User:Kaedmon/Sandbox

The Heralds of Death are a Warband who was once a loyal chapter of the Imperium known as the Fists of Purification. The are renowned for their spread of Chaos and loyalty for to Chaos Undivided. There current Lord, is Aurelian, who is famous for his fanatical personality and destructive means of victory. Although the arms of the Imperium are constantly at work, the Heralds of Death have made a strong push around the Warp Storm known as the Inferno Reach. They have turned many worlds to Chaos, which in turn has helped their ranks of followers swell to a number the Imperium will not ignore for long. It is noted that this Warband has a special hatred for the Chapter known as the Nomads. This is believed to be linked back to their days as a loyalist chapter.

History
"Brothers? I will not except a band of renegades and lunatics as my brothers. They are nothing more than a blight on the Imperium, one that should be wiped clean..."

-Aurelian, chapter master of the Fists of Purification , speaking on the topic of the Mad Nomads Chapter

Originally known as the Fists of Purification, the Heralds of Death were created during the Twenty-First Founding, also known as the Cursed Founding. As with many Loyalist Chapters that turn Renegade or Traitor, many of their records have been locked away within vaults at order of the Ordo Hereticus. With most records kept locked away, only fragmented data can be found mentioning their early history. What is known is that around the time of their founding, in early M36, there was a drastic increase in worlds rebelling against the Imperium and chapters turning renegade. Due to the sudden influx, it is believed that a chapter, who's faith was almost unmatched among others, was created to bring rebellions to an end and to cleanse those chapters who turned against the Imperium. Though there are no records to indicate, it is believed that the gene-seed comes from that of the Imperial Fists chapter. This is mainly due to their strong will and unshakable faith.

Whether it be their destiny, being of the Cursed Founding, or by sheer bad luck, it would seem that from their beginning, the Heralds of Death's, fate was sealed. Though faith in its purest form is a thing of beauty, the faith of the once Fists of Purification, could not be further. Their faith was their drive and their eventual downfall. This downfall began in their first interactions with a chapter known as the Nomads, who were formed from outcasts of other chapters. In the eyes of the Fists of Purification, the Nomads were no Astartes, but traitors and criminals who found another way to avoid death. This first interaction with the Nomads came during the Crusade of the Vestius System, later to be called the Crusade of Fire.

Campaigns

 * The Crusade of Fire (???M??) :

Notable members

 * Aurelian (chapter master)

Gallery
-- "Those soldiers are the scum of the Imperium, they have lost the Emperor's light. Don't trust them, they'll tel you that they are innocent : lies ! They have raped , killed , spread distrust in the hearts of the servants of the Imperium. But , even as worthless as they are , they can still be used for one thing : destroy the enemies of the Imperium , even if it means die trying"

- Prefect Gnilo Breckmann

The Legion of the Mad are a Penal Legion drawing their pool of convicts from the penal worlds of Maidstone and Thorncross. They are estimated to be between thirty-thousand and forty-thousand strong. They compartmentalize their forces into several companies, and have them form up into pseudo regiments within the Legion. They also use Salamanders, to a very large extent, as lightning assault transports, driving home into the middle of an enemy formation before unleasing their deadly cargo.

History
The date on which the Legion of the Mad was founded is unknown to all except Prefect Gnilo Breckmann, his predecessors, and strangely enough, the Astartes Chapter Masters of the Mad Nomads. It's presumed, based on records of deployments, that they were founded sometime in the 36th Millennium, and draw its near constant stream of convicts from the worlds Maidstone and Thorncross in the Raldoron Sub-Sector. Even for a Penal Legion, there's scarcely any unsealed records about their actions. The only known conflicts the Penal Legion, recently dubbed "Legion of the Mad" due to both their almost constant encounters with the Mad Nomads, and high ratio of men deemed unstable, are the Volparis incident, and the pacifying of the Armand Sub-Sector in Segmentum Pacificus.

While heretical uprisings on planets are not uncommon, the eradication of the coordinates leading to Volparis makes it a special case. Along with it's location, most of the records of the incident were sealed as well. The only known information about the incident comes from declassified fields report from Prefect Breckmann and his subordinates.

The pacifying of the Armand Sub-Sector is a very open book however. The early days of the pacification, the Legion of the Mad was under orders to push the capital world of the Sub-Sector, and take it all costs. As they made planetfall, warp storms around the system were wreaking havoc on any capability of reinforcements being sent. On the fifth month of solid combat on the planet, when the Legion had nearly spent all of its resources on capturing the capital, two Astartes battlebarges had slipped in through a break in the Warp Storms, dropping reinforcements down to the Legion, and with the convicts in the lead, took the capital of the primary planet in the Sub-Sector.

With this devastating blow done, the resistance and fight in the hearts of the chaos forces had begun to wilt and die. All over the Sub-Sector, planets began to fall to Imperial forces. While the Legion wasn't directly credited with taking the capital, the Astartes of the Mad Nomads chapter had congratulated them on their will and service to the Emperor.

Past this point in the history of the Legion, not much is known. Sealed under inquisitorial orders, the Legion is only documented in the presence of the Mad Nomads, and seems to have adopted Astartes into their command structure. Something completely unknown to wider portions of the Imperium.

Notable campaigns

 * Volparis Incident (???M40) - The Volparis incident was a bloody stain that left the Legion at 50% fighting capability for several months after it. Other than casualty figures, and reports on the intensity of the fighting, not much is known is about Volparis.
 * Pacification of the Armand Sub-Sector (987M40) - Brought in to assist in the pacification, and tasked with the suicidal effort of being first on the ground to fight for the capital of the Sub-Sector. After only getting 70% of the Legion planetside, Warp Storms began to ravage the system, making reinforcements nigh impossible. It took five grueling months of heavy fighting before reinforcements could be sent planet side. The fact any at all was surprising to Imperial Planners, having written off the Legion already. Once the reinforcements made it planetside, it was apparent they weren't Guard, or fellow Legion reinforcements, they were the Astartes they had met before on other worlds. The Mad Nomads. It would be another five months before the capital of the planet fell, and thus the Sub-Sector with it, but the Nomads made the Legion part of them. Taking the remaining 20% of the Legion's original number with them.

Recruitment and Training
Recruitment and training of the Legion of the Mad is very basic. Anyone that doesn't already have a basic understanding will be given rudimentary lasgun and shotgun training. As for recruitment, convicts are simply torn from their penal worlds and thrown into the legion.

Anyone found to be incapable of being trained and disciplined, or mentally unstable, will be given combat stimulants and be treated even more like animals than their fellow convicts in the Legion. Lots of them will find death on the battlefield while the most persistent ones are transformed into cyborgs.

Penal worlds
The 2 Penals worlds of the Legion of the Mad

The planets Maidstone and Thorncross, situated in Sub-Sector Raldoron, are the main conscription grounds for convict replacements. Those planets serves as a prison for the scums of the Imperium located in the sectors around. Most of the forces of the Legion comes from here, the ones not sent yet to the battlefield are training on those planets.

Organization
The Legion of the Mad typically organizes its penal soldiers into companies of two-hundred convicts. These companies are then split in the middle. One hundred will be armed with shotguns and wired up to combat stimulants, the rest will be armed with lasguns and kept free of the confining strain of the drugs to ensure they can at least aim adequately.

The companies are usually lead by a Marshall from the Adeptus Arbites. A peculiarity among this penal legion is the strange intervention of space marines from the Mad Nomads chapter to intercede as authoritative figures, and even taking over the fighting companies should the Marshall fall in battle, or be killed by the Space Marine himself for any number of reasons.

Down past the fighting companies, are the squads of penal soldiers, broken down into groupings of roughly 20-30 men per squad. Death tolls from previous engagements can leave some squads in higher strength than another. Among the fighting squads, every two squads will be commanded by a single arbitrator. The only times when squads will lack arbitrator leadership is during the lightning charges into enemy formations.

Salamanders
Used mainly to transport combat squads into the heart of the enemy. These Salamanders have been stripped of their highly valuable communications equipment and power generator for them. With this room opened back up, more convicts can be loaded up in back of this open topped vehicle. At the beginning and during the campaigns, hundreds of them will transport the convicts to the battlefield.

Centaurs
 The work horse of the Legion. These nearly broken down vehicles are supplied in pairs to every company in the Legion to haul anything the convicts loot from the enemy dead. Theses tanks are mass produced and only the convicts designed to pilot it are allowed in. Used as supports to help destroy the enemies while the penal soldiers are in the frontline, dying by hundreds against the enemy. Centaurs are also used to bring heavy mortar cannons on the battlefield

Tactics

 * The Legion of the Mad specializes in lightning fast, suicidal charges deep into enemy formations. Once their transports are either immobilized or stop, penal soldiers armed with shotguns and close combat weapons disgorge from the vehicles and tear apart the men around them in a drug addled fury.

The vehicles they use to thrust their murderous spearhead into the enemy are nearly worn out Centaurs, and mostly gutted Salamander Scout variants. Still capable of driving at high speeds, but long gone are the Salamanders days of recon.

Another tactic, recently introduced with Prefect Breckmann's command, is a platoon sized element of the stealthiest, and most hardened killers in the Legion. This element is used to assassinate enemy commanders, to create confusion in their lines before the assault troops are thrown forward.

Breckmann also makes heavy use of discipline troops to handle any unruly companies, or malcontents. He's managed this by creating a company of former commissars, lead by the most prominent commissar of the unit, and the standard Marshall.

Wargear

 * Kantrael pattern lasguns
 * Vox-Legi pattern combat shotguns
 * Lascarbines
 * Grenade launchers
 * Frag & Krak grenades
 * Chainsword
 * Gas Mask
 * Carapace armour (only for special units)
 * Dog Tags
 * Explosive collar
 * Mono-Knives

Notable members
As a to shock Breckmann, he'd found a pious young man previously from the Guard who'd suffer injustice like himself. They'd formed a pact of mutual assistance. They would keep the other alive and reap their harvest against the corrupt.
 * Prefect Breckmann : Prefect Breckmann was chosen by his superiors as a way of trying to kill him off, as he was getting too close to discovering their corrupt secrets. Before he could confront them with his men, they were sentenced to command a penal legion, one they knew little about, other than its name. Breckmann is much like the Giant; he wants revenge. His life and career have been taken from him, and now he wants to pay them back. Little do his former superiors know that they may have given him the very tool to kill them off.

His name is very fitting, as almost every time something goes wrong, the Giant always survives. The more pious among the convicts swear he's being protected by the Emperor himself.
 * The Lucky Giant : A man of impressive stature, only rivaled by the Astartes. "The Lucky Giant", as other convicts have named him, is part of Prefect Breckmanns personal command team. He's in fact the only convict to be on it. Thrown out of the Guard for something he hadn't done, the Giant is a man with something to fight for; revenge. He continues to fight from world to world, praying for the Emperor's mercy and help to win him his freedom, and send him back to his unit to avenge the crime made against him.
 * Commissaress : The Commissaress is a woman is strength beyond what her body leads you to believe. She’s tall and proud, and is in command of a unit of other penal commissars. While no longer retaining their titles as Commissars, Breckmann still respects their deeds enough to use them as a disciplinary unit every time another company steps out of line.  The Commissaress seems oddly close to another Penal Soldier; The Lucky Giant. Even knowing his name.


 * Shadow : No one quite knows who Shadow is, or anything from his past, some suggesting Guard, others, nobility. While no one knows who he is, all know of his proficient skills in quiet murder. Being one of the most lethal men in the Legion, Breckmann assigned him to a small platoon sized element of other lethal men. Assassins at his beck and call.

Notable units
Broken Prefectus

The Broken Prefectus are a company sized element of Commissars stripped of title and rank and thrown into a penal legion. The don't operate under the same organization of other companies, in that they have no combat stimulant fed soldiers. The unit was established when The Commissaress was sent to the Legion of the Mad, and met Prefect Breckmann. Deciding to put her talents to use in keeping order in his Legion, he established their company, pulling as many broken Commissars as he could find.

Black Hands

The Black Hands are Breckmann's personal killers. His assassins at hand. If he needs someone dead, they do it without question. While Breckmann can't trust Shadow, the lethal man who seems to make no discernible noise when he moves, he can however trust him to kill someone without hesitation. Something Shadow seems to relish in doing. The Black Hands are a platoon sized element of men who kill without hesitating. An entire platoon comprised of the deadliest men in the Legion.

Relations

 * Mad Nomads - The first recorded incident where Legion forces and the Mad Nomads chapter met, and begun their long path of assistance, was on the now unknown world of Volparis. During the bloody war that followed, Prefect Breckmann had met with several of the Brother-Captains that saved his Legion, and wished to include some of their own Astartes as commanders. Naturally, Breckmann didn't see a reason to refuse. The Astartes were another means of redemption. To accept them meant salvation.
 * Inquisition - Unbeknownst to the Legion, and even Breckmann, the Inquisition was behind the creation of the Legion of the Mad, and all deployments that brought them near the Mad Nomads. Every while, gifts for the Legion mysteriously appear, as if brought by phantoms. While he doesn't know for sure, the Inquisition is suspected of being behind the gifts.

Quotes
"Forward, in the name of the Emperor! You will redeem yourself in his eyes this day, or die trying!"

- Prefect Gnilo Breckmann, during a charge of the Legion of the Mad at the Armand Offensive, ahead of a main force of Mad Nomads Space Marines.

Gallery
---