Dreameaters

Dreameaters
Battle Cry	"Surrender Your Mind!"
Number	VI
Founding	First Founding
Successors of	N/A
Primarch	Zan Shin
Homeworld	Formerly Tatuklaw (Destroyed), Currently Spire of Morphaeus
Strength	130,009
Specialty	Psychological Warfare
Allegiance	Chaos Undivided

"Justice? Ha! Don't confuse me for my Primarch, my dear human. This has nothing to with justice. This is entertainment, that's all it ever was." -Chief of the Apothecarion Xianwei to captured Planetary Governor Roark Dane during his psychotropic torture.

This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the /tg/ Heresy Timeline and Galaxy pages for more information on the Alternate Universe.

The Dreameaters, or the Tiger Lords as they where known before the discovery of their Primarch, were a Traitor Space Marine Legion led by the mutant Primarch Zan Shin. The legion was infamous for being composed of misfits and thugs, a stigma that remained even after a long series of reforms enacted by their Primarch. It was not the treachery of their Primarch that dragged the VIIth into the heresy but rather that of the legion as a whole, the upper echelons of the Legion betraying their Primarch at the start of the Heresy. The Dreameaters are noteworthy for their unorthodox interpretation of "stealth" preferring to create a titanic smokescreen of psychoactive fogs and hallucinogenic vapors to conduct extravagant feints and harrying assaults within, as well as provide a distraction for flanking or infiltrating units.

History of the Seventh Legion

While many other traitor legions bear tragic tales of falls from grace and corruption due to the faults of their flawed yet mythic Primarchs, the fall of the VIIth legion is neither tragic nor shocking. The VIIth legion was perhaps always destined to buck against just leaders and the cause of the greater good, the tragedy was entirely their Primarch's failure to save the legion from their baser nature.

The Unification Wars

The VIIth were marked as misfits and thugs from the beginning, the warriors of the Seventh Squad were rebellious and inquisitive, rarely following an order outside the battlefield without a barrage of questions, only half of which weren't jests or jabs at their commander. However the interesting thing about the the Seventh Squad, is that this cocksure and quipping nature was nearly absent of the Marines in command positions of the squad. Instead the Squad Commander, Jhen Kai'Ro, and the other team leaders, brothers Kanak and Tanan Ogúdae, were stern and humorless, at least when compared to their subordinates.

The squad command still had a tendency for over clarification, but where otherwise a far cry from their fellow squad mates. Hektor Cincinnatus, curious at this personality dissonance, once shuffled the unit composition to see if Kai'ro and the Ogúdae Brothers were simply outliers or if their was some other force behind this noticable difference in professionalism. Remarkably the newfound leaders, while inexperienced, quickly adopted the grim mannerisms of their former leadership. It was revealed later, once the composition was returned to normal, that the marines of the Seventh Squad were simply miserable in command positions, but the seventh squad only really respected ea chother and only they knew how to police their rowdy behavior without enticing a retort.

In battle the Seventh Squad was famous, or perhaps infamous, for lateral thinking in the heat of battle and utilizing unorthodox, even underhanded, methods to turn the tides of battle. Nimble minds may be intrinsic to their geneseed, but the methods that only fed their reputation as a ring of unruly thugs were a direct result of being put consistently in the front lines, some would say in an attempt to stamp out disrespectful warriors. Often the squad would be sent into suspected ambush sites or choke points, forcing Jhen Kai'Ro to become extremely proficient at adapting to the battlefield to deny the enemy Astartes blood.

Notable Campaigns

• The Liberation of Fildelphi Their battlefield history began in the Eastern Wastes, vast marshlands and ruined coasts. Their first engagement was held within the strongholds of Fildelphii, a labyrinthine hive that had defended the Viscounts of Sylarvainia for centuries. Traditional maneuver elements proved to be ineffectual, tight streets and twisting paths turning Fildelphii into an urban nightmare and slowing the siege to a crawl. The Seventh Squad was often sent as a vanguard through the winding maze of the sprawling hive, deprived of proper cover and support. Eventually, after becoming genuinely lost, the squad broke off from the main element and with intelligence gained from battlefield interrogations, made their way to vital infrastructure, such as water processing plants and power stations. Kai'Ro made concentrated efforts to ignore or otherwise "lose" communications from the greater sieging force, determined to spare his men and finish the fight a smarter way. Likewise the squad elluded the enemy by simply breaking through walls and traveling within the surrounding buildings, keeping away from sight. Eventually after the small squad had begun to deprive swaths of the hive of water and power, and the rest of the Band was able to piece together where the Seventh was and what they were doing they were able to threaten the Fildelhpiian leadership with complete deprivation of water. Naturally the hive lords disregarded the notion, and shifted focus from slowing the Astartes' advance to finding the band if saboteurs that was harrasing their people. Upon hearing that diplomacy had failed, Jhen Kai'Ro reestablished communications, but instead contacted the Sylarvainian Viscounts. He offered them a simple message laced with jeers from his marines; Surrender and meet the main force for negotiations, or the main power generators, the great nuclear towers, would be the sword that cut the throat of the hive. The lords, incensed at the threat but smart enough to not let their weakness be exploited, moved a large contingent to scour the districts around the towers. Meanwhile, halfway across the hive the Seventh Squad introduced promethium and "commandeered" industrial chemicals into the central water supply, a great complex that was not only the main water purification center for the hive but also embarrassingly easy to infiltrate. A single melta grenade set whole districts ablaze, the Fildelphian forces torn three ways between the imminent threat of nuclear collapse, the now surging Astartes force, and the disaster spreading out of control on the other side of the hive. The main battle force was able to breach the Viscounts' keep. With bolters and singing blades at tbeir throats the lords were a little more willing to enter into peace negotiations. But they were given two chances to surrender, but instead elected to risk their people for the good of their egos. The Sylarvainian Viscounts were put to the sword, their lines drafted into the legion, their keep now flying an Aquila. The Seventh Squad received in equal measures admonition and praise, as their tactics, while at times blatantly insubordinate, prevented further loss of life on both sides than if the Imperial force was simply forced to level the hive.

• The Battle of Ba'al-Timur Their skill was tested again in the battle grounds of Ba'al-Timur,some of the most aggressive and desperate fighting the Seventh Sqaud had seen thus far. The Marshlands of Ba'al-Timur led into sunken urban sprawls, vast webs of hive hidden by ancient ruins and murky waters, shrouded by thick, rolling mists. Gone where the tight passageways of the north, Ba'al-Timur was a fetid killing field. Infantry engagements were often short and deadly, punctuated with long stretches of tense silence. The locals, lacking the infrastructure to engage in normal battles, utilized deadly insurgent tactics, using their environment to stage improvised bombs and hit and run attacks, slowly whittling away at the Imperial force. The Astartes were unaccustomed to this kind of asymmetrical warfare and these guerilla tactics, forcing them to reconsider their tactical approach. Once again the Seventh was put in the vanguard, partly as punishment for their insubordination in Fildelphii, partly to see if they could create some unorthodox solution to the theater once more. The Seventh, deprived of high value infrastructure to exploit was forced to find other targets of interest to utilize, since a mere war of attrition would be ineffective against this savage people. The solution presented itself in the Ogúdae twins. The twins were renowned for their connection that seemed to edge on supernatural, a constant mental, perhaps even spiritual, connection. This link allowed them to coordinate their teams, making them excellent team leaders. However, as the Seventh Squad took more prisoners the twins found that they could extend this empathetic link to others, but when reaching out ot brought horrific pain to the subject. The twins, eager to utilize this ability to bring glory to the squad, became adept interrogators, stripping intelligence from captured techno-barbarians even without using their arcane mental abilities. Using this intelligence the Seventh adopted the tactics of the enemy, which suited them very well. They used the roiling seaside fog as moving concealment and the sunken remnants of civilization as cover. The hunters became the hunted as the Seventh became increasingly familiar with the terrain, and as they were divorced from the main force they where able to use their smaller numbers to catch the insurgents unawares. Eventually they where able to pinpoint the locations of the hidden insurgent strongholds. However, instead of taking them out themselves, the Kai'Ro simply gave the coordinates and moved on. The Seventh Squad had long accepted their place as pariahs and misfits, glory was not to be theirs. But the hunt...to see the fear, and sweet irony, in the eyes of the enemy as they came out from the mists to find their supposedly secret places...that was their realm. To strip the knowledge from the enemy, and use it torment the enemy, that is all the glory they needed.

• The Decimation of Dæcee One of their final battles along the Eastern front was at an ancient Merican centre of political thought, now a blasted pit dominated by roving bands of mutants. There was little to salvage from the ruins of Dæcee, and so Hektor did order a great purge of the wastes. The Seventh was instrumental in this cleansing, jumping at the opportunity to fight a fresh foe and separate themselves from the other Astartes, who they found stuffy and boring. The horrible mutants that claimed the waste offered little proper resistance,the Merican waste lit by fire and automatic fire, the sickly sky choked by the smoke of the slaughter. In the bloody week that followed the collected Astartes washed the ashes of Merica with scarlet mutant blood, Jhen Kai'Ro himself often put in charge of flushing out mutants from their burrows and warrens. It was here that something awoke in the squad once more,a deep, grotesque pride in the bloody work they did, hunting down their prey and finishing them. It wasnt enough to stalk their prey in silence, the Marines of the squad howled and offered horrific peals of laughter in the dark tunnels, toying with their quarry. The Seventh took the lead in Dæcee, flushing out the mutant burrows and interrogating those that had intelligence enough for speech, or simply stripping the minds of those who were not. The Seventh found a certain measure of companionship as well with those few marines that could take a joke and approach the apocalyptic landscape with genuine humour. This highlight of the Merican campaign would not last for the Seventh however. Alpha Team, led by Kanak Ogúdae, led the last assault on the collected Dæceean mutants, rushing into the ancient tunnels. The tunnels soon proved too ancient to be turned into a battle ground, as they collapsed almost immediately after the battle began. Alpha team was separated from the rest of the unit, and began to fight for their very lives in those dark depths, out numbered and stranded. The squad had eventually found a way back to the surface as they fought through the mutant horde, but they found their way blocked by a mutant horror serval times larger than any man or Astartes. Kanak, in a desperate bid to see his men to safety reached out with his psychic talent, touching the creature's mind, and he found that he could sieze the feeble mind of the Behemoth, taking it like a puppet. He commanded his men to retreat to the surface, as he used the hulking creature as a a distraction. They made to argue, but Kanak's broken focus brought the enraged creature back to the present, forcing them to flee the dark of the mutant hive, leaving behind their extra ammunition and explosives. Kanak made a bold lost stand, using the creature like righteous hammer, staving back the disgusting hordes. Eventually the beast was overcome, and Kanaks own mind was in tatters, unable to fully cope with siezing the monster's body for so long. In his last act of defiance he primmed all the grenades that he had and took the mutants clambering at his armour with him to hell. His psychic death scream nearly killed his brother, who was immediately filled with unholy fury and found the mutant hive and the site of his brother's sacrifice. Without Kanak's death, Tanan and the greater Imperial force would never have found the great mutant nest. From that point on Tanan bore the title of Wraith, as without his brother, he was already dead.

• Pacification of Luna The climax of their career in the Sacred Band was on Luna, where they stormed the opened gates of the moon alongside Hektor Cincinnatus himself. The Seventh Squad had come a long way from being treated like substandard soldiers, instead respected for their unorthodox minds and cutting wit. While he has apprehensive in having the Seventh Squad in a frontal assault and siege, Hektor took the advice of his tactical advisors and included them in the assaulting force. The battle was some of the most ferocious fighting the Seventh Sqaud ever saw in the Unification Wars, finally pitted against a well trained and well equiped force. The Seventh proved their worth, Tanan the Wraith proving to become a competent and wrathful psyker, and Kai'Ro a skilled swordsman. The new Alpha Team leader, Zhang Sakano, also proved to be skilled at leading assaults meant to break the morale of the enemy, utilizing flanks and the terrain to appear from seemingly nowhere after taunting the enemy for quite sometime. The Seventh also proved proficient at flushing out bunkers and finding ways about defensive positions without wasting energy on a proper and more destructive siege. As Luna was one, so was the respect of Hektor, who commended the squad on their cleverness and zeal in battle.

At the close of the Unification Wars he Seventh had garnered a reputation for breaking the pride of the enemy, using intelligence to expose tactical weaknesses and stalk the enemy, laughing and howling. While they were undeniably a rowdy bunch, and hard to get along with if their was a lack of respect on either side, they could prove to be exceedingly loyal to individuals that they respected, and if nothing else the rouges provided entertainment when they where bored if nothing else. The Seventh did not win the hearts of all, however, some of the more professional or zealous Astartes still saw them ass little more than insane sadists, who fought only to torment the enemy with their haunting warcries and sickening methods. Their preference to separate from larger battleforces did little to engender trust in more suspicious individuals. The Seventh themselves cared little, as they now had the favor of Hektor Cincinnatus, and the faith in many others that if left to their own devices, they will see any battle won.

Culture

The culture of the VIIth legion is one forged in the crucible of the Rau-Khan worlds. The Rau-Khan worlds were hives of crime an mercantile violence built upon long forgotten foundations of warrior honor and artistic pursuits. The full history of this corporate dynasty can be seen in the marines of the VII legion, from their Primarch to a marine in a squad.

The upper echelons tend to honor the ancient warrior and monastic traditions of their worlds, modeling themselves as knights or scholarly monks well versed in philosophical thought and martial excellence. This was common in the Rau-Khan worlds when they were still a corporate empire, leaders would don ceremonial garb when they convened. As one observes the descending ranks, the veneer of ancient wonder falls away into the technicolor ranks mirroring the gangs of the Rau-Khan worlds. Surprisingly, amongst this rabble rank is everything. To disrespect someone above you is to encite a beating, or worse. However marines on the same level, or below, are free to drink, fight, and gamble amongst eachother freely. Relationships with higher ranks tend to be uncomfortably formal, or exceedingly familial.

Notable Members

"They are no more an army than a barbarian horde, individuals bound together through the promise of glory with little care for quant ideals of honor or loyalty. There are some amongst the rabble that rise above the immature clanishness of the Legion. Leaders, heroes, artisans, masterminds...warlords and devils. Individuals in a host of individuals, it is they that keep the heart of the VIIth Legion beating."-Unknown War Scribe

Organisation and Doctrine

Tactics

It's not enough to kill the enemy. You must destroy their home, their families, their friends, set his brothers against him. To crush your ememy's soul, to rend his mind asunder, to make him a husk...that, Marines, is something much worse than mere death. -First Captain Durag Danzig

From their first engagements on Terra as the Seventh Squad to their last on Terra as a traitor legion, the VIIth