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1 / 4 · Click to enlargeLore & origins
The Black Templars do not follow the Codex Astartes. Instead of a 1st Company, each of their Crusades has Sword Brethren. These veterans are the greatest warriors in each Fighting Company, and they serve as part of a Marshal's Household. Sword Brethren are found throughout the Chapter, and every Black Templar hopes to join them.
Sword Brethren are clad in the finest armour the Chapter can provide, decorated with Crusader seals, and look like ancient warrior-knights. They are a link to the Chapter's founder, Sigismund, and his heirs. When a Marshal dies, his replacement is chosen from the Sword Brethren. The candidates fight each other in a series of ritual combats, which test strength, endurance and tactical skill, until only the winner is left standing.
Sword Brethren may also fight in Terminator armour, a high honour in a Chapter that values close combat so much. They form the core of many Black Templars assaults.
The Sword Brethren are the Black Templars' veteran elite, the most skilled and devoted warriors of the crusade. Black Templars have no standard company structure, organising into crusades led by Marshals, so Sword Brethren are spread through the Chapter rather than gathered in one company. They act as the Marshals' bodyguards and lead the Chapter's Neophytes. The Emperor's Champion is drawn from their ranks. The Index Astartes article on the Black Templars set out much of this lore.
Sword Brethren who want command must fight a series of gruelling ritual combats against one another with various weapons, and must also prove their strategic and tactical ability. Black Templars dogma holds that this tradition dates back to the Chapter's earliest days. It ensures that only those who truly want command achieve it. The High Marshal must confirm each victor as Marshal, though in practice he almost never refuses. Their Terminator suits are priceless relics made by Master-Artificers in ages past, and they are very hard to replace because the Chapter is so widely scattered.
Appearance & wargear
Sword Brethren wear black power armour picked out in white, with heavy cloaks, crusader seals and a large white cross on the shoulder plate. Many carry power swords, power axes and storm shields, and some carry heavy relic weapons. In Terminator armour they look like the ancient Templar knights the Chapter draws on.
Sword Brethren wear black power armour with white Templar crosses, tabards and robes, and carry power swords, power fists, storm shields and bolt pistols. Many fight in Terminator armour.
Weapons & Vehicles
The sacred two-handed obsidian greatsword of Sigismund and the Black Templars' Emperor's Champions, forged to slay the greatest champio…
A master-crafted blade sheathed in a crackling molecular disruption field that parts ceramite, bone and steel with effortless lethality…
The brutal motorised tooth-bladed sword carried by Space Marines, Imperial Guard officers and Chaos renegades, chewing through armour a…
A massive warhammer whose head releases a deafening concussive shockwave and disruption blast on impact, shattering Terminator plate an…
A volatile directed-energy rifle that hurls bolts of miniature sun-hot plasma capable of vaporising Terminator plate and tank armour—at…
A volatile liquid-promethium projector that floods bunkers, trenches and xenos swarms in clinging, self-oxidising gouts of cleansing ch…
The signature .75-calibre rocket-propelled mass-reactive firearm of the Adeptus Astartes, firing self-propelled explosive bolts that de…
Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.
Battlefield role & tactics
Sword Brethren lead and anchor Black Templars assaults. They fight in the front line with the Crusade's Marshal or Castellan, holding the most important positions and cutting through elite enemy troops. Their presence inspires the Initiates and Neophytes around them.
They are elite melee veterans who lead charges, protect Marshals and fight alongside the Emperor's Champion. They are tough and devoted, but few.
Sword Brethren are elite melee veterans who accompany Marshals and Emperor's Champions and spearhead assaults. Their mix of zealous fury and cold resolve also makes them valued in Deathwatch kill-teams.
Munitorum & Ordo Xenos Technical Dossier
Classified under Ordo and Departmento Munitorum threat-index protocols as a primary Sword Brethren lead and anchor Black Templars assaults. They fight in the front line with the Crusade's Marshal or Castellan, holding the most important positions and cutting through elite enemy troops. Their presence inspires the Initiates and Neophytes around them. asset of Black Templars, Sword Brethren relies on a tightly coupled symbiosis between operator conditioning and primary armament. Field maintenance and biological recovery logs indicate that extended deployment without liturgical recalibration or bio-stasis rest degrades targeting and metabolic stability by less than 4% per solar week—far outperforming standard sector baselines—while post-engagement recovery teams prioritize the immediate extraction of their core wargear, neural/gene-seed components, or machine-spirit memory cores before enemy scavengers can exploit them.
Notable battles & users
- Marshal succession: Sword Brethren compete in ritual combat to succeed a fallen Marshal.
- Armageddon: the Black Templars Crusades that fought in the Third War for Armageddon included many Sword Brethren.
Related
Characters (2)
Helbrecht · High Marshal of the Black Templars
Sigismund · First Captain of the Imperial Fists, founder of the Black Templars
Related units
Tactical Squad
Terminators
Chaplain
Land Raider
Company Champion
Inner Circle Companions
Primaris Crusader Squad