Scale Bearers

This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the /tg/ Heresy Timeline and Galaxy pages for more information on the Alternate Universe.

Scale Bearers
Battle Cry	"Imperator Rex!"
Number	XXV
Founding	First Founding
Successors of	N/A
Successor Chapters	A number, including the Beastmasters, Violet Serpents, and Knights Saurian
Chapter Master	Olit Okirus
Primarch	Tiran Osoros
Homeworld	Solnhofen
Strength	91,000 at the beginning of the Heresy, 1,000 as of M41
Specialty	Fast attack (both bikes and Sors)
Allegiance	Imperium of Man
Colours	Forest Green and Gold

The Scale Bearers are fast attack specialists who fight alongside the reptilian warbeasts known as Sors (native to Solnhofen) and often use them as mounts. They have deployed biological weaponry on occasion as well, most notably on Kras Xenkoh. (They probably learned it from the Life Bringers - this could also be why they don't use it anymore.) Led by the Primarch Tiran Osoros until his death during the Hektor Heresy. Their homeworld of Solnhofen is covered in vast jungles, and serves as their main source of recruits as they replenish their numbers, but other worlds have contributed Astartes to the Legion, including Kras Xenkoh and Krate Shias.

Their defeat at the hands of the Iron Rangers early on in the Heresy left them scattered and devastated, and their efforts to rebuild since then have proven only moderately fruitful.

Legion Colors

The colors of the Legion are a dark green (reflecting the color of the jungles of Solnhofen) with a gold trim. The pauldron on which the Legion's badge is painted, however, is a watery blue - perhaps reminiscent of Solnhofen's rivers.

Legion Tactics

While the Chapter of the 41st Millenium retains its use of Sors in combat, many Astartes of the Scale Bearers find themselves riding Sor-themed bikes instead. In either case, they are capable of reaching the enemy quickly and striking with great force. There are also records of them using biological warfare during the Great Crusade, but they are not on record as having done so since the Heresy.

Legion Organization

While the Scale Bearers differ little from the norm in their system of ranks, there are certain special positions that exist within the Legion to facilitate its way of life and style of operation.

Mayasaron - Drawn from the ranks of the Apothecaries, these veteran Marines serve as the biological equivalent of Techmarines, attending to the injuries and growth of the Legion's Sors. They are often assisted by specialized Chapter Clerks known as Veterinarii. This rank disappears some time in M35, after the Sor population drops low enough that it is little warranted.

Dainonikon - Drawn from the ranks of the Librarium, they use their psychic powers to bolster the combat effectiveness of Sors by driving them into violent frenzies or making their skin less penetrable by various weapons. Like the Mayasaron, these disappear sometime in M35, though the rank can still be found in the Violet Serpents successor Chapter.

Legion Equipment

By the 41st Millenium, Scale Bearers tend to be outfitted mostly in Mk. 6 power armor (or "Beakies," as their hated enemies the Orks have taken to calling them), and equipped with the Codex-standard assortment of weapons. When it comes to the use of the varied and mighty Sors, however, the creatures' own natural weapons are considered as much a part of the Chapter's armory as any Bolter or Chainsword. That said, they are far rarer than they once were, as few worlds to which the Scale Bearers have regular access boast environments conducive to their wellbeing any longer.

Legion Doctrine

The Scale Bearers' main focus, that of mounted warfare, is a tradition that began with the larger-than-usual contingent of bikes the Legion was granted from Terra, in the days when they were called the Imperial Riders. For a good portion of the Great Crusade, this carried on, until the fateful day when the Legion's Primarch was discovered on the primitive world of Solnhofen.

Tiran Osoros, along with the recruits from the tribal peoples of Solnhofen, brought with them not only the ubiquitous Sors, but a number of artefacts of the planet's culture. The smoking of various herbs endemic to Solnhofen itself was echoed in the Legion's use of Lho sticks when meeting with friends, and even offering them to comrades when meeting before battle - a practice not normally found amongst Astartes. From the village of Yrash Pak, they brought the idea of the Victory Totem - a wooden monument erected in a defeated enemy's capital after the fighting had ended. Over time, the Terrans among the Legion were worn down by attrition and vastly outnumbered by the sons of Solnhofen.

The result was a steady shift from more... pragmatic Terran methods, as it were, to the perhaps more boisterous warfare of the Solnhofens. Tiran himself introduced several maneuvers to his Marines that his old tribal army had applied during his youth, the most notable being the "Pouncing Ceeloh." In this formation, scouts, smaller Sors, or Imperial Army forces (depending on which is present) charge and shatter the unity of an enemy formation while a Scale Bearers bike squad approaches in a single-file line. As the enemy scatters or simply becomes confused, the line unfolds into an encirclement, which then peppers the enemy from without. Meanwhile, these opposing forces must also continue to fend off the Imperial elements that have already pushed into their lines. This tactic, obviously, proves more useful against tightly-packed and numerous armies - and against such tactless enemies as the Orks, the Legion has been more than willing to bring brute force to bear.

In addition, the Legion holds to a tradition of painting their close combat weapons before the battle - a sort of stylized "splatter" pattern is painted in red onto the part of the weapon that will face or strike the enemy. This is believed to prepare the weapon for the blood it will inevitably be covered in during the fighting. This paint is, of course, removed during the cleaning of weapons after the fighting, unless another battle is imminent (that is, within three days).

Notable Members

Astartes

Lukas Ilion - a Marine from Kras Xenkoh, notable mainly for sending his serpentine Sor Aleph to kill Warboss Sarkus on Henom IX, as well as taking charge of what remained of a contingent of the Legion after seeing his Primarch fall in battle against Merrill.

Olit Okirus - Chapter Master of the Scale Bearers as of 999.M41.

Rychad Owain - A member of Squad XXV of the Sacred Band, pledged from the Legion during their time as the Imperial Riders. The oldest member of the squad.

Karles Onatel - A member of Squad XXV of the Sacred Band, pledged from the Legion during their time as the Imperial Riders. Known for a rivalry with Adwaer Kopp.

Adwaer Kopp - A member of Squad XXV of the Sacred Band, pledged from the Legion during their time as the Imperial Riders. Known for a rivalry with Karles Onatel.

Josyf Hereran - A member of Squad XXV of the Sacred Band, pledged from the Legion during their time as the Imperial Riders.

Robyt Bakkir - A member of Squad XXV of the Sacred Band, pledged from the Legion during their time as the Imperial Riders. Known for being the most hot-blooded of the squad.

Dang Zhimin - A member of Squad XXV of the Sacred Band, pledged from the Legion during their time as the Imperial Riders.

Jan Ostram - A member of Squad XXV of the Sacred Band, pledged from the Legion during their time as the Imperial Riders.

Jak Horn - A member of Squad XXV of the Sacred Band, pledged from the Legion during their time as the Imperial Riders. Known for being the most unorthodox member of the squad.

Jorjes Cuvyer - A member of Squad XXV of the Sacred Band, pledged from the Legion during their time as the Imperial Riders. Known for a more gloomy outlook than that of the others.

Laran Lambe - A member of Squad XXV of the Sacred Band, pledged from the Legion during their time as the Imperial Riders.

Dreadnoughts

Garen Baryon - one of the few remaining Terrans in the Legion (and later, the Chapter), this ancient Astartes was present at Ullanor before his interment. After his grievous wounding during WAAAGH! The Beast, he was interred and has continued serving the Imperium. During his life, he was known to have red hair, which matched the head crest of his otherwise green Sor.

Dylo Phoso - like most members of the Scale Bearers, Dylo originates from the planet of Solnhofen, having been the great-grandson of a member of Tiran's tribal army before joining the Legion. He had not been present when Tiran and Keradops fell in battle, and did not take the news of their demise well. His interment took place after an engagement against Craftworld Biel-Tan sometime in M36, by which time he was already ancient.

Tarun Oden - an Assault Marine who joined the Scale Bearers in 948.M37. However, he was nearly killed in a pitched engagement against a Horns of Ruin warband in 113.M38. Now, with the skull of Aelman affixed to his chassis, he brings a quick death to the enemies of the Chapter.

Orjun Tenuso - born on Krate Shias, this Astartes was interred after perhaps the strangest of these incidents - during an engagement against an unnamed Ork WAAAGH, he repeatedly shielded his brothers from the shrapnel released by a number of Ork mines... using his own body. This culminated with him taking a shot from a Looted Tank directly to the chest - buying just enough time for his brothers to place an airstrike beacon.

Callus Dion - The youngest Dreadnought in the Chapter, he was critically injured in a campaign against the Dark Eldar in M40. He has often been seen fighting alongside Garen Baryon and Tarun Oden since then.

Sors

Keradops - The oldest, largest, and perhaps most well-remembered Sor ever to live, this white-scaled beast was Tiran Osoros' friend and ally from childhood. Living up to its name (meaning "hard-headed"), this stubborn creature used the great horns on its head to gore a great many enemies. By the time of its death during the battle against the Iron Rangers that cost Tiran his life, Keradops had grown so massive as to outsize a Gargantuan Squiggoth - no easy feat, to be sure. It would be entirely correct to assume that this beast was a closer friend, and perhaps a closer brother, to Tiran Osoros than even his fellow Primarchs. Its favorite food, apparently, was the leaves of a sort of large tree known only to grow on Solnhofen itself, but it would also gladly partake of Amasec or recaf.

Aleph - This quadrupedal, purple-scaled Sor belonged to Lukas Ilion before the Hektor Heresy, and had an odd love of honey. It was this creature that led the pack of Sors that vanquished Warboss Sarkus on Henom IX, and the beast took great pleasure in crushing the Warboss' skull in its jaws.

Aelman - This flying, lightly furred Sor belonged to Tarun Oden before his interment. Unfortunately, it was killed in the battle that led to Tarun's placement in the Dreadnought chassis.

Successors

Violet Serpents

Violet Serpents
Battle Cry	"Ssstrike swiftly!"
Number	N/A
Founding	Second Founding
Successors of	Scale Bearers
Successor Chapters	Unknown
Chapter Master	Dytan Oboam (M31), Anel Codar (M41)
Primarch	Tiran Osoros
Homeworld	Ophiuchus
Strength	1,000 at establishment, slightly understrength since M38
Specialty	Ambush and encirclement
Allegiance	Imperium of Man
Colours	Violet, Gold, and Green

Tiran Osoros, Primarch of The Scale Bearers

Appearance

8'7" tall, dark-skinned, black hair in short braids, yellow eyes. Green scales on arms below elbow, upper back, and legs below knee.

Primarch's Equipment

Armor - The Armor of Ankyros is a mighty piece of equipment. While perhaps not as ornamented as the armors of other Primarchs, the sturdy additional layer of plates on the back and the thickened ceramite make it extraordinarily difficult to pierce this shell.

Weapon - Preferring to close with his enemies, Tiran Osoros wields the formidable Power Mace known as the Thagomizer.

Youth

When the genetor-pod fell to the surface of Solnhofen, landing in the jungle near the village of Gand Wanunlen, few could have guessed that the child within would grow up to unify the planet. An old hunter named Ayl Osoros found the child two days after he landed, first witnessing the strange ability of the young Primarch - his command over the great saurians of the jungles. Already, he had befriended a three-horned, white-scaled hatchling. For thirteen years, the boy grew without a name of his own, known only as Ayl's son. That all changed when he repelled an attack on the village's food stores by the carnivorous pack hunters called Tirans. Fighting alongside his animal companion, who he had come to name Keradops, or "Hard-Headed," he killed the pack's leaders and convinced the rest to stand down. In honor of his defeat and taming of these creatures, the boy was named after them.

Eventually, Tiran, after teaching his village to ride the beasts he commanded, began a campaign of conquest against the rival villages in the area, such as Sharra Sek, Hyl Crek, and Yrash Pak. Each of these and others were brought under the dominion of the Gand Wanunlens, and their surviving soldiers brought into the army. The saurians of the jungles, now known by the collective name Sors, were the unstoppable instrument of Tiran's victories. The war lasted for some twelve years, and Tiran, as a Primarch, grew larger than all but the village's best armorers could account for. On the night that he and Keradops were to ride into the village of Larun Tya and complete the unification of the known world, however...

The Coming of The Emperor

...great plumes of smoke and flame descended from the heavens, rivaling the stars in their brightness. As the great buring Sors (so far as anyone could tell) landed near Larun Tya, a group of massive men in strange armor stepped forth, flanking a man who dwarfed even them. Tiran found himself strangely drawn to this man, whose armor shone like the lightning and seemed harder than stone. Instructing Keradops to guard his army, the leader of Gand Wanunlen's grand force stepped onto the great starship. At the break of dawn, he returned, wielding a great mace and clad in armor of green and bronze colors. He explained to his people the revelations he recieved - that he had been created and chosen by a ruler of many men to conquer beyond these villages, but that he first had a job to finish on his homeworld. With the aid of the Sors, Tiran completed his conquest of Solnhofen within a year, having found evidence of other continents on the planet in Larun Tya itself. In doing so, he brought the world under proper Imperial rule, and was in turn united at last with his Legion. The Primarch of the Scale Bearers was truly home at last.

The Great Crusade

With the planet secure and his Legion bequeathed to his command, Tiran took to the stars with renewed fervor. After conquering several minor worlds and establishing further populations of Sors, Tiran led a full half of the Scale Bearers into the Palia Ceen system, hoping to quickly capture the small, relatively primitive human cultures there. Instead, however, Tiran was dealt one of his greatest defeats at the hands of an unidentified Eldar Craftworld. The Eldar sabotaged the food supplies of the Legion, assumedly somehow knowing about their defunct Preomnor organs, then routed them time and time again on the battlefield. Some 2,000 Scale Bearers were lost during that campaign, and the system was only captured by Imperial Army forces after the mysterious departure of the Craftworld, which appeared to have achieved its objective.

Refusing to let this setback deter him, Tiran took his Legion to world after world, bringing the myriad jungles of the stars into Imperial rule. However, on the dead world of Meteon, Tiran met his greatest rival - the Ork Warboss Sarkus. Sarkus had been leading a massive WAAAGH throughout the nearby systems, and he was especially fond of running roughshod through his opponents with Squiggoths. This parallel to the Scale Bearers' use of Sors was uncanny, and contributed to the deaths of over 3,000 Marines. One Marine, Krate Shias, came close to killing the Warboss himself, but Sarkus' Power Klaw and immense strength proved too much for the superhuman. The battle was ultimately lost, and even with the casualties on the Ork side, the WAAAGH now outnumbered the Legion ten to one. Now, however, the Legion had a target for revenge - as did Keradops, who had become an old and massive Sor by this point, and did not take being beaten and scarred by Sarkus' personal Squiggoth lightly.

Some manner of respite and recovery came for the Scale Bearers during the Cleansing of Kras Xenkoh. After marching their Sors across the planet and eliminating the local mutants (who were later discerned to be Chaos-aligned, based on the Legion's records), they were able to establish a Sors population on the world and recruit from among the human populace. The most noteworthy of these recruits would turn out to be one Lukas Ilion, whose carnivorous serpentine Sor, Aleph, led the pack that attacked and killed Warboss Sarkus when the Legion met the WAAAGH again on Henom IX. Keradops, meanwhile, finally had his revenge against Sarkus' Squiggoth, defeating it in single combat and goring it on his horns. Even with this symbolic victory, the Scale Bearers were only gathered at half strength when terrible news came - several Legions, led by the Wolves of Dawn, had turned against the Emperor himself!

The Heresy

Having heard about the massacre at Istvaan III, Tiran rushed his Legion towards Istvaan 5 in an effort to stop the traitors before they could gain ground. After the disastrous Second Battle of the Istvaan System, he retreated and began to head towards Terra. However, the Legion was intercepted by the Iron Rangers, and Tiran killed in single combat. The elderly, enraged Keradops, seeing his master and oldest friend fall, rushed at the enemy with reckless abandon, felling dozens before finally being consumed in tank fire. His sacrifice, however, allowed the Scale Bearers to escape and lick their wounds.

Lukas, the oldest remaining (living) member of the Legion, decided to head for Terra to warn their father the Emperor of the treachery, but a Warp Storm prevented the Marines from ever reaching Mankind's holy homeworld. By the time the Warp Storm over the planet Krate Shias receded, the Heresy was already over, and the Imperium was in shambles. The Legion itself was much worse for wear - the interception that cost them their Primarch had also reduced that portion of the Legion to a mere 650 Astartes. While gene-seed was technically in good supply, the chaos of the Heresy and the low population of Krate Shias had left them with no real recruitment options, and their brothers were scattered about and likely fighting off the latest Xenos or Traitor threats to the Imperium as they came.

Post-Heresy

Ever since the Heresy, the Scale Bearers have been highly active in defending the Imperium from a number of threats, first and foremost the unending green tide of the Orks. They have also seen limited deployment against a variety of other Xenos factions (including Eldar), and by the 41st Millenium have gained an intense dread of the all-devouring Tyranids - and not without cause, for the biology of the ever-important Sors could be disastrous in the hands of the Hive Mind.

Furthermore, in light of their quick response to WAAAGH! The Beast at the end of M32, it can perhaps be assumed that remnants of WAAAGH! Sarkus may have been present within The Beast's ranks. This would mesh well with the response to the discovery of WAAAGH! Sarkus remnants at Ullanor.

The Second Founding saw several Successor Chapters formed from what was left of the Scale Bearers, including the Knights Saurian, Violet Serpents, and Ivory Lances.

Solnhofen

Solnhofen
Segmentum	Segmentum Tempestus
Sector	Uhulis Sector
System	Mesazon System
Population	8,738,903
Orbital radius	1.25AU ± 0.23AU
Gravity	0.94G
Temperature	Tropical

Located somewhere in Segmentum Tempestus is the Mesazon system, home to the jungle world of Solnhofen. A primitive planet, to be sure, it is home to a small population of humans who, by the 41st Millenium, adhere to the Imperial Cult in their own (perhaps limited in sophistication) way. This second planet of the Mesozon system boasts vast jungles dotted by large but simple villages. On the planet's (still warm) northern pole, however, rests the Cliffs of Tiran, the Fortress-Monastery of the Scale Bearers. Some 948 kilometers to the southeast sits the northernmost of the villages, Gand Wanunlen, which served as home to the young Tiran Osoros in the time he spent on the planet before the Great Crusade.

History

Pre-Imperium

Evidence found on the planet's southern regions indicate that humanity first settled here sometime in M19, atop the ruins of a primitive xenos civilization. Decayed and faded statues indicate that these xenos were sail-backed with short snouts and long tails, and moved quickly with a semi-sprawling gait. The nonsapient Sors had already been there by the time of the first Dark Age records that have been recovered so far - records that were perhaps made in M26. By the time Tiran's genetor-pod arrived in M30, the planet had taken the full brunt of the Age of Strife. Reduced to mere tribes scrabbling about in the few clearings to be found with stone weapons and bone tools, the people of Solnhofen could not have expected ever to see visitors from another planet again. Not until, that is, the arrival of the Primarch of Legio XXV...

Tiran's Conquest

Conquest of Solnhofen
Date	859.M30
Scale	Planetwide
Theatre	Solnhofen
Status	Decisive Victory for Tiran Osoros
Belligerents
Tiran Osoros, village of Gand Wanunlen, Sors	villages of Solnhofen, including Sherra Sek, Larun Tya, and Yrash Pak
Commanders and Leaders
Tiran Osoros, Ayl Osoros, Keradops	various village chieftains
Strength
Some 4,000 tribesfolk and a contingent of perhaps 1,000 Sors	Populations of tribal villages
Losses
No official records, estimated at ~700 humans and ~200 Sors at halfway point of campaign	No official records, over 200,000 kills claimed by army of Gand Wanunlen
Outcome
Imperial rule comes to planet as result of Emperor's rediscovery of Tiran Osoros and completion of conquest

After his arrival, the young Primarch was found and raised by the Gand Wanunlen hunter Ayl Osoros, and soon earned his own name of Tiran after defeating and taming his namesake creatures. At this point, his friend Keradops was about the size of a small bull, or perhaps a very large boar. Soon enough, the spark of conquest lit in his eyes, as it had in so many of his brothers. Speaking with the village's chief, he managed to persuade his people to rise in arms against their neighbors. For some half a standard year, Tiran developed the Sor-based tactics that he would pass on to his Legion, conquering and subjugating nearly half of the planet. He would later recount that his army claimed to have killed over 200,000 enemies by the time of the Battle of Larun Tya.

The Great Crusade

As the Great Crusade progressed, the planet provided a number of recruits for the Scale Bearers Legion, and the technology of the people improved slightly. By the time of the Heresy, the people had at last discerned proper irrigation systems, and their pottery designs were improving greatly.

The Hektor Heresy

(not much happens)

The Scourging

(not much happens)

Age of the Imperium

Little has changed on Solnhofen in the last ten thousand years, save for the adoption of primitive metallurgy and notable improvements in pottery.