IL XIV - The Dune Serpents

[Sigismund229]

If you want to go for a curveball, his own Legion perhaps? Or alternatively, Alex, Icarion or Niklaas?

 

You could go for the old canon fallback of the Emperor rocking up in disguise. I don't believe we've used that so far.

He does on Mycenae, in the BotL version

[simison]

I'm shocked that only happens one time. Doesn't it happen at least half the time in canon?

[bluntblade]

More or less Sim. Certainly with Russ, Mortarion and Vulkan.

[MikhalLeNoir]

And in BOTL?

[Big Bad Squig]

If it's a canon trope that's underrepresented in BotL I'd be happy to adopt it for the Serpents.

[simison]

If it's a canon trope that's underrepresented in BotL I'd be happy to adopt it for the Serpents.

 

I would appreciate it.

[Big Bad Squig]

Will do - perhaps then Imperial Army arrive first, and upon Azus putting up resistance to joining the Imperium on a mere human's terms, the Emperor himself makes an appearance albeit disguised to get the measure of his newfound son?

[bluntblade]

I like the idea of Azus staring down this massive Army force, and an old, hooded man emerges from their ranks and suggests they retire and talk for a while...

[Big Bad Squig]

I recently realised I'd missed Sig's big post of his Dhul'hasan vocab so I'm trying to include that in the fluff chapter where appropriate to make the various fluff bits various people have contributed to the Serpents more cogent - to that end I'm gonna add a section to the first post containing all Dhul'hasan words people have come up with so far so that people have something to easy to reference in terms of what's already canon.  If any new words come up then just stick 'em in here and I'll add them to the first post.

 

(also a side note as I'm a bit of a language nerd I'm very likely to get carried away and expand Dhul'hasan wayyyyyy too much so be warned ) 

[Sigismund229]

(also a side note as I'm a bit of a language nerd I'm very likely to get carried away and expand Dhul'hasan wayyyyyy too much so be warned )

*gasps* another one

 

So far I've managed to stop myself from doing so but I must admit, expanding Mycenaean beyond the few bits of vocab it has at the moment is very tempting

[Big Bad Squig]

A tentative first go at the background bit of the chapter - I think it just about covers everything although ?I might need to add a bit vaguely detailing what the Serpents got up to during the Insurrection? (if so how much detail should I go into?).  Moving onto the organisation chapter next; gonna try and tie up some of the loose ends from this chapter I purposefully left.  So yeah, not done by any means, but just putting it here to document the progress that's being made.

 

Origins of the Dune Serpents

 

                The nascent Sightless Fourteenth was composed of recruits hailing from the barely-inhabitable salt deserts of Terra, in the region of Shakletia which lay on the borders of Orioc and the Pan-Pacific Empire.  During the Age of Strife, fighting here had been fierce, and this combined with the punishing conditions in which they lived had hardened the peoples of this region into warriors.  When the Thunder Warriors of the Emperor entered these regions, they expected to find no trace of life.  Instead, they were immediately set upon by highly mobile groups of marauders, and were at first even beaten back due to the shock of being attacked in a seemingly empty place.  However, the Emperor’s chosen warriors were not to be halted, and the second time the region was invaded, this time in far greater force, the desert tribes stood very little chance.  Due to the conditions of the salt deserts, the technology possessed by the tribes was almost exclusively scavenged, and no match for the superior armaments of the Thunder Warriors.

                Quickly, one of the larger tribes found itself surrounded.  Acting as if surrendering, the Thunder Warriors were allowed inside the tribe’s camp, only to be ambushed by ranks upon ranks of tribespeople.  After a brief skirmish, the Thunder Warriors emerged victorious, although only barely.  While procedure dictated that the rest of the tribe should too be put to death, the Imperial Captain who led the Thunder Warriors was intrigued.  Searching through the faces of those taken prisoner, he encountered the tribe’s leader.  To the horror of the Emperor’s forces, instead of an execution, the man was granted an audience.  One hour to explain why the tribes should be allowed to live.  That man’s name was Jon Lawrenz, and it was he who would become the first Legion Master of the Fourteenth.

                Under the leadership of Jon Lawrenz, the Fourteenth Legion began to take shape.  It quickly developed an aptitude for hit and run strikes, and so was often used in conjunction with larger forces of other Legions such as the Sixth and Tenth.  Another reason for this was that the Fourteenth themselves were a fairly small legion; many aspirants did not survive the process of gene-seed implantation – in fact, the violent side effects of the implantation process (which often led to total blindness in the earliest candidates submitted to the process) are what led to the name ‘Sightless Fourteenth’ being adopted.  Additionally, a tribal culture still existed among the Legion, meaning it was in effect divided into several almost fully autonomous groups, although in times of need these groups could be united.  The Legion was left to function in this way, both due to the grudges and allegiances that Lawrenz himself still held on to and because destroying the way of life that the recruits to the Legion had known all their lives would inspire nothing but bitterness.

 

 

The Ghost of the Sands

         

                Far on the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy, a desolate, barely inhabitable world named Dhul’hasa was about to rise from obscurity.  Once a hub of technology and scientific research, the Age of Strife broke Dhul’hasa, atmospheric pollution raising the global temperature of the planet so high that most of its surface turned to desert just as all contact with the wider Human Empire was lost.  After this had followed centuries of territorial warfare between clans and factions, until almost all left on the world was dust.  The one constant over this period of change and darkness was the ring of space stations and satellites orbiting Dhul’hasa, all scanning systems trained on the stars in the desperate hope that humanity would return from beyond the cloudless sky.

                Onto this background, the Primarch of the Fourteenth Legion landed, his pod lighting up the night sky.  Whether by radios receiving data from satellites or simply by looking upwards, all the tribes near to the landing site saw descent of the spaceship and rushed to meet it as it rushed towards the ground.  The Primarch’s journey had been long, and so he had already matured partially when he first made planetfall on Dhul’hasa.  Stepping out of the pod, labelled AZU-5, he fled into the night before the amassed clans could investigate his arrival.

                In the aftermath of the skirmish to claim the Primarch’s pod, the Dhul’hasan clans each discovered the wealth of technology that this craft from the heavens had to offer and wanted more.  So it was that search parties began to be sent out to trace whatever else had been in the empty pod, first only one or two per week, and then increasing in frequency until almost all the resources available to the clanspeople were directed towards this great search.

                The Primarch, who had taken the name Azus, could only remain isolated in the desert for so long.  He soon heard of the amassed forces searching for him, and due to their ever increasing size, he could not avoid them for long.  And so it was that the first humans that the Primarch Azus encountered attempted to take him prisoner.  However, despite his lack of training, Azus was after all a Primarch, and so tore through his assailants with ease.  After that, he became more careful.  Staying far away from others, hiding and only engaging enemies at range when necessary, Azus was able to survive the assault of the clans for well over six months.

                However, one day, the inevitable happened.  Well versed in the arts of stealth as Azus himself had become, Dhul’hasan warriors surrounded the Primarch at night, and although he killed near to one hundred in the ensuing struggle, he was captured, put in chains, and hauled back to the city of Kaobyrra, the stronghold of the Bahmut Clan, as a prisoner.  There, this captured giant suffered months of research, his superhuman skin reknitting after every dissection, and bones healing after every marrow extraction.  Slowly, the Dhul’hasan scientists outdated, malfunctioning medical equipment began to reveal the secrets of the Primarch’s advanced biology.  Soon, the experiments became increasingly violent, all non-vital organs being removed and rudimentary brain scans being conducted in an effort to synthesize a compound nearing gene-seed.

                Eventually, battling through the mind-numbing effects of the concoction of tranquilisers that he was constantly drip-fed, Azus developed a plan.  During a simpler medical procedure, the Primarch pulled so hard against the restraints holding his left arm that his hand was torn clean off.  He proceeded to batter the nearest scientists to death with his bloodied stump, freeing himself and staggering out of the operating chamber in which he had been kept a prisoner.  The few that dared to oppose Azus’ incandescent fury were blessed with quick deaths.  After only about an hour, the people of Kaobyrra submitted to the Primarch in awe and terror.  Azus’ coup was brutally efficient.  The surviving scientists’ final task was to craft the Primarch a new bionic hand to replace the one he had lost, before they, along with the city’s existing governing body, were executed, leaving none to oppose Azus’ rule.  His power within the city had become absolute within a week of his escape.

                Over the next seven years, Azus waged a bitter war of subjugation over the rest of the planet.  Slowly, the Dhul’hasan clans fell to Azus of Bahmut, a figure revered and feared in equal measure due to his martial prowess and terrifying presence and morals respectively.  To most Dhul’hasans he was rarely glimpsed, a hidden fiend who ruled with an iron fist.  His elusive nature earned him the title ‘Ghost of the Sands’, a name he grudgingly appreciated.  Eventually, the entirety of Dhul’hasa came under Azus’ rule, and he began to turn his ambitions skywards.

It was then that fleet approaching Dhul’hasa was discovered.

 

Dhul’hasa Under Siege

               

                Satellites began transmitting warnings that ships were approaching Dhul’hasa’s system for the first time since the arrival of Azus Bahmut.  Needless to say that these signals were taken very seriously by the planet’s people, some fearing invasion, some hoping for a joyous reunion with the rest of mankind.  Those hopeful few were to be disappointed.  The fleet was revealed to be xenos in origin as it approached, and it was approaching quickly.  Quietly, within his lair in the depths of the palace of Kaobyrra, Azus began to plan.  The few still functioning factories on Dhul’hasa’s scorched surface were put to work manufacturing large quantities of weaponry.  Outriders were sent to inspect the ancient orbital defence platforms and ready them for war.  Within a matter of weeks, Azus had readied the planet for the imminent incursion, with predicted landing sites being surrounded with troops, traps laid around significant settlements, and the populace armed and trained in basics of combat.  It was then that the fleet arrived.

                It was nothing like Azus had expected.  The ships careened towards the planet’s surface with little care for their own safety, descending too quickly for the orbital defence batteries to lock on to them.  Ignoring flat, empty areas, the ships crash-landed in a random pattern, belching smoke and crackling with flame.  It quickly became clear that this had not been an invasion, but an escape.

                Azus sent a delegation to meet the first ship to land which he himself accompanied, albeit in secret.  While the Dhul’hasans were prepared to negotiate with the refugee xenos, the aliens opened fire as soon as they caught sight of the delegation, slaughtering it to a man.  Azus watched from the shadows, and fell back to Kaobyrra.  It seemed a war was to be fought after all.

                The clans were informed, and readied for battle.  Warbands mounted on outdated, barely-serviceable jetbikes were sent to harass the xenos as they disembarked from their ships, striking so quickly that the attackers had barely any time to respond before the Dhul’hasans fled once again.  Struggling to navigate the planet’s monotonous and harsh terrain, the refugees’ first attempts to make territorial gains were easily repelled.  Quickly, however, the xenos began to breach the first lines of defence Azus had put in place, making targeted pushes for nearby oil refineries.  It became obvious that the objective of the invaders was to refuel and depart as quickly as possible, rather than to take the planet.  While it may have been easier to simply stand back and give the xenos the resources they needed, Azus’ rise to power had come via uncompromising strength and bitter justice, and in the act of invading Dhul’hasa, the xenos had slighted Azus personally.  This was something that they would come to regret.

                Using hit-and-run tactics, Azus’ forces baited the xenos to collect in large numbers.  At that point, chemical strikes were launched, decimating the invaders and damaging their morale.  The reprieve for this was violent, with diversionary attacks being launched by the xenos into nearby settlements, while other forces desperately rushed to the refineries.  The Dhul’hasan soldiers moved to defend the oil refineries, while incendiary bombing campaigns were launched against settlements in which the xenos attackers were most concentrated, with no concern for the lives of the unlucky human civilians.  The fighting became so bitter that the arrival of a second fleet in the system went completely unnoticed by the Dhul’hasans.

                Fleeing desperately from their newly arrived pursuers, the xenos launched a final push to break free of the Dhul’hasans and escape.  The clans mustered to retaliate as quickly as they could.  Azus himself took to the battlefield, sensing that his men’s morale needed to be boosted.  Seeing an opportunity to destroy the aliens outright, the Dhul’hasans fought with every weapon in their arsenal, no matter how unpleasant, cutting down xenos by the thousands.  Although they fought back with terrified determination, the invaders were finally defeated in the ensuing pitched battle.  The relief of Dhul’hasa’s liberation was palpable.  So when Azus saw across the sea of xenos corpses an amassed fleet of Imperial craft descending through the planet’s atmosphere, it came as a surprise.

                In the ensuing meeting, Azus was introduced to the leader of the xenos’ pursuers, a human commander belonging to the Imperial Army.  His name was Hector Krum, an elderly, battle hardened Terran who had been chasing the xenos fleet after having been ambushed in deep space.  The enemy had finally been forced to make planetfall on Dhul’hasa after their ships suffered colossal damage in a void engagement.  Instantly recognising the visionary despot of Dhul’hasa as a famed Primarch, Krum offered Azus a place amongst the Imperial Great Crusade.  Azus was initially hostile to submitting to a mere human, and as such the Emperor himself arrived in secret in order to get the measure of his newfound son.  After the Emperor revealed his identity, Azus quickly accepted the offer to join the Crusade, both seeing it as an opportunity to take the people of Dhul’hasa to the stars once again and fearing the wrath of the Imperium of Man should he refuse.

 

An Uneasy Reunion

 

              Soon after Azus’ discovery, he was transported along with the few men he counted among inner circle to the relatively nearby world of Choler, above which orbited a vast network of stations and docks, at which a combined force of the 83^rd, 412^th and 1087^th Expeditionary Fleets (all belonging to the Sightless Fourteenth) had recently arrived to refuel and rearm.  The news of a Primarch’s impending arrival came as a surprise, and after scrambled preparations had been made by the stations’ workers and inhabitants, the leader of the Fourteenth’s fleet (the current legion master, Jon Lawrenz) was reunited with his Primarch.

              At first, the reunion was not entirely amicable, with Lawrenz being thrown by the dark, unforgiving personality of his Primarch.  Azus, on his part, was determined to make this new legion his own, and had little regard for Lawrenz, whom he was suspicious of due to his potential to act as a barrier to Azus’ ultimate authority, something which he had become accustomed to during his rule of Dhul’hasa.

              However, over time the relationship between the two men grew less tense, in part due to Azus recognising an aspect of himself in the cunning, slightly amoral Terran veteran.  Additionally, the two saw eye to eye around the issues of the legion’s division, with Lawrenz’ method of allowing the Fourteenth to maintain their tribal divisions and splitting the legion among multiple near-autonomous fleets appealing to Azus.  Previously, Azus had served as the orchestrator of only significant action and reform on Dhul’hasa, preferring to command from behind the scenes in other areas with his trusted lieutenants able to act in important governing positions, submitting to Azus’ authority where necessary.  Thus, the most recent system of the Dune Serpents’ organisation evolved, allowing the legion to operate in multiple small semi-autonomous fleets that would be under the overall command of Azus.

              Eventually, the Terran Sightless Fourteenth transitioned to become the Dune Serpents (or Alrrabeshr), a name adopted by Azus as a nod to the fabled king of the Afaehamra snakes native to his homeworld’s deserts, which play a fundamental role in Dhul’hasan culture and medicine.  The legion’s colour scheme was also altered, transitioning from a pure white to dirty yellow and violet, once again colours appearing in Dhul’hasa’s tradition as those worn to denote a Badisin, or tribal leader.  These, despite Azus and Lawrenz’s eventual amicable relationship, would not be the last of the changes made to the Serpents to cement Azus’ power.

              Fundamental changes to the legion’s tactics were also introduced upon Azus’ discovery; namely, the increased emphasis on stealth and infiltration, rather than sole reliance on speed which had defined the early Sightless Fourteenth’s campaigns.  However, the Fourteenth’s emphasis on mobility was not lost upon Azus’ discovery, and in fact was incorporated by Azus more heavily into his legion’s tactics, especially given the proficiency of the Terran legionnaires in hit-and-run engagements.  Due to the multitude of semi-autonomous Dune Serpent fleets often containing either almost all Terran or Dhul’hasan legionnaires , a number of different variants of tactics emerged, meaning that, apart from at points when the legion was united either as a whole or as part of a Hashd, the early Dune Serpents often operated using a number of slightly different approaches to tactics.

[simison]

Excellent. To answer your question, no. The history chapter should lead up to but end before the Day of Revelation.

[bluntblade]

Should I work the blindness into the bit I wrote?

[Sigismund229]

We might need to work on expanding it somewhat to fit with the length of the other legion history sections that have so far been written

[bluntblade]

Well, the Early Fourteenth bit has been drastically expanded, though now I see it needs fiddling with.

[Big Bad Squig]

Should I work the blindness into the bit I wrote?

 

Yeah sure

 

We might need to work on expanding it somewhat to fit with the length of the other legion history sections that have so far been written

 

Yeah I'm assuming I'll need to flesh out the section a bit more - I'll do that as ideas come to me probably.

[bluntblade]

Squig, do you have ideas for which characters will play a major role in Book 2? Also note to self, must name Madrid Ganzur's warband (the ones who see their war as a struggle for the soul of the XIVth, while the Viper Fangs are happy just murdering and building on their own particular identity).

[Big Bad Squig]

In the rescue of Azus storyline and the book 2 Serpents stuff I don't have too many characters marked for playing a big role apart from a few; Jon Lawrenz in particular comes to mind (the only thoughts I have on him so far are that he and his fleet are going to play an active part in the search for Azus and that at some point he's going to be gravely wounded and interred in a dreadnought - I'll also try and flesh out his character more as he's going to remain a major player in the legion I think), and Zul'fiq Faluak as well, but other than that I think it'd be good and also fitting with the Serpent's nature to have some new characters take a leading role.  That reminds me, I'm gonna try to write up some little character bios for the leaders of the Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Hordes (because unless I've missed it we haven't got characters to fill those roles).  It'd seem logical that the leader of the Eastern Horde would also play a big part in book 2 given that a lot of the action takes place in the Eastern Fringe.

 

Also, I'm fleshing out the part of the chapter I posted earlier; I'll put it up soon.

[bluntblade]

How about the captains I added for that story?

[Sigismund229]

That reminds me, I'm gonna try to write up some little character bios for the leaders of the Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Hordes (because unless I've missed it we haven't got characters to fill those roles).  It'd seem logical that the leader of the Eastern Horde would also play a big part in book 2 given that a lot of the action takes place in the Eastern Fringe.

That's where you're wrong ;)

 

In all seriousness, you're welcome to change them but I went on a bit of a character inventing rampage for the Serpents back in April when I wrote the piece about a Serpent being promoted to command of a horde. Here's a list of Serpent characters I came up with:

 

Yusuf Aistiralsm Al'Sahir ben Alrrabeshr. Chief Librarian of the Dune Serpents. 

Zengi Aisinha(poison tooth) Al'Musifin ben Alrrabeshr. Chief apothecary of the Dune Serpents. 

Saif Aldilu Al'Alkishafin ben Alrrabeshr. Chief scout of the Dune Serpents. 

Tariqmali Afeahamraa Al'Algha ben Alrrabeshr. Leader of the Western Horde. 

Idirmali Sharri'larramadi ben Alrrabeshr. Leader of the Northern Horde. 

Tashfimali Shifrat Al'Eazim ben Alrrabeshr. Leader of the Eastern Horde. 

Salihmali Al'Janu ben Alrrabeshr. Leader of the Southern Horde.(this guy's name used to be Kao'badismali. I changed that to Salihmali which is less of a mouthful). 

 

Then there were also more minor characters. I was going to incorporate them into some stories I was writing but that fell by the wayside. 

Shirkuh Al'Salathin. "The Bloody Eyed", Captain of the 37th Company

Tughatakin Al'Nayat(of the dead). An ever so slightly insane leviathan dreadnought who insisted on having destroyer weaponry incorporated into his sarcophagus. 

Ismail Al'Sabeun. Captain of the 70th and the resident pyromaniac. 

Ayyub Al'Wahishryn. Captain of the 21st. Swordsman(although he poisons his sword obviously). 

Edmyn Allinbi Al'Nayat ben Ard. A terran dreadnought and old comrade of Jon Lawrenz. 

[bluntblade]

I think we can afford to lose some middle names...

[MikhalLeNoir]

Those are some very.long names mate. I back Blunt here. The translation should lose some middle names to make them...shorter^^

[Sigismund229]

Those are some very.long names mate. I back Blunt here. The translation should lose some middle names to make them...shorter^^

Middle names are there for fluff reasons. As are the last names actually. My thought was that their full names would only be used on ceremonial occasions. For all other purposes they'd use their first names only

[MikhalLeNoir]

But sometimes they have up to 3 middle names. Sure making it as close as possible to the cultural heritage but their primarch is simply called Azus ( or did I miss his titles?)

He was named on the same world.

[Big Bad Squig]

Ah of course; some of those characters should also be included in the 'big names' list.  I'm thinking Tashfimali Shifrat (obviously), as well as Blunt's Amund Fyens, then possibly Yusuf Aistiralsm (chief librarian - I always forget that there is even a librarius within the Serpents so I feel he should be included if only to get me to remember: also note to self I should rustle up some fluff about Dhul'hasan sand seers or something else appropriately shamanic to become the librarius) as well as Idirmali Sharri'larramadi (northern horde), perhaps with the intention of illustrating some of the internal politics of the Serpents between the Eastern and Northern Hordes.  Working on three essays at the moment for school but when I get a moment free I'll post the touched up section of fluff I posted earlier.

 

EDIT:  Also, I personally have no problem with the plethora of names we've got going on (although I agree they wouldn't be used all the time; only ceremonially), and @Mikhal Azus named himself rather than was named by Dhul'hasans, hence why it uses a different naming convention.

Edited October 10, 2017 by Big Bad Squig