History
Nobody quite knows when the Emperor's Shields chapter was founded. The geneseed of the chapter seems to derive from that of the Imperial Fists, although there is no record of them being in the Second Founding (which records are, admittedly, somewhat incomplete). It is possible that they are an offshoot of one of the second founding chapters, but no chapter has come forward to claim such parentage.
Such ancient Chapter records that might have held the true history are missing, lost in the Sack of Pella, their ancient home world. Even this event is only sketchily described and alluded to in the Chapter histories, but what is clear that is that Pella was only cleared again, mostly anyway, of xenos taint with the aid of the local population who strove mightily to assist the Chapter. Today there are still eruptions of ork infestation; Orks are notoriously difficult to eradicate once their spores have taken root on planet. However this also serves as a good proving ground for Pella's planetary defence force and so the chapter is reluctant to get involved except in case of an unusually large or dangerous flareups.
It is believed that Pella has always been the home world of the Emperor's Shields, or at least from shortly after its founding.
The Sack of Pella was a transformative experience for the Chapter, causing them to rethink their organisation and depart from the orthodoxy of the Codex Astartes. From that date they organised themselves around their battle fleet, divided into six large Companies. The thinking then was that they should never again be caught on the ground and unable to respond to an enemy incursion. The Chapter's operational orders now require that at least four of the six companies must be held off-Pella at all times, either in orbit or on expedition. Each of the Companies is fully supported by its own fleet squadron comprising a Battle Barge with several strike cruisers and support vessels.
Imperial scholars have noted some similarities in their organisation to the Space Wolves of Leman Russ, but such likeness is more apparent than real, with none of the physical or psychological characteristics that the Space Wolves display. It appears that the organisation actually derives somewhat from the history of Pella, with various words deriving from the local dialect (only distantly related to Imperial Gothic), which even gave rise to the name that the Chapter uses in everyday use - "Aspides Basilikoi".
Company Organisation
The Companies are titled Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and Zeta Company, with no particular precedence denoted by the order. Temporary subdivisions of a Company are given descriptions such as Gamma-One or Beta-Three, at the option of the Company's commanding officer.
At full strength, each Company is Commanded by a Captain, supported by two Lieutenants. The traditional Veteran Company is split between each of the Companies, with 10 veterans complete with terminator armour allocated to each Company. The balance of 40 are retained as a central reserve with the Chapter commander.
Each Company therefore has a paper strength of ten Veterans, thirty Devastator marines, thirty Assault marines and eighty Tactical marines, with the latter also being the bike and land speeder specialists. They will also normally be allocated between ten and thirty neophyte Scouts to round out their strength.
Nomenclature
As mentioned above, the sack of Pella was a transformative event for the chapter. This seems to have been the time when the Chapter adopted the local language of Pella as their Chapter cant, with Imperial Gothic being retained only for formal communication and record-keeping. This appears to have been as a mark of respect recognising the sacrifices made by the local population in the scouring of Pella.
The following table records the local naming of each of the classes of marines, along with the colour distinctions used for the left pauldron on their armour.
Veterans - Hetairoi - Gold
Devastators - Argyraspides - Silver
Tactical - Chalkaspides - Bronze
Assault - Leukaspides - White
Scouts - Paides - blank
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