Origins

The Black Griffons are a successor chapter of the Black Templars. A complete company of the Black Templars were presumed lost in the Warp during one of the chapter’s space fleet jumps to a new war theatre in the 35th Millennia. In reality the ship deviated from the originally course for thousands of light-years due to a terrible jump engine failure. Emerging from the warp they soon realized that they had lost contact with the rest of the Black Templar fleet. Even the strongest Astropaths were not able to locate any other Space Marine vessel. With an exhausted jump engine the Marines were stranded in space.

However, the ship was lucky to reach a planetary system that was populated by humans that has – like so many others – lost contact to the Imperium of Man during the Age of Darkness. The humans on the second planet of this system were not of great help to the stranded Space Marines. They had lost faith in the Emperor, had forgotten the Imperium and were barely more the savages. The Imperial Law was quickly renewed with the harshness one can expect from a Space Marine company. In the coming years the Marines established complete control over the whole planet.

Getting in contact with the rest of the Imperium was the top priority. Expeditions were send in the remotest parts of the system. Their explorations were ultimately rewarded with the finding of an ancient stasis field protected Imperial Research facility from the Dark Age of Technology on the fourth planets moon. The joy of the companies Techmarines was overwhelming as they discovered several STCs – Standard Construction Template – presumed lost forever. Not only the STCs contained information that enabled the Techmarines to repair their ships jump engine, they also retrieved the information to build a variation of the Space Marine Land Speeder.

They also learned that the systems name was Gryphone.

The Techmarines immediately started to repair their ships jump engines. All spirits were high when a new disaster struck the brave Marines.

A small Ork Waagh entered the system. The Marines were forced to go into hiding and to start a guerrilla war against the invading Orks. They had to adapt to the new tactical situation. The ways of the Codex Astardes did not function under these severe conditions. After long consideration these desperate group of Space Marines decided to leave the way of the Codex behind. Knowing that these actions are very close to heresy they decided to rename their group, so that their action could not disgrace the honour of the Black Templars. Taking the name of the systems they had to defend the Black Griffons was born. To further their fight against the Orks the Techmarines put the recently found STC to good news. The tactical situation needed a faster troop transport vehicle as the standard Rhino or Razorback APCs. In addition the resources of the Black Griffons were much stretched already after loosing several APCs in the initial fighting. The resourceful Techmarines of the Black Griffons came to the Land Speeder Thunderstroke solution that was discovered on the second STC. A heavily modified Land Speeder with the ability to transport up to four Space Marines in Power Armour. Some armour had to be sacrifices to make this possible, but the tactical possibilities were breathtaking.

All this means put together enabled the Black Griffons to win over the far numerous Orks.

In the coming years after the Ork incursion the Black Griffons perfected their new tactical doctrine and repaired the jump engines of their Strikeship, eventually leaving the Gryphone system behind. After several fights and adventures on their journey back toward human controlled space, contact was again established with the Black Templar fleet.

The High Marshal of the Black Templars himself was shocked by the serious breach of the Codex Astardes but also impressed by the resourcefulness and success of his Brother Marines. In the end it was decided to keep the whole incident highly confidential. No word of this had to get outside the Black Templars. The Black Griffons were secretly given limited rights of a Space Marine chapter under the condition that the Griffons would remain a secret force within the Black Templars. Only the High Marshal of the Black Templars and his most trusted officers would know of their existence. To most other Black Templars they would appear as another company of the Black Templars. They can only wear their chapter insignia on secret missions. On all other missions they would operate under the Black Templar markings. The Black Griffons had in fact become the secret task force of the Black Templars.

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