The Maoir-Dùnain

Once a year, girls from across Manawyddan gather a crew and a sturdy curragh and make their way to An Creagg, the rocky island fortress of the Krakenborn, to present themselves for the trials known as the Choosing. Those that emerge victorious begin the process that will take them from the peak of mortal humanity to the heights of being an immortal Astartes.

Yet not all make the cut, for the Choosing is long, arduous, and potentially fatal. There is little shame in failing to meet the standards the Krakenborn demand from their Astartes, for to attempt the challenge at all is to be recognised as a hero among mortals and only a handful in a hundred survive to wear Astartes warplate.

Those girls that failed are inducted into the Maoir-Dùnain - the Castellans. They are recognised as full members of the legion and bear their heraldry, though their duties primarily lay away from the battlefield. It is they that repair armour and weapons for their Astartes sisters, lay on provisions, maintain the libraries and serve as crew aboard those voidships the Krakenborn possess. It would be a mistake though to see them merely as servants, for they drill daily and learn to shoot with accuracy approaching their augmented comrades. With carapace plate worn over kelp-cloth robes and bearing boltguns sized for mortals they are easily the equal of any regiment outside the Old Hundred.

When the Sigilite called Sgáthach and her daughters back from their exile many Castellans accompanied the warfleet. In void combat they allowed the relatively small Krakenborn fleet to punch well above their weight, while planetside they proved adept at tackling the rabid hordes of cultists the traitor legions threw at them.