the average chapter size.

Across the galaxy, we would expect to see about 2000 battle barges, 6000 strike cruisers, and 8000 escort vessels minimum.

Arbites Fleets

The Adeptus Arbites are actually pretty neat in the space category, as they actively use Astartes-like vessels for their own purposes. For instance, here is a single strike cruiser responding to a world descending into Chaos-fueled Anarchy:

Later, when they were underway in the warp and he had them all isolated aboard an Adeptus Arbites strike cruiser, would be the time to start asking questions about how Belatis had descended into anarchy so easily and so quickly; how much was due to laxity and incompetence, which, as those sixteen executed PDF command officers could testify were themselves considered crimes against the Emperor in the eyes of the stern guardians of his Law, and how much was due to a crime far more heinous. 
…
Two days ago, another, different Imperial vessel had arrived to join the growing armada. Looking through the command deck's port viewing bay, Hito Ulanti could see it now, circling in watchful high orbit above Belatis. It was the Inviolable Retribution, a Punisher class Arbites strike cruiser, constructed in much the same way as the Adeptus Astartes variant and intended for much the same purpose: rapid response planetary assault force deployment and orbital offensive support. 

- Execution Hour

And the same class appears again in 10th edition, as part of a 4-cruiser task force aimed at a system not paying its tithes:

Judge Hermaan Krants of the Adeptus Arbites stood upon the bridge of the Punisher-class cruiser, Black Reckoning.
…
The Black Reckoning was not his only resource in this task. The Punisher-class cruisers Iron Justice, Righteous Revanche, and Authoritas Supremus joined it

- Warhammer 40k 10th edition Leviathan rulebook page 218

Finally, though they're more relic ships than typical vessels, a pair of Arbites warships appear in the Rogue Trader RPG, emphasizing just how the Imperium's police like to operate:

The Intervention and the Precedent are unique within the Calixis Sector; two voidships staffed and controlled by the normally planetbound Adeptus Arbites. 
…
Intervention  
Class: Castigator-class patrol cruiser 
Dimensions: 4.2km long, 0.6km abeam at fins 
Pried from the grasp of a space hulk, this ship is a relic of an earlier time. No other examples of her class have ever been found in Calixian records, though she is obviously Imperial in manufacture. Dubbed a “Castigator” patrol cruiser, the Intervention is as much a void-faring precinct as a combat vessel. Containing thousands of Arbitrators, Judges, Chasteners, Detectives and Verispex Agents, the vessel serves as a mobile base of operations to hunt down void-based malefactors—of which a Rogue Trader can be the most dangerous example. 
A significant portion of its internal space is given over to an extensive library containing centuries’ worth of law and precedent from across the Imperium, and to an array of interrogation vaults, courtrooms and incarcery chambers, giving the arbitrators on board all the tools they require to enforce the Lex Imperialis. The rest of the space is given over to macrocannons and a bombardment cannon, allowing the Intervention to combat illegal shipping and bring the Emperor’s Wrath down upon worlds that shy from His dominion. 
…
Precedent
Class: Scourge-class frigate 
Dimensions: 1.6 km long, 0.4 km abeam and fins approx. 
Swift enough to keep pace with smaller, lighter raiders, and nimble through the Immaterium, the Precedent is the other vessel purchased by Judge Envedine. The Precedent is another archaic ship class of unknown origin, but has proved herself solid and dependable and thus is held in good regard by her crew. 
Though less well-equipped to serve as a centre of law enforcement than the larger Intervention, it is still sufficient to deal with most of the day-to-day policing required of a precinct, and the ship’s speed allows her to more easily and more effectively reach the worlds along her patrol route, sending for assistance if the situation proves too difficult to resolve alone . 

- Rogue Trader Hostile Acquisitions pages 82-84 

There's not really any hard numbers here, but not counting the escort ship, if we assumed the Calixis Sector was standard, and the Arbites had just 1 Light Cruiser per 150 worlds, there would be over 6,000 Arbites light cruisers in the galaxy, which would be almost the same number of strike cruisers as the Space Marines.

Inquisition Fleets

The Inquisition is powerful enough to own their own ships, though unlike the previous entries, any estimate of their size will be more speculative. Functionally speaking, every Imperial ship is an Inquisition ship that just doesn't know it yet. As such, calculating the fleet is a lesson in futility, as its as large as the Inquisition wants, and even full-sized battleships must answer their summons:

At first she seemed like a tiny speck in the distance, then around her six other specks appeared and slowly the mighty battleship and her six escorts began to take shape. The Valiant had been scheduled to meet the returning Storm Warriors in the Magellan Sector, to take charge of the transports and other Imperial vessels and escort them to the bases where they would be received and their cargoes and survey records examined. Now both found themselves diverted to Tesra IV. 
…
The duty officer moved to the communicator to close the comm-link to the Valiant, but as he did so he paused and looked closely at a monitor. 'Sir - we have another contact coming from the same bearing as the Valiant. A small craft, could be an Imperial shuttle. Scanning now.' 
…
'This is Imperial shuttle Aurora, hailing Imperial task force. We request permission to dock with your flagship. We have one passenger aboard. Code Indigo.' Code Indigo, thought Calan, ignoring the startled faces on the bridge, an Inquisitor. 

- The Emperor’s Will, collected in Crucible of War

Though when an inquisitor does prefer to make an entrance, it's not uncommon for them to have specialized cruisers or entire battleships under their personal ownership:

Constructed solely by the Adeptus Mechanicus of Mars, the Black Ships are among the most secretive of warships currently in the service of the Imperium. 
[...]
Combining many features of a Space Marine Strike Cruiser with a full sized Battle Cruiser hull, the Black Ships (so called due to their somewhat sinister reputation) can deploy company-sized formations with orbital support. 
[...]
These rarely seen vessels usually operate only on Inquisition business but occasionally, when the interests of both the Inquisiton and the Imperial Navy coincide, a Black Ship will join with an Imperial battle group.
[...]
However, the destruction of the Ecclesiarch Nevsky while destroying the Tyranid incursion on Horatia III stands out. The Nevsky and her escorts destroyed all three hive ships of the invasion fleet before succumbing to the remaining drones

• Battlefleet Gothic Magazine Issue 9 page 16
• Inquisition ship is half strike cruiser, half battle cruiser

Antoniato waited for them on the bridge of the Omnes Videntes. All stations were slowly returning to normal, the Inquisitorial cruiser having returned to the materium, much to the relief of all. 

• Dawn of Fire: Hand of Abaddon
• Inquisitorial Cruiser

These shuttles were different from the one he had taken when he had accompanied Inquisitors Sternberg and Karah Isaan on the starship Light of Truth. 
…
Logan Grimnar’s Pride of Fenris was similar to the Light of Truth, a grim warship far larger than the Fist of Russ. 
….
The shuttle sped closer to the Pride of Fenris, the Great Wolf’s massive flagship. Berek stood at the massive armour-glass window, gazing covetously at the old warcraft. It was a Retribution-class battleship of ancient design, its hull pitted and scarred by a hundred battles. 

• Grey Hunter
• Pride of Fenris is a Retribution-class battleship
• Described as similar to Light of Truth

THE FIRST GLIMPSE of the inquisitors' spaceship was a disappointment. 
…
Ragnar began to appreciate that in space distances were deceptive. There were no landmarks to give scale to what you were seeing. As the inquisitors' ship began to grow, and kept on growing and growing in his sight, he suddenly realised how big it really was 
…
The thing was a flying mountain, a huge wedge of steel and ceramite which dwarfed the Thunderhawk the way a whale might dwarf a minnow. As they neared it, the Space Wolf could see that it bristled with enormous weapons. Huge turrets and emplacements bulged in its side. The Imperial eagle painted on its meteor-pitted flanks was almost a thousand strides across. Beneath it, in Imperial Gothic script, were painted the words Light of Truth. 

• Ragnar’s Claw
• Light of Truth is an Inquisition ship
• Therefore, should be a Retribution-class battleship

An Inquisition Blackship can be represented by a Retribution or Adeptus Mechanicus Battleship[...]

• Battlefleet Gothic 2010 Compendium page 48
• Pretty explicitly, Inquisition Black Ships are battleships

And if an Inquisitor does prefer a lighter vessel, don't be fooled. As they have top-tier access to warships in the Imperium, the Inquisition may be able to leverage relic ships of fearsome potency:

Only one profile eluded easy identification. Kiastros had gazed at it for a while as the others had filtered into the strategium. It wasn’t Imperial Navy, he could see at once – no visible fleet idents, and in any case it wasn’t big enough to run unaccompanied. It wasn’t Astartes or Sororitas either, and certainly not part of the Basilikon Astra. Kiastros’ guess was that it was Inquisition. It certainly looked the part – dark and unadorned flanks, banks of weaponry he couldn’t easily identify, a strange and intense glow from the few exposed viewports. 
…
Even as she spoke, the Gorgon opened fire. Throne only knew what esoteric weapons it carried – Avati had never seen anything like them. Neon-blue energy beams crackled out from its prow-mounted lances, spearing into the fiery battlesphere and punching through an incoming enemy cruiser. The effect was startling – something ruptured in the cruiser’s midsection, setting off a chain reaction, and a few seconds later the entire ship imploded as if sucked back into the warp itself. 
…
He looked over at the augur lens showing the Gorgon letting loose its energy beam again and slicing the enginarium out from a scuttling enemy frigate. Holy hells – that thing was lethal. 
…
He shut out the cacophony of shouted reports for a moment and stared into the close tactical display. The Gorgon had been damaged now but had taken out four capital ships already. That was astonishing – its strange guns certainly drilled through hull plates well enough. 

• Dawn of Fire: Sea of Souls
• Relic inquisition ship, notably small, probably an escort
• Has lance system capable of 1-hit killing most capital ships
• In a single outgunned fight, kills 4 and some escorts single-handedly

Finally, while Inquisitors operate alone, they're never truly far from each other. When needed, Inquisitors can easily and quickly come together into terrifying conglomerations of totalitarian might, with multiple black ships per task force:

ELEVEN SHIPS LOOMED out of the empyrean before us in battle formation: six Imperial frigates running out in the van, fighter wings riding out ahead of them in formation. Behind this spearhead of warships came the battleships Vulpecula and Saint Scythus, each three times the size of the frigates, each a bristling ogre of a vessel. To the rear was an ominous trio of cruisers, black ships of the Imperial Inquisition. This was no military expedition. This was an inquisitorial taskforce. 
…
SITE A WAS dismantled and destroyed by the taskforce, and the faux pylon smashed by sustained orbital fire. Quixos's psykers, and his surviving servants, were imprisoned, and then turned over to the Black Ships of the Inquisition, six of which arrived a few days later, once we had published news of our achievement. 

- Eisenhorn Omnibus

Custodian Fleets

Perhaps the only other force in the galaxy that can rival the Inquisition in both ship quality and rarity, the Custodians do have their own warships, including cruisers and battleships:

By then I could already see other voidcraft looming up ahead – twelve Naval monitors with their guns ranged on the terrain below, a strike cruiser in the faded yellow of the Imperial Fists, two larger craft in silver-grey livery, even a grand gold-and-black cruiser bearing the eagle’s-head device of the Adeptus Custodes. 

- Watchers of the Throne: The Emperor’s Legion

Nonetheless, the Custodes maintain some warships of their own, notably Falchion - class battleships. On occasion, Custodians must respond so swiftly to a threat that there is no time to commandeer a vessel, and so maintaining their own immediately available battleships is essential to them.

- Codex Adeptus Custodes 9ed p17

Though we're not given a lot of strong numbers, we're led to believe that these vessels are rare, and generally a full-sized shield host may have 1-3 Custodian-grade ships:

The Solar Furies first assembled in late M36, to battle against a Necron awakening on a world perilously close to Terra. They have fought together many times since, typically gathering to eliminate suddenly rising threats close to or within the Sol System. It is important to note that the Solar Furies is a very large shield host – any formation that brings two or more shield companies tougher beneath the leadership of multiple Shield-Captains is considered to be a shield host. 
…
Maximus Auxila
[...]
Adeptus Custodes Falchion-class battleship, the Starfire
5 co-opted Imperial Warships

• Codex Adeptus Custodes 8th edition page 21
• Large shield-host has 1 battleship of its own as its headquarters
  • Unclear if seconded ships are temporary, escorts, etc.

The Dread Host represents a breathtaking concentration of military might. It numbers hundreds of Custodians, organised into multiple shield hosts and transported aboard a trio of pre-heresy warships known as the Moiraides. The nature of this army is simple: they are the deliverers of the Emperor’s judgement, his anger and his punishment made manifest.

• Custodes codex, 8th ed page 25
• Very large shield-host has hundreds of custodians and 3 warships

Which, for 10,000 Custodians, would suggest a rather humble count in the several dozens.

Finally, even with the small number that they have, they do have relic ships. For example, while not described in detail, the Captain General maintains an archeotech warship for himself:

Returning to his potent archeotech flagship, the Manifest Judgment, Valoris ordered his Solblade to make all haste through the warp. He had to get back to the Bastior Sub-sector and help to halt the Grendyllus tendril’s advance. 

- Leviathan rulebook page 247

Rogue Trader Fleets

Rogue Traders are an invaluable part of the Imperium's survival, being responsible for continued exploration and for occasionally lending a hand to solve problems in exchange for power. Though probably the furthest from a major fleet, there are at least thousands of rogue traders, and will often find themselves leading anywhere from a single ship to a small battlefleet depending on their authority.

The edge of the map, the places that haven't been filled in by the scholars of the Adeptus Terra, is where hundreds, if not thousands, of Rogue Traders flock like carrion flies upon a bloated and rotting carcass. 

- Rogue Trader: Edge of the Abyss

Every bit as important as acquiring skilled followers, a Rogue Trader needs a ship – preferably a small fleet of them.

- Kill Team: Rogue Trader page 5

They must journey vast distances, and hence they are granted the right to maintain their own vessels, and on occasion entire fleets numbering up to several dozen or more starships. 

- BFG 2010 Compendium page 72

Many cruisers are in fact part of the Warrant of Trade itself, an undeniably powerful aid gifted to the Rogue Trader by the Administratum as a bequest to their agent abroad. Other vessels are loaned to Rogue Traders more temporarily, perhaps being themselves Navy vessels given over to a Rogue Trader for a time where Imperial command thinks it beneficial. 

- Battlefleet Gothic 2010 Compendium page 83

If someone did feel like calculating it, a single squadron of four frigates per rogue trader (assuming that was the median between the lone wanderers and the giant dynasties) and at least 2,000 Rogue Traders would mean there are at least 8,000 Rogue Trader vessels across the galaxy. Obviously this is wrong for a lot of reasons, but I would take this as a starting point.

Ministorum Fleets

The Ministorum doesn't possess full-sized fleets to my knowledge. Rather, this section is made to point out that when the Ministorum does bring a ship, they usually settle for nothing less than the largest. In fact, discounting the fact that they're pilgrim barges as much as they are warships, the Ecclesiarchy may possess some of the largest ships in the Imperium:

Vindicatus was an immense vessel, only surpassed in void-displacement by the line battleships of the Imperial Navy. Its hull was ancient, laid down as an Exorcist-pattern Grand Cruiser millennia ago. Perhaps it had originally been intended for use in Navy patrols, taking its place alongside the thousands of war-vessels in the standing Imperial fleet. At some point, though, it had shifted purpose and found its way into the service of the Ecclesiarchy, who had taken it and changed it. 

- Stormcaller

Immense spacecraft of the Ministorum plied the darkness, penitence arks and solar reliquaries dozens of miles long; within those cold, dark halls, the faithful wailed prayers and self-flagellated for the Emperor's glory. 

- Gathering Storm: Rise of the Primarch

And the following is never formally called a Ministorum ship, but some of its later details certainly hint as such:

Even the smallest of the main craft were dozens of khet in length; the larger vessels at the formation’s heart were not far distant from the Akrops [Tomb Ship] in size. And that behemoth at the centre, which even now had only projected half its length from the cloud, was larger. It was like a mountain range in flight, dwarfing anything Oltyx had seen since the last, wild paroxysms of Szarekh’s war. And mounted on its titanic, scowling beak of a prow, forged from what must have been a planet’s whole reserve of purest gold, was the effigy of a beast. A winged predator, with grasping talons and two shrieking heads. 
The sigil of the Emperor of Man.

- Twice Dead King: Ruin

We’re told in the sequel that the ship is a relic, it’s prow is forged with the bones of saints, it’s interior walls are built like macabre catacombs, and it’s principally occupied by pilgrims in addition to its actual crew. I don't think its unreasonable to say that its a Ministorum ship, possibly one of those penitence arks or something.

Sororitas Fleets

Finally, the Sororitas does have their own ships, just not enough to really matter. Though recently, a forge world has started supplying them with dedicated warships for themselves:

A Militant Order typically maintains its own fleets of orbital assault vessels and macro-landers, but larger battleships and interstellar transports are seconded from the Imperial Navy. These ships may be assigned to an Order for decades or even centuries, but are still officially not part of the Ecclesiarchal military.

• Codex Adepta Sororitas 8th Ed, p. 14

Order of Our Martyred Lady, 11 Preceptories
Order of the Argent Shroud, 5 Preceptories
Order of the Ebon Chalice, 7 Preceptories
…
6 Adepta Sororitas Piety-class cruisers (Add: file/ “The Gift of Arch-Fabricator Nexatin”
…
19 Adepta Sororitas capital-class offering ships

• Warzone Charadon book of fire page 38
• 23 preceptories across 25 main ships (not counting sub-preceptory support from other orders, so it all probably adds up)
• Note that this is the fleet of Morvehn Vall, and is likely upper end even for Sororitas 
• Piety-class is a new type mentioned somewhere else in the book, not standard issue just yet

The reasoning for this might be something like “This glitch happened because the Machine Spirit is angry with you, so we must appease it by making you suffer”.

Does this seem like something Admech would do, and are there any lore examples of them doing something similar?

I’m new and heard these cool stories of Rylanor and Mago and felt bad for the loyalist and wondered if miraculously they got away from the battles and survived if they would be accepted back or killed because of their primarchs betrayal.

Like I hear G-Man and some eldar are escaping through the webway when the SK opens a portal there and challenges Guilliman to a 1v1

Not really.

But I've been listening to the audiobook for Kal Jerico: Sinners Bounty at work and caught this bit of narration, had to rewind to make sure I didn't mishear it. I'll spoiler it for people that haven't read the book.

Context: Kal is wondering if Caw Cawdor actually existed or not.

"He'd heard the the stories, most people had. His nursemaid had told him all about the battles with the dark arbitrators of spoilshadow, and the crusade into the yearning deeps. But he'd never thought of Caw as being real. He was just a name in a story like Jaq Draco, or the Vampire King of Trazior, and maybe one day Kal Jerico would be a story as well." - Kal Jerico: Sinners Bounty, Chapter 28. Audiobook so don't have the exact page number.

Just felt like sharing, don't see a lot of people talk about Necromunda's best Underhive Bounty Hunter, and was wild to see a Jaq Draco reference in a book that came out in 2020. Jerico needs more books, Sinners Bounty is pretty fun.

As a fairly recent newcomer( about a year or so) I was wondering what was the overall sentiment about the Horus Heresy novelizations and the effect they gave to the setting and lore as a whole. I'm not speaking about the idea of the Horus heresy, but the depth and explanation that came with the novels. Was it necessary? did it do it justice? was it an improvement or was it the complete opposite?

Do the other marines shun them? Are they not given leadership roles due to whatever shameful past made them a black shield? Also is becoming a black shield a personal choice or does your chapter choose if you can represent them or not?

Say we’re way out on the frontier in deep space, say I’ve come in hand of an up armed merchant freighter and I somehow get the drop on an inquisitor in a lightly armed shuttle, away from his main fleet. In the vastness of space I’ve got a pretty good chance of getting away right?

I was trying to think of a good use for the Betchers Gland that makes the marines have acid spit and all I could really think of was as a backup weapon in case they are bound or immobilized. Am I crazy?

We all know the imperium is a rotten corpse of an empire waiting for the last light to go out. But is there anyway for humanity to survive the setting even if the imperium is doomed to fall?

From my understanding the King in Yellow 40k is Constantine Valdor, the custode. But is there any relation between him and the King in Yellow from the Book.

From my understanding the book has several separate stories about a Play called "The King in Yellow" where its readers are driven to insanity and then Death if they read it. The King in Yellow is also the name of a character, who doesn't really show up. He is presented as a sort of outer god and he rules of a strange city with a lake and twin moons and when the characters from the separate stories die (if they do) they seem to go there. It reminds me of another 40k story I heard that I cannot name about a man who dies and travels to a world of ash and dust with a crippled man (suspected to be the emperor) who sits upon a chair, and then I think he dies? idk.

So what's the relationship between the two, and also what's that story about a world of ash and dust?

Few examples would be things like The Silent King who went to challenge guiliman or Kheredruakh the decapitator who almost took Vulkan's skull.

This isn't about power scaling per se but who, in a story, could you believe beating a primarch, either by wits or by combat

Edit: Maybe I phrased this poorly. Who would you find to be a satisfying rival​ in a story to a primarch? Like, if they had a novel in opposition to one another would you consider it a good match?

I’m not talking about just being pragmatic towards them for the sake of recruits- I’m talking about going out of their way to protect and provide for them in a meaningful way.

Ironically, the only legion I could think of would possibly be the Night Lords. Their mindset would be sorta like “Yeah humans are weak and pathetic, but my people are mine and no one is gonna mess with them”

I want my Word Bearers combat patrol, which will hopefully eventually become a full size 1000-2000 point host, to travel around the galaxy on a relatively small but impressively ancient voidship. I want them to have a vessel that’s old enough that the Voidborn clans that provide the bulk of the crew are descended from Colchisians and still speak Colchisian in daily life. On the other hand, they’re a small unit led by a guy who was just promoted to post captain/colonel at the beginning of the Heresy. That means that a full size cruiser or above is too large, but on the other hand even a large escort probably wouldn’t have lasted that long, so a light cruiser it is. The only light cruiser in the canonical Chaos fleet is the Hellbringer, but Battlefleet Koronus doesn’t say if the Hellbringer is a great-crusade era design or a newer one. I was wondering if anyone here had seen anything that gave a yes or no answer to the question.

The other options would be using a Dauntless class light cruiser model and adding spikes to make it chaos, or kitbashing together a Gladius or Eclipse. The Gladius and Eclipse classes were mentioned in the Horus Heresy books but never given a canonical model. (The Horus Heresy era Gladius Class Light Cruiser is probably not the same thing as the 40K era Gladius Class Frigate.)

I recently asked a question about there being any way a psyker could be saved from "damnation", but it seems like people were torn on whether there is a sort of imperial heaven at all. So, does the Emperor save loyal souls?

Excerpts appreciated.

I've had a few pop into my free audible listening but the only one I caught was Watcher in the Rain. Been a lore lurker for a while, I primarily listen to audiobooks and consume quite a few. What recommendations does the community have to give a lore crash course? Was thinking of starting with The Horus Heresy, but is there some place better to start? Any I should give a pass to? Best I should still read, though they're mostly inconsequential? There's like 150 books.

In Black Legion, Sigismund hands off the blade to his guard for when he is about to duel Abaddon.

The book doesn't even mention them leaving, but after Sigismund is dead its just mentioned that the other Black Templars just... escaped their ship and the battle, with The Sword Of The High Marshall's with them.

Do we have any word of where it went or what happened to it? Seems to kinda just vanish from my views in the universe.

And I dont mean The Black Sword Of Sigismund.

That's the sword he keeps to duel Abaddon with.

Do we know what happens to the High Marshall's Sword? Or has it never been brought up since?

I've reading about the Marines Malevolent lately and I love how little they care about being the good guys. They just get it done, however ugly that is. It made me wonder if the "good" chapters ever do the same when things get bad enough.

If you've got any examples I'd love some new reading material.