The Narakan Corps

This article is about an Imperial Army formation from the /tg/ Heresy project, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40k universe.

The Emperor's Own Narakan Corps "Scumdogs"
Homeworld	Naraka
Doctrine	Shock Troops
Colors	A dark grey basecoat, many splashes of vibrant colours in tattoos, decals, and literal graffiti

Overview

Reviled as savages and blackguards throughout the Imperial Army the Narakan Corps, or "Scumdogs" as they are known informally, are nevertheless a brutally effective fighting force.

Homeworld

The Corps are drawn from the planet Naraka, a virulent death world mired by toxins and filth. Hiver gangs lurk around every shadow, and death awaits the unwary. For centuries, the harsh chemicals have filtered into the Narakan bloodline, to the point which only the deadliest poison affects them. Formed on the backs of unrepentant criminals, Naraka epitomizes the Imperial doctrine of life without worth.

Naraka is one of the more hostile worlds known to the Imperium of Man. In the great irradiated glass deserts where plasma fusion cores went critical roving troupes of rogue machines patrol for any sign of life to expunge. The jungles of what's left of Naraka's mutated flora grow among shattered towers of rockcrete and monstrous predators patrol the shadows, bioweapons escaped from the wreckage of ancient labs and further twisted by constant exposure to toxic mutagens, stalk any unwary enough to become lost. Lakes and rivers made up of manner of all toxic chemicals flow from broken contaminant facilities underground and automated factories, cycling their last directives for eternity with no heed for their completely failed safety systems. The remains of vast continent spanning cities dominate the planet however, jagged landscapes made seemingly of all the failures of humanity stretch to the horizon. The towers stretch dizzily high into the air and from their tops the rubble of the "ground' below is shrouded in a dirty haze. Below almost all this are the nigh infinite labyrinth of former service tunnels, transport systems, and a tangled web of industrial pipes or conduits. This fetid underworld harbor some of the worst imaginable horrors; swarms of half finished clones slowly slouch down deserted walkways, ready to destroy and collect any organic material they find; packs of maddened subhuman creatures whoop and shriek as they lope among twisted piping slavering for human flesh; and malfunctioning service machines attempt to "fix" anyone who crosses their path with their panoply of industrial tools, almost certainly by force. All these horrors inhabit Naraka and more, including the planets own weather. Precipitation may take the form of virulent acid, black radioactive rain, and even flammable hydrocarbons on any given day all while vicious winds that rend flesh from bone howl for days through empty city streets.

The peoples of Naraka are no less savage, mutated, and vicious than the world they live on. Made up of hundreds of warring clans, gangs, and tribes originally born from the convict work gangs sent in desperate clean up attempts after the planet's collapse. These first "settlers" landed early enough on that they could adapt a least a little to the planet's rapidly decaying nature. Hundreds of years of work gangs arrived and had managed to get a foothold on the planet when the first refugees from the collapsing systems associated with it began to arrive. They were greeted with open shackles by the now Native Narakans in many cases but also were sometimes able to either integrate or live on their own. In any case the Narakan people globally carry their ganger and criminal heritage with them in their brutal way of war and strange customs of dress.

History

The Narakans are defined by their homeworld home of Naraka, a brutal deathworld hiding under the decaying façade of a hiveworld, and their subjugation by the Emperor himself. Naraka was once a glittering global metropolis, the hub of both science and industry for the small interstellar empire it was a part of but an unknown accident or attack left the world completely inhospitable. The worlds of the empire desperately sent hundreds of thousands of convicted criminals to the world in attempts to repair the damage, lest they slowly fade away without the world's capabilities. Those criminals would later welcome their persecutors as refugees when the empire began to crumble away. Generations would pass and the hive-ganger culture they inherited from their forebearers would never fade among the Narakan peoples.

When the Imperial Army finally arrived upon Naraka the elements deployed there were met with staunch resistance. Though bogged down in the twisted, crumbling ruins of hive cities and beset on all sides by mutant creatures, rogue automata, and the toxic environment no threat proved harder to overcome than the Narakan peoples themselves. They proved so difficult to subjugate that the Emperor himself landed with a contingent of Space Marines. After just 3 engagements the Narakans surrendered. They quickly grew to be among the most fervent believers in the Emperor's cause, having seen the Emperor firsthand and believing that the Emperor would require their "expert services" in his Crusade. They would carry the Emperor's short campaign on their world as a mark of pride for the rest of their history, a true testament to their mettle.

Of course, unknown to the Narakans themselves, the Emperor had never come to conquer the planet personally due to the exceptional nature of it's people. He had come because the scattered reports his generals had received from the planetary landing force's initial campaign were highly similar to Chaos corrupted planets. He had arrived expecting to have to violently purge the planet to avoid an outbreak of knowledge concerning Chaos but supposedly left disappointed upon the enormous waste of his time conquering what proved to be little more than an exceptionally dangerous Death World.

Tactics

The Corps specialize in urban combat, guerilla warfare, and routing dug in resistance, every soldier having recieved basic training since birth. The Emperor's Own are often called in when other regiments have difficulty removing dug in threats or overcoming toxic environments. They prefer to draw out defenders with rapid strafing attacks to leave them in disarray before a final mass charge. The thunder of dropships and the howling of jetbikes were often the last thing heard by rebellious defenders as the Scumdogs descended upon them.

Due to their brutal and toxic homeworld the Narakans possess unnatural physiques. Many are completely immune to all manner of toxic environments and have such durable bodies that they can forgo armour. The use of combat stimulants and biological/mechanical physical augmentation is rampant and even ritualized, the decrepit automated factories of Naraka still produce enough to supply the Corps. A few Narakan individuals have become so grotesquely large and powerful they even rival Space Marines in brute strength and hardiness.

Notable Regiments

• 87th Narakan Corps "Tox-Fiends" Known for their particularly enormous and mutated physiques, even for Narakans, the Tox-Fiends hail from an area that was once a biochemical production district. The disgusting "nectar" that flows from the containment areas of the plants affords them their monstrous forms but also renders their bodies largely reliant on the substances. Known for aiding in the pacification of a civilized world simply by their disembarking their dropships when the native peoples mistook them for creatures from native myth.

• 69th Narakan Corps "Corpse Grinders" Hailing from the bowels of an enormous city sized mechanized factory the Corpse l Grinders are culturally adept with vehicles and machines of all sorts. Recruited as tank and artillery crews in particular the unorthodox Narakans have been the bane of their resident techpriests; their modification and "defacement" of the machines the Machanicus hold secred has sparked more than one outcry for them to be disbanded.

Notable Corpsmen

Sargent Gond yr Akna

• Sargent Gond yr Akna Sargent yr Akna earned a fearsome reputation during the Narakan Corps campaigns in the Lacerti systems, wherein he was able to put his almost inhumanely massive strength to good use. Having been raised by the so called "Tox-Fiends" a larger than average frame would be expected, but Sargent " the Hammer" yr Akna's body exceeds in more than just being grotesquely huge. Supposedly found as a infant in cracked specimen tube within a buried ruin by a scout, his body shows signs of obvious genetic and mechanical tampering. His strength was so great that during one intense firefight he flipped an entire Imperial army Chimera on it's side to provide cover for his embattled squad.

• Lieutenant Kalish ti Vor The lieutenant was born among the scattered rad-desert nomads, a culture that excels in remaining hidden due to the constant fear of rogue machines. Kalish takes this cultural trait to a biological level, apparently born with a natural form of minimal active camouflage, more akin to an animals changing skin tones. Using this mutation has led Kalish to discover numerous highly effective camouflage schemes based on his own body. He has been allowed to tour numerous sniper specific regiments to teach them more effective means of hiding themselves, even without the ability to shift their skin.

• Commander Ate-veo Thoshan Strategy and tactics are not often the first things that come to an Imperial Army officers mind when they think of the Narakan "Scum-Dogs" but Commander Thoshan examplifies both these things. Raised in a settlement besieged by constantly changing mutants from a nearby entrance to the underground Thoshan was forced to learn how to adept at a young age. Having learned to change his strategies on the fly in the fight against the ever evolving mutants of Naraka has given the Commander important tactile flexibility in the constantly shifting battlefields of the Great Crusade.