3rd Olea Light Infantry "Ragged Angels"

History
Olea has spent most of its history struggling against Orks. One war after another required that the world's fighting men be called to away to keep the advancing Ork hordes away from Olea. Vast numbers of the male Imperial Guard regiments were called away to fight leaving Olea largely defenseless. In order to survive the women left behind took over the infrastructure, and its defense.

In time as one war after another drained Olea of fighting men the entire social structure of the world began to change. Women became the leaders of families, government and industry as most of the men were fighting offworld.

These wars eventually ended, and the men of the Imperial Guard returned to find a changed planet. Women now occupied most positions of power and authority and had given themselves opportunities, including those of Imperial Guard service.

The all-female regiments were by this point so entrenched into the culture that no attempts to disband them would ever be successful so they were integrated into the Imperial Guard and serve alongside their male comrades but in separate regiments that emphasize speed and mobility over standing and fighting.

Wintercourt
Wintercourt, the capital city of Olea, is a rough dirty city built around a massive promethium deposit in the Northern Polar Region. While those who own the drilling rigs and refineries are wealthy the rest of the citizens of Wintercourt There was even less opportunity for poor women in the city- the newly formed Ragged Angels gave them the opportunity they needed, instead of hunting mutant sewer rats, they would hunt Orks and Chaos cultists.

Notable Battles
(Add your own if you want)

Ciora
The Ragged Angels were sent to Ciora (Kai-or-ah) along with the 8th Light Infantry "Nightbirds" the 5th Olea Heavy Infantry, the 14th and 15th Khazamaga Infantry and the 2nd Xomia, the "Crag Spiders".

The campaign was meant to retake the city of Centia(Ken-ti-a) abandoned when it was overrun by Orks led by a minor Warboss named "Lugrub". Ciora was an unimportant world but if it fell it would provide yet another Ork held world near the Tricamerate Pact. After several weeks of fighting they were no closer to victory. Battlefleet Medici cleared the way for the Medici 16th Brigade to land and push them back into the Ciora Badlands.

Maravilla Campaign
Their best known battle to date is the Maravilla(Mara-vee-ya) Campaign of 741 M41 A Paradise World dedicated to all the hedonistic whims of its masters in the Kanye Cluster, it was secretly home to a Slaanesh cult that revealed itself in 741, rapidly taking over the small resort towns that were clustered around the world's capital and only major city, the resort town of Sunport. The natives quickly called for aid, knowing they had no real hope of defending themselves. The Departmento Munitorum responded quickly sending The Ragged Angels there alongside the 2nd Szerkasian, the Khazamga 4th and 5th Infantry, the 11th Medici Brigade and the Olea 2nd Light Infantry aka "The Frag Dolls".

They found that they had underestimated the Cultists both in numbers and in influence and the campaign quickly bogged down into urban warfare and daily struggles to hold kilometers long beachfront as each side tried to use it as a shortcut to flank the others, a task that the "Szerkasian Starlords" (the Szerkasian 2nd's outriders) took to with almost perverse joy.

It was in Sunport that the rivalry between the 2nd and 3rd Olea light infantry began over some cause long since forgotten. They were eventually able to put aside their differences for the sake of the campaign(though the rivalry persists) after more than 3 months of fighting scattered over Maravilla's single large landmass the Imperial Guard departed with the job finished.

Maravilla remains in Imperial hands as part of the Kanye Cluster [1] due to the intervention of these Imperial Guard regiments though they remain far more watchful for signs of Chaos.

Recent history
More recently the latest generation have joined other Tricamerate Pact units in their redeployments along the River of Exiles, the assignment is proving to be unpopular, they don't fit in well on the Ecclesiarchy dominated worlds.

Viora- the battle of St. Xiebos
Their skill in urban operations led to them being sent to the fallen city of St. Xiebos, which remained in the hands of Cultists, such an affront could not stand. They infiltrated the city and opened the gates for the army sent to retake it. They did so in a matter of days. With this victory Voria as a whole is currently free from the taint of Chaos.

Structure
note: they share this with all other Olea Light Infantry regiments. Commanded by a Colonel and a Major who serves as executive officer
 * 4 companies of 300 each commanded by a Captain
 * Each company is 10 platoons of 30- each commanded by a Lt.
 * Each platoon is 3 squads of 10 each commanded by a Sgt.
 * Squad- 10 members broken into
 * 2 fire teams-
 * A fire team is composed of a team leader (team 1 is the Sgt.)
 * 2 troopers armed with either the M36 Kantrael or Raith Autocarbine
 * 1 Meltagunner
 * 1 Guardsman (also trained as a field medic)

Mobile Support Unit
Each of the 4 companies receives a Tauros Venator(their names have remained unchanged due to tradition) to act as a mobile fire support and to tackle the threats that the infantry can't. They all carry dual mounted lascannons and their crews are trained in the use of heavy weapons, taking either the Marcone or Dresden into battle with them.

Company 1. Winter Knight

Company 2. Winterborn

Company 3.

Company 4.

Equipment

 * Olea Ishtar pattern flak armor
 * Dresden pattern Meltagun
 * M36 Kantrael pattern lasgun
 * M36 pattern laspistol
 * Raith Pattern Autocarbine
 * Olea Combat Shotgun
 * Ebony patten Longlas CheyTac-M200-2.jpg
 * Olea "Frostbite" Pattern Fighting knife
 * Imperial Guardsman's uplifting Primer
 * 7 days of rations
 * Winter clothes (brought from home by the soldiers in the regiment)
 * dogtags

Uniform

 * Red beret with a black shield (to symbolize their promise to defend Olea and the Imperium)
 * Black long sleeved shirt with rank markers


 * Sleevless black undershirt
 * Black Boots/kneepads
 * Long black gloves
 * Black trousers with black braces (oftentimes they'll fight without the long sleeved shirt, going sleeveless is a popular look)


 * Officers Lt. and up receive a sleeveless leather surcoat worn over their armor
 * Not uniform but many have a black Aquila tattooed into the back of their necks.

Tactical Doctine
Since they are a Light Infantry unit they prefer mobility and maneuver to standing and fighting, hitting hard with missile launcher and meltaguns before retreating into any cover available, drawing their often numerically superior enemies into a battle of attrition, choosing their battles carefully to inflict maximum damage.

Relations
"The women of our world do not fight. That is our way. The Way of the Olea is to fight, we should not think less of any warrior,male or female."

- a Khazamgah soldier

"My girl is great with a knife, looks fantastic in black leather. Fights like a cornered animal. I like the crazy ones. can't help it."

- Dobrin Bakal speaking of his paramour Alannah Birch

While largely distrusted by the men of the Olea Imperial Guard other units from the Tricamerate Pact and The Kashidaan Cluster have (or had) no problem working alongside them.

Szerkasians
They especially enjoyed working with Szerkasians - neither group cared much for social niceties, concerned only with fighting and celebrating either victory or simply living to fight another day. In some cases brief romances would develop between them. It was easy to tell who was involved, the Olea women would wear Szerkasian leather jackets and coats when not in battle.

However there were rules to this - enlisted soldiers were only allowed relationships with other enlisted soldiers, officers were only allowed relationships with other officers.

With the fall of the Kashidaan Cluster many Szerkasian refugees came to Olea, Szerkasian women served in the Imperial Guard for the first time,and in later generations members of the Ragged Angels could claim Szerkasian ancestry.

Voria PDF
Their interactions with the Voria PDF are less friendly. The rough working class, and equally rough minded Ragged Angels do not fit in well on Voria, they see the deeply religious citizens of the Ecclisarchy world as being too uptight, too closed minded, that they would rather pray than actually enjoy life.

In turn the Voria see them as one step above heretics, concerned too little with the horrors of the universe and believing the Emperor will one day abandon them due to their lack of faith in him.

Mama Cass
Cassidy "Mama Cass" Blackthorne was the first commander of the Ragged Angels- She was the first to go before the government of Olea and propose the formation of the Ragged Angels, bringing dozens of women ready and willing to fight with her. She was appointed to fill the ranks any way she could. She went to the gangs and prisons, easily filling the ranks and meeting Sabrina Rose in the process.

Sabrina Rose
Her surname "Rose" may have been an alias based on the name of the gang she led in any case she became the XO of the unit because the gangers she recruited would fight under no one else. She carried a tattoo, a skull with a rose clutched in its teeth, the symbol of her gang tattooed on her lower back.

Alannah Birch
Alannah Birch, commander of the 2nd company was born to a family of soldiers. Her father, brother, and husband all served in the Olea 22nd Infantry and all 3 would die fighting Slaneeshi cultists on Grantis IV.

With no means of supporting herself she joined the Imperial Guard herself, burning with hatred for the enemies of man.

Some years later she began a relationship with a Szerkasian officer named Dobrin Bakal, after a drunken argument and drunken fistfight led to them waking up together(sans uniforms) in the back of a Szerkasian Chimera.

Christina Harro
The government of Olea requested a female Commissar to keep the Ragged Angels in line, due to their mostly criminal makeup. They received the newly minted Commissar Christina Harro.

The Ragged Angels were her only assignment, one she managed quite admirably, she was  often in the thickest fighting, having realized she could only rule through respect, not fear(almost none of the Ragged Angels found her threatening, not after being raised on stories about Orks)

Bisera Aster
The current commander of the Ragged Angels- like Cassidy Blackthorne she hails from a bad neighborhood in Wintercourt, and like many of the women in the current generation of her unit she can claim to be part Szerkasian- in her case a maternal grandmother, who was a Ragged Angels veteran herself. She inherited their dark hair and dark eyes but also their temper- once punching a priest who dared to question their faith in the Emperor. Despite this temper she is also a calm, capable leader who will not waver in her duty, despite her dislike toward Viora and its people.

Lily Kardazic
Born to an Olea mother and Szerkasian father she joined the Ragged Angels to escape the poverty that plagued so many generations of Olea women. Having been raised in the wilds of the Glitterpeak Mountains, most of family's food coming from hunting and gathering she had a natural gift for sharpshooting, a skill that served her well in the Battle of St. Xiebos.

Hiding in the spire of a desecrated cathedral She killed one of the enemy commanders with a single shot to the head, sending his personal warband into disarray, letting them take a strategically important crossroads.

Trivia

 * "Mama Cass" was too good a nickname for me not to use. It originally belonged to the lead singer of The Mamas and The Papas.


 * Olea Ishtar pattern flak armor is named for the Babylonian goddess of Love and War


 * There's a lot of references to one of my favorite books series in here too.

1. The names "Dresden", "Marcone" and "Raith" all come from The Dresden Files as does "Wintercourt" the first 3 are characters, the last refers to the Winter Court of the Faeries.

2. The unit name itself is a Dresden Files reference- before he started working for himself Harry Dresden worked for a guy named Nick Christian at Ragged Angel Investigations.