"I am the shield that which the enemies of the Emperor break themselves upon." "Heretics crave the cleansing fire of absolution. They need not fear for we shall deliver."
Name:
Andromedai Morgenstern
Age:
Thirty
Gender:
Female
Personality:
As a member of the Adepta Sororitas, Andromedai has a will of iron that is matched by her steadfast determination to thoroughly eliminate all hostiles that threaten the Imperium of Man and The God Emperor. Some call her reckless, but in truth she carefully plans out each of her actions before swiftly putting them into motion, there is no room for mistakes upon the battlefield. When serving along her own kind, she is selfless and honorable. She will assist those who are in need the most, if appropriate. At times, she can be unpredictable, using her creativity to overcome whatever challenges that are tossed her way. Very rarely, some of her past life will show through her personality, showing the humanity that still remains buried behind her intense training and brain-washing she endured over many years.
Former Occupation:
Ophelian Celestian for the Order of the Argent Shroud.
Equipment:
Armor: Full suit of Celestian Power Armour with Order of the Argent Shrouds shading and emblem.
Primary Weapon: Astartes Mark Vb Godwyn Pattern Bolter - [Modified for increased range, stability and accuracy. Attached to the bottom of the weapon is an automatic shotgun device used for close combat scenarios.]
Secondary Weapon: [None so far.]
Melee Weapon: Chainsowrd
Accessory 1: Krak Grenades
Accessory 2: Melta-Bomb
Accessory 3: Rosarius
Acessory 4: Librium/Tome.
Medical Equipment.
[Has been seen operating with a Mk IV Arkhan Rifle in the past.]
Notable Events:
The Obsidian incursion:
A few months after being assigned to the Order of the Argent Shroud, Andromedai was stationed upon the Shrine world of Erathell to help protect a number of Important Temples and Shrines dedicated to the God-Emperor of Mankind. While she preferred a combat role, guarding such holy sites was also a critical role she was honored to hold. Many months passed in calm before the Slaanesh devoted forces of Chaos invaded, bringing a wave of death and destruction to all that they touched. Due to where they had started their invasion, Andromedai was one of the first to throw herself into Erathells defense. Alongside her fellow Sisters of Battle, they pushed back against the chaos forces over two days of non-stop fighting. The records for the battle indicate that not a single Adepta Sororitas had been lost, through the forces that had invaded the world had been completely irradiated. This was the first world invasion that Andromedai had been part of, from it she had learned many useful skills and had gathered much information about the enemy that would help her through many other battles in the future.
The Assault of Dalenarth:
Andromedai and her fellow Sisters of Battle fought alongside the fabled Space Marines in a war called the Assault of Dalenarth. A large number of Tau forces had been spotted in the Hawkings cluster but vanished from all sight, seemingly to vanish in the depths of the galaxy. When further investigation into the Hawkings cluster was issued, a large base was found to have been established upon an abandoned War world, hiding amongst the rubble. Swiftly and to the letter, the threat was analyzed and considered to be grave, if not completely annihilated. Their numbers were massive and thus both the Sisters of Battle and the Space Marines were sent to deal with the threat. As soon as they arrived, war had broken out and casualties on all sides were counted but never admitted to. Working alongside a Space Marines for the first time, she witnessed the combined strength of their forces. Eventually when Andromedai found herself alongside a single Space marine in the depths of the Tau base, the two of them burned through the hostile forces together, finely eliminating the Tau commander who had organized the whole mission. Both of them were recognized for their acts during the war that lasted two weeks.
The Slaughter at Mobius:
The Slaughter upon the desert world of Mobius is a failed assignment that not many members of the Imperium of man know about. Andromedai had been asked to lead fifteen Sisters of Battle to a small civilized world that had been also called a desert world due to its arid and barren landscapes. Why the Imperium of man had decided to place a colony here was beyond Andromedai she had her orders to investigate a destress signal. When they landed upon the planet, what they found was much more horrific than what was expected. The colony had been completely destroyed, leaving little to no sign of. Further investigation resulted in stirring up something that laid below the sands.
The colony had foolishly built their city on top of a forbidden world, unknown of the dangers that laid below it. They had awoken a small group of hideous xenos known as Tyranids. There had been no way to tell if the distress signal was a trap or not, but what they did know is that all the occupants of the city had died seemingly overnight. The corpses that still remained were fresh, it was very likely the hostiles were still close by. Quickly, Andromdai sent out a message for immediate evacuation and recommended exterminates to quell the threat of the hive. The order would be given to destroy the planetary biosphere and all life upon the world once she had her troops were evacuated.
The pilot informed them that she would be at their location in sixty seconds. Those sixty seconds proved to be the worst she had experienced upon any planet or any battle since she had seen combat. The ground broke apart in the distance and from it came the Xeno horrors that had wiped the colony clean. Almost every round and explosive that the group had was expelled before the drop ship arrived, strafing the area then quickly landing almost on top of the Sisters of Battle. To her surprise, every member of her squad made it onto the drop ship, allowing herself to be the last to board. When she did though, she felt numerous rounds from the Tyranid weapons travel through random parts of her body.
The wounds she sustained were incredibly painful, severe and life threatening but with great will and determination she pushed herself part way into the drop ship. The two medics from her squad helped pull her into the ship just as the doors were closing. Within moments, they were a safe distance away from the planet and were now heading back to the fleet where the wounded would be tended to. As they did though, they witnessed the order for the exterminates being carried out in full, a magnificent but also horrifying spectacle to witness.
Equipment: - Type XIV Lasgun (Heavy) - Also known as a Hellgun or, more rarely, a Hotshot lasgun, the Type XIV (Heavy) is the standard issue weapon for all Grenadiers serving in Death Korp regiments. They are, at least by the Grenadiers themselves, intensely disliked due to perceived unreliability in the field during extended operations and a Krieger's general preference for the default Type XIV Lasgun (More commonly known outside of Krieg as the Lucian Pattern Lasgun). However, with the proper maintence that each Grenadier performs routinely, the weapon performs its intended role as a high power Lasgun, capable of punching through heavier armor and providing, on full auto, a withering rate of fire. The Type XIV (Heavy) utilizes a backpack unit to power it, and a Quick Recharge Generator included in the backpack unit is generally overtaxed, due to the design of the weapon and its power output. Ansgar, like many Grenadiers, would have preferred a Type XIV Lasgun over the Heavy variant, but as a Grenadier, he is required to carry it.
- Grenadier Carapace Armor - Intended for deployment where the fighting is fiercest, Death Korps Grenadiers are equipped with heavy Carapace Armour that has been integrated into the standard Krieg kit. This comprises the Mark IX helmet, a rebreather facemask, three-piece shoulder guards, a chest plate with additional abdomen plates and shin and knee guards. All are made of Plasteel and reinforced with a layer of Ceramite for additional strength, heat resistance and weight reduction. The armor, coupled with uniform and Type XIV Lasgun (Heavy) makes a very heavy loadout, adding in the miscellaneous equipment they carry as well, however, the protection is vastly appreciated by the Grenadiers in general, due to their role as the leading edge in storming trenches and hostile emplacements, needing the protection to get close enough to do their jobs, not so much concerned with survival.
- Explosives - As his former squads Demolitions expert, Ansgar carried the standard explosives load out alongside extra tools, for when the Engineers could not keep up with the assault but were preoccupied elsewhere. Besides several Frag and Krak grenades, Ansgar also has several demolition charges, rated for taking out hardened bunkers when put in place. Ansgar modified the charges so that, in a hurry, he can pull a detonation cable and heave the charge at a target, the normally delicate and precise procedure for arming the charges ditched in favor of emergency target removal. And, as a Krieg Engineer before he was assigned as a Grenadier, he has learned to build improvised explosives that served him well in the trenches when supplies on conventional explosives were running short, as well as utilize Chemical weapons safely.
- Melee Gear - Ansgar carries two weapons for melee combat, one obligatory and the other actually used. The obligatory is his bayonet, which the Type XIV Lasgun (Heavy) lacks a mount for, another reason it remains unpopular among Grenadiers, and typically serves as much as a tool and last resort weapon than anything else. His actual go to is a Entrenching Tool, edges sharpened to allow him to carve through hostiles as well as bludgeon them, and retain the intended purpose of digging trenches and other necessary fighting positions.
Notable Deeds: - Tyranid Assault on Thresis IV - Raised from birth to be a Death Korp Engineer, Ansgar Staudinger, or known by his Trooper designation 17431, will never state when he was sent to war, something that tends to bother people who ask that are outsiders to Krieg and their necessary methods of providing the Imperium the soldiers it needs. Assigned fresh to an Engineering Platoon, Ansgar would spend a great deal of time digging trenches and laying mines in the defense of a Shrine World, Thresis IV, directly in the path of a Tyranid Hive Fleet Splinter. The Tyranids, despite being vastly reduced in numbers compared to a true Hive Fleet, descended like mad locusts, slaughtering over 90% of the Death Korp forces deployed on the planet. Of that 10%, Ansgar Staudinger was one of the survivors, the only from his platoon, found near death after turning an entire trench line into a raging biochemical inferno, equal parts fire and chemical weapon that was effective on the Tyranids. Sharing the compound make up with other Death Korp Engineers, the biochemical fire was used to great extent to halt and drive back the Tyranids, making the then rookie Staudinger's trial by fire a literal, and resounding, success.
- Nightmares Beneath Thrasis II - As part of the Thrasis campaign his regiment was assigned to, and the arrival of Tyranid complicating greatly, Ansgar Staudinger was deployed with a fresh Engineering platoon to assist in the breaking of a siege on Chaos held factories on the system's forge world, Thrasis II. Utilizing conventional tunneling and, when they detected they were almost at the entry point, Hades Breaching Drill, to punch into the Chaos held Foundry, Ansgar and his fellow Guardsmen stumbled into something straight out of the most feverish of a heretic's nightmares. The Warp had bled over into the belly of the foundry, with daemons and mutants in equal measures assaulting the woefully unprepared Krieg Guardsmen. However, they had a job to do, and they were able to hold their ground, keeping a secure tunnel long enough for support to arrive and push deep enough into the Chaos corrupted foundry, to the dark heart and plant enough explosives for the resulting explosion spotted from orbit. Whether it was the sheer amount of explosives put in place, or partially due to Chaos corruption was never decided. However, as one of the only survivors again by virtue of Luck or being Blessed, Ansgar was reassigned by a surviving Commissar to the Death Korp Grenadiers.
- Hellscape of Thrasis I - Nearing the end of the Thrasis System Campaign, Ansgar found himself a freshly minted Grenadier, no longer an Engineer although he often worked closely with them during breaching actions against enemy defensive lines. However, upon touching down on Thrasis I, the Kriegers found something unlike anything anyone could be prepared for. The Foundry was merely a foretaste of what was to come, as planet spanning rituals had allowed the Warp to taint and corrupt great stretches of the planet, forcing Guard forces to struggle through conventional defenses one day, and make a mad dash through Daemon infested hellscapes that should not be the next. What Ansgar refuses to mention to a soul, due to an oath he was put under at the end of the conflict, was the arrival of Grey Knights, of the Emperor's most holy Ordos Malleus. Alongside Adeptus Sororitas support, which Ansgar learned to have a deep, healthy respect for, the combined arms forces stormed the capital of Thrasis I, a den of pure evil and corruption that made the rest of the planet look like a Shrine World in comparison. Once again, whether by luck or the Emperor's own intervention, Ansgar found himself as one of the only Grenadiers, and Krieger's period, to survive the assaults into the city, arriving at the Hall of Governing as it had been christened during Thrasis I's founding as a colony, only to find horrors so unspeakable even the Krieg born Grenadier refuses to speak of them now. But, between the Grey Knights and Sisters of Battle alongside his own humble contributions at that point, which mostly consisted of survival, Ansgar lived to see the end of the hellish campaign on Thrasis I. With literally no regiment to return to, and having become aware of the most secretive of Space Marine chapters, it was decided to induct him into the Inquisition, sending him to serve where needed most.
Armor: -Reinforced leather jacket, pants. -Custom Armor plating – Created by using parts of salvaged imperial power armor. Multiple modifications and corrections were made for it to fit its new role. Barely resembles its origin. -Armored leather boots with inbuilt powerful electromagnets. -A pair of armored gloves.
Weapons: -‘White Skull’ Las Pistol – a heavily modified version of the standard issue laspistol, this work of engineering has been created by Vala herself. It has almost triple the power draw of a normal laspistol, making it more useful than it’s original, but it depletes powercells quickly and the wear on the weapon is increased, making the need for replacement parts quite frequent. She has created only 3 of these with the other two now destroyed. It’s kept on a holster on her right hip. - MAG Autogun MkIV(Shelly) - An autogun that fires hexagonal solid projectiles. The projectiles are about 6 cm in length and 0.7 cm in diameter. She acquired this specific gun or at least what was the remnants of a gun while on one of the many lawless space stations scattered across the fringes of Imperium space. After a lot of tinkering and experimentation she managed to create a workable and actually useful variant of it. It has the same range as a standard autogun. Its flat projectiles/slugs are propelled using a system of incredibly powerful electromagnets. The rifle uses standard powercells. Devastating against lightly armored targets as causes both blunt and puncture damage with each slug. Lacks penetrating power against heavily armored targets, though still hits like a hammer. The rifle has 10 slugs per clip. Held on the right side of her back with a magnetic buckle. -Modified Assault Shotgun - Has a shorter Barrel and only holds 3 shells. It’s sturdy and does the job it needs to. It kept on the back of her waist with a magnetic buckle. -Autopistol – Held in a holster on her left hip. -Short straight sword – She keeps it for when she’s out of all her other weapons. Kept in a sheath across the left side of her back. -4 small frag grenades.
Other equipment: -A forearm mounted grappling hook launcher – uses same electromagnetic tech as her rifle. -Known to also carry portable set of tools during missions.
Notable Deeds: As a merc Val cannot really boast with deeds such as those of the soldiers of the Imperium, but she has stacked up a small list of accomplishments non the less.
The Kroozer Gambit
Hired by a Rogue Trader, away from the notable trade routes, Vala and her crew were tasked with bringing down a ork Kroozer that was discovered waiting in ambush for an unsuspecting transports. The Trader didn’t want to damage his own vessel so he hired mercs to be his scapegoats while his ship would pass the sector, hoping to escape paying.
Her crew immediately got suspicious of it and forged a plan to both do the job and get paid. Since what they had was a old modified transport ship, they pretended to be a random unsuspecting pray while a Vala and 4 of her crewmates took an assault boat. When the Kroozer moved to intercept their transport along with it’s fighter escort, the assault boat rammed to the engine room. Following a lightning fast gunfight, they set 5 heavy explosives across the engines and left the ship just in time for the bombs to explode and cripple the vessel. During that time, their transport had led the escort wing straight to the Rogue Trader’s vessel. Without support from the Kroozer, the trader managed to deal with the fighter escort. Their transport ship had susptained medium damages, but they got paid non the less. She later heard that an imperial Dauntless stumbled upon the Kroozer and destroyed it. Surely the Rogue Trader had taken all credit for disabling it…
3 days of darkness.
Vala’s crew had been forced to land on an uninhabited world when they came into confrontation with a light corsairs pirate vessel. Luckily for them the elder ship wasn’t heavily armed and after an incredible accurate hit on their part, both vessels were forced to crash land.
Vala’s armed transport had taken a serious beating and given the degree of the damage it would have required at least a week to repair. Without given much choice in the matter they were forced into a fight for their lives. After 3 days of almost constant battling with the corsairs, Vala’s crew managed to repel the enemy and grant her enough time to finish the repairs in a record time of 3 and a half days! They lost 5 people in that event, but finally managed to escape the planet.
Death to the Infidel.
While on a break from missions and traveling towards a nearby lawless space station for refuel and repair, Vala’s transport suddenly shook heavily from the impact wave of an immense explosion. By the time they saw what was going on, the transport was knee deep in a chaos attack of two Infidel class escorts on the pirate station.
The station’s weak shields were quickly down, it’s frankly old weaponry couldn’t match the two escorts. As the transports around it were destroyed, Vala’s ship found itself with no place to run. She and other 5 of her 15 crew members barely managed to get to the assault boat that also doubled as a escape capsule before their transport was blown to bits by 2 torpedos. With the destruction of the station, one of the Infidel class ships left to chase some ships that managed to escape the initial barrage while the other one stayed behind to finish wiping the place from anything that moved. Without place to land anywhere in the assault boat’s range there was only one option left. They used the debris as cover from the batteries, they boarded the Escort’s engine compartment like they had done in the past with the orks.
It was a slaughter against the chaos marines their weapons didn’t really carry much punch. It took Vala mere 2 minutes to set all the explosives and move back to her assault boat, but by the time she pulled the boat away from the chaos ship, she was the only one left. Alone and heavily wounded she watched with a big smile as the explosions took place, rendering it motionless in space… She laughed loudly as Imperial ships started warping about the place, probably having noticed the chaos presence.
Maria stands at about 178 centimeters at full height, sporting a heavily built, strong body that readily shows her years of experience in the field. Much of her body has some sort of scar or nick to show, with some even showing ugly burns. Despite years of war she has seen throughought her life, she has snowy white hair of surprising softness, sharply contrasting the lava red eyes she has inexplicably had since birth.
Age: 29
Sex: Female
Personality: Will mostly be shown IC, but… Maria is intelligent, snarky, and decidedly irreverent behind the backs of authority figures. How she came from the strict world of Praetoria is a true mystery, as her complete indifference to things like uniformity and compliance (when she can get away with it) is completely uncharacteristic of the world. But by the same token, she shows an innate intelligence and awareness of her surroundings. Perhaps she can’t build a plasma gun from spare parts or debate complex arcane specifics with a seasoned scholar, but she can piece together seemingly unrelated pieces of information and find a pattern hidden within, or decipher the mad ravings of a guardsman stricken to lunacy by Chaotic sights.
Former Occupation: Personal bodyguard for a Commissar.
Psyker Powers: Maria boasts incredibly potent pyromantic abilities, having awakened them in the heat of battle. While not the stuff of legends, her skill at the offensive discipline is not to be underestimated, under pain of an excruciating and fiery demise.
Equipment: Custom Made Bolt Revolver: This potent weapon originally belonged to another - a Commissar. Specifically, the Commissar who she guarded for years on end. A powerful hand cannon of fearsome size, sound, and effect, the weapon was scratch built for the Commissar, firing full sized bolts out of a barrel considerably longer and heavier than a normal bolt pistol’s, mitigating the recoil significantly - despite this, it has a sophisticated system of sliding counterweights that fire at the same time as the gun, adding their own mass to counteract the recoil of the weapon. These, coupled with the muzzle break at the front, make it a surprisingly easy weapon to fire. Upon the Commissar’s death, ownership of the weapon passed to her by virtue of being the closest one to the man to grab it from him. She has continued to use it to this day. Due to being a revolver, the capacity is limited to six rounds, but by the same token the far less complicated mechanism makes the weapon almost preternaturally reliable when coupled with its superior worksmanship.
Customized Mordian Uniform: Beginning its life as her standard issue Mordian Iron Guard uniform, Maria received the set upon her joining of the Guard. It has since then seen many alterations, chiefly the removal of the surrounding fabric, stripping the uniform down to the resilient carapace armor contained within, which she continues to wear to this day, albeit with the occasional addition after a good find on the battlefield. While her alterations to it are primarily cosmetic - covering the edges to prevent anything snagging, she has managed to modify the hat suffiently to meet her personal aesthetic preferences, turning the headgear into a jaunty tricorn with a single white feather stuck in the top.
Coat and hat: Maria’s coat serves little practical purpose save some warmth and as a good covering to keep dust out. Her extended tenure as a Commissar’s personal bodyguard let her feather her nest a little with a few aesthetic frivolities - mainly in the form of the coat she wears at all time. Constructed of an unknown but incredibly sturdy fabric, the coat has lasted her for many years, and will surely last many more.
Notable Deeds: Hailing from the world of Mordian, Maria was raised amid the same wretched conditions as the other members of the world. The hardship of her early life tempered her against the horrors of the greater galaxy, like all of her fellows hailing from the world. At the age of seventeen she made her way into the Imperial Guard, reasoning that a quick death in service of the Emperor beat a slow and roughly as painful one within the hives. Over the years she saw many engagements, miraculously not dying, even if she’s had more than her share of close calls.
”You’re a Psyker, Maria.” Maria first awakened her psychic abilities in a routine operation against the gangs that infested every corner of Mordian. While truly keeping them in check or wiping them out was a dream that could only be born of huffing fermented grox manure for a few days, it was important that they keep them from completely overrunning certain parts of the world - such as one of the major military depots.
The standard Mordian tactic of lining up in thick rows and concentrating fire on the enemies certainly had an effect, but the surrounding gangs had joined forces - after all, having military grade gear in their arsenal would dramatically boost their standing. Outnumbered by surprisingly well armed gangs, the Guard soon found their ammunition on hand running dry, their nimble adversaries frustrating their attempts to burn their skulls out by dodging and weaving their ways closer, tossing crude grenades and even some genuine ones into their ranks, even some Kraks landed under the few armored vehicles on hand, knocking them out of commission for the time being. Backup, in the form of the rest of their regiment with accompanying armor in tow, was inbound but would take some time to arrive - this had, after all, originally been a simple policing action.
A grenade had blown open the ranks of men and women right next to her, tearing a bloody hole in their lines that their assailants suddenly rushed for, intending to exploit the sudden breach before the Guard could plug it, leaving only Maria and a machine gunner running low on ammunition and sporting a shattered leg to hold them off.
Maria quickly emptied the power cell on her las rifle, finding the other one empty too. Beside her, perched behind his weapon, the gunner quickly ran out of ammunition as well, scrambling to hurl grenades at the enemy, scavenging as many off the shattered bodies that surrounded them as he could, hurling them into the mass of onrushing bodies - but it wasn’t enough.
She had felt only rage at that point. While normally not a clean and polished yes-woman who delighted at the very thought of obeying orders, indeed she chafed under them for the most part, she still respected them. And the fact that she wouldn’t be able to do her job, was going to die right here, because of something as stupid as running out of ammunition angered her to no end.
Something had risen up in her then, and without even understanding what she was doing, she conjured forth great torrents of flame, dousing the emboldened gangers in a fire fueled by a potent mixture of unchecked rage and primal survival instinct.
When she came to, she found that she had fallen unconscious from the exertion, but the line had held, in no small part due to her sudden ability to conjure flame from nothing.
Waaagh! ‘Urtfist After her sudden development of psychic abilities, Maria faced the prospect of potential execution, or transport to Terra as Emperor-food, but the Commissariat intervened, pulling her from the rank and file to serve as a bodyguard for the division’s Commissar. This roughly coincided with the decision of the brass to ship her and her division out to the frontline to replenish severely depleted and considerably poorer trained Guard formations defending against a recently emerged threat - a sizeable Ork Waaagh! bearing down on an agricultural system known as Effus. The Waaagh! struck first at the outer site of human inhabitation, a mostly barren world pockmarked by meteor impacts, the planet of Effus IV was soon to become a bloodbath of unimaginable proportions where almost the entire Waaagh! would be halted, at a great cost in lives and resources. One of two planets located within the habitable zone, there had been multiple attempts to convert it into an agricultural world like its sister planet, Effus III, but such efforts had stalled due to lack of resources and hostile local fauna.
The Waaagh! had its origins in the warboss of an originally small clan, who got it into his head to lead his forces against those of other nearby clans, managing to unite them despite his numerical inferiority. The scholars theorized he had an unusually large present in their bastard version of the Warp, drawing other Orks to his cause regardless of his actual physical capabilites - which were, admittedly, fearsome.
The initial forces sent to contain the Waaagh! were tragically underprepared, rapidly overrun by battle hungry Orks looking for a good fight. The Guard regiments had been sent in as more of a “trial by fire”, their commanders not fully comprehending the scale of the Waaagh! bearing down on the system. The forces of the 352nd Mordian Iron Guard were closest at hand and rapidly redeployed to counter the Waaagh!, sending out an urgent request for backup.
By the time they arrived, the Imperial forces were in utter rout, fleeing from the Orks in every which way, oftentimes abandoning their weapons and equipment to move faster.
The commander of the regiment was known as Nadia Parron, a woman stern and unrelenting even by Mordian standards, ordered her forces to deploy in the open in standard battle formation, issuing extra ammunition in anticipation of a protracted battle. To the fleeing Guardsmen she issued a general order: stand and fight, or be executed as traitors to the Imperium.
Most of them kept running right up until precise las fire drilled burning holes through their skulls.
Redeploying her armored units and support troops, Commander Parron advanced slowly, cautiously scouting ahead with aerial units and ground forces, keeping their lone cruiser within bombarding distance, knowing full well her lone force would be insufficient to hold off an entire Ork Waaagh! Her primary goal was to find a fortifiable position to hold off the Orks until reinforcements could arrive.
Eventually they found an ancient asteroid crater, miraculously still fairly intact, and immediately set about digging in. Normal doctrine would have had the Guard face the Orks in the open, but Commander Parron, while stern and unrelenting, was no fool.
The engagement began when a vanguard of greenskins advanced over the horizon, driving their primitive vehicles pell-mell for the Imperial line. Disciplined las fire lanced out from the Mordian troops, heavy armor adding its part too and inflicting grievous casualties on the approaching xenos.
Recon craft had estimated the strength of the advance force at about three thousand strong - no xenos made contact with the Guard’s line, though their crude weaponry had brought down a few comrades.
The real assault began at the planet’s version of high noon - a vertiable tidal wave of greenskins surged over the horizon and almost immediately, the Imperial artillery began to open up, plunging devastating shellfire into the hordes of xenos - but even as they inflicted grievous slaughter, as did the Ork weaponry begin to take its toll. Men and women began dropping left and right.
The enemy force broke upon the raised walls of the meteor crater and Imperial fortifications, greenskins attempting to climb towards the Guard forces only to be beaten back by disciplined las fire, or, in Maria’s case, furious blasts of warpfire. She honed her skill upon the throngs of bloodthirsty xenos, gleefully incinerating them en masse as they threw themselves even more energetically into the fray.
However, the position was untenable in the face of the sheer numbers and ferocity of the attack, and by the third day of the defense their numbers had dwindled severely.
Help came unexpectedly in the form of a strike cruiser bearing a full company of Astartes - Angels Encarmine, to be specific. The arrival of the Space Marines turned the tide momentarily in favor of the Imperial forces, allowing them to beat back the Ork assault long enough to fortify once more and await reinforcements.
Damn the torpedoes! And the Orks! When reinforcements finally arrived in the form of several hastily assembled formations of Guardsmen from any nearby worlds, and of all walks of life, Commander Parron decided to gamble her forces on a single decisive assault to crush the momentarily stalled Waaagh! to prevent it gaining any further traction from greenskins elsewhere.
The operation was a bloodbath on both sides - the Mordian 352nd and the company of Astartes, as the only remotely experienced or even truly competent forces available, were chosen to form the speartip of this operation. Leading one of the assault companies was Commissar Basir and his bodyguard, Maria Maria Selkirk.
The Commissar was a rather aggressive one, even by their standards, and decided to lead his company, along with several others of the hastily formed recruit formations, in a headlong charge against a mid sized gargant. Maria, not wishing to be shot, said nothing but did her best to keep herself (and the Commissar) alive. She was doomed to failure on the latter however when, miraculously reaching the Gargant, with severely depleted numbers, the man charged headlong at it. At this point, her sense of self preservation overrode her devotion to her duty and she held back, eventually taking shelter behind a massive mound of bodies - greenskin and human alike - to hurl warpfire every which way.
What seemed like days later, but was likely only a couple hours, she came to coated in blood from head to toe and completely exhausted. All around her was utter devastation, the Gargant lay in smoldering ruins, telltale signs of a Leman Russ Annihilator having been in the vicinity, if the recently cooled molten metal was anything to go by.
She had staggered to her feet, incapable of generating another warp bolt if her life depended on it. Scavenging through the field of corpses, taking extra power packs and looking for a lasgun in reasonable condition, she came across the body of the commissar, and by extension, his custom made bolt revolver, which she quickly appropriated for her own personal use before staggering back to friendly lines where she collapsed almost immediately,
Psyker Power Divination & Telekinesis are her main fields of psychic talent, but she also possesses two other abilities such as Smite and Storm of Lightning, as well as a rudimentary form of mental communication. Does not possess any noteworthy healing abilities, and she is just as likely to send someone to the warp as she is to heal a minor scratch.
Appearance: 6.6ft tall, pale skin and snow white hair. Sturdy and heavy frame, but still retains her feminine figure despite adhering to a strict physical training regime.
The base of her outfit consist of a simple yet elastic skin tight jumpsuit in dark brown color that is capable of withstanding the vacuum of space as well as provide a decent protection against the elements, though offers little protection versus physical threats. Overlayed on top is a series of armaplas plates that form a chestguard, cuisses, knee-high boots, shoulderpads and gloves stretching back and up to her elbows where they form into a sharp point. They offer good locational protection, especially from the front, but leave her jumpsuit exposed in other places, particularly from her lower back and down to the back of her knees where her boots cover both sides of her ankles. The plates are polished to a light gray color, and almost look like silver. The surface is covered with a series of intricate design and artwork in typical imperial fashion, featuring numerous flutes and ridges across the plates, as well as a couple skull imprints. Above her armor she wears a satin blue silk cloak that hangs down from the back of her left shoulder, as well as a silk loincloth hanging from the front of her belt of similar color. Thrown sideways around her torso is a series of books and scrolls attached by chain.
Running up along the spine of her chestguard is a refractor field generator built into the plate itself, taking form of a small generator emitting a series of horizontal, blue lights up along the back of the chestplate, and shaped much like a human skeletal spine. When activated, a faint, blue and almost invisible barrier appears around her figure.
Her helmet is made out of the same material as that of her armor, and it takes the form of a gothic plated helmet, with a narrow but wide blue glass visor and a longer neck guard extending out behind her helmet. Two plastic tubes are attached to a rebreather device at the bottom mouth piece of her helmet, that stretch out on each side of her neck and down into a small, highly pressurized air tank built into the back of her chestguard.
Her boots are magnetic, and her entire suit when worn enables her to survive in space, and also provides immunity to most chemical and biological attacks. She carries enough oxygen to last for almost an hour.
Equipment:
Main Weapon: Her primary weapon is a two handed power-weapon in the form of an oversized saber with a sleek blade and an extended handle which doubles as a psyker staff, and adorned with sigils, trinkets, technological gadgets and inscriptions. She often uses her weapon in conjunction with her telekinetic powers to amplify its destructive potential.
Calisto. Plasma Pistol.
Ceremonial Dagger. In essence, just a normal albeit flashy dagger with an adorned handle. Typically only carried for show, but is sharp enough to slice through unprotected skin with ease, and small enough to be concealed without much problem.
Refractor Field. Description under Appearance.
2x Servo-Skulls: Familiars. Mostly used to store events, data, recordings and scrolls and provide reconnaissance.
Savior – Saved an influential nobleman by foreseeing his assassination, tossing him out of the way of the sniper’s bullet with her telekinetic powers and into a big wedding cake instead.
Guide – Saved a band of arbiters from the underworld of a hive world during an uprising by using her powers of divination to avoid the roaming mobs and gangs and reached safety without incident. Not a single shot was fired during their escape.
Hates Surprises – Accidentally electrocuted and sent three of the arbiters she had saved above to the infirmary when they tried to surprise her with a party later. Being so used to foresee danger before it happens, she is prone to freaking out over minor surprises that eludes her farsight.
Fireteam – During an Ork incursion, she helped a fireteam of six guardsmen hold off a much larger band of orks after their sergeant was injured through using her powers of divination to guide their fire, turning what had been originally green recruits into seemingly crack shots. Any Ork that left its cover was immediately put down from long range, and when they mounted a frenzied charge together, they didn’t make it more than halfway across the field to the trenches before they were wiped out by precision fire.
Warpstorm over Mordran V - Adrianne was assigned to aid the planetary imperial garrison with culling a lesser greenskin uprising, assisting local Imperial Guard and Sisters of Battle forces with the purging when a warpstorm suddenly appeared over the otherwise peaceful colony world of Mordran V. Trapped on the planet, Adrianne found herself fighting for survival alongside her imperial guard as Chaos Ships appeared in orbit, and unleashed a ferocious invasion of the planet! Though the warpstorm only lasted for two weeks, by the time it had lifted, Mordran V had been transformed from a lush, promising garden world into a lifeless, daemon-infested hellscape, with most of its original population killed except for a few imperial strongholds that managed to weather the storm. Her experience from Mordran V would change Adrianne for ever. What had been a cautious girl that had stepped onto the planet would instead emerge a seemingly reckless with little to no restraint on her powers!
Appearance: Herold is broad shouldered and thickly muscled, though his body is more trim and wiry than what one might expect from the term "musclebound." His statuesque and powerful form belie his tactical knowledge and quick mind. He walks and thinks like an apex predator when on the move, striding powerfully but taut, as if he could pounce at any moment. He rarely removes his helmet in front of others, but when he does most would think him not unhandsome. Perhaps a bit rugged and rough with the short, tousled brown hair and storm blue eyes. When out of combat gear, he still tends to wear his military grade loose fitting pants and utility belt, albeit with a plain shirt.
Age: 32
Sex: M
Class: Arbitrator Equipment: (Guns, armor, grenades/etc-If you are not sure or if it's questionable, please send me a PM.)
Carapace Armor
Shock Maul
Combat Shotgun
Hydraphur Pattern Suppression Shield
Autopistol
Rebreather
Utility belt
Frag grenade
Notable Deeds:
Cartel Bust: Was apart of an Arbitrator Squad that busted down an illegal smuggling operation in the Forge World Ilios, dispatching multiple assailants and capturing the leader's second personally after fighting him in close combat.
Crime of Abstraction: Was promoted to Sergeant, and sent after one of his comrades who had committed the crime of Abstraction and extortion on the world of Dalheim. Sorkal Nielson, the Arbitrator in question, saw fit to go after innocents who he had perceived as gang members, extorting them of their money to get information from them. Herold found, fought, and defeated Sorkal, taking him in to be tried by the true court of law.
Xenos Threat: Helped defend Dalheim from a small Ork incursion that had been manipulated into attacking by the Eldar. Received a large scar along the left side of the face and nearly losing an eye after one particular struggle with an greenskinned Xeno. He was tasked with keeping Order with the citizenry as the PDF forces went to fight the Xenos, but some made it into the city and was confronted by Herold. He slew four. He witnessed an Eldar in the slums of the city and reported it, helping the Governor's administration to find information that put two and two together to show the threat was devised by the ancient Xenos.
Heretic Slaying: Assigned to the planet Sovereign due to reports of cultists. Herold has 17 confirmed cultist kills and 6 confirmed arrests since his time arriving planetside. Half of them occurring during his investigations when he found a cultist meeting place below a Warehouse for Imperial armor parts, surprising them with a grenade, proceeding to two to death, before making a tactical retreat and gunning multiple cultists down as they attempted to escape through the only unblocked exit.
Hecuter 9/5 Heavy Combat Autopistol: A copy of another famed design manufactured by the Orthlack of Gunmetal and often regarded with some justification as a “prince among pistols”, Hecuter is tooled and balanced to exact tolerances, making it quite controllable despite its large calibre for an autopistol. Its clip projects somewhat from the angled grip, giving the weapon a distinctive profile, while despite its size, its excellent design makes it an “easy carry” from shoulder rigs and quick-draw holsters.
Ius Automatic Pistol: Crafted by the gunsmiths of Gunmetal city in Scintilla to be as sturdy as possible, Ius is a solid and unspectacular yet utterly reliable weapon. Normally used by Calixian Arbites as a backup firearm, it is ubiquitous amongst both the Calixian Arbites and planetary enforcers of Scintilla. Typically issued to junior ranks within both organisations, Ius is designed to be foolproof and to withstand punishment that would damage other firearms.
Hax-Orthlack Armsman-10 Pattern Service Pistol: This bulky and intimidating high-capacity stub pistol is a copy of the traditional Scipio pattern Naval pistol. It is a common sidearm for enforcers, household troops and mercenaries throughout the Calixis Sector and has been mass-produced for centuries under contract to arm the Magistratum cadres of Scintilla and many other worlds.
Arbites Vox Legi-pattern Shotgun: Effectively a large-bore, locally manufactured version of the shotgun designs used by many planetary enforcers, the Vox Legi is a devastating and adaptable weapon that fires shotgun shells nearly the size of those of Astartes Assault shotgun. The increased size of the weapon reduces its ammunition capacity compared to that of its fellow shotguns, but it still remains more powerful and adaptable than a standard shotgun. Most patrolling Arbitrators take advantage of this flexibility by carrying a variety of shotgun shell types so as to offer them different tactical options in the event of encountering a situation that requires their intervention. Over-engineered by a considerable margin, the weapon is also perfectly capable of being used as a large club in close combat. 'Liberated' from a fallen Arbiter during a past investigation.
Mono-Knife: A simple combat knife that has since been honed down to a monomolecular edge.
Flak Armor Vest: Flak armour consists of multiple layers of different ablative and impact absorbent materials designed primarily to deflect or absorb the majority of the force from a shot or blow. It is meant to provide defence against low-velocity, dispersed damage, such as explosions, shrapnel and ricochet material, rather than to protect against a direct impact, in which case the armour's protection is almost negligible. The ablative characteristics of the armour provide further defence against heat and energy based damage.
Lho-Sticks: A Lho-stick is a popular Imperial narcotic, much like a M2-era cigarette, made of a rolled paper tube containing a scented plant-derived substance. The tube is lit and the resultant smoke inhaled through it, causing a mildly narcotic sensation.
Explosive Collar: Typically reserved for penal guardsmen, these collars ensure the cooperation of criminals with Imperial authority by threat of death.
Notable Deeds:
Heresy in the Hive: Scintilla is the home of many billions of humans stuffed into confined coffins of steel and marble. The lowest of these hive levels often breed the most horrid of humanity, and there is no scum lower than the heretic who would turn his back upon the Master of Mankind. An upstart hiver upon the capital of the Calixis Sector, Gunmetal City was the perfect nest for such a heresy to unfold. Largely left bereft of the terse laws other such hives follow, the lower levels of this volcanic city, known as the Infernis, were utterly ruled by violent criminal gangs with no life but that of constant warfare. Such bloody conditions were ideal for a certain sect of Chaos worshipper.
For months the vile tendrils of heresy snuck their way into the inhabitants of Infernis. A cult, calling themselves the Sons of Khorne, plotted a means to unleash the entities of their patron upon Scintilla. Inserting followers into several of the most violent underhive gangs of the region, they plotted a day of unrivaled bloodshed that would be nothing short of a true war in the depths of the volcanic city. Using this bloodshed, as well as the sacrifice of a dangerous undocumented psyker, they intended to open a rift into the Immaterium and unleash daemons and horrors unseen upon the denizens of Gunmetal City.
When the came dawned for this massive gang war to erupt, several gangs resisted the rabid chants of the cultists to senselessly throw themselves to slaughter. Yet others, living on death and bloodshed, launched into suicidal waves of vengeance and rage over thousands of slights and vendettas. By the time the Arbites of the neighboring Hive Sibellus got word of this massive riot like event, most of Inferis was embroiled in civil war and the manufacturing centers of the middle hive were under siege by overzealous gangers stirred up by the machinations of heretical influence.
As hundreds if not thousands simultaneously found their ends upon the blood slick tunnels and abandoned manufactorums of Infernis, the main body of the cult began their vile rituals. Yet, sorcery was never the strong suit of any Khorne worshipper. Mistakes were made in the ritual, the psyker not bound properly in the moments leading up to his sacrifice. An errant daemon, unaligned with the Blood God, was drawn by this vulnerable soul's plight. The resulting possession gave the foul daemon a body to inhabit among the mortal realm. Unleashing the psychic potential of its host, it cut down the present cultists and walked with glee into the warzone that was the underhive.
At this point, the Tricorn palace of the Inquisition had dispatched an Inquisitor, a small detachment of Inquisitional Stormtroopers and the full force of the Adeptus Arbites in the face of this suspected heresy. As the riot suppression units of Arbites pushed the gangers back into the searing tunnels of the Infernis districts, the full scale of what was occurring became apparent and the leading Inquisitor ordered a long overdo purge of the underhive.
This advent is where Scarra first made her contributions. Scraping out a living as a gunslinger on the fringes of a gang within Infernis, she had spent the better part of the day hiding among ruins and gunning down cultist, rival ganger or errant ally who took the opportunity to attack her. When the lines of suppression shields came marching down the debris laden corridor she and a small group of her fellow gangster were hold up, Scarra made to scatter like the filth she was. Yet, on the opposing side, nothing short of a blood drenched daemonhost made its appearance among the roar of battle.
Valiant as they were, the Arbites were no match for a psyker whose mind was now the toy of a daemon. The warp conduit that was once this mutant unleashed waves of horrific warp fire that burnt hotter than any magma the underground volcano Gunmetal was built upon could muster. The law bringers were reduced to ash among the haunting laughter of an aberration given form. Turning its attention upon the gangers who shook with fear from their cover, a twisted hand pointed towards the scum. Streams of soul rending flame descended upon them, yet as the fires consumed all that was her comrades, Scarra was untouched.
Her very presence was like a void among the inferno, keeping her safe from the vile chaotic energies that would've been her end. Emboldened by terror and adrenaline, as well as the horrified shrieks that her approaching rush inspired within the daemonhost, Scarra did what any belligerent hive ganger would do; she pounced upon its twisted human form and shanked it to death whilst the aura she projected left it powerless. Banished to the warp by the loss of its host body, the daemon threat was ended.
Yet the riots carried on. A second wave of Arbiters marched thunderously down into her section of the underhive, backed by Stormtroopers as fire support. Those who survived the initial onslaught were gunned down as heretics, innocent or not. Scarra expected the very same. Thus, it was a surprise to her that when the Arbiters burst into the tiny room she had hidden away in after her valiant stabbing took not to blasting her into thin paste, but descended upon her with shock mauls and battered her unconscious.
She awoke several hours later, dragged from the chaos of her home below into the middle hive. The Inquisitor leading this purge had apparently viewed her little act of heroism in the underhive via servo-skull. Knowing her for what she was, a psychic blank, the Inquisitor gave her the simple option; live to serve the Inquisition or die where she sat. Ever the rebel, Scarra was hard pressed not to spit upon the face of this law man. Even so, for all her belligerence, the day had worn her weary and ragged. She accepted her fate, being inducted into the Inquisition that day and spirited off Scintilla to serve the Imperium as a glorified meat shield against the perils of the warp.
