The Entombed

Summary of Legion VI

Auxillary Shock Troops Death/2spooky4you themed. The Entombed suffer from a fault in their geneseed which makes it incredibly difficult to reclaim genetic stock from the fallen. Every battlefield loss is a permanent loss for the legion.

Legion Tactics

The Entombed lack the numbers to fight conflicts on their own, and so their commander Erebos chooses to use them as supplementary forces. Other legions who require shock troops will petition The Entombed for aid, and Erebos will attach battalions to their forces, granting them direct command of his men. Erebos is extremely mindful of losses, however, and will not commit his men if there is substantial risk to them. Few enemies can survive a battalion of deep striking terminators and ossuary dreadnoughts, and The Entombed are also extremely skilled at defending entrenched positions.

Legion Equipment

To compensate for their difficulty in recouping losses, The Entombed have opted to wear much heavier armour. The legion consists almost entirely of Terminators, Centurions, and Dreadnoughts. Apothecaries have prominent leadership roles, and every squad of Terminators is lead by an Apothecary in terminator armour called an Undertaker. The Entombed field a unique Ossuary Pattern Dreadnought, with thicker armour and armed with the Demolisher Cannons usually seen on Vindicators. The Primarch of The Entombed, Golgothos, is interred in one such Dreadnought.

Legion Doctrine

The Entombed believe mankind to be a race of gods, sent to the galaxy to purge it of unworthy xenos and blasphemous witches. They put a great emphesis on respecting the dead, and their Fortress Monestary also serves as a great catacomb, where the bones of fallen Entombed are interred. After a battle, every fallen brother receives a formal funeral ritual, each of which takes several days. This reverence for the dead often frustrates more pragmatic allies, who continue to fight while The Entombed perform their last rites.

In Golgothos' absence, The Entombed are lead by Erebos, Lord of the Grave. He is the Chief Apothecary of The Entombed, charged with overseeing the medical needs of the entire legion. Every death weighs heavily on Erebos, and he does not take risks lightly. Erebos' second in command is High Chaplain Mausolos, a zealot who shares Golgothos' belief that humans are gods sent to purge the galaxy of xenos and witches. Mausolos claims a skull from the corpse of every xeno he kills, grinds it into a powder, and uses that powder to make a paint for his armour. This paint gives his armour a terrifying bone white hue, and those who know the source of its color look upon him with despair. The Entombed do not have a Chief Librarian, or any Librarians, believing The Emperor himself to be the only legitimate psyker. Instead of Sargeants, The Entombed field apothecaries called Undertakers, each in command of a squad of Terminators.

Golgothos, Primarch of The Entombed

Appearance

Before his internment, Golgothos had bone white skin, and a bald head. He was stout and wide compared with the other primarchs, a barrel of a man with fists that could crush a man's skull. After the Hektor Heresy, Golgothos was interred in an Ossuary Pattern Dreadnought. His Dreadnought is massive, dull grey with white details, and it has a massive metal skull on the front. Flanking the decorative skull, on either side, are recesses with the skulls of fallen entombed veterans stacked within. On one side of the dreadnought, where an arm should be, is a massive Demolisher Cannon, capable of leveling entire buildings. On the other side is a mighty power fist, which has crushed Golgothos' hated foes many times.

Youth

Golgothos' pod crashed into the caves of an Ork-populated world called Sepulchra. He spent the first 30 years of his life in complete isolation, believing himself to be the only one of his kind. Golgothos hunted Orks for sport, with a power fist he found in an ancient catacomb. He came to believe he was a god, the last of his kind, sent to punish the Orks for their impurity.

The Coming of The Emperor

Golgothos' was cornered by an Ork Warboss named Skullgub and his meganobz, and in an act of desperation called out to the gods. At that very moment, The Emperor's drop pod crashed through the caverns and crushed Skullgub to a pulp.

The Heresy

Golgothos was infuriated by the betrayal of Hektor. The thought of in-fighting among the gods when there were so many xenos to purge threw him into a fury, and so he committed every single marine under his command to Istvaan V. This proved to be his undoing, as a bombardment of chemical weapons by the Life Bringers completely destroyed 8 of his 10 companies. After Istvaan V, Golgothos and his legion were forced to return to their homeworld, unable to continue the war.

Post-Heresy

Golgothos swore bloody vengeance against Johannes Vrach, primarch of the Life Bringers. After the destruction of Rai, the Life Bringer homeworld, Golgothos gathered 100 of his venerable dreadnoughts and charged into the Eye of Terror. Golgothos and his men travel from world to world, constantly chasing after Johannes. Golgothos and Johannes have fought numerous times, usually resulting in grievous wounds to Johannes, but the master apothecary always manages to survive.

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The Skeleton in the Caves

As a babe, the Primarch whould come to be known as Golgothos crash landed on a desolate, grey planet known as Sepulchra. The surface of Sepulchra were inhospitable badlands, with gale force winds kicking up dust storms which could rip the flesh off a man. Fortunately, Golgothos' pod crashed with such force that it pierced through the surface into the caverns below, and it is in these caverns that Golgothos made his home.

As a child, Golgothos lived by foraging for caveworms and scraping moss off of walls. As he grew, he began to hunt larger and larger game. The beasts of Sepulchra fell to his bare hands, and Golgothos would consume everything, leaving only the bones behind.

However, Golgothos' life was not safe, for deep within the caverns lived a clan of Orks. Many times as he was feeding, Golgothos would be discovered by wandering Orks, and be forced to flee. For many years he was forced to live cautiously, fleeing before the echos of Ork grunts.

It was not until he was a man grown that Golgothos chose to face the Orks in battle. The Orks had driven all game from the caverns, and so Golgothos was starving. Delirious and exhausted, Golgothos wandered passageways he had never been to before. Stumbling around a bend, he happened upon three Orks, arguing over the roasting corpse of a cave drake. Golgothos attacked the Orks with a ferocity he did not know he had posessed, kicking, clawing, biting, with his screams of fury echoing across the planet. The Orks never stood a chance.

After that, armed with an Ork Choppa, Golgothos grew to enjoy hunting orks. The Orks came to call him "Da skellytun in da caves," and told eachother tales of the bony creature which ripped apart Orks with its bare hands. Eventually, Warboss Skullgub decided he had had enough, and rallied his Orks to hunt Golgothos.

For months, Skullgub harried Golgothos. While Golgothos was mighty, he could not face hordes of Orks at once, and so he was forced to make numerous tactical retreats. Fleeing before the echoing CLANKS of Skullgub's mega armour, Golgothos came upon a pair of massive metal blast doors. Golgothos had never seen anything man made before, and so he marveled at the doors. However, he was quickly ripped out of his confusion by the CLANK CLANK CLANK of skullgub's approach. Golgothos banged his fists against the control panel in desperation, and miraculously, the door opened.

Within, Golgothos found polished metal hallways, with deep recesses in the walls. In each recess he found the ancient, dusty remains of a man: Golgothos had happened upon a crashed Catacomb Ship from the dark age of technology. He went deeper into the ship, looking for some choke point or other tactical advantage, and found it: A door leading into a personal Tomb. He looked within, and found, laying on a Beir, a well dressed skeleton. The skeleton was decorated with gold jewelry and gems, as well as medals which marked him as a military officer. On the officer's hand, dull grey and coated with a layer of dust, was an ancient Power Fist. With his mighty new weapon, and an advantageous choke point, Golgothos was able to drive off Skullgub's Orks.

The Discovery had confused Golgothos, however. He had never seen another human being before, never even conceived of the possibility that there were others. And yet, here in this catacomb, he had found the skeletal remains of hundreds of men. Golgothos began to think that Men were gods, or perhaps demons, meant to torment the Orks. He spent the next few years guarding the catacombs, and tending to the remains of what he believed to be fallen gods.

Eventually, Skullgub managed to corner Golgothos away from home as he was hunting. Outnumbered, outmatched, and staring down the gob of a gigantic mega armoured warboss, Golgothos called out to the gods for aid. With a loud CRASH, the roof before him caved in, and before Golgothos' tear-filled eyes was a Drop Pod of the Imperium of Man. From this Drop Pod emerged the Emperor himself, along with some of his mighty Space Marines. The Emperor cleaved Skullgub in two with his mighty power sword, and the Marines made short work of the remaining Orks.

The Emperor offered Golgothos a mighty legion to lead, and Golgothos required no convincing. As far as Golgothos was concerned, before him stood the King of the Gods, and such a being should not be questioned. The Emperor did not approve of Golgothos' superstition, but at least it was superstition of human superiority. Golgothos was given the VI Legion, which he named The Entombed.

The Entombed maintain Golgothos' faith to this day, believing humans to be Gods, sent to punish impure and inferior xenos. They guard their fortress monastary, called the Catacomb, and pay much respect to the dead.

The Fall of The Entombed

It was in the year of 391.M35 that Erebus, Lord of the Grave, received a message from the Children of Armok. The Children had discovered that the Life Bringers were destroying entire systems on the edge of the galaxy, converting them into twisted jungles for Nurgle's pleasure. What's more, Primarch Johannes himself had was rumored to be leading the operation. Upon hearing the news, Erebus chose to mobilize all 3,000 Entombed. He would have his vengeance.

Aboard the battle barge Catafalque, Erebus called out to the other Legions for aid, but only the Knights Draconian, a War Scribes successor chapter, responded. The Entombed and their ally set out for the Mortis system, a chain of agri-worlds used to feed the most distant backwaters of mankind. When they arrived, They found Mortis I and II already turned. Warp-spawned tentacles reached out from the surface all the way into space, tearing apart the support ships of the Imperial Guard.

Erebus steered his fleet to Mortis III, a hive world from which the Mortis sector was governed. In orbit, he convened a war council to make plans to defeat the Life Bringers once and for all. At this council, Knights Draconian Third Company Captain Eadwine Herschel came before Erebus on his knees, and begged Erebus to forgive his chapter for their failure at Isstvan V. The War Scribes Primarch had frozen when he learned of the traitor legions' treachery, and failed to warn The Entombed of the incoming artillery barrage which would doom their legion. In anger, The Entombed had declared the War Scribes to be Void, and from then on acted as if they did not exist. Erebus considered Herschel's apology for a long time before replying, "How can I forgive one who does not exist?" Many of the War Scribes were insulted, but Herschel was wise, and knew the response for what it was. The Entombed were stubborn, and in his Primarch's absence, Erebus had no choice but to abide by the Void Decree. Herschel knew that, for The Entombed, to even budge an inch was remarkable.

It was then that the Knights Draconian and The Entombed formed their plan: They would erect a special planetary shield, which would prevent the Life Bringers from deploying their gasses from orbit. If the Life Bringers wanted to turn this world, they would have to do so from the ground. Erebus deployed his forces on the ground, while Herschel held his forces in orbit as a mobile reaction force.

The Life Bringers arrived soon afterward, and engaged the Knights Draconian in space. While the Draconian ships were distracted, the Life Bringers snuck a smaller ship past their blockade. On this ship was a device called the Great Genesis, capable of spewing forth diseases and chemicals which would warp Mortis III into a nurgle-spawned death world. The Entombed marched toward the device, slowly but surely, while battle barges crashed and burned in the skies above.

When The Entombed arrived at the Great Genesis, they found that the Life Bringers had been busy turning civilians into plague zombies. A swarm of writhing corpses orbited the Great Genesis like an asteroid belt, with a core of Life Bringers waiting within. The Entombed showed no remores, no hesitation. They cut through the zombies like a scythe through wheat. As The Entombed marched ever onward, the Knights Draconian began to rain drop pods upon the enemy, breaking their lines and weakening their defense.

At that very moment, as the drop pods and demolisher shells were raining down on his men, Johannes Vrach himself emerged from the Great Genesis. The Daemon prince had been warped and twisted by nurgle, and from his mouth spewed forth vile gouts of bile, where they landed, Knights and Entombed alike died by the score. Erebus ordered his ossuaries to fire their mighty cannons against the hated foe, but Vratch retreated back into the Genesis.

The casualties were becoming too much, and so Herschel ordered his men to retreat. Erebus, however, stubbornly held his ground. The battle came to a standstill, the Entombed unable to advance, and the Life Bringers unable to push the enemy back. The stalemate raged for hours, with heavy losses on both sides. As dusk fell, however, the Great Genesis finally came online. Its mighty vents began to spew forth thick red clouds, and from its massive pipes flowed a sickening yellow sludge. The Ossuary dreadnoughts began to bombard the machine, but even their mighty cannons could not penetrate its thick hull. Herschel commanded his whirlwinds to strike the machine, but the heavy gales of toxins threw the missiles off course. Johannes Vratch emerged once more from the Great Geneses, surveying his victory with joy.

At that moment, when all seemed lost, a great eldritch light filled the battlefield. Looking up, Erebus saw with horror that a warp storm had appeared in the sky above Mortis III. His despair turned to exultation when he saw the primarch's own battle barge, Nurgle's Grave, emerge from the warp storm. Screaming through the skies came the Drop Pods of Golgothos and his Venerable Dreadnoughts, come to slay their ancient foe. With a CRASH, the dreadnoughts struck the ground, and the dreadnoughts came out shooting. They waded through the sludge without concern as it melted through their armoured plates, with not a thought toward self preservation. Golgothos barreled across the battlefield, shouting "VRAAAAAAAAATCH! VENGEANCE FOR THE FALLEN!"

The mighty Golgothos and the twisted Vratch crashed into eachother, blessed power fist meeting against mutated claws. As they dueled, they kicked up huge waves of sludge, crashing over their own men and causing fungal blooms to rip through their armour. The primarchs struck with the bitter hatred of five thousand years, each blow shaking the ground for miles. After hours of fighting, Vratch managed to gain the upper hand. He ripped off Golgothos' faceplate, exposing the ancient face within, and spat a torrent of bile into Golgothos' armour. Golgothos' flesh began to twist, and mushrooms tore through his flesh. As his body tore itself apart, Golgothos grabbed Vratch, shoved his demolisher cannon in his face, and fired.

Erebus cried out, with both joy and despair. He had simultaneously seen his beloved primarch and his hated foe die. He and The Entombed were normally silent in battle, but now they screamed. They charged forward through the sludge, guns blazing, and tore through the Life Bringers. The vile poison twisted their flesh and tore them apart, but not before Erebus and a few survivors made it to the heart of the Great Genesis, deactivating it for good, and saving Mortis III.

As he watched from his safe vantage, Eadwine Herschel wept. In all his years as captain of the Third Company, he had never seen such a divine display. The glory of the warring primarchs, the valiant stubbornness of The Entombed, their last glorious charge to save the planet, it was all too much for him to bear. Once the sludge had been cleared from the battlefield, Herschel had his men gather up the remains of the dead, and load them onto his battle barge. That day Heschel declared that The Entombed would forever be interred on Sepulchra, and that he would found a new chapter, The Watchers Of The Dead, to guard The Entombed for all time.