Black Book - Insurrection (PUBLISHED)

[simison]

The Legacies of Kabyieb
While not the world upon which their primarch was found, Kabyieb is the de facto homeworld of the Grave Stalkers legion and the world from which they draw many of their recruits. Brought into compliance by the XV^th three short years after the discovery of their primarch, the Grave Stalkers were quick to claim the world as their own. The principal reason for this seems to have been the peculiar evolutionary path taken by the population which has made them more compatible with XV^th legion gene seed. Geneticists have never succeeded in understanding why, the only fact known about it is that with Kabyieban neophytes the success rates of gene seed implantation rise above 5% (normal success rates with XV^th legion gene seed are around 2% or 3%). 

 

However, this higher success rate is not the only reason for the XV^th to take Kabyieb as their principal recruitment ground. The climate of Kabyieb is harsh and unforgiving, forging its people into tough warriors and indefatigable hunters, with especially acute sense. This is most likely due to their world being one covered in forests whose trees grow so tall that they block out any rays of the sun and prevent them from reaching the lower reaches of the world, with plant life only kept alive by the heat that rises up from cracks in Kabyieb's surface. Shrouded in near total blackness, these lower reaches are utterly inhospitable to human life, meaning that almost all of the human inhabitants of Kabyieb live in the upper levels of the trees, where the branches are wide enough for ten men to walk abreast on them and the tree trunks thick enough to support entire villages. 

Amongst the tree tops, the inhabitants of Kabyieb fight, hunt and raid, ekeing out a living for themselves as best they can, only venturing out during what passes for night in the tree tops, hiding from the giant terror birds who also make their nests amongst the tree tops of Kabyieb. When they can, the humans of Kabyieb steal eggs from the terror birds or hunt down the youngesters, but for the most part they are forced to hide from them, watching, waiting for a weakness to occur and then pouncing in the dark, For at night, it's the humans who rule Kabyieb's tree tops. 

The humans of Kabyieb are naturally quick limbed and rangy individuals and their environment has shaped them to be ever alert, their whipcord fast bodies ready to break into action at any moment. These quick reactions mean that Kabyieb would likely have been claimed by one of the Assasinorum temples. As it is, an even more deadly predator haunts Kabyieb than the terror birds, for this is the home of the Grave Stalkers and they have made it their own. 

 

[Ready for PDF]

[simison]

Organization and Structure of the XV^th Legion
Ever the smallest of the Legions Astartes, the XV^th legion has evolved into an inter connecting series of "Societies", groups of warriors who specialize in the same area of combat. While each of these Societies is reliant on the others for support on the battlefield, as no one Society can carry the day with its expertise alone, they are also proud of their own martial art, passed down from master to neophyte, with each generation of a society learning and expanding upon the battle prowess of the last. 

The largest of these Societies are the Tlamani and it's they who form the backbone of most XV^th​ legion expeditionary forces. The masters of using the bolter and humble combat blade, the Tlamani are masters of none yet adaptable on the battlefield and able to fulfill a variety of roles. However, the environment in which the Tlamani are most at home is in the shadows, either as scouts or stalking an enemy and preparing to make a kill under the dim light of a moon. 

Then there are the Papaloti, heavy weapons and tech specialists. While the Papaloti's primary role is to provide the other Societies with support from heavy weapons, they are also trained to pilot the XV^th's limited pool of armour and maintain the more complicated items within the XV^th's armoury, and this is what they do outside of a warzone, making them indespensible to the legion as a whole, for without their constant ministrations much of the XV^th's most complicated and destructive weaponry would fall into disrepair, drastically reducing the XV^th's firepower. 

The third of the XV^th's Societies are the Otomi. These are the most hot blooded of the sons of Kabyieb, never more at home than when in the chaos of melee combat, with blood splashing across their armour. With a reputation for being trouble makers and as hot headed as the XV^th get , it's amongst the Otomi that those Grave Stalkers who wield rad and grenades are often found. Often, the Otomi would have been labelled dangerous psychopaths if they hadn't been recruited into the XV^th, and they are the most prone to taking grisly trophies such as cloaks of human skin or skulls to hang on their belts amongst the Grave Stalkers. 

The two smallest societies are the Cuachikeh and Qweksticati. Representing the veterans and vexilla bearers of the XV^th, both of these Societies are viewed as being above their brothers of the three principal Societies. The Cuachikeh are the Grave Stalkers most able troops, expected to have mastered all forms of warfare and to excel in all theatres of war, meaning that what little time these old warriors have between wars is often spent in training. The Qweksticati are those entrusted with squad's vexilla's and therefore are selected from those astartes who lack the correct temperament for command but have proved themselves courageous on the field of battle. Admission into either of these groups is extremely rare and as a consequence they are the two smallest Societies. 

While movement between these societies is rare, with Grave Stalkers being encouraged to hone their skills in a particular area rather than attempt to master everything, it is still possible. However, once a Grave Stalker is accepted into the legion's elite, he may never leave it save through death in battle. This elite comprises of the Blacksouls, the Blood Hands and Reapers.

The Black Souls are the most powerful of the XV^th's pariah's, grouped into specialized units and deployed only after careful consideration. Such individuals are known to be grim and fatalistic, only speaking when they must, otherwise remaining silent as the grave into which they will eventually be interred. Kept isolated from their brothers and training in secluded quarters and barracks, the exact capabilities and training of these pariah's is unknown to any outside this exclusive brotherhood and the Blacksouls speak of it to no one. 

Blood Hands are the apothecaries of the XV^th​, charged with keeping the Grave Stalkers fighting through wounds that would kill ordinary men. However, their true purpose is far darker and is rarely spoken of outside of the Grave Stalkers: the rite of Ha'kun Ch'am. The name given to the elaborate operation whereby the gene seed is removed from a still living Grave Stalker, this is a bloody rite designed to ensure that the gene seed suffers as little degradation as possible. While this is a death warrant for the astartes whose gene seed has been removed, it is deemed to be worth the sacrifice for the good of the legion and the legions numbers have only increased since the rite was introduced. 

The Reapers themselves are those astartes who survive Ha'kun Ch'am. Deemed to be already dead by their comrades, the Reapers are recorded as having been killed in action by the Blood Hand's before they undergo Ha'kun Ch'am. Placed in stasis between battles, the Reapers are dead men walking, not quite dead yet no longer truly amongst the living. Wielding a pair of blades they hand crafted prior to Ha'kun Ch'am, the Reapers charged into battle with nothing left to lose and a glorious death to gain, seeking to die surrounded by enemy corpses and tasting blood one last time. 

The final step in the hierarchy of the XV^th​ are the Chun'ka, the council of advisers hand picked by the primarch to aid him in managing and guiding the legions. To be appointed to the Council is a rare and singular honour but not one to be taken lightly, for service on the council continues after death, as many of its members are interred in dreadnought chassis at K'awil's command (the only way a Grave Stalker will be interred) so that they can continue to serve from beyond the mortal plane. Truly, it is said that while a Reaper gives his life, a member of the Council gives his soul. However, appointment to this august body is not limited to those of high rank. Any astartes of the XV^th may be elevated to the Council regardless of rank, all they have to have done is caught the primarch's eye in one manner or another. Yet the primarch's favour can be withdrawn as quickly as it is extended and in these cases, the astartes' body will be found broken and their armour rent in their chambers, their cause of death known to every Grave Stalker and a brutal reminder of who their father is and of who they are, for the Grave Stalkers are death's servants and when he tires of them, their lives cease to have any value. 

 

[Ready for PDF]

[Nomus Sardauk]

Hey Simison Grifftober, quick question, what manner of weapons are the blades the Reapers forge for themselves before their Ha'kun Ch'am? Because if they're swords I'd like to suggest a more themetic alternative in the form of paired one-handed Scythes like these:

http://www.adventuresinpoortaste.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wallpaper033-1920x1200.jpg

 

EDIT: Typo removed.

 

2ND EDIT: Always asking the wrong people the wrong questions....

[Sigismund229]

Hey Simison, quick question, what manner of weapons are the blades the Reapers forge for themselves before their Ha'kun Ch'am? Because if they're swords I'd like to suggest a more themetic alternative in the form of paired one-handed Scythes like these:

http://www.adventuresinpoortaste.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wallpaper033-1920x1200.jpg

 

EDIT: Typo removed.

shouldn't this be adressed to Grifft seeing as the GS are his legion?

[Nomus Sardauk]

 

Hey Simison, quick question, what manner of weapons are the blades the Reapers forge for themselves before their Ha'kun Ch'am? Because if they're swords I'd like to suggest a more themetic alternative in the form of paired one-handed Scythes like these:

http://www.adventuresinpoortaste.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wallpaper033-1920x1200.jpg

 

EDIT: Typo removed.

shouldn't this be adressed to Grifft seeing as the GS are his legion?

Oh my bad, my memory is terrible and my knowlesge on who owns what Legion isn't quite complete. :/

[simison]

Yes, please. The Grave Stalkers are Grifft's legion. I'm just clearing away the last few errors before it's ready for 'publication'. And I don't blame you for not knowing who belongs to what. It's a big project.

[simison]

Blades of the Dark
As with many aspects of the XV^th's organization, it's fleet is not organized along standard legion lines, a situation forced on them by their isolation and their small numbers that they have adapted and turned into an advantage instead of a flaw. Consisting mainly of light cruisers and frigates, the Grave Stalkers fleet is highly unsuited to standard void warfare, lacking the endurance to engage their enemies in a protracted struggle. Instead, the XV^th's flight has often been likened to a dagger, ready to be driven into an artery or vein, as opposed to the broad sword of other legions' fleets. 

The reason for this lack of heavier class ships is two fold. The first is that the Grave Stalkers limited numbers mean that such ships would be undermanned and easy to board. The second is due to the Grave Stalkers bad relations with Mars. Without access to shipyards large enough to produce or repair such large vessels, they quickly fell out of favour within the XV^th. Instead, they used a large number of smaller vessels and the tech priests of Lasaris modified these to have far greater firepower than ships of a similar size in other legions. While this made the ships unstable, it also made them ideal for striking and then fading away into the black depths of space once they had struck. Because of this, despite its small size, the XV^th's fleet struck well above its weight and was often used to gather intelligence prior to a military campaign or to harass the enemy before battle. 

 

[Ready for PDF]

[simison]

The Doom of Craftworld Laia
Of the dozens of campaigns prosecuted by the XV^th legion, very few exemplify their favoured hit and run tactics as the destruction of Craftworld Laia. It also exemplifies the advantages afforded by the pariah gene, the very reason why the Emperor included it in the Grave Stalkers gene code. Yet it also showed the brutality which the XV^th was capable of. 

As the Grave Stalkers fought their way across the galaxy at the forefront of the Great Crusade, on many occasions they encountered Eldar of Craftworld Laia, often arriving in system just as the Eldar were departing, after having attacked the world in question for some unfathomable reasons. Eventually, K'awil Pakal decided to hunt down and destroy these xenos once and for all. So it was that over the world of Myro, the Grave Stalker laid a trap for the Eldar. 

Sure enough, within a matter of days, the Eldar arrived in orbit over Myro, their farseers unable to foresee what events would come to pass over the world (most likely due to the high concentration of pariahs). However, as the Eldar entered into orbit over Myro, the void around them suddenly lit up with vessels of the XV^th legion. 

The Primarch K'awil Pakal had studied the attacks made by Craftworld Laia and, where others would only see a random scattering of locations, K'awil saw a pattern emerge. Using this pattern, he had predicted, correctly, that the Eldar's next target would be the world of Myro. So, he made an order to ambush the xenos, whose powers of foresight made such a thing impossible under normal circumstances. Positioning his fleet in orbit around Myro, the primarch then commanded that all ships be placed on stealth protocols, shutting down all but the most essential functions, making the ships impossible for scanners to detect, while the pariah's on board each vessel made it impossible for a psyker to detect. For days, the Grave Stalkers had lain in wait and now, they were unleashed. 

While Craftworld Laia was trapped by the vessels of the XV^th, the Grave Stalkers still appeared outmatched and outgunned. In a conventional void engagement, the Grave Stalkers would have been outmatched and most likely destroyed. However, a conventional void engagement was not what K'awil had planned. Instead, the vessels of the XV^th would speed in to attack the Craftworld, fire several volleys and then fall back before the Craftworld had a chance to engage them properly. While each of these attacks did little damage to the Craftworld, over several hours the damage gradually wore down the Craftworld, gradually bleeding it dry and slowly killing it. However, as the Craftworld died, Farseer Uyad and his retinue fled the dying ship to the surface of Myro, only to be pursued by K'awil and his Reapers. 

When they reached the surface, the hunt began. For three days, K'awil and his Reapers pursued Uyad through the swamps of Myro. However, on the night of the third day, Uyad and his retinue were caught by the Reapers and the Primarch of the XV^th. All of Uyad's retinue were slaughtered, as their people had been slaughtered in the heavens above Myro but not Uyad. He was captured and brought back into orbit by K'awil. Here, it's rumoured the primarch sentenced the Farseer to undergo the blood eagle, an agonizing punishment where the victims rib cage and lungs are opened so that they resemble the folded wings of an eagle. Such is the fate of those enemies of the Imperium who fall into the hands of the Grave Stalkers. 

 

[Ready for PDF]

[simison]

The Conquest of Innos

          One of the most mysterious campaigns in the XV^th's legion's history is the conquest of Innos. However, if anything, this is the greatest praise that could be given to the XV^th in regards to the Innos campaign, for their intention had never been to launch a campaign that was clearly visible and destructive in the way that many campaigns waged by the legions are. Instead, they had intended to invade the world of Innos and subdue it with as little bloodshed as possible, making sure that the world's infrastructure remained intact. 

 

            The reason for this was that Innos was an important mining and industrial world, vital for supporting the Imperium's offensive in the north east of the galaxy, which was being spearheaded by the Grave Stalkers and Berserkers of Uran. Without Innos' mining adamantium and drilling promethium, this offensive would quickly slow, possibly even grind to a halt, as the legions would run out of resources with which to wage war. So it was that when Innos rebelled, the Grave Stalkers objective was to recover the world with as little destruction of the world's infrastructure as possible, re-taking it in nearly fully functioning order. However, they also needed to ensure that Innos would never again be defensible enough to even consider rebellion. 

 

          The first step that the XV^th took in this campaign, was the neutralisation of the orbital stations above Innos. Little is known about how they did so, but we do know that the Innosian orbital stations were taken completely by surprise and were easily captured by the XV^th, who then proceeded to destroy them by initiating the stations' self destruct mechanisms. The common theory as to how they accomplished this is that they used a technique known as "Ghost Ships", where the vessels enter the warp and the de-activate all but the most vital systems, rendering them essentially lifeless on scanners. However, the calculations required to ensure that these ships will then exit the warp close enough to the planet to achieve maximum surprise are vastly complicated, impossible for any commander other than a primarch. It is thought that, using ghost ships, the Grave Stalkers entered into orbit above the world and were able to storm the orbital stations before they realised they had an enemy who was attacking them. Additionally, the silent, swift and stealthy nature of the attack meant that the people of Innos were unaware that an enemy had arrived in orbit above them and so, to them, it appeared as though their orbital stations had just vanished. 

 

         The next step in the Grave Stalkers campaign to re-take Innos was an assault on facilities like generatorums upon which the Innosi relied for their light amongst the cramped spaces of the Innos' hives. These assaults were all done swiftly and silently, leaving no trace of who had attacked them save for piles of corpses that had once been the generatorum's workers, whose body parts had been left scattered around the ruins of the generatorum, whose essential features had been destroyed. While the Innosi rapidly got to work repairing them, every work party sent to the generatorum's was killed, their throats slit. Finally, after several such work parties were killed in this way, the Innosi ceased trying to repair the generatorum's and simply left the hives shrouded in darkness save for what little light could be scavenged through glow globes. 

 

          With the hives now in permanent darkness, the third stage of the Grave Stalkers strategy was put into action. They began a ruthless campaign of terror across the world, leaving the bodies of lower hivers flayed and crucified outside of their homes and hanging high hivers from their tower's by their own entrails. Sometimes, they even inflicted the blood eagle upon the nobles of Innos, so that they were found alive with their lungs spread out across their back, still desperately trying to take in oxygen, and they had to be mercy killed. It was in this stage that the Innosi finally understood that there was a foreign invader amongst them, slaughtering them in the hive's perpetual night. While at first they placed faith in their armed forces who began to patrol the streets, when these platoons were found impaled on pieces of plasteel gantry, the Innosi ceased to exit their homes but even there, they were killed. It seemed nobody was safe from these daemons. 

 

           It was now, with paranoia and fear reaching fever pitch amongst the Innosi that K'awil Pakal appeared before the governor of Innos, offering to cease his astartes' campaign of terror if the governor would only surrender, which he willingly did. However, when he did, K'awil stated that he was now subject to Imperial justice. The governor was found crucified on one of the highest spires of the hive. K'awil Pakal then declared the re-instatement of Imperial justice and protection on the world. Innos rapidly became one of the most productive world's in the Imperium. 

 

[Ready for PDF]

[bluntblade]

Good grief, that's dark.

[simison]

Good grief, that's dark.

 

Very true. I wonder who would win in a war of terror: Grave Stalkers versus Night Lords.

 

With that last point, the Grave Stalkers have finished Beta stages. All that's left is to put them into the PDF to declare them complete. Grifft, let me know when that happens, and I'll update their status. Also, has the Prosecution already been uploaded? 

 

Sig, I know that a few pages ago, Squig gave us the Godslayers' next Exemplary Battle. I know I didn't get to it, did you? If not, I'll do that next. 

 

In general, are there any more chapter posts hiding in the legion-specific threads? 

 

I haven't forgotten the Madrigal Purge, but I'm trying to time the updates it with the new short story I'm synching it with.

[bluntblade]

I'd be happy to give an exemplary battle a shot, though I'm going to have fewer chances to write over the next week or two.

 

Most of the stories I'm working on are pending info about certain characters or Legion styles.

[simison]

I'd be happy to give an exemplary battle a shot, though I'm going to have fewer chances to write over the next week or two.

 

Most of the stories I'm working on are pending info about certain characters or Legion styles.

 

If you can find someone to take up the offer, by all means. Only the Grave Stalkers have passed the Beta Stage, while the Godslayers have had two out of three Exemplary Battles written. 

 

That leaves 4 legions to work on. (Lightning Bearers, Iron Bears, the Drowned, & the Scions Hospitaller

[bluntblade]

I assumed the Bears and Scions were done and dusted. I'll have a chat with Redd and Slips.

[Slips]

I've been stalling on my own part honestly. Havent been able to get a satisfactory story of late and havent been able to really sit down and get it out there.

[Sigismund229]

 

 

Good grief, that's dark.

Very true. I wonder who would win in a war of terror: Grave Stalkers versus Night Lords.

 

With that last point, the Grave Stalkers have finished Beta stages. All that's left is to put them into the PDF to declare them complete. Grifft, let me know when that happens, and I'll update their status. Also, has the Prosecution already been uploaded?

 

Sig, I know that a few pages ago, Squig gave us the Godslayers' next Exemplary Battle. I know I didn't get to it, did you? If not, I'll do that next.

 

In general, are there any more chapter posts hiding in the legion-specific threads?

 

I haven't forgotten the Madrigal Purge, but I'm trying to time the updates it with the new short story I'm synching it with.

In that case I did the task I set out to do

 

Yeah I edited it

[Grifftofer]

 

 

Hey Simison, quick question, what manner of weapons are the blades the Reapers forge for themselves before their Ha'kun Ch'am? Because if they're swords I'd like to suggest a more themetic alternative in the form of paired one-handed Scythes like these:

http://www.adventuresinpoortaste.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wallpaper033-1920x1200.jpg

 

EDIT: Typo removed.

shouldn't this be adressed to Grifft seeing as the GS are his legion?

Oh my bad, my memory is terrible and my knowlesge on who owns what Legion isn't quite complete. :/

 

Yes, please. The Grave Stalkers are Grifft's legion. I'm just clearing away the last few errors before it's ready for 'publication'. And I don't blame you for not knowing who belongs to what. It's a big project.

Don't worry about it Sanguinius. The only reason I'm able to keep track of things at all was because I put all the information I could get into an excel doc so I could know who owned what and where the Legions were from etc. It's a massive net of information otherwise and it just keeps getting bigger :P

 

 

Hey Simison Grifftober, quick question, what manner of weapons are the blades the Reapers forge for themselves before their Ha'kun Ch'am? Because if they're swords I'd like to suggest a more themetic alternative in the form of paired one-handed Scythes like these:

http://www.adventuresinpoortaste.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/wallpaper033-1920x1200.jpg

 

EDIT: Typo removed.

 

2ND EDIT: Always asking the wrong people the wrong questions....

Originally I saw the Reapers and K'awil having basically sword-sized kukri. The problem I've been having is in sourcing anything that looks right for heroic 28mm scale, short of making them myself. I did find these though (http://mastercrafted.co.uk/shop/infantry-components/scimitars/), which are as close as I've gotten so far to something I like.

 

 

With that last point, the Grave Stalkers have finished Beta stages. All that's left is to put them into the PDF to declare them complete. Grifft, let me know when that happens, and I'll update their status. Also, has the Prosecution already been uploaded?

I'll put up a pdf of what is done so far, once I've included all the finalised Grave Stalker fluff. Then you can see exactly how things stand at the moment. The last section that is in so far though is the part titled Conspiracy, which ends: "It would take a score of years for the resistant elements to be finally purged, but when Icarion declared himself, he would worry not about betrayal from within."

[Sigismund229]

Just FYI, I'm also available(ish) to write legions fluff

[simison]

Okay, I've noticed a couple of writing rules being routinely broken in the last batch of work. 

 

1. Legion numbers are always the Roman numeral followed by 'th' in superscript form. E.g. V^th, XVII^th
2. There is always a space around parenthesis. E.g. My (weird) example. 
3. If I'm reading the FW HH books right, Legions is always capitalised as is Legiones Astartes & Space Marines. My guess is they are treated as proper nouns which falls under the 'always capitalise' rule. 
4. Regarding Legiones Astartes, I can't find example where just 'astartes' is used by itself. Can someone find me one?

[Sigismund229]

Are we talking forgeworld or just owt published about the 40k verse?

[simison]

Forgeworld, mainly. What is owt?

[Sigismund229]

Means anything

[simison]

Okay. Since we are emulating the FW HH books, my main focus is on matching that particular style. 

[Doctor Perils]

I haven't got any quotes, but if they write Astartes (on its own) for 40k, I can't see any reason why we shouldn't also use it here. But that is of course for a single Astartes (or a small group of them) not full legions...

[simison]

I haven't got any quotes, but if they write Astartes (on its own) for 40k, I can't see any reason why we shouldn't also use it here. But that is of course for a single Astartes (or a small group of them) not full legions...

 

That's why I asked for an example for that one, since I wasn't sure.