Muspelhani Afriel Commandos

The Muspelhani Afriel Commandos, also known as the Muspelhani Commandos, are Astra Militarum regiments raised and trained on the Forge World of Muspelheim in the Ailuros System. Unique to the Muspelhani Commandos are that their members aren't recruited from the actual population of Muspelheim. Rather, the troops are grown from barely understood Replicae technology. The fresh genetic material of new countless heroes of the Imperium makes sure that Muspelheim's genetors are never short on hand with genetic material to splice and fuse new replicae which makes the commandos less, but at the same time more, than mere clones.
==History==
It's unknown when exactly the Priesthood of Muspelheim began to raise and field these Afriel Strain regiments but it's known that several regiments have been deployed throughout the Ailuros System to quell rebellions and mutant uprisings on the other planets of the system for thousands of years. The most notable engagement the Muspelhani Commandos have participated in was the Deadfang Invasion of Ailuros where more than a dozen regiments were deployed to Kacreirus and later participated in the eradication of the disorganized remains of the Ork forces after they were broken on Kacreirus.
==Recruitment and training==
Muspelhani Commandos are grown in vast cloning facilities beneath the planetary palace of Muspelheim deep underground. Here, thousands upon tens of thousands of Afriel Strains are developed, experimented on and cybernetically enhanced to become perfect killing machines for Muspelheim and the Imperium at large. All Afriel Strain raised on Muspelheim are enlisted into the Muspelhani Commandos and their service only ends in death, either by the hands of their enemies, bad luck, or dissection at the hands of their creators back on their homeworld.
Many an Inquisitor or Genetor not hailing from Muspelheim, have noticed that the Afriel Strains hailing from Muspelheim doesn't entirely match those found across the galaxy. Many suspect even further genetic manipulation of the Afriel Strains, thereby creating a sub species that many have taken to name Homo Sapien Maledictus Novo. Several Inquisitors and Genetors have noted that Muspelhani Commandos shows signs of increased psychical strength and toughness. Many suspect that genes from less stable strains of Abhumans have been added to the Muspelhani Commandos genetic make up though such claims have yet to be confirmed.
Like all other regiments raised in the Ailuros System, like the Ailuros Guard, the Muspelhani Commandos are implanted with a small brain chip which allows them to rapidly advance through initial training as theoretical knowledge can be mentally extracted from the brain chip. The Muspelhani Commandos receive further training in an orbital black site within the Belt of Steel and Fire. Here they are trained in countless different artificially created environments and to use all manners of equipment which allows them to adapt to many situations no matter where in the galaxy they are deployed.
==Combat Doctrine==
Muspelhani Commandos are first and foremost considered special forces. They generally favor fast and surgical strikes rather than static combat and wars of attrition as their regiments are simply too small for such tactics. Only numbering about two thousand or so troops at peak fighting strength. Many other regiments who favor drop trooper tactics usually find the Muspelhani Commandos as a great addition to their own forces as they usually understand each others tactics and love for rapid movements. Meanwhile, other regiments frown upon them for gladly giving up ground if it means setting up traps to ambush the enemy rather than holding the line.
==Regimental organization==
The Muspelhani Commandos generally follows the common command structure lied down by the Tactica Imperialis. Uncommon for the Muspelhani Commandos are that some Commissars assigned to the regiments are put into command roles as the maximum service time for Muspelhani Commandos are ten years. While very few ever manage to reach such an age of active service, the constant replacement of soldiers as well as commanding officers have simply made it more effective to place such individuals as commissars in command rather than members of the Muspelhani Commandos themselves. Such officers are usually requested by the priesthood of Muspelheim to participate in the training of new regiments so as to familiarize themselves with their troops and their tactics. The commanding commissar of a regiment holds the title of General-Commissar in addition to any other ranks he may hold.
An Muspelhani commandos regiment consists of up to six companies each divided into six infantry platoons of five squads of 10 men each. Due to the covert nature of the Muspelhani Afriel Commandos, there are no dedicated heavy weapons teams. Instead, each individual squad have a dedicated person carrying a portable heavy weapon as well as a commando issued a special weapon.
Squads are usually composed of six commandos of guardsman rank, one commando of corporal rank acting as second-in-command, a vox operator, a medic and led by a sergeant. Some squads can replace a few guardsmen for specialists, such as commissars, ministorum priest, Orgyns, or psykers.
==Equipment==
Equipped by the Muspelheim itself, the Muspelhani Commandos are well equipped with some of the best equipment that the Forge World can offer. Muspelhani Commandos are usually equipped with carapace armor and the Muspelheim Pattern Mark XXII Lasgun as their standard issued weapon. Many Muspelhani Commando regiments, due to their favor or rapid strikes and infiltration, make use of grav-chute insertions into combat from drop Valkyries. This has led to many outsiders viewing them as drop troopers in much the same regard as the Harakoni Warhawks.
===Uniform===
Muspelhani Commandos wear YT-36 drop suits, a light grey coveralls crafted from a synthetic material which provides great heat regulation and keep the wearer warm, even during sub-orbital insertions. The YT-36 is padded with impact resistant foam along the lower arms and legs to help negate some of the impact from a hard landing. A respirator and helmet protects the wearer from wind-burn as they drop towards their targets below. The drop suit can be produced in several colors and camouflage patterns to better help hide the commando in a various environments.
Unlike the Elysian Drop Troops, the Muspelhani Afriel Commandos make use of heavier Carapace armor rather than the Elysians lightweight flak armor. Many within the Departmento Munitorum believe, that the tech-priest of muspelheim took great inspiration from the Harakoni Warhawks when they designed the protective armor for the Mupelhani Coomandos.
The armor of the Muspelhani Afriel Commandos displayed company numbers on the right shoulder-pad with another smaller number right below it to designate which platoon the trooper belong to while a "C" was used for guardsmen serving in command sections of the company. Veterans were distinguished by their red helmets and larger left shoulder-pad. Psykers of the Muspelhani Commandos looked almost identical to the veterans but wore a red hood over their respirator and preysense goggles instead of a helmet.
==Notable Campaigns==
815.M37: Deadfang Invasion of Ailuros
854.M41: Muspelhani Commandos are deployed to clean out a supposed pirate station located within the rings Ailuros VI. All pirates are eliminated and a small warp capable vessel is confiscated by the Ailuros Guard later. Strangely the pirates were well equipped and had been very thorough with purging all data bases before they could be retrieved by the Muspelhani task force.