Minutes From the Chapter Council

Here follow the minutes from the Chapter Council, meeting date: [REDACTED]

Item the First: Call to Order.
The Chapter Lord and Lady call the meeting to order. Chapter Lord Wib vocally shushes a squabbling pair of Squad Captains at the rear of the Grand Hall. Lady Snipe scratches the head of her Fenrisian wolf, Procnir, and eyes this humble scribe suspiciously.

Item the Second: Roll Call
In attendance this day:
 * The Chapter Lady Snipe and the Chapter Lord Wib (aka Lord Wibblit Ward, but make NO mention!)
 * Venerable Musicae "Drummer" Matt (aka Drummius Matthias)
 * Venerable Musicae Dicko Slu (aka Dickardo Slu)
 * Master of Mechanics, Fergus McFien
 * High Captain Hans Draconis, Commander of the Seventh Company (Somewhat upset his cyclone missiles were not allowed in the hall)
 * 5mikeh, Dreadnought Captain
 * Captain of Special Operations. Maximus "The Mad" Omar
 * The Operations Captains of Salvage Teams 1 through 5 (others absent on assignment)
 * High Captain of the First Company, Iomhar, the Longfang
 * High Captains of the Second through Tenth Companies
 * Overseer of Orbital Assets, Zoe Forescythe
 * and other sundry persons, representatives, commanders, and no less than five full squads of Chapter Astartes in observation.

Item the Third: Review of Minutes from Last Meeting
A concise review of the last council meeting were read. Following are the relevant comments from this meeting.
 * 1) The High Captain of the First Company called for update on the retro-fitting of the Strike Cruiser Peñor for the sole and dedicated use of the First Company. Overseer Forescythe stated that the refittings were moving along ahead of schedule, and the ship was expected to be in full working condition as of the next council meeting. The High Captain noted that this was the assessment of the last meeting, and the one previous to that one. The Overseer responded by throwing a small wrench at the High Captain's head. They were both censured by the Chapter Lord and Lady.
 * 2) Salvage Team 19's reconnaissance of the planet Screwthisnoise, in the Ghoul Stars region, had been selected as a possible salvage and reclamation site, following study of the gathered evidence. Venerable Musicae Dicko Slu stated that the evidence of Golden Age remains was clear, and that after due consideration of the risks inherent of operating in the region, Salvage Teams would be dispatched with a full Cruiser support, to be commandeered from the Imperial Navy on the journey to Screwthisnoise. This motion was applauded by all in attendance, and duly passed.
 * 3) As the minutes of the previous were quickly restated, Chapter Lord Wib reiterated that Master of Mechanics McFien would wear pants at all times, when on duty in the Chapter Fortress. McFien protested again that his kilt would more than suffice, but was overruled. "No one needs to see that," Lord Wib said, and the matter was put to rest. McFien, in pants under protest, lit a new cigar and let his gaze wander.
 * 4) Master of the Forge Kale Kinwrath absent on urgent duty, reported Captain Hans Draconis. The Artillery Company Commander reported his deputation to fill Kinwrath's role on Council, and represent the Forge on all matters put forth. Chapter Lord Wib queried the nature of Kinwrath's absence, to which Draconis replied, "removing a Neophyte from a Meltagun." When questioned further about the exact details, and whether he did not mean separating a Meltagun from a Neophyte, Draconis paused for a polite moment, and stated that he had accurately reported the situation at hand. Matter abandoned under wild speculation, Captain Draconis recognized.

Item the Fourth
The Captains of the Salvage Teams on rotation on O'Magudnis called for a moment of silence for their brothers, wherever they be under the Emperor's grace. Motion passed by the sudden and profound silence within the Great Hall. Silence broken by the raised hand of Lady Snipe, who thanked the Salvage Captains for their sacrifices for the good of the Chapter's central mission. The Captains bowed to the Lady's praise, and were applauded raucously by those assembled. Fenrisian ale was provided to the Captains as the council moved on.

Item the Fifth
The Armory representative, Campbell, raised his chainsword prosthetic high above his head, and called for a standardization of heavy weapons across all units, with especial attention to the more exotic forms of weaponry, such as Volkite cannons and Grav-Rifles. His speech was interrupted by a startling trombone solo from one of the Astartes present. The assembled listened closely for nearly two minutes, until a saxophone began playing in contest, from the other end of the hall. The two Astartes played over, with, and in tune with each other for several blistering minutes, with the council in rapt attention. Finally, the soloists concluded, nodded respectfully at each other, and retook their seats. The motion was recognized by the Chapter Lord and Lady, and Campbell was told to take it up with Captains at the platoon level.

Item the Sixth
The High Captain of the First Company raised a protest to the Lady Snipe's policies, as to the restrictions to his company's recruitment. As he noted, an Astartes candidate for promotion to the elite First Company must have passed several tests before being considered. First, he must have spent no less than a decade total rotation in the Salvage Teams, searching for Golden Age relics. Second, he must have secured a relic of great importance to the Chapter, be it a cache of console games, or a most sacred copy of Godzilla vs. Biollante. Third, he must have repeatedly distinguished himself in combat, in ways showing his commitment to his brothers and the Chapter ideals. Fourth and last, he must have shown a indisputable sense of humor over his career. More than a few veteran Astartes have been held back from promotion to the First Company until they had completed remedial stand-up comedy, and comedic swearing course-work. This has long been a pet mandate of the Chapter Lady, ensuring that no veteran put forth in the best of all units, will shame the Chapter for lack of a sense of humor. It was at this mandate that the High Captain voiced his discontent, having turned away many promising candidates, veterans all, from his elite company. He asked that the humor clause be redacted, such that he could better arm his forces with proven warriors. To this, the Chapter Lady kept silent for a tense moment. The wolf Procnir raised his head with a plaintive whine. Leaning towards her vox amplifier, the Lady gave her pronouncement. "My company don't want none less you got funs, hun!" The matter was laid to rest, and the High Captain conceded the argument with a heavy sigh. The Master of Mechanics slid him a small cigar and lighter, offering a cocked eyebrow and a shrug in support. A second column of grey, foul-smelling smoke raised itself towards the dome of the Great Hall, and the council continued on.

Item the Seventh
A repeated request from Inquisitor Baron Nagant, of the Ordo Malleus. The Inquisitor, having briefly alighted on O'Magudnis some weeks before, carried with him a rare specimen: a Gyrinx. While guest of the Chapter Lord and Lady, the Xenos animal escaped, and has not been spotted since. The Inquisitor was forced to leave on Inquisitorial matters, but has sent multiple requests for information on the creature, citing it's rare and valuable nature. Except for a brief but intensive search, the Chapter has not extended any resources to this end, as a Gyrinx is a relatively harmless creature, especially compared to the Fenrisian wolves which populate the Chapter Fortress petting zoo. The matter was again raised before the council, calling for the return of the animal to Inquisitor Baron Nagant. Lord Wib suggested loosing the wolves from their habitat, to track its scent.

As the matter was debated, lupine exercise and diet considerations among them, a sharp eye would have seen a change come over the Master of Mechanics. His distant boredom shifted to a thinly concealed worry. A very sharp eye would have seen him hunch forward over his seat, leaning against a hand placed between his face and the Chapter Lady. These eyes would have seen him huffing on his cigar until the tip glowed red. As the conversation tilted between utter lack of concern, and the joy the hunt would bring to the wolves, McFien found his voice. "I woul' nae be sae concerned. It's a wee thin', isnae it, an' supposed tae be all fuzzy, aye?. It's th' inquisitor's faut fur loosin' it. Nae uir problem anyhoo?"

This was met by a round of shrugs the Great Hall over. Either swayed by his argument, or unable to parse sense from his brogue, the council let the matter of the missing Xenos creature drop. A exploratory commission was instead selected to explore options for other things the wolves could chase, as part of their exercise regimen. A very, very, sharp pair of eyes would have seen McFien nearly slide out of his chair with relief, its source as of yet unknown.

Item the Eighth
The Operations Captain of Team 4 had stood up to gain the attention of the Hall. He announced that there were concerns of their Special Operations leader Brother Captain Maximus Omar. Spec.Ops. Captain Omar remained silent whilst observing and moving his right prosthetic power-fist, a war wound received from a previous campaign. The Captain of Observations Team 4 stated that Captain Omar had been absent within most salvaging duties, even though as Spec.Ops. leader, absences are to be expected. But in this case, he continues, he points out that Captain Omar himself had often ventured into Xenos territory. Alone. Specifically in Eldar held territory. Captain Maximus Omar continues to pay no mind, content with tapping his left, non-mechanical hand on the table. The Captain of Team 4 stares at Captain Omar intensely, while the Hall awaits further explanation. The accusatory captain continues. He states that such actions of intentionally separating oneself from his team raises concerns, and goes to the great length of accusing him of clandestine goals that would be dangerous to the chapter as a whole. He then awaits a response from Captain Omar to the accusations against him, narrowing his view to the aloof Astartes. The room remained silent with all eyes on the Spec.Ops. Captain.

From the records given, Captain Maximus Omar was once with the Ordo Xenos before joining the Chapter, and is known for his expertise of Eldar technology, science, and their ways of the warp;, as well as acting as mediator between the Chapter and other negotiable Xenos.

Brother Captain Maximus Omar finally looks to the Team 4 Operations Captain. He locks eyes with his counterpart for a full minute, before closing his eyes while tinkering with his power-fist. The sound of a seal opening is heard throughout the Hall, and a small floating violet crystal rises from his mechanical palm. The entire room locks their full attention on the object as it floats to the center. From it, a sphere-shaped holographic projection envelops the room, filling the Hall with stars and planets. The map focuses on a planet within the center of the Eastern Fringe. A rectangular box blips above the focused planet, the text reading only as this scribe has read: "Gojira - M1,954". The crystal deactivates and then floats to the Chapter Lord Wib's hand, and into his grasp. Lord Wib Looks to his Lady, to which the Lady nods in response. Captain Maximus Omar finally speaks. He says, begin quote: "The Eldar give their regards. And you're welcome, Brother Captain of Operations Team 4." End quote. The formerly accusative Captain lowers his head and resits himself, remaining silent for the remainder of the Hall's conference. Applause echoed through the Hall, as well as from the Lord and Lady, and returned to silence, continuing the conference.

Item the Ninth
Dreadnought 5mirkeh raised to speak, filling the Great Hall with the sound of clanking armor and ill-oiled pistons. He put forward a request to the elsewhere Master of the Forge Kinwrath, in front of the assembled council, that he be allowed to mount and carry a powerful Thunderfire Cannon in battle, along with sufficient armatures and chassis retrofits to enable its use. The matter was immediately contested by Lord Wib, despite Lady Snipe's interest, evidently out of sheer terror at the prospect. By vote of the council, it was put to Artillery Captain Hans Draconis' sole judgement, as representative for the absent Master of the Forge. Fingers steepled on his desk, he delayed judgement, citing the need to foster inter-branch cooperation. McFien quietly noted a, "wee cunnin' gleam ' in his eye with a note of approval. Item closed.

Intercession
By call of the Chapter Lady and Lord, the council briefly broke. Council members and Chapter personnel mingled on the floor of the Great Hall, social tension broken not only by Servitor-delivered recaff, but the Golden Age music played by Servo-skull mounted vox-casters drifting over the Hall.

As songs of an age long by rung sweetly off the arches and high walls of the council chambers, Master McFien pulled a small flask from his oil-stained blue overalls. He hadn't bothered to dress up for the council. The Astartes had largely come in freshly polished armor, tassels and scrolls abound. The Dreadnoughts had been furnished in gold leaf and gleaming ceramite, battle-standards dry-cleaned and restitched. He was comfortable in overalls. He would have been rather more comfortable in a kilt, but that was neither here nor there. An assistant handed him a steaming mug of warp-black recaff. One good whiff caused his nose-hairs to ablate. Lovely stuff. He very carefully tipped the flask into the mug, watching the amber amasec swirl in the depths. A quiet cough came from behind him, nearly upsetting his delicate chemistry experiment. He swung a baleful glare around, to find the Lady Snipe leaning on the back of his chair. After his mind recovered from the screeching halt, he found her to be nearly laughing at him, and her finger pointing to his semi-illicit flask. He proffered it with a muttered blessing, his heart still hammering like a piston from the surprise. To his pleasant surprise, she handed the flask back, empty. They stared off across the Great Hall, watching a squad of Astartes pile on the Dreadnought 5mirkeh, yelling and whooping as they tried to drive it down. The Lady quietly pinged a combead, signaling a Venerable Dreadnought to restore order within the Great Hall. As the hinges of the massive door splintered, and rogue Dreadnought and Astartes alike were shepherded and kicked back in line, McFien heard the strangest sound: the Chapter Lady was giggling behind him. He cast a suspicious eye at the flask in his hand, and took a test sip of the infused recaff. Nae, he thought, that doesn't quite explain it. He waved an assistant to get more recaff from the patrolling Servitors, and eased into his seat. Serves me right, came the thought, even as the great ceramite titan kicked a pew of seats across the Great Hall, sending Astartes flying. Somewhere nearby, he could hear the wolf Procnir snarl as it clamped down on the High Captain's boot, and someone challenged the Lord Wib to a drum solo duel. Bloody serves me right. He took a long, deep swig of the amasec and recaff, and let it all play out. While idly watching for flying debris.

Item the Tenth
Come to order redux, Municipal matters raised and adressed.

Various matters related to the upkeep and growth of the main cities of O'Magudnis were presented before the council by a representative group of citizens. The most of these matters: transportation, urban growth and policing, were politely but deftly shot down by the Council heads, as they were civilian matters. While the long-standing agreement of Chapter underwriting and subsidizing civilian municipal projects remained, nothing brought forth at this meeting demanded their attention, as Chapter Lord Wib noted to the representatives. As the presentations descended in order of importance, the Chapter Lord suggested that the civilian government would be better off policing their own bureaucracies, lest the Council elect a new Chapter oversight position. Several assault company Captains volunteered for the position, citing their efficiency in removing obstacles, and High Captain Slu pleaded for the honor. At this juncture, the civilian representatives paled, and quickly withdrew their requests. Chapter Lord Wib reminded them that the Chapter would be all too pleased to replace the "clearly ailing" civilian government at any time, if so needed. The representatives promised that such trivial matters would not trouble the Chapter Council again. Chapter Lady Snipe suggested they try their own hands at policing the city streets themselves, to show solidarity with the citizenry, to much agreement in the Council Hall. The representatives were allowed to flee at this juncture.

Item the Eleventh
Representative of the Forge, High Captain Draconis rose to speak, his armor showing an exceeding state of polish and repair, his ribbons and badges in millimeter precision placement. In the calm, clear tones of command, the Captain asked the Council to expand the available storage space for the growing fleet of artillery vehicles and weapons under his supervision. He cited the recent addition of several Baneblade class super-heavy tanks, and a pair of Mastodon chassis. The vehicle bays under his command were full beyond original capacity, according to his statement, and newer additions had to be stored in deployment pathways, or in the case of super-heavies, in Master McFien's repair bays. McFien agreed with this assessment, stating that he, "Did nae fix them up jist tae hae them bide ther." With his fellow Master's support, Draconis called for an expansion of the artillery and heavy weapons storage, up to an entire additional vault beneath the Chapter fortress. This was contested by the High Captain of the Tenth Company, who called the request needless, citing the immense size of the subterranean vaults under Kinwrath and Draconis' oversight, and their immediate local access to McFien's repair bay. The High Captain then called for one of the under-used vaults subscribed by Draconis' request to be given to the Tenth Company, for use as a further training facility for the Neophytes and Scouts under his command.

Draconis took this criticism calmly, his brow un-furrowed by the proceedings, and the multiple lenses of his massive cybernetic eye whirring smoothly. He quietly signaled his assistants, who loosed three servo-skulls into the air above the open center of the Great Hall. From their projectors, the circling drones produced an outline image in shimmering green light, describing the scale and layout of one of the cathedral-sized vaults beneath the fortress. Each ghostly storage bay was no larger than a clutched fist, yet the display grew to the size of a tank as the servo-skulls circled high and wide. Draconis announced that this was a scan of his current vault, housing all of the artillery vehicles and weapons under his care. With a gesture, all the vehicle berths lining both sides of the arched vault glowed, noting a vehicle in residence, and further columns lined up the long axis of the vault floor. A moment later a further set gleamed, set above the ground-floor housings, set into the walls. These, Draconis continued, were the heavy weapons and artillery pieces. This level too, was filled like an immense graveyard, with regularly spaced berths, and similarly tightly packed. At a last gesture, the display zoomed in on one high wall of the vault, to a full whisper of many sudden breaths inward. As the focus stabilized, the drones accurately described a row of hulking tanks, below a collection of massive, bulkily shaped artillery pieces. Several high-ranking Captains immediately swore vigorous oaths, and members of the artillery company groaned aloud. These set, Draconis stated, were a collection of Plasma Destroyers, mounted on Leman Russ chassis, with their devastating and unstable weaponry separated and disconnected, on an upper bay. Beside these, he calmly noted the presence of several Plasma Blastguns, recovered from ancient Titan battlefields by Salvage Teams. Turning his gaze, flicking lenses and all, on the High Captain of the Tenth, and asked him if he knew what happens when a barely restored plasma weapon goes critical, in close proximity to its cousins, and a stock of conventional munitions. In the following silence, Maximus Omar suggested aloud, "Fun, loud times?" To the rapidly paling High Captain, Draconis said, "Indeed, including severe structural damage." The servo-skulls then widened their luminous blueprint view back out, and scaled up the interior of the fortress, showing all the floors and vaults above this bay, ending above the surface, at the Fenrisian wolf habitat, and FPS chapel. Turning to the Chapter Lord and Lady, Draconis suggested that, due to the unpredictable nature of plasma weapons, especially those of ancient make and heavy usage, they be scattered over as many vaults and under as much bedrock as possible, to minimize any eventualities.

Motion passed by unanimous and immediate vote. Draconis bowed the Chapter Council, and returned to his seat, as the servo-skulls buzzed home to their handlers. An assistant poured him a fresh cup of tantalizingly fragrant tea, and the Captain turned his calm and reserved face to the Council floor, awaiting the next matter at hand.

Item the Twelfth
A chapter scribe slipped in the Council chambers, and approached the speaking dias. He reported that a late transmission had just been received. Astartes hero and legend, Lemmy Kilmister, of the Motor Head Chapter had fallen in battle. Having survived seven full centuries in the service of the Emperor, and having left a legacy of iconic victories and rock & roll, he departed this mortal coil in peace.

The assembly stared mute. The Chapter Lady and Lord made no comment, appearing lost in thought. Several Captains took the news heavily, swearing quiet oaths, or crushing the tile of the chambers beneath their heels. Silence reigned over the assembled. And then - there was a note. A single, plangent, note. Heads looked about for the source, but found none. There was another, this time a trill of notes. Still, no source could be found. It was answered by a mournful trumpet from the Assault units, playing alone. Then drums, from the rear of the chambers. Gathering together disparate notes and rhythms from across the Great Hall, musicians began to play. More and more added to the song with each passing moment, be it with Sonic weapons, Adamantium bass guitars, or with clapped hands, the Chapter fell into rhythm. The Chapter Lord and Lady added their own Artificer armor mounted instruments.

There was no song known, no sheet music provided, no leading instrument. The tune changed from moment to moment, a menagerie of sound and chord, following no path but its own. The Chapter played a song of mourning, without plan nor conductor, until their grief and respect was sated.

The Chapter council recognized Lemmy Kilmister, and broke for a brief recess and guitar string replacement.