Ferineum Mortis Cohort

Created in the midst of the Great Crusade, the Ferineum Mortis Cohort participated in the subjugation of many worlds and primarily clashed against xeno empires eventually creating the opening allowing the Priesthood of Mars to claim the world which would eventually become the host-world for the cohort's forces. After the Horus Heresy the Cohort would swear to continue the purpose of the Emperor's Crusade putting down xeno empires and expanding the realm of humanity.

Founding and the Great Crusade
Founded in the year c.840 of the Thirtieth Millennium and only shortly after the beginning of the Great Crusade, and assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet. The young Ferineum Mortis Cohort joined the Dark Angles Legion as Lion El'Jonson brought the wrath of his fleet and his legion against both the Xeno and the Rebelious. Often the Cohort would act in a truly overzealous manner at this time, exterminating entire populations who had refused the rule of the Emperor. These actions, while deemed efficient by the Cohort, often lead to censure by the Lion and he would often force the machines of the cohort and their overseeing adepts to take on tasks that were both difficult and less glorious than what the rest of the fleet would perform.

However despite the constant censure of the Cohort, the machines and their masters eventually did receive recognition from the Primarch, when they utilized their skills to put down a planet of xeno-worshipers. The worshipers had been granted, and were controlled though, witchery from the Xenos however the mechanical nature of the cohort's automata allowed the machines enough resistance and freedom from the warp-wiles of the enemy to fight deep into the xeno-tainted world's capital eventually laying waste to the population's xeno masters, and slaughtering those closest to them. As such Lion El'Jonson began assigning more battles to the Cohort which pitted their machines against xenos, a tasking the machines and their tech-adepts soon learned they excelled at.

The Horus Heresy
The first the Ferineum Mortis Cohort learned of the Horus Heresy, was not through the calls to arms from the divided Mars, but instead as their Dark Angels allies left them to keep their foothold in the frontier, as the lion had sworn to return and have his Dark Angels finish their extermination of the Zoragons Species. Thus tasked the Ferineum Mortis Cohort began their private crusade against the Zoragon species tracking down worlds held by the Zoragons and exterminating the race, while also reinforcing any world finding itself counter-attacked by the xenos.

Thus it continued for the Ferineum Mortis Cohort for nine years, the cohort's private war with the Zoragons rendering the Cohort nearly oblivious to the happenings of the Horus Heresy, as well as deaf to the calls to rebellion, or to loyally resist being sent out from even Mars itself. However eventually the Ferineum Mortis Cohort did hear the summons from Mars, and abandoning their plans to press in on the final worlds of the Zoragons, raced to the most Holy Sol system to only find that they had arrived too late. Much of Sol laid in ruins, Horus and the Emperor had both been struck down in their final clash, and the Loyalists had set out to see to the end of the traitors. Much of the Cohort's forces were then taken to help reform those that were left of the loyalists forces, and those of the Cohort that still remained were left enraged, they had failed to efficiently bring about the end of a weak and dying race, and their delay of nine years had possibly cost the Cult Mechanicus much.

The Edict of Eternal War
With the Cult Mechanicus firmly in control of Mars once again, and the Traitor Cohorts driven into the Warp by their loyalist counterparts. It seemed the Ferineum Mortis would be folded into a supporting role as the Cohorts whom had participated in the Horus Heresy sought out and destroyed the traitors who dared show themselves outside the Eye of Terror. However the Magos Dominus Salicar Luli finally forwarded a report to the Fabricator General Kane, this report claimed that as the Cohort raced to Sol to throw their lot in with the loyalist's forces the Cohort had witnessed Xenos retreating with the STC stock-pile of Forge-World Rikthet. Immediately the Cohort swore to retake Rikthet and find traces of the xenos whom had stolen the holy STCs. For the entirety of the great Scouring and into the year c.30.M31 the cohort lay siege to the planet along side of the loyal Adeptus Mechanicus, however when the loyalists retook the planet they could find no sign of xeno invasion and most of the planets STCs were found to be corrupted or destroyed by the traitors. The truth was that Magos Dominus Salicar Luli had lied, however with his Cult Mechanicus allies unaware of the deception, he mourned the xenos theft and escape from proper judgement.

With such STCs lost, the Great Scouring ended, and the xenos whom had committed such grave injustice to Rikthet unpunished, Magos Dominus Salicar Luli swore to the loyalists upon Rikthet, and to the Fabricator General Kane, using complex codes or rituals, that his cohort would not cease until they had scoured every corner of the galaxy for the lost STCs, that they would invade every xeno world, conquer every unenlightened, heathen mass of humanity that had yet to join the Imperium of Man, until such a time as they had located each of the 'stolen' STCs. As to prove their commitment to this cause the Ferineum Mortis declared this oath The Edict of Eternal War. With their oaths complete the Cohort set themselves to the task of rebuilting their cohort and preparing their forces to join the Exploritor fleets as part of their Eternal Great Crusade.

Command Structure
As a continuously crusading Cohort the Ferineum Mortis pass through the command matrix's of a significant number of high Magos and Fabricator Lords, often joining Exploritor fleets only for so many decades before traveling to the next war-front. As such the Ferineum Mortis maintain a highly efficient command system capable of adjusting their command matrix to that of any command structure by keeping the designators of their units simplistic and easily navigable. However authority and information released is primarily filtered the Mago Dominus of the Cohort, preventing the unworthy of accessing the information of the cohort. The Tech-Adepts of the Cohort are all directly under the the Mago Dominus of the Cohort with the Magos holding direct command over each. From there the Skitarii, lesser engenseers and other menials are directed by the Tech-Adepts, allowing the Cohort a streamlined command structure.

However to protect this Command design the Cohort denies access to their logic engines and data-flows to anyone outside the Cohort, limiting this access to only those with immediate command authority over the Cohort, and the Lord-Magos of Rikthet. Amongst the Tech adepts advancement is limited to battlefield success and the greater Automata take the roles as alphas within the packs of maniples released to the battlefields. With this simplistic command chain the Ferineum Mortis contiously work to ensure that greater Automata are given to those Tech-Adepts with significantly more talent, experience, and ability than their peers.

Supply Base
The Ferineum Mortis draws it's resources from several sources, as the Cohort travels through the galaxy constantly waging war against Xenos and renegades empires, the Cohort finds itself far more dependent on the Benefaction of Fleets and worlds they serve with than the resources contributed from the Cohort's own host world. Despite their seeming shortage of supply sources, the Ferineum Mortis remain well supplied due to effective negotiation tactics, and well calculated resource allocations. Whenever the Cohort returns to Rikthet to renew their oaths to the Edict of Eternal War, the Cohort also takes time to ensure that their resources are stockpiled to maximum capacity, providing the Cohort with the needed resources to maintain their constant wars for as much as another century to come.

Cataphract Automata
A versatile and popular model of Automata amongst the Legio Cybernetica Cohorts, The Cataphract Automata holds the honor as being the third used model of Automata within the Cohort. The Express purpose of the Cataphract Automata within the Ferineum Mortis Cohort is to engage enemies of the Adeptus Mechanicus with a adjustable weapons array, and within spaces other Automata models struggle to enter. Often Cataphract automata will serve as support units for the larger battle-automata of the Cohort with a varying mix of weapons meant to be suitable to nearly any situation.

Firestorm-Pattern
Perhaps the most used armament pattern of the Ferineum Mortis Cohort's Cataphract Automata is the Firestorm-Pattern. The Firestorm Pattern Dates back to the Great-Crusade and was used by both traitor and loyalist forces. In the Ferineum Mortis this nearly unchanged Pattern of Cataphract is both a honorable reminder of the Cohort's vast history and of the Cohort's oaths, while still serving a important duty in the fields of battle. Possessing a combination of Meltagun, heavy flamer, and power-blade, the Firestorm-Pattern is limited to closer ranged engagements. However as these units are typically seconded to Automata with superior ranged capabilities, and even greater size, the Firestorm-Pattern finds itself successfully fulfilling it's battlefield role, clearing holdouts of resistance and thinning the ranks of foes who come too close to the Maniple.

Disruptor-Pattern
Fielded for the express purpose of disrupting hard hitting foes, such as psykers and Warboss', the Disruptor-Pattern is often the most extensively damaged of all the Automata of the Cohort. Despite the extensive damage typically inflicted upon the Disruptor-Pattern of the Cataphract Battle-automata, the Disruptor-Pattern is often looked towards as one of the most vital pieces of the Cohort's forces when engaging certain Xeno races. Armed with two powerfull Shock-Gauntlets, each generating enough power to stop a human heart with a simple touch, and a shoulder mounted Grenade-Launcher the Disruptor is tasked with intercepting the highest risk foes approaching a force of the Ferineum Mortis Automata. The Disruptor-Pattern's granade launcher is loaded with unique ammunitions selected and loaded based on precise calculations to hamper foes, an Eldar Witch could face themselves surrounded in a cloud of highly potent hallucinogens, while an ork trukk could find itself struck by a heywire grenade, followed shortly by a rain of Krak grenades.

Mars-Pattern
Recorded under a wide variety of designation codes over the course of the millennia, and by the different factions of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the standard Mars-Pattern Cataphract Automata loadout is a versatile and highly capable combat unit. The Mars-Pattern is armed with a Storm-bolter, a shoulder-mounted Plasmagun, and a wrist mounted power-blade. The Storm-bolter of the Mars-Pattern in the Ferineum Mortis is often loaded with Bolt-shells popular amongst the Deathwatch, such as Dragonfire shells which ignite enemies, and Kraken rounds known to occasionally over-penetrate targets. The Mars-Pattern remains the most independent and versatile Pattern of Cataphract used amongst the Ferineum Mortis.

Vorax-Class Automata
Extensively used to both run down fleeing foes, and to flank enemy positions, the Vorax-Class Automata has been removed by the Ferineum Mortis Cohort from it's standard role as a hunter-killer within the Forge-Worlds of the Adeptus Mechanicus and has instead been retrofitted for fighting upon the frontier. Foremost in the retrofits, given to the Cohort's Vorax-Class Automata are a series of rough terrain modifications meant to allow the units to function with less hindrance from the soft and often more uneven terrain of a non-Forge-world planetscape, these modifications include a a alternate stabilizer set, and reserve anti-gravity units. These mobility modifications allow the unit to maintain the speed the Vorax have been infamous for upon Forge-worlds. To better allow the units to use this speed, the sensor units typically used on Forgeworlds have been switched, for units that will better serve the Vorax in the uncertain conditions of alien worlds.

When engaging the enemies of the Omnissiah the Vorax has changed only slightly over the Milena, and many within the Adeptus Mechanicus feel this is due to the machine being near the peek of both efficiency and a wonder of the Omnissiah. When the Vorax unit was first adopted into the Ferineum Mortis Cohort the machine utilized the standard weapons load of a pair of rotor-cannons, duel power blades, and a lightning gun. However slight technological advancement, and experience has caused the cohort to change these weapons. While the Power-Blades are still used exactly the same as they had been during the Great Crusade the weapons they are supported under, the Rotor-cannons, have been switched out with the Assault-cannons popular amongst the Adeptus Astartes. These Assault Cannons introduced shortly after the Astartes had proven the weapon, both proved their combat worth and with the addition of specialized Dragon-rounds allow the modern Verax within the Ferineum Mortis to immolate entire swaths of enemies. Meanwhile the typical Lightning gun used by the Vorax remains popular, however on some units the weapon has been switched with either a Las-cannon or a Heavy Flamer as to help preserve the Archo-tech-weapon in light of recent production short-comings and the uncertainty caused from conflict with new races of foul xenos.

Leviathan Conqueror Automata
A Design originating from the late Great Crusade, and implemented into the Cohort after much deliberation and testing. The Leviathan Conqueror Automata is one of the Heaviest Automata units in use among the Ferineum Mortis' Maniples, standing over the hulking Castellan-Class Automata by a full Meter, as such the unit is used to engage enemies of the Omnissiah in frontal assault. With the Leviathan's great size comes a instinctual Alpha-Preditor mentality within the Machine Spirit of the Leviathan, as it strides forward unconcerned with the struggling of it's prey allowing it's thick armor and shields to absorb incoming attacks.

As the Massive Leviathan Conqueror advances it fires a powerful Mauler Bolt Cannon, often loaded with specialized Bolt ammunition, to thin and weaken it's prey. Once close the Leviathan leaps into close combat with it's prey, allowing a pair of chasis mounted meltaguns to punch through exceptionally thick armor, while the Leviathan's own power-blade quickly seeks out any who would stand against the machine. When this monstrous Automata begins it's slaughter many of the Tech-Adepts assigned to control the unit report difficulty in coaxing the Machine Spirit into ceasing it's destructive tendencies, and often the machine only stops it's assault once every enemy in the immediate vicinity has been laid to ruin.

Castellax Battle-Automata
The most common of the widespread Castellan-type battle-automata in service, the Castellax is a general battle unit developed during the Great Crusade from its ancient forebear. Primarily intended for siege work and shock assaults, the Castellax Battle-automata is a hulking humanoid machine with a notoriously aggressive and responsive machine-spirit, and an enviable reputation on the battlefield. Within the Ferineum Mortis this design competes for the position of the most used automata and often fights alongside the massive Leviathan Conqueror Battle-Automata.

The Ferineum Mortis Cohort utalze their Castellax Battle-Automata much in the same manner as they have been used for millennia, as forward shock forces. However the Ferineum Mortis have made ever so slight adjustments to the Automata to increase the weapon's efficiency. With the addition of Plasma-explosive Bolts and anti-matter fueled Implosion bolts, the Castellax Battle-Automata's Bolt cannon, and wrist mounted Bolter both become weapons capable of causing far more devastation. While the cohort's more aggressive combat matrixes allow the Castellax more freedom to seek out and engage Xenos and the various other enemies of the Omnissiah.

Thanatar Siege-Automata
The Thanatar is a heavy Siege-automata, designed as a mobile artillery platform rather than a general battle unit. It is armed with a Hellex pattern plasma mortar, a terrifying weapon able to launch dense spheres of blazing plasma on arcing trajectories over defensive barriers and into the heart of enemy fortifications, incinerating anything in their blast radius with a liquid tide of sun-hot fire.

The Thanatar’s frame, built to accommodate the huge weapon and the power systems and fuel reserves required to supply it, is considerably larger than even the hulking Castellax. Its frame is also heavily reinforced, both to withstand the stresses of firing its principal weapon and protect it from incoming attacks. This factor, alongside the use of an atomantic shielding array, make Thanatars notoriously durable. Such is their resilience that Thanatars are beyond the ability of most small arms, no matter how advanced, to harm.

Tech-Thralls
While the use of Tech-Thralls throughout the Adeptus Mechanicus has waned significantly since the Horus Heresy, the Ferineum Mortis still make extensive use of these cybernetic soldiers. Taking prisoners, street scum, and various other undesirables en mass, the Ferineum Mortis then use low grade cybernetic cranial augmentation to kill the greater portion of the thrall's self preservation instincts, pain reception, and moral centers of the brain. With the initial cranial procedures complete the Ferineum Mortis install integrated weaponry into the Thrall's body, powerful short ranged Las-Lock weapons, and simple chianswords make squads of these soldiers a worthy protective barrier for the servitors, Skitarii and Automata of the Cohort. Indeed these Thralls are truly lowly creatures in the sight of the Cohort, seen as more lowly than any servitor. Often the Ferineum Mortis sacrifice the Cohort's Tech-thralls with little thought, their surviving flesh given the honor of being implanted into a superior servitor, while their implants are transferred into the next thrall.

Skitarii Oath-Sworn
The Skitarii, the modern mainstay of the Adeptus Mechanicus armies. A advanced, better equipped and generally superior fighting force when placed in comparison to their Imperial Guard counterparts. Since the Edict of Eternal War, the Ferineum Mortis have possessed few Skitarii forces of their own, instead the Cohort is expected to more heavily rely on the Skitarii of the armies they battle alongside. However the few Skitarii that come into the Ferineum Mortis are known as the Oath Sworn as these Skitarii are bound by powerful oaths of personal honor alongside coding which prevent them from acting against the Cohort. Since so few Skitarii come into the Cohort the Ferineum Mortis make due with the Skitarii they do possess, typically seeing that these Skitarrii are given the best possible armor and armed with weapons which are rare even amongst the Cult Mechanicus. Often these Oath-Sworn serve as a elite reserve or as commanders to the Tech-Thralls of the Legion, their highly augmented faces being the closest sight the Thralls would ever receive to that of their Mago Dominus Master, before they are sent to die in the service of the cohort.

The Cohort's skitarii are typically armored in the best of the Adeptus Mechanicus' Best Crimson Armor, a servo-reinforced armor which is only just short of the superior performance of power armor. Along with a full array of the best possible Cybernetic enhancements, and sever hypno-training and a harsh training regimen from youth mean that these soldiers will certainly outpreform any warrior short of an Adeptus Astartes. The superior armaments granted to the Oath-Sworn by the Ferineum Mortis typically include Phased-Plasma rifles with motion predictor upgrades, Volkite rifles, as well as servo-fists reinforced with inbuilt chain-weaponry, power-swords, and power-fists. All of these extensive modifications transform the Cohort's Oath-Sworn Skitarii into warriors the like of which many a traitor or xeno has dreaded the possibility of facing.

Magos Dominus Eshmunazar Barca
Magos Dominus Eshmunazar Barca is the current commanding Magos of the Ferineum Mortis Cohort, and by record the sixth most successful command the Cohort has had after the Horus Heresy. Eshmunazar Barca is a unusual Magos, taking internist in the unenlightened and wishing to uplift those whom seem worthy. As such many of the newer Tech-Adepts of the Cohort are individuals Eshmunazar himself had inducted into the ranks of the Cult Mechanicus. This strange outlook has lead Magos Eshmunazar to occasionally clash with the Magos and Lords of various Forges, however this outlook has also saved the Machanicus from misunderstandings with the ignorant masses amongst the Imperium. The Highlight of this life approach is the Magos Dominus' union with a Ranking Famula Advance of the Adeptus Sororitas, in which Eshmunazar donated his genetic material to the Famula Advance, allowing her to birth two daughters, one of which now serves as a Tech-Adept within the Cohort.

In war Magos Dominus Eshmunazar is also a non-linear tactician, often using deployments and approach vectors which strike unprepared foes. Eshmunazar is methodological in his approach to waging war against the xenos. Neither Combatants, nor non-combatants are spared any form of reprieve or mercy while Eshmunazar's cohort is in the fields of battle and often if a xeno races warriors are known to move to defend their citizenry or any item of notice Eshmunazar will use these factors to create openings allowing him to devestate more of the non-human's forces thus accelerating their extinction. It is noted that Eshmunazar holds a significant hatred for xenos who employ greater Mechanical understanding in their societies, Tau being a notable example as Eshmunazar has pensioned several times to be allowed to wage holy war against these defilers of the Omnissiah's image.

By
"The Xeno is a affront to the Omnissiah, their technology while tempting to the unwise is filled with deceit, and leads to a state of weakened stagnation. To overcome and destroy the Xenos with the blessings of the Omnissiah, to surpass their false knowledge is our greatest calling."

- Magos Dominus Salicar Luli.

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