Life Bringers

This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe.

Life Bringers
Battle Cry	"Paradise awaits!"
Number	XII
Original Homeworld	Rai
Current Homeworld	Eden
Primarch	Johannes Vrach
Specialty	biological and chemical warfare, terraforming
Allegiance	Nurgle
Colours	white and red

Summary of Legion XII

Numeration: The XIIth Legion

Primogenator: Johannes Vrach (Also known as "The Healer")

Cognomen (Prior): The Brothers of Death

Observed Strategic Tendencies: Biochemical Warfare, Orbital Virus Bombings, Total Planetary Purgation and Reconstruction, Application of Combat Medicine.

Noteworthy Domains: The Cordian System (Primary), Tithe Rights to the Hapit, Renyl, Nuroux and Pulmn Systems.

Alliegence: Traitoris Perdita

"The galaxy is filled with all manner of disease, and it is our responsibility to eradicate the illness within man no matter how harsh the treatment may be."

-Apothecary-Captain Phillipus Aureus at the Cleansing of Styphus.

Legion Doctrine

Life Bringers put great value on the lives of friends and battle brothers, trying to minimize losses in battle. The Life Bringers believe it their duty to heal the sick and purge the impure, they are generally friendly and forthcoming when approached by allies. Like the native population of Rai they have strong bonds of family and brotherhood, squads tend to stick together in and out of battle.

After their fall to Nurgle most of the traditions remained the same, the Life Bringers still believing they are generously healing the galaxy of corruption and building a perfect universe by spreading Nurgle's plagues and transforming planets into toxic jungles, their warped view of a paradise.

Life Bringer gene stock was stable and of high quality during their service to the Emperor, all organs present and working as intended. After their turn to Chaos their geneseed is highly mutated. The Plague Masters maintain cloning tanks in their labs on Eden where they grow organs for implanting into new recruits and are hence capable of creating new astartes to bolster their ranks, however they also tend to experiment on the geneseed. As a result the actual quality and capability of the implants varies widely between recruits and the Plague Master who performed the procedures. Sometimes organs work well or even surpass regular versions, other times they malfunction or don't work all. Some newly inducted marines may lack certain organs, or have completely new ones, with varying results.

Legion Organization

Before the were reunited with their primarch, the Brothers of Death were known for vicious clearing actions against entrenched hostile forces, specifically hive clearing. The legion was no stranger to biochemical warfare before being reunited with their primarch, utilizing it as the preferred first-line tactic, but their tendency to follow up these actions with massed close infantry seemed an unacceptable risk to Johannes. Where they had previously strode alongside death, the legion would now bring life, and with it a change in strategy. No longer were the men of the XIIth expected to march unprotected into the hazard-zones they had created, they went from the among the most reckless legions to the most judicious when it came to the safety of its marines.

Under Johannes, each officer of the newly christened Life Bringers were taught in the ways of the medicine and biology. Sergeants were charged first with responsibility over the well-being of their men, this held paramount importance in the consideration of command roles. Dedicated apothecaries within the legion still existed, they are deployed to the areas of fiercest fighting in order to best perform their unique role on the battlefield. Gene-seed of the fallen was largely collected by the officers of a given squad, so dedicated apothecaries were free to unleash their myriad of terrible biochemical weapons on their enemies or tend to marines whose grave wounds would have ordinarily left them as casualties for the remainder of the battle. The most feared of their number are the Plague Masters, dedicated apothecaries with a talent for turning their craft to war.

The legion's favor for chemical weaponry increased drastically with their primarch's discovery, quickly going from a reliable tactic to outright dogma. Where the legion was once known for close assault, bombardment and ranged combat soon became the norm. At the first sign of a planet's resistance, marines are recalled and numerous low-air assaults and bombardments begin in an effort to remove any defenses. Once anti-air weapons have been crippled, the Life Bringers' fleet drops its terrible payload. Genetically engineered plagues and vitriolic chemicals are blasted into major population centers, whole forests are cleared, and what remains living is reduced to a sickly rendition of its former being. The robust marines then drop onto the poisoned soil below and meticulously eradicate all that lives, their superhuman immunity and equipment keeping them protected from the death which surrounds them.

There were no better cultivators than the XIIth legion, they were as thorough in scouring worlds as they were at terraforming them. The new planets left behind by the Life Bringers were lush and fertile, and the engineered flora and fauna introduced by the legion were always hardier and more bountiful than those they replaced. A High Genetor assigned to the rebuilding of a world treated it as he pinnacle of his art, ensuring its ecosystem could thrive no matter the imbalances wrought upon it. The legion was beloved by those few populations who survived an encounter with it, diseases afflicting the population were cured and they were welcomed as brothers to the Imperium. Planets would be uplifted with generative technology similar to that used on the worlds the legion eradicated, ensuring a cornucopia for the loyal.

The XIIth were often deployed alongside their brother legions during protracted or difficult campaigns where their talent for aiding the injured was of the most utility. Some of these legions saw the Life Bringers as a mere utility force, unable to do much alone, but those who fought alongside them knew they delivered death better than most. Most of the XIIth were well-liked by their fellows for their kindness and dedication to their fellows, and there are many tales of Life Bringers giving up their lives in an attempt to save those of their allies, while others saw their distaste for combat as suspect and their focus on healing was a needless detriment to the Imperium's advance.

Following the Hektor Heresy, the Life Bringers tactics changed very little, they still rely on bombardments and ranged attacks to erase cohesive resistance. Life Bringers marines now have little to fear from being caught in the blast of a virus-bomb, so drop pods are launched alongside the biochemical strike. The bloated plague marines joyfully stride out amidst the toxic explosions, led by skeletal Plague Doctors carrying needleguns. Plague Masters joyously give the gifts of their latest experiments and genetic alterations to their foes, eagerly charting the effects of some new contagion as their enemies fall. The war with disease has been made into an unholy peace, and the formerly sober marines are now a twisted and joyous foil to what they once were.

Legion Equipment

File:Life Bringer marine.jpg

The Brothers of Death legion were slightly over strength, with an abundance of terminator armor compared to their fellows. By the time of their primarch's discovery, the legion's reckless nature left them drastically under strength. Following their re-branding, the XIIth Legion's Terminator armor has been reserved for the most skilled battlefield apothecaries, the Plague Masters, with the idea that their role benefited most from added protection. Whirlwind tanks are the preferred mechanized unit of the legion, and are often utilized in its bombardments, but the legion's numbers of armored vehicles deviate very little from the average. Following its primarch's discovery, the XIIth became well known for its officers carrying the standard equipment of the apothecary and the adoption of the narthecium as a close combat weapon.

The XIIth Fleet

The fleet of the XIIth Legion was of great importance to its main strategy of orbital assault. The Life Bringers converted a number of ships to suit their various ends. Roughly 100 escorts were converted for the transport of the wounded and diseased, these ambulances were equipped with a number of advanced life support technologies. Others were turned to less benevolent ends, many of these ships were utilized in the mass deployment of the horrific toxins of the legion. Even larger ships, such as the cruiser Man's Cure, which famously poisoned the entire population of the heretical hive world Qinn with caustic Zobyn gas.

Johannes Vrach sought to exemplify his values in each part of his legion, so some battle barges functioned as dedicated research stations or hospitals. Many times these were left to oversee particularly difficult epidemics away from the bulk of the fleet, dedicating themselves entirely to their research.

Johannes Vrach, Primarch of The Life Bringers

Johannes Vrach, the Bringer of Life

Johannes Vrach was a quiet and sober-minded man, his brow was constantly furrowed and his eyes far away. The few that were close to him knew that Johannes was the kindest of his brothers, he could never allow suffering to go unabated and felt personally responsible for every man under him. Every loss, whether on the battlefield or in the field hospitals, wore heavily on his broad shoulders. Johannes was shaped, prior to his discovery, by the horrific loss of his large adopted family and clan to a terrible plague. For all his might and medical skill, he was powerless in the face of death. The Great Crusade was always secondary to the primarch's real goal, victory in the war against infirmity and disease, and the dark actions he took in 'winning' this war will forever mark his name.