Brüthers Grimm chapter origin, history, and codex. Part 1: Brüthar Grimm origin

This is the first installment of my home-brew Warhammer 40k Space Marine chapter, the Brüthers Grimm. It’s the story of the origin of the chapters founder and first patriarch, Brüthar Grimm. Enjoy and stay tuned for more chapter history and organization.

Download the PDF here Brüthar Grimm Origin

Legion Astartes

Imperium Sanctioned Chapter No. 613

The Brüthers Grimm

Brüthar Grimm and pre astartes origins

In the year 313 of the 33rd millenium, 3,000 after the Horus Heresy and the the Siege of Terra, humaity continues to fight for it’s ever diminishing toehold on control of the galaxy against heretics from with the Imperium, the scourge of the Tyranid and other xenos powers, and of course, the great enemy, Chaos and Abaddon the Despoiler and his Black Crusades. It fights against the inevitability of losing itself to the ruinous powers of choas with only the strongest and most courageous able to further man’s cause. One of these is a man called Brüthar Grimm. A warrior-priest from the giant, midevil techno word of Mortus IV, he fights with unrelenting determination in the name of his people. For decades he fights to protect his homeworld from the evil of the warp that spews from the Eye of Terror. Thousands follow him and thousands die for him. He leads them to victory after victory and they believe he is their hope and salvation in troubled times. Brüthar Grimm is a legend and a hero in his own time. And the legend has only begun to unfold...

Brüthar Grimm led his armies from a gaint fortress monastary constructed in the great mountain range that spans Mortus’ equator, by the planetary governors to better his effoerts against both choas and the insidious genestealer cults of the tyranids. He was a priest himself and his faith in the Emperor and his convictions afforded him the ability to withstand the temptations from the warp beyond that of most men. After decades of war, both at home and throughout the Mortis System, Brüthar led his forces for what was to be his last time against the evil, unholy powers from the warp and their twisted, mutated bodies in what was to become known as the Mortus Campaign. Warriors from the planetary Monarchy fought galantly by his side but alas, against overwhelming odds and inexhaustible power from beyond reality, humanity ebbed and Brüthar fell to the sword of the powerful agent of choas - a genestealer cult leader udner the influence of the Lord of Excess, the Demon Slaanesh. Mortus IV was in ruins, Grimm’s followers went into hiding, and his monastary turned into a gateway to the hell that was warp space.

According to Grimm later*, he had met death himself and was given a choice. The Reaper had offered Grimm the chance to return to the living and fight for his people in exchange for 10,000 souls ending with his own, delivered to death by Grimm’s own blade. Not even his own soul meant more to him than the two things that he loved the most, his family, who had already been deprived of him through years of war, and the chance to help his people win back their home worlds from choas and return into the embrace of the Emperor’s light. He agreed to Death’s terms and 13 years later, found himself in the wastelands outside his Citadel with new powers he had never experienced before. He found himself bound to the dark creatures of Mortus IV - those that came from nightmares and stories told to children of old Earth before it was known as Terra, and the forces that ruled the night - the Vampire, the lycan, the raven, all manner of creature from myth and folklore of ancient Earth and everynight reality of Mortus IV. Brüthar traveled far away from his homeland and mustered all the help he could find from those that had managed to escape the temptations of Slannesh and still faught to abolish this evil. They could scarcely believe that their beloved leader had returned from the grave to join them once again in battle. In addition, he had his new allies of mysterious nature, woven from the very fabric of their planet itself, [Imperial note: these forces will be explained later in these texts as it pertains to Mortus IV and Grimm’s history] which joined those he led in an uneasy yet much needed allaince forged in the name of Grimm. After 3 more years, Brüthar Grimm returned with his new armies upon the gates of the Monastary fortress of and proclaimed that he had returned to free his world of the unholy scourge of Chaos and fight for humanity once again. In the greatest battle that Mortus had ever seen, tens of thousands of his people fell but so too did mutant, heretic, and alien alioke. They all fell upon Brüthar’s blade - Soul Render, the deadly power scythe gifted to him by death. He fought with a vengence never seen before and was well on his way to fulfilling his bargain with the underworld. Along with a small group of the old monarchy and a cadre of dark creatures of storybook legend, Grimm battled his way to the sanctuary, the heart of the citadel, and turned the tide of the war when he met face to face the selfsame choas spawned demon who had taken his life once before and struck it down with a mighty blow, back to the warp from whence it came. They had retaken the Monastary and from there, reestablished the planetary government, with Grimm named High Necromancer and Protector of Mortus IV. In the years to follow, Grimm’s armies cleansed the system of the rest of the forces of chaos and gave its people renewed hope. Brüthar Grimm was reunited with his family and enjoyed a short time of peace with his people.

However, these times would not last long. Choas had fled the Mortus system to nearby worlds and Grimm and his armies of the night were called upon to help humanity once again. Grimm’s cause was taking him farther and farther from his home. Grimm became melancholy and detached and was set upon fulfilling his pact with Death so that he could return to his family and home. He had cut a swath through evil on countless worlds and fought for decades and had forgotten what it had meant to be home and what he had left behind. Grimm seemed all but immortal and thousands of souls were sent ot their deaths as he had promised. He received word that the threat of choas loomed over Mortus IV itself once again. He returned home to find that his wife had years before succumb to the hold of the Demon of Slannesh, who had also returned from its destruction. Grimm had sent 9,997 souls by his own hand to their final rest, and had vowed to outsmart Death by refusing to kill again. However, when he returned to the Citidel to find his wife under Chaos’ scourge he could not bear it. He would destroy this terrible being once and for all and then the last soul he would send to death would be that of his beloved wife, to put her out of the misery of serving choas for all eternity. With a gut wrenching outpouring of psychic power, he set his wife free and then turned his blade to the demon. He raised his scythe once again, and once again vanquished that which he had before, completely and utterly, channeling the emotion of his actions into the mightiest blow he had ever stuck, and as his blade fell upon the demon, Brüthar Grimm’s heart exploded. He had been outsmarted by death. For his was the last soul to be sent to the underworld, the 10,000th. As Brüthar Grimm lay dying before his subjects, his children joined him by his side, knowing they would live on in peace thanks to his deeds.

Some 13 years later, it is said that Brüthar Grimm returned again to the living world of Mortus IV and his Monastary. His Necromancers had continued his quest and upheld the edicts that he had set years before. They welcomed Grimm and as a reward for his unfettered devotion to humanity, Guilliman proclaimed him Patriarch of the 613th chapter of Imperial Space Marines, The Brüthers Grimm. He was allowed to continue his alliance with the forces of Mortus IV and with the help of these dark totems, led the Brüthers Grimm for some 500 years until his mysterious disappearance from his holy Citadel. His line lived on and he had proclaimed one of his great grandsons, Grayson Lothar Grimm, as Lord Protector of Mortus IV and the Brüthers Grimm. Some say that he had made another deal wtih Death to provide as many souls as his Chapter could provide for all eternity. Some say that he had learned how to master the currents of the warp and travel between the world of the living and the world of the dead freely. Nobody truly knows save for Brüthar Grimm and the Dark Reaper. Whatever the myths or truths may be, the Brüthers Grimm fight on today in the name of Grimm and in the name of the Reaper, and in service of his majesty, the Emperor of all Humanity. They wait for his return again. He has so far not been seen again in some 6,000 years, but the chapter necromancers claim he will return.