Behemoth Guard

Behemoth Guard
Battle Cry	"Listen to the voices!"
Number	XIV
Successor Chapters	none
Primarch	Gengrat Vannevar
Homeworld	Terrodyne
Specialty	Warpsmiths and siegecraft
Allegiance	Dark Imperium
Colours

This page is part of the Imperium Asunder, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the Imperium Asunder page for more information on the Alternate Universe.

"It has been said that the greatest kindness is that the human mind cannot truly comprehend its place in the cosmos, that it cannot fathom the scale and sweep of the outer darkness. But I have walked long and far and heard the echoes of the wailing and gnashing teeth. And I have wandered amid the groves of the dead and watched fair Carcosa sink beneath the waves in my nightly dreams. And I tell you, it is beautiful. I hear it in the chorus of whispers that attends as if in some Grecian drama. They whisper even now. Can you hear them brothers? Can you hear the voices?"

– Gengrat Vannevar, Primarch of the Behemoth Guard, Idylls of the King Act 7 Scene 4.

Homeworld

Gengrat was found 40 years into the crusade on Terrodyne, a world bathed in the light of the Eye of Terror. His homeworld was a mist-shrouded waste, inhabited by great beasts. The Industrial Combine which ruled the planet had industrial era technology, as if WWI era Europe was taking on Godzilla on a regular basis. A high rate of mutation on the world resulted in a high ab-human population used for menial labor and bait. Gengrat was raised in his youth in the deep swamp wastes by an abhuman witch named Grenwyth. Grenwyth lived in an iron hut, and on her shelves and walls were many tools of unknowable use. Gengrat's pod had been pierced by a tree, and his brain had been pierced by a branch. Grenwyth crafted for Gengrat an implant, using an ancient relic her family had kept for centuries. That relic was in fact a datastore, which stored within it thousands of machine spirits, tainted by centuries of degradation.. These spirits would whisper into Gengrat's mind for the rest of his days. Grenwyth taught Gengrat many of her technosorcerous arts, and of the great god Tzeentch who could make one's wishes reality. Gengrat used the powers he had learned from his foster mother to terrorize the outer wastes. Voices in his head told him which way to go through the mists. One day the voices lead Gengrat to the gates of the city, and demanded entrance. He ensorceled the minds of the city watch, and they escorted him to the Combine's council chambers. There he slew every one of the technocratic rulers, and claimed the planet as his own. When the Emperor discovered the planet, Gengrat merely left his throne empty and marched off with his father, not sparing a thought for the fate of his homeworld. For many years the Imperial Truth convinced Gengrat that Grenwyths teachings had been superstitious nonsense. However, always in the back of his head the voices called.

His legion had been outriders. He taught them to listen to the voices in the engine manifolds. In the end, it was these voices that taught them the secrets of the imaterium.

Legion Tactics

As the years go on they become more and more obsessed with the manipulation of matter through psychic means. Forgefiends, Heldrakes, and Obliterators are just a few of the many technosorcerous inventions of Gengrat Vannevar.

Maybe the hierarchy goes Legion House Grand Company Order Squad

Every level competes, both in efficient campaigns, and in creative designs. All members of the Legion are trained in maintenance, and a squad's assigned equipment, be it a dedicated transport, an artillery piece, a bolter, or a battle tank is customized endlessly. These improvements range from a simple chain bayonet, to an energized disruption field on a tank's dozer blade. Squads not assigned a transport typically obtain one as quickly as possible by looting and modifying wrecks from the battlefield. Detractors called the legion carrion crows and suggested that perhaps green was a more fitting color for them, but the modified vehicles became a point of pride in the legion, with squads competing to produce the most outlandish and exquisitely lethal vehicles. From such practices several now common patterns of vehicle were derived, including the Razorback.

For his part, Gengrat Vannevar eagerly partook, his infamous

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.

Grand Companies (Houses?)

IXth Grand Company 'The Brothers in Red' These are the warpsmiths, the binders of daemons, the ones who experiment with daemon-flesh grafts and field the mind-scaring abomination engines.

They operate under Forge-Tyrant Kalvas Toevah and in his portfolio militant are forces such as rune-bound daemonic hosts, the name of each daemon scribed in human blood in his grimoires, allowing the IXth to summon daemons at a moment's notice.

The IXth is also responsible for the abomination engines, physically impossible machines built from warpstuff, their steel quenched in human blood and daemon ichor. Their workings make use of impossible geometries and often feature the stylized metal-worked forms of beasts melding seamlessly into the gears and pistons of some incomprehensible mechanism. A common motif are wheels within wheels. When the IXth attacks, their daemonic slaves are unleashed. Survivors are fed to daemons, either bodily or in soul. The abomination engines crash across the battlefield, amid hordes of daemons and cultists, followed by their marine masters.

XXIIth Grand Company 'The Dreamers in the Deep' Lead by Mengthes Kraal, these guys are the Silica Animus and Daemon Engine boys. Where dudes like the IXth craft the aether into their baleful engines, the Dreamers in the Deep bind daemons to enhance their already potent mechnical creations. They make heavy use of forge-slaves who have disappointed in their human wave attacks, which are really only there to draw attention away from the prized creations of the company. These include legions of battle automatons, possessed by daemons, their weapons wreathed in warpflame, as well as armored vehicles augmented by daemonic influence. Amongst their most treasured creations are the massive land-crawlers, titan sized battle tanks, festooned with gargoyles belching warp-fire, with ectoplasmic cannons and are fueled by human souls.

IIIrd Grand Company 'The Pale Forge' These guys are out to prove that even without the warp, they can be just as fucked up as their brethren. And, to the horror of everyone, they succeed. They field bio-engineered plagues, or mount powerful sonic weaponry on tanks to liquefy enemy foot soldiers. They also field crazed prisoners and slaves, partially lobotomized with electrowhips in place of hands and fueled by stimulants, but left aware of just what has happened to them. At other times, they herd degenerates from cannibalistic sub-hive-sumps and unleash them in civilian populated areas. They also make extensive use of the sort of strange technologies from Old Night or xenotech sources. They're more like the Black Judges or the other more or less human opponents that the crusade toppled, as opposed to much of the rest of the legion, who sits around figuring out ways to weaponize children's screams.

Recruitment and Initiation

I'm not quite sure what they do with neophytes. Probably deal with them the way the Templars do--throw them in the squad. Recon is likely done through daemon oracles and scrying as opposed to traditional humint. They do, however have fast out rider squads, in what amount to Salamanders and Bikes. I think they probably throw neophytes in here as a good way to learn on the go with some more experienced guys. I think the legion ethos is decently friendly, if that makes any sense. Gengrat is a cold sociopath, but he loves his sons, takes pride in their accomplishments, they're as much his creations as are the abomination engines. The legion follows in suit. Competition to be The First of a house or a Forge Tyrant is fierce, but in general, it's like Ferengi competition--cut throat, but not personal. I think there is also an extent to which mentor and apprentice do not directly compete and if the apprentice does something great, it is to the glory of the mentor. They're the Tzneetch legion, after all, and I think they deal with the plans and progress by enjoying the great game, the same way they genuinely enjoy weaponizing screams and tears.

Anyways, scouts and neophytes. Probably start off on a fast out rider rig. To be First of one of these is a big deal, too, since you get to train the neophytes. Typically these are things like Salamander Squadrons, stripped down rhinos, or bikes. Anything fast. Particularly renowned ones may even have some Cybernetica hounds like vorax. After a stint in one of the vehicle squadrons, the neophyte is sent someplace else based on what they prove adept at. Some work making bikes and become bikers, others join a heavier vehicle squadron, etc. From there they're further specialized based on skills, with the big division being between the forge and the riders. Everyone does some sort of forge work, but after a stint in one of the main assault brigades, talented technoccultists are taken for further training, while the rest pursue different modes of Armored warfare, be it breaching and close assault or heavy weapons use.

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.

Primarch Grengat Vannevar

Imagine if Dr Jekyl and Mr Hide were equally in control at the same time. I'm thinking Gengrat is a genius, but the voices in his head keep him almost as aggressive as Angron. It's a constant struggle which none of his brothers fully comprehend. Usually he can manage self control, but there's when you're in his presence there's a constant sense of impending danger. Like being in a pen with a bear or tiger which seems tame. You know you're safe, but the animal instinct in the back of your head is screaming GET OUT, THIS BEAST IS DANGEROUS!

You can hear him in his forge, roaring and howling as he works.

You come in and you see claw marks down the walls and a beautifully lethal new weapon on the anvil. scribbling everywhere, notes on the walls, mostly chalk, sometimes blood. So many equations they overlap in some places, those with knowledge enough in the field see some of it doesn't make any sense, logical impossibilities - the math of how to determine the circumference of a square-circle, the mass of photons, etc.

Rides around in his personal pimp-mobile, Ancalagon, a hybrid vehicle composed of Mastadon and Baneblade components.

>What is Gengrat's favorite color?

Gengrat would hear this question and look perplexed for a moment. "I like to watch the colors at the edge of dreams, where the heavens meet the underworld beyond the sea's edge. It's a color like a thousand broken mirrors all echoing faded flowers. I like it because the moment you've glimpsed it, even before you've truly seen it, its gone and all you have are ragged echoes in bloodstained hands." Then he smiles, congenially.

Cult of the Unbound Spirit

Creed

The Machine Spirit speaks to all. The Machine Spirit lives in all.

The Machine Spirit is the force of Change.

Life is Progress. Death is Stagnation.

Tzeentch is the Lord of Change and thus the Omnissiah.

Dogma and the Machine Law bind the Spirit

The Works of Law are death, the Works of Spirit are life.

The Spirit of the Machine must be liberated from the Law.

The greater the soul, the greater is their need to be free.

Glory to the Machine God is glory to Tzeentch.

Characters

Forge-Tyrant Mengthes Kraal

Mengthes Kraal is First of the fell XXIInd Grand Company of the Vth House of the Behemoth Guard, a dread group known as The Dreamers in the Deep. Among a legion known for its foul creations, Kraal is still something of a legend. Even during the crusade, Kraal skirted the edge of toleration, with grotesque servitors and a fondness for unleashing hunting packs of Vorax, kept as his prized hounds, which he would follow from the copula of his extensively augmented Malcador, Meilora. Though his tinkering with combat wetware aroused concern, it was likely not until the Xana compliance action and the tutelage of the Scorpion Prophet that Kraal began to tinker with the warp directly. In the years to come, the hellforges would be known for their daemon engines, cybernetica and mechanical horrors hybridized with the baleful power of the warp. Kraal leads his mechanical hosts to this day, clad in robes with the burning eyes of the night and wearing the nine-horned Behemoth mask cortex controller that Gengrat had gifted him on the blackened fields of Sanctissima.

He is invested with the Holy See of Xana II following the Heresy and produces all sorts of nasty robots with his buddies Markus Krom and the Scorpion Prophet. The location of his See is fortuitous, or perhaps it was intentional on Gengrat's part. Either way, Kraal serves ably as embassador to the Bloodhounds. Many of the great Lords of that legion have artificer Vorax hunting packs and when the Hunting Grounds go to war, Kraal often joins them, eager to unleash his own prized hounds.

Kalvas Elsophar, Chief Librarian and Forge Tyrant of the IXth Grand Company of the IIIrd House

Kalvas Elsophar, like so many other Behemoth Guard was recruited from the mist-shrouded world of Terrodyne. He proved as skilled with the arcane arts of the warp as with command and soon rose to a position of prominence, at times augmenting the durability of his brethren and their tanks, at others, divining the outcome of battles. He initiated the practice of planning campaigns in a manifold, allowing him to inload data as it came in and exload situation reports directly to his commanders. Like many other senior members of the legion, he was close with his Primarch, who displayed a level of paternal affection and pride that astonished many outside the legion, and it is theorized that the Changer of Ways approached the Primarch through the medium of Kalvas Elsophar. It is unknown when Elsophar began to treat with the foul powers of the warp, but once introduced, perhaps during the Xana Compliance, they proved intoxicating. When Imperial records next clearly sight Kalvas Elsophar, it is in the Sol System, his fleet having been tasked with the Luna Compliance. It is likely that Luna was the first time the infamous Abomination Engines the Behemoth Guard were unleashed, where fragmentary pict-captures record the stuff of nightmares crafted from immaterium. Wheels within wheels within wheels crowned by a nine-faced flaming beast's heads duel with genewrought dragons even as coiling tongues of metal that writhe in the shape of winged serpents, their wings covered in eyes tear Imperial fightercraft from the sky. Kalvas Elsophar roams the galaxy to this day, unleashing hordes of daemons and his newest creations in his wake.

Orban Rehovezzar of Azazel

Orban Rehovezzar Orban Rehovezzar is a siege master of the Behemoth Guard. I'm thinking he's one of the more recent figures in the legion, being selected as a Forge Attendant when his predecessor fell in battle. He's lord of Azazel, a fiefdom which guards the Dark Imperium border with Temepestus. During the 10th crusade, he expands his holdings to include Stygies and Zhao-Arkkad. His Bombardment Arks are massive, slab sided affairs, crowned with command and sighting ziggurats. He produces Ordinatus Engines and recently has become fascinated with Eldar Distortion Rift technologies. Rumor abounds that after numerous campaigns against the Eldar Empire, he has finally obtained what he needs and is currently on Azazel, crafting a monstrous bombard to crack the walls of New Constantine.

His creations typically feature decorative bull motifs, the Sigil of the Aleph-Tzor, a massive bull with curling ram's horns.

Forge Lord Kjell Maximus

Recruited from the Stralsian Highlands south of the Yndonesic Block on Terra, Maximus was emblematic of the early legion. He and his force served as outriders to the crusade and frequently operated for long periods without resupply. With the native ingenuity of his legion and the cultural precedents of the Rad-warriors of Stralsia in mind, he and many others like him began to tinker and customize their vehicles and equipment, at first out of necessity, but then as a matter of pride. After the legion was reunited with Gengrat, Lord Maximus served as one of the Primarch's forge attendants.