Inspirational Friday - 05/09/2014

[Tenebris]

Greetings denizens of the Eye of Terror, citizens of the Maelstrom and welcome back in this reiteration of a classic here on the Chaos forums. We are back, we are kicking things in motion and we ought to be the most awesome piece of hell and damnation here on B&C thus INSPIRATIONAL FRIDAY for everyone and you have to be inspired, on penalty of eternal damnation in the Basilica of Pain.

 

What is an "Inspirational Firday"? Well some veterans recall the awesome topics posted by Brother Nihm back in 2012. The goal is to inspire the Chaos community with some organized activity, from Friday to Friday. One week we paint miniatures, another we write snippets of fanmade fluff or we can do a whole lot of other things which all inevitably lead to the awesomeness of Chaos. 

 

 

In this first reiteration of Inspirational Friday the argument is...

 

 

Inspirational Friday - 05/09/2014  - CHAOS CULTS

 

We know them, we field them and we love them and mostly we all owe some cultists to hold an objective or die a pitiful death upon the blades of our adversaries. More often than not we do not give thought what brought those men in the service of Chaos, to which cult they belong and how they were reunited with their astartes or daemon overlords.

 

So for this Inspirational Friday write a little snippet of background about your cultists, describe their cult, their goals and what led them down on the path of corruption. You have time till the next Friday and we are all eager to read your contributions. 

 

Now get those keyboards running you scum / lashes with a barbed whip

 

We want to be inspired and entertained. 

 

Tenebris

[Forté]

Love it. Still not built my Cultists either so this'll get the creative juices flowing.

[Nehekhare]

"Processing Omega is people. IT IS PEOPLE!"

-Thoughts lost among the bombardment trajectory

[Balthamal]

Well now......perhaps my coven can be properly fleshed for this little snippet....

[Kierdale]

Here's mine then:

 

 

=][=

ORDO HERETICUS

INQUISITOR’S EYES ONLY

What follows is an account compiled by OH inquisitor Dunsany relating to the cancerous, base cult known - amongst myriad agnomen - as the Exalted Fecund.

 

While the Stygian Guard astartes chapter (prior to their being declared excommunicate traitoris. Later reports reveal they now go by the name `Psychopomps`) were an ascetic order, the populace of their homeworld of Fulcrum dedicated themselves to the arts in many forms, from athleticism to sculpture. The Cult of the Emperor was also close to the hearts of all Fulcrumese, with temples and shrines in even small villages, though different sects worshipped the Master of Mankind in different ways. Egisians, followers of The Emperor’s Egis, worshipped the Emperor as protector. The Imperator Afflatus sought his knowledge and divine inspiration, while those of the Exalted Fecund saw the production of offspring: the future of the human race, as the best way to glorify the Emperor.

Author’s note: even preliminary research indicates that similar sects are pervasive throughout the Imperium: on Cadia, Tallarn and countless other worlds. Whether or not these sects are pure or not must be investigated. The Ordo must be vigilant.

Indeed, reviews of Astra Militarum recruitment and tithes from before Fulcrum’s scouring attest to the productivity of the sect.

Author’s recommendation: Commissariat review of all Fulcrum-raised regiments and purging of sect members (extermination of regiments?).

Upon the chapter’s return from the Cyprius III incident (now believed to be the origin of the chapter’s fall, and the last resting place of our colleague OH inquisitor Tobias Fen) the Stygian Guard apparently began to patronize the arts and, both under the guise of replenishing their numbers and against the wishes of the planetary governor, raised the Exalted Fecund above the other sects of the Imperial Cult. The truth is ever illusive but it appears that the astartes began to corrupt the Exalted Fecund, possibly via tainted texts and artifacts gained during their own corruption.

From archaeological investigation it appears that there was a revolt upon Fulcrum at some point: those not of the Exalted Fecund opposing the sect’s swollen, debauched faith. Mass graves have been discovered, filled with the corpses of those who remained devout to the true Master of Mankind. Post mortems clearly identify injuries consistent with bolt rounds and the blunt force trauma associated with astartes assault, as well as injuries sustained by weapons wielded by baseline humans. A great deal of the corpses appear to have been violated in various ways before and after death.

When the chapter’s true nature was discovered and the wrath of the Emperor delivered to their homeworld by astartes of the [CLEARANCE REQUIRED] chapter, the Angels of Death were opposed not only by the Stygian Guard but also masses of Exalted Fecund cultists.

It is believed that a great number of cultist accompanied the Guard in their flight from Fulcrum and is postulated that, as a subsector trade hub, the sect may have spread to neighbouring worlds in the years prior to the ultimate unleashing of exterminatus.

Like the Psychopomp renegade astartes, the Exalted Fecund favours clothing and armour in shades of pale pink, blue and green. They often make use of a symbol which in its most basic form consists of an equilateral triangle (point down) with an oval shape vertically aligned within. This symbol is sometimes within a circle or is flanked by a pair of serpents.

UPDATE: houses of ill repute ran by the sect have been discovered on several planets within the subsector. Please refer to appendices B through F.

[Tenebris]

The Black Suns

 

http://shrani.si/f/1N/kL/BQTVxkl/3/1399420119921.jpg

 

Rokko Shyx of the Black Suns. Reaver, beater, cultist and champion on the "Blood Deck" of the Arrogance. His eye was gouged out since he dared to look a Black Legionary in the eyes. Notice the ritual scarification, it is a common practice in the ranks of the Ul'thoru skin gangs. 

 

 

The Black Suns are a cult or rather a movement of Chaos worshippers hailing from the wind wrecked hive world of Vainakh, a world plucked from the real space and delivered into the Eye by a furious warp storm. Vainakh was the site of one of the major battles between the Black Legion and the Word Bearers who both sought to take hold over the prize, a massive hive world with countless citizens and a developed infrastructure, a rarity in the Empire of the Eye.

 

For months the legions clashed all the while the planet defended itself from the attacking fleets, in the end the Black Legion prevailed and Vainakh was annexed to the fiefdoms of Abaddon the Despoiler. What followed was a ruthless occupation of this now daemonic world. The tall cathedrals of the imperial faith were cast down or reconsecrated to the Dark Gods, the manofactorums were expanded and countless slaves were employed to provide the Black Legion with an operational base. 

 

The domain over Vainakh fell to the Arrogant Sons, the Black Legion warband which bled in the battle for the world and fought the Word Bearers. As a right of conquest Vainakh became a powerful port for the Black Legion forces and its infrastructure expanded in the following millennia. 

 

The people of Vainakh were never strangers to violence and cruelty, the hive was ruled by vicious gangs in its days of yore and most affairs were settled by bloodshed and furious hab wars. Countless died every day to appease their gang leaders and this forged a culture based upon merit and skill at arms. The victors rule the manofactorums, the defeated are chained and put to work. The Black Legion never interceded in this violent gang conflicts as long as the quotas of ammunitions and war materiel were met and promising recruits taken from time to time.

 

Never a religious society, the people of Vainakh prised martial skill and personality above the empty words of the distant God Emperor, yet with their illumination to the truth of Chaos many sects, cults and rituals developed in their society. Tributes of blood are now the levies to the Blood God, vice dens are now the temples of the Dark Prince and so on. A myriad of cults are active on Vainakh and all praise with their deeds and words the Dark Gods. 

 

Being a world of teeming masses, survival is harsh thus when the Black Legion conscription groups come to enslave the folk into indentured service, gang chieftains and cult priests usually fight for the dubious honour of providing the slave stock to the Black Legion. In return sometimes the Arrogant Sons give breeding rights, weapon caches or elect a group as wardens of one of the legendary Black Towers. The competition is fierce and the dead usually number in the thousands, yet despite all service in the Legion is seen as the highest glory and all the folk fight harder for this privilege. 

 

The Arrogant Sons on the other hand care not how many die in the gang wars or how many are clubbed into submission, the Black Legion wages war unending, the demands of the fleet and the warband are always high but Vainakh is teeming with people and sometimes even other warbands recruit the "Black Suns" as part of the Black Legion tithe in slavefolk.

 

In combat the "Black Suns" are all vicious fighters, often endured by years of gang warfare and the cruel practices of their sects and all are capable warriors. Though they usually fight in the support of the Legion they have proved time and again to be adept raiders and reavers and many a warband felt the icy touch of their "guenr'akh" or ritual blades. Usually formed in "Jackal squads" this underhanded men and women of Vainakh are just one of the many horrors that the Black Legion can unleash on its foes and even if they die to a man, there is always more form where they came. 

 

As a curiosity, the "Black Suns" name is a tribute to the two black circular marks with which the Black Legion brands its slavefolk in an excruciatingly painful mass ritual. This brand is usually inflicted upon the buttocks of the cultists and one black circle depicts the icon of the warband, the Arrogant Sons, while the other is the proud effigy of the Warmaster, the Eye. 

 

http://shrani.si/f/1v/OS/1wdnQYrM/jr022p.jpg

 

The "Black Sun" brand. An ancient symbol denoting one of the legions of the Angels of Death. A distant echo of the Thousand Sons, clad in the black of the colours of shame, with a piercing dark orb in the centre which signifies the tribute to the Cyclops and his Sons. 

[Prot]

Sargoss the Aspirant and the Trials of the Helcult of the Red Hand:

Sargoss was always ambitious even when told by the Imperial Guard that he'd never amount to anything more than a Basilisk Ammo Loader. The source of that advice, a cantankerous old tank commander, would be found dead, with his hands severed off at the wrists, unable to load... anything. Although nothing could be proven, Sargoss was dishonorably discharged.

Seven years later, a much more mature, and capable Sargoss would find himself in command of an elite Blood Pact murder squad, specializing in covert wetwork which would later be known as the Red Hand acting on the indirect commands of The One Who's Voice Drowns Out All Others.

After reaching notoriety, not only within the Blood Pact but on the other side of the battlefield, Sargoss became bored with the slow wars that could take decades in some systems. But word was getting out of a particularly viscous heretic chapter that seemed to welcome the blood shed, and thrive on swift battles that could turn the tide of a war. They were called the Crimson Slaughter.

It took months, and no small feat of gathering resources, while trying to unite 88 like minded warriors of Sargoss' liking, but eventually the full recruitment of the Red Hand set a course to rendezvous with the Crimson Slaughter.

Sargoss managed to personally meet Lord Kranon during an attack on an imperial outpost. Immediately Sargoss impressed Kranon with their first actions aboard the outpost. It became apparent that Sargoss had an agenda; to become more than a cultist to the Crimson Slaughter, but instead a full fledged marine.

This was quite possible, since the fruitful meetings with Fabius Bile had taken place, and the geneseed raids had become more successful the Crimson Slaughter were very capable of raising their own marines. While Lord Kranon did reap the benefits of Sargoss' famed Red Hand, there would be trials. Sargoss would become the commander of the Vintozz Helcult; a brood of cultists taking direction from a fallen marine now encased in Helbrute armour.

Currently Lord Kranon keeps close tabs on the successes of the Vintozz Helcult, and Sargoss also enjoys the approval of the ever watchful Draznicht of the Ravagers. Sargoss is now one of 3 cultists being considered to ascend to the true ranks of Crimson Slaughter; however, Draznicht has prepared the final trials which will only see one of the three aspirants rise to claim the role of a Crimson Slaughter Space Marine.

Sargoss and the Red Hand at the mercy and guidance of Vintozz the Helbrute.

[Tenebris]

Great entries folk, keep the good work. It is exactly topic like this that pump me full of ideas for my army. It puts things in perspective and I know that a unit with a background is even more fun to paint and play. 

[Prot]

Yup you're absolutely right. Would I have thought of branding the rumps of my Cultists? Nope, not until today! lol

[Tenebris]

Branding is the least of their pains. Some are chained with hooks trough their flesh to the guns of my ship, some are used as suicidal drones after my Warpsmiths had their fun, some are forced to toil endlessly in the facilities of my warband and so on. Actually the lucky ones are simply sent to fight against the enemies of the Black Legion. All inevitably end as nutrient paste for my servitors and useful kill drones. Their worst fate is indeed when my Sorcerer has the need for some "offerings" to the Dark Gods. Ironically they see all this as the height of glory and are usually content with some food rations, strange beverages and the classic looting, beating, pillaging... as long as they pay "tribute" to the warband or they risk to get left behind on a hostile world, dimension, asteroid... 

 

You know, "this happens to the other guy" mentality. 

[Emperors Immortals]

Some great and gross stories so far!

 

Im going to work on a piece for this, *chains thralls to dataslates*

 

"Record well the deeds of the Golden Dawn, they may happen to you*

[Tenebris]

I think how a warband manages its cultists speaks volumes of its personality. Usually the humble cultist ranks lower than say a kill servitor which indeed costs a warband quite some resources. Word Bearers see them as faithful sheep eligible for slaughter, Night Lords use them as personal playthings, EC abuse them... in the end a pragmatic warband simply sees its cultists as another resource. Second rank fighters, guerilla units, distraction... and more often than not a slave caste to use for common toil. I think even with all the abuse heaped upon them, the cultists are still much more free than in their previous lives as imperial subjects and at least they have some sort of protection from the big guys in power armour. Even if countless die, food rations, pillaging and other "courtesies" of war actually allow them a "proper" life if their warband is active. 

[Forté]

Hmm...let me flay a few slaves first so I have my preferred parchment. On second thought...I'll flay it after. The screams will be more inspirational.

[Loesh]

The Lash of Loesh has a cult unit that maintains their ships and structures, a result of Sigvalds fascination with being a preacher he firmly believes that all of the Imperium should feel the 'freedom' that Slaanesh offers. Perhaps with a small amount of delusion, he values honor and loyalty in his subjects and seeks to give them the same in return. Seeing the success of the Red Cosairs and their near legion strength due to Hurons leadership style he reasons that the main reason groups like the Emperors Children haven't been able to return to their former glory is their near chronic backstabbing disorders rather then the Horus Heresy simply being so bad they couldn't recover.

 

At least with the humans this has somewhat worked, he's gained a reputation as a Chaos Lord who won't execute cultists for having a bad day or because they happened to deliver news that irritated him. Unlike many other cults he actually goes out of his way to train his troops as well, seeing cultists as valuable infiltrators, though that's not to say he doesn't recognize their use as massed infantry. By and large he tries to equip them with at least Imperial Guard grade weapons, if not higher...not that it's saying much. As of late he's realized that Autoguns while, with normal ammunition, are about as good as a lasgun they have the advantage of having interchangeable ammo and explosive rounds can in essence turn them into mini-bolters that can chew through flak armor.

 

As per anything Slaaneshi he see's war as an art form, and as such he's also bought armor piercing, chemical, fragmentation, and other more exotic ammo types for his cult troops. However since Sigvald often has limited access to forgeworlds he finds that he often has to simply do as much as he can with what he has at hand, he hopes that plundering Arkhona will give him the resources to stock his ammo supply for centuries to come, and perhaps to also approve other aspects of his cults wargear.

[disease]

Transcript of Inquisitor Davian Morgustus at the hearing of Tophet.

 

"My Lords, I do not claim to know all the Disciples' recruitment procedures, I am merely expressing my findings in this sub-sector. On Phace, we found 52 'dens' - mainly abandoned factories but also some administratum buildings. The largest, a former shipyard at Dog Point, contained nearly eight thousand cultists all doped with a potent cocktail of drugs and stimulants, some of xenos origin including 'throb'. We believe the cultists were mid ritual, that the stimulants were to ensure the cultists could keep dancing without rest for days on end, weeks, months even.The compound was administered via the fire sprinkler system as a liquid the cultists would drink as it fell to quench their insatiable thirst brought on by the 'fidget' present in the mix.

 

-PAUSES-

 

The forced mind interrogation of the 'enforcer' known as Surtur revealed that Dog Point had been in operation for five Phace years, and that the liquid medium was in fact the ground remains of previous cultists-  My Lords, Dog Point was akin to a giant grape press for wine. As the cultists danced constantly to the pounding beat, they wore out their own feet. When they collapsed, they were trampled by newer members into a pulp which was then used to hydrate and nourish, and ultimately keep the drug mix strong. We do not know if these cultists were aware of their actions. We also do not know if they were prisoners...or volunteers"

[Goreshed]

The Cult of Seige

 

During the years of the Great Crusade it was not uncommon for the Iron Warriors to be tasked with leaving garissons of troops behind to fortify the supply lines in an effort to ensure that the great idea of the Emperor never wavered. The Imperium would learn the pain of pulling thorns from it's side for many years after Horus fell to the Emperor. The Iron Warriors of the 9th Grand Company had not been idle while the Great Crusade had worn on. On the worlds that the 9th had been tasked to defend, not only was the planet a model of logistics and defense but the local fighting forces had been organized and put to use. While the tithe demanded by the Emperor was steep and in most cases a planet was barely able to provide that, there were cases where there was an abundance. Mostly this took the forms of over populated worlds that had reached the breaking point. In most cases these were highly industrialized and played into the Iron Warriors strengths. As the Great Crusade reached onwards these units were obsorbed into the 9th's fighting force while those units raised from Olympia itself were usually sent to the frontal fighting units of other Great Companies. As time progressed this led to many different fighting forces from a number of worlds being melded together in one unit as the 9th moved onwards.

 

When the Horus Heresy broke out the men of the 9th did as they always did. They secured the lines of supply. This time however it was for the Warmaster and not the Emperor. While some worlds were lost to the Imperials many more thrived under the rule of the Iron Warriors and by extension the Warmaster. As the Traitors to the Throne moved closer to their prize the issues of supplying the Warmaster's armies stayed the same and the 9th found that their job didn't change much from the rule of the Emperor, however with the fires of Olympia still burning in their eyes they were blinded to this. After the defeat of Horus though everything changed, specially for the 9th. Where they were once forced to foritfy the supply lines they now found themselves fighting a rearguard action even after the mauling they had taken at the Imperial Palace. Increasingly they were forced to use smaller units of Iron Warriors, more and more were being used to establish a beachhead inside of the Eye. Thus the bulk of the fighting was placed upon the mortals. In the end some units were wiped out, their very existance striken from records. Others however were brought into the Eye with the 9th to continue the fight having proven themselves at least in some small part to their Iron Warrior overlords.

 

Whatever unit designations that had been used before have since morphed into one umbrella unit, calling itself the Cult of Siege. While they pay respect to the Gods of the Warp like their overlords there is not one god in acendance over the other. At times some companies sucumb to one god or another but these usually last only for a campaign or until the mission is complete. By the time that is done the unit is usually destroyed to begin with such is the life of a mortal who walks in the warp. The Cult of Siege mirrors itself upon the Great Company it was created from and thus has nine 'companies' of its own which range from various abilities and specializations. Some companies focus on the logistics of keeping everything moving while still others focus on reaving and bringing flesh blood to the units. Still others are no better then for fodder in front of the Iron Warriors and those companies generally have the highest concentration of thsoe devoted solely to one god over another. Over half of the men and women who fight within the Cult of Siege are professional fighters in some regards, some calling from military backgrounds while others have been trianed by the Cult itself. Still, with as much turn over as some companies have the attrition rate of those less trained is higher then average in most cases. Still they have their uses and the Iron Warriors of the 9th use them to what ends will benefit the Grand Company the most.

 

Inisde of the foretress keep of the 9th on the tainted soil of Medrengrad the Cult of Siege trains its units in the various forms of warfare that they are most likely to deal with. The rudimentary basics of siege warfare and what it entails are drilled into them as thier immortal overlords look on. To survive the training fields is no easy feat and many die in the training but those that survive are hardened and ready for the front lines. A steady stream of recruits and material are always moving in and out of the fortress to keep the great factories of war moving and the Cult of Siege is just one aspect of that.