Kashidaan Cluster

History of The Kashidaan Cluster and famous regiments
The Kashidaan Cluster was unfortunately lost to the Imperium during the 1st Tyrannic War in the year 745 Millenia 41 but before it were the decades of the 640s and 50s that saw endless conflicts against the various Ork Warbosses that tried to dominate the Kashidaan worlds, the Tricamerate Pact The Kanye Cluster  and and each other and Chaos cults that would occasionally rise to trouble the region. Only 4 Kashidaan worlds Vatia, Serlendor, Szerkasia and Medici produced Imperial Guard Regiments which were shuffled around to defend Kashidaan Cluster worlds that didn't and to help their neighbors.

The most famous of these Imperial Guard units and their organization are listed below. unless othewise noted the flak armor/helmets referred to is the pattern commonly worn by Cadian Shocktroopers

12th Vatian infantry corps “Blade Runners”
Commander: Kalak (roughly equivalent to Lt. Colonel) Isagani Balleseros

The people of Vatia hacked its major cities from the mountains and dense rainforests of their homeworld.

The 12th the “Blade Runners” earned their name during an incident on their homeworld facing an outbreak of the Curse of Unbelief. Clusters of villages fell to the Zombie Plague forcing the PDF units that became the 12th Vatian to respond. Their investigation led them to a forgotten stone temple to the Ruinous Powers, likely the source of the outbreak. They destroyed the zombies holding it only to call the entire horde down on them. They ran out of ammo and were forced to break out with nothing but their knives and martial arts training. ( Every Vatian Guardsman was required to learn the traditional martial art, Eske which with the right training was absolutely lethal) The surviviors were reorganized into a Guard regiment and shipped offworld shortly thereafter, joining 11 Vatian units already serving.

Structure and Equipment
1220 men

1.	10 companies commanded by a Kamagat (equivalent to a captain)

•	120 men broken into

•	11 squads of 10 commanded by a Tsip (equivalent to Sgt.) •	1 squad of 10 medics per company

2.	1 recon section of 20 Sentinels(20 men

•	10 Catachan Pattern

•	10 Cadian Pattern

Equipment

•	Flak Armor painted in jungle camo

•	Matching camo fatigues with rank markers on sleeves. •	M37 pattern lasgun

•	Kutsi- in  Vatian hands this blade did everything from felling trees to defending their farms and outposts from Feral Orks and occasional Chaos cults. Everyone on Vatia carried one (their descendants still do) and as such it is as much cultural identity as it is tool and weapon. The Vatian IG carried a version that served as a bayonet

•	3 frag grenades

•	Imperial Guardsman’s uplifting Primer

•	Waterproof pack/bedroll(Vatians traveled light packing everything that couldn’t be carried on their belts inside)

•	4 days of rations(the rationale being that after that they could simply hunt or scavenge for their food )

(Officers dressed the same way but with a laspistol instead of a lasgun, some officers carried a Kutsi reaching almost the proportions of a sword)

Serlendor 12th “Gatekeepers”
Motto: Gatekeepers none shall pass Commander: Major Stefanus Van Eyck (taking over for the KIA former commander Colonel Tijmen Van Ingen who died in action on Jurus.

The Low Gothic of Serneldor was somewhat polished and suited the people, who tend toward fair skin and platinum blonde hair. Serlendor was a world of field and factory producing grain, dairy, and wargear alike with small Ork settlemets causing occasional problems for them. The citizens of Serlendor had a culture of hunting (producing some excellent marksmen) They existed as a PDF unit but officially received recognition as an Imperial Guard regiment during the assault by WAAAGH Zurruk when the small containable Ork populations joined their new warboss and nearly brought Serlendor to its knees.

Structure and equipment
1485 men

Command squad of 10 men (Colonel and 9 staff)

10 companies of 143 commanded by a captain Each company was

1.	1 elite squad of 11 veterans

•	(10 veteran troopers 1  veteran sgt.) and 2.	12 squads of 11 men

A squad was made up of •	1 Sergeant(issued a chainsword alongside his lasgun) •	1 voxcaster

•	1 sniper •	2 grenadiers

•	2 flamers

•	3 guardsmen •	1 medic

5 Leman Russ(30 men total) (some regiments used the Basilisk rather than the Leman Russ)

•	Gothika,

•	Rechter(Judge)

•	Toeslaan(Knockdown)

•	Izjeren Val (Iron Will)

•	krijgsheer (Warlord)

5 Chimera(15 men)

•	Black Betty

•	Sweet Anja, (pronounced AHN-YA)

•	Bottoms up

•	Evangeljine (pronounced Ev-Ayng eh-Line)

•	Magdalen Straat(Magdalen Street-named for the address of Van Ingen’s childhood home)

Infantry Equipment

•	Blue Painted flak armor(ranks painted on right shoulder, white Aquila on the left)

•	Matching camo fatigues •	M36 pattern lasgun(or longlas/flamer/etc.)

Note: Snipers received the Serlendor “Deerstalker” hunting rifle (instead of the standard longlas)

•	Combat knife/bayonet

•	The Imperial Guardsman’s uplifting primer

•	1 week of rations(supplemented by hunting)

•	Blue dyed deerhide coats and woolen fingerless gloves(for winter operations)

•	(note:)Medics carried a lascarbine to save space for extra medical supplies

Armor Eqipment

•	blue leather helmets with vox earpieces •	Issued armor but most refused to wear it reasoning their vehicle hulls were armor enough.

•	 lascarbine

•	combat knife/bayonet

•	One copy of The Imperial Guardsman’s uplifting primer per armored vehicle 4.	Officers •	Dress uniform •	M36 laspistol and chainsword

•	Black greatcoat with a high collar cuffs and facings, all done in blue.

•	Black dyed deerhide gloves.

•	When in the field they dressed like their men, with the only difference being their sword and pistol.

Medici
The Planetary governor, called The Principe, ruled from the capital city of Indina which was built on a collection of large islands much like Venice on Ancient Terra. The provinces were called Duchies or counties based on whether a Duke (duchess) or Count (countess) ruled (the titles were traditional, owing to the planet’s past and their heritage of her people, the positions were largely hereditary but were occasionally elected democratically) they ruled from the Provincial capitals surrounded by smaller cities and towns. Each Duchy/County was responsible for its own defense maintaining PDF units and militias the quality of training and equipment varied depending on where they were raised from. Medici’s primary military strength was in its Battlefleet whose area of operation covered the whole of the Kashidaan Cluster (Medici built the battlefleet that bears her name, stripping the asteroid belt and the moons of Bolia, a gas giant in system of any useful resources and her moon Ciosa was home to the “ Fabrica Majoris” a sprawling industrial complex and shipyard capable of constructing and maintaining anything up to a Grand Cruiser)

•	Carriers all had the word Shadow somewhere in their name (Medici Shadow ) Battlecruisers(Medici favored the Gothic class) were named for prominent Noblewomen (Dominica Superbus Avianna Superbus)

•	Lighter warships were named for historical figures (Ultimomen Sigmar was named for Sigmar DiTolla, a naval officer murdered by Siro Amador when he went pirate(Blood of a Liar)

Note: Siro Amador was from a wealthy Medici shipping family

Despite their obvious strength the Principe decided, under some pressure from the Departmento Munitorum, that his world should field Imperial Guard to defend Medici while the fleet was away and their trading partners, many of which could not raise their own IG regiments. The lower and middle classes saw this as an opportunity to advance and quickly swelled the ranks. The nobility saw an opportunity for extra political power through the newly formed officer corps and joined up as well. While organized like guard they acted more like PDF being rather complacent and sloppy. Most Guardsmen saw their service as simply a job and not necessarily a good one. But when presented with a real challenge, they became absolutely savage and almost unbreakable

'Structure
16 Guard Brigades (a total of 104,352 men) Each Brigade was commanded by a Brigader General that answers to the Principe’s Minister of war, who held the rank of Grand General.

The 3 most prominent were

Brigade 1 Rubicon- Paride Ditmer

Brigade 2 Apennine- Marco Carrozza

Brigade 3 Tessera -Adriana Serino (the first woman ever to rise to a position of such power in Medici’s armed forces did so with a combination of political influence and actual command skills)

A Brigade consisted of 6522 men divided into

3 Infantry regiments

2010 men divided into A Regimental command squad of 10 men

•	The Colonel

•	Lt. Colonel •	4 Majors who oversaw 2 companies each

•	4 others as chosen by the Colonel. Comissars etc.)

And 8 companies

1-5 infantry

6-7 Assault

8- Reserves

Each company (commanded by a captain) was 1.	24 squads of 10 men 2.	A 10 man pathfinder squad(sniper/scouts) that carried aF longlas

and wore cammo armor and clothes.

10 men per company served as medics and chose their own aides. •	1 Armored regiment

1.	1 command tank(Colonel and veteran 5 man crew)

2.	3 companies of 20 Leman Russ Tanks(360 men)

•	1 Artillery Regiment

1.	Salamander Scout(Colonel and veteran 5 man crew)

2.	 20 Basilisks (60 men)

3.	10 Hydra Flak Cannons(60 men)

Equipment
Standard issue equipment included

•	Olive green flak armor(Brigade and Regimental Sigils on the L. shoulder Silver Aquila on the Right)

•	An olive green long sleeved shirt(rank markers on the sleeves)

•	Bloused trousers (same color) with gray puttees and black boots •	M36 pattern lasgun

•	Medici pattern auto pistol (used as a sidearm) and 2 extra magazines. •	Bayonet/combat knife. •	2 frag grenades 2 krak grenades (Assault troops were also issued various  other explosives and demolition charges depending on the mission as well as their man portable lascannons and anti- armor weapons)

•	All other equipment was carried in a standard issue pack, also olive green.

Note: other equipment included

•	a bedroll

•	1 week of rations/ meal kit

•	2 extra charge packs •	 Imperial Guardsman’s Uplifting primer •	medical supplies for the medics/medic’s aides

•	Also issued greatcoats and insulated gloves for winter operations, same markings as the armor, and rank markers on sleeves.

Command officers were issued the same uniform but with the addition of

•	an olive green double breasted coat with the Imperial Aquila on the right side of the collar and the regimental sigil on the left with the rank pins on epaulettes •	Black leather gloves. •	Peaked hats the same color as their coats with the Imperial Aquila displayed in silver on the front. •	a laspistol and swept hilt chainsword instead of a lasgun and bayonet

Note: The Guard Brigades had no aircraft as they would receive support from Battlefleet Medici should they be called offworld, and reason that they need none to defend against enemy aircraft as each Artillery Regiment contained Hydra AA guns. Note: Women served in the ranks but making it beyond Captain in the male dominated and somewhat sexist hierarchy was rare.

Women also served in Battlefleet Medici but only one woman, Marzia Carbone captain of the Gothic class Battlecruiser Dominica Superbus has ever commanded anything larger than a light cruiser. When Medici fell to the Tyranids in 745 the surviving commanders fought as long as they could to save as many civilian lives as possible and when the last refugees had escaped turned their fleet on their own world in a suicide ramming attack, rendering Medici uninhabitable for centuries or longer but denying it to the Tyranids. The words of admiral Sura Amador remain legendary “Admiral Sura Amador to the Tyranid fleet. I am of house Amador and I deny you this world. To whomever is command on the ground I have only one thing further to say Frak you all. You’re all going with me! Full speed, take us in.”

Szerkasian "Black Hats"
Szerkasia was a rugged, sparsely populated(only 60,000,000 people) resource poor world save for a very resilient people used to making a living from hardscrabble conditions and their capital city Senova reflected that. In its prime (if it can be called that) it was a rough dangerous working man’s town home to many taverns and other far less savory entertainments dotted throughout its dark polluted streets and waterways. It was once home to roughly 3 million people, roughly 1/20 of the Szerkasia’s total population. Other cities and towns were scattered few and far between and biker gangs and Orks haunted the wilds between them. The Szerkasian(Sehr-Kayz-ian) Guard called " the Black Hats" for their uniform hats were raised to counter the invasion of Warboss Mukrukka in 645 and 20,000 men joined.(The Szerkasian Regiments were closed to women) In the early days of the Szerkasian Black Hats there was no such thing as standardized equipment beyond their uniforms as much of it was stolen or destroyed by Orks. They simply had to make do with what they had. What they did receive was quickly supplemented by personal weapons, leading to a wide variety of explosives, either purpose built mining charges or unstable homemade devices, autoguns, shotguns and blades seeing service alongside M36 pattern lasguns, lascarbines, laspistols and chainswords. The same could be said of their vehicles as well. Most were repurposed civilian transports with a few Chimeras and Leman Russ tanks scattered throughout. This changed however when the threat passed and they reorganized. They still retained their dislike of social niceties, allowing them good relationships with some of the other rough sorts in the Kashidaan Worlds and Tricamerate Pact The Serlendor 4, 6th 7, and 14th and the Vatian 1st 5th and 10th and a single Kasrkin Squad were sent to assist them against Mukkrukka and one of the Kasrkins, a man named Petros Alexander became a local celebrity there ( Way of the Kasrkin )but was forgotten by the time he and his squad left.

Uniform
•	Black short sleeved shirt and Seroka pattern flak armor(named for the city whose foundries produced it)

• Black pants and boots

• black forage cap(officers received a peaked hat instead) • leather jacket or coat(officers received red cuffs and decorative cufflinks) and sunglasses

Structure and Equipment
Supreme command fell to High Marshal Bysek Lata

•	Commanded by a Regimental Marshal and each part of the regiment was commanded by

•	 A Vice Marshal(Vice Marshal of outriders, grenadiers etc.)

•	below them are the Squad Marshal (roughly equivalent to a sgt.) •	and under them the “common men”(pvt/cpl.) All Szerkasian regiments followed the pattern below:

1st company- Outriders (125 riders divided into 25 5 man squads)

These bike mounted soldiers acted as scouts and when the need arose a sort of light cavalry. The first generation of outriders were built around outlaw biker gangs who answered the call to fight, receiving a pardon for their crimes in return for their service.

•	(Szerkasian Starlords(2nd regiment) commanded by Brada Dubrov

•	Szerkasian Roadpigs( 8th regiment) commanded by Duvra lishkov

•	Szerkasian Firebirds(4th regiment) commanded by Zbora Dusek •	Amasec Devils(13th Regiment) commanded by Vadim Durenko

2nd company- Grenadiers Composed of the toughest (and craziest) men of the regiment, trading in their hats and coats for a face covering helmet and goggles. They charged into battle often with short sleeved shirts with grenade belts and heavy weapons trying to thin the ranks for the regulars. Divided into •	10 ”Banners” of 50 each and then into •	5 10 man squads with squads 1 and 5 receiving heavy weapons (lascannons and stubbers) with squads 2-4 receiving grenades and rocket launchers.

•	3rd company -Regulars

The Basic infantry armed with lasguns and supplemented with personal weapons.

•	 Divided into 10 ”Banners” of 50 each and then into

•	5 10 man squads with squad 5 receiving heavy weapons (lascannons and autocannons) 4th company- “Cavalry”

The numbers of men varied with the number of vehicles per regiment but they favored the Standard Leman Russ and the Chimera

note: the Chimera Petros Alexander rode in was a part of the 9th Regiment and named Emerald Zdara (named by the driver for a favorite club performer in Senova)

5th company- Support

125 men that serve as mechanics cooks engineers etc.

The most famous regimental commanders are noted below Steko Zlavoi- Marshal 3rd regiment (“Mountain Dogs”)

Rada Zdomir- 5th Regiment “Manus” [5 fingers on a hand]) one of the few to receive a chainsword and laspistol

Zankovic Gurlov- 16th regiment “skulldogs”

CADIAN 517th
While not native to the Kashidaan Cluster the Cadian 517th is an important part of their history...

Commander: Colonel Dolvan Omero Motto: Ex umbra in gloria – from Darkness into Glory

The Cadian 517 has made a name for itself fighting Orks throughout the Imperium with its large numbers of heavy weapons and its emphasis on ranged combat but it has always returned to Cadia to fight the constant threat from the Ruinous Powers of Chaos and to replace its numbers, and so it was spared the fate of the Kashidaan Imperial Guard Regiments. It has done very well for itself throughout its long centuries of existence including its part in fending off Abbadon the Despoiler’s 13th Black Crusade(occurs centuries after the stories where the regiment appears) but its primary focus has been against Orks including the Ork Warboss Tubthumpa.

Structure
Commanded By Colonel Dolvan Omero- uses a Leman Russ as a command vehicle (Commander, Gunner, Driver, Loader, 2 Sponson Gunners and General Omero- 7 men)

12 Companies of 288 men each plus a command squad of 5 men (293 men each)

3516 total

Broken into 6 platoons of 48 men each

4 Squads of 12 men

Company 1 Squad 1-

Sgt Tiresas Okaan

1 flamer 1 voxcaster

1 grenadier

8 guardsmen Company 1 Squad 2 (even numbered squads have a heavy weapon team and a scout for companies 1-7 mortars 8 to 12 lascannons)

Sgt

1 flamer

1 Voxcaster

1 mortar team

6 guardsmen

1 scout/sniper

Some variety exists among equipment with some guardsmen carrying weapons and armor painted with the winged skull icon seen on Cadian weapons and others carry unadorned lasguns. Some of those lasguns carry bare metal magazines and the others magazines painted to match the weapon- all of those are painted to match their green flak jackets. They do not wear the skull icon on the right side but do carry the regiment number on the left shoulder.

Later history of the Kashidaan worlds
The Cadian 517th returned to the Kashidaan Cluster after Tubthumpa built a WAAAGH from the survivors of the Ork forces broken at Serlendor and Szerkasia(Battlefleet Medici fought in both  engagements and Mukkrukka was killed by crashed Valkyrie pilot Elena “Angel Eyes” Amadeus) Colonel Omero(who spent most of his career fighting on and off in the Kashidaan Cluster) and a Space Wolf Great Company led by Wolf Lord Haakon pursued him for several years before he was cornered at Trazadone ultimately forcing the final confrontation at Polus. 

They also maintained trade deals and defense agreements with the Kanye Cluster and the Tricamerate Pact fighting alongside them on worlds like Maravilla(Mara- Vee- Ya) that were not part of any of the 3 The Kashidaan regiments fought together as a whole only once. They were never very many, roughly 160,000 men and women total but before they were destroyed in battle they are credited with killing 12 million Tyranids and Battlefleet Medici is credited with the destruction of 271 Tyranid bio-ships and uncalculated millions of  Tyranid warriors with its final suicide attack. The loss of the Kashidaan worlds meant the end of the Kashidaan Imperial Guard. The survivors assimilated into the populations of the worlds who would welcome them and the surviving soldiers were absorbed into other guard regiments most notably female soldiers becoming a part of the all female Olea Light Infantry Regiments

Author's Notes
Note: The Serlendor is as close to Wisconsin as I could make them. Specifically an are of Wisconsin not too far from where I live that's mostly Dutch. the name "Sweet Anja" came from the song "Sweet Annie" by Zac Brown Ban figured on giving the Chimeras would have the rougher more personal names since those are just transports but the proper war machines got the more dignified names The Vatians are supposed to be Filipino with "Eske" being based on Single Stick Kali