Ruminations On Betrayal: Alpha Legion Stealth Squad 7/11/19

[Vazzy]

 

 

 

 

T

he world before me is a barren orb of ash, blood, and mud. It is the fifth of it’s kind we have encountered. Lord Guilliman has tasked us with border security, and the 129^th obeys. We departed Macragge four years prior, resupplied by her forges, and reinforced by her scholams. One thousand warriors, bearing the double hammers of Tallassar.

 

    Four years since we encountered another warrior of our legion. Four years since any news of Terra has reached us. Six years since the Betrayal. Our connection with Macragge has failed us, the technology used to command us, gone. Lord Fidelitas has split the company, assigning my sub-company to follow up on distress beacons set off by our worlds. It is a thankless job, and we have been chasing shadows, having last fired a bolter in anger over six months ago.

 

    Mostly, we find a dead world, arcane sigils etched into the dirt. These we raze, I will not have the shame of them blighting the honor of Ultramar. We find some survivors, but they are rare, and often do not survive more than a week, no matter how much we try. The rest are…broken. The warp has twisted their minds in such a way that we often are forced to put them down.

 

There is no war here. Only death and despair.

“Ruminations on Betrayal”

Sebastus Ixion

 -Sub-Tribune, 129^th Co. XIII, Legio Astartes

 

    The 129^th company, following rearmament on Macragge, would be assigned by Roboute Guilliman with hunting down and countering the ongoing Shadow Crusade led by Lorgar and Angron. Captain Fidelitas would opt to persecute this mission by pursuing the Chapter of the Ruined King, led by Lord Allant. This blood feud would last the length of the Heresy, and would conclude over a millennia later, with many of the parties involved remembering little, if any of the reason for the initial vendetta. However, that is a story for another time.

This chronicle is instead focused on the exploits of Sub-Tribune Ixion and his veteran elite. Ixion would lead a force of about 100 separate form the rest of the company, dealing with various traitor incursions that might threaten the flanks of the company. This action would see them battle various forces under the banner of Horus, including the Warmaster’s own.

 

    Referred to as Strike Force Alpha, the warriors under Ixion were some of the 129^th’s best void and terminator warriors, renowned for their first strike capacity and armored assaults on the ground. As such, it was something of a shock when the task force was reassigned to Ixion.

 

    What to say of Sebastus Ixion? ‘Lion of Tallassar’,  ‘Lord of the Void Born’, he was a decorated, if somewhat unremarkable captain of the Thirteenth. Part of the 129^th that had been in orbit during the Betrayal, he repelled three waves of Word Bearer assault forces attempting to take the company’s flagship, earning an Iron Halo he wore with pride until his demise. Soft of voice, Ixion was respected, if not particularly well liked by his fellow officers in the 129^th, though this had little to do with his abilities, and instead reflected upon the cult of personality Luciel Fidelitas had built around himself prior to his elevation as Senior Captain. Some murmured that Ixion had rankled at the young man being promoted above him, but closed logs from the deciding vote made it clear that Ixion had nothing but respect for the young man who would go on to lead the company into the Scouring and beyond.

 

    This account will pick up immediately prior to traitor incursions into the Hadrius System, and will end immediately following the start of the Scouring. It will include multiple interludes, as well as Character profiles depicting important figures from the campaign. This author will not pretend that this account is unbiased. It is written by a survivor of said campaign, and includes various interview profiles taken from Astartes, mortal, and Mechanicum perspectives. More information is available upon request.

 

+++PICT CAPTURE//XIII.CXXIX.FABIAN+++

 

+++Note: Many XIII Legio companies had began to move towards alternative heraldry as legion forces dispersed throughout Ultramar. This particular scheme is believed to have referred to themselves as the 'Shattered Suns'. Origin is unclear, though possibly a reference to the death of the Veridian star.+++

 

+++Laurel and Gladius insignia represents void specialist, not surprising considering armament.+++

Edited July 11, 2019 by Vazzy

[Soldier of Dorn]

And the Hammers of Tallassar return. Good to see you back to the XIII Legion -- the prototypical Shattered Sons scheme looks in the way it combines your own scheme with the blue of the Ultramarines.Looking forward to where this one goes.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The freehand insignia look rough, but that can be fixed more experience (and patience with your critics). Don't give up; keep painting and repainting, and your works will be worthy of appearances in Games Workshop magazine.

 

I'd like to know why the Terminator is half-silver, half-red. Did Ixion's force suffer from Alpha Legion infiltration, forcing the loyalists to repaint their armor to better distinguish themselves? (For comparison, after Caliban's destruction, the Dark Angels loyalists repainted their armor to distinguish themselves from the Fallen, many of whom kept their pre-Heresy colors.) Will you reuse the models for an Ultramarines successor in games and IA entries?

[Brother Heinrich]

God it's good to see a narrative 30k log start up again, with the old Youtube music for thematic weight and everything. I know the Chapter of the Ruined king and who commands them... to say I'm excited would be an understatement.

 

Edited March 12, 2018 by Brother Heinrich

[Vazzy]

And the Hammers of Tallassar return. Good to see you back to the XIII Legion -- the prototypical Shattered Sons scheme looks in the way it combines your own scheme with the blue of the Ultramarines.Looking forward to where this one goes.

 

Appreciate it Brother! Realized 30k is more where I belong. I like 8th, and the Suns are my babies, but explaining their background has always been my favorite part of the army. 

 

The freehand insignia look rough, but that can be fixed more experience (and patience with your critics). Don't give up; keep painting and repainting, and your works will be worthy of appearances in Games Workshop magazine.

 

I'd like to know why the Terminator is half-silver, half-red. Did Ixion's force suffer from Alpha Legion infiltration, forcing the loyalists to repaint their armor to better distinguish themselves? (For comparison, after Caliban's destruction, the Dark Angels loyalists repainted their armor to distinguish themselves from the Fallen, many of whom kept their pre-Heresy colors.) Will you reuse the models for an Ultramarines successor in games and IA entries?

Appreciate it Bjorn, planning on working on the freehand for sure. Check back in tomorrow for an explanation on color!

 

God it's good to see a narrative 30k log start up again, with the old Youtube music for thematic weight and everything. I know the Chapter of the Ruined king and who commands them... to say I'm excited would be an understatement.

 

Don't see many narrative threads anymore do we? It was always my favorite part of WIP. And yes, the Ruined King will likely be making cameo appearances, though the story behind that climax is a ways away. Have to make sure it's done properly. 

 

Thanks everyone for looking and dropping likes!

[Soulhunter1995]

Ahhh a narrative thread to warm my cold heart  Looking forward to seeing how this story continues for sure

[Brother Lunkhead]

Very fine narrative log brother I look forward to seeing more. I especially like you idea for the alternative heraldry. It works quite nicely into the lore imo.

[Soldier of Dorn]

I have to concur -- narrative logs are one of the best parts of WIP, and they're so very rare nowadays. I am planning out a new one of my own at the moment, but that's a month or so out at best, I think.

 

Now, what's next?

[Vazzy]

 

 

"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."

-Poe

 

Andan Smyte, Corporal in the 2343^rd Castus Irregulars, rolled his shoulders as he watched the artillery pound the landing site of the XIIIth legion forces assembled to take the planet.

 

    Impenetrable. That’s how the kilometers of siege tunnels, bunkers and trenches had been described. And so far, they had been correct. Bodies of loyalist regiments are piled ten high at the base of the earthworks, their purple fatigues a muddied and dulled black. Most are missing their eyes, or their hearts, the desecration of the corpses evident for all to see. Massive grey thunderheads fill the sky, and fat, cold drops of rain begin to sprinkle off of Smyte. His squad shiver in the cold, their faces pockmarked and raw from bloat fly attacks, gazing up, expectant.

 

 

    Ultramarines. That’s the rumor at least. He has yet to see the powder blue of a Son of Guilliman. He looks back to No Man’s Land, and notes a slight tremor, progressively growing stronger. With a loud roar, the earth works collapse as massive tank of iron, emblazoned in steel and blood   slams into them. Pneumatics hiss, and suddenly men start dying.

 

    Ten walking tanks clank forward, one fist wielding claws the length of a saber, the other holding a thrumming rifle. The weapon fired with a  CHOOM, and Griffyn disappeared. Smyte saw the barest glimpse of a skelton before super hot ash and bone fragments ripped into the soldiers cowering around him. Another goes down screaming, his face disfigured by the deflagration of Griffyn, blood pouring from the wounds. Andan doesn’t even get to return fire before he too is cut down, the last thing he hears the CHOOM of the volkite weaponry.

 

 

    The assault took less than forty seconds. The terminators are coated with a fine layer of ash, but no blood. There were one hundred men in this trench. Now there are none. Only piles of ash and dismembered limbs.

 

 

    Prior to the discovery of Lord Guilliman, many within the XIII Legion wore varied color schemes, whether it was the Aurorans of the 4^th, of the Nemesis Chapter of the 22^nd, or a variety of other sub forces. Military forces have long distinguished themselves with alternative insignia, or logos, and the Legio Astartes were no different.

 

    The warriors of the 129^th had slowly transitioned over to the steel and crimson following the permission granted to Lucretius Corvo by Lord Guilliman for his heroics, or Tulian Aquila and his Doom Eagles in boltgun grey. However, while this scheme initially was only worn by veterans of Fidelitas inner circle, it slowly became the staple of the company, and of the hardships they had endured. Some have argued the colors origins bear within the courts of Tallassar, as the Fidelitas house guard wear similar accoutrements. Other have argued that the steel represents the resolve of the Astartes, and the red the blood of their Lord, Roboute Guilliman. Both have merit, and have not been denied by Fidelitas or any of the upper echelon of the newly founded Shattered Suns as of this writing.

 

    In any case, Sub-Tribune Ixion and Strikeforce Alpha wore the steel and crimson as they assaulted the XVII legion militia mustering grounds at Calopis, and would continue to do so as they battled to reclaim world in the name of Macragge. The initial assault was a massacre, with little, if any legion support granted to the ragtag militia assigned to hold the earthworks. But this was a warning sign to the Ultramarines, as the soil seemed to lap up the blood of the fallen, the crimson tide being sucked rapidly into the earth.

 

    Ixion would lead the 129^th into a desperate battle of Zone Mortalis, clearing the catacombs of diseased wretches, and legionaries who were bloated by the blessings of their dark gods. The battle would last 14 days, but would nearly cost Ixion his life as he battled a XVII legion sorcerer deep in the belly of the catacombs.

 

 

+++PICT CAPTURE//XIII.CXXIX.Vikas+++

 

 

+++Crusade Pattern Lightning Claw[Typical Armament]+++

 

 

+++Mars-Omega Pattern Volkite Charger+++

Squad Hadrian warriors carried many of this variant due to it's unique properties and history

I have to concur -- narrative logs are one of the best parts of WIP, and they're so very rare nowadays. I am planning out a new one of my own at the moment, but that's a month or so out at best, I think.

 

Now, what's next?

 

We descend into the depths brother. Something lurks beneath the mud...

 

Very fine narrative log brother I look forward to seeing more. I especially like you idea for the alternative heraldry. It works quite nicely into the lore imo.

 

Thanks! Iv'e been working on joint projects for the VPLU (Vazzy Painting Log Universe) for a long time now, so I'm glad everyone likes it!

Ahhh a narrative thread to warm my cold heart  Looking forward to seeing how this story continues for sure

Watch this thread for sure brother!

Edited March 22, 2018 by Vazzy

[Reyner]

Awesome stuff Vazzy and I agree with what others have said on narrative logs they are among my favourite aspects of the B&C.

[Brother Heinrich]

"Ash 'em" Keep up the good work Vazzy

[Vazzy]

"They're all around us! Throne alive, they're tearing us apart. I can't see! I can't- Imperator save me!"

 

 

[Data Inload....Pending....Pending....Check in +6 hours for full report]

 

"Ash 'em" Keep up the good work Vazzy

There's gonna be a burning, that's for sure. 

 

Awesome stuff Vazzy and I agree with what others have said on narrative logs they are among my favourite aspects of the B&C.

Thanks Reyner! Appreciate any and all feedback!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Is that Terminator bearing an entire flamestorm cannon? That's as AWESOME as it is INSANE.

[Vazzy]

 

 

 

Zone Mortalis

The "fatal ground" in High Gothic, was the term used by Imperial military forces of the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras to refer to the most savage arenas of combat conceivable.

 

"What was it like in tunnels? That’s your question? Very well.”

 

“Many warriors speak of the Underworld War as the be all end all of campaigns. And yet, no one acknowledges how many of us endured similar experiences all across Ultramar."

 

“Imagine if you can, the blackest of blacks, so black that you question if you’ve gone blind. Your headlamps go perhaps 5 feet, and the only true source of light is from the discharge of your brothers weapons, the roar of promethium as it engulfs the enemy. Monsters stagger at you from the shadows, their faces twisted in pain, or fear, or bliss. Whatever the face they wore when they died, that is the face they wear now. Some of them bear the blue of Ultramar, one perhaps, the face of a brother who you knew had been alive just minutes before. Imagine them tearing apart the mortals with you, taking mortal wound after mortal wound until you finally manage to remove their head. One of them pulls down your brother, twenty of them dragging him to his knees, grubby fingers smearing his armor, his lenses, tearing at his helm.You burn them off of him, knowing that if you don't he will die. Your heavy flamer roars, and the ghouls blacken and char beneath them, screaming. Your brother burns, so that he may live. But he’s not the same. You never are. The dead walk, and they are you.”

 

“And that is just the first one hundred steps in. So much more waits the deeper you go.”

-Veteran Agnatio, Personal Testimony 1.2//A-78FG

 

T

he Archenemy would honeycomb Calopis with deep and dark tunnels, filling them with the dead and mutated hordes of their dark masters. The 129^th would descend into the depths and clear them out. What they found would scar the survivors. An unnatural darkness seemed to seep into the tunnels, so much so that many found that the lumens built into their armor barely pierced the gloom. Like so many other aspects of chaos, it seemed that the primitive option was often the answer. Fire burned away the fog, at least temporarily, so many squads opted for flamers in the depths.

 

The dead waited for the 129^th, as ghouls, raised by Warp Magick assaulted squad after squad, taking massive amounts of damage before falling. The worst of these undead puppets bore the blue plate of Ultramar, fallen brothers from Calth, Tallassar, Armatura. These hordes were unrelenting, and while not threats individually, as a group they proved more than threat. Ixion had no Librarian on site to combat these spells, and it would be the iron resolve of his men that would see the day through.

As the Ultramarines pushed deeper, more and more reported apparitions, or specters of brothers long lost appeared, warning them to go no further. The zombie hordes eventually morphed into legionary resistance, the Word Bearers warped beyond imagining, each bearing pockmarked armor, and damage no legionary should survive. They whispered in demonic tongues, chanting a name over and over,as if summoning something.

 

The barrier to the warp was weak here, and Neverborn occurred with disturbing regularity, dragging away members of the 129^th away, never to be heard from again.* The 129^th, remembering the harsh lessons of Calth, burned it all, including their own dead before moving on. The source of this planets cancer was close at hand, and would lead to a monumental effort that would see the 129^th embarking on a path that they would likely not return from.

 

*This is incorrect. Many of the 'missing' were found on other worlds, at other times. The Chapter of the Ruined King holds that a trophy of the original 129th is a valuable tool in occult rituals. The Shattered Suns have launched many a crusade to recover said relics.

 

[Veteran Agnatio- Calopis Tunnel System]

 

[Agnatio also wields a Crusade pattern lightning claw. I squad almost solely carried said weapon, and volkite or flamer weaponry. They would prove immense in the close quarters combat in the tunnels]

 

[All of Strike Force Alpha was equipped with Tartaros Pattern Terminator armor. Ixion preferred the speed and agility the armor afforded over the bulkier Cataphractt sets used by Fidelitas' elite retinues]

 

[Agnatio bears the Void Specialist Honorific with pride. While not unique at all among this unit, Agnatio should be noted as being considered one of the preeminent experts in flame weaponry in Zone Mortalis situations

Edited April 1, 2018 by Vazzy

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on both the model and his backstory.

[Soulhunter1995]

Damn now that`s what I call backstory :D and the model looks pretty good too :P Keep it coming Vazzy :)

[Marshal Rohr]

Wonderful work so far! Your colors are nice and sharp, and the fluff is awesome! Keep it up, man!

[Vazzy]

 

"Your men would follow you Captain. To whatever end. Be it Hell itself."

-Zarus to Ixion prior to his confrontation with the Necromancer

 

 

Five Years Prior

Calth

Delras Suburbs

Mark + 0.45.37

The Origin of the Chaplain

“Clad in black armour, his face hidden by a skull helm and bearing the eagle-winged mace, the herald would speak the truth offered by the Emperor and the futility of resistance. These bearers of the word and death were chosen from those who had shown supreme devotion to the Imperial Truth. Such a mantle, once bestowed, was never removed.”

 

“Someone get anti air fire on those damn Raptors! They’re massacring the 128^th as they’re trying to reach the arcology!”

 

 

A

rain of dirt fell from the sky as legionary Justinian moved towards the palisade sheltering members of fifth squad. It had been just over an hour since the Word Bearer guns had been turned upon their Ultramar brethren, and thirty minutes since Captain Fidelitas had returned from Delras, armor damaged and bearing the corpse of Lieutenant Nonus. In that half hour, he’d mobilized much of the company, quickly forming a defensive perimeter as a wave of XVII legion auxiliaries began to assault the company as they attempted to evacuate the surrounding citizens into the arcology below.

 

     Justinian sprinted towards his sqaudmates, Helas frantically waving him in behind the ferrocrete. His armored bulk tore up clods of the rich earth, once used for farming, now dotted with prostrate cobalt forms. By his estimate, at least seventy of the 129^th had been scythed down  while attempting to understand what had happened, weapons holstered, helms at their waist. It was a tragedy. No, a betrayal. Yes. Betrayal. The Word Bearers were traitors. It’d almost be funny if it wasn’t happening to him.

 

     He never reached Helas or the rest of his squad. A shrieking hellfire missile, launched by one of the strafing Fire Raptor gunships exploded amongst them, and flung Justinian into the air. He slammed into the earth, and his armor began to shriek damage reports, with a steady undertone a flatline. The sky above him had turned a deep, blood red, and he realized that the steady flashes of light were not lightning but exploding vessels. A wave of auxiliaries poured over him, tearing at his armor, stabbing at his joints. He struggled to stand, to shake them off. But he simply did not have the strength to do so.

 

     He was saved by a titan in black ceramite, wielding a halberd glowing with blue light. Chaplain Zarus hit the assembled horde like a train, his polearm spinning, cleaving through multiple mortals with each strike. He was unstoppable, moving from one to another, fists lashing out when he wouldn’t deign to sully his crozius. He leaned over Justinian, the red lenses of his death mask glowing with hatred. He hissed two words and gripped him by his plastron, drawing their helms close.

 

“Get up.”

 

     The terminator armored Chaplain sprinted forward, impaling a Word Bearer upon his blade, before raising it in salute to the struggling legionaries behind him.

 

“Brothers! Our thin-blooded cousins of the XVII forget whom they face. Let us show them how the Sons of Ultramar greet invaders!”

 

 

[Chaplain Zarus]

 

 

[There would be many things found deep beneath Calopis that the Imperial Truth could not explain. Zarus, despite the warp monstrosities before him, never wavered in his duty to his brothers-publicly at least.]

 

 

Sorry for the giant pictures y'all, didn't realize imgur was going to do that. 

 

@Rohr- Thanks brother. You and your ilk have always been a real inspiration for me!

 

@SoulHunter1995 Hopefully you enjoy this one aswell

 

@Bjorn- Thanks again my dude. I appreciate you alwats dropping a comment here! Means a lot!

Edited May 12, 2018 by Vazzy

[deathspectersgt7]

[Brother Lunkhead]

Most EXCELLENT work brother 

[Honda]

 

 

 

 

Who and/or what is that figure? "Trippy", "viewed on brown acid", just don't seem to cut it?

 

Just wild.

[Noctus Cornix]

That's the Pariah from Kingdom Death: Monster, the best board game on the market, if I'm honest.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Well done.

[Vazzy]

 

 

“What is there to say? I banished the daemon. Barely. Have you ever faced such a creature? Of course, you have not. You’re mortal. You would lie dead at his feet like all the others, his whispering lies twisting your mind, turning you against your brothers. He did not even have to lift a finger such was his power. It was my faith in the Imperium that carried the day. Have you ever gone deep sea diving? Imagine the pressure as you go deeper and deeper beneath the waves, the encroaching darkness, the icy chill of the depths cutting right into your core. That was what his power was like. Overwhelming. It was not something you defeated, it was something you endured. And endured I did. But the white spectre haunted me across Ultramar…I still hear the cackle of his laughter at times. I have experienced no taint. My soul is clean, but the experience has scarred my consciousness.”

-Chaplain Zarus

Interview Log 1.02.23.44

 

 

[Zarus Valdold-Chaplain of the 129th]

 

      

C

haplain Zarus was the spiritual leader of Strike force Alpha. He was a lynchpin during the defense at Delras, three time rallying the faltering Ultramarine lines, driving back the advancing hordes. His polearm is an allowed deviation from the traditional mauls of the Chaplain Order, though it has served him well over the half century he has served as the terminator elite’s advisor. Zarus’ face was cute from a rich mahogany, something of a rarity amongst the paler maritime tribes of Talassar, though not unheard of within the 129^th ‘s ranks. Short, dark dreadlocks framed his face, and a sharp beard completed the look, though the Chaplain was rarely seen with out his skull helm. Ixion had given him the option to continue on with Fidelitas, but Zarus had chosen to join the elite strike force instead, noting that the blood crusade the Captain was pursuing would see the Company’s ruin.

 

      Leading from the front, the Chaplain was an active participant in every battle fought up until the Scouring. His artificed Tartaros armor was painted a rich black, the gold and blue marking making it abundantly clear as to where his loyalties laid. A disciplined warrior, Zarus was known for being his rousing battle oratory, spurring the men under him to great feats of victory, no matter the odds. Zarus would be one of the founding members of the Shattered Suns, but would be lost during the Neres Raid, his teleport transponder failing to deliver a return during a boarding action against the Ruined King’s raiding vessels. It is suspected that Warp Magick devoured his soul, his white ghost finally claiming him.

 

 

[Chaplain Zarus-Wargear is completely customized to his personal standards]

 

 

[Personal Heraldry of Zarus*-Unknown Talassar House]

 

 

[Personal Journal contains battle poetry and chronicles of life during service]

 

*If anyone guesses the inspiration for the heraldry, I will make a character of your choosing or $5 bucks, your call. Hint, It's a European football club

Edited May 13, 2018 by Vazzy

[deathspectersgt7]

Great job on the Chaplain . Barcelonea .