Editing Death's Heads

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Death’s Heads
|Heraldry = 
|Battle Cry = 
|Number = VIth
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Original Name = 
|Successor Chapters = [[Night Haunters]]
|Chapter Master = 
|Primarch = [[Einchurt]]
|Homeworld = [[Rheigmarkch]]
|Specialty = Exotic weaponry, planned atrocities, heavy infantry and cybernetica inductees, psychological warfare
|Strength = 98,000 (136,000 at Peak)
|Allegiance = Loyalist
|Colours = Black, Bone, Crimson
}}
{{Warmasters Triumvirate-Head}}

The '''Death’s Heads''' were the '''VI Legion''' of the original twenty-one [[Space Marine Legion (Warmasters Triumvirate)|Space Marine Legions]] under their [[Primarch (Warmasters Triumvirate)|Primarch]] [[Einchurt]].

==History==
===Pre-Primarch History & Reunion===
By the time the Imperium's 8th Expedition fleet, headed by ? of the [[Dusk Phantoms]] Legion, discovered Rheigmarkch, they found a world whose inhabitants constantly fought their home's hellscape and were furiously devoted to their Leader, Einchurt.

===The Great Crusade===
The Death's Heads, the VI Legiones Astartes, have long been the outsiders of the Legions. One could likely count how many times they have paraded through major Imperial worlds on a single hand. How many times the greater Imperium has recognized their works likely numbers in the dozens. Them even being present at the ceremonies on Ullanor came as a surprise to many. While many Legions are honourable, glorious icons of Imperial power, the VI Legion is dour and grim, a symbol of the Imperium's terrible retribution, a role they seem to relish.

Due to abnormal amounts of gene-seed degradation and mutation, the Death's Heads have long been one of the smallest Legions, and as such, their tactics and approaches to warfare reflect this. To the Legionnaires of the VI, no force can be considered "too much". There is only "not enough". When the agri-world of Gavor resisted Compliance, the warships of the Legion boiled its oceans, scalding clouds of superheated steam devastating the local populace before the entire III Chapter was deployed to the surface to wipe out all resistance or secure Compliance, whichever came first. On Kydran V, virulent bio-weapons were deployed to the surface, several days after which VI Legion troops descended, offering cures to the super-virus to whoever accepted Compliance.

However, mass atrocity is not their only way. The VI pride themselves not on honour nor glory but on cold, brutal efficiency. A full-scale Gavor Campaign would have bogged down Legion assets necessary for the much more major Nyhlax Campaign, whose heavy industry would be used to reinforce the production from several local Forge Worlds. To an Officer of the VI, mastery of the calculi of war is more important than mastery of the blade. While often lacking some of the more specialized ranks of the other Legions, their basic line officers have proven themselves capable, receiving intensive training on taking the initiative when lacking orders from higher sources and managing their own logistics. In this way, even when cut off from Legion command, the soldiers of the VI can continue fighting effectively.

In all walks of war, the Legionnaires of the VI prove tenacious fighters, their resolve growing as they take on casualties. Although they often avoid doing so, it is not unheard of for Death's Heads units to fight violent last stands, bleeding the enemy to the last. Their fanaticism results from the indoctrination they are subjected to as children on Rheigmarkch, followed by more extreme regimens of psycho-indoctrination than the average Legion. It is said that to the Death's Heads, if their gene-father asks of them to die, they will not ask why only how to do so. They resent being compared to the lobotomized warriors of the XV or the religious fanatics of the Symphonious Disciples. However, it is hard for most to see the differences in their fanaticism or coldness toward others.

However, the main advantage the VI Legion possesses is not in doctrine or training but in their extensive arsenal of esoteric weaponry. The Legion maintains larger stores of Volkite weaponry than most other Legions and utilizes an expanded arsenal of Rad and Phosphex armaments. These are boosted by using Radium arms alongside a range of specialist ammunition and bio-alchemical weapons. Conversion Beamers and even the eccentric Eradication Ray are surprisingly common in the Death's Heads arsenal. Utilizing their wide arsenal allows the Death's Heads to lay down terrifying amounts of fire, the sheer variety of sounds, sights, and effects of their weaponry creating a beautifully horrific cacophony of destruction.

While many Legions, such as the [[Silver Blades]] or [[Loxodontii]], prefer to engage their foes hand-to-hand, the Death's Heads avoid melee combat. Such fighting is considered a last-ditch action or a more defensive tactic than an offensive one. When pressed into melee, most units carry Rad-grenades or Rad-censers, sapping the effectiveness of their foes. The chainsword is the weapon of choice due to its reliability, although the Ostrogartian War Flail is a favoured choice of officers due to its intimidating appearance.

The Death's Heads utilize a variety of Rheigmarkch iconography and awards, the most famous of which is the Stahlcrux, variations of which are seen as many battle honours, from ace vehicles to officers who held out for an extended period without logistical support. One of the greater honours is the awarding of the Blitzerius, the twinned lightning bolts, signifying an Astartes who has served under the direct command of the Primarch himself on at least three campaigns. The Legion's own symbol is a stylized skull device descended from ancient Judtz texts, specifically the skull of Death himself during the Judtz's Book of the End.

The VI Legion recruits almost exclusively from Rheigmarkch and has very exacting standards. Many recruits are picked out from the top of the classes of Sturmsoldaten inductees, and thus competition within those schools is extremely high. Any potential recruits must undergo various medical, psychological, and even philosophical screenings before being considered to be sent to the VI Legion training camps on the world's first moon, Rühr. The aspirants are then sent through various physical tests and conditioning regimens, ranging from 100km forced marches to balancing a primed hand grenade upon a standard stahlhelm. Aspirants must also go through several philosophical and moral tests to ensure they will have no negative responses to the experiences they will encounter as an Astartes. A final psychological test is the final step before an Aspirant's fate is decided. The exact method of this specific test is unknown, although it is known some Aspirants do not live through the test. After passing this final exam, the Aspirant is judged. Those granted entrance into the Legion are moved to Rheigmarkch's third moon, Rhonne.

After this point, the Aspirants are now considered Inductees. An Inductee will undergo the full implantation process while receiving further physical training and psychological indoctrination. Even here, as Inductees, an individual is not considered a full member of the Legion and must work hard to maintain his status. If an Inductee survives all their implantations, they are considered ready to become a full member of the Legion.
===Brotherwar===

===Post-Brotherwar===

==Homeworld==
{{Main|Rheigmarkch]}}

==Legion Doctrine==

===Legion Culture & Personality===

===Gene-seed flaws===

===Legion Organization===
Gefreiter- Line Astartes
Obergefreiter- Veteran Line Astartes
Feldwebel- Sergeant
Oberfeldwebel- Veteran Sergeant
Leutnant- Member of an Officer’s retinue; lowest rank able to command a Kampfgruppe
Hauptmann- Company Captain
Oberst- Battalion Captain
Korpsmarshall- Chapter Master
Company- 100 Astartes (Hauptmann)
Battalion- 2,000 Astartes (Oberst)
Abteilung- 1,000 Astartes; not part of a Battalion, instead consists of “overflow” Astartes (Oberst)
Kampfgruppe- Any number of Astartes within a Grand Battalion unable to be placed within a
Battalion or Abteilung (Leutnant or Hauptmann, rarely Oberst)
Grand Battalion- Commonly 8,000 or more Astartes (Korpsmarshall)

===Special units===
The VI Legion utilizes a variety of specialist troops, like every Legiones Astartes. Legion formations often include more Destroyers, Cybernetica Robots, and [[Terminator]]-suited units than other Legions. Death's Heads armoured units are largely made up of Sicarian-variant tanks and artillery vehicles. However, by the outset of the Heresy, many Predator tanks, especially Executioner-type, have made their way into VI Legion armouries. The Whirlwind has also gained widespread usage due to its ability to utilize various warheads. Legion aircraft usually consists of large, dual-role gunships that provide transport and ground support capabilities, most commonly the Fire Raptor, Storm Eagle, and Thunderhawk. Smaller, nimbler fighter craft, such as the Thunderbolt or, later, the Xiphon, are rarely used on the large-scale, often deployed exclusively as air superiority or escort craft.

Due to the low numbers of Astartes within the Legion, and their close ties with the [[Mechanicum]], large numbers of Cybernetica units have been inducted into the VI Legion, bearing their colours and heraldry, fighting under the watch of the Legion's Techmarines. These are most commonly Castellax, Domitar, or Vorax models, but logistical reports include several Arlatrax and even Thanatar-type units.

Amongst their more esoteric units are the Umbarax, designed with the Mechanicum of Orsus Secundus' aid, originally conceived as a test base for the Mashad Warhost's various weapons technologies. Originally based upon a mixture of Vorax-class Battle Automata and Thallax Tech-Thrall technolore, the Umbarax are based around a mortal host, their brain directly linked into a Cybernetica Cortex, allowing them to be used either autonomously or remotely. Most non-essential organs, such as the subject's skin, musculature, bones, and pain sensors, are removed and replaced by mechanical components within an armoured casement inside the unit's chest. Neural systems are hooked up to the various mechanical functions and actuations of the Automata suit, allowing the subject to easily control its systems once successfully implanted within the vessel. The subject is, unfortunately, largely cut off from outside stimuli, relying entirely upon sight and sound, greatly amplified by the unit's suite of tactical readouts, sensors, and cogitators. Umbarax units are primarily equipped with Radium or Phosphor weaponry, although Volkite, Irad, and even Phosphex weapons can be mounted. An Umbarax suit also includes a jump-thruster, a sensor suite, and a heads-up display referred to as a "Djinn-seer", allowing the unit to visualize and track personnel concealed behind any obstruction. They have been recorded as using a kind of distorted echolocation to perceive their targets more clearly.

Umbarax are deployed in a hunter-killer role, using their Djinn-seer and jump-thruster to track and eliminate opponents attempting to evade discovery. Although initial testing utilized mortal subjects, the VI Legion has adapted the Umbarax unit to recover Astartes, who have succumbed to gene-seed flaws shortly after their full induction into the Legion. The combination of the Djinn-seers sensor capabilities and an Astartes' natural post-human senses leads to an extremely perceptive if unstable, unit able to track a target for entire months without tiring. Once the Umbaraxi corner their quarry, they let loose their full destructive payload, destroying whomever they may come across. Rumour even has it that Umbarax units have been deployed across the wider galaxy, hunting enemies of the VI across the void.

Vandal squads are another specialized unit used by the VI Legion. The Vandals of Einchurt's homeworld were bands of warriors who had lost their original clan, forced to wander the rad-wastes in search of retribution and redemption. Within the VI Legion, an Astartes becomes a Vandal by failing to complete their assignment as efficiently and effectively as possible. While their numbers were never high before the Brotherwar, Legionnaires could be redeemed and thus return to their regular posts. However, even minor slights could result in one being inducted into the ranks of the Vandals.

By the end of the Great Crusade, Vandals take to the field in suits of Terminator Armour, almost entirely in Tartaros-pattern. They wield Volkite Chargers, War Flails, and the usual repertoire of heavy weapons. However, the most unique feature of the Vandal's equipment is their auto-loading Assault Harnesses. Unlike the more common Grenade Harness, an Assault Harness can be fired repeatedly, allowing the user to launch a blistering barrage of explosive projectiles. It is also connected to a store of various grenade types, commonly Phosphex, Ignis-Ferrum, and Rad, along with the standard Fragmentation.

Vandal squads are deployed on missions where extremely heavy resistance is expected. Siege, trench, and boarding warfare are their specialties, clearing points of contention with withering volleys of alchemical explosives. Enemies who attempt to flee are cut down by well-placed Volkite shots, and those who hold their ground must face the thundering charge of the Vandals.

The Primarch is often accompanied by his personal bodyguard, the elite Landsknetch. Clad in suits of Morventum Terminator Plate, a modified version of the standard Cataphractii Plate, they can wade through environments toxic enough to lay low even the scions of the Omnissiah or fully-clad Astartes. They wield heavy-headed power halberds of such a size even an Astartes in Terminator Armour requires both hands to effectively use it.

===Special equipment===

==Naval Assets==
The VI Legion Fleet is primarily centred around a triangle structure; the fleet consists of three types of units, each with a specific battle sphere role. These are referred to as Wolves, Raptors, and Carrion. However, regardless of role, all Death's Heads vessels share one similarity: their overwhelming weight of firepower. All VI Legion ships are up-gunned from the standard vessel of their class and can fire a wide variety of exotic rounds, ranging from Phosphex to Rad, and even including some more peculiar warheads.

Raptor units comprise most of the Legion's fleet, encompassing their Battleship and Grand Cruiser weighted vessels. In void combat, Raptor squadrons are used as the "claws" of the force, pinning the enemy in place and strangling the life out of their forces. To this end, Raptor vessels carry immense amounts of broadside weaponry and are some of the most heavily armoured ships in any Legion fleet.

==Notable Members==
Marius von Kreimann - Leader of the [[Night Haunters]] warband.

==Rules==

{{Warmasters Triumvirate}}