Ghennan Abyss-Born

"What the hell are those things?!"

- The last words of Colonel Stienman of the traitorous Armenian 33rd

Also known as the Abyssal Guard and the Ghennan Indentured, the Ghennan Abyss-Born are a group of Abhuman Regiments hailing from the hellish Industrial World of Ghenna, pressed into service by their Imperial overseers to form a truly formidable fighting force. Fearsome and iron-willed, the Abyss-Born are best known for their incredible natural endurance granted to their species from centuries of dwelling within the toxic chasms of their homeworld, allowing them to fight through environments that would be instantly fatal to baseline humans.

Dwellers of the Deep
Ghenna was discovered in the late years of the Great Crusade, nearly a decade after the Imperium's triumph over the greenskins at Ulanor and the subsequent promotion of the Primarch Horus. Exploration fleets arrived in the planet's smoggy skies expecting little of such a barren world, only to find it's outward appearance deceiving. Deep-core scans undertaken by the Adeptus Mechanicus revealed that Ghenna was in fact a treasure trove of rare minerals such as darksilver and thyrexite, highly radioactive materials essential to the creation of warp drives and starship reactors, brought to the surface in massive deposits thanks to the unstable nature of the planet's tectonic plates. Ever-hungry for more resources, the Imperium descended into the jagged fissure-valleys that criss-crossed the planet's surface in the hopes of creating new mining facilities to power the colossal war machine that was the Great Crusade. Doing so, however, proved to be easier said that done.

Ghenna's great valleys, formed from untold centuries of tectonic shifting, proved to be inhospitable in every sense of the word. Like passageways into some unknown hell, they were dark and choking, the sunlight unable to pierce the depths of the planet as noxious vapors escaped from volcanic vents to shroud the skies above in an ever-present layer of toxic smog. The landscape of the valley floor was no kinder, rocky and prone to constant earthquakes, and even the occasional mini-eruption of white-hot magma as Ghenna's unstable geology forced it's molten mantle on to the surface. Furthermore, the expeditionary forces were further discouraged by what appeared to be the ruins of an ancient mining endeavor, the metallic scrap carpeting the valley floors alongside the looming ruins of gargantuan earthmoving machines. Still, the Imperium pressed on, determined to conquer the planet's violent nature as they dug new mineshafts and set up geothermal power plants to harness the planet's fiery might for their own ends.

In was during this construction that the forces of the Imperium first encountered Ghenna's native populace. Inhabiting the natural cave systems that lined the fissure-valley walls, dwelling in ramshackle villages constructed from metallic detritus, the Ghennans began to tentatively investigate the strange "sky-men" who had began to settle in their homelands. The Imperials were nearly as surprised as the Ghennans, as they had been convinced that no form of life, let alone sentient life, could have persisted in such a deadly environment. Nonetheless here they were, human-like in appearance yet pale, hairless, corded with wiry musculature, and seemingly unaffected by the toxic elements they were exposed to on a daily basis.

Curious, the Imperials made a study of the native Ghennans (or the Mara Ghal, as they called themselves) in order to better understand how they survived within the poisonous abyss they called home. It was revealed that the Ghal were in fact a race of Abhumans, no doubt the descendants of pre-Imperial settlers who had doubtless left behind the corroded ruins that decorated Ghenna's valleys. Their studies additionally revealed that the Ghal in fact possessed immune systems of such phenomenal strength that they were impervious to Ghenna's myriad poisons, which was seen as a fortuitous coincidence, as the Imperium had need of a massive workforce if they were to plunder the riches of this world.

Thus the Imperium of Man subjugated the Mara Ghal, ransacking their tribal homes and enslaving their people to serve as miners and laborers. They had little trouble justifying their cruelty, as the Ghal were seen as genetic offshoots, not true humans, and therefore not entitled the same rights. No, better for them to become slaves they reasoned, they could at the very least contribute the growing Imperium through the fruits of their labors.

The Abyssal War
The salvation of the Mara Ghal, somewhat ironically, came through the actions of yet another force who desired to conquer them. As the Horus Heresy raged throughout the galaxy, the forces of the now traitorous Warmaster converged on locations essential to the Imperium's war effort. This unfortunately included Ghenna, as it provided raw materials essential for maintaining the Imperium's massive fleets. As the traitors' massed forces lay appeared in orbit, Ghenna's Imperial government desperately tried to stave of their advances by arming their Abhuman workforce.

This last-ditch effort paid off surprisingly well, as the Mara Ghal proved to be adept guerrilla fighters. Luring the traitors into the smog-filled depths, the Ghal used their innate knowledge of the terrain to isolate the attackers, forcing them to wander through the the shadowed Ghennan wastelands were attrition alone slowly whittled their forces down to where even the smallest Mara Ghal warbands could strike them down with ease. Armed to the teeth with modern weaponry, they divided and slaughtered their would-be conquerors, seizing new weapons from their fallen to add to their ever-growing arsenal. By the time Imperial reinforcements arrived, the fissure-valley floors were now carpeted in a new layer of detritus composed of toxin-ravaged corpses and ransacked vehicles.

However, with the defeat of Horus' forces their came a new threat: the Mara Ghal themselves. Angry at the foreign invaders that had enslaved and abused them for years, and now armed with technologies that would allow them to go head-to-head with the Imperial forces, it seemed that Ghenna had repelled one hostile invasion from without only to face another from within. Desperate to save face, the Imperial government opted towards appeasement, agreeing to give the Mara Ghal full citizenship in the wake of what would later be named the Abyssal Wars. Unfortunately, the Ghal were hardly able politicians, and agreed to readily to a deal that made them Imperial Citizens only in the loosest sense of the word, changing their status from "slave" to "indentured servant" and little else. Unaware they had been cheated, the Ghal's warriors were quickly pressed into service as an "Abhuman Regiment" and sent into the teeth of the now galaxy-wide conflict. Deprived of their fighting force, the remaining Ghal were powerless to resist as the Ghennan government once again forced them into submission.