Snipe and Wib Chapter: Adeptus Astartes' Biography

Dangerous Beginnings
The tale of The Founding leader of the Snipe and Wib Chapter is one filled with triumph, struggle, love - of all things, in the grim dark future - and holy Golden Age virtual entertainment relics. But most of all, our Lady's origins would lead to the beginning of our current Chapter's existence today. Read carefully, so that you may know who she is and take with you the glory that is she!

The truth of Lady Snipe's origin remains within, and only in, the annals of our chapter. Long ago, Snipe was born and came of age on the treacherous, hostile and ever changing planet called Australia. Named after the original continent on Holy Terra, the planet shares its name sake with its variety of land, flora and hostile fauna. The saying still holds when asked the disposition of the world; "Everything in Australia wants to kill you!" A fringe world within Imperium territory, the planet and its most brave of citizens rarely see any support, and are constantly tested by the world itself. But of the 99% death rate at the hands of the environment, it is accurate to say that Lady Snipe was of the 1% to best it all.

Ever since she first entered a Holy Imperium church, created by Holy Terra's galactic missionaries when they found planet Australia, Snipe was awed by the courage and might of the Adeptus Astartes: the Space Marines. Though her desire to be like them was truly admirable, her friends and family only laughed at the idea of it. "No woman could ever become a true Space Marine!" they often said. "Fuck you! I AM gonna be a Space Marine!" our Chapter Master's reply was, most often. Despite opposition, Snipe went out into the wilderness and fought against many of its deadly creatures as training to achieve her goal. Her greatest foe was always the planet's top predator, and her deepest fear: the Mirkwood Giant Queen Spider. Out of every creature on the planet that sought to kill any Humans on sight, the Queen and her ilk are the most frequent aggressors. It would be years before she was ready to face a Queen, but when she was, she succeeded: bringing back the Queen's silk and fangs as proof of her accomplishments to her people, proving her strength, cunning and sheer will power to all. Lady Snipe often makes visits back to her home world, if only to kill more of the atrocious beasts. She seeks to annihilate them, but they are virulent foes, one falling to be replaced by two more. This has never deterred her from continuing, however.

Snipe would still be denied the chance to be Adeptus Astartes, but she was on the right path. Her first step came when word of her accomplishments reached the Adeptus Sororitas. It wasn't exactly standard recruitment protocol, but Snipe's aptitude for combat and survival allowed the Sisters to make an exception.

Joining - and leaving - the Adeptus Sororitas
Snipe herself was reluctant to the offer, despite the rarity, given her home world's distance from the main center of the Imperium. She still wanted to become a Space Marine, but the Sisters explained to her that it was physically impossible. A woman's body could not survive the dangerous procedure required to make an Adeptus Astartes, they explained. Disheartened by this revelation, Lady Snipe yielded and accepted the offer; if she could not become a Space Marine, then at the very least she would become the second closest to one. This did not mean she gave up on her dream entirely, however. Many events in her life would redirect her focus to become a Space Marine, in time.

Snipe's training within the Ordo Militant of the Sisters flew faster than a Valkyrie. Her time spent training and fighting on Australia had given her the edge needed to rise to the rank of Canoness Commander, in record time. More so, she was very popular among the lower ranks for her charm, straight-forwardness, humor, and love of music: from her old life she still held on to her wooden guitar, practicing and playing it when time permitted. During missions, when helping her fellow Sister orders like the Ordo Hospitalia, she would read stories of the heroes of the Imperium and play songs: both from the Holy Imperial Cannon and of her own songs from back home, to children and other families. Sometimes, the children called her "Mother Snipe", as a sign of affection, to which she would call them, "My little lovelies!"

One fateful day would remove her from the Sisters of Battle, sadly, but was necessary for her path to true greatness to continue. Lady Snipe - before known as Canoness Commander Snipe - and her Commandery were ordered by the their Prioress, whom which was ordered by their Canoness Superior, to aid the forces of the Inquisition on a lost Imperial world. The Inquisition was present because of suspicions of Heresy given how long the planet and its Human populace were segregated from the Imperial body. But in the meantime, the Sisters would go and help convert the people back to the Imperium of Man.

The Commandery and their Prioress landed on the world and made contact with the Humans, with minor resistance; the world's current powers were at war with each other, so the Sisters chose the most compliant to aid. It took some time, but the conflict of the planet was resolved finally, with another world to join the Imperium. Again, Lady Snipe's warm charm helped ease the world to trust in the Imperium again, but something was still wrong. Lady Snipe and a squad of her choosing went out to investigate for signs of Chaos before the Inquisition would arrive, intending to "soften the blow" when the possible discovery was made. To their dreaded expectations, there was most definitely Chaos at present.

The rival super power of the world, now defeated, were Chaos worshipers. Hidden in their main HQ was a shrine to Lord Tzeench, the Deamon God of knowledge and change. Apparently, by the suspicions of the compliant super power, their neighbors were at best respectful to them until recently. The shrine and unholy artifacts within was a strong indication of their neighbor's sudden change in behavior and their desire to destroy them. Lady Snipe reported her findings to her Prioress, but also adding that the compliants were not wholly aware of their former neighbors' heresy, claiming their innocence in the matter. The Prioress acknowledged, and reported to the Inquisition. The Inquisitors would do their job, but not in the way Snipe was expecting.

In her mind, Snipe believed the Prioress would inform the Inquisitors of the shrine, whom which would then land and quarantine the area, then scan the rest of the populace with as little invasive procedures as possible. What she witnessed was entirely different, and tragic, on the day she and her Commandery left. Lady Snipe looked out the window and saw the ships of the Inquisition commence Exterminatus on the planet, reducing it to glass. All she could do was bang on the view port window in anger and misery.

After, Lady Snipe confronted the Prioress, demanding angrily an explanation as to why the Inquisition destroyed the world, when its victorious government - that they aided - showed no signs of chaos taint? The Prioress simply stated that she would not tolerate heresy: neither of any kind, nor of any scale. "Better to be safe than sorry..." was her words. If the Emperor's wrath were given form, our righteous Lady would be its avatar. She spat obscenities at her Prioress, calling her a malcontent and even crossing the line with her last statement, "YOU are the fucking HERETIC, ya cunt!" With that vulgar accusation, the Prioress heard enough. She challenged Snipe to a duel of Honor, one with the potential of ending deadly for the loser. Snipe accepted without hesitation.

The two met within the training dojo, with all the other Sister there to watch. Swords in hand, with no armor, save for cloth wrappings, protecting them. Steel and fury clashed, with the Prioress with an early advantage. It appeared Snipe would be bested and killed, but her anger and sorrow for the innocents lost drove her through the pain: she wanted this woman to hurt, and badly! With a swift doge and swing, Snipe severed the Prioress' sword arm, leaving her wide open. Instead, Lady Snipe abandoned her own and started to beat the Prioress senselessly to the ground. Cheers and chants turned to hushed shock and covered mouths. Snipe's rage would have had the Prioress battered to death, were it not for the Canoness Superior's intervention. She saw how the duel devolved to a near-mindless killing and looked upon our Lady with disappointment. Snipe explained all that had transpired up to this moment, but the Superior would have none of it. Though it was true: the Prioress' action was less than ideal, and the Superior did believe in Snipe's words, the way our Lady reacted to it all was unacceptable to her. As punishment, Snipe would be stripped of all ranks and honors, and be exiled from the Adeptus Sororitas. Lady Snipe would leave and wander the galaxy, arriving on Fenris much later.

Lady Snipe fell into a deep depression after being exiled. With her exile from the Adeptus Soroitas, she could not join any other imperial military; not even the Imperial Guard would take her, what with being kicked out from one of the most respected and revered orders of Man. The life of a mere civilian was not for her either, given her constant struggle to both survive and become stronger. For her, war was her home but now she was without one. Her wandering brought her to Fenris, where she had hoped a beast of the planet would end her life, saving what little dignity she had left. A low point in our Lady's life, yes, but it would not be the end, however.

The She Wolf of the Snow
Snipe endured the constant frozen wilderness, avoiding whatever constituted as civilization of Fenris. Alone, cold and without food - often having prey stolen from larger predators - Lady Snipe was struggling more than she ever had. One night, when the moon of Fenris was full, and the snow had fallen softly for the first time in months, Snipe had found a rare opportunity: foot prints. And no ordinary foot prints either... Wolf paws. A Fenrisian wolf, and it was wounded. Blood trails followed the prints to a near-by cave. This was it; a chance to survive for Snipe. Killing the beast would be a feat of its own, but more importantly its fur and meat would provide Snipe with much need warmth and food! The risk was great, but regardless, Snipe followed her quarry.

She entered the cave and heard the heavy breathing of the wolf. She stalked her prey's trail, and then saw it. The wolf was barely alive. It's wounds appeared to have been inflicted by another, stronger wolf. With her knife in hand Snipe came up to the wolf ready to strike. The wolf opened its eyes and stared right into hers, growling in defiance. It tries to lift itself up, but it was too weak to even stand. This was it: it felt the end was near. And yet, even with the wolf weakened to the point of helplessness, the killing blow did not come. Snipe lowered her knife down slowly without breaking eye contact from the beast.

There was a long silence, and then Lady Snipe screamed to the top of her lungs. Not out of pain or frustration, but out of a self-realization. When she met eye-to-eye with the wolf, she didn't see a once deadly beast. More than that, when she looked into its eyes she saw herself: beaten, broken, and worst of all helpless. But above all else: a desire to live. For her, Snipe could not kill the wolf because, like her, it did not want to die. She saw how foolish her wish to die without purpose was, to let her sorrow destroy her, or to live in despair with her failure. But she was still alive, and she still desired to remain so. It was small, and foolish, but she decided to make her own purpose: to live, and to help others live when she could. She would start by attempting to save the beast. If she could not, then at least ease its pain before it passed. When you take away the glory, honor and rhetoric there was one unalienable truth: even when one is willing, no one truly wishes to die.

Surviving on scraps of smaller game and using her survival skills to gather herbs and berries as mundane medicine, Snipe nursed the wolf to health. Days turned to long, brutal weeks with blistering winds of ice and snow swirling through the air, and dangerous beasts seeking to kill and consume Lady Snipe, all the while helping the wolf to heal. The day came when Snipe returned to the cave where she last left the wolf. She came to the spot where the wolf was often laying down and sleeping, only to find torn bandages. The wolf was gone. Suddenly, Snipe was pounced on by a heavy weight and pinned to the rocky floor. The wolf had healed, and it looked like it would start the day with eating Snipe. Its teeth bared and yellow eyes glaring at her, snarling. But instead it smells her, taking in her scent. It slowly backs away from her and then goes to smell where its covered wounds used to be. It looked back to her for a moment, then ran out of the cave. Snipe was left dumbfounded. Perhaps the wolf understood what she did, and returned the favor.

By dusk, Snipe was meditating as she did when she was still a sister; a means of maintaining a steady mind. She then heard foot steps from outside and grabbed her weapon. from the shadow of the Forrest, a Fenrisian wolf was dragging a great stag in its teeth. It dropped the stag at the caves mouth and sat in front of it, waiting. Never in the wildest of tales, even on Fenris, would this encounter be treated as truth. But for us, the Chapter, and our dear Lady, it was as real as it could be. In tales of the Space Wolves, a warrior does not choose its wolf; a wolf chooses its warrior. And it would seem this one chose Snipe. Snipe could only sigh in a rare state of relief and walked slowly to the wolf. She carefully put her hand out to the wolf, and in turn the wolf licked her hand. "Thank you, my friend." were our Lady's only words. The wolf howled in kind.

Snipe and her new wolf companion, named Procnir, or "Protector" in Fenrisian (although Lady Snipe often refers to her wolf as "Mista Fluffles"... D-don't inquire, please. We're at a bit of a loss ourselves, as the majority of the Chapter). Snipe's skills and Procnir's instincts worked together to keep them alive through out their years on Fenris. Sightings of her from other tribes and her wolf have given rise to a very interesting title: An sí-Mac Tíre na Sneachta. Or "The She Wolf of the Snow" in low-Gothic. In the Fang, the monastery of the Space Wolves, the name "She Wolf" was on everyone's lips. Treated more like a passing of folk-lore, the Wolves paid little mind to it other than an entertaining tale of their planet. But a rune priest by the name of Njal Stormcaller took these murmurs of the She Wolf with interest. 

A powerful psyker and highly respected rune priest - or Librarian, for the codex inclined - Njal's words were near that of the Wolf Lord himself, Logan Grimmnar. By his order, two blood claws and a Grey Hunter as leader would scout the area from which the "She Wolf" was last seen. If they were to find one or both, they were to bring them alive. Meanwhile, Snipe and her wolf had split up to cover more ground and hunt for more food. The Space Wolves tracking the duo found Procnir first, and engaged him. The wolf at first fled to avoid conflict with the Wolves, but they always remained close no matter how far he ran. Eventually, he was cornered and fought back. The Red Claws were reckless, slashing and growling as much as Procnir, goad the wolf to strike. The Grey Hunter waited patiently for an opening as the two welps egged the wolf on. But before he could strike, Lady Snipe had taken them by surprise.

From above, leather bound spheres fell from the sky above the battle and bounced to the feet of the Space Wolves. The balls exploded into a thick white smoke after their lit fuses reached the end. Nothing could be seen beyond an arm's reach, and the the Blood Claws lost sight of the wolf. But from within the smoke came a new shape. A small, human sized figure, perched on an unseen mass. It's head looked like an great elk's antlers, but its face was close to a wolf's in contrast. A low growl came from the figure, to which the first Blood Claw responds with a roar and swing of his axe. He swung his axe at the figure, connecting. He peers closer, and realizes he hit nothing but the rock. A twig breaks, and then he follows the sound back.

The other Blood Claw stood in his place, circling within the fog, seeking his prey. He heard footsteps, then a trail of smoke disturbed. He could feel the wolf - or even the She Wolf - circling him. He slowly backs up, and then suddenly a heavy mass knocks him forward. He swings around wildly to catch it, but fails. Again, another heavy push. And again, he swings and misses. Anger rising the Red Claws roars and swings around even more, hoping to cleave it in two.

The Grey Hunter waited at the edge of the smoke, tracking the movement within. Roars, grunts, growls and the sound of earth being cleaved open were the only signs for the old space marine to know that his pups were still alive, still fighting. Silence came, then two loud noises pierced through the silence: THWACK! THWACK! And then two sudden thuds: THUD, THUD!!! As if two Ygdrassil Oaks falling down near similtaneously. The Grey Hunter need not see to know what had happened to the Blood Claws...

The smoke finally clears, and now he sees two of his welps on the ground, wounded but not dead, lying as if they had gone through several tankards of Fenrisian ale in one moon lit night. His gray brow rises in confusion, only to narrow from the sound of snow crunching under foot and paw. He veered his eyes ahead of the downed blood claws and saw the two responsible: Lady Snipe, covered in wolf pelt and stag helm, and Procnir, holding a set of axes in his teeth. Lady Snipe took one from him, with little resistance from the loyal wolf, and held it in both hands. Normally, a weapon of an astartes would be too heavy for a human. Then again, our fair Lady was no normal human...

"The She Wolf..." The Gray Hunter speaks out loud.

"Astartes... Why are you here?"

"For you, She Wolf. A Rune Priest requires your presence."

"Hmph. No thanks."

"Requires. Not "Requests"..."

Lady Snipe's face remains unmoved, despite it being masked. Then she states plainly,

"I respect the Space Marines, and most of all the Space Wolves. So I grant you fair warning: out here, in these woods...

"I'M. BOSS. Back off!"

Procnir swings the axe in its teeth to the side, emphasizing his master's warning, teeth bared and growling vocally. The Grey Hunter chuckles in his throat, and exhales deeply, his breath visible in the cold air. He eyes Snipe and says to her in response,

"I see. Yes... Then, let us see who is the REAL boss, shall we?"

The Vision, the Raven, and the Holy Reel Tape
Nyjal Storm Caller waited patiently for his squad of Wolves to return. He hears the great doors to his temple open, and from them enters the three warriors. The Grey Hunter looked bruised and cut, but unshaken. His Blood Claws looked worse in comparison, and with a swelling anger in their eyes, as they look down to their quarry: Lady Snipe and Procnir were apprehended at last. "I can trust that they did not cause too much trouble?" Nyjal asks. "Not to me, at least..." The Grey Hunter says, while looking over to his somewhat-shamed blood claws. "Have them in seperate cells, and I will speak with them personally." Nyjal ordered. As the hunters left the priest's chamber, he casts some bones and runic pebbles on his table: skeletal remains of wolf and raven scattered. He stares into the random pattern for a long time.

Lady Snipe awoke slowly from her slumber. At first the lights were dim, and her vision blurry, leaving her unsure of what has happened. Her vision regains itself, and now she sees here situation. Trapped behind a cage made cold iron and steel, it was obvious what has happened to her: she was beaten, and then captured. She could only guess what happened to Procnir, Emperor protect that wolf. She sits herself back down and awaits the inevitable.