Editing Armed Forces of the Tempestus Gap.


== The Mortal Soldiers of the Tempestus Gap ==
The vast majority of the fighting in the Tempestus Gap is not done by Astartes. It is done by mortals, ranging from desperate PDF equipped with rags and and bamboo spears to elite regiments equipped and trained by the Astartes realms to act as their proxy warriors. Although their battles do not shake worlds as Astartes do when they clash, they are nonetheless worth recording. 

== Loyalist Forces ==
Those soldiers fighting against the forces of chaos. This is hardly a complete listing, but provides something of a representative sample.

1. The Jantine Fortressmen 
Operating out of Forgespace in the Tempestus gap, the Jantine Fortressmen are a force of combat engineers specializing in the rapid transformation of ordinary planets into self-sufficient fortress-worlds. Their method of operation is deceptively simple: they are deployed to worlds within the Gap that are either of strategic significance or will soon come under threat. 

To this end, they have a wide variety of specialized equipment, from a bewildering array of pre-fab fortifications to super-heavy engineering vehicles to the fearsome 'drop citadels', massive forts equipped with over-sized grav-chutes and ablative plating meant to be deployed directly from orbit. However, the true secret of their effectiveness is their logistical genius and powerful propaganda machine. The Jantine are experts in mobilizing every available resource, co-opting the rulership and population of the worlds they land on in the transformation of their planet. The efforts of millions of conscript laborers scar the surface with trench lines, dig massive agri-vaults miles below the surface, build and upgrade weapons factories and fill the orbits with mines. 

Despite their skill, most Jantine-held worlds are over-run. Either they are attacked before the Fortressmen can start their transformation in earnest, or repeated Chaos attacks wear down the defenses over decades. But some hold, becoming outposts of Forgespace within the gap for use as staging grounds in further operations. And even those that fall make the enemy bleed for every millimeter. 

2. Oncolog Hermeticists 
A force supported by the Forgespace in the Tempestus Gap. The Hermeticists are a specialized anti-Nurglite force. Where the NBC suits of the typical PDF or Guard regiment is bulky, restricts field of vision, makes it difficult to breathe, and chafes badly, the Hermeticists' 'iso-armor' makes use of some of the finest technology in the Forgespace to make it suitable for long-term wear. With its padding, lightweight alloy construction, wide-angle visor, fully sealed air supply, internal supply of liquid rations, and catheters, it is intended to be worn for weeks at a time without ever being taken off. Its sealant-resin layers even prevent small armor breaches from compromising the environmental integrity of the armor, and multiple layers of anti-corrosion coating protect the suit from Nurgle's many metallophages. In short, by almost totally isolating the wearer from the outside environment, the iso-armor removes Nurglite force's greatest advantage. It's not completely perfect, but it's the best you'll find short of Astartes. 

In battle, the Hermeticists naturally use a fuckton of incendiary weapons. The flamer:lasgun ratio is higher than any other force in Forgespace, and hand flamers are the most common sidearm. Their doctrine emphasizes unrelenting, OCD thoroughness; no trace of Nurgle's diseases can be left. Massive formations of artillery and bombers saturate target areas with incendiaries and weaponized antibiotics. Then, vast sweeps of infantry and armor comb the ground, hunting down and pursuing any survivors of the initial bombardments. Once an area has been cleared of active enemy resistance (and it never goes as cleanly as the previous couple of sentences make it sound), engineering teams move in for the deep sterilization. Ground-penetrating microwave and UV arrays, super-heavy pyre tracks, millions upon millions of tons of sterilizing agents; once the Hermeticists are through with a region, it is often left entirely lifeless. This is acceptable; life can be re-introduced, but once Nurgle has his grip on a world, he never relinquishes it.

Notably, none of the Oncolog Hermeticists are actually from Oncolog anymore. A reprisal raid by Second Sons forces, in retaliation for daring to set themselves against Nurgle, destroyed Oncolog entirely. However, by then the concept had proven itself; new regiments were raised on a hundred worlds throughout the Gap, collectively taking the name of Oncolog in remembrance.

3. The Golgorian Dungeon Crawlers
A formation supported by, but not officially a part of, the Unyielding Vigil, operating in the Tempestus gap. Golgoria is a hive-world of ancient provenance; it was a hive-world when the Imperium conquered it, a hive-world when Long Night fell, a hive-world when the first human settlers made landfall although the original inhabitants had all gone, leaving vast and empty buildings behind. Although archaeology is not exactly a high priority in the remnants of the sundered Imperium, all indications are that Golgoria has been a hive world for millions of years, across dozens of owners. 

As such, the Golgorian Crawlers are dedicated hive-fighters, mostly recruited from the gangs and militias that effectively control most of the planet's inhabited volume. They are armed for close-quarters fighting in enclosed spaces, storm shields paired with a variety of one-hand weapons: hand flamers, melta pistols, hell-pistols, chainswords. Long-range support weaponry is mostly abandoned in favor of more grenades, demo-charges, and flashbangs. (They do have some to deal with occasional open spaces, but less than what would be expected for a normal heavy infantry unit.) The only vehicle in common use among the Crawlers is a variant of the Rapier weapons platform. 

In battle, Dungeon Crawler strategy emphasizes infrastructure control. Hold the water purifiers, the food distribution centers, the power plants, the transport trunks. Cut off the enemy from these vital functions, and wait for them to die of dehydration and their industries to grind to a halt. Tactically, they make heavy use of breacher charges- why go through a door when you can go through a wall? They also make good use of 3D mobility; Golgoria is a very vertical environment, so all soldiers are equipped with climbing gear and know how to use it. 

This is paired with a strong cadre of infiltration specialists (often abhuman). They are used to scout out enemy positions and seize vital infrastructure in advance of the main thrusts. There are ratlings in the ducts.
Inside hives, the Golgorian Dungeon Crawlers are utterly lethal. Outside of them, they pay for their overspecialization. 

The Dungeon Crawlers originated as a purely defensive unit, slicing apart enemy raiding groups using superior knowledge of the terrain in the endless miles of abandoned construction. Entire armies could be lost without trace in the expanse of abandoned, ancient structure- and were. This changed when Golgoria became a vassal of the Unyielding Vigil, trading basing rights and a tithe of its soldiers in exchange for technical support for its failing industries. This prompted a shift in the composition of the Crawlers, from a light-infantry urban guerilla force to a heavy-infantry urban assault force. Under the supervision of Vigil drill sergeants, the transition went smoothly, and now Dungeon Crawler detachments are a common sight among Vigil expeditionary forces in the Tempestus gap.

4. The Rhadam Raiders
A formation of rough riders operating on and around the outskirts of the Unyielding Vigil, recruited from the death-world Rhada. The Rhadam Raiders are specialized as a stay-behind force, placed on planets in danger of falling to the enemy in order to wage guerilla war against the occupiers. Raider units are typically divided up and attached to other regiments to act as advisors and training cadre, teaching other forces their ways of war. For a full regiment of Raiders to be deployed as a single unit is generally a sign that something special is being planned.
In addition to their tactics, the Rhadam Raiders are noted for their animals. Genetically engineered to survive in any environment, half boar and half rat, their mounts are a far cry from ordinary horses, twice as smart and twice as vicious. They are capable of eating almost any organic matter, and give human-edible milk. With their mounts, the Rhadam are capable of operating for extended periods of time in the most desolate environments. 
Despite their undeniable use, the Rhadam Raiders sit uneasy in the overall Vigil force; although their uses are undeniable, their tactics fit poorly with the overwhelming siege focus of the Undying Scions, and as a result Raider detachments tend to drift from one command to another. This lack of consistent oversight leads to discipline problems, which further encourages Vigil generals to pass them off like a hot potato as soon as possible. As a result, the Raiders tend to wind up assigned to some of the furthest and most desolate corners of the Vigil- which is where their tactics work best.



== Heretic Warbands ==
Vile scions of Chaos run rampant over the Gap. They hail from every part of the Dark Imperium and beyond, swarming from across the galaxy attracted by the blood and misery. Their wild diversity almost defies description. Almost.

1.  The Bloody Rags
A Khornate warband operating in the Tempestus gap. They are notable for their evangelical fervor; where most Khornate warbands will simply slaughter indiscriminately and only recruit opportunistically when raiding, the Bloody Rags make concerted efforts to recruit as many people as possible. This process naturally still involves mass slaughter; the entire population is forced into gladiatorial combat until the survivors, soaked in the blood of family, friends, countrymen- generally somewhere between a third and a tenth of the people who went in- are inducted into the Bloody Rags. In this way, they have swollen to immense size, holds of their slaughter-ships bursting with billions of cultists.

On the battlefield, their most distinctive feature are their pure white uniforms. Whatever material they're made out of, it only stains in blood; the mud of the battlefield falls off it cleanly, but blood will never come out. How stained a uniform is forms a semi-formal rank system among the Bloody Rags; the more stained, the more status.

As the existence of an actual uniform indicates, the Bloody Rags have a decent logistical base, although it strains under their ever-growing numbers. In addition to their uniform, each cultist gets at least a lasgun and a chainsword. Support weapons like heavy stubbers and missile launchers are reasonably commonplace, although the Bloody Rags eschew any indirect-fire weapons like Basilisks or mortars as a matter of principle. While the majority of the force is light infantry, there are decent-sized detachments of armored cavalry and aircraft with each raiding group. Notably, although they have the resources to mount a proper training program they do not do so, preferring to let battle sort out the wheat from the chaff. 

In battle, while the Bloody Rags are as eager as any follower of Khorne to close to close range, they're not stupid about it. They make use of orbit-mobile tactics to flank entrenched positions, and in the charge use smokescreens and suppressing fire from support weapons to cover the advance. 

2.  The Thousand Kinds of Blindness
A Tzeentchian organization operating in the Tempestus gap. The Thousand Blindnesses operate effectively as two parallel, cooperating, but ultimately separate units.

The first is the cult network. Spread across a large number of worlds, the cults of the Thousand Blindnesses do all of the typical cult things: conversion, destabilization, etc. They are much more effective in this than the average cult, having access to off-world support networks and professional-grade training in infiltration, sabotage, and subversion. The general pattern of operations is to smuggle a few agents onto the planet, who then start exploiting pre-existing fault lines among the society to recruit and build up infrastructure. 

Then there is the raider fleet, which is a bunch of warships and landers stuffed with troops. Beyond a couple of daemon-ships, nothing out of the ordinary. 

When the time comes to take a world, both arms of the Thousand Blindnesses act simultaneously. As the raider fleet translates in-system, the cults on the ground kick off the revolution, inciting riots, sabotaging defense systems, and assassinating leadership. When the ships reach deployment range of the target planet, the defense is already in chaos; chaos which will not be helped by having ten million Chaos reavers dropped on it. 

In battle, the Thousand Blindnesses make heavy use of compromising enemy command networks.. In addition to the normal tricks of compromising vox networks and issuing false orders, sorcery opens up many more options. Subliminal messaging, psychic mind control, shapeshifting doppelgangers, hallucinogens in the officer's mess; the possibilities are near-endless. Setting up these opportunities is one of the prime duties of the cult network pre-invasion; done well and thoroughly, and the Thousand Blindnesses can force the enemy to feed their forces into trap after trap until the soldiers mutiny. 

Among the petty powers of the Tempestus Gap, the Thousand Blindnesses have achieved a reputation for invincibility. In a sense, this is earned; nearly every offensive battle they have engaged in has been an overwhelming victory. However, this is because they choose their battles wisely. With the cult network providing detailed information and destabilizing defenses, the Thousand Blindnesses can choose when and where to fight with exquisite precision. The raider fleet never attacks a system unless it has already won. 

Theologically, they view Tzeentch as a god of pointless change, meaningless change, the change of shifting static on a television screen. A god of Revolutions, named that because they go around in circles. That so many other followers of Tzeentch- and so many of his daemons, for that matter- fail to perceive this is the First Blindness. (Yes, they can name a thousand kinds of blindness. Being able to do so from memory is one of the tests of Grandmastery. The name is not (purely) fanciful.) 

3. The Wings of Rust
A Nurglite force operating in the Tempestus Gap. The Wings of Rust are notable for their heavy focus on air power. Instead of the typical plague zombie horde or the plodding heavy armor favored by mechanized Nurglite forces, the Wings of Rust consist nearly entirely of aero-space craft, typically deployed from orbiting carriers. The strategy is entirely straightforward: first, achieve air supremacy. Then, blanket the helpless population centers in virus bombs until the planet succumbs to Nurgle's embrace. Leave. 

The Wings of Rust have a theme of industrial pollution and decay, as opposed to the usual pus and vomit or the Second Son's Chernobyl. Their pitted, corroded aircraft trail thick clouds of chemical smoke, which jam the guns, foul sensors, and corrode the engines of enemy aircraft that fly through them. The bombs they drop are filled with toxic metals, asbestos, and condensed smog in addition to the normal run of diseases. Metal rusts, machines fail, and guns jam. Tetanus crawls on every surface as jagged oxide spikes sprout from every metal surface like some metallic fungus. Unusually for a Nurglite force, the Wings of Rust also make moderate use of incendiaries, adding plumes of choking ash to the pollution. As the relentless bombardment continues, the planet's sky becomes choked with ash and smog, the sun dims, factories choke. Everything comes to a halt.

Although their tactics are simple, countering them is usually beyond the resources of the average planet. With anti-orbital defenses always the first installations targeted, the target planet is soon deprived of the ability to strike at the carriers. With their starships forming an unassailable rear area, the Wings of Rust can then strike at any point on the surface of the planet with near impunity. Screaming down from orbit in deep dives, targeted installations are often given mere minutes to brace themselves for the assault. The Wings of Rust use extremely high force concentrations, often committing their entire force to individual attacks. This limits their operational tempo, but ensures that their specific target will be utterly outnumbered. Thus, the defenses of the target world are smashed apart one element at a time, until the planet lies helpless, incapable of meaningful resistance.
Then the bombing begins in earnest.

The Wings of Rust do have a ground force, consisting of air cavalry and drop infantry. They are used as commandos, striking to destroy hardened targets where air power alone cannot suffice. On occasions where taking and holding territory becomes necessary, the Wings of Rust prefer simply to throw hordes of 'Smog Zombies' (a variant of the standard plage zombie, purely aesthetic) generated by their bombardment at the problem.

Once the planet has been reduced, the Wings of Rust simply depart. Although many planets such visited become sources of further Nurglite warbands, the Wings never recruit from the world they attack, and often never even land on them. They replenish their numbers and supplies exclusively from their unknown homeworld.

4. The Howling Swarm
A Slaaneshi warband operating within the Tempestus Gap. In a variation of normal Slaaneshi operating procedure, the Howling Swarm makes heavy use of cybernetic and genetic augmentation, trying to achieve heights and types of sensation impossible for unmodified humans. Skin-grafts with massively denser nerve endings, eyes that see magnetic fields, internal drug reservoirs, dozens of tentacles for arms, yard-long cyberdongs, every day brings some new atrocity against decency and sense. Many members of the warband are no longer even vaguely human.

As a result, they have close ties with the Dark Mechanicus, volunteering themselves as guinea pigs and fighting for Dark-Mech interests in exchange for new implants. The majority of the warband give praise to the Omnissiah alongside Slaanesh, and most even see them as the same entity, in the same way OU orthodoxy held that the Big E and the Big O were the same entity. After all, both seek the same goal- the transcendence of the limits of the human mind- and, for the Howling Swarm at least, the same methods.
Links with some more unscrupulous DEldar Haemonculi are also rumored, but not confirmed. 

In battle, the Howling Swarm tend to use sensory-overload weaponry. Hallucinogenic gases, mind-affecting magnetic beams, blinding lasers, seizure-inducing stroboscopes, eardrum- and mind-shattering sonic weaponry, and the simple overwhelming terror of their inhuman appearance, carefully sculpted for maximum psychological effect. Once incapacitated, the enemy force is collected for forcible induction, sacrifice, or sale as slaves. Against enemies hardened against these weapons, the Howling Swarm relies on its heavy augmentation to carry the day in close combat, backed up by swarms of lesser cultists/meat-shields. 

If these don't work either, they will generally retreat, muttering that they probably wouldn't have made good playthings anyway.