Liber Challenge VI - The Disciples of the Covetous Serpent

[Scourged]

The Disciples of the Covetous Serpent

 

http://i.imgur.com/o76JRNU.jpg

Rendering of a typical Disciple in full armour with warband icon.

The Disciples of the Covetous Serpent is a warband of Chaos Space marines. They are a successor of the Alpha Legion who sought to capitalize the chaotic aid of a daemon and now act as reluctant agents of its circuitous schemes. The Disciples of the Covetous Serpent are now independent of all ties of allegiance, Chaotic or Imperial, and serve only their own ambition under the patronage of a greater daemon. As a result, they are begrudging servants of Tzeentch.

 

Warband History

 

Disruption of Santioch

By the end of M31, the Traitor Legions had been routed away from Holy Terra, pursued and banished to the Eye of Terror. Not all traitors sought refuge in the Warp, however. The Alpha Legion - rather than flee into the Immaterium -  splintered into innumerable factions and warbands, spreading throughout the galactic east and beyond. Gone was the central hierarchy of the Legion. Each group of warriors and operatives was now an autonomous unit. Often these groups would coordinate their efforts in joint operations to further unknown goals and objectives. Of particular note to this entry is the particular operational cell known only as Gamma/Rho-17.

 

No confirmed interactions with Gamma/Rho-17 in Imperial space can be confirmed until 073.M33. It was in this year that the warband was apparently tasked with the cultural and political disruption of the Imperial world of Santioch. The disruption of this world would create a chain of events and sector instability that would ultimately see the Bybolos 29th Regiment temporarily withdraw from the adjacent subsector to address the problems. The absence of the 29th would leave a pivotal forgeworld with minimal defenses, and thus render it vulnerable to a raid from an allied contingent of the 54th Grand Battalion of Iron Warriors.

 

Only a small window of time was available to disrupt Santioch and cause the events necessary for the arrival of the 54th Grand Battalion. To those trained in the arts of the Hydra, though, this operation would prove simple. The ten squad leaders of Gamma/Rho-17 convened as a council and deliberated on various courses of action. As they had with all past operations, every idea generated by a council member was presented, evaluated, and ranked by perceived effectiveness. Only unanimous agreement on tactics allowed action. In keeping with the squad’s traditions a primary, secondary, and tertiary plan were thus established and enacted immediately.

 

Yet as the deadline of subsequent phases approached, all efforts of Gamma/Rho-17 had met with failure, or were proceeding too slowly to have any effect. The primary, secondary, and tertiary plans were all failures by Legion standards. Any attempt at nurturing the development of Chaos cults in the rural areas of Santioch met resistance. The few successful attempts saw the cultists quickly degraded by rampant mutations. Sabotage efforts in larger  metropolitan areas were plagued with last-minuted failures of technology or the intervention of local authorities. Even the installation of the Legion’s human operatives throughout all elements of government and bureaucracy produced no results. Each political scheme seemed to be anticipated by the local politicians, and every deception begun was unraveled in days, even hours. The entire planets appeared to be actively scheming to thwart all of Gamma/Rho-17’s machinations.

 

Exceedingly frustrated, the council of squad leaders repeatedly met to craft newer and more novel approaches to upheaving the planet, gradually employing more frequent use of unorthodox tactics. These, too, were failures. Sabotage from within the warband was feared, but all investigations found zero evidence to support these fears. Interference from a third party returned even less evidence. By all accounts Gamma/Rho-17 seemed to be plagued with endless back luck. Time was running out, and every member of the warband was growing desperate. Desperate, the squad leaders quickly accepted when asked to entertain the audience of an operative from Santioch’s native population. She called herself Quetz’l Kulk’n, and she was the de facto leader of the only successful Chaos cult instigated on the planet: The Order of the Covetous Serpent.

 

An Audience with Quetz’l Kulk’n

 

The ten Astartes sat in silence as Quetz’l spoke quietly. In her tenure as the leader of her Order, she had come to learn that a much stronger entity had plans for Santioch. Through her commune with the Warp this entity had spoken to her mind and amusingly noted the warband’s efforts to manipulate the planet. The entity had grown fond of the Legion’s attempts but was finding greater amusement in disrupting every action they took, and would not cease. Quetz’l continued to speak, presenting to the squad leaders the daemon’s ultimatum: it would continue to ruin every plan they could conceive, and would follow them as a shadow to hinder their every effort permanently… unless they all swore fealty to the daemon.

 

None of the ten Legionnaires spoke for quite some time, and Quetz’l waited patiently until Argas Piln, leader of Squad Enea, broke the silence. Though rightfully untrusting of the cultist and her proxied ultimatum, Argas was still curious. He wanted to know what benefits would await them all if they forswore their Primarch and kneeled before the daemon’s will. Naturally his brothers quickly spoke up in protest, but they were soon calmed. Argas made it very clear he had no intention of serving a daemon; he only wished to have all of the information. It is only when all information is revealed and accounted for that a rational decision can be made, he noted.

 

Conceding to his logic, the council agreed but concluded the entirety of Gamma/Rho-17 should be present to hear the daemon’s offer and make a decision. With every power armoured warrior gathered together aboard the great hall of the battle barge Plutus, Quetz’l Kulk’n addressed the entire warband. She reiterated that refusing the offer of her patron would see the warband effectively destroyed, as not one of their members would ever see even the simplest of plans meet with success. Acceptance, however, would bring reward. Quetz’l’s patron had watched the Alpha Legion - and Gamma/Rho-17 - specifically due to their penchant for unorthodox planning and strategy. Nothing pleased it more than to see and elaborate scheme unfold, and no agents of humanity could craft and execute an operation as flawless and convoluted as the Alpha Legion.The daemon, she explained, wanted agents of its will in the Materium and had been observing Gamma/Rho-17 since their inception. It had picked them above all others.

 

As servants of the Covetous Serpent, success would rain upon the warband. Rather than its curse, the faction would instead gain its blessing. Through Quetz’l, the daemon promised interference would be limited - the daemon would mainly observe the actions of his servants, only intervening when to amuse itself. But these interactions would never be a hindrance again. Rewards and gifts awaited the individuals with the minds to craft plans overflowing with creativity, ingenuity, and complexity. The greater the mind and plan, the greater the gifts.

 

Murmurs within the crowd rose, but their content of discussion was mixed. Yes, many scorned the idea of swearing themselves to a daemon. To barter and make deals with creatures of the Warp was both foolish and beneath them - leave that to the zealots of Lorgar’s brood. No good could come of it. But for every Legionnaire that rebuked the offer, another one considered the proposal objectively, analyzing it with a longer view. Argas Piln was the loudest amongst this crowd. He agreed, yes, that daemonic forces could never be trusted, but illustrated that refuting this entity would see them in ruin, as abject failures to their Legion. And though slavery held a bitter taste in their mouths, failure was far worse.

 

Time had run out on both the offer and the campaign on Santioch. A discussion began, and then a debate, with more and more individuals joining the ranks of Argas Piln and those who would swear themselves to the Covetous Serpent. Quetz’l demanded the response of Gamma/Rho-17 on behalf of her patron, and they agreed to the terms. Slowly the warriors in cerulean armour began to kneel, one by one, until every last man bowed his head in submission before the frail woman in tattered green robes. The choice was made. Quetz’l’s body was suddenly wracked with seizure as a brilliant aura of blue light overtook her body. Tendrils of that light serpentined out in every direction, striking the Legionnaires and binding them all to the Covetous Serpent.

 

Two days later, the world of Santioch was consumed in civil war, rebellion, anarchy, and chaos. All new estimates placed the arrival of the Bybolos 29th Regiment two weeks ahead of initial timetables. Satisfied, the Disciples of the Covetous Serpent finished preparations and slipped into the Immaterium.

 

Betrayal at Targidae

 

The modest fleet of the Disciples translated out of the Warp three days before the Iron Warriors 54th Grand Battalion had promised to arrive. The disruption of Santioch saw this area of the subsector nearly devoid of any Astra Militarum presence. The forgeworld of Targidae had only its own planetary defenses and a contingent of Skitarii forces to protect it. All initial reconnaissance determined that the planet produced no materials of particular interest and was little more than a resupply station for the subsector. Why the Iron Warriors were adamant about raiding this world was unknown to the Disciples, but it mattered not.

 

Hidden in the gravitational shadow of Targidae’s ninth moon and remaining well out of range of detection, the warband’s fleet held motionless while the warriors developed their strategies for invasion. As this was an operation of the Iron Warriors the plans were very simple and brutish, if effective: lay siege to all defenses, claim territory, and strip the planet of all resources before withdrawing. It was not elegant, but it would get the job done. The 54th Grand Battalion had made it very clear and explicit in their initial agreement with the Alpha Legion that no further complications or aggrandizement were necessary.

 

Quetz’l Kulk’n had approached the Astartes on behalf of her master once again. Not at all surprising for a being that exists beyond and outside the scope of time, the daemon knew of the plans laid out by the Traitor Marines. And the daemon, like its new disciples, was bored with the simplicity the Iron Warriors demanded. In the eyes of the Serpent, this campaign would serve as a proper first trial to all the individuals who now served its ways. Targidae would be the first of many contests to come.

 

The female prophet of the daemon outlined its wishes to the again-assembled marines: the alliance must be broken in secrecy and the Iron Warriors must not be allowed to succeed. They are allowed to make no successful gains on territory nor leave with any resources. The fate of the planet was inconsequential - Targidae can remain in the hands of the Imperium or be reduced to a lifeless rock of rad-wastes. As an additional incentive to inspire creativity, every single operative in the Serpent’s Order will be in competition with the rest. The lone member who’s strategy involves the greatest level of depth, complication, irregularities, deception, and Iron Warrior casualties will be rewarded by the daemon.

 

This development did not sit well with the former Legionnaires. Not initially, at least. Those who were first hesitant to join the daemon were the ones with the strongest reservations. Betray their own allies, all in the name of this game? Could the spoils truly be worth it? In the eyes of the more ambitious Disciples, betrayal was well worth the opportunity. Even when serving the Primarch, the only true loyalty a Legionnaire had was to the Hydra and nothing more. With even that loyalty now shed, betraying a band of Iron Warriors held no meaning. Leaving the antechamber sporadically, every one of the collected operatives withdrew to private quarters to begin their personal preparation.

 

When three days had passed, every Astartes aboard the fleet had crafted a scheme designed to win the favor of the daemon. Some focused on emboldening the planetary defenses. Others chose to disrupt the Grand Battalion from within. Still others worked to incorporate the planet itself, finding an asset in the abundant seismic activities. On and on the plans ranged, each isolating a flaw to be exploited, a resource to plunder and utilize, and every nuanced action and reaction carried the veil of bad luck and misfortune, blurring any chance of discovered betrayal.

 

The Iron Warriors arrived. Terse greetings were exchanged between the traitors as they prepared for invasion. Within hours was the initial landfall of the warriors.

 

Deception’s Aftermath

 

The Tergidae Campaign saw the greatest losses the 54th Grand Battalion would endure for the next four hundred years. Two months of fighting and the Iron Warriors had gained no ground. Many among them wished to blame the Alpha Legion’s influence but could find no cause or evidence to support this. Instead, all defeats were attributed to poor timing, underestimated resistance efforts, and unfortunate circumstances of geography and weather. Supplies and ammunition numbers showed a net loss - and a large one - thus declaring the campaign a failure. After withdrawing from the surface of Tergidae and angrily renouncing all alliances and ties to the Alpha Legion, the 54th Grand Battalion slipped out of realspace and ceased all current and future communication with the Disciples of the Covetous Serpent.

 

Perturabo’s sons were not the only ones who appeared to suffer invisible sabotage, however. Upon completion of the daemon’s contest the various Astartes once again assembled in the great antechamber to await Quetz’l. But as they entered they looked upon each other with a brewing distrust, and for good reason. The Iron Warriors were not the only ones who were betrayed.

 

In the initial weeks of the campaign all plans were operating with optimal success. But as time moved on and the Iron Warriors persevered, many agents of the Serpent’s Order saw their plans losing coherency for seemingly random reasons. Detonations within key structures would still go off, but only after delaying long enough to prevent casualties. Disinformation would be fed through the various channels on the surface only to have the proper information reach the target. Little by little these incidents added up, affecting every single Disciple. The spirit of the daemon’s competition had affected them all, until each operative was serving no one but himself.

 

But that very selfish intent worked. Every double cross and backstab managed to further the united goal of the warband to thwart the Iron Warriors all while advancing the the individual ambition of every Astartes to prove himself better than his brothers. In as little as one campaign they had descended from a united brotherhood intelligently completing a united goal to a band of individuals who work for themselves and achieve a unified objective on accident alone. It was just as the daemon had planned.

 

Quetz’l Kulk’n took her place upon a dais in the antechamber and waited until the assembled warriors had fallen to their knees once again. As always, she spoke on behalf of her Chaotic master. It was greatly impressed with the sabotage of the Iron Warriors and shared praise accordingly. But more than that, their patron daemon was incredibly pleased at their ruthless ambition to win. One by one the schemes and deceptions of every Disciple was laid bare before the group, each backstab and betrayal given light. Every suspicion was given credence, and the room’s atmosphere turned quite sour.

 

At last, the prophetess Quetz’l turn to address Argas Piln and told him to rise. Among the entire warband, it was his efforts that most impressed the daemon. Over the next two hours, Quetz’l spoke endlessly of every action taken by Argas and the subsequent impact it had on every Disciple in the chamber. He could feel the collective spite and hate of his brothers upon him, but he didn’t care. He won. His plans were the most intricate, the most effective, the most deceptive. He was the best.

 

Just as before, Quetz’l’s body was hit with harsh seizures, and the blue aura spread outward from her core. Her mouth opened and she exhaled a plume of cerulean flame, spearing forward and consuming Argas completely. The paint on his armour chipped and peeled, all of it falling away and fading into dust, leaving the ceramite bare. The flames lingered still, melting the armour plate and then reshaping it, brilliant new colors adorning it. Draconic scales textured every inch of his new plate, shining in lustrous hues of [insert color scheme here]. The powerpack was now two coiled serpents whose heads formed the exhaust ports. A cloak of woven, iridescent feathers fell to the floor from his shoulders. And upon the left pauldron was a new sigil: a two-tone green serpent's head, appearing to be carved from stone.

 

With its gift granted, the daemon ended his possession and Quetz’l collapsed to the floor. Argas stood, admiring the details and testing the movements of his new Armour of Avarice, sensing the Chaotic powers built into the mechanics. He was rewarded with little time to gloat, however. Every other Disciple quickly emptied the antechamber, leaving Argas with no audience beyond  the unconscious woman. The next campaign of the warband wouldn’t be for another four months, which meant every operative only had sixteen weeks to construct the perfect plan.

 

Notable Campaigns

 

• Santioch (073.M33) - an Imperial world that fell to the influence of Gamma/Rho-17 after swearing allegiance to their daemonic patron. By capitalizing on the planet-wide influence of the Order of the Covetous Serpent a long series of rebellions and riots popped up in seemingly random locations for unknown reasons. Operatives of the Disciples ensured that the proper forces were armed and fed the correct intel to further the plans of the warband. The ultimate fall of the planetary government came with the assassination of the provost general in a paramilitary coup. This coup, however, was immediately overturned by a third party separatist movement, all of whom having to fend off the growing civilian rebellion, and eventually seven more growing political factions. This political turmoil led to a planet of complete rebellion requiring the intervention of the Byblos 29th Regiment of the neighboring subsector.

• Targidae (073.M33) - a joint effort between the Disciples of the Covetous Serpent and the 54th Grand Battalion of the Iron Warriors. The siege of the planet lasted over two months before finally ceasing. This campaign was considered an absolute failure for the Iron Warriors as the Imperial forgeworld successfully defended against all invaders. This defeat was engineered by the Disciples in an effort to please their patron daemon.

• Plague planet Chaconis (743.M36) - an assassination campaign mounted against the Tainted, successors of the Death Guard stationed on the plague planet Chaconis. The patron daemon wanted all ranking officials amongst the Tainted eliminated to ensure the proper leadership would be in place for another campaign millennia in the future. In keeping with the spirit of the Order, the assassinations were crafted into a competition, all to see which death could be crafted as the most interesting and entertaining. This was naturally compounded by the unnatural resilience and resistance to death that came with all of those who served Nurgle. The winner of this contest was Vavrock Pepsis. Through a mixture of sorcery and subterfuge Vavrock Pepsis convinced Lord Decarius to sacrifice his own life in response to false promises of daemonhood. His sacrifice instead opened a rift and out poured a host of Flamers of Tzeentch, which proceeded to incinerate as many of the Tainted as they could before being banished.

• Space Hulk Ruinous Culmination (259.M38) - the last recorded appearance of the Disciples of the Covetous Serpent in Imperial space. The Praetors of Orpheus had dispatched their 6th Company to investigate the space hulk drifting through the Pavonis system. The Disciples also saw themselves dispatched to the space hulk, tasked with aiding the Praetors in cleansing the hulk and recovering any artefacts found. Should the casualty rate of the Praetors fall below 15% the daemon would consider all his Disciples to have failed. If the Praetors withdrew from the hulk to destroy it with their fleet, it would be considered a failure. With the rules of the game established, the Disciples began their infiltration of the Praetors and the hulk. A massive Genestealer brood aboard the hulk weighed heavily on the Praetors of Orpheus, but the Disciples worked to aid them from behind the scenes. Nests were eliminated, reconnaissance fed to the Imperials, areas of the hulk opened or closed to control movements, and all entities aboard the hulk puppeted. These efforts were fruitless as the presence of the Disciples was discovered and the Praetors immediately changed objectives to pursue them. The Traitor marines immediately withdrew, accepting their failure and hoping to avoid pointless losses. After a brief skirmish between the fleets the Disciples escaped.

Warband Beliefs

 

The Disciples of the Covetous Serpent have come to value material gain and individualism above all else. Any allegiance to the Alpha Legion or any other Chaos Space Marine forces has been effectively dissolved. Indeed, there are seldom alliances within the warband, let alone without. Every course of action is the means by which each Disciple will utilize his skills best to compete against his brothers and earn the patron daemon’s favor.

 

The Disciples now believe that no plan is a successful one unless it defies all odds and logic to reach completion. To succeed is simply not enough; now the warband must succeed in the most complicated and circuitous way possible. Conventional tactics are shunned and looked down up, as plans are far too easy and simply not worth any attention.

 

Notable Members

 

• Quetz’l Kulk’n - while not an Astartes, she is the direct link between the Disciples and their patron daemon. She serves as the leader of the Santioch-based Order of the Covetous Serpent.It is unknown if she was in service to the daemon before her indoctrination with the Alpha Legion or after. Quetz’l acts as the messenger and conduit of the Covetous Serpent that is master to the Disciples. Every assignment and campaign is commanded from her lips, and every reward is gifted through her sorcery. When the Serpent blesses a Disciple with a boon or artefact, Quetz’l’s body will erupt in a blue aura that fills the room, with writhing tendrils that deliver the prize. This obviously leaves her physically exhausted and drained, but the daemon ensures it is never enough to consume her. Because of her status and connection to the Serpent she is rewarded with respect and reverence rarely bestowed upon a human from an Astartes. Of all those who serve the daemon, she is perhaps the one who benefits the most.

• Argas Piln - Sergeant of Enea squad of the former Gamma/Rho-17 cell of the Alpha Legion, and “leader” of the Disciples. No records of his service to the Alpha Legion can be found prior to the events of Santioch. When approached with the offer to serve a daemon and reward from said fealty, Argas was the most outspoken amongst his brothers to accept the offer. It is in large part due to his convicted speech that the warband ultimately agreed. Upon earning the Armour of Avarice, Argas has become a champion among the Disciples, ranking highest in the eyes of the daemon and thus his brothers. With each passing campaign he grows more and more withdrawn, his mind consumed with the complicated webs of deception he is continuously weaving against friend and foe alike.

• Vavrock Pepsis - Sorcerer primaris of the Disciples of the Covetous Serpent. Prior to the events of Chaconis Vavrock was but one of a handful of fledgling sorcerers developing within the warband. While many of his brothers developed their arts toward outward destruction Vavrock prefered Telepathy, denying the lure of pure power to focus on manipulation. Bored with the constant power struggles and betrayals amongst the psyker brood, he sought to end it all by taking charge. When tasked with assassinations of the Tainted, Vavrock worked with a fervor to outperform all others. Singling out Lord Decarious as his target, Vavrock attacked his mind, whispering to him promises of daemonhood. Slowly he wormed his way into the rotted psyche of the Nurgle champion, convincing the lord that the path to apotheosis was assured. Decarious could not resist the whispers any longer and sacrificed his own life, sparing Vavrock from having to take to the task with his own hands. The sorcerer was quite amused as the betrayed champion gave his life and erupted with warpflame and the daemons that followed, slaughtered countless other Tainted  marines until their banishment. At the campaign’s close, the patron daemon gifted Vavrock Pepsis with a spell familiar - a feathered viper of innumerable colors and iridescent hues that continuously coiled and slithered all over his armor.

 

Warband Appearance

 

While the lower half of the armour has remained unchanged from the colors used by the Alpha Legion, the Disciples distinguish themselves with a bright orange on the chest plate, pauldrons, helmet, and backpack. All trim varies between a polished silver and dull gunmetal. Those who have distinguished themselves within the warband are typically awarded with armour that is adorned with scales of various shape and size.

 

The symbol of the warband is a two-tone green head of a serpent, designed to appear as if carved from stone. It is unknown if this is the portrait of their patron daemon or simply a stylized icon for their heraldry.

[warboss aidna0510]

Good job on the lore.