I found the Lamenters Chapter of Space Marines.
This is basically tribute to what is basically the most awesome Marine Chapter in my opinion.
May their faith in Mankind be repaid.
XxXxX
Canoness Elena stared at the banner that stood in front of her, its many rips and tears now beautifully repaired. Yet even with the best weavers, the banner seemed to remain in its broken state. In fact, it seemed to still harbor its wounds.
The banner itself was not very stylized, favoring a yellow border with a checkered background. In the middle sat a circle with a single heart in it, a single, black tear on one side of the heart, as if it were in tears.
It was the banner of the honorary Lamenters Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes.
A chapter that suffered misfortune as daily as an Imperial Guardsman dying, a chapter that us shunned by their 'brothers' for the time they are founded, a chapter that suffered losses that would've broke a regular Marine.
And yet, they fight on. They took their misfortunes as a test to their resolve, they took their isolation with heavy hearts and they took their losses with remorse. But they fight on.
Even when faced with betrayal, they did not abandon their duty.
Even when faced with depression, their faith did not waver.
Even when faced with doom and annihilation, they still fought as hard as any other Chapter Marine, if not harder.
Elena had read about their history, their story, their great misfortune. It surprised her how they still have faith in the very Imperium that abandoned them.
She had read about their stand against the Despoiler's 9th Black Crusade in the defence for Corillia, how the Mortifactors, may the Emperor gave them misfortune as equal as the Lamenters, had abandoned them due to their background and how they held Corillia until only 200 of them were left standing before the Ultramarines and White Scars came into the system.
And even then, she was told by her superior that even the remaining 200 were heavily wounded.
And as if that wasn't enough, the remaining 200 suddenly found themselves in the Warp, a freak warpstorm casting the 'chapter' into it. Most had thought the chapter lost.
But the Lamenters proved them wrong.
Eventually, through what is unusually a stroke of good luck, the Lamenters had escaped the Warp fighting.
Battered and broken, the Lamenters returned not to a hero's welcome or even warm welcome from brothers, but to even more distrustful 'brothers.'
May the Emperor show kindness to those who earn them.
Yet their misfortune did not end there.
Just as they were rebuilding, the Corinth Crusade began and the Lamenters joined the Crusade, despite only having 300 Brothers in their 'chapter'
A sign of trust for the Ultramarines' aid on Corillia.
Even extinction does not stop them from helping out their Brothers.
In what would be a decisive battle against the Orks, the Lamenters went down upon the Ork slave mining world "Slaughterhouse 3" and liberated the mining world.
Without the aid from Calgar's Ultramarines.
Elena prevented herself from cursing Guilliman's son out loud, lest she attract the Inquisition's attention.
But just moments after the Lamenters' victory, an Ork reinforcement fleet warped in.
Are the Lamenters eternally damned?
But the Lamenters' resolve did not waver. Using any operational slave ships and even their own, the Lamenters attempted to evacuate all of Slaughterhouse 3's slaves.
Even if they realised they did not have the time.
In a show of true gratefulness, the few remaining slaves, ever grateful for saving them, offered their lives in exchange for the Lamenters' own to live and to deny the planet to the Ork.
The Lamenters reluctantly agreed.
They escaped, forever grateful of the slaves' sacrifice and praying for the Emperor to see their souls guided to eternal wealth and happiness, and performed Exterminatus upon the planet.
When the Crusade had ended, Calgar awarded an Iron Halo to the remaining Lamenters for their valiant service in denying a vital planet to the Orks.
Yet the Lamenters, still mourning the lose of not just their Brothers, but even of the slaves they could not save, turned it down.
An act of true humanity, yet Calgar, and other Marines, did not see it as that.
The Lamenters found themselves even more distrusted.
Then the Badab War happened.
From what Elena had heard and read, the Badab War had left the Lamenters, who had fully rebuilt themselves, down to 300 once more. But even along the war, she had never read nor heard about the Lamenters ever killing a fellow Astartes.
Even if they were misguided, they refrain themselves from killing their brethren.
Once the War had ended, where their numbers were reduced to 300 once more, the Lamenters found out they had been misguided.
And the Imperium still had the gall to call themselves pure.
In a rare show of things, the Lamenters were pardoned. But under one condition.
They must enact a pertinent crusade for a hundred years, without recruiting and replenishment.
It was at that time did the Adepta Sororitas received their battered banner.
Canoness Elena remembered hearing the tale of the owner of the banner for the first time as one of the few Sororitas assigned to repair and re-sanctify it. She remembered crying along with her sisters as they repaired the banner.
But she cried for a very different reason.
When they repaired the banner, Elena had to hold back her anger as she listened to her fellow sisters cursing the Lamenters for their sins.
But to Elena, she cried for their pain.
She cried for their misfortune, for their unending tide of bad luck.
But most of all, she cried for their resolve. Her tears had fallen for their faith in Mankind and for their endless sacrifice for what the Emperor had built.
When it was time to give them their banner, they were not present.
Some speculated that they were wiped out, that they had failed their crusade.
Others even whispered that they had fallen to Chaos, that they had betrayed Mankind.
But not to her, not to Elena.
Now, as she stood before the banner, the Banner of Tears, as a Canoness, Elena finally had the resolve.
She would return this banner, alone if she had to.
XxXxX
When she had requested to return the banner of the Lamenters, Elena had found little resistance. In fact, her superior had granted her an entire strike cruiser as transport with a small force of Grey Knights and Battle Sisters.
It befuddled her.
But when a Sister approached her, bearing a message from her superior, she had understood.
"Return the banner to the ones that kept faith in the Emperor.
Return the banner that bore the mark of the heroes of Mankind.
Return the banner that many see hope in.
For they are the Emperor's soldiers, guardians of mankind.
Forever loyal and not wanting."
Elena only gave a silent prayer of thanks to her superior, praying for her a place besides the Emperor.
When she was done, she looked forward with steel in her eyes.
She has a banner to return.
XxXxX
The first half of what would be a tribute to the Lamenters. The unsung heroes of Mankind.
I think you'd notice that some of the lore seems... odd. I will not blame you.
For the lore of the Lamenters came from 1d4chan, possibly an unreliable source of WH40K lore.
But I don't care, because the Lamenters need the recognition they deserve and the respect they should've earned.
I know I twisted the lore somewhat, and I apologize to those that likes their lore straight and true. I only ask for your forgiveness for my selfishness.
I hope all that reads this piece be satisfied and enjoyed it.
May the Emperor bless the Lamenters.