I apologies in advance if this is posted in the wrong place, I'm not too sure whether this should be in the house rules section or here so if it is wrong could someone please move it.

So back on topic. I'm trying to put together a character that comes from Macragge (As the title suggests ;p), long story how he ends up in the Calixis Sector but he does. So I was wondering how the home world should look and hence influence my character. To me Macragge and its people represent Stability, Duty, Honour, education and affluence, so I have tried to incorporate these into the home world. I've based the template on the Imperial Home world as in the grand scheme of things Macragge is an Imperial World. So here are the advantages/disadvantages:

Blessed Ignorance: Same as the Imperial World. I have considered adding the Schola detriment to balance out the advantages.

Hagiography: Same as the Imperial World.

Duty Until Death: As every child on Macragge is brought up with a sense of Duty and Honour, though not to the same degree as the Ultramarines every child is brought up with the teachings of Roboute Guillimen (sp?) and are trained in both tactical and martial theories from a young age, along with national service most natives of Macragge are able to field strip most conventional weapons. The military upbringing also gives many natives a level of martial acumen.
PC's From Macragge have both Basic and Pistol Training (SP & Las)
They also have (for this I was thinking either the skill LOGIC or the talent NERVES OF STEEL)

Born into Affluence: Compared to the Imperium Macragge is a paradise in itself. The people there live in relative peace and the everyday toils of the Imperium are far away.

PC's from Macragge increase you total starting wounds by 2 and add additional d10 to you starting wealth.

These are only in the planning stage and not set in stone yet, I’ve tried to keep this unbiased as possible and to reflect what a PC born on Macragge might look like. Any and all C&C is appreciated as any help to improve and tweak can only be a good thing

Too strong, especially that they get 1 Woundpoint more than even a Feral Worlder.

On the contrary living in a comparative paradise would mean that they get les wounds than the typical person from an Imperial World (to the level of Voidborn who also get 2 wounds less), as they are unaccustomed to the hardships and infigting of typical imperial live.

Noctus said:

Unaccustomed they may be, but military discipline and aspirations of dutiful service tend to be fairly common on Macragge due to the fact that they're ruled by the Ultramarines.

A comparative paradise Macragge may be (though strictly speaking, Paradise worlds don't exist within Ultramar - the worlds there are required to be self-sufficient, so the conventional archetype of peaceful paradise worlds used as havens by sector Nobility, or that of the overbuilt hive city surrounded by inhospitable wasteland doesn't exist there), but it's still an Astartes homeworld, with much of its culture built around ancient traditions of disciplined military service.

One could well use/modify the rules for a Fortress Worlder from Into the Storm

Macragge is 75% mountains (unless they retconned that) and its people are rugged folks. It's okay to make them tough.

Alex

Schola Progenum seems to fit nicely - zealous willfulness, combat training, relatively high education and no experience with the darker sides of the Imperium at large. I'd go with that personally.

Just to nitpick, but Macragge is one small world in the vastness of the Imperium at large, not something to really build a homeworld around.

I suggest that you rule this homeworld as representing all of Ultramar, as opposed to just Macragge. Afterall, it's not like the Ultramarines haven't exported their mindset to their entire realm.

And yeah, it needs more to balance it out.

Probably should add the disadvantage from the Schola detriment too, as the feeling I'm getting from reading the Shira Calpurnia omnibus is that by the standards of the Imperium at large people from Ultramar are a little stuckup, and really impressed (thought not without reason) with how much better their little slice of the Imperium is than all the rest (though I'd hesitate to call it a paradise in comparison).

I don't know much about Macragge specifically, but it was my understanding that on SM homeworlds, the 'normal' human populations were all thralls to the SM Chapter, raised from birth to be fanatically loyal servants to the SMs, who use them like chattel. I haven't read many of the Black Library novels staring Space Marines- is that no longer the case? Because I don't see a 'peasant'-level former resident of Macragge wielding much influence, especially since he no longer has any official connection to that world...

I have to say that this background seems to be a bit over powered at the moment. You really need to balance things out. If you give the background big bonuses then you conversely need to apply large faults as well. Maybe give them a negative modifier to fellowship rolls in when interacting with anyone under a certain level of afluence, or make them overzealous, or some other form of downside. The schola detriment is a start, but hardly balances things out. If you can't think of any negatives that you want to apply, then you should reduce starting xp or count it as a background package.

When expressing the fluff into actual crunch rules it is always good to do this in a way that does not create over- or underpowered results.

For example the initial version of the Macragge Origin´s "+2 Woundpoints" is much better then what other Homeworlds give. So either you give them an equally strong crunch drawback (and look into the fluff for what that could be), or you express the fluff that lead you to originally assigning them these +2 wounds in another way. For example you could give them the talent Hardy or the talent Iron Jaw instead, which fit the same fluff role, but are not as powerfull crunchwise.

I wouldn't allow a tailored background (and yours is a bit too unbalanced, as other posters alredy noticed): why don't you just go with an usual Imperial World origin?

If you really want to customize your background, ask your GM if you may spend your starting XP in those skills and/or talents you usually wouldn't be allowed to: but be ready to explain him the reason why you should have them!
If your explanation sounds believable I wouldn't deny you getting them.

I like the Macragge idea, it's something special. Also worlds in Ultramar are quite unlike each other.

You have to be creative with the drawbacks though because apparently the people from Ultramar are very gifted people, I guess.

Alex

Thank you all for your replies. After reading what has been said I think I'll have another go at the rule set. I'm thinking of running it like Metalican and Sinophere upgrades, again C&C is welcome and appreciated

Use the Imperial World Template however replace Superior Origins and Litergical Familiarity with:

Drilled into Duty

The people of Macragge are trained from a young age in duty and discipline and are seen as many as natural born leaders that are exemplarfied by the Ultramarines that make Macragge their home. As every able bodied person must serve a number of years National Service many of the Citizens of Macragge are able to not only field strip but use most conventional weapon as well as most Professional Imperial Guard units, also through the rigid discipline ,any citizens of Macragge will resort to their training when under fire, with faith in the Emperor and rigid training soldiers of Macagge can often face down the most terrorfying fears.

-Start with both Basic and Pistol (SP and Las) and also gain the Unshakable Faith talent

Prosperity through Peace

The realm of Ultramar is relatively sheltered from the everyday toils and stresses of the Imperium, it is down to this that the people of Macragge enjoy a rather affluent, rich life and are able to devote themselves to the arts, philosophies and the sciences (yes I know its heresy). PC' who are born in Ultramar begin with +2wounds to their starting wounds and add an extra d10 to their starting wealth, however this comes at a price. Many people who have heard of the Realm of Ultramar are often jelous of the garden worlds and easy life, therefore PC's from Ultramar suffer a -10 when dealing with anyone that would typically fall into the catogory of underworld, however it is left to the discression of the GM as to whom the -10 penalty is affected by.

Ive tried to symbolise the fact that many people will rely on their military training and that although people from Macragge will be slightly better off than the general masses of the Imperium due to this they also suffer for it when trying to get people support or just plain communication.

I also realise I have used Ultramar and Macragge interchangable but its 1am and im tired ;P

Just a thought, what about Hatred: Tyranids. The bugs did invade Macragge after all. Every man, woman and child would be dead set against the 'nids.

Your second write up is much closer to the mark. My suggestion is to re-add Liturgical Familiarity to the package and shave off one of the bonus wounds. Add Hatred (Tyranids) and remove the starting pistol training from the starting package (Standard military training is with rifles. Pistols are for specialists.). I would also allow a character from Ultramar to buy Common Lore (Codex Astartes) as an elite advance for about 100xp.

Macragge itself is essentially a rather mountainous version of classical Greece as well as the Ultramarines' homeworld. It is by no means a paradise world in the true sense, but it is substantially more pleasant than most Imperial worlds. The Ultramarines do indeed maintain chapter serfs just like any other Astartes chapter, but because they have the entire realm of Ultramar as their fiefdom there is plenty of excess population that serve in more traditional Imperial roles, especially service within the various Adepta as their Astartes masters encourage education, duty and service.

I'm honestly not sure that they should get Weapons Training talents at all. Macragge, while the home of the Ultramarines, is not a particularly martial world. As you say, there's a lot of excess population that fill all the normal roles within Imperial society. For all intents and purposes, it really seems the worlds of the Realm of Ultramar have more in common with the average Imperium, than with the homeworlds of most normal Chapters.

Instead of picking up survivors on a radiation blasted planet, or a primitive world where the natural wildlife is extremely dangerous to human life, they have ritualised combat, though other worlds in their fief could use other methods.

What I'm trying to say is, we don't really have anything to say that Macragge is a military world where everyone has to learn how to fire a Lasgun. This isn't Cadia. Nor are duty and discipline somehow intrinsically tied to martial training. Pride in doing your duty would reflect itself in different ways, depending on someone's role (or career, to use a more accurate term).

People of Macragge would be more likely to have bonuses similar to those of Forge Worlds, where you get a boost depending on the Career of your character (BS for Guardsmen, Int for Tech-Priests, etc., etc.)