For my next army I plan to create an army of feral and warlike humans called ‘The Kroggs’ which will be using the Ork codex. Mainly due to their feral nature and close combat abilities.
Problem is coming up with a background that suits them and explains their inhuman traits such as their increased strength and limited thinking ability and of course their lust for violence.
So far I’ve come up with several ideas to work with, plus I’ve received an idea or two from other people. So here are the ideas for the Krogg’s background.
Idea One
They were originally a Guard regiment that used a variety of combat drugs to enhance their ablites during battle. Everything changed with the creation of a powerful combat drug called ‘Bloodfire’ which could be injected or inhaled, one dose would increase the subject’s strength and durability nearly to that of a space marine for a limited period. With use of this drug the Guard drove back many invasions and the system enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity. However overtime side effects begin to appear in an increasing number of guardsmen such as an increase in body durability and muscle enhancement even when the drug was not being used. While these aspects where seen as a success, there were a number of negative side effects such as a decrease in mental power and a large rise in aggressive behaviour. On the battlefield some guardsmen went into an uncontrollable rage that even the strictest officers had trouble dealing with. This was made worst with the presence of an Ork Waaagh invading the system and the guard were quickly dispatched to defeat them. However during the conflict the guardsmen began adopting Ork traits, the worst one being to respect nothing but strength. This resulted in a mutiny of epic proportions as the 89% of the regiment turned on their officers, new leadership was found as the toughest soldiers climbed their way to power through contest of strength. Over the years the guard regiment now referring to themselves as the Kroggs had become as vile and as aggressive as the Ork race, and the system they were charged to defend was plunged into darkness and civil war.
I’ll like this idea because it both solid and has a good number of conversion aspects such as the Warboss (which will be converted from the Forgeworld Orgyn berserker boss) being a Krogg warrior who has been drugged up on ‘Bloodfire’ and enhanced by the Krogg Mek to be his personal bodyguard.
Idea Two
The Kroggs are a race of violent and aggressive Abhumans that originate from a large planet with a high gravity level and harsh climate. Being forced to live under these hazardous conditions their bodies have adapted in a way making them similar to the Ogryns of the Imperial Guard in the way of increased physical strength and limited mental capacity. But for untold years their warlike nature had forced them into a state of civil war this continued until the Imperial guard came to the planet looking to recruit them. At first the Kroggs refused but after being told of the challenging enemies that would await them in the dark reaches of space the Kroggs agreed. The guard soon came to realise the barbaric nature of the Kroggs during their first campaign which pitted them against the Tyranids. On the battlefield the Kroggs were a terrible sight to behold as most of them were uncontrollable. After the campaign the surviving Kroggs were returned to their homeworld while High Command considered their fate. In the end the Kroggs were seen as a possible threat to the Imperium and an Exterminatus was called in to eradicate their race. But upon arrival their planet had been abandoned and the Imperial ship orbiting the planet destroyed. It would appear that during the short period since the campaign the Kroggs had been told by the surviving warriors about the powerful monsters and enemies that existed out in space for them to challenge. With this goal in mind the Krogg’s channelled all of their resources into constructing a large fleet of crudely built ships in which to launch their bloody crusade. Travelling from planet to planet the Kroggs now seek out conflict in order to test their physical strength and skill.
This background was thought up by looking at an article in a white dwarf about Abhumans such as Ogryns and Ratlings and seems very straight forward.
Idea Three
The warring bands of sub-humanoid mutants known only as "Krogg" were a failed attempt to create a population of host bodies resilient enough to test the capability of housing the Immortal God Emperor's soul in an individual possessing "super-human" abilities. To test his thesis Thorian Inquisitor Maximus the Mad (later declared excommunicate and a heretic after his execution by burning at the stake), subjected the inhabitants of the once prosperous paradise world of Miranda to inhuman conditions by first ordering the mass evacuation of entire cities before orbitally bombing them (killing those who refused to evacuate in the process).
Watching the once peaceful citizens of Miranda reduced to a state of primal barbarity as they killed and consumed one another to survive the mad inquisitor then set about initializing the second step of his program. Using his private army of sycophants, Maximus the Mad set about capturing the different bands of survivors, subjecting them one and all to several different chemical and mutagenic therapies that would increase their physical resilience and strength seven fold.
Pleased with the results of his experiment so far, the inquisitor then continued to orbitally bombard the planet with virus bombs and nuclear missiles to cleanse the planet of all life and reshape it into a death world where he might be able to test the limits of his new specimens. Due to the prolonged orbital bombardment, the planet's once beautiful cities and forests were reduced to ash, leaving 95% of the world as an uninhabitable wasteland, while turning the remaining 5% into tiny oasises separated by thousands if not millions of miles of desert.
Releasing the mutated specimens back onto the planet, Maximus the Mad began hunting down and collecting powerful demonic entities to test the abilities of the modified specimen’s ability to survive possession by a powerful psychic being. However, before he could return to resume testing he was captured and executed as a heretic, his work on Miranda going unnoticed for one hundred years as the entire system was enveloped in a giant warp storm.
The combination of mutagenic and chemical therapy, exposure to the warp, and the general inhuman conditions the "Krogg" have endured, has led to the creation of a sub-species far more violent and resilient than was intended. If the world of Miranda could ever be pacified along with the it's inhabitants, the tithes of Imperial Guard regiments would be second only to the Adeptus Astartes in melee prowess, rivaling even Orgyn auxiliaries and the hated Xenos Ork scum.
This was suggested to me by someone off another forum and is very detailed; I am considering however changing the scale from a planet to an Imperial Hive city.
So which do like the most? The purpose of this thread is to decide on and develop a suitable and interesting background to support using the Ork codex to represent the Kroggs on the board.