Fischetti Numeri

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

Fischetti Numeri
Homeworld	Fischetti
Doctrine	Pacification and protection
Colors	Dark greys
Associated Legion	Fifth and Fifteenth

This Fischetti Numeri were a unit of the Imperial Army formed during the Great Crusade.

Overview

Office of a Fischetti capo.

Many of the regiments of the Imperial Army attempt to instill a fierce martial pride in their recruits. Others draw men and women from war-like cultures and only have to direct the aggression of their soldiers. But the troopers of the Fischetti Numeri are far more motivated by the conflicting impulses of loyalty and avarice.

The bustling hive world Fischetti was discovered in 861.M30 by the Rogue Trader Visant Le Gall as he explored the reaches of the Segmentum Pacificus. As ever in his early career, this unscrupulous explorer was in need of supplies, so he made contact with the advanced Fischettians hoping to swindle, or at least trade. Le Gall found a people and world after his own heart. Fischetti's notional government was so feeble that the underworld of her hives ruled over the population as a kleptocracy. Realising the peril that Fischetti would face if it was ordered to comply by an Expeditionary Fleet of the Silver Cataphracts - or worse, the Fifth Legion - Le Gall put himself at the service of the capos who ran the planet. He explained the danger that they would be conquered and their unique way of life destroyed and offered to ease Fischetti into the Imperium. It would be a shame if anything important got broken, after all. Approached in a language they could readily understand, the rulers of Fischetti got down to business with Visant Le Gall. A price for his services was agreed upon and the terms of Compliance with the Imperial Truth were accepted (if superficially). The Imperium gained thirty billion new citizens without a shot being fired, Le Gall made a hefty profit, and Fischetti got to carry on with business more or less as usual.

Of course, there was the small matter of tithing troops to the Imperial Army. The hives of Fischetti were rough places and produced plenty of tough guys and gals, not to mention a high grade of weapons and armour. But the Fischettian mindset was ill-suited to a glorious war of galactic conquest. Every enlistee wanted to know, "What's in it for me?" A good question, with a simple answer. Fischetti's regiments, the Numeri, were initially deployed exclusively as garrison troops. Policing newly-compliant worlds was a racket well-suited to the savvy hiveworlders, who gained a reputation for keeping their charges quiet. If they also gained a lot of loot in the process, nobody looked into that too closely.

Front-line deployment of the Fischetti Numeri would first occur in 868.M30, during the Curis-4 Compliance. Due to the Fifth Legion's limited forces, Gaspard Lumey drew on regiments from nearby Compliance Groups to supplement his Expedition Fleet. Nine regiments of Fischetti Numeri were hastily assembled into the "Fischetti Corps" of the ad-hoc "First Auxilia Army" and embarked for Curis-4.

Behaviour

The watchword of Fischetti is "agreement". Whenever an officer of the Numeri wishes to dispute the orders of his or her superior, shake down local burghers for supplies, or negotiate terms of surrender with a defeated foe, the matter will be raised politely as the wish that "we can come to an agreement on this". This civil formality should not be taken as a sign that the Numeri are gentle, but rather that these sophisticated soldiers always employ force with a purpose in mind.

Doctrine

In field combat, the Numeri are unremarkable. Their infantry are of a fair quality and their rapid-firing slugthrowers can take a fierce toll in close quarters. But their real strength lies in the smoothness of their operations as garrison forces. The Numeri don't so much eliminate as incorporate dissenters, finding an angle for everyone. It's fairly common for locals to be incorporated into Numeri regiments as replacements. The most extreme example of this practice in the Great Crusade was the 272nd Numeri, who eventually had no Fischetti-born soldiers in their ranks.