The Pilgrims of
Rust.
The Pilgrims of Rust is the common
name for the forces commanded by Antilo Rust. The
Pilgrims of Rust’s core units hail from a planet known as Rall. Its snowy
forested conditions made for hearty and well bred infantrymen for the Imperium
of Man. Until one of its chief military leaders, Rust, turned from the Imperium and
seized power of the entire planet and later after a series of small scale
invasions, the entire system. The various forces that comprise The Pilgrims are
listed below.
The Traitors of Rall.
The forces of the Rallen Infantry
comprise a healthy number of the Pilgrims fighting units. They are some of the
only troops in the warband, which follow conventional military tactics, and are
probably the most well equipped. Armed with advanced tactical helms,
manufactured on Rall itself, from ancient scavenged STC devices, they are able
to use the thermal optics and internal communications systems to improve
inter-platoon coordination. The Rallen, have very little in the way of personal
vehicles as they were primarily recruited as heavy infantry.
Estimated Force Size: 2-3 Full Strength Regiments of Heavy Infantry.
Cyrus Liberation Front.
The planet Cyrus, was suffering from
a vicious governor and an abusive ruling party 93 % of the global population
lived in poverty in the massive continent wide manufactoia city. The other
seven percent lived a life of luxury in the “Spear of Destiny”. A
fortress/government resort, around the size of a hive city, it functioned as
the planetary capital, and was home to no less than 30 public execution
grounds, and housed a regiment of well armed personal bodyguards for the
governor. Already in a brutal civil war when Rust attacked, the majority of the
loyal imperial defenders were overrun or obliterated by teams of suicidal
troopers called “Martyr Squads”. These teams are loaded into any available
vehicle and driven into the midst of fortifications where they affix melta
bombs and use flamers to hopefully devastate any enemy resistance before they
are massacred. All members of the CLF wear gasmasks, symbolizing the
Manufactoria worker. It was here on Cyrus; that Rust made his threat known to
the sector, and it is here that the first alerts reached out into surrounding
systems about the threat posed by the Pilgrims.
Estimated Force Size: Approx.
1.2 million poorly equipped Militia
Fiends of Yuriel
The “Fiends of Yuriel” is the bulk
of the armored support in the Pilgrims warband. The moon of Yuriel, was in
orbit around Cyrus during the primary invasion of the planet, and Rust sent his
Elite forces, now known as the Equinox Protectorate, to claim the moons space
docks, and eliminate the threat of possible orbital weapons. When the Equinox Protectorate began their
assault, they found the area covered in the bodies of thousands of civilians
and PDF forces. The Dockyards, and two of the five ground to space weapons
batteries, were in the hands of a Crazed Band of Mechanized Infantry. The Capitan
of the Protectorate was so impressed by the finality of the destruction he
invited the Bloodied Tankers to join with the Pilgrims. It was not long after
the taking of Cyrus, that the Fiends began devoting themselves to the Chaos God
Khorne, and soon faith in the Dark Gods took hold through the Pilgrims. This
did not sit well with Rust, whose primary goal had not been to spread the
influence of warp entities, but to liberate populations from iron imperial
rule.
Estimated Force Size: Approx.
1 Mechanized Infantry Regiment, and 1 Damaged Tank Regiment.
The Equinox Protectorate
The Equinox Protectorate is made up
of the eight hundred and twenty men that comprised Rust’s original command on
Rall. They have been gifted with advanced weapons, train to the highest of
their ability and are the embodiment of Rust’s ideal for a free humanity. It is
rare for Rust to take the field without this elite of the elite alongside him.
Estimated Force Size: 820
Elite Infantry.
The Jacobites
The war on Jacobs Hope was brutal,
and long. It was won by the bravery shown by turncoat Imperial Guard units,
which held the enemy in check long enough for a pilgrims strike force to push
hard into the defenses around the Capital Spire and kill Severius Lieu, the
planetary governor. Many of the populace of Jacobs Hope were, the adventurous
sort, Rouge Traders, Pirates, and other general dissidents. In many ways, Rust
admired the bravery shown by the Imperial Guard he fought against there, but
they stood in the way of the freedom of the trillions of humans throughout the
Imperium of Man.
“Peace
and Liberty cannot be attained without War and Obliteration. It is the sad but
true work of our time, we must kill them all today, but then such is the place
for un-open minds in a uncaring galaxy”- Antilo Rust, on the “Stand of the
Merkan 76th”
Estimated Force Size: 1-2
mixed strength Light Infantry Regiments, 1,000 Armored Pieces
Dark Mechanicus
Exactly
how it is that Rust came upon members of the shadowy group known as the Dark
Mechanicus is not fully known. But, it is thought that upon his attack on
Cyrus, a Techpriest, is thought to have lowered the Void Shields of the Spear
of Destiny and sabotaged the forward security doors. Know glimpses of this
mysterious individual are seen from behind an army of twisted mutant
abominations and dark scientific inventions.
Estimated Force
Size: 3-4 Arch Heretics, 1,000-2,000 Warrior-Constructs
Superheavy and Ariel Support
One thing that the Pilgrims have
little of is superheavy support. This fact keeps them from major engagements of
large Imperial worlds. They have only 1 Baneblade, named “Freedoms Hammer” it
is very rarely used until such a monstrosity is the only possible option for
victory. Ariel support too, is scarce, and as a result many of the landers and
transport craft, must pull duty as combat gunships for the bulk of the
campaigns.
Hrud Clans.
The
Alien race known as the Hrud, infest many parts of the galaxy, and the Imperial
Guard have fought many battles against their kind since many care to remember.
They are specialists of stealth, and are highly technologically advanced,
though this is not easily visible on the surface, as much of their technology
would be described as “Contraption” at a glance, though the Eldar have been
heard to praise the Hrud for their tactical and technologic prowess. It is
possible that Rust found these aliens and hired them as mercenaries on any
number of occasions. Though the most likely seems the Adjank Cluster a space hulk of moderate size for a space hulk,
which passed on the outskirts of the Jacobite system just prior to the Pilgrims
planetfall on Jacobs Hope. It’s uncertain exactly what role the Hrud play in
the overall command of the Pilgrims, of if they even mix socially with the
other forces. It is known that they are used as a forward scout and sabotage
force.
Estimated Force Size: 2
Clans, or approx. 1845 Hrud.
Rust:
Dawning of Heresy
Early in Rust’s life, just after
his promotion to Capitan of the planetary defense forces, on Rall; he
experienced a series of scarring personal crises. It was suspected that an
insurgency was being planned in a town on the southern border of the capital
province, Rust was ordered to march into the town and display a devastating show
of force. When Rust and his men arrived they found a slaughter begun on the
populace of the town, from the other PDF companies ordered there. The Planetary
Governor had gotten fed up by the activists demands and declared them traitors
and ordered the town purged for heresy against the emperor. Rust was to comply
with orders and butcher all living things in the town.
He did
not comply.
Disgusted
by the errant misuse of power displayed by the governor, Rust aided the
activists escape. Rather than covering up the massacre and sending the official
story of an uprising, Rust spoke the truth, that the Governor had ordered
thousands die, because of political ineptitude. Across, Rall citizens took up
arms in anger at the callous murder, and overwhelmed Arbite and PDF outposts across the planet. A month after
the uprising, the Governor and the ruling aristocracy surrendered along with
eight thousand planetary defense troopers.
“My
dear, dear friends… I have come from a position of obscurity, to the precipice
of the seat of global power in but one month. I watched friends murdered like
cattle, but I did not despair. Most of all, you, the people of Rall, did not
despair! No! You took the yoke of
imperial dominion and cast it aside to the snowy ground! It is here! Today, my
friends, my fellow pilgrims on the journey of freedom, we do a thing few humans
dare breath in these times. We look into the Starry night, point into the
heavens, to the birth place of mankind, and scream never again!” – Excerpt of
Antilo Rust’s “Speech of Liberation”
Rust:
Relations With the Knights of Decay
While he does not fight Chaos commonly,
Rust recognizes the horrifying threat it poses to human kind should it be
allowed to fester. At the moment he sees his allies and men’s worship of the
Ruinous Powers, as a necessary evil to maintain force unity, and gain more
skillful and powerful resources. When he was first contacted by Lord Balthos,
from the Knights of Decay, he primarily refused the Traitor Astartes assistance.
After much debate, it was decided that the Pilgrims and the Knights would fight
in conjunction, but only on the condition that the Pilgrims be treated as
equal, and not as pawns in the game of the “Dark Gods”. Had it not been for the
chivalric code that the knights employ, this proposal may well have ended in
the annihilation of either one of the factions.
Rust still to this day refuses to fight in the vicinity of Balthos’
troops, and thinks his mens’ adoration of the bloated and decaying marines to
be macabre and disturbing in the highest.
I was considering a mini-dex. anyone Interested ?
Aerial.
ReplyDeleteInteresting stuff. Poor Rust, I fear his troops' enthusiasms will see them leave him behind. But without him can anyone else hold them together, or will the different groups fragment? Look forward to finding out!
If you feel up for writing something up, more power to you!