The Braying Cull

[Iron_Aquilifer]

Warband Name: Braying Cull

Warcry: What are we? reply Gods Judgement!

Geneseed: Ultramarines

Homeworld: The Descending Judgement (spacehulk)

Colours: Black with white details

Background:

- The Adjudicators Eternal were a fleet-based Space Marine Chapter based primarily out in the Halo Stars, where their non-specialized doctrine played a key role in their defense and expansion of His Holy Imperium. They were famously misunderstood as adherents to the Codex Astartes, diverging from it so much that to an Ultramarine's eyes they were akin more to Space Wolves or Iron Hands rather than successors of their Primarch.

- Their venerated 1st Company Captain, Saul Doyen came in to contact with the ancient teachings of the heretical philosopher Dain van Spism while cleansing the uninhabited spacehulk Fallen Heights, a vessel which would go on to become another blight on the galaxy. Drawn to the writings on morality and purpose within the universe, Captain Saul was slowly enraptured by the heresies found within the writing. He was corrupted by dark spirits in to accepting the reality as laid down by Dain, that there was no real truth, that right and wrong were flawed concepts and the only thing that mattered was an individual's perception of the world. There was no purpose to anyone's lives, and to live by laws was to chain yourself to a life of insignificance.

- By the time of the Adjudicator's purging of the heretical Dyann worlds, their veteran captain had been thoroughly corrupted by the Chaos Gods, to whom he had turned in desperation for purpose. Playing on his formerly unshakeable belief in absolutes, voices in the dark persuaded the old warrior to give his life to Slannesh in return for an ideal that could be seen, that was real: perfection. An ideal which the chapter at large and Saul - to his eternal shame - specifically had once pursued under the guise of "justice".

- Through his position as commander of the First Company and influence as one of the chapter's finest commanders, Captain Saul Doyen was able to slowly corrupt his fellow brothers through his increasingly refined tactics and inspiring speeches. He quickly became a close confidant to many of the chapter's brothers due to his apparently limitless knowledge and ability to calm even the most waylaid of marines. Furthermore, with the death of the Master of Recruits, Drexler Fekl, Saul took on the mantle of overseeing the new initiates, awing them with his mastery of warfare.

- Some claim that heresy and corruption had always been a part of the Adjudicators, rumoured to have been the successors of several chapters who themselves had turned renegade. Owing to the fact that one of their best was so wholly turned against the Imperium, and the speed by which he managed to twist his fellow brothers to heretical doctrines and ideals, this belief is strongly supported by the Inquisition.

- In the failing hours of the final actions on the agricultural world of Dyann Spicale, Captain Saul had his real allegiances revealed by Techmarine Crass, who managed to relay the information to the entire chapter before the traitor could silence him.

- Despite the warning, Saul Doyen managed to purge most of the Adjudicator's fleet, already loaded with his supporters in preparation for his betrayal. Leveling the stranded loyalist space marines' positions with lance strikes, the traitors fled in to the Warp before the Imperial forces could react to his treachery.

- Relocating his followers to the spacehulk Fallen Heights, Saul succumbed to further corruption in the aftermath of his turncoating. Alongside the daemonic gifts, the traitor captain fell in to a coma, leaving his already disillusioned followers without a leader or the faintest idea of their new direction. Quite quickly after his forced slumber, Saul's supporters splintered in to various factions, the marines unused to their new freedoms or the new mutations and powers bestowed upon them. Many went mad with the new sensations open to them, becoming nothing more that lustful animals who screamed cries of ecstasy as they were slain.

- When the Braying Cull first began attacking worlds - both Imperial and Xeno - it was in sporadic raiding actions, acting under a dozen various names and banners, with no real cohesion between the competing commanders and their "flocks". For several years they were little more than a nuisance to the sectors they passed through, too small a threat to warrant hunting down. Even still, a trail of horror stories retelling tales of their depravity quickly began to overtake them.

- Events changed when the Elarv system was hit by a Warpstorm. While no Imperial records reported the Braying Cull's entrance in to the system, when the storm passed it was the Braying Cull that Imperial forces greeted upon their arrival. Under the command of Archistolis, an enigmatic chaos marine who went about in full, battle armour, the Braying Cull quickly routed the relief fleet before escaping the system. Later excursions would discover that the habitual planets in the system had been laid waste, the populations gone and any usable resources taken.

- Most Imperial officials claim that Archistolis is the chaos-tainted Saul Doyen, awakened from his coma as a true heretic. Others believe that it was one of the traitor's protegees, a member of the Adjudicator's now dissolved Order of the Steel Judgement, who managed to win the loyalty of enough of the traitors to name himself the successor to Saul. One of lesser proposals is that the arch-traitor realized his failings and fled, now seeking repentance.

- While the Braying Cull have continued a devastatingly relentless campaign under the leadership of Archistolis, there have been conflicting reports claiming that the Braying Cull has been operating in two differing regions at the same time. This is another mystery around the true nature of the warband, leading many to question if the Braying Cull is a singular entity or something entirely different. Some assume that this phenomenon is due to the Warp, disgorging the warband at the same point in time which would account for the differing tactics and manpower displayed, claiming that one is from the relative future. However, others assert their belief that there are still splinter groups operating under the disguise of the Braying Cull, either as distractions for the primary force or in direct opposition to the warband of Descending Judgement. Either way, this could account for the apparent lack of manpower displayed by the Braying Cull in relation to known facts around their new recruits.

Notable Members:

- Captain Saul Doyen: The commander who led the first traitors against their brothers and away in to the clutches of the Chaos Gods, Saul Doyen did not command his traitors against the Imperium after his daemon-induced coma aboard the Fallen Heights. He was the most respected marine within the Adjudicators Eternal chapter and master of almost every weapon in the chapter's arsenal. Most Imperials believe that he is now styled Archistolis following his recovery from the chaos gifts bestowed upon him. Others believe that the captain died.

- Archistolis: Called the "Lord of Scales", "The Weighing Judge" and simply "The Master", is the current leader of the Braying Cull, a now notorious renegade warband operating across space from the monstrous spacehulk Fallen Heights, which has been renamed The Descending Judgement. A master swordsman and expert sharpshooter, Archistolis is defined by his elegant movements and apparent inability to reason or accept alternatives.

- Drea Naavre: Self-styled as "The Wraith Judge", the heretic Drea is a disgraced Librarian, one of the few to have survived in the Braying Cull. Towering above even Lord Archistolis in his rare suit of Terminator armour, Drea is often found commanding the vanguard of any raid carried out by the traitor warband, using the arcane arts to propel him forward at speeds uncommon even among the Astartes. There is an apparent link between Drea's rise and the appearance of Lord Archistolis, whether that proves or refutes the survival of Captain Saul is still debated.

- Arbitrator Krethor: A diminitive physical appearance is the more defining trait of the traitor Krethor, a serpent-tongued former veteran of the Adjudicators Eternal 1st Company. One of six members of the Cull who wear a fully functional suit of Terminator armour, Krethor is obviously a high ranking or respected member of the warband. Assumed to be the leader of the Cull's elusive harvesting ship Immoral Pain, Krethor is possibly the driving force behind the Cull's initiation program.

- Arbitrator Asbar: With two sets of horns erupting from his skull, the heretic Asbar is the Cull's most noted swordsman behind Archistolis himself. Wielding an obsidian-black sword so sharp that even augmented eyes cannot truly see the blade-edge, Asbar is the rightly-feared commander of the Braying Cull's infamous shock force, the Jury of Asbar.

- Arbitrator Sekdel: Formerly a techmarine in a past life, Sekdel is now a six-eyed reaver of the Braying Cull. Reportedly the most social of the traitor warband, Sekdel is the primary force behind the warband's creation of new chaos marines.

- Arbitrator Helash: With twelve fingers, each elongated to contain six joints, Helash is the favoured successor if Archistolis were to fall, a deadly armoured commander and artificer of equal standing to Sekdel. Reportedly having never fled an Imperial force, Sekdel has reaped a vast harvest of fallen souls in his service to Chaos.

- Arbitrator Matoth: When Saul Doyen first began his false crusade to "enlighten" his brothers, it was within the exhaulted ranks of the 1st Company that he started. Of the men of his company, it was Matoth who was the first to wholly give himself over to the secretive Warrior-lodge which was created. As a result, he was in a prime position to further himself to a leading position among the Braying Cull, usually being granted command of cultist forces often vital to the intricate battle plans carried out by Archistolis.

- Arbitrator Andas: An Apothecary formerly assigned to the Adjudicator's honour-guard itself, Andas is believed to be the champion responsible for the continuation of the Braying Cull's gene-seed, something which has allowed the warband to recuperate the losses suffered during their perpetual conflict with the rest of the galaxy.

Apparent Structure:

- Warband Leader: Archistolis, the Lord of Scales

- - Speaker of the Weights: Drea Naavre, the Wraith Judge

+ + Supposedly a rank created by Saul before his coma, the Speaker of the Weights is the warband's "spiritual" leader, capable of communicating with their god during rituals.

- Arbitrators: Krethor Fork-Tongue; Asbar, the Blade; Sekdel the Swordsmith; Helash; Matoth, the Artificer; Andas Honourless

+ The primary commanders beneath Archistolis, these are the primary champions of the warband, commanding individual "Jury" squads thirty-six marines strong. Sometimes however, they are also the overall commander of a heretic force if the Lord of Scales is not present.

- Jurists: Faeron Thrice-limbed; The Black Gene; Magos the Tyrant; Wraithsoul

+ Commanding the combat-squad sized Tribunals, Jurists are the former Adjudicators, now commanding the newly-created traitor marines created by the heresies of Archistolis, Krethor, Sekdel and Andas. It is also the title granted to the few specialists within the warband who otherwise have no official command, such as the Dark Apothecaries, Sorcerors and Hereteks who are vital for the continuation of the warband as an effective and formidable fighting force.

Notable Conflicts:

- The Breaking of Scales: This is the name given to the hour-long conflict between Captain Saul Doyan's traitors and the Imperial forces around the world Spicale, the last documented engagement featuring the traitor captain. Is important to note that despite the losses sustained by the Adjudicators Eternal chapter, both in terms of manpower and ships, they not only survived but also managed to retain a sufficient portion of their resources. The sacrifice of Techmarine Crass ensured that the Adjudicators could initiate an immediate pursuit of their treacherous brethren.

- First Contact / Battle of the Elarv Ring: Both the first time the Braying Cull operated as a singular force and the first appearance of Lord Archistolis, the Battle of the Elarv Rings was an apparently one-sided engagement between a flottila of Imperial frigates and the main strength of a space marine chapter's fleet in support of a fully functioning spacehulk. Even so, Imperials regard the relatively slight losses suffered during the clash a victory, believing the secretive information gleamed from the system to be worth the lives of several thousand slave workers.

- The Braying: Named after the screams broadcasted over the vox-caster network during the attack, The Braying was the first accepted victory of the chaos warband over the Imperium. A forge world is usually an impressive fortress, capable of withstanding naval assaults that would conquer entire systems. Assumingly struck in order to restock on necessary materials and slave labour, Astrokamerg's primary munitions hub was overrun within an hour, its defenses cracked open and security regiments sent in to disarray. There are rumours that the forge world had also been home to a tithe of gene-seed, possibly a storage facility for the Adjudicator's own stocks. If that were so, it could some way to explaining the high levels of classification put on the incident, and the fact that the world was targeted out of a hundred more viable targets.

- Third Meeting at Vaarn Slopes: Using the native term of "meeting" for battle, the engagement at the strategic mountain range on Gaern was the first time that the Adjudicators Eternal, under close scrutiny of the Inquisition, encountered their heretic brothers since the Breaking of Scales. Having previously assaulted up the mountain range to rid the peaks of Imperial forces, the Braying Cull had to turn and use those same defences as the loyalists began their counter attack. It was during this battle that the leadership of the Braying Cull was properly documented, whereas before only rumour and speculation circled as to the members. The fighting also cost the Adjudicators a hundred brothers and although the Braying Cull suffered similarly high casualties, the traitors were in a far better position to replenish their ranks. The two rival forces would not face each other again in open battle.

Organisation, Weapons and Tactics

- Following on from the Adjudicators Eternal's Codex-compliant doctrines of being capable of reacting to any and all battlefield situations, the Braying Cull have gone on to hone their mastery of warfare in a perpetual desire for perfection. Bolters never miss and each swing of a chainsword opens up the enemy. While the Adjudicators favoured honourable duels between champions, the Braying Cull chooses instead to enlarge on that concept. Lead primarily by Arbitrator Asbar, the Braying Cull have begun to consider every battle a duel, a display of grace and perfection in its purest form.

- As such, jump packs are a rarer sight among the marines as would be suggested by their primarily infantry-focused structure. Even with the high instances of primary blade weapons more associated with followers of Khorne, the Braying Cull assault with a certain air of calm certainty as opposed to the bloodlust of berzerkers.

- There is a serious lack of heavy vehicles available to the traitors, although they do not give it much thought as tactics and stratagems offset the balance. Furthermore, due in part to the looted armouries of the Adjudicators and to the numerous raids on forge-worlds, there is a large amount of heavy and special weapons available to the traitors. Coupled with the inability of the marines to accept second-best, means that even the simple heavy bolter can be used to lay waste to entire regiments.

- Perhaps unusual, especially given the obvious service of the warband to the Chaos God Slannesh, the marines as a whole have not defaced or enriched the livery of their armour, resembling the armour of any loyalist brother. That is, when rampant mutations allow them to wear the complete suit.

- While the marines are divided in to Jury and Tribunal-sized squads - thirty-six and six respectively - such is their desire for perfection that the marines can and do operate at various sizes, with or without the direct intervention of their squad commanders. As such, the actual command structure is very fluid, given that each marine can be relied upon to do what is needed.