Gervhart Fluff - Post-Demotion

[Dark Armada]

This fluff is basically the background of my Crusade, the Bίοn Crusade. I play against Necrons quite reguarly and so I tried to create some background following Gervhart.

The story of Gervhart (Sorry If that's spelt wrong, no Codex to hand) really gripped me; he seemed like a somewhat quick witted, almost light hearted High Marshal but with a heart and soul of a true Black Templar, he epitomises fire and rage yet only shows it where needed. So what went on after his Brethren took the choice to demote him to Marshal? I thought I'd show you the first bit to a short story I'm currently writing about an Imperial Guard Private's insight into Gervhart's Keep on a world under the onslaught of the Necrontyr. Read on, I call it...

 

 

Affliction

 

 

One

The walls of the hallway were adorned with bas-relief images of intricate detail, and at every pause in the column of Guardsmen Private Shaw studied them. They depicted battles of old in which the Black Templars fought their foe head on in bloody but righteous melee, and the foe never seemed to fare too well. The entire keep shook with every explosion that hit the thick outer walls, Guardsmen everywhere quivered and stared vacantly around the dimly lit subterranean corridors until a large man, some seven-foot tall, turned the corner bearing a lit brazier.

“This way.” He said in a calmed tone, as he turned his heavy armour echoed it’s footsteps throughout the halls.

“Right Men”, said the Commissar, “Form the line, that’s it now.” A swift brandishing of his bolt pistol ensured a snappy response.

Shaw was stood near the back of the column, the entire platoon was taking refuge within the Black Templar’s Keep on this planet, the entirety of the men and their command of this platoon; all 12 of them. Losses had been heavy and the fighting was fierce yet their foe was barely seen; as the enemy fought in the shadow of night to hide their numbers.

“And you might be?” questioned the Commissar to the Space Marine.

“Chief Apothecary Idillius, Commissar, and may I return the question?” he replied, his torch sending flickers of light dancing over his bone-white power armour; the bright red symbol of the Apothecarion proudly born on his right shoulder pad.

“My name, Brother-Apothercary, is of no importance to you.” The Commissar replied abruptly.

The Commissars brief rantings were interrupted by Idillius’ intercom;

“Brother Idillius, have you met with the good Commissar?”

“Unfortunately so, Brother Marshal,” he replied, placing his hand near the microphone as to keep the conversation to a degree of privacy, “The good Commissar has his men here. The Necrontyr should not be able to penetrate this keep, should they?”

“No, Brother, the Hypherios turrets on the exterior are damaged beyond repair but the gates and walls are holding up, thank the Emperor.”

“Then I shall bring the Commissar to you?”

“See that it is done, Gervhart over and out.”

Turning to the Commissar, Idillius raised his torch above his head and observed the column of guardsmen.

“I was going to ask who required medical assistance, but-”

“We left them” The Commissar barked, “Now let us not delay, the Emperor wants this world in his name and by my own sword he’ll get it!”

“And by my sword you’ll get yours...” Idillius jested, turning and heading toward a large metal gate, adorned with the symbols of the Black Templars. With one push he opened the gate to a well lit chamber; three long obsidian tables stretched the length of the room, with one shorter one running perpendicular to them at the far end. A huge and detailed stained-glass window watched over the area, the artificial light behind it made up for the lack of natural light that the keep offered.

“Commissar, this is Marshal Gervhart, and these are Kotos and Mephos, two of his most trusted Sword Brethren from the Household.” Idillius said as he crossed his arm over his chest, casting a nervous glance towards the Commissar, who indeed failed to copy the gesture. A long pause gripped the chamber before Gervhart chuckled and spoke;

“Ah Commissars, they never were ones for pleasantries, were they?” even beneath their helmets, it was painfully obvious that Kotos and Mephos were both entertained by their Marshal’s joke.

“I would have thought that, of all the Space Marines I have come across, you would not be the one to irritate me before I have even spoken. Your kind is not required in this universe, Marshal, the Imperial Guard are more than capable of defending the Imperium, and may I remind you that we are only here because your traitorous brethren have previously-”

“Hold your tongue! Lest I cut if from your skull myself!” boomed Gervhart, squaring up to the Commissar. Gervhart was almost a full two foot taller than the Commissar and easily outmatched him in strength. All along the column of guardsmen, men were stepping out of line to observe the situation.

“Guardsmen” Gervhart announced, turning to the weary men, “You have fought well this day, and the Emperor has seen it!” the low hum of relief raised above the silence, showing some sign of comfort in the troops, “If you would like to follow my Brethren, they will accompany you to your quarters where you may rest ‘till tomorrow.”

“No! Stand to attention, men of Cadia!” bellowed the Commissar as he turned to face the column and, once again, the room fell silent, “You shall get cleaned up ASAP and return here where we march on the enemy once more!”

“Commissar I must urge-”

“Quiet, Marine.” Said the Commissar, cutting off the Marshal.

“Commissar?” He beckoned in reply.

“Wha-” a bolt round through the skull ended his sentence prematurely, Gervhart stood holding the smoking gun, still aimed at where the Commissar was stood moment before. Upon swiftly holstering the pistol, Gervhart addressed the men once more,

“Men, I relieve you of his command. Follow Brother Idillius here and report and injuries or wounds you have accumulated before going to your quarters.”

“The wounded were left for dead...” Idillius whispered to Gervhart, who merely answered with a sigh of disdain.

Idillius began rounding up the Guardsmen as Ketos and Mephos took the body of the Commissar to the morgue and Marshal Gervhart walked back towards his chambers,

“Left for dead...? How could a man of the Emperor leave his brothers for dead?” he chuntered, “Such a waste of honourable life...”

 

 

Two

Shaw...

Shaw...!

Private Shaw of the Cadian 105th, hear my voice.

Shaw raised his head from the mattress, looking around the quarters. His immediate thought was the safety of his comrades, but he was somewhat comforted by the fact that his whole platoon, now numbering 11, was still safe.

Awaken, Private Shaw! The disembodied sound rang once again in Shaw’s head.

Looking around it was clear that nobody else could hear the noise, but after a good ten minutes of the same eerie voice repeating orders the sound diminished and Private Shaw was able to relax once again. But as he put his head down to rest, two shining yellow eyes caught his attention and he leapt to his feet and yelped; luckily enough nobody head his squeals for aid as the Black Templar removed his helmet, thus eradicating the presence of the yellow eyepieces.

“I saw you looking troubled, is anything the matter?” The Initiate questioned, lowering his bolter.

“No... No thanks. Thank you, Sir.” He muttered in reply, half asleep and half forcing some sort of gratitude towards the Space Marine, who in turn nodded, replaced his helmet and returned to his post.

 

The next morning, if you could call it such a term in a place of no natural light, the platoon woke in almost perfect unison. The training of the Imperial Guard was not as rigorous as the program the Space Marines were put through, but amongst the drills and target practise back at camp, Shaw and his platoon had been strict in their regime in war at dawn.

"Who is to command us?" a whining voice crept above the silence.

"We have no leader!" another squealed.

"Those bloody Space Marines have screwed over our whole operation!" came a final comment, Shaw had never seen the men in such a state, they seemed bitter towards their saviours.

"Men! Lets face the facts here! These Space Marines saved us, we shouldn't-" Shaw stopped in anguish as the light from the open doorway was blocked out. A huge silhouette cast it's menacing shadow about the room, this one was big, even for a Space Marine.

"Men of the Imperial Guard, I am Brother Kobald, the Forgemaster of Gervhart's Crusade on this planet." The two lights on the side of his helmet cast an inquisitive beam of light throughout the room, whipping around the faces of the stunned guardsmen, Kobald paused as he pondered over his charges.

"Come with me. Rank and file!" he boomed and, without hesitation or question, the guardsmen followed the Space Marine out of the room, systematically squinting as the well-lit corridors came into view and their eyes adjusted to the new source of light. Once the men could see again, they began to observe the new Black Templar, and question his armour. All along the column whispers were formed that puzzled why he wore such unique armour, many of these guardsmen had never come across a Techmarine of the Adeptus Astartes, let alone a Master of the Forge. A pair of servo-skulls soon met up with Kobald, who responded with a slight nod before they departed. Wires about his feet seemed to spark with life, and many seemed to be inspecting the men that followed with eager red lenses; ducking and weaving around to get a better angle of sight down the column of men before, just as the servo-skulls, they appeared to relay this information directly to Kobald's face who, once again, dismissed them with a nod of agreement.

After five minutes of walking through twisting corridors, Kobald stopped and turned, gears in his bulky red armour chruned to keep the weight of his servo-arms in order. Marshal Gervhart was clearly visible a few meters behind Kobald, stood with his back to them; inspecting the huge gate before them.

"Can you hear that?" he questioned, raising his voice so the guardsmen and Kobald could make out what was being said, "Nothing".

A peculiar silence blanketed the room.

"There's nothing. This is the outer gate of the Keep, and nothing. No flashes of green gauss, no explosions created by their Monoliths, no new reports of damage," he turned to address the astounded men, "so what shall we do about this?"

"We're going to be bait, aren't we??" One of the guardsmen shouted. Gervhart turned his helmeted head to the source of the voice, several long seconds passed before Gervhart continued.

"No. I need you to support an attack at dawn tomorrow. Emperor only knows what the Necrons are doing, and my scouts should report back anytime soon. You all know how to operate Autocannons, correct?" The platoon mumbled and nodded in reply, "Then that is what you can do. You shall be given the armour of our scouts, otherwise you're as good to us as the charred skeletons you would have been if you'd worn your carapace armour. Gauss weaponry is relatively potent, and I would like at least one of you to survive if at all possible. If we're lucky." Once again an aura of silence gripped the room as Gervhart dismissed Kobald and the guardsmen.

[Marshal Argos]

So I actually liked the story so far, looking forward to reading the rest. One comment though, from what I remember Gervhart wasn't reduced from High Marshal to Marshal, as he never was High Marshal. If I remember correctly he was removed from being Marshal of a crusade, so maybe he's a Castellan now.

[Dark Armada]

Ah ok, I'll check the fluff from WDs etc again, thanks for pointing that out :)

Meanwhile, hopefully people like how I've depicted our somewhat eccentric Marshal (Or Castellan lol).

[DasPanzerIstUber]

I was under the impression that he was elected to be the High Marshal but then the decision was overturned (the only time this had happened) based on his actions on some crusade.

[Von Richthofen]

I think that the fluff blurb stated that he was elected to Marshal by his fellow Sword Brethren, but the High Marshal overruled the decision.

[jubei124]

The blurb in our codex about him is on page 13.

[Vash113]

I think that the fluff blurb stated that he was elected to Marshal by his fellow Sword Brethren, but the High Marshal overruled the decision.

 

That's correct, the infamous "Gervhart Repeal" or some such. The only time in the history of the Black Templars where a High Marshal overruled the appointment of a Marshal and something about the ill-fated Geron Crusade but there's not a lot of information to work from.

[Knights Templar]

i liked it ^^ is there going to be any more?

[DasPanzerIstUber]

But wasn't he in charge of the "Purging of Lastrati" thus already being a Marshal? So he let a couple of people live, no reason to un-Marshal him. :huh:

 

Anyway yeah the story was alright but I thought the Space Marines sounded too casual.

[Dark Armada]

The Space Marine? There are currently 5 ;) I believe Brother Idillius has a pretty much box-standard SM "attitude", the unamed Initiate was on guard duty, so not much to say, as for Marshal (Or Castellan) Gervhart, I had tried to get across quite a gritty yet sarcastic Space Marine. As for Kotos and Mephos, they haven't really done much, but I've tried to portray that they share some of their Marshal's characteristics- but we haven't seen much of them, so I might make them more stubborn in attitude as the story progresses :) Thanks for the comment.

 

As for everyone who's helped with the Marshal/Castellan thank you very much :) I think I remember something being in a WD back when C:BT was released, I'll have to check that again but as said the Codex doesn't give much support to his background :( Is he even still alive? Thank you again to everyone who's commented :) and yes, more will come!

 

EDIT; Added more to Chapter Two.

[jubei124]

There is also a very short article about him on the lexicanum and on the warhammer 40k wiki. If I remember right it has says what WD the article came from.

[Marshal Argos]

As for everyone who's helped with the Marshal/Castellan thank you very much :whistling: I think I remember something being in a WD back when C:BT was released, I'll have to check that again but as said the Codex doesn't give much support to his background :( Is he even still alive? Thank you again to everyone who's commented :) and yes, more will come!

 

I think the WD your referring to is WD 311 (US) not sure about the UK numbers. On page 69 it says that "A century later, Gervharts actions were deemed to lack the determination and ruthlessness required of a High Marshal, and the warriors of the Sword Brethren repealed his appointment to the Position of Marshal". So taking that in I would assume that the position of High Marshal was open, and while reviewing the Marshals to see who would be next they not only find Gervhart not the right material but they also remove him from the position of Marshal.

[Dark Armada]

Ouch. Poor Gervhart, maybe I should rename the topic "PRE-demotion"...

Ah, Sword Brethren can be so cruel....

[theredcorsair]

you should repost this in the librarium :woot:

[Dark Armada]

Reposted there also :D

I found out that Gervhart was a Marshal at the time of the Lastrati incident, as we know, but and his fellow Sword Brethren also seemed to have repealed his proposal for promotion to High Marshal after the death of the predecessor. Although his proposal was repealed, Gervhart stayed on as a regular Crusade-leading Marshal and also appears to be alive even to this date (Fluff-wise). Is that looking right to everyone?

[SpudWhitman]

I haven't checked all my White Dwarf issues, so I can't definitively say other than it's looking really good so far. However, in our Codex at least, he's listed as Gervahrt. Trivial detail, really.

 

I enjoy the amount of atmosphere you're able to convey in the story. Great stuff. Also, the yellow eye lenses, is that how you paint your Crusade? Sort of unorthodox but that's what really interests me about it.

[Dark Armada]

Yeah, I guess the 'traditional' eye-piece colour is Red, but I paint my new crusade (My other one has red) as yellow eye-pieces, as you said it's very unorthodox but it looks pretty damn good ;) When I get my camera working I'll post a pic of my painted Marshal as an example ^_^

Thanks for the comments :)