Behemoth Guard
This page is a work in progress, part of the Imperium asunder project, a fan remake of the warhammer 40 000 history.
| Behemoth Guard | ||
|---|---|---|
| Battle Cry | "We will Endure!" | |
| Number | XIV | |
| Successor Chapters | none | |
| Primarch | Gengrat Vannevar | |
| Homeworld | Vernum | |
| Specialty | Technosorcery, gene splicing | |
| Allegiance | Dark Imperium | |
| Colours | Grey and Green | |
Homeworld
Vernum is a mountainous planet full of rich minerals, with large and rich equatorial jungles. The people of Vernum were a group spacefaring slavers, aggressively conquering and colonizing their system, and becoming the preeminent force in the system. The ruling elite consisted of wealthy businesses, and Oligarchic families which each sought out their own interests, loosely kept together by mutual need, and constantly in conflict with one another. The people of Vernum were also experienced gene-splicers and cybernetics manufacturers.
Legion Tactics
The Behemoth Guard are used to grinding wars of attrition, preferring the straightforward approach of strength and overwhelming firepower to secure their victories.
Legion Organization
The Legion is separated into Houses based upon the Houses they are recruited from, each with their own unique culture. Naturally, this causes brotherly rivalry between the houses that can cause trouble and politicking based upon the houses history. Each House is lead by a First, usually the best, or smartest individual of that House.
Legion History
Great Crusade
One of the legion's most widely known campaigns was the Valsos Rift Compliance, about 20 years before Ullanor. The worlds of the Valsos Rift were held by a recalcitrant human culture, mutated far from the genetic baseline by centuries of half-mad experimentation into something barely recognizable as human. The Imperium had been vaguely aware of a void-faring society in the Rift and had sent a rogue trader flotilla to investigate and negotiate. Thus, when the Behemoth Guard fleet dropped out of the warp over the fortress world of Kolgrad, it was with some idea of the enemy they would face. Well aware of the welcome the Imperial negotiators had received, Gengrat dispensed with the more customary statement of intent and broadcast of a fleetwide oath of moment by approaching the world at full burn and initiating bombardment the moment the fleet was in range. Detractors of the legion claim this as evidence of an unstable temperament, but the statement that the mutilated bodies of the Iterators made was quite clear. The time for talk was over, and Gengrat was a man of few words. The skies of Kolgrad blazed as melta torpedoes detonated orbital weapons platforms, even as others fell to boarding parties of the notorious terminator clad Lamashtu, deployed from teleportarium into the midst of the platform's command bridge, or deposited on the outer hull to bore their way inside with melta-torches and chain blades, slaughtering even as compartments were vented to the outer void. The defenders of Kolgrad had been entirely unprepared for the violence of the attack and even as their defenses tried to compensate, even as the Ghidorah Rex, flagship of the legion plowed its way through frigate picket lines deployed to shield the orbital facilities from the legion's wrath. Even as the orbital battle turned into a slaughter, the orbiting cruisers unleashed their deadly payloads. Kolgrad was virus-bombed in the opening hour of the engagement.
Even as the atmosphere burned, drop pods descended, securing a landing zone for the armor. Encased in their legion plate, the legionaries were proof against the searing, unbreathable toxin fog the atmostphere had become. With the foe reeling from the disproprtionate violence of the assault, customized and void shielded mastodons, decorated with the aspect of a snarling beast thundered across the plains towards fortress walls, now cleansed of life by the life-eater virus. What fire came from the bunkers glanced harmlessly off of void shields. Where bulkheads had been sealed in time, Mastadon prows rammed through metal walls and unleashed the Behemoth Guard breaching teams into their midst to gun down the survivors. The only significant obstacle on the planet was the central fortress on the planet's southern continent. More a mountain clad in adamantium than anything else, the higher security protocols had protected the occupants from the initial blast and potent void-hardened weapons arrays protected the fortress from an armored assault by land. For this pinnacle of the Valsos' defensive architecture, the Behemoth himself descended, flanked by his Unspeakable Court. Gengrat chose the manner of the citadel's fall with the care of an artist, deciding to deploy Ordinatus Hydra and Ordinatus Dagon, screened by an un-ending horde of the IIXth Grand Company's automata. This was as much for the enemy as it was for him, and he decided to enjoy himself. He lay back in his dark throne and directed the bellicose machine spirits in the legion manifold, a thousand screaming voices all crying out for blood and singing the ecstasy of destruction. When the outer wall broke beneath the relentless artillery from Hydra and Dagon and a chorus of lesser guns, Gengrat himself lead the armored assault across the no-man's land in his personal transport, Ancalagon.
With Kolgrad in ruins, Gengrat pushed for the next planet.
The rest of the campaign was not nearly so swift as it had been on Kolgrad-- with the enemy aware of his willingness to use exterminatus class weaponry, further precautions were taken to ensure that fortifications could survive such a first strike. None the less, faced with such a foe, many worlds capitulated outright and were brought easily into compliance.
However, many held out, their ruling classes knowing that they would never be accepted into the Imperium. These worlds felt the wrath of the Behemoth Guard as they were cleansed in holy atomic fire. These battles became legendary for their bloodshed, as unnacceptably deviant abhumans were herded onto the battlefield by the Behemoth guard to clear minefields and make feints for thrusts. Whenever the world was of little productive capacity, Gengrat polluted the environment, effectively turning the planetside engagements into a perverse parallel to void warfare. On other worlds, such as the final battle of Valsos Prime, The Behemoth withheld atomics and the greater alchemical weaponry, opting instead for a conventional siege and armored assault.