I have played many different RPG games for quite a number of years.

New to the Deathwatch and 40K world setting it was a challange to create a belivable character, especially since it seems to be so many rules and rituals in the game setting, which by the way is challenging too!

For those of you struggling, I hereby post my Character background for 'Martellus the Techmarine', and I hope it van work as an inspiration, also I am thankful for comments about the background that does not fells 'believable' or utterly insane...

/Thanks,

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THE YOUNG MARTELLUS (up to 12 years of age)

Brother Martellus displayed great intelligence and skill at arms well before he joined the secretive Dark Angles chapter and were accepted as a Space Marine. On his home system he was an unusually attentive and curious little boy and very talented in learning the trade of his stepfather ‘Corwyn the Gunsmith’ as an armourer.

The background how he started living with his stepfather was never something they talked about. His stepfather never got married even though he had occasional relationships, he never got attached as he were too focused on his work as a middle-manager at a weapons manufacture plant, and so Martellus grew up only with his stepfather on a desolate Forge World.

It did not take long before Martellus the young at the age of 12 were recruited to a life of military training and war and were picked up into the ranks of the Dark Angels chapter. His stepfather were truly honored, but seemed not very sur-prised, that his stepson were chosen to get the opportunity to join the ranks as a Space Marine to protect the Empire against all evils and to serve the Father of Mankind.

JOINING THE DARK ANGELS CHAPTER (from 12 to 28 years of age)

At first young Martellus were taken to a huge battle ship and there he joined with several other young boys, After that a prolonged period of mental and physical tests were performed and those that did not succeed were disposed of and never to be seen again. Martellus wonders from time to tome what happened to those young boys that failed, maybe they were given the opportunity to join the Imperial Forces, maybe, maybe not…

Finally after succeeding through all the tests he arrived to ‘The Fortress Monastery of the Dark Angels’ for the first time, and it was an overwhelming feeling for the young Martellus and he could not keep his tears away, because he know knew he was one of the select and chosen ones to become a Space Marine!
After rigorous training and a slow transformation involving surgical implants and advanced cybernetics, during a period from the age of 12 to 16 years, he eventually ended up in the 10th Company at the age of 18 as a heavy weapons gunner in a Razorback vehicle. There he developed a fondness for technology which, grew with every mission, and he could not wait until the day he would be truly initiated and become a Space Marine, a ‘Brother’
His most notorious action while in the 10th Company, took place in a battle against the ferocious greenskins. After his squad's Razorback was damaged by one of their infamous rokkit launchas, he found himself dragging the dying body of a battle comrade and friend, Alistayr, out of the burning vehicle. However, after he finally disentangled himself and got out of the burning wreck, he came face to face with an ork carrying a huge double bladed choppa. A mighty swing came his way and having no other way of defense, he headbutted with all his might. The choppa buried itself in his helmet, splitting it apart and embedding himself in Martellus face. Roaring like a wild animal, his hate for the xenos exacerbated by the armour he wore, he tore the axe free from his face and cleaved the orks own in twain. The helmet was repaired, but the scar remained, and he likes to joke that it "Didn't make me any uglier, at least". After that he managed to get both himself and Alistayr back from the enemy-lines to the Apothecarion for medical care.

During his many campaigns he continued to show great courage and he almost died thrice during a few years of cam-paigning, and also lost one of his legs on one of the missions. As a Space Marine he were privileged to acquire equip-ment and replacements from the Armoury, but still within the 10th Company the resources were limited, and the first leg replacement he got was a joke but it served its function and Martellus could not continue his service as a heavy weapons gunner, so he were removed from his original squad and positioned at ‘The Rock’ with menial tasks and standard rou-tines. Martellus swore that this body of flesh and bones will never stop him, even if he have to take extreme measures to overcome the weaknesses of the flesh…

Martellus hated being away from the blood and gritty fighting on the ground, so he started to collect bits and pieces, and with the connections he had made already at the chapters Armoury he started improving the function, looks and mobility. Finally with some help and final touch from one of the new Techmarines in the Armoury, Brother Melan-chrone, Martellus were ready to serve again in the 10th Company and it quickly led to his re-installment with his former battle-team inside the Razorback and side-by-side with his comrade Alistayr once again.

After this series of events, the rumours spread and he became famous for his close relationship with the Machine God… But it also caused jealousy and suspicions among the Adeptus Mechanicus, and Brother Melanchrone never got al-lowed to work inside the Armoury again and instead were given assignments such as ‘supporting’ new Techmarines and servicing the weapons and armours with the Space Marines, and holding the ‘Maintenance Rituals’ every evening at 23.15, 7-days a week…

But Brother Melanchrone would always be thankful for helping Martellus, because in this way he actually enjoyed more freedom than the other Techmarines and he got many valuable and powerful friends within the Adeptus Astartes and the Space Marines, and he became a valuable and sought-after Brother–in-Arms since he could actually understand humour and be sociable, for a Techmarine at least…

JOINING THE ADEPTUS MECHANICUS (from 29 to 59 years of age)

His display of an unusually level of affinity for anything technical quickly brought the attention of the Adeptus Mechani-cus, and especially ‘Forge Father Ramiel’. He offered Brother Martellus the opportunity to be tested to become a Techmarine, and he accepted, even though Forge Father Ramiel warned him that it could cost him his position at the chapter and maybe be sent somewhere to forget whatever he would see or hear during the tests...
Martellus first reaction was ‘No, I want to be a Space Marine’, but Forge Father Ramiel calmed him and said, ‘you will still be a Space Marine, but you will serve both the Adeptus Astartes and the Adeptus Mehanicus, in this way you will be even more a Space Marine and you will learn secrets that not many beings in this world knows about’. Martellus ac-cepted with this explanation, and with sadness he said farewell to his comrades in arms because he knew, either way if he succeeded or not, he would have to leave for a very long time, and next time they met he knew he would be changed forever and maybe never have feelings the same way again…

They tested him throughly under close supervision of the ‘Master of the Forge’, to see if he was worthy to be introduced to the Techmarine branch of the Dark Angels chapter, which were taught only to those aspirants who display an affinity for the operation of machines undergo special trials and tests, to discern their suitability to receive additional training under the Adeptus Mechanicus. He passed the tests remarkably well and was immediately dispatched to a distant Forge World of the Adeptus Mechanicus, where he delved for thirty years deep into the secrets of the Machine Cult.

He learned not only the operation of all manner of machinery, but also how to convene with the Machine Spirits them-selves, how to undertake repairs of aggrieved or wounded machines, and even how to build new ones. This terrible knowledge weighs heavily upon the newly initiated Brother Martellus, and in many ways sets him apart from the ranks of his brothers. Yet, despite his induction into the most secret of arts, he is, and shall ever remain, a Space Marine. He was now ready to return to his chapter of The Dark Angels at ‘The Rock’…

When Martellus finally returns to ‘The Rock’, it is thirty years after he left the Dark Angels chapter to learn the secrets of the Adeptus Mechanicus and being schooled in the forbidden knowledge of the Omnissiah – the Machine God.

RETURNING TO ‘THE ROCK’ (from 59 years of age to date)

Brother Melanchrone is a now a scarred war veteran that usually takes care of the newly arrived Techmarines to ‘The Rock’, under scrutiny of the highest in command of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Forge Father Ramiel. As such Brother Melanchrone is responsible to make sure the new Techmarines get used to the military life and drills at ‘The Rock’. He organizes and give tasks to the new Techmarines, which they must execute inbetween drills and training missions, such as attending ‘The Maintenance Rituals’, maintaining vehicles and heavy weapons and not the least the construction of new vehicle chassis and weapons in the ‘Dark Angels Armoury’.

As fate made it, Brother Melanchrone got the responsibility to introduce Brother Martellus to the Techmarines duties at The Rock, and to make sure he got a space to ‘hang from’ in one of the anti-grav sleeping bunkers, during the few hours of daily sleep. The anti-grav sleeping bunker is located next to the common areas of the Techmarines connected through a series of tunnels deep within the asteroid, called home!

Brother Melanchrone is the only Techmarine that Brother Martellus ‘feel’ he can trust and admire because of his experi-ence and common sense in many areas, and it was also he that shortly after his arrival recommended Brother Martellus to the 2nd Company Ravenwing, since Brother Melanchrone thought it would be suitable…

The other Techmarines were laughing at the concept of having a Techmarine attached to the 2nd Company Ravenwing. At first they believed the senior Space Marines at Ravenwing would make fun of Martellus and make him leave since he had so little combat experience, and secondly the colleagues of Melanchrone thought it funny that a (clumsy) Tech-marine (Martellus) would join one of the most mobile and fastest elite companies in any of the Space Marine chapters. But, Brother Melanchrone had done his homework; at first he know that Martellus best friend is a very respected bat-tle-brother assigned as a biker squad-leader in the Ravenwing company, whom Martellus not only saved his life, but in a way that made remarkable stories at ‘The Rock’, especially coming from the 10th Company, and this always gives respect. Secondly, he had heard stories from the Forge Worlds were a certain Techmarine were so mobile and fast that he could outrun many combat Space Marines…

So it became that Brother Martellus were to assign himself for duty at the 2nd Company Ravenwing for active duty, as a Forge Father Ramiel predicted many years ago; a Space Marine following both the honor of Adeptus Astartes and also practicing the secrets of Adeptus Mechanicus…

To the surprise of Brother Martellus there was one very well-known Space Marine welcoming him to the Ravenwing 2nd Company, Brother Alystayr, who now had become an accomplished Space Marine himself in charge of one of the the Biker Squads at the 2nd Company at Ravenwing. There was a strong mix of emotions when the former battle com-rades met, and they had both changed a lot during the last 30 years, but Brother Martellus had gone through the great-est change…

Martellus is now both man and machine, and from his spine a huge mechadendrite arm protrudes, his skull is silver-lined as a memory of the ork-axe opening his skull, his respiratory air-ways are covered with a silver mask over nose and mouth, and his vocal systems have a creepy metallic sound. Apart from that, Brother Martellus also wears a deep green hooded cloak over his power armour and mechadendrite arm, and his legs are longer than normal after a ‘Bionic Loco-motion Cybernetics’ replacement of his both legs. But Alistayr recognizes easily the lively azure-blue eyes and his charac-teristic shiny flat silver skull from a long distance, as unmistakenly Martellus, the Battle-brother that saved him from burning up in that Razorback vehicle a long time ago, and half-dead cleaving the head of an ork with the same ork-axe that were embedded in his skull just moments earlier… How could he forget!

‘Hello my friend, you’re still as ugly as ever, even if you try to hide it behind that mask of yours; and look at you, you’ve grown a few inches too - ah? They gave you good food over there - ah? (laughing)’.
‘Brother Alistayr, it is good to see you’re still in one piece, I can see the Machine Gods have protected you well, I made sure they would even me being far away, because you were always such a Daredevil, running into trouble all the time. Heard you got that bike of yours finally, congrats! (giggling discreetly through the mask)’.

The communication with his fellow Techmarines are on the contrary usually a very quick and formal affair since most social talk and ‘get-to-know’ talk is done during the first few minutes you ever meet a fellow Techmarine using the binary language of Techna-Lingua, which is extremely fast and lacks words for feelings and other mundane areas. Another reason is that Techmarines are usually very jealous of each other and there are always several conspiracies going on which Brother Martellus is aware of from his training time on The Forge Worlds. He is suspicious of those that try to get too close and prays to The Machine God to keep him alert at all times.

His elusive and secretive attitude sometime put him at odds with his battle brothers, and lesser mortals are usually avoiding him because of the huge crane on his back and weird machinery he were always working on. His favourite task during the day at ‘The Rock’ is to attend the ‘Maintenance Rituals’ every night at 23.15.

His fondness for people is less so, not to say ignorant, but he cares and worship the weapons and armors of his fellow Space Marines, and sometimes even help out the lesser mortals with their equipment. His fellow Space Ma-rines thinks his care and repairs done on their weapons and amour something greatly honorable and thereby let him stay by himself without bothering him. Sometimes Brother Martellus, if a colleague Space Marine open himself up, act as a councellor when the Space Marine needs to confess for not honoring the Ancient Power Armour, and he gives advice which offerings and prayers that should be followed. Brother Martellus sees his work and the blessings from the Ma-chine God as the greatest reward he can ever get, and worthy all the sacrifices.
At 2315, every day, there are the mandatory ‘Maintenance Rituals’, were each Space Marine is expected to maintain his own power armour and weapons, and it is always checked by Brother Martellus at all times. He is already known for being very harsh and execute rigorous maintenance punishments for those Space Marines that do not comply accordingly, no matter of rank and experience of the Space Marine.

During the ‘Maintenance Rituals’ Brother Martellus also improves the enchantments of the weapons and armors with the basic ‘Runes of Engineering’ and reads aloud from his heart the incantations taken from the ‘Liturgy of Mainte-nance’. Brother Martellus most important advice during the training mission briefings is always 'Leave no Machines behind, The Machine God will punish us'. When out on the training missions and before disembarking from the attack vehicles he kneels in the center of the group of his fellow Space Marines reciting a quick prayer: ‘May your weapon be guarded against malfunction, as your soul is guarded from impurity. The Machine God watches over you. Unleash the weapons of war. Unleash the Deathdealer’.

During the training missions with the Ravenwing Company, he especially enjoys handling the more advanced and heavy weapon systems, particularly the heavy flamers, heavy bolter or Multi-Melta often found on the standard Land-Speeders. Of course it is always a special feeling and ‘joy (mechanically speaking)’ of taking the Space Marine Bikes for a ride and deliver a proper blast with the twin-link bolter and throwing frag grenades, krak grenades and melta-bombs all over the place…

Since The Ravenwing's role within the chapter is that of mobile hunters, eternally prowling for their trai-torous ancestors, The Fallen. Instead of the usual dark green panoply of the rest of the chapter, the Ravenwing's armour and vehicles are painted jet black, echoing the original colours of the Dark Angels Legion. Brother Martellus have no-ticed a certain degree of rebellious behavior amongst his fellow Space Marines so he sees it as a particularily important task to keep the ‘Maintenance Ritual’s’ strict and harsh…

Shortly after returning from his latest training mission to ‘The Rock’ at the heart of the Dark Angels chapter, he were informed he was informed to attend a meeting together with a newly arrived Librarian, Brother Zahriel. This is an amazing honour and opportunity for Brother Martellus. ‘Maybe this is a sign from the Machine God to join The Quest for Knowledge?’, which consists of research and exploration, but ultimately the focus is to recover a working Standard Template Construct (STC) system, or maybe it is a sign for an even greater purpose…