Night Lords 48th Company, Dread Ascension

[Ghorgul]

Hey,

 

I'm currently building up my Night Lords army. It is mostly for 30k, but I intend to build it in a way it could be used in 40k also. 40k army might use Space Marine rules, unless the 8th edition drops and CSM Night Lords become something playable that fits my vision. With current rules I consider them pretty weak or mediocre.

 

I haven't decided yet if they shall be loyalists or traitors, I prefer to keep it ambiguous. I do dislike the general image of Night Lords as disorganized ravening psychopaths who seem to lose every fight they take, so my fluff for my company takes a bit different approach. Kind of what Night Lords could have been at best without being murdering psychopaths, and probably some were but they have long ago been forgotten. This is their story, written from Imperial point of view.

 

Night Lords 48th Company, Dread Ascension

 

XLVIII Company of the VIII Legion.

 

Pre-Heresy Era

 

Known history goes back to later days of the Great Crusade, when the company was reported to have operated beyond the light of the Astronomican in galactic northeast. Claimed to have been very effective in bringing worlds to imperial compliance, while differing accounts suggest the result was merely creation of petty kingdom of worlds. No name has been recorded for this ‘kingdom’, and the level of imperial affiliation is questionable. It is also debatable if the forged realm can be considered fully affiliated with Night Lords.

 

Many Night Lords companies, even during that time, were known to have operated in very independent manner. That’s at least how it appeared to outsiders, as the 8^th Legion was always very secretive. 48^th Company was no exception to this. Company’s last known leader, Captain Kryvan The Descendant, was not mentioned in imperial records before the Company's Crusade beyond the Light of the Astronomican. It is known that Kryvan was not the original Captain. He has been claimed to be Terran Born, while the name Kryvan remains distinctively Nostraman in nature, making his true origins questionable.

 

After the company’s re-emergence in Imperial Records, the company was noted to have disobeyed orders from Legion command structure on several occasions. As a result of this, several suspended death sentences were cast on the captain of the 48^th, leading him to dye both his gauntlets and helmet red. Weirdly enough, the company's behavior seems to have been tolerated well within the legion.

 

Company’s unofficial designation was “Dread Ascension”. It is not known what the origins of this name are. Recovered vox-recording from their broadcast’ demands to world out of imperial compliance included references to world having fallen away from the light, with the company tasked to help them in their “Ascension”. This might explain the adopted name. While brutal and public in their dispensing of judgement, as was typical of Night Lords, they were well known to target the non-compliant leaders on various levels of organization, while indiscriminate killings were unheard of.

 

Similar to their carefully coordinated terror-tactics, as a fighting force they were very coordinated. This could not be guessed from their outside visual appearance, as their equipment was often mixtures of different armor marks although in exceptionally good condition otherwise. This was most likely due to the limited material supply suffered during their crusades. From limited battle records available, the company seems to have possessed significant amounts of fast attack elements, with jump packs, jetbikes, land speeders and both assault and fighting crafts. Also mentions of auxiliary tank and artillery detachments exist in the records. The preferred tactic has outstandingly been fast strikes with highly concentrated force against targets of importance, which included logistics, communications and command centers. Specific mention should made of the affinity on raids and harassment attacks against elite fighting units in reserve after careful infiltration. This kind of tactic seems to have been employed to distract enemy command organization while allowing other units to engage and destroy designated targets with near impunity. Reports of protracted military campaigns are nonexistent in the records.
 

Horus Heresy

 

No mentions exist of the company from Horus Heresy era in Imperial Records. 48^th Company is not mentioned in forces participant in Isstvan massacre. Records of their military actions in strictly imperial space had already diminished to almost non-existent by beginning of Horus Heresy.

 

After the Heresy

 

Following information is considered controversial and it’s relation to 48^th company has been challenged.

 

No mentions exist of the 48^th company to date in records. However, reports from few somewhat respectable Rogue Traders suggest there exists a human dominion of relative stability far from the light of Astronomican in the galactic northeast. No name for this dominion is given, but it is known that it consists of at least 3 close systems with active trade network between the inhabited planets and moons which number more than 20 in total. None of the planets can be described as full-scale forge world, but the dominion does possess significant industrial base as proven by their ability trade some products resembling known but archaic STC templates with the Rogue Traders. When questioned, the representatives of the dominion did not recognize Imperium of Man as an authority, but they stated that they remain “sympathetic”.

 

The reports have generated interest and calls for expeditions to be organized to bring the systems to Imperial Compliance. Remote location, hazards of travel beyond the Astronomican and the general lack of available military assets in the vicinity has put all these plans on hold. Several agents have been dispatched but in most cases no final mission report has been submitted due to the loss of the operative. Reports and pict-material imply existence of significant void fleets in the dominion, with several ships strongly resembling hull patterns last seen during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.
 

Some reports also suggest dominion fleets were conducting military maneuvers of unknown nature, with some indication of low-level conflict as indicated by damage shown on the ships. Dominion population showed no indication of major ongoing crisis, but infiltration of population has proven difficult due to the archaic dialect spoken by the general population. Operatives on infiltration missions are lost quickly, but those that remain out of contact with population remain active for longer periods. Rogue Trader reports mention meeting only local bureaucrats and traders but no military personnel has been seen.

 

Mechanicum data-scribes and Machine Spirits conducted hyper-probabilistic pattern and input-output expectation matrix rituals, as sanctioned by the High Ecclesiarchy. Based on historical records, ritual outcomes suggested the dominion might be successor, ally or even in total control of the lost 48^th Company of Night Lords. These results have been questioned of course, as some elements of the Ecclesiarchy claim said rituals are Techno-Heresy originating from the Dark Age of Technology. Also the apparent non-hostility to Imperium and lack of reported psyker, chaos, daemon or techno-heretical activities in dominion has tempered reactions to these disturbing results. The dominion has been designated as target for future expansion when possible while simultaneously considered a non-threatening local power, as proven by limited but beneficial trade by the Rogue Traders.

All available data suggests that the dominion cannot be subjugated peacefully and the operation to bring them to Imperial compliance would need dedication of at least 10 full space marine chapters, with far higher amount of Imperial navy auxiliaries, making the future conquest unlikely. Meanwhile Intel gathering by imperial operatives shall continue at low intensity for now.

 

Afterword

 

As with most information regarding 8th Legion, what is known has been gathered from secondary sources due to many records of the 8th Legion having been destroyed with the Nostramo, or never have made it to Imperial archives. Those primary documents that are known are highly classified and highly inaccessible as the Nostraman language is effectively dead in the Imperium, and the only known speakers remain among traitor Night Lords.