Flayed Legion Cult

[TechCaptain]

The Flayed Legion Cult is a cult that worships the Necron, specifically the Flayed Ones. They are vicious fighters and tacticians. As they grew, they branched off into two cults. The main one being the Flayed Legion cult which is comprised on elite fighters and strategists and the secondary cult or sub cult are fighters but not big on thinking and planning. The worship of the flayed ones have fed the god of blood while their allegiance with Nurgle chaos marines have also pleased the Papa Nurgle. The zeal with which they fight and worship the Flayed ones is a Slaaneshi trait whereas the strategy and the secretive nature with which they attack pleases Tzeentch. This means that they inadvertently started aligning themselves with chaos undivided. The leader of the cult was able to approach a Necron and survived to tell the tale but not without any eventual causalities. Little did the cult leader know that some of his fellow cult members would would not survive their own encounters with Necrons.

History
A Hive World Cogger native cult that rose during its re-pacification. Lead by Father Lazarus a Cultist champion, Herald of the Flayed Lord, leader of the Brotherhood of the Red Banner. He had an artificial left eye and wore a tattered Imperial Guard colonel's coat. Followers of Chaos Undivided, rumored to be inspired by Flayed Ones. Flayed Ones are twisted and ghoulish Necron terrors afflicted by an ancient infection that breeds a hunger for organic flesh in them. They also believe that their sacrifice would appease the flayed ones if they were displeased.

Surprisingly, Father Lazarus met with the second in command of the Flayed Ones Necron, who actually accepted to meet with him and did not immediately kill him. Father Lazarus thought that it was due to his worship of the Flayed ones, the sacrifices that were offered for the audience and his own courage that he was granted this audience. Little did he know that the Necron had their own agenda and reasons to meet with the humans. Father Lazarus returned to the Flayed Legion cult, a hero...perhaps even some sort of a prophet. This gave the cultist the confidence to start a siege and attack Imperialists and civilians on Cogger, thinking that they would have the support of the Flayed Ones.

Warband Organisation
Th Warband while numbering in the Millions as it sublimated an entire Hive City and made branches into many more had a core leadership surrounding a warband within the warband. The Brotherhood of the Red Brotherhood were the elites of the Flayed Cult but more so they comprised mostly of Imperial Guard Renegades. Certain members could be elevated to that esteemed inner core but more often they would just gain their own trusted places near the leader of the Cult. Several smaller groups have since broken off to make splinters throughout the Ishtarian Region of space.

Combat Doctrine
Infiltration and Violence are cornerstones of the Flayed Legion's tactics. Flayed Legion Cult started uprisings all over the various Hives of Cogger after they had already weakened the Imperial defenders through ruse and other underhanded methods. An entire garrison of Arbites were poisoned and trapped into their own stronghold, making it their grave.

Warband Beliefs

The Flayed Legion cult believe in omens such as shooting stars and animals. These omens are symbols from the warp that dictate when to enact a plan or if the Flayed ones or the gods of chaos are pleased with their worship and the results of an attack. Forced visions or dreams are of no use to them. They believe that the Flayed ones are god-like and superior beings. They also believe that if they serve them well, they will be rewarded. 

Many show no care for life, they are driven by an insane, homicidal and savage aggression that manifests in the cannibalism, :cuss:, and torture that they visit upon any unfortunate enough to come across them. They deliberately gash and cut their own flesh, and often covered in open or partially healed wounds. Barbaric piercings and random bits of metal shoved into their flesh are also common, giving them a ghastly and corpse-like air. Those unfortunates who are rendered helpless or fall are either :cuss: to death, eaten alive, flayed, or commonly all three, as well as other horrific depravities. After they finally escape into death, and will sew their skins into their clothing, and may very well either hang up the corpses as a gruesome trophy or strap them to their starcraft.

Believe in omens, not forced visions. Strange weather, shooting stars, even some animals.

Warband Rituals

The members of the Flayed Legion Cult, when engaging in battle will paint their faces red and make it seem like they have in fact removed the skin from their face, in honour of The Flayed ones, whom they worship. Those who are in need of stealth and secrecy will not paint their faces.

In the aftermath of every major victory, there were those in the Brotherhood who attempted the ultimate display of loyalty to the Flayed Lord: taking the Mark by ritually skinning their own faces in deference. It was enough of a challenge for one of the Astartes to complete the ritual, and every human who had attempted had perished of shock or bled out before they could finish.

Notable Warband Members
Father Lazarus - Cultist champion of Chaos Undivided and Herald of the Flayed Lord. He was the leader of the Brotherhood of the Red Banner. He has an artificial left eye and wears a tattered Imperial Guard colonel's coat.

Lady Jael Eisell - Wife to Lord Edrick Eisell, Baron of Hive Cogger's South District. 

Mordecai -  One of the few members of the Brotherhood who came from the Legion and were not recruited. 

Sorcerer A'Khel - Advisor to Father Lazarus

Molor - Cultist captured by Inquisitional Storm Troopers after a failed raid on Inquisition Camp. 

Allies
Plague Cult Garathal and Beast Kin - Lead by Prophet Garathal, a Sorcerer who spreads the plague, Hive Cogger Cultists had an alliance with Plague Marines of some unidentified chapter among their numbers. Several cultists also seemed to be worshiping the plague that besieged the doomed Hive. These were devoted worshipers of Nurgle.

Kageros Dynasty Flayed Ones

Enemies
487th Lunar Venatorii Cavalry Regiment - Known unofficially as the 'Wyrm Gendarme', is an Astra Militarum Cavalry Regiment hailing from a little known sector of space close to the borders of the Tau Empire known as Ishtar. The soldiers of the frontier worlds of this sub-sector of space form the Lunar Venatorii regiments of the Astra Militarum, famed in the Imperium for their diverse units and atypical forms of combat. They are the elite among the Astra Militarum as a kind of specialized storm troopers whose way of warfare is rapid as it is devastating. The 487th specialize in Heavy Recon and Vox Warfare.

Cogger PDF and Cogger Hive Guard - The Cogger Hive Guard are the Astra Militarum regiments that hail from the industrial hive world of Cogger. Primarily recruited from the planet's factory workers that fail to uphold their industrial quotes or from the most incorrigible hive gangers, these recruits are rounded up by the hive cities local Adeptus Arbites and forced to undergo neural-conditioning. After being "programmed" with the necessary knowledge and skills needed, they are inducted into the ranks of the Cogger Hive Guard.

4892nd Cogger Penal Legion - An Astra Militarum Formation that formed the bulk of the troops that invaded Hive Cogger for Inquisitor Randall. Their tough tenacity brought grudging respect from some of the 487th. A Penal Legion, one of the Legions Penetante, as they are known in Imperial High Gothic, are drawn from Astra Militarum and Planetary Defence Force troops who have committed capital crimes, and had their sentences commuted to life service.

Grey Knights

Elysian 14th Drop Regiment - An Astra Militrum Formation that joined in the final battle to end the siege of Hive Cogger in Imperial Victory. Their Air power and support helped eliminate escape routes for the traitors that occupied the Hive. Elysian Drop Troops are the airborne assault infantry regiments of the Astra Militarum who are recruited from the verdant world of Elysia in the Segmentum Solar, 30 light years from the world of Armageddon. One of the first regiments to land but was assigned to a different front until late in the siege to help with a final push.

Quotes
We are men of Hive Cogger, and on these gates the enemies of the Emperor will perish!

By the word of the Flayed Lord And stars which bleed at his command

By the blades of His legion And the worlds which lie dead in their wake You will not live to the dawn.

-Father Lazarus

All things are but ashes in time!

- A'Khel's Ninth Canticle

From this day you will be Drachen. You will lead your brothers, and bring the fire and fury of the gods themselves to the enemies of the Flayed Lord.

Fire and fury.

- Father Lazarus}}

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Interesting ideas.

Father Lazarus - Cultist champion of Chaos Undivided and Herald of the Flayed Lord. He was the leader of the Brotherhood of the Red Banner. He has an artificial left eye and wears a tattered Imperial Guard colonel's coat.

You stated his cult "inadvertently started aligning themselves with Chaos Undivided." Is he now aware of what his cult has become? And why is his battle cry "We are men of Hive Cogger, and on these gates the enemies of the Emperor will perish!"? Is Abaddon the Despoiler, or the Overlord of the Kageros Dynasty, the "Emperor" he's referring to?

Little did he know that the Necron had their own agenda

Please describe this "agenda." How does Father Lazarus and his cult's continued existence, aid Necrons of the Kageros Dynasty?

 

Typos, with suggested corrections in [brackets]:

The worship of the [F]layed [O]nes have fed the [Blood] [G]od[,] while their allegiance with [Plague] [M]arines have also pleased [Grandfather] Nurgle. The zeal with which they fight and worship the Flayed [O]nes is a Slaaneshi trait[,] whereas the strategy and the secretive nature with which they attack pleases Tzeentch. This means that they inadvertently started aligning themselves with [C]haos ndivided

Some words should be capitalized. I rewrote "god of blood" as "Blood God," "Nurgle chaos marines" as "Plague Marines," and "Papa Nurgle" as "Grandfather Nurgle," to match that most commonly seen in Games Workshop publications; and added commas.



I rewrote the sentence "Th Warband while numbering in the Millions as it sublimated an entire Hive City and made branches into many more had a core leadership surrounding a warband within the warband," to be easily read. Some words were needlessly capitalized.



You described the cult leader as "leader of the Brotherhood of the Red Banner," so I assumed "Brotherhood of the Red Brotherhood" is a typo. I also added commas.

 

Note: I don't recall ever seeing the term "Imperial Guard Renegades" used in a Games Workshop publication; hence my replacement of "Renegades" (capitalized) with "deserters" (uncapitalized). If you insist "Renegades" is more appropriate, then you're free to use it. Note that in novels focusing on Space Marines, "Renegade" describes those who serve neither the Imperium or Chaos, only themselves.



The "Warp," the "Ones" in "Flayed Ones," and the "Chaos" in "Chaos Gods" and "Chaos cult," should always be capitalized.





Some words are displayed as ":cuss:", hence my replacement of them with "beatings" and "beaten".



I replaced "were" with "was," as Mordecai is a single person, not a group of people.

[While the] [w]arband[ ]number[ed] in the [m]illions as it sublimated an entire [h]ive [c]ity and made branches into many more[,] it had a core leadership [form]ing a warband within the warband.

The Brotherhood of the Red [Banner] were the elites of the Flayed Cult[,] but more so[,] they comprised mostly of Imperial Guard [deserters].

These omens are symbols from the [W]arp that dictate when to enact a plan or if the Flayed [O]nes or the [Chaos] [G]ods are pleased

Many show no care for life, they are driven by an insane, homicidal and savage aggression that manifests in the cannibalism, [beatings], and torture that they visit upon any unfortunate enough to come across them.

Those unfortunates who are rendered helpless or fall are either [beaten] to death, eaten alive, flayed, or commonly all three, as well as other horrific depravities.

Mordecai - One of the few members of the Brotherhood who came from the Legion and [was] not recruited. 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Had an idea to explain how Father Lazarus' sympathies turned to Necron Flayed Ones and why the latter spared him:

 

As an Astra Militarum officer, Father Lazarus already had several augmetic organs to replace those lost in battle, when a disguised Heretek decided to use him as a Guinea pig for the Heretek's research on Necron living metal- not knowing and/or caring the living metal was taken from Necron Flayed Ones, and liable to infect others with the same madness.

 

When Father Lazarus went to meet the Flayed Ones, the latter considered the infected human an opportunity to pass their own madness onto others, leaving themselves cured and free of the Flayer Virus. They gave Father Lazarus living metal taken from their own bodies, as "gifts," along with instructions to have Father Lazarus' followers implant the living metal into themselves. (Feel free to answer the question "Is it working?" yourself. The madness infecting the Necrons, may interfere with their judgment, specifically their ability to tell whether or not the process is actually curing them of the Flayer Virus.)