[LASC 2021] Sizerbakc's Scourers

[Bruce Malcom]

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Sizerbakc's Scourers, The Chaos Space Marine Warband

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Origins
<<Information on the origins of the Warband>>
Horus was dead, and his ambitions were shattered by fleeing Traitor Primarchs and a furious Praetorian of Terra. A lone Space Marine of the Iron Warriors Legion followed his Primarch back to their one refuge, the Eye of Terror. This Space Marine was a powerful psyker, and he had been practicing his power now that the Emperor's decree at Nikaea irrelevant.
 
The escape to the Eye was not painless. Many Imperial ambushes, mostly led by the Imperial Fists or the Black Templars, had caught them off-guard and caused the death of many Iron Warriors that this Space Marine called friend. It was a battle before the event at the Eternal Fortress which caused the Space Marine to revolt.
 
He was a Space Marine Sergeant, leading ten other Astartes. They had been sent to recover supplies from an old Blood Angels compound. The thousand-strong Space Marine contingent there had believed the Imperium to have fled the base, abandoning it to assault the Traitor's warpath to Terra. Their information was false, and when the remnant fleet arrived in orbit of the moon which housed the base, they found a fierce company of Blood Angels and a good ten thousand Imperial Armymen awaiting their arrival. Though the intellect and skill of the Iron Warriors allowed them to slay many Armymen and Blood Angels, they were still being bested by the Loyalists due to the Traitor's worn armor and weapons quickly running out of ammunition.
 
It was in this battle that this Space Marine Sergeant realized that the dream of Horus could never be accomplished by hiding in the Eye. The Imperium was an empire, with supply lines and resources aplenty, even after the blows Horus' rebellion had dealt. Once the Blood Angels were murdered and the Armymen slaughtered, the Iron Warriors contingent stole the base's supplies and prepared to depart.
 
At least, that was what it was supposed to have done. The Sergeant, now effectively a Captain after the death of so many Astartes, led a munity and stole a trio of warships; two Lunar Cruisers and a Repulsive-Class Grand Cruiser, the Cinders of Trust. 
 
The Cinders of Trust would act as their flagship for millennia, doing as the Sergeant commanded. The Iron Warrior had declared that the men under his command would not flee to the Eye of Terror, but rather they would build their own empire on the other side of the galaxy, far from the Imperium. There, they would have their own manufactorums and shipyards, they would build new warships and raise new armies!
 
It was indeed a grand dream, but it came closer to fruition than many would have believed. Living out at the edge of Segmentum Obscurus, the now-declared Sizerbakc and his forces mustered themselves and built a hearty fiefdom on the edge of known space. Though most of his forces were Astartes who made the trek over to Sizerbakc's domain or traitorous mortals following suite, none can deny his two companies' worth of fiefdom-born Space Marines, or the eight ships constructed by new shipyards. After his military swelled and the Great Rift tore open, Sizerbakc felt his empire's time had come. Readying his Astartes, warfleet, and mortal armies, Sizerbakc declared his warband Sizerbakc's Scourers, an insult and subversion of the hunt which dared to extinguish Horus' dream.
Homeworld
<<Information on the Warband’s homeworld>>
Arelnius was the world which Sizerbakc started his warband from. Though the Cinders of Trust guided them through that bleak night and Olympia would remain Sizerbakc's home of birth, Arelnius is the world which provides the most materials, recruits, and military assets. The planet is located deep within the heart of a Warp-touched nebula, far from Imperial eyes. Its lush forests have long since become akin to that of Caliban's, dark hearts at the center of a hidden world. Its rocky cliffsides pitch black, leading to much of their armored vehicles sharing the color.
 
It was a mockery of a standard Imperial world, mirroring one in all but the sinister overtures. Even in orbit, looted Imperial ships or ones created off Imperial design. Its defenders akin to PDF or that of the Imperial Guard, except for their upbringing and stars of Chaos crudely painted over their autoguns.
 
The planet's 'native' population is the descendants of traitor armymen and crew members. Their number has been bolstered by the passage of ten thousand years and hundreds of thousands, millions even, of former Imperials chasing down a myth or a ship crewed by traitors spat out of the Warp by the Dark Gods after they prayed for refuge. Many of these hijacked ships have been transformed into new warships or dismantled to construct cities or much less taxing ground vehicles. The plasma generating hearts of civilian freighters beat energy and life into many dark Arelnian cities.
Combat Doctrine
<<Information on the Warband’s combat doctrine>>
Sizerbakc's Scourers are an aggressive, but versatile force. The forces' tactics often rely on their commander's tactics, or as Sizerbakc calls them, his Barons. Forces led by Grand Baron Sizerbakc are somewhat of a mix of all available assets. Tanks, gunlines, and vicious melee is all present in a force led by the Grand Baron. However, the hulking Baron Eremalk has a far more vicious amount of Khorne Berzerkers and Raptors at his disposal. All Barons typically have a strong gunline, minor armor support, and elite melee warriors at the core of their army, however.
Organization/Organisation
<<Information on the Warband’s organization/organisation>>
The Scourers are divided into ten groups, each a hundred or so strong with Astartes and with varying amounts of cultists and warships. Each group is led by one of the nine Barons, and Sizerbakc commanding one himself. More often than not, a Baron will work with another Baron and combine their forces to become a stronger foe. Despite this, Barons often squabble and engage in minor skirmishes with each other, as Chaos-aligned warriors are wont to do. This natural inclination to infighting has held Sizerbakc's dreams back far more than the Imperium has, and multiple Barons have been executed by the Chaos Sorcerer's Force Axe for insubordination.
Beliefs
<<Information on the Warband’s beliefs and warrior cult>>
The Scourers, being a Chaos warband, believe in the Ruinous Powers and actively worship them. However, their feudal ways has caused much division when it comes to which god to worship. Most simply align with Chaos Undivided, like their Iron Warrior forefathers. However, the small groups of World Eaters, Thousand Sons, Death Guard, and Emperors Children who have arrived in the Scourer's armies spread their monotheistic approach, with Slaanesh and Tzeench becoming the most popular over time. Sizerbakc himself has received some attention, with thousands of years of rulership over the same populace granting him a sort of idolism, though not enough to gain any benefit besides a surprising amount of loyalty.

Gene-seed/Geneseed
<<Information on the Warband’s gene-seed/geneseed purity/mutations/lost organs>>
While the majority of the Space Marines in the Scourers are descended from well-maintained Iron Warriors genestock, there is an ever-rising amount of Astartes made from stolen loyalist geneseed. Much of the Astartes who came from the other Chaos Legions have unviable geneseed, which has somewhat placed a cap on how many Heretic Astartes the Scourers have at their disposal.
Battle-cry/Battlecry/Chapter Motto
<<The Chapter’s battle-cry or motto>>
"From the Ignorance of the Imperium, We Strike!" Edited March 30, 2021 by Bruce Malcom

[Zebulon]

It’s a good start, but I do need to pick you up on this bit:

 

“ He was a Space Marine Sergeant, leading ten other Astartes. They had been sent to recover supplies from an old Blood Angels compound. The thousand-strong Space Marine contingent there had believed the Imperium to have fled the base, abandoning it to assault the Traitor's warpath to Terra. Their information was false, and when the remnant fleet arrived in orbit of the moon which housed the base, they found a fierce company of Blood Angels and a good ten thousand Imperial Armymen awaiting their arrival. Though the intellect and skill of the Iron Warriors allowed them to slay many Armymen and Blood Angels, they were still being bested by the Loyalists due to the Traitor's worn armor and weapons quickly running out of ammunition.”

 

The way that is written, at first I thought you were saying a single squad took out a company of Blood Angels and 10k imperial army!

 

Also, even if it’s 1000 vs 11000, it still seems a little off in terms of scale. Maybe. Just need to be careful with clarifying this.

 

Do you have ideas for the reason Iron Warriors would change to an ostensibly quite-Slaaneshi colourscheme?

[Trokair]

I don’t know if the issue is present for others, but for me the formatting code in your post are not working correctly. If it is just my end ignore this, but if not it would really help readability if you could get it fixed. If you need some help with the code used on the B&C for post formatting have a look here.

 

A sergeant seems a very low position to mount a break away with, even if the Iron Warrior force was much reduced in strength. Maybe have Sizerbakc be a lieutenant equivalent at the time, enough command authority and experience to organize and leas a small force, more than a sergeant, but no so high up that he ever gain much renown or attention from higher up the command structure.

 

I assume that it is because this is still a draft, but the opening paragraph comes across a bit garbled, on the one hand it states that a lone marine followed his Primarch (when surly many would have followed their liege into the Eye post heresy) and it also says that said marine was a psyker. Yet the rest of the article states that Sizerbakc led at least some other marines (though as stated above I think it should be more than just a sergeant) and for another nothing else describes Sizerbakc  as a psyker, or has him use his abilities.

 

One suggestion that comes to mind is that if Sizerbakc  was a powerful psyker and part of his legions Librarium then following the Edict of Nikaea he would have been reassigned to a normal rank and position. That said I don’t recall if the Iron warriors had a Librarium.

[Bruce Malcom]

It’s a good start, but I do need to pick you up on this bit:

 

“ He was a Space Marine Sergeant, leading ten other Astartes. They had been sent to recover supplies from an old Blood Angels compound. The thousand-strong Space Marine contingent there had believed the Imperium to have fled the base, abandoning it to assault the Traitor's warpath to Terra. Their information was false, and when the remnant fleet arrived in orbit of the moon which housed the base, they found a fierce company of Blood Angels and a good ten thousand Imperial Armymen awaiting their arrival. Though the intellect and skill of the Iron Warriors allowed them to slay many Armymen and Blood Angels, they were still being bested by the Loyalists due to the Traitor's worn armor and weapons quickly running out of ammunition.”

 

The way that is written, at first I thought you were saying a single squad took out a company of Blood Angels and 10k imperial army!

 

Also, even if it’s 1000 vs 11000, it still seems a little off in terms of scale. Maybe. Just need to be careful with clarifying this.

 

Do you have ideas for the reason Iron Warriors would change to an ostensibly quite-Slaaneshi colourscheme?

I'll try and fix that, it definitely took more than a squad of ten heheh. And it was supposed to be a fight the Iron Warriors should've won easily, and eventually they did, but the Iron Warriors were exhausted and their resources were too. The battle, which should've played into the Iron Warriors strength of siegecraft and breaking forts, taxed them far more than it should've and this disenfranchised Sizerbakc and the majority of that contingent's survivors. I'll add more to emphasize that.

 

As for the Slaaneshi color scheme, I tried to go with a corrupted Iron Warriors look. That red is supposed to be maroon, while the deep grey is starting to resemble more Black Legion than the classic gunmetal of the Iron Warriors. Its supposed to represent their branching off from the Iron Warriors and the influx of other Legionnaires who share his opinions but worship one of the Gods more intensely than Sizerbakc or his original Iron Warriors group.

 

I don’t know if the issue is present for others, but for me the formatting code in your post are not working correctly. If it is just my end ignore this, but if not it would really help readability if you could get it fixed. If you need some help with the code used on the B&C for post formatting have a look here.

 

A sergeant seems a very low position to mount a break away with, even if the Iron Warrior force was much reduced in strength. Maybe have Sizerbakc be a lieutenant equivalent at the time, enough command authority and experience to organize and leas a small force, more than a sergeant, but no so high up that he ever gain much renown or attention from higher up the command structure.

 

I assume that it is because this is still a draft, but the opening paragraph comes across a bit garbled, on the one hand it states that a lone marine followed his Primarch (when surly many would have followed their liege into the Eye post heresy) and it also says that said marine was a psyker. Yet the rest of the article states that Sizerbakc led at least some other marines (though as stated above I think it should be more than just a sergeant) and for another nothing else describes Sizerbakc  as a psyker, or has him use his abilities.

 

One suggestion that comes to mind is that if Sizerbakc  was a powerful psyker and part of his legions Librarium then following the Edict of Nikaea he would have been reassigned to a normal rank and position. That said I don’t recall if the Iron warriors had a Librarium.

Its not just your end, but by the time I got this out B&C had eaten my post twice and I just didn't have enough energy nor patience to fix it at the time of upload, to say nothing of how I do not know how the coding works. That link is broken, it seems. I do need help for it.

 

 

Lieutenant sounds more believable and I'll change it to that. But for what its worth, the original reason to have him be a sergeant was to emphasis how utterly taxing the Scouring and that battle with the Blood Angels was, that a sergeant of all things would be near the top of the command chain. Sizerbakc is indeed that sergeant, and I didn't want to name him before their fracturing as Sizerbakc was not that sergeant's original name.

 

As for Sizerbakc's pyskerhood, he was given a normal rank and told not to use his psychic powers (at least until the Heresy broke out). As for not using his powers, I couldn't really think of anywhere to showcase it on this big of a scale? He's not powerful enough for his psychic powers to affect multiple systems and the scale is too zoomed out for it to be showcased on the skirmish level, where it was used most often.

[Trokair]

 

Its not just your end, but by the time I got this out B&C had eaten my post twice and I just didn't have enough energy nor patience to fix it at the time of upload, to say nothing of how I do not know how the coding works. That link is broken, it seems. I do need help for it.

No worries, these things happen, do the best you can when you can spare the time and mind at some point.

 

How annoying that I messed up the link to the help page, sorry  , try this one.

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/304061-bbcode-guide/

 

 

Edit, tested it and that one works correctly on my end.

Edited March 29, 2021 by Trokair

[Bruce Malcom]

 

Its not just your end, but by the time I got this out B&C had eaten my post twice and I just didn't have enough energy nor patience to fix it at the time of upload, to say nothing of how I do not know how the coding works. That link is broken, it seems. I do need help for it.

No worries, these things happen, do the best you can when you can spare the time and mind at some point.

 

How annoying that I messed up the link to the help page, sorry  , try this one.

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/304061-bbcode-guide/

 

  

Thanks, that worked. I put the code nullifier text in, then edited it out, and then the more important pieces of BBCode started working.