Index Militarum: Regiments of the Starfire Crusade

[Hasoroth]

Imperial Guard

 

With upwards of a billion Imperial Guard deployed on the outset of the Starfire Crusade, a full accounting of the myriad regiments deployed to the vicious fighting in the Segmentum Tempestus is by its nature incomplete.

 

With the assistance of Ecclesiarchy burial records, Munitorum casualty and requisition reports, as well as the aid of the Mechanicus I have compiled a list, to the best of my ability, of the various regiments that saw honorable combat over the forty years of the crusade. 

 

Silax Heavy Infantry - 12 Regiments Deployed

 

Hailing from the feral industrial world of Silax Beta, regiments of the Silax Heavy Infantry served with distinction in the Starfire Crusade and played a pivotal role in the Battle of Kodera District where they engaged and destroyed a significant deployment of SAC X-Class weapon platforms.

 

Comprised of the cream of Silax Betas planetary defence force, competition is fierce for placement in the Silax Heavy Infantry as service guarantees a higher standard of living (in the form of greater access to rations, as well as access to Munitorum dependent pensions) for the immediate families of volunteers.

 

Renowned for their sheer grit and eagerness to come into close quarters battle with their enemies the Silax Heavy Infantry are regularly employed in Armored Fist formations, borne to battle in a sea of Chimera transports, as well as Munitorum approved, Silax produced transports known colloquially as Hornets.

 

Arbakka Sapper Corp - 8 Regiments Deployed

 

In centuries past Arbakka was a civilized world first colonized by officers of the Battlefleet Bakka as a retirement world. Proud naval traditions have endured and as a result the Arbakka Sapper Corp is considered almost an afterthought to the worlds contribution to the Imperial tithe.

 

Members of the Arbakka Sapper Corp are to a man former technicians, machinists, and laborers on the planet's many sub-Mechanicus grade explosives refinery plants. With labor demands far outstripping occupational openings, service in the Arbakka Sappers is rewarded with management training placements and any member of the Sappers who dutifully carries out their 20 year term of service can expect an opportunity to join the management caste of the planets factory-elite.

 

Though considered a posting for second sons and menials, the Arbakka Sapper Corp maintains a considerable reputation for ingenuity on the battlefield. Rarely deployed together as single regiment formations, squads of the Sapper Corp are usually detached to coldly and methodically blast through the strongholds of the enemy. 

 

Jagali Hunters - 3 Regiments Deployed

 

Jagali is a world renowned for the resources found in its abundant rainforests and jungles. Nominally a Hive World (see Planetary Capitols of the Segmentum Tempestus) the vast majority of the inhabitants of Jagali live mean lives on the outskirts of the planets capital (and only) hive city.

 

Overseeing the recruitment of the Jagali Hunters is the prerogative of the planets ruling clan, and rumors abound that service in the Hunters doubles as a form of population control as troublesome and rival clans are conscripted and shipped off en masse. 

 

Operating almost exclusively as light infantry, a reflection of both their planets dense topography as well as its relative lack of industry, the Jagali Hunters are scouts and outriders without comparison. Organized in a manner that owes as much to the confusing clan and caste hierarchy of their homeworld as to Munitorum approved ToEs, the clan formations of the Jagali Hunters have been employed by Crusade command to great effect.

 

Svagt House Guard -  1 Regiment Deployed

 

Newly classified as a Hive World, Svagt is a storm swept tidally locked planet with its northern hemisphere scorched by the touch of the planets binary stars and its southern hemisphere encased in ice. 

 

The primary export of the Svagtines are rare gemstones know as Sjaeli, formed by their planet's unique suns-kissed topography, which are utilized almost exclusively for Astartes grade psy-tech such as Force Hoods. The harvesting of these gems is fraught with peril and as a result all Svagtines are intimately familiar with the rigours of wearing life-support suits, which has led to the Svagt House Guards reputation for excellence in the field of hazardous environment warfare.

 

All Svagtines are conscripted into the planets PDF on their sixteenth namedays, and eligibility for service in the Imperial Guard is determined by an annually conducted draw. Dreaded and celebrated as the Day of Loss, those chosen to join the Imperial Guard are legally declared dead and riotous planetwide wakes are held for the new recruits.

 

In battle the House Guard are stoic and precise combatants, a cultural trait bred by generations of gem-hunters who knew that a slight misstep could mean the difference between returning home with a bounty of Sjaeli, or a corpse burnt beyond recognition.

 

 

Atteri Chosen - 75 Regiments Deployed

 

Hailing from the Warmasters own homeworld, the Atteri Chosen are warriors possessed with an overwhelming sense of faith, a reflection of their planet's prosperous trade in Ecclesiarchal materials such as robes of investiture, thrice blessed water, and truesilver. 

 

Competition for inclusion in the ranks of the Atteri Chosen is fierce, a result of severe childhood indoctrination in the planets chapel-scholams. Every Atterian is raised according to the curriculum first set in place by Saint Atteri himself, a series of lessons built around cultivating obedience and dedication to the God-Emperor, the Ecclesiarchy, and the ruling noble families of Atteri.

 

As a result of the Starfire Crusade being led by one of her native sons, the planets ruling aristocracy has pledged to exceed Imperial tithe quotas for ten years in a show of support and faith. Regiments of the Atteri Chosen are renowned for their bravery and zealotry, a dedication to holy war that has only grown in the wake of the Crusade.