Just one bloody day after another

[Montuhotep]

 Well, time to bite the bullet.

 

 After reading, swooning over and burning with jealous envy at the work produced by Biohazard, Krautscientist, Elduderino and countless more besides, it's time for me to finally start a WIP log of my own. It's been in the making for a few years now whilst I sorted ideas in my head.

 

The gist of it is this though, folding in my love of both all things 12th Legion and also an abiding interest in Ancient Egypt, I decided to meld the 2 together. My lads are what you might term double renegades. They've split from the Imperium but have no great affection for other World Eaters either, something best summed up in this little piece of fluff:

 

 

 

 “Our Gene-Father was ever distant; but such was his way with all his sons, not just we of the 25^th.

 

But more than that was the feeling of being snubbed, ignored, deemed unworthy.

 

We were the ‘others’, we were apart, we were under suspicion and denigrated. So when the Great Rebellion occurred, we rebelled for ultimately the same reasons the Iron Warriors did – but the one we rebelled against was our Primarch. If more of us had survived then the sheer irony might have made everything worth it.”

 

Captain Seqenenrae Tao.

 

 

 The 25^th were always a breed apart. Unusually for Astartes at the zenith of the Legions, the company only recruited from one world; this meant a shared mindset and manner suffused it from captain on down, a singularity that the rest of the 12^th Legion viewed with outright hostility when they refused to adopt the same ways as their peers. Hostility led to mockery and the entire 25^th were dubbed ‘Sand Eaters’. Partly as a matter of pride, partly defiance towards the rest of the Legion and mostly to maintain their identity, the 25^th adopted as a ‘clan symbol’ the most vicious predator of their home, one of the huge mantids that infested their deserts. They pointedly kept their distance from the gladiator mindset seeping into the Legion but if called upon they were perfectly willing to defend each other – with a focused ire and passion that made them dangerous indeed and garnered a hard won if grudging respect. Fairly soon it was Legionaires from other companies who were forced to eat the hot sand.

 

 Now they find themselves in the singular position of being double renegades. The Imperium hates them because they are World Eaters. The World Eaters hate them because they have rejected Khorne and Angron.

 

The 25^th retains the inherent stability of a clearly defined company structure. This means in turn that the 25^th are amongst the most powerful and finest equipped cohesive forces outside of the loyalist chapters. What few Techmarines still remain have been bolstered by the Sacristans of House Montu, so that their larger war machines (they are a HEAVY assault company after all) are in good order. Oddly enough weapons and suits of armour are rarely of a single type, most harness being composed of plate of several marks. This is referred to with studied humour by the men as "Mongrel Plate". What complete suits exist are therefore reserved for officer ranks and specialist formations. Line troops must make do and mend with what they are issued with. They still recruit in the old way and still process these recruits in the old way, building Marines from the ground up. The ability to implant the Nails is slowly being lost, with the ironic effect that the company is now a more evenly balanced force than ever before, split neatly between bloody assault and dogged defence.

 

The planet of Tarsis was officially a hardship planet due to its horrendous climate, continent-spanning sand deserts, lethal fauna and paucity of liquid water. But it was also home to an extremely hardy human population who crowded around the few water holes and rivers; a population constantly at war with itself as much as their world whilst retaining a strong social cohesion due to shared beliefs, shared hardship and shared goals – if only survival. This naturally bred hardy, strong and resilient people who made ideal candidates for the Astartes. There was not a member of the 25^th who did not retain a strong love for their ancient home, made all the stronger because of what the galaxy threw at them.

 During the Heresy and the days that followed, Tarsis underwent huge change. Usually this saw other planets owned by perceived traitors either ruthlessly purged or simply outright destroyed. In the case of Tarsis this took on a decidedly ironic twist; with the planet terraformed, heavily colonised and utterly transformed into a verdant, agricultural and semi-industrial sector-heart. The Tarsis that gave the 25^th such an identity, such cohesion and such a redoubtable nature was gone forever. That being said, they came to the resolution that their duties were now to defend the planet of their birth no matter what condition it was in – and since the best form of defence is attack, this suits the company perfectly. They are still 12^th Legion despite everything, so the mindset of constant and unrelenting attack is still strong with them.

 

I apologise that I have nothing to show in the way of actual minis as yet, but that will be changing hopefully shortly.

[Biohazard]

Been waiting a long time for this. Love the fluff you have and look forward to seeing how this progresses :tu:

 

You’ve given me personally lots of ideas over the years :)

[Brother Dallo]

This is an amazing fluff piece.

 

Really keen to see where you go with this project.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

[Bjorn Firewalker]

“Our Gene-Father was ever distant; but such was his way with all his sons, not just we of the 25^th.

 

But more than that was the feeling of being snubbed, ignored, deemed unworthy.

 

We were the ‘others’, we were apart, we were under suspicion and denigrated. So when the Great Rebellion occurred, we rebelled for ultimately the same reasons the Iron Warriors did – but the one we rebelled against was our Primarch. If more of us had survived then the sheer irony might have made everything worth it.”

 

Captain Seqenenrae Tao.

This is well written. Will the 25th remain loyal to the Imperium, turn traitor but under a different Primarch's leadership (maybe Fulgrim, who might appreciate "the perfection of the Sand Eaters' survival skills"), or renegades opposed to both sides?

[Pearson73]

Very nice piece of fluff, the summary excerpt is brilliant. I look forward to this.

[KrautScientist]

I am looking forward to seeing this unfold! And cheers for the shout out! :)

[Montuhotep]

Oh Lordy, Khorne's big blades have come out in force

 

Now I'm in for it if I don't pull this off!

 

 To give a little 'real world' background - these guys are basically renegades from everybody with just enough combat power to defend themselves and do a little piracy on the side (though don't you dare call them that). I'm using Blood Angels rules for these boys as I want to keep the feel of prowess typical of Khorne's 'warrior pride' side of things but with the Death Company  representing those who have fallen too far to the Blood Madness and get thrown at the enemy in the hope they can take some with 'em.

 

 The look I'm going for, aside from the Death Co, is that of what I might term 'Clean Chaos'. The only spikes are for utilitarian purposes and no mutations/gribbly bits. I want them to look near as dammnit to their original Legion selves before the wide-spread Nails Rage gripped them.

 

I have in the past failed at these types of logs because I either focus too much on troops or too much on characters to the detriment of the other. This time I hope to be more measured in approach.

 

 To that end, as soon as I get the right bits in, my first project will be the Boss, Captain Seqenenre Tao:

 

 

 “Why did you make me do this?” He grimaced at the corpse, which failed to reply as he wound the blood-slick links around his waist. The captain sighed with resignation. Again. Once more he’d been forced to explain the chain of command by throttling someone with it. Stability was essential in these times, yet still there was the occasional blood-mad idiot who got ideas above his station. It was a shocking and above all needless waste of trained personnel, something the company could ill afford.

 

Captain Seqenenre Tao - Lion of the Desert

 

 

To look at Seqenenre Tao is to look upon the face of a cheat, thief and stone killer. Abandoned to the sands of Tarnis as a 5-year-old, he managed to survive by preying on isolated merchants who were beguiled by his age and innocent manner.

His entire being proclaims his triumphs. He bested a Red Butcher in close combat, taking his armour as a trophy. He decapitated Warboss ‘Eadloppa and carries the re-worked Choppa. His title and the gilded head adorning one shoulderplate recognise the unarmed feat of slaying a lion as large as a Rhino APC. His armour features the distinctive scales of the Sobekii Guard with whom he served for centuries before his elevation to command rank. One of the few in the 25^th to follow such practice, his honour-rope winds twice around his torso, as does the Chain of Command.  One does not trifle with Captain Seqenenre.