Ashen Wolves of Gersemi

[Noeh]

Ashen Wolves of Gersemi

SUMMARY
▪ HOME WORLD: Vanr, Syr, and Valfrej
▪ MAIN COLOURS: Soot smudged tan, black, and red.
▪ SPECIALITY: Close combat and fire
▪ BATTLE CRY: "Lady Freyja guide our flames!" "In the Allfather's name!" "Leave nothing but ash!"
▪ CURRENT STRENGTH: Full strength with the planets of people.
▪ ALLEGIANCE: Independent but they follow the Allfather like Fenrisians.

ORIGIN OF THE ORDER:
The group began as a detachment of Fenrisian Defense Force members loyal to the Space Wolves. The group was simply one that had a higher percentage of women that had proven themselves as capable leaders than men. The group itself was led by one who was known to be as fearless as any member of the Wolves proper. The others referred to her as "Lady Freyja", and she controlled the force with an iron fist.

When a relic of ancient technology was discovered relatively close to Fenris in the galaxy, the Wolves opted to first send a detachment of defense force members, rather than  worry themselves with such a trivial matter as securing a relic on an uninhabited, icy, death world. And so, Lady Freyja and her group were sent off in a battleship to assess the relic. The relic turned out to be some sort of portal gate from an age long lost, but it had managed to be activated by Dark Eldar forces to serve as a webway gate instead. Seeing the local inhabitants of the star system in peril, the defense force hailed their home planet for aid against the xeno threat. When no response was heard they could wait no longer and led a noble  attack against the Dark Eldar forces. The death toll was a steep one, but they managed to fight back the invading forces. and the ancient portal went dormant. After the battle, only thirty members remained alive or simply injured to try and re-establish control of the planet. Within a week, most of those succumbed to their injuries as well, leaving only a dozen.

 

Months later, the twelve had led the locals in securing the portal grounds and organizing them as best they could. The Dark Eldar had been terrorizing them longer than anyone on the planet could remember. The civilians turned to the twelve for leadership, viewing them as divine heroes for saving them.

As more months passed, the area around the portal was turned into a fortress to protect the only habitable zone on the death world. The nearby planet of Syr, took notice of the looming battleship on their planetary neighbor. Crashing down from the skies came three terrifying juggernauts of metal, House Najrell's Knights. The knights were like none the defense force had seen before in any training manual, these were altered in a clearly heretical fashion! As they prepared to strike out at the invading machines, the locals intervened. They spoke of the knights as saviors and not demons. With so few to fight back, the twelve had little choice but to restrain their better judgement. The members of House Najrell proved to be allies to the civilians and met with the twelve. The two sides agreed to a loose alliance as long as the locals of either planet were protected.

Years passed, decades after that. It was now nearly two centuries since the first battle. There had still been no response from Fenris. There had never been a response.The twelve had now been reduced to merely four, with five succeeded by their own children. The alliance with House Najrell had strengthened in folds and the portal fortress had expanded into a makeshift hive city. While they had never intended to stay in the system, it had become the new home for those that remained. The Nine had raised an army of their own in the meantime to fight any threat that might come from the portal, but nothing ever did. However their ship, still in orbit  received a troubling call from a pair of smaller ships not too far off. The Wolves had finally arrived, but with weapons hot. It seems they believed the planets had been overrun and only wished to purge the threat. All attempts to hail them were in folly. The defense force vessel had little choice but to fire upon those they once viewed as allies. One ship was critically hit before they even reached the system and hurled it into the binary star. The other managed to avoid too much damage and troops landed on the surface outside the fortress. The Wolves pressed onward, breaking into the fortress with ease. It was hardly a fight for the Astartes and their equipment.

As the battle raged on, the moon nearby shifted dramatically. A giant, dark storm the Nine had taken to calling "The Allfather's eye" normally whirled across the milky surface, but now it focused on the planet itself. As if a message from the Allfather himself, the portal reactivated in the heart of the fortress and Lady Freyja drew herself out from the rippling energy. She was by no means the same woman that had died in the original attack, Freyja was surrounded in a divine glow and carried herself on a pair of enormous wings. For whatever reason, Freyja had been resurrected as a Living Saint. No matter how many fatal blows she took during the battle as it raged on, she continued to stand again and defeat Marines in waves alongside her own forces and the Knights of Najrell.

 

The battle came to an end with Freyja spearing the last Astartes with her flaming blade. Once reduced to ashes inside his armor, she turned back to those still alive and faded into nothingness as if she had never been there at all. The battlefield was littered with ash, bodies of the fallen, and armor of the defeated marines. The moon's storm still seemed to be standing still, aiming directly at the planet. Together with the Knights, armor covered in ash and soot from those that had fallen, the Nine formed the Ash Dusted Wolves of the Gersemi System. This name would later be shortened to Ashen Wolves of Gersemi in the coming eight centuries that the three planets sprung back into a self sustaining and thriving system, all but swearing off the Imperium entirely. Any battle they faced or any threat they came into contact with from that day on their Lady Freyja returned in her divine glory to lead them through and left nothing but the ashes of their foes.

 

HOME WORLD:

• The Gersemi System on the worlds Syr, Vanr, and Valfrej

PRESENT ACTIVITIES:

• At present, the Ashen Wolves are simply maintaining their respective worlds and keeping the peace among them. They have no true goals other than to protect their new-found people from any threats, whether from the ancient artifact or from off-world.

COMBAT DOCTRINE:

• Each respective planet fights in a different way, but they stick to the same theme of fight and glory in close quarter combat. They ways they fight varies based on what equipment they have available. Most of what they obtain is made by their forces, salvaged from combat, or stolen from ships passing nearby their system.

ROLL OF HONOR:
- Dark Eldar

The first encounter on the planet before the Ashen Wolves were formed. Dark Eldar forces had raged across the planet from a portal, crushing, pillaging, and enslaving all those they could.

The defense force eliminated them, but took extremely severe losses.

 

-Space Wolves
The defining battle that formed the Ashen Wolves. Lady Freyja returned as a Living Saint to lead the forces to a blazing victory. This battle was actually the start of the tradition to coat armor in the ashes of the fallen.

The Wolves broke open the fortress on the planet surface and tore their way through to the portal at the center. Most of their forces had fortunately been lost as their second ship hurtled into the suns, otherwise the Ashen Wolves may not have been victorious even with a trio of modified Knights on their side.

ORDER ORGANIZATION:
The order itself is divided into roughly nine parts. Valfrej's four sections each have an army of their own. Syr has the three Knights and the least number of forces due to the battleship sitting in orbit as a defense measure. Vanr has the largest deployment centered around the hive fortress itself. A smaller detachment watches over the remaining half of the planet.

BELIEFS:

• As native Fenrisians, they believe in the Allfather rather than the God Emperor of Mankind. They hold to the belief that the Allfather watches over their battles and guides them through a living saint known as Lady Freyja.
• They also believe that the ashes of their fallen grant them strength in battles and protect them as a second armor.

RECRUITMENT:

As those that survived the original battle were all women, the Ashen Wolves have kept the tradition to only recruit women they find worthy. As they were once Fenrisians. the women are put through vigorous tests and trials before being allowed to don the power armor of the Ashen Wolves. Those that fail are still held with respect for surviving and offered higher class positions than the general civilians. Either is seen as a great honor.

 

LOCAL RITUALS:

• After a battle, the fallen Ashen Wolves are burned on the field where they fell. The entire battlefield is typically cleansed in fire by A group of women known as the Valkyr. It's believed that burning the bodies where they fell is the only way their deeds are remembered when the Allfather takes them.
• The ashes, now freed of their souls, are then taken by the survivors and rubbed upon their armor in a ritualistic fashion. That way their memory is carried on and protects the ones who live to fight another day. Because of this, even the armor of the fallen is protected in their eyes before it is given to another sister to use in battle.

ORDER BANNERS OR BATTLE STANDARDS:

 

An exmaple of their armor and weapon colors.

 

http://i.imgur.com/mr2KvAj.jpg 

 

 

 

Lady Freyja the Living Saint

 

http://i.imgur.com/cDP1o5X.jpg

 

 

 

House Najrell's Knights in their WIP glory:

 

 

Sylvie the aspiring Mechanicus, augmented her own knight and the others.

http://i.imgur.com/guz7zu1.jpg

 

Morrow's knight features an enormous power claw which lights ablaze in combat.

http://i.imgur.com/w1OOYJc.jpg

 

Annalisia was gifted a rifle that would make any Vindicare weep from it's power and range.

http://i.imgur.com/2Y0BdnC.jpg?1

 

 

HONORS, RELICS, DECORATIONS AND AWARDS:

• The only relic they truly poses that could be recognized by the Imperium at large is the ancient gate they guard on Vanr. It's some form of webway portal that has been accessed by xenos in the past.

BATTLE CRY:

• "Lady Freyja guide our flames!" "In the All-Father's name!" "Leave nothing but ash!"

CHAMPIONS OF THE ORDER:
The planets in the system are ruled by a militaristic council of twelve. Each one rules over a quarter of each planet but they confer with each other to keep laws consistent. The exception is on Vanr where Ragna and Tove rule over half the planet together.

On Syr:

• Annalisia Najrell
• Sylvi Najrell
• Morrow Najrell
• Ylva Rosenkrantz

On Vanr:

• Oydis Leth
• Ragna Sparre
• Tove Osten
• Breña Tolt

On Valfrej:

• Astrid Falsen
• Brenna Holk
• Bergljot Hedin
• Sigrid Aminoff

[Noeh]

I almost forgot to add the rest of my stuff to the army thinger. Here's the whole heretical thing posted separately in case anyone has any C&Cs.

The Imperium would probably try and purge them if they were any sort of active threat. I'm sure there's a higher up in the galaxy somewhere that tolerates their existence simply because they are keeping a possible webway gate under lock and key.

 

Most of my army is painted about 80% done, so apologies for a lack of highlighting and fine detail work on the models. The knights are still clearly a WIP, but they have turned sooooo many heads at my local hobby shop just by being on the table.

[grendal1989]

Did you just blackout their eyes or did you do something like a black wash to make it more eyeshadow look? in either case it is striking.

[Noeh]

It's actually just a small amount of water added to nuln oil shader. I took a thin brush and put a small droplet on each eye. It sorta just dries that way oddly enough.