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 Warefare, 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: Yuan, The Garden.

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 which will often be used in conjunction, 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 a shaken enemy and alot of decapitated corpses.

Feral Cannibles

Skaði VI is a dangerous place, not is its climate incondusve to human life but the evil that wiped out the Chapter of Space Marines who used to call the planet home stil lingers on in their Ruined Fortress Monastery, now referred to as "The Angels Graveyard". As the PDF is mainly tied up both fighting and prepearing for this evil the Planets Tithe of Guardsmen is instead filled by criminals, individuals who have commited what are viewed as crimes by the planets savage inhabitants, though some of the Raised Legionarries are your usual theives or murderers the vast Majority of Skaði's Thralls are actually cannibles, 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 insufiicent foodstores, as such it is extremely common for starving individuals to resort to eating to body of another human who has already died in order to survive, when spring comes these cannibles 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 redemtion experessed by most of the regiment soon rubs off on guardsmen recruited for other crimes (Theft, Murder) resulting in a regiment that is all to happy to sacrifice themselves for the Emperor, snipers who are located wil often stay put and keep shooting, dropping their Rifles only when they enemy is in effective range of their other weapons, Ambushes will often be baited with a sacrifical squad of guardsmen who are all too willing to die in order grant the enemy false confidence and many a Booby Trap has been intentially triggered by a Thrall in order to kill catch out any pursuing enemies as well. This is so extreme that Lord Commisar -- will command his troops to return from missions with "more heads then they left with" not only does this encourage the Thralls to sacrifice themelves only when absolutely, by making ambushers decapitate dead enemies before taking off or forcing Snipers to close in on their kills for proof (The Commisar will exept bags full of head mush in the case of Headshots) the Thrall's need for Martydom is somewhat alleviated. This comes together to make a terrifylingly efficient Hit and Run force, able to drag the enemy across an apparant sea of traps and Ambushes all the while wittling 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 efficently as they do however when forced to fight defencively with no ground to rake their foe along they have been noted as performing "admirably but without distiction" as the Thrall's stubborness crossed with little to no real artilary, armour or seige equipment and few gun emplacements often results in Trenches held solely by the Thralls being difficult to break but easy to take once the admittibly lethal No-mans land has been dealt with whilst Thralls in conjunction with regiments more suited to Trench warefare can result in lethal combinations, the Penal Legionarries 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 the 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 Emporers 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 ecxactly this meany was unspecifie. 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 preceeded to wage what was apparantly a brutal Guerilla War against the Space Marines killing not one but three Astartes over the course of 5 Terran Years and diabling a Razorback. Finding this effort impressive the Champions Chapter Master declared the Tribesmen to be worthy Recruitment Stock and used the favour granted by recovering the ancient troop transports to claim Skaði VI for his Chapter constructing their Fortress Monestery 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 or not 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 Vitimins D and C on the planet was almost certainly started by the Marines to raise the quality of their recruits (were 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 Theives, Murderers and Cannibles 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 wittled down to just over half strength until, in early M40 the full force of the Warband decended on the System. Split between The Hive World Skaði XVIII and The Domain of the Champions most of the Warband, led by a horrfying Deamon Prince assulted the Marines in their Fortress Monastery. The details are unkown but when the Imperal 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 Deamon 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 suprised 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 responce to the Warband profficency in head-on comabat and it was seeing the effects of what the Skaði's named "the Death by Inches" that covinced Imperial Officals that the Servitor Stock that the planet was currently offering up as Tithe woud 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 extict Chapter of Space Marines who used to occupy Skaði VI and for awhile 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 offically labled a feral-guard world and later have proven so effective that the local arm of the Administratum has granted them many medical neccesities such as Callipers, Pennicilin and Medicae kits in order to boost Birth Rates as well as Vitimin Suppliments 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 abilitie to provide enough sustinance the people of Skaði VI are repeatedly denied Food Aid outside of the Vitimin Tablets in a deliberate effort to increase rates of Canniblism in the populace and thus boost the amount of souls joining the The guard even further then the boosted population would suggest. This worked fantastically, especially once hoarding and eating a Years supply of Vitimin Suppliments in an attempt to stave of starvation was also made a crime as it "Took advantage of the Emporers Generosity" and now the Planet can reliably provide 2 to 3 and sometimes even 4 large Penal legions, which is more then enough for Guerilla Warefare 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 cuaght in the blast of a Thrall booby-trap (that, admittibly, had still failed to kill him) resulted in more Regiments to be raised

The 16th Skaudi Thralls Re-named by their commanding general who reportadly couldn't pronounce the old name and didn't care to learn. The Skaudi Thralls still served with extreme distiction against the Tau and what were later comfirmed to be Dark Eldar on Boldena XXVI, afterwards were mistakenly deployed to the deserts of Wolsen II alongside 4 regiments of Kreig Death Corps instead of the planets equtetorial Jungle where 2 more Kreiger Death Corps were mistakenly deployed instead. Despite being completely out of their element the Kreigers reported that Skaudis Thralls adapted well to the change of tactics and were "valiently" 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[=, apparantly served "well considering the circumstances" for the duration of the campaign after which both regimiments 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 an the Vuanted Catachan Devils, Fought a particuarly 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 know 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 notebly the first regiment to be joined by Commisar -- also fought against the Tide whereing the attacked general was reportedly "Eaten Alive" by the warrior known as the Bleeding One. Taking command Commisar -- would reign in their suicidle tendencies and introduce what are now common practices in the Thralls notebly the act of taking the heads of the enemies which originally started as a method of psycological warfare, the heads of dead Tidesmen would be Purifyed and ceremonially burned which would forever deny the soul a place on the Skull Throne. This Served well and the warband quickly retreaded 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 afterwhich ther -- was offically granted the title of Lord Commisar and the 221st was folded into

--'s somethings originally made up of leftover elemements of the defunct 221st, 233rd and 234th regiments of Thralls, attached to Lord Commisar and contitaly replenished with survivours of Thrall Regiments that have been heavily reduced by long campaigns. -- has served the Commisar for decades with many Legionaries going on to fill positions of authority in other Regiments of Thralls and and a few even managing to earn the Emporer's Pardon! Many Generals attached to regiments of Skaði's Thralls are Veterens who have proved themselves to Lord Commisar -- as Sargants in the -- and any Thrall who has earned a degree of renown has 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 as well as regular Thralls who benifit 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 practise of hunting songbirds as children greatly improved the Thrall's accuracy the Administrtaum decided to continue this practise issueing Violet pattern Las-Locks and old Las-pacs that are at the end of their lifespan to the populace. The Violet pattern is noteable in that a trained tech-priest can purposefully reduce its power so that the weapon fires an extremely weak violet coloured beam which at point-blanc range will cause serious burns in an unprotected human before loudly venting all the power remaining in the gun requireing 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 alot of practise in reloading Las-guns. In the Field Thralls are often Issued non-depowerd varients of this 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 Incediary weapons for a variety of purposes, both to attack Marines as well as to block of passeges and avenues of escape. Millenia later this practice continues exept 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 favoured grenade and many regiments do not use Flamers simply because all the fuel will be bottled up and stoppered with Alchohol 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 targts but also to block of avenues of escape with fire, destroy vehicles from the inside, execute devestating 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 prepearing food traps and supplies Thralls are often trained to fight with them in Close Quaters, often with a Standard issue Combat Knife or Bayonet and sometimes with just a Pik-Axe alone. These are suprisingly capeable at piercing armour and extremely efficent 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

Overzealous

Special Equipment

War Trophies

Regiment Creed

Trabal Faiths

Regiment Friends

Sisters of Battle (Based on a Hive-Shrine world in the same system)

Regiment Enemies

Chaos Warband (The Tide)

Only War Statblock

Hua Yuan 1st Exterminator Regiment

Hive world

+3 to any two of Agility, Fellowship, and Perception

Skills

Common Lore (Imperium), Deceive, and Linguistics (Low Gothic)

Accustomed to Crowds

Crowds do not count as difficult terrain, When running or charging Hive worlders take no penalty to Agility tests to keep their feet.

Hivebound

-10 Survival checks outside of artificial environments.

Urban Violence

Start with one of the following talents; Heightened Senses (Hearing), Paranoia, or Unremarkable.

Starting Wounds

Start with -1 wound.

Commander Type

Maverick (2 points)

Starting talents

Resistance (Fear)

Regiment Type

Line Infantry (2)

Characteristics

+3 Strength, –3 Intelligence

Starting Skills

Athletics

Starting Talents

Rapid Reload

Standard Kit

One M36 Lasgun and four charge packs per

Training Doctrine

Close Quarters Battle (5)

Starting Talent

Double Team or Combat Master

Special

Members of regiments that specialize in Close Quarters Battle gain an additional +10 bonus to all Ballistic Skill Tests made at Point-Blank Range.

Favored Rare Weapons

Basic

Meltagun

Heavy

Plasma Cannon

Special Rules

Tyranid Dust Stims

When taken in near overdose levels (5 doses) drains color from the user's vision and reveals Tyranid and Genestealer warp signatures. Gives the user an overwhelming desire to kill any seen Tyranids, and must pass a -30 (Very Hard) Willpower to retreat from combat with Tyranids. Each Tyranid killed in melee by the user while affected grants +5 permanently for Willpower tests to defend from psychic powers and effects from Tyranids to a max of +30.

See Also

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