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I've recently been getting into the DKoK, but I'd like to know more about their planet, and how they live and train in a nuclear wasteland.

They have a special method for birth called the "Vitae Womb", though I don't know much about it. The air there is toxic so the gas masks stay on at all times and they train with them so that they become like a second face and are as used to them as normal people are to socks and underwear. As far as i know the surface of the planet is ash, dust and ruins, most of them live underground. So basically think the fallout games made by Bethesta if you have played/seen/heard of them.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Krieg#.T5rFxav-9_c

They nuked themselves to stop from leaving the Imperium.
The Vitae Womb is essentially a tank used to grow people to near maturity in a short period of time.

Imperial Armour: 5 'Siege of Vraks' contains a lot of background information on the Death Korp of Krieg, their homeworld & their history. But in brief, as the books are quite expensive & not everyone has a copy;

Krieg was once a hive world but, during m40, it's ruling body decided to break from the Imperium, for petty reasons revolving mostly around greed, and the planet, faced with such sudden civil war, capitulated quickly to the rebels. However one hive held out. Hive Ferrograd was under the command of Colonel Jurten of the Krieg 83rd Imperial Guard regiment and he turned it into a fortified rallying point for those still loyal to the Imperium. Knowing that the Hive would be subjected to a massive fight it could not win, Jurten, using the knowledge of Archmagos Greel, an ally of the Colonel, they opened up a secret Adeptus Mechanicus storage facility built deep beneath the Hive. With the Hive undersiege & with no hope of reinforcements on the planet or from the Imperium, Jurten began what the people of Krieg refer to as 'The Purging'. On the Feast Day of the Emperor's Ascension, he had thousands of missiles launched high into Krieg's atmosphere which exploded, showering their deadly payloads of isotopes far and wide across the planet, covering it entirely. The eco-system failed and all-out war ensued for 500 years.

As it stands in m41, Krieg is a barren wasteland. To breath its air is to die. To walk upon its surface is to die. The populace live beneath the planets surface and perform one single task - the creation of soldiers for the Imperium. When the planet came out of it's civil war, with the loyalists victorious, the planet immediately offered the Imperium 20 trained, formed regiments ready for immediate deployment, with each commander requesting to serve on the harshest warzones & planets possible. These new 'Death Korps' regiments were such an excellent addition to the Imperial Guard that a decree from the High Lords of Terra essentially laid down 'the law' that anything Krieg needed or wanted to create more Korpsmen was to be granted. The vitae womb birthing technique, strictly forbidden across the Imperium by the Adeptus Mechanicus & Biologus, was sanctioned to be used on Krieg, although the AM was not happy about this.

The populace of Krieg, having lived with their protective clothing for hundreds of years, wear them like a second skin. With their respirators & chemically treated clothing they can survive upon the surface of Krieg but there is nothing out there for them, just a wasteland - the surface remains unconquered. The surface does, however, serve one very important function. Towards the end of their training, new regiments of the Death Korp participate in live fire exercises & training upon the surface - this is the last stage in their training & is designed to weed out the weakest of the strong - the weak will have died off long ago as the training is relentless & unforgiving*.

Apart from their unmatched discipline & unquestioning obedience to orders, the Death Korps greatest asset is that they are truly without fear. Many Guardsmen might find their discipline overrules their fear on the battlefield, the Astartes are altered purposefully to have no fear, the members of the Death Korp have no fear. Their ultimate goal is to die for the Emperor, to repay the blood-debt they believe they owe for their planets treachery during m40. Commissar's are attached to the Death Korps not to oversee discipline & belief in the God-Emperor but to prevent the soldiers & officers of the Death Korp from losing their sense in battle & laying down their lives for no beneficial reason - the Imperium is more than happy for the Korpsmen to die for their Emperor, but only if it yields an advantage to the Imperium - obviously the loss of 200,000 Korpsmen could have quite a dent in the manpower within a warzone.

The Death Korp have become synonymous, like the Imperial Fists Space Marine Chapter, with sieges. The Siege Regiments, the primary formation of Death Korps soldiers, specialise in destroying fortifications & grinding down the enemy with protracted attrition until the enemy can not take anymore. To help them in this the Death Korp take more artillery to war than any other noted Imperial Guard force. The Death Korp make great use of specialised equipment such as the Gorgons, great hulking transports that allow the troops of the Death Korp to smash through enemy lines & deliver masses of troops deep within the enemies rear. The Grenadiers make use of light Centaur transports to move them swiftly across the battlefield to where they need to be.

*Of interesting note, on Krieg they have 'eugenic policies' to weed out malformed/mutated children - essentially they kill off any child who will not be suitable for the Death Korp.

Lightcavalier wrote:The Vitae Womb is essentially a tank used to grow people to near maturity in a short period of time.

This has never, to my knowledge, ever been confirmed - in fact I don't think the Vitae Womb has ever been described. We just know it's used on Krieg & the AM is not happy about it.

Yori wrote:They have a special method for birth called the "Vitae Womb", though I don't know much about it. The air there is toxic so the gas masks stay on at all times and they train with them so that they become like a second face and are as used to them as normal people are to socks and underwear. As far as i know the surface of the planet is ash, dust and ruins, most of them live underground. So basically think the fallout games made by Bethesta if you have played/seen/heard of them.

Wow this is very interesting. I cant believe they live in such a harsh world

Saying they have toxic air isn't even the half of it. The isotopes they have make Sarin look like a deodorant and Sarin is disturbingly lethal. Those isotopes are soaked into the ground they walk on, the air around them, they are everywhere and their 'shelf-life' is very, very long. Krieg is more or less the ultimate death world, because to walk upon it, without suitable, sealed clothing & equipment, is to die. Quickly. Catachan, as far as Death Worlds go, doesn't even come close to Krieg.

Are they genetically altered (by their enviornment), like that of the people of Nocturne, Where the skin is onyx and there eyes red?

It's never been addressed what they look like. They are normal humans though but maybe they have a lot of radiation scars and stuff.

"Dead Men Walking" actually had a description of a Grenadier unmasked.

Young (about 17-19), tons of acne-scarring, exceedingly pale with relatively little fat to him.

If they don't take their masks off often, the acne would make sense since they'd have a lot of sweat and grease build-up on their skin but the main thing is they'd be fairly pale and likely not very good to look at.

Too bad they didn't describe his hair. If it was all patchey then we'd know they get some radiation poisoning on Krieg. Otherwise from that description it sounds like their underground cities are pretty safe radiation-wise.

I don't think them having radiation poisoning is likely, to be honest. It's one of those things which can likely be treated upon admission into the Imperial Guard, as radiation poisoning would lead to poor quality troops due to the various ailments accompanying it.

Brother Thomas wrote:Are they genetically altered (by their enviornment), like that of the people of Nocturne, Where the skin is onyx and there eyes red?

That only happens to marines.
It's very specifically mentioned to be a reaction due to the gene-seed and the radiation.

Brother Thomas wrote:Are they genetically altered (by their enviornment)

There is planet where the people have grey skin, hair and eyes and the planet is all grey too the name of it is Dreah, and people there are so desperate to see colors that they buy drugs that cause them hallucinations its not unheard of people to change according to their planet. So I'm guessing something like that can happen, maybe they are more resistant to radiation, or can sense it like a geiger counter.