Judgement Bringers

Judgement Bringers
Battle Cry	"Judgement is upon you!" or "Death! DEAAATH!!"
Number	VII
Primarch	Enoch the Relentless
Homeworld	Terra, formerly fleet based
Specialty	Shock and awe, heavy ordnance
Allegiance	Dark Imperium
Colours	Grey, red, bone

This page is part of the Imperium Asunder, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the Imperium Asunder page for more information on the Alternate Universe.

The Judgement Bringers are the seventh legion in the /tg/ alternate history 40k timeline Imperium Asunder. They are a balanced force, but one that leans on shock and awe tactics, heavy ordnance, and sometimes heavy vehicles. The primarch of the Judgement Bringers is Enoch the Relentless, whose growing hatred of his 'father' the Emperor was key in the warmaster gaining the allegiance of Legio: VII, which was ultimately key to the Emperor's death and the creation of the Dark Imperium.

Summary of Legion VII

Homeworld

The Judgement Bringers were originally a fleet-based legion. Unsurprisingly, Enoch held no affection towards the arid rock he grew up on. In a self-indulgent moment, his first act as primarch of the Judgement bringers was to bring his fleet to that tiny planet and have his guns pulverize it into space dust. After the death of the Emperor and the corruption of Segmentum Solar, the warmaster 'suggested' that Enoch establish Terra as an adoptive homeworld for his legion. Enoch spends most of his time upon his flagship, Inheritance, avoiding the twisted spires and demonic instability of Terra.

Tactics

As stated above, the Judgement Bringers are a balanced force, that tends to lean on shock and awe tactics. Enoch's sons inherit his strength as a meticulous planner, and likewise, you see the 'relentless' right there in the primarch's name? Once the Judgement Bringers set a course they do not like to back down. On the other hand they can be somewhat ponderous at times, not wanting to strike until a battle plan is set.

What specialty the Judgement Bringers do have is in artillery. The favorite tactic of the seventh legion through the great crusade and even into 40k was to bury their targets in withering and damn accurate ordnance, and while the enemy were keeping their heads down marines were closing the gap across no-mans-land. The barrages would be carefully coordinated so that the last volleys would arrive on target just as the foot-sloggers would arrive, so that as soon the booms stopped, marines came over the top and were laying into it with close-range bolter fire and chainswords, not giving them a second to regroup.

Certain commanders among the Judgement Bringers focus more on the fear aspect of their shock and awe tactics. They break the will of their enemies will to fight with terrifying and psychological displays of dominance, especially using the aforementioned artillery. These commanders also tend to favor weapons like the heavy bolter and thunder hammer, whose intimidating reports lend themselves to this strategy.

Organization

Since the great crusade, the Judgement Bringers legion has been comprised of multiple chapters, each chapter consisting of companies which are then broken down into squads. The exact numbers of marines to a squad, squads to a company and so on varied greatly from the onset of the crusade to present day. Their organization is typical save a few deviations; Firstly the commanders of chapters were called Judicators, and there was one Grand Judicator above all others who is second only to the primarch. Secondly, usually one chapter (but on occasion more) are named Death Bringers, whose armor is painted black. Marines who show themselves to be especially ruthless and effective are promoted from the other chapters into the Death Bringers chapter, and are considered the legion elite. The Death Bringers are led by Executioners and a single Grand Executioner, who answers only to the Primarch. Thus this chapter exists somewhat outside the regular legion hierarchy, and can operate independently. The Grand Executioner, whether by the primarchs order or his own decision, oftentimes lends squads of Death Bringers to be attached to Judgement Bringer forces, where they perform close-combat and heavy shock troop roles.

Legion History

Enoch's Discovery

Enoch was the 11th primarch reunited with the Emperor, when he was found on a nameless barren rock in the galactic north.

Wind and sand. He couldn't tell how long it had been, but that was all he knew. His entire universe. Alone in the drifting wastes and rocky crags, his only companion the wind and the sand. It was impossible to remember, but he had landed here, as an infant. How had he survived those early years into adulthood? Were the chaos gods twisting fate knowing that this lonely little thing would someday serve them? Even in adulthood, how did the sand not scrape off his skin and flesh until he was nothing? To the wanderer it did not matter. To the wanderer it could not matter, for he had no memory of landing here, no inkling of how his genes grew him into a titanic man in mere years. No, for him things were always the same. Existence was grit in his eyes, sucking on dried bones, chewing on dead plants. Wind and sand. And nothing else."

But then there was something else. Thunder and lights, golden lights, a haze through the dust storm. This was not sand. This was not wind. This was something... different? The wanderer felt something he did not understand. He had no word for it, no concept of it at all. Was this curiosity? Out of the thunder and lights, out of the dust there became a shape, a cold and hard shape with sharp edges and straight lines, and out of the shape came striding a figure clad in gleaming plate.

"Father."

Enoch was unlike his brothers in all ways but few. Unlike them, the future Hand of the Warmaster landed amidst no oceans to brave, or strange cultures to study and grow in, or monsters to battle. Enoch was cast down upon a barren, lifeless rock, so remote and tiny that it appeared on no starmaps and drew no attention. Growing rapidly into a young man after his virto-pod shattered against the windswept barrens of his new home, Enoch knew only sand and grit for the long days of his youth. Bereft even of a clear view of the sky, he wandered aimlessly in the howling dust storms that enveloped the lifeless plains. He subsisted on what moisture and fungal filth he could scrounge from the undersides of rocks, lead on in his endless pilgrimage by nothing but the knowledge that, wherever he was, there was nothing for him here.

The arrival of the Emperor was not simply the return of an absent father for Enoch, nor the arrival of a worthy king. It was salvation - it was the end to his wandering, the end to his constant loneliness. Unable to speak and baffled by the shapes and sounds of humanity, Enoch was taken to Terra to be rehabilitated and educated in the ways of the Imperium. Though he spent much of the journey at his Father's side, learning all he could of what he was and how he would fulfill his purpose, the Emperor quickly went about his own secret business upon the return to the center of his Imperium, entrusting Enoch to an ever-increasing succession of scribes, scholars, and generals, each one with their own lessons to teach the Primarch. These soft humans seemed to him almost an impossibility, their forms so frail and small, and as his tutelage drew onward, he found himself feeling increasingly alone. Still, he was attentive and fervent in his studies, demonstrating utter devotion in the hopes that it would soon enough attract the radiant gaze of the Emperor.

Eventually, his devotion was rewarded not by his Father, but by one of his brothers. Judging his integration into the Imperium complete, The Warmaster (then simply The Heir) finally assigned to Enoch his Legion, and set him forth upon the great undertaking of the Crusade. Looking upon his legion, Enoch vowed that he would soon see them in the utmost favor of his Father, no matter how many men had to die to make it so.

The Traitor's Tournament

"Everything is in place, my liege. The warmaster has given the signal." The warrior was clad the colors of Enoch's own legion, but Enoch's small cadre knew this stranger was not a true son of the primarch.

"No. We had a plan. This was not part of the plan," Enoch chewed his knuckle nervously, as nervously as an immortal son of the Emperor could, anyway. "The artillery, that was a precautionary measure. A last resort."

"The warmaster has spoken, my liege. The time is now!"

"No! I can parley with them, I can show them the error in their ways, they'll see! I'll make them see!"

"I speak for the warmaster, Enoch! It is an ORDER!"

Enoch glowered at the liaison. "You are not the warmaster, nor would I obey that order even if you were."

The confrontation was interrupted by the sudden silence of the crowd, and Enoch's attention was drawn back to the arena. He smelled blood. Far too much of it.

"No... No! Zaul, keep your watch on this meddling spy. The Judgement Bringers will not fire a single round until I give the command." Enoch jumped down into the arena where he could hear what could only be the insane cries of Garmon, and the shocked and confused shouting of the rest of the arena. He walked toward the action but with mere seconds gone by, Enoch heard a sound that made him tremble: The unmistakable whine of dozens of incoming whirlwind missiles. He trembled and shook in his rage, at the insult the warmaster had smacked across his face, and the pitiful waste of astartes life that was fractions of seconds away, at the insubordination of his sons. Before he could mutter a word, everything was deafened and loyal marines were being tossed about like children's toys. The earth literally shook and heaved under the abuse of the Judgement Bringers, true to their namesake and masters at their craft. And through the barrage came striding, resplendent in his hatred, glorious in his fury, the Emperor's Storm. Engerand.

"ENOCH!!" Engerand roared. A single word that carried with it volumes, and was all that was needed. Enoch said nothing as he drew his blade and rushed to meet his brother. The time for words was over. He had made his choice, and he would see it through to its bitter end.

Characters

(Panzer Kommandant) Romulus Kursk

Romulus Kursk had faithfully served the VII legion since the earliest days, rising to command of the Armored Division. This put him in a singularly difficult position when Enoch assumed command of the legion. Where formerly Romulus had fought mobile campaigns and heavily employed mechanized infantry, Enoch increasingly made use of artillery pieces. What proper tanks remained were employed as assault guns. Famously, when Enoch ordered that all remaining rhinos undergo conversion to whirlwinds or razorbacks, Kursk asked his primarch how his troops were supposed to cross the battlefield. Ever taciturn Enoch is said to have replied "You still have legs." None the less, Kursk served competently and loyally into the Heresy, first on Luna, then elsewhere, enduring the continual diminution of his command and the ever stranger requirements of the Warmaster. In the end, it proved too much for Kursk and he rebelled, charging that Enoch was simply the puppet of the Warmaster. After a failed attempt on Enoch's life, Kursk and his company took to the void, fighting their former brothers with an intense hatred. It is suspected that Kursk linked up with his former comrade Baqar Hadbaal of the XIIIth during the chaos of the Heresy and was eventually granted a domain in the Eastern Imperium, but this remains unconfirmed.

Helmut Von Somme, Siege Master of the Judgement Bringers

Von Somme is perhaps iconic of the post-Enoch face of the Judgement Bringers. Drawn from some unremarkable rock, Von Somme displayed a talent for siege operations that won him the regard of the VII Legion Primarch. A dark and brooding figure, unlike his close associate Chelkam Marne of the Behemoth Guard, Von Somme was notorious for his bloody assaults. Despite the often appalling death toll of his campaigns, he was well respected by his men, in part because of his insistence that he lead from the front. He believed that no man should take risks he himself would not and by the end of the crusade had extensive cybernetic augmentation. It was he that prepared the bombardment at the Tournament, though he was deployed on Luna at the time, where his talents were in need by the Warmaster. Von Somme took over primary command of the Siege of Luna after the Paladins rotated out and Enoch was pursuing the fleeing loyalists across the Segmentum Solar. Across the surface of Luna, Paladin trenches were reinforced and expanded. The blood of Loyal legions had been expended to blunt the Oathsworn's might, and Von Somme planned to bleed them dry. Faustus might be a Primarch, but big guns never tire. Thus began a period of essentially static positions on the Lunar surface, with Von Somme attempting to reduce Faustus' fortresses to rubble. This grinding attrition took its toll on both legions and as time passed, Von Somme found his authority increasingly usurped by Asuran sorcerors. Though he and his men resented the witch-kin and their daemons, their loyalty to Enoch and the Warmaster was unshakable. When tempers flared, Von Somme reminded his men of their duty and the attrition campaign continued. At the VIth Battle of Tycho Rim Von Somme was killed leading a charge against a fortified position. In the wake of his death, several companies mutinied, tired of shedding their blood for esoteric goals that they had no stake in. In a cruel twist of fate, it was Enoch himself who arrived to put down these mutinies. Though his sons immediately surrendered to his will, the Warmaster ordered him, on the advice of Anshul, to massacre them anyways, so as to complete the ritual sacrifices required to summon forth the hosts of daemons. Enoch informed the mutineers of their fate and carried out their judgement. From that day forth, Enochs judgement was ever the Warmaster's.