Introduction
Hey everybody, Mad Tanker here. This article is going to be (I hope) a repository for all the fluff created for my various imperial armies and how they fit together with the home-brewed sector my gaming group is creating to unify all our fluff. The fluff is drawn from Warhammer 40K tabletop armies, Battlefleet Gothic fleets, Deathwatch RPG characters and even purely fluff based entities. The headers are place holders for now while I work on fluff and hopefully more articles will be created to detail our antics in this new sector. Hope you enjoy, I love to spin a good tale...
The Hammer of the Emperor: Imperial Guard Regiments of the Crusade
Shadowsreachian Iron Corps: The 1st Shadowsreach Armored
Homeworld: Shadowsreach
Sitting in high orbit of a red gas giant, the moon of Shadowsreach is about the size of Holy Terra, its entire surface covered in the thick, volcanic and industrial smog emanating from the thousands of volcanoes and hundreds of mining operations that dot its surface. The moon is the hub of mining activity for the entire planet system, and the heart resting 2000 kilometers above the surface of Shadowsreach at the Skyforge Orbital Array. The Skyforge is massive orbital complex approximately one eighth the surface of the moon that houses thousands of ship-docks, refineries, factories housing for the station’s populace and the seat of the planetary government. Tethered to the moon below by hundreds of orbital elevators, some the size of buildings in their own right, along with low-orbit shuttles are the life line that feeds raw materials from the mining operations below into the complex. These mining operations employ millions of workers, most of the moon’s population, inside massive walking cities that wander the surface in search of mineral veins turned up by unstable volcanic activity. Like insect hives, thousands of miners and mine-crawlers emerge from each city when a vein is discovered, hurriedly gathering up the precious resourced before lava flows destroy the tunnels. This environment breeds tough individuals, used to hard work and incredibly proficient with machines.
Founding a Regiment: The Iron Corps
As the situation on the nearby planet of Isenghast deteriorated, the Departmento Munitorum put forth a call to raise regiments to quell the rebellion for all nearby planets, including Shadowsreach. The moon’s government feared that the massive tithes required to raise the regiments would cripple its ability to maintain the tithes already imposed on then for raw materials and war machines as it possessed a relatively small population. Using what connections they had within the Adeptus Mechanicus (who had a vested interest in the mines and factories on the world) to gain an audience with the local Departmento Munitorum representative and explain their plight. As Shadowsreach did represented one of the few reliable industrial worlds in the sector, a modification was granted to Shadowsreach; the tithe for warmachines would be increased, but they would be required to rise only a single regiment, and at the suggestion of the Mechanicus, an armored regiment as it required less personal and would take advantage of the moon’s natural armored vehicle production. As the blacken hulls of the regiment’s Leman Russes rolled off the assembly lines, the Departmento Munitorum sent teams of officers and commissar to train the burgeoning regiment. They were found to be lacking in infantry skills, but when the Shadowsreachian people mounded their armored warbeasts, their natural skills with machines showed, producing fine tankers for such a green regiment.
Baptism by Fire: The Isenghast Liberation
The Isenghast Liberation would be a more brutal affair then first though, seeing the complete destruction of some regiments and a large number of refoundings. Out this turmoil, the natural talent of 1st Shadowsreach tankers would be forged in to battle hardened skill, winning many great victories, including the defeating of the dreaded Avarice Guard armored traitor regiment on the Helsmoor Plains. By campaign’s end, as the tanks of the first paraded down the streets of the recaptured capital city, they had won several great victories and lost many of their number, but stood ready for the next task to be set upon them. They would not have to wait long however, for the warpstoms of a neighboring sector began to subsided, and the eyes of the Imperium turned to reclaiming these lost worlds...
Zephyrian Warpjumpers: The 9th Zephyria Airborne
Homeworld: Zephyria
Sitting in orbit of a trinary star system in Segmentum Tempestus, Zephyria is a lush forest world with one astonishing feature, over 60% of the planet surface is massive earthen islands afloat in the sky. The lower layers massive sky islands are comprised of a naturally magnetic material, while the surface below contains a naturally occurring superconductor that is heated by geothermal flows from below. The populace of the planet lives upon these floating islands, ranging in size from a few square kilometers to hundreds of square kilometers. This has lead to aerocraft becoming the primary mode of transportation on the planet. The people of Zephyria are extremely pious and devote to the Imperial Creed, but also hearty and extremely competitive.
Founding a Regiment: The Warpjumpers
Perhaps not as famous as regiments from Elysia or Harakon, the Zephyria airborne regiments are none the less well known for their tough and stubborn troopers, well versed in the art of airborne assault. The pious culture of Zephyria has breed troopers that abhor weakness as a sign as failure to honor the Emperor. One would think that this would make the troopers of the Warpjumpers stuffy and uptide, and are shock at how jovial they are outside of battle. The fragmented surface of their home-world has lead to hundreds of distant cultures to form on the floating islands, which has over the centuries lead to extreme, but healthy competition between them, leading to Zephyrians to relishing in the thrill of a challenge. The fragmented natures of their home-world also influenced the founding of regiments, taking full advantage of their familiarity with airborne operations to produce drop regiments.
The 9th Zephyria Airborne has overtime become a special operations force. Very rarely does it deploy as single unit, instead dispatching attack wings to serve alongside other Imperial Guard elements to provide air support and pinpoint assaults. The regiment’s reputation has seen its units deployed in Ordo Xeno sanctioned operations in support if inquisitorial elements, including the Purging of Hexta Hive and Operation Firewind.
The Angels of Death: Space Marine Chapters of the Crusade
The Sons of the Lion: The Halo Watch
Founding Chapter: Dark Angels
Founding: Twenty Second Founding
Homeworld: Fleet based
Fortress-Monastery: A Space Hulk, The Watchtower
Colours: Quartered Dark Green/Black with Purple Pauldrons
Specialty: None
Strength: Full
Battle Cry: Unknown
Inner Circle
Chapter Master: Supreme Grand Master Yvain H’Tennek, a cunning man who is always accompanied by a cyber-lion.
Master of the Deathwing: Grand Master Silas Ramiel, a beast of a man and a noble warrior.
Master of the Ravenwing: Grand master Gabriel Sariel, a hot-headded but stubborn commander.
Grand Master of Chaplains:
Grand Master of Librarians:
History
The gene seed of the Dark Angels is as pure that of any space marine chapter, but their dark and mysterious actions have lead to it being used less often than others. However, during the 22nd founding, the gene seed of the Unforgiving was selected after the disastrous 21st founding as it was one of the few not used. As the first marines grew to maturation, a message was dispatch requesting a cadre of warrior be sent to train this new Chapter. This call was answered by the Angels of Dark Storm, a Dark Angels successor, who sent Master Tarkin of the Third Company to lead this Cadre along with Chaplain Baros from the Angels of Absolution. As the first batch of Marines stepped out of their incubation pods, Master H’Tennek decided on a name for this new founding of the Unforgiven, a chapter that would stand as sentinels against the machinations of Chaos and Xenos alike and strike as angels of death when the Imperium was threatened; The Halo Watch. The heraldry of their armor blended the colors of the Dark Angels of old and new and their symbol, a winged lantern, a metaphor for cutting through the darkness of the 41st millennium.
Many years passed before the Halo Watch departed Mars and made their way to their new homeworld, the fleet barring the Halo Watch came under attack by massive space hulk, catching the fleet off guard and scattering it. Rallying the scattered ships, Tarkin order the Halo Watch marine to began boarding operations against the hulk, hoping to sunder the hulk from the inside as it deflected blows from the fleets guns. As drop pods descended upon the hulk, the fresh marines faces there first real taste of war. Fighting through the twisted hallways, they discovered the masters of the warp spawn behemoth, the Orks. The hulk was infested with thousands of greenskins, all ready to sunder the next planet the hulk was to stumble upon. The Halo Watch forced the numerically superior Orks into fighting in cramped corridors where there numbers became liability instead of a boon. Mean while, the ships of the Halo Watch had been joined by an Imperial Naval taskforce that had been pursuing the hulk. Soon, the location of the central command hub was discovered, Master Tarkin teleported into the heart of the Ork leadership with a squad of Terminators. Massacring the boyz in the center as Tarking engaged in single combat with the Warboss. The fight lasted several hours as the two behemoths traded blows till Master Tarking gained the upper hand and beheaded the greenskin with his heavenfall blade. As the wounded Tarkin returned to the Chapter’s battlebarge to recover from his wounds, the orks fell into disarray without their leader. The Halo Watch began to see this chance encounter as a sign, and after the chapters Librarians consulted the Emperor’s Tarot, the Halo Watch laid claim to the hulk to become their fortress-monastery and began a 50 year cleansing of the hulk. The Naval Taskforce, thankful that the hulk was no longer a threat, departed. After the hulk was cleansed of all Orks, the Halo Watch dubbed it the Watchtower and began operation across the Imperium.
The beliefs of the Halo Watch were greatly affected by the members of the carde that trained them and the events of the Siege of the Watchtower. There belief structure closely resembles the Angels of Absolution, still very similar to those of their progenitor chapter, but consider themselves absolved of their own sins during the Fall of Caliban, and place a greater amount of emphasis on their holy duty of just hunting the Fallen as such and not to redeem themselves. This, along with the debt they owned to the Imperial Navy during the siege, caused a belief to form that they should never abandon imperial forces in times of great need in order to hunt the Fallen, Instead, they began to form semi-independent cells of members of the Deathwing, those of the 1st company and select inducted members from the 6th company, who mission in was to hunt members of the Fallen if the Halo Watch was otherwise engaged. This did cause some minor tension between the Halo Watch and the Dark Angels, but the success of the covert cells was undeniable, capturing several Fallen, so the Dark Angels choose to accept this idiosyncrasy.
The Chapter has seen combat from the Eye of Terror to the Eastern Fringe, suppressing rebellions, beating back xenos invaders and banishing daemons back to the warp. They suffered heavy losses in the Gamma Castellan Sector, but rebuilt there forces through a massive recruiting drive on the Hive World of Paradeso. Currently the chapter has shifted their efforts to the Veiled Worlds Crusade.
The Bane of the Daemon: The Exorcists
Servants of the Emperor: The Inquisition in the Crusade
The Threat Without: Ordo Xenos
The Threat Beyond: Ordo Malleus
The Holy Fleet: Imperial Navy Assets in the Crusade
Pioneers: Imperial Naval Taskforce Zeta
