[hider= The City State of Sanctii] Faction Name: Guardians of Sanctii and Her Illustrious Holdings Faction Overview/Concept: Located in the frozen wastes outside of the borders of Northern Ursh, the City State of Sanctii is a massive hive city poised on the edge of a great rift in the earth. It has stood defiant against Ursh invasions for as long as the city has kept records of itself, and stands as a shining beacon of progress and science in the Northern lands drawing many a wayward and weary traveler to its curtain wall. Sanctii operates on a parliamentary council system, with matters of state being proposed and debated at length high atop the central spire and the effects of these decisions being felt as far down as the foundations of the hive. Its people enjoy a standard of living seen only rarely amongst the warlord nations and lone hives of Terra. Food, water, and animal meat is in abundance, due in part to ancient automated mechanisms deep within the hive that provide all manner of genetically modified and strengthened crops and animals for consumption above. Medicine is plentiful, as the hive has a thriving pharmaceutical industry that trades regularly with the Terrawatt Clans to the west, and less frequently with the Selenite Gene-cults of Luna. This same pharmaceutical industry is also responsible for the purity of the hive, gene therapy, widely learned from and improved upon in many ways from the Selenite methods is widespread, and in many lower areas of the hive it is mandated to stave off aberration and mutation. Among the middle and upper class within Sanctii, gene modification is taken to extremes of beauty and tastefulness. This occurrence extends even to the defenders of Sanctii, the Council providing gene therapy and enhancement to even the lowliest of its defenders. The renown of these defenders is well known to Sanctii’s neighbors, who fear their hulking and deadly defenders. While the gene therapy of Sanctii lends much of the bite to the cities defenses, it is the massive technological gap that exists between Sanctii and all of its neighbors that has seen it survive so far. Like the ancient mechanisms that keep the city fed and supplied for, Sanctii possesses a considerable cache of Standard Template Constructs practically unheard of in size among all of Terra. Although the exact number of STCs and their specific patterns is a closely guarded secret, it is no surprise to any that visit the city, and especially not to any that have attempted to take it, that the weapons of war Sanctii maintains are both lethal and enduring. Disintegration guns and advanced enclosed carapace armor is standard issue amongst even the lowest of defenders, while weapons and armor only increase in protection and lethality as the ladders of the cities defense force is climbed. Faction Assets: (Brief Overview of their Strengths/Capability) - Thriving Pharmaceutical and Gene Tailoring Industry - A sizeable cache of STCs (Presumed by outsiders to be in full working order) - Standing professional and genehanced army of 650,000 with an additional reserve of 100,000 and militia numbering close to 1.1 million. - Capable of stellar travel in limited scale (No further than Luna) Key Characters: Yurij Arturovych Yarov - Prime Minister of the City State of Sanctii Deep Winter - Central Administrator Nina Kuzmenko - Keeper of the Keys Stefan Popov - High Negotiator of Sanctii and Her Illustrious Holdings Vadym Yaroslav - Commander of the 51st Genehanced Guards Assault Brigade [/hider] [hider=House Hastings] Faction Name: House Hastings Faction Overview/Concept: Mercantile House of Albyon, relocated all House assets to the Hymalazia's after Marquess Willem Hastings encountered emissaries of the Emperor during an expedition to establish trade with the Pan-Pacific Empire. Now entrenched as a middling mover of goods and materiel for the Emperor's war machine, attempting to climb ever higher. Faction Assets: (Brief Overview of their Strengths/Capability) - Extensive network of trade assets and connections stretching from Albyon to the Pan-Pacific Empire. - Hastings House Guard: Well equipped and trained interior Guard of House Hastings - Considerable supply of land based and airborne trade and security vessels (trucks, land sailing vessels, airships and flyers) - Hastings Estate: A massive complex of trade related buildings and the luxury villas of the Hastings family, overlooking the entrance to the Kora La Pass. Key Characters: His Lordship Willem Brallow Hastings, Marquess of Kora La Her Ladyship Robyn Vesten Hastings Lord Grayson Montre Hastings, Baron of Mustan Lord Jasper Everett Hastings Lady Elodie Elaine Hastings Lady Dahlia Amber Hastings [/hider] [hider=Custodian Guard] Character Name: Amaranthus Gallus Rank/Role: Ephoroi, Adeptus Custodes Appearance: Baroque golden armor of grandiose design, golden helmet with crimson plume, and lenses of the deepest red. Amaranthus has not been seen by those outside of his order unarmored since he was inducted into the Ten Thousand. Biography: Amaranthus Gallus Kaspian Venetiae Barkand Labellan Nilus Venetus Lutetia Taramanac Kiev Katabac Zarinam Sanctum Dicentis Xozer Somnium Selenum Aeternum’s story has just begun. [/hider] [hider=The XVII Legion Astartes] Legion Name: Frontrunners Associated Primarch: Nelchitl Cuamani Concept: The major emphasis of the Frontrunners is on maneuver warfare and combined arms. With nearly a third of the Legion made up of Devastator Squads, the Frontrunners prefer to lock an opponent in place at key locations in a battle with overwhelming fires from these squads before sending in Tactical and Assault Squads to maneuver on and destroy the pinned down force using a combination of Dreadnought and mechanized armored assault carriers vehicles to close the distance. [/hider] [hider=XVII Primarch] [color=00aeef]Name:[/color] Nelchitl Cuamani [color=00aeef]Legion:[/color] XVII Legion Astartes, [i]Frontrunners[/i] [color=00aeef]Homeworld:[/color] Ixhun, Segmentum Pacificus A dense jungle planet located in the Segmentum Pacificus. Originally colonized in the later stages of the Age of Technology, Ixhun was to be used as a major exporter of wood and exotic animals among other jungle related goods. As the planet received a handful of STCs and more colonists began to bolster its population in preparation for the exploitation of its resources, great warp storms cut the entire system from the rest of mankind even before news of the Men of Irons revolt was able to reach them. Ixhun, like many other planets, was plunged into a state of disarray. For millennia Ixhun remained cut off from the greater whole of mankind. The population of Ixhun finding itself split almost down the middle as the Warp Storms influence began to corrupt the jungle, animals, and even the populace themselves. At first the change was subtle on Ixhun, animals migrating enmasse for unexplained reasons, great blights upon the jungle, and eventually, the loss of contact with the city-states of the Eastern hemisphere. When the war began it was without warning. In the dead of night the combined forces of the now corrupted Eastern city-states had fell upon the pure states of the West. The fighting was brief, and several smaller cities fell to the sudden onslaught, but as quickly as the attacks had begun they had ended just before sunrise. This pattern continued as night after night the Eastern states attacked only to withdraw before dawn in the event of unsuccessful sieges. In desperate wars for survival, the loyalist city-states in the Western hemisphere of Ixhun warred with the savage and unrelenting corrupted city-states of the East. Over time the warring took its toll on what little infrastructure and industry existed on Ixhun, causing the planet to slowly revert back to a nearly feral state of technology and knowledge. Weapons slowly moved back to melee focuses as the STCs were one by one lost or simply unable to be maintained by the loyalists. As the wars raged, the loyalist city-states found themselves pushed ever further back by the (unbeknownst to them) corrupted city-states of the East. Falling back into great walled cities of stone the Western city-states would continue their nightly fight against the East from behind their walls for the next several centuries. This everlasting conflict saw the populace of the West recognizing the Easts apparent disdain of the sun, and in time the West built great flat topped pyramids to perform rituals closer to the Sun, adopted symbology and a mythos that revered the Sun as their ardent protector, a God that kept the night at bay. The fighting as well gave rise to a great warrior culture, placing emphasis on ones combat ability above most other forms of intellectual pursuits and seeing the ascendancy of great Priestly Warrior Kings within the city-states themselves. Seen as the chosen of the Sun and the protectors of its light, the Kings were worshiped on the level of a deity, and ritual sacrifices of captured enemies were offered to them just before nightfall in order ensure their protection from the encroaching dark lest they fail in their duty to their cities. [color=00aeef]Psyker Grade:[/color] Nelchitl's Assignment Grade is Kappa. She possesses no ability to actively harness and unleash her latent psychic ability, though it manifests regularly as miraculously lucky events. [color=00aeef]Skills/Abilities:[/color] [indent][color=00aeef][b]The Suns Fortune[/b][/Color] - At times it has appeared to those that lay witness to it as if Nelchitl possesses an uncanny amount of luck at times when even her fellow Astartes have pulled a bad lot in life. Though not documented, it is claimed among the Legion that Nelchitl has walked away from shot down Thunderhawks while her entire retinue has not, that she has emerged barely burnt after artillery barrages that leveled entire sections of Imperial Soldiers and Astartes alike. Though her Legion sees this as all the more reason to follow her, the Imperial Soldiers among them see it as though the game has been rigged against them from the moment she arrived.[/indent] [indent][color=00aeef][b]The Serpent's Tenacity[/b][/color] - What Nelchitl lacks in strategic vision or tactical genius when compared to her Brothers and Sisters, she makes up for tenfold in her tenacity. Possessing a determination that could be likened to the corrupted Eastern City-States of Ixhun, she doggedly pursues that which she desires until she has it in her grasp.[/indent] [color=00aeef]Appearance:[/color] Coming in at 9' 2", Nelchitl is the smallest in stature of her sibling Primarchs. With dark brown eyes known to deeply entrance or unsettle most mortals Nelchitl looks upon and black hair to match, she is a strikingly beautiful Primarch stirring great emotions in all mortals who gaze upon her. Though her beauty flickers and falters when compared to her sister Primarchs, her beauty is yet undeniable. Possessing a far more lithe figure than the majority of her brothers, Nelchitl is not lacking in strength despite this apparent size difference. When not in her power armor, Nelchitl opts to wear rather standard Astartes robes and a body glove beneath it. [hider=Image][img]https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/9f9e7b93-00c9-4875-83e5-53f7bf59b62c/danhru7-528aa358-5c71-42a6-8d8d-bea69b2efccb.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzlmOWU3YjkzLTAwYzktNDg3NS04M2U1LTUzZjdiZjU5YjYyY1wvZGFuaHJ1Ny01MjhhYTM1OC01YzcxLTQyYTYtOGQ4ZC1iZWE2OWIyZWZjY2IuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.4qickJT2WyN5IujKM-WTVdm8D0IUwLUC87rTL5eUg50[/img][/hider] [color=00aeef]Concept:[/color] While Nelchitl's brothers and sisters are patient strategists and calculating logisticians, naval geniuses and thousand year empire builders, Nelchitl is none of these things. The tedium of war councils do not suit her, the endless numbers and data sets of the logistics of war bore her, the complex navigational and firing data of naval engagements mean little to her mind, and the finesse of diplomacy required in empire building fails her. Impatient and ever wanting for the next burst of excitement in her life, Nelchitl is very much the antithesis of the vast majority of the children of the Emperor, a tool to be used for the most unceremonious of work. His will be done. Intended as the Emperor's Executioner, Nelchitl is practically peerless in close combat and possesses a lust for excitement and war beyond simply thrill seeking. Nelchitl often places herself at the forefront of battle where the action is thickest, chasing a worthy opponent and a fight worth remembering. With a tenacity practically unrivaled among her siblings, Nelchitl is relentless in her pursuit of that which she craves. Be it the next hill in thick combat, a planet teeming with xenos filth, or men and material to sate her unending thirst for action. She pushes forward by what means she has along the path most open to her victory until the victory is hers to relish in. Nelchitl is by no means a blind war crazed Primarch. She understands that not all battles can be won and is more than willing to withdraw a failed bid for the chance at victory another day. Though she possesses a mind more suited to battle than the planning surrounding every engagement, she is more than aware of that fact and leaves the majority of planning to her trusted war council. [/hider]