Ever wonder what would happen if the Black Templars were an Ultramarines Successor Chapter? No? Well fuck you! Here's the Howling Griffons; they have a pain-in-the-ass-to-paint colour scheme and are Robin Cruddace's favourite army and he has a bitchin' army of them.
As mentioned above the Howling Griffons are a mix of Black Templars and Ultrasmurfs. They go around crusading, taking oaths, some chapter-wide, some personal. Once taken they go to insane lengths (even by 40K standards) to complete them, even if it takes hundreds of years.
Like many Ultramarine successors, they follow the Codex to the letter, unless an oath prevents them. However, unlike most, they don't see it as the holy bible, rather just the most awesomest military treatise ever! Humorously, they've actually read the damn thing and realized it has a ton of pages on how to use camouflage and stealth tactics and encouragements on pragmatism and using your brains. As a result, they're one of the few chapters that will repaint their armour to best suit the mission's environment, which is fortunate because the only environment their standard chapter colour scheme would blend in is one of those giant novelty lawn chessboards. Basically, they won't let anything; not their colours, not the Codex, not even their own pride, get in the way of fulfilling their oaths. Now those are Space Marines.
Due to the fact that they often fight on multiple war fronts, the Howling Griffons recruit from multiple worlds, many of which were saved by the Chapter over their many millennia of crusading. This greater recruiting allows them to keep their numbers up. But the majority of their recruits still come from their feudalistic homeworld of Mancora, which (due to the Griffon's own machinations) is in a constant state of feudal conflict to ensure recruits have the necessary qualities that the Chapter seeks in Aspirants. Mancora also has a larger than normal psyker population which affords them capable Librarians. Their Fortress-Monastery, the Proud Aerie, also allows them to maintain their war-footing because of its greater than average manufacturing capabilities, allowing them to crank out enough STC wargear to keep the party going. In recent years however, their chapter homeworld has found itself under ever more frequent assault by greenskin hordes spilling from the Ork Empire of Charadon.
They also have a major beef against the Word Bearers, initially because of a history of battling against the Traitor Legion, but it escalated into an eternal fucking hatred when a combined Word Bearers and Night Lordssurprise raid on the Battle-barge of their Chapter Master, Orlando Furioso, and much of the 1st and 8th Companies, killing them all and sacking the ship as they were journeying home for the Chapter's 5,000th anniversary. As a final fuck you, they tied the slain Chapter Master onto the hull of his own Thunderhawk and left it in orbit. Since then, the Griffons have dedicated themselves to exterminating the Word Bearers and their shitbag Daemon Prince Periclitor the Forsworn.
The Howling Griffons sent a company to help out in the Badab War where they fought with honour but without distinction, since they were in no condition of joining the fight after the Huron-aligned Executioners got the jump on them at Kymeara. Their primary contribution was in materials rather than manpower; they gave guns and armour and even a few war-mounts to besieging loyalists.
Consecrators (founding unknown, but likely after 2nd Founding) • Sons of Medusa (separated from parent Chapters, ratified by edict) • Steel Confessors (de facto 22nd Founding, de jure ratified by edict) • Ashen Claws (de facto First Founding, separatist (later semi-renegade) Raven Guard Legion exiles, nominal loyalists)
Others
Astartes Praeses (special group of 20 chapters, 14 of which are known, 1 of which was destroyed and 1 of which went traitor, assigned to special garrison, see their article for which Chapters are members) • Deathwatch (technically not a Chapter, consists of veterans from all Chapters on special anti-Xeno duty) • Grey Knights (de facto between First and Second Founding, de jure does not exist) • Judged (group of Chapters forced into the Abyssal Crusade, of which only the Vorpal Swords Chapter and several companies of the Doom Legion Chapter remained loyal, with several others maybe having individual loyalists, all others are missing, destroyed or traitor) • Legion of the Damned
Their glorious Fortress-Monastery, The Proud Eyrie.
