Setting:Cloudburst/Deathwatch
The Deathwatch are recent guests of the Cloudburst Sector on their current scale. The Sector had suffered relatively few alien invasions in the time between its founding and the middle M41 era. However, after the invasion of the Glasians and the discovery of their evil patron, the Inquisition sprang into action and sent Marines to Cloudburst. After the second, even worse Migration, the Deathwatch answered the Ordo Xenos’ call to expand permanently into the region. Some in the ancient order of Xenohunters did not agree with the necessity, given the preponderance of local Deathwatch assets in the northern Ultima region, but the Ordo Xenos insisted on the pressing need outweighing logistical costs. The great Forge Yards of Fabique reconditioned a Ramilies star fort to serve as the headquarters of the local Deathwatch, while Cognomen crafted berths constructed the smaller Watch Stations.
The Deathwatch in Cloudburst rely on good relations with their member Chapters and with the Blue Daggers to accomplish anything. Distinctly undergunned compared to older Vigils like Jericho or Pykman, and also not as fully staffed, Dascomb provides coverage against alien incursions and subversions as far away as the Oldlight Exo-zone and the border of the Drumnos Voids, and even as far as the Pox Cluster in Naxos. The Blue Daggers are enthusiastic proponents of Deathwatch operations in the Sector, for the most part. The fact that the Deathwatch are allowed to deploy Exterminatus in their own backyard can put a damper on relations at times, but the Deathwatch is, if anything, even more stingy with this power than the Ordos, and has not employed their terrible weapons yet in Cloudburst.
In the halls of the Watch structures of the Deathwatch, the Watch Commander of Cloudburst and Master of the Vigil – long fused into a single position by tradition in this remote Sector – carefully observes Cloudburst for signs of the alien. As is so often the case, the incursions of the galaxy’s most pernicious parasites, the Ork, and previous masters, the Eldar, cause routine headaches for the Imperium in the sector. Other, local enemies, like the Tendrilites or the skin-scrawling horror of the Ghald Mountains, rarely extend their threat past their own world. The true foe of Cloudburst Sector, the evil Glasians, are a problem the Deathwatch understands better than anybody else except the Daggers themselves. Blue Daggers serve in the Deathwatch constantly, with as many as twelve Brothers and half that number of specialists deployed on their Vigil at any given time. Even the Chapter’s glorious founder, Augustus Alderoster, served for seven years in the black armor of the Watch. The present Chapter Master, Lord Ranult Arden, served as well, as have two Company Captains.
Specializations
One tradition unique to the Deathwatch of Cloudburst is their helm decorations. The ceremonial but combat-usable masks and visors that the Keepers of the Cloudburst Deathwatch wear receive ritual embossing on the metal covers that fit over their normal facial features. The masks themselves are a common pattern of helmet upgrade among Space Marines, frequently worn by Honor Guards and Techmarines. The images inscribed on those of the Cloudburst Keepers, however, are unique. The five Segmentae are represented by images of bird beaks and eyes. Solar is represented by stylized eagles, Ultima by hawks, Pacificus an owl, Tempestus a falcon, and Obscurus by the vulture. Marines drawn from those Segmentae have the images of those animals embossed on their masks, which they are allowed to keep after completing their service (though Keepers rarely leave the Deathwatch).
Another tradition of the local Deathwatch is to make each Watch Structure, from mighty Dascomb to tiny Octa, specialize in some way. Dascomb, for instance, has its huge ship hull classification library. Vault keeps records of Inquisitorial communications that concern the hunt for aliens. Earthquake has extensive records of Feral Ork development pathways, and Octa keeps records of the frequencies on which the dead aliens of its host world communicated at range. This trait is hardly unique to Cloudburst, of course; the entire concept of the Deathwatch is that they will keep in memory the secrets of dread xenos to ease the cost of their defeat if ever they return. Ever since the rampage of The Beast and his Slaughter, the Deathwatch have maintained records and tactics of aliens that would burn Mankind from the stars if they had the chance. In Cloudburst, however, thanks to the fact that the Deathwatch can go decades without significant challenge from migrating Glasians, the Deathwatch has the time to perform records-keeping and research that busier Vigils could not, such as the perennially overworked Excalibris and Erioch.
This is not to say the Deathwatch of Cloudburst are idle. That would be a disservice to the Vigilant. Instead, the Deathwatch of Cloudburst aggressively seek out hidden knowledge of the alien when they are not partaking of the desperate scramble to shield the sector from its avian attackers. Orks, Eldar, Tendrilites, Rak’gol, Kroot, and Vespid: there are no races the Cloudburst Deathwatch does not seek to capture for study and dissection. Of course, finding an Eldar or Ork willing to be taken alive is a challenge in the sparse and lightly inhabited Cloudburst.
Unlike the Blue Daggers, the Deathwatch of Cloudburst does not seek constantly to expand their fleet. A large battlefleet would defeat the purpose of the Deathwatch, in the minds of the Cloudburst Inquisition. The Deathwatch is to be a precise and unstoppable small-unit strike force, able to insert a team quietly, exert shattering force, and disappear. Instead, the Deathwatch of Dascomb focus their shipbuilding assets on upgrading and maintaining their existing forces to the highest possible standard. They do not allow their fleet of Thunderhawks and precious Blackstars to leave their bays with a single bolt untightened or cable out of place. Their shuttles and gunships bristle with weapons, and their small collection of Strike Cruisers are built to a standard of manufacture so high, Saturnyne Grand Yards could scarcely do better. In addition, the Deathwatch of Watch Fortress Dascomb maintain a small fleet of heavy escorts, mostly Destroyers and Frigates, as well as three Kill-ships. For emergency trips out into the Cloudburst Circuit, which is somewhat beyond the single-flight capacity of a Strike or Rapid Strike Cruiser, the fleet also maintains an Inquisitorial Longstrike ship, though it is only employed in the direst of circumstances. The Cloudburst Deathwatch would not refuse more ships, they simply prioritize maintaining what they have.
The composition of the Dascomb detachment of Marines is as flexible as any other Fortress’ would be. There are those Marines there for a short Vigil, those there on longer tasks, and those who joined and feel no compulsion to leave. One constant is the presence of a ten-Marine squad of the neighboring Celestial Knights. This Chapter of Dark Angel Successors has been present in the north of Ultima for thousands of years, and have contributed at least ten Marines to Dascomb’s Vigil continuously since M41.545. Although many Deathwatch veterans consider the Knights a provocative presence for their unconventional ‘recollection’ of the Primarchs, their presence is still welcome when the Centennial Migrations roll through the Cloudburst Sector.
Dreadnoughts
The first of the two Dreadnoughts to serve the Watch Fortress Dascomb is a former Third Company squad marksman of the Dark Angels named Lucien Insly. Brother Lucien was a member of the Dark Angels in good standing for many decades after his Initiation, and served as a capable but un-lauded member of his squad for fifty years before his talent was uncovered.
While assigned to a mission to purge a Kabal of Dark Eldar that had taken to capturing and enslaving the farmers of the Agri-world Vanlos 3 in the Drumnos Sector, Insly distinguished himself. When the Dark Eldar began using complex hit-and-run tactics to evade the Astartes retaliation, Insly kept detailed records and notes of their attacks, compiled on the fly during the course of his normal duties. In his head, he marshalled the data he had collected to precisely array his squad against the Eldar to cause maximum disruption of their plans. In conjunction with the local PDF and Imperial Guard forces, Brother Lucien was able to accurately determine which Dark Eldar present were the leaders of the enemy force.
This, in turn, led to his revelation that the reason the Dark Eldar had pressed their attack even after the Astartes had arrived to stop them was because the Dark Eldar leader’s subordinates were quietly trying to get him killed fighting the Imperium so they could replace him. Rather than play along, however, Insly instead used his combination of hard-won intelligence and marksman’s weapons to begin killing those lieutenants instead, over the course of several days’ hard fighting. The Dracons and other officers of the Archon who led the attack were caught off-guard by this, having underestimated the mon-keigh’s skill.
As soon as Insly began this purge, the Dark Eldar raids faltered. Other Dark Angel assets in the system took note and pressed their advantages. Within three weeks, the Dark Eldar force was all but rent in half, with the now-paranoid Archon and his few surviving Dracons bickering and blaming each other. The Dark Angels struck, shelling the Webway gate the Dark Eldar had used to arrive on the planet from orbit, and stranding the Dark Eldar on the planet.
Inquisitorial Ordo Xenos quarantines sealed the planet off, allowing the Dark Angels to be reassigned elsewhere, while the task of ferreting out the surviving aliens fell to local forces under Inquisitorial guidance. Brother Lucien Insly was commended for his creativity, and elevated to Squad Sergeant, though he preferred to retain his Stalker bolter rather than upgrade to a plasma weapon.
With every new chance to learn from the Dark Eldar and turn their own flaws against them, Insly proved himself adequate, and within a few decades more was considered the premiere hunter of the Dark Eldar in the Third Company and possibly the Chapter outside the Inner Circle. When he had the chance to serve the Deathwatch, he did so, and served with distinction in the Galactic North for over ten years.
He eventually met his end serving in the battles against the Corumbino Nebular foes who continue to snipe at Imperial assets when they get the chance. After a grueling battle against a Dark Eldar construct of malice and dark energy, Insly was cut in half at the waist. Eventually, he was resuscitated into a Dreadnought Construct after obtaining grudging permission from The Rock, and re-stationed on Dascomb as, at the time, its only Ancient.
The other Dreadnought assigned to Watch Fortress Dascomb is a Silver Skulls Techmarine who was granted the immense honor of internment in the station’s other Dreadnought sarcophagus. The Silver Skull, named Elder Brother Keyne, was once a master of what the Deathwatch and Ordo Xenos refer to as anti-de-sanctification. This is the process of salvaging technology that had been stolen or defiled by aliens and returning it to proper working order. The Orks are the most obvious perpetrators of this defilement, but not the only ones. Like all proper worshippers of the Machine God, Keyne loathed the mere thought of aliens defiling Imperial technology, especially weapons and ships. The task of laboriously scraping off Ork ‘improvements’ to their looted humie flash is one at which Keyne was a genuine master of the art. Shuttles, pistols, even a staggeringly rare Conversion Beamer; Keyne has restored a vast array of lost tech and ships, much of which went straight into the arsenal of either the Deathwatch or the Silver Skulls themselves.
Keyne was a normal Techbrother of low rank and experience when he learned of his skill. The Skulls had successfully boarded and retaken a captured Imperial ship that had been taken by Ork Freebootaz. Keyne’s team was able to restore the ship, a Viper-class, to Imperial working order with such speed and efficiency that Mars itself took note. When the Skulls later encountered a mongrel band of multi-species pirates and slavers on the outer edge of the Maelstrom, driven out by the expanding empire of Huron Blackheart, it was Keyne who led the team of Techmarines the Silver Skulls sent to analyze their weaknesses and eventually defeat them.
When the call came to lend an experienced xeno killer from the Tech Brotherhood to the Deathwatch, there was no real question who could be more qualified. Keyne served with distinction for four years before his internment into the Dreadnought following a failed attempt to defeat a Khornate daemon that had boarded his ship during a Geller Field malfunction. After the Field came back online and finished the weakened daemon off, the Deathwatch quickly interred him, lest his precious knowledge be lost forever. The Silver Skulls have barely tolerated this, but acknowledge that there is little to be done about it all, and it is better than Keyne simply dying without gain.
Watch Structures
The following is a listing of the named Deathwatch postings in the Cloudburst Sector and Circuit.
Each of these structures is unique, and each has a function that sets it apart from the others. Not all are staffed around the clock, and their usual personnel contingent is noted in each description where pertinent.