Skaði's Thralls

Skaði's Thralls
Battle Cry	"something"
Founding	late 39th 40th millenium
Homeworld	"Skaði VI", Sometimes labled "The Former Domain of the Champions of Skaði" in Imperial Documents
Strength	2-3 regiments of around 300-330k pennitents every Tithe
Specialty	Guerilla Warfare, Ambushes, Sniping, Winter Warfare.
Allegiance	Imperium of Man
Colours	White with Brown Leather, Red and Blue feature on Insignia.

Standard uniform of a Thrall.

Finnish Feral Penal Legionarries, What could go Wrong?

A continued affirmation that /tg/ will stop at nothing until the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium contains every single conceivable thing ever. Or, you know, that there are some pretty robust creation tools that fa/tg/uys are able to use prolifically and to great benefit.

The Thralls

The Regimental Insignia

In the grimdark ruins of The Former Domain of the Champions of Skaði there is only Snow, Trees ("Trees"), Death and the Endless Steam of Thirsting Saunas. Or, at least, that is the world’s reputation. Skaði's Thralls are experts in in Hit and Run Foret combat, reaching the same level of Proficency as the famed Gaunt's Ghosts and quite possibly outperforming them in frigid enviroments similar to their Homeworlds. The Thralls Often Wield Long-Lasguns and Laslocks as oftern as they bring regular Lasguns as they bring regular lasguns and Bottles filled with Promethium funtion as their preferred form of grenade. Skaði's Thralls are able to fight Trench Warfare effectively enough but will often send squads ahead to slow the enemy's advance with their signiture use of Snipers, Booby-Traps and Ambushes that will often be used in conjunction with one another. An Xeno tank may stop short of a pit trap intended to destroy it only to be abushed, with the foiled trap now serving as a road block, pintle gunners on the tank will be shot dead by Snipers allowing the ambushers to drop Promethium Coctails inside the vehicle killing the crew and possibly exploding its ammunition before beheading the dead with astonding speed and vanishing back into the forest as quickly as they came under cover of Sniper-fire, Additional Booby Traps and a few brave indivuals who will keep fighting to buy their squadmates time, often charging the enemy with a grenade belt once they think the Ambushers will have had enough time to cover their tracks. Leaving behind a shaken enemy and alot of decapitated corpses.

Feral Cannibles

Skaði VI is a dangerous place, not only is its climate ill-suited to human life but the evil that wiped out the Chapter of Space Marines who used to call the planet home still lingers on in their Ruined Fortress Monastery, now referred to as "The Angels Graveyard". As the PDF is mainly tied up both fighting and preparing for this evil the Planets Tithe of Guardsmen is instead filled by criminals, individuals who have committed what are viewed as crimes by the planets savage inhabitants, though some of the raised Legionaries are your usual thieves or murderers the vast Majority of Skaði's Thralls are actually cannibals, most of whom are self-confessed. Food is difficult to come by even in the best of times on Skaði VI and in the brutal Winter entire villages have been found dead in summer from insufficient food stores, as such it is extremely common for starving individuals to resort to eating the body of another human who has already died in order to survive, when spring comes these cannibals often feel extreme guilt and wish to redeem themselves in the eyes of the Golden Flame (The Emperor) and offer themselves up to the justice of their peers, which is almost always service in the Thralls.

The Zealous need for redemption expressed by most of the regiment soon rubs off on guardsmen recruited for other crimes (theft, murder) resulting in a regiment that is all too happy to sacrifice themselves for the Emperor, snipers who are located will often stay put and keep shooting, dropping their Rifles only when the enemy is in effective range of their other weapons, ambushes will often be baited with a sacrificial squad of guardsmen who are all too willing to die in order grant the enemy false confidence and many a Booby Trap has been intentionally triggered by a Thrall in order to kill catch out any pursuing enemies as well. This is so extreme that Lord Commissar -- will command his troops to return from missions with "more heads than they left with" not only does this encourage the Thralls to sacrifice themselves only when absolutely, by making ambushes decapitate dead enemies before taking off or forcing Snipers to close in on their kills for proof (The Commissar will accept bags full of head mush in the case of Headshots) the Thrall's need for Martyrdom is somewhat alleviated. This comes together to make a terrifyingly efficient Hit and Run force, able to drag the enemy across an apparent sea of traps and ambushes all the while whittling them down for sniper perches whilst still willing to stand their ground and get killed in order to hold the enemy in place and allow other parts of the regiment to operate as efficiently as they do however when forced to fight defensively with no ground to rake their foe along they have been noted as performing "admirably but without distinction" as the Thrall's stubbornness crossed with little to no real artillery, armor or siege equipment and few gun emplacements often results in Trenches held solely by the Thralls being difficult to break but easy to take once the admittedly lethal No-mans land has been dealt with whilst Thralls in conjunction with regiments more suited to trench warfare can result in lethal combinations, the Penal Legionaries happy to go on suicidal missions to set up traps in No-Mans land or attempt to range behind enemy lines to disrupt enemy supply lines.

History and Background

Skaði VI was an unremarkable Ice Ball with 0 inhabitants when what would become the Skaði System was first brought into the fold during the glory days of the great crusade by the Word Bearers (often known simply as "One of the Emperors Space Marine Legions by other planets in the sector for obvious reasons") however some time afterwards a Chapter of Space Marines now known as the Champions of Skaði eventually came across the Skaði VI and found it covered in Feral Human Tribes, Finding truly Ancient Transport ships on the Planets surface further investigation into the ancient Data logs found that at some point in the very distant past several regiments of Imperial Guard (or Army, details are hazy) were stationed here while the local arm of the Administratum "Figured out what to do with them" what exactly this meany was unspecific. Whatever happened it appears that the Guardsmen were forgotten about completely leaving the troops on their own for thousands of years. During this investigation the local Tribes were appalled at the "interlopers" for stepping foot on what the Tribesmen revered as "the Mountains of the Flame" and proceeded to wage what was apparently a brutal Guerilla War against the Space Marines killing not one but three Astartes over the course of 5 Terran Years and disabling a Razorback. Finding this effort impressive the Champions Chapter Master declared the Tribesmen to be worthy Recruitment Stock and used the favor granted by recovering the ancient troop transports to claim Skaði VI for his Chapter constructing their Fortress Monastery on the grounds in which the ancient ships once stood (note that exactly when this happened has been lost to the Administratum as has whether the Champions of Skaði named themselves after the system they called home or if the Skaði system was renamed by the Space Marines once they arrived.)

For many years the Champions of Skaði reigned of Skaði VI, and it's thought that this is where many of the planets traditions come from. The practice of giving children extremely basic lasguns so that they could shoot the small songbirds which live in Skaði's forests and are the only reliable source of Omega 3 and Vitamins D and C on the planet was almost certainly started by the Marines to raise the quality of their recruits (where else would the Tribesmen gotten their guns from) and the willingness of Skaði VI's modern day inhabitants to hand over their guilty to the Penal Legion probably comes from how the old Champions of Skaði would take convicted Thieves, Murderers and Cannibals and turn them into Servitors. This however was not to last.

In Mid to Late M39 the Chapter would come into contact with an unknown chaos warband. Over the course of many-many brutal Skirmishes the Chapter of Space Marines would be whittled down to just over half strength until, in early M40 the full force of the warband descended on the System. Split between The Hive World Skaði XVIII and The Domain of the Champions most of the warband, led by a horrifying Daemon Prince assaulted the Marines in their Fortress Monastery. The details are unknown but when the Imperial Counter-Attack finally arrived the Chapter had been wiped out with all hands lost and though many corpses had been left behind the Warband and their Daemon Prince had seemingly vanished into thin air. However, they were not gone.

Roughly every 70 years or so the Warband, now known as The Tide reappears, spilling out of the Angels Graveyard they ravage the countryside slaying as they go and piling high mountains of skulls before vanishing again as quickly as they came. First surprised by these attacks, the remains of the PDF that had been set up by the Astartes were able to rebuild and prepare for attacks developing many of the tactics used by the Thralls today in direct response to the Warband proficiency in head-on combat, and it was seeing the effects of what the Skaði's named "the Death by Inches" that convinced Imperial Officials that the Servitor Stock that the planet was currently offering up as Tithe would be better served as a Penal Regiment and so, Skaði's Thralls were formed

Skaði's Thralls was originally the name given to the Chapter Serfs who served the now extinct Chapter of Space Marines who used to occupy Skaði VI and for a while after the death of the Astartes the world would pay its Tithes not with Guardsmen but by offering up their criminals as Servitors parts in much the same way they had offered their criminals up to the Space Marines, however after the 1st Skaði's Thralls proved a decent, if short-lived success it was decided that would be officially labeled a feral-guard world and later have proven so effective that the local arm of the Administratum has granted them many medical necessities such as Calipers, Penicillin and Medicae kits in order to boost Birth Rates as well as Vitamin Supplements to boost the Health and physical abilities of the Planets Population. Crucially, while the increased population has increased the amount of mouths to feed beyond the feral worlders abilities to provide enough sustenance the people of Skaði VI are repeatedly denied Food Aid outside the Vitamin Tablets in a deliberate effort to increase rates of Cannibalism in the populace and thus boost the amount of souls joining the guard even further than the boosted population would suggest. This worked fantastically, especially once hoarding and eating a Years supply of Vitamin Supplements in an attempt to stave of starvation was also made a crime as it "Took advantage of the Emperors Generosity" and now the Planet can reliably provide 2 to 3 and sometimes even 4 large Penal legions, which is more than enough for Guerilla Warfare specialists such as the Thralls.

Notable Skaði Regiments

the Skaði 1st - The original Penal Legion, deployed against Necrons with some success before the over-sacrifcal nature of the Thralls ran them so ragged that the Xenos were able to overrun the remaining troops. Their overall performance coupled with confirmation that a Necron Lord had been caught in the blast of a Thrall booby-trap (that, admittedly, had still failed to kill him) resulted in more Regiments to be raised

The 16th Skaudi Thralls Re-named by their commanding general who reportedly couldn't pronounce the old name and didn't care to learn. The Skaudi Thralls still served with extreme distinction against the Tau and what were later confirmed to be Dark Eldar on Boldena XXVI, afterwards were mistakenly deployed to the deserts of Wolsen II alongside 4 regiments of Krieg Death Corps instead of the planets equatorial Jungle where 2 more Krieger Death Corps were mistakenly deployed instead. Despite being completely out of their element the Kriegers reported that Skaudis Thralls adapted well to the change of tactics and were "valiantly" wiped out after 3 and a half weeks of fighting One Squad bringing down =]REDACTED[= before getting overrun.

The 19th and 20th Skaði's Thralls - Raised right before a Tide attack these Regiments were attached to the PDF to help fight them off before being redeployed to =]REDACTED[= alongside =]REDACTED[= against =]REDACTED[=, apparently served "well considering the circumstances" for the duration of the campaign after which both regiments were =]REDEPLOYED TO THE SEGMENTUM OBSCURUS[=, never to been seen nor heard from again.

49th "Greenskinners" 50th "Bartenders" and 51st Skaði's Thralls - Raised after Administratum measures to boost Skaði's Tithes, first time 3 Regiments were raised in a single Tithe, deployed against various minor Ork Waaaghs on a String of worlds before being redeployed against the traitor world Threka V alongside 1112th Dellen Rifles and the vaunted Catachan Devils, fought a particularly brutal set of Guerilla Campaigns in on the Planets Campaigns and joined by the recently deployed 64th "Muk-Skip" Catachan Jungle Fighters during the last push to the Planets capital in what would be known as the "Red-Delta Massacres" afterwards the remains of the regiments would be disbanded and their members folded into the Mukskips.

221st "Quite Violence" Skaði's Thralls notably the first regiment to be joined by a Commissar -- also fought against the tide wherein the attacked general was reportedly "Eaten Alive" by the warrior known as the Bleeding One. Taking command Commissar -- would reign in their suicidal tendencies and introduce what are now common practices in the Thralls notably the act of taking the heads of the enemies which originally started as a method of psychological warfare, the heads of dead Tidesmen would be purified and ceremonially burned which would forever deny the soul a place on the Skull Throne. This served well and the warband quickly retreated from whence they came, the 221st would serve with distinction against Waaaghs Smashhamma and Burningit before wiping out a band of Traitor =]STORMTROOPERS[= despite massive losses after which they -- were officially granted the title of Lord Commissar and the 221st was folded into

Winters Soilders originally made up of leftover elements of the defunct 221st, 233rd and 234th regiments of Thralls, attached to Lord Commissar and continually replenished with survivors of Thrall Regiments that have been heavily reduced by long campaigns. Winters soldiers have served the Commissar for decades with many Legionaries going on to fill positions of authority in other Regiments of Thralls and and a couple even managing to earn the Emperor's Pardon! Many Generals attached to regiments of Skaði's Thralls are Veterans who have proved themselves to Lord Commissar -- as Sergeants in the 'Soldiers and any Thrall who has earned a degree of renown in another regiment has probably earned even more here. Currently deployed against the latest Tide incursion a brutal guerilla war is taking am greater toll on the Khornates then ever before.

Unique Equipment

Lasguns

Regular Lasguns see use in the Thralls, especially in ambushes while Long-Lases are extremely popular for both the Sniper Squads and regular Thralls who benefit greatly from the weapons range making it the second most common standard-issue weapon. Las-locks of a variety of Patterns float also around the Regiments and are appreciated but by far the most popular and common rank and file weapon is...

Violet Pattern Laslocks

Noticing that the practice of hunting songbirds as children greatly improved the Thrall's accuracy the Administratum decided to continue this practice issuing Violet pattern Las-Locks and old Las-pacs that are at the end of their lifespan to the populace. The Violet pattern is notable in that a trained tech-priest can purposefully reduce its power so that the weapon fires an extremely weak violet colored beam which at pointblank range will cause serious burns in an unprotected human before loudly venting all the power remaining in the gun requiring it to be reloaded. When in the hands of Skaði children the guns will just about scorch a song bird to death with a direct hit before needing to be reloaded, this means that children will not only be taught to hit extremely small targets on the first try but will also get a lot of practice in reloading Las-guns. In the Field Thralls are often Issued non-depowered variants of these guns which acts much like other Las-locks with a slightly longer effective range and a higher rate of las-pack consumption and are extremely potent in the hands of the Thralls who will have been shooting these weapons for as long as they can remember and reload them as easy as breathing

Cocktails

When the Champions of Skaði first came into conflict with the planets tribesmen they noticed that they would fill pots with flammable Tree-Sap to use as Incendiary weapons for a variety of purposes, both to attack Marines and to block of passages and avenues of escape. Millennia later this practice continues except instead of Pots filled with Sap which wouldn't so much as scorch Power-Armour Skaði's Thralls often carry Bottles of Military Grade Promethium, lighting a jury-rigged fuse these Fire-Bombs are the Thralls favored grenade and many regiments do not use Flamers simply because all the fuel will be bottled up and stoppered with Alcohol doused cloth which burns slow enough to allow the bomb to be thrown before exploding, unlike Promethium doused cloth, and carried on the Thralls person. These are used not only to flush foes out of cover and light static targets but also to block of avenues of escape with fire, destroy vehicles from the inside, execute devastating suicide attacks and generally sow terror

Pik-axes

a Common Melee weapon among the Thralls these are a mix of an Ice Pick and an Axe, extremely useful out of battle for preparing food traps and supplies Thralls are often trained to fight with them in Close Quarters, often with a Standard issue Combat Knife or Bayonet and sometimes with just a Pik-Axe alone. These are surprisingly capable at piercing armor and extremely efficient at severing heads in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing.

Standard kit

• One Field Uniform, Leather and Cloth
• One Violet-Pattern Laslock(Main Weapon), Lasgun or Long-Las. with 5 Charge packs and Baynonet
• Two Promethium Coctails
• One Standard Issue Combat Knife
• One Set of Flak Armour
• One Utility Belt (Leather)
• One Set of basic tools
• One Mess Kit and one Water Canteen
• One blanket and one Sleeping Bag
• One Rechargeable Lamp Pack
• One Grooming Kit
• One Pic-axe
• One Primer or Instructional Handbook (Pictographal)
• Combat Sustenance Rations; Two weeks’ supply

Officer Ranks

One Chainsword or Mono-Pick axe.

The Crunch

Regiment Classification

Penal Legion

Regiment Demographic

Convicts

Nature of Recruitment

Punishment/Redemption/Recycling

Homeworld Designation

Feral World

Homeworld Terrain

Ice World

Regiment Core Units

Light Infantry

Specialization

Guerilla Warfare

Loyalty Rating

Adherent

Special Equipment

Preffered Fighting Style

Regiment Creed

Esoteric Beliefs / For the Emperor

Regiment Friends

Ecclesiarchy (Soriatas Order Based on Hive-Shrine World in same system)

Regiment Enemies

Chaos Warband (The Tide)

Only War Statblock

Skaði's Thralls

Favored Rare Weapons

Basic

Meltagun

Heavy

Heavy Bolter

See Also

• Hua Yuan, home of the titular regiments
• Writefaggotry for culture and stuff