Cyron Hell Dogs

Example of a Hell Dogs infantryman

## Other information

### **Specialty**

Counter-Insurrection, Urban Warfare, Close-Quarters Battle (CQB) Tactics, Compliance Operations

## Commanders

### **Acting**

Lord-Warden Castillio Van Dyne

The **Cyron Hell Dogs**, officially the Cyron Convicted Infantry, are a regiment of the Astra Militarum hailing from the industrial world of Cyron Prime. The Hell Dogs are drawn from the vast prison facilities of Cyron's pseudo-hive cities, where no shortage of criminals gives Guard recruiters a near-endless supply of disposable recruits. The Hell Dogs specialize in urban warfare, compliance operations, and close-quarters combat, and utilize a variety of locally-produced equipment which distinguishes them from many other guard regiments. The Hell Dogs are also infamous for their stubborn tenacity, throwing themselves at an enemy again and again until, in the words of the Hell Dogs, "one of us runs out of bodies".

They often succeed through sheer attrition, with staggering casualty rates, but are nonetheless effective and have earned the respect owed to a standard Militarum regiment despite their origins. Through a logistical loophole, the Hell Dogs are not technically a Penal Legion, but instead, a regular regiment of the Guard, allowing them access to further resources than would be afforded to a Penal Legion. Additionally, Hell Dogs undergo brutal training that is designed to both wash out unfit recruits as well as purge any criminal tendencies through stringent disciplinary measures and brutal punishments for disobedience, though this inadvertently results in strongly-bonded units that excel at teamwork and are near-unrecognizable from their former selves as inmates.

## History

As Cyron’s vast prisons began to overflow around the late 38th millennium, and its Militarum tithes began to fall short, the planet’s cities simultaneously entered a period of severe civil unrest. Riots and general disorder led to a near-total breakdown of social order, and drastic changes were needed to appease the masses. Nothing short of a miracle would end this chaos, and after six years of unrest and violence, a miracle indeed occurred. The military leadership of Cyron, known then as the War Bureau, staged a coup which overthrew the incompetent and decadent aristocratic leadership, whose names have been struck from common knowledge. The new leaders of Cyron then vowed to bring peace and instituted sweeping changes to rules involving Guard tithes, punishable offenses, and other civilian matters, a heavy shock to those who doubted their abilities considering their military backgrounds.

The leadership then renamed themselves the Lord-Wardens and decreed there could be only one from each of Cyron’s fifty-three city-states, each elected by the respective leadership council of their own city-state. A High Warden would be appointed by this council by vote, who would oversee general matters, represent the world to the Imperium, and ensure no further chaos could befall Cyron. This would ensure that the will of each city-state, and therefore a unified Cyron, would be carried out in fair measure. The other change, one which they hoped would appease the Munitorum hounds nipping at their heels, was the decree that mass tithing would occur in Cyron’s enormous prison facilities, ensuring a steady stream of physically fit, obedient, and combat-able troops who were considered disposable by the rest of the Imperium’s standards.

## Homeworld

The Hell Dogs hail from the Industrial World of Cyron Prime, located in the Segmentum Ultima to the galactic northeast. Cyron Prime neighbors the minor Forge World of Zaldron, which, due to the quantity of hazardous debris in its orbit left over from numerous orbital battles shortly following the Heresy, cannot safely host orbital platforms for salvage and production purposes. As such, Cyron Prime have the rare fortune of being contracted by the Forge World to salvage derelict ships and material in its own orbit, which the Forge World buys back for generous prices to be used in manufacturing.

Cyron Prime is home, therefore, to two fields of production: Salvaging and prison labor. Cyron’s enormous prisons take in convicts of all varieties from across the sector to work in the mines, foundries and manufactorums of the world’s pseudo-hive cities for little pay and no chance at freedom. Servitorization is reserved for the worst of the worst, or those who fail consistently to meet their quotas and show little to no promise of improvement.

While Cyron is covered in vast, technologically advanced walled city-states, the areas around these cities are uninhabitable, polluted hellscapes. Despite this, rebel groups and roaming tribes populate these wastelands, contending with harsh conditions, hostile wildlife, brutal dust storms, and few resources; for shelter, these groups make use of vast tunnel networks which snake all across the underside of these wastelands. These provide shelter from the elements as well as provide suitable conditions to grow food with the help of generators and artificial UV lights. However, even in these underground havens, the war still rages, as the Hell Dogs are deployed to any rebel hideouts discovered to exterminate any who would dare oppose the city dwellers. On the surface, nomadic caravans of heavily-armed and armored vehicles carry supplies from city to city, as dust storms can often ground aircraft for extended periods of time lasting up to days. These caravans face threats from roaming gun-toting marauders, packs of ferocious carnivores, or the damage brought about by the elements as their hulls are whipped by winds and chipped away by shrapnel carried by said winds. They are nonetheless vital to the survival of the cities, carrying machine parts, technical personnel, medical supplies or raw materials for construction, given that precious little food can be grown on the surface.

### The Cyronian City-States

Cyron is made up of fifty-three independent city-states, each of which represents itself in the neutral city of Drastenfell, considered to be the world’s capital city without its own status as a city-state to maintain the aforementioned neutrality. The city-states are permitted to and often do war amongst one another, but when such an instance occurs, any parties involved are barred from voting on measures, presenting bills before the High Commander, or stationing troops in non-consenting city-states, and are only allowed to do so again once the matter is resolved. If one city-state is found to be overly aggressive, launch unprovoked attacks, or commit atrocities on the enemy or their own people, they will be tariffed, tithed, and exiled for a period of time decided by the planetary council. If they continue in their aggression, they will be given the Three Days of Mercy, where they are given three days to completely disengage all military forces and surrender all usable assets to the High Commander, or else they will be stricken from the Council and declared traitors to the planet of Cyron and the Imperium of Man, at which point they will be purged with the same ruthlessness that would be exercised on any other traitor or heretic. Such an event occurred only once, when the city-state of Kurston launched unprovoked ballistic missile attacks on the neighboring city of Fortingard, followed by an invasion which resulted in three million civilian casualties. They were subsequently declared traitors following their refusal to accept the Three Days of Mercy, and were themselves invaded by the combined might of six city-states, resulting in their near-annihilation and integration into their former opponents of Fortingard, which now stands as the third-largest city-state on Cyron and contributes a staggering 23 per cent of the world’s economic output in the form of manufacturing and rare ores from the rich mines under the surface.

The individual militaries of each city-state double as the Cyronian PDFs. In the event of an invasion of the planet, all city-states are required by the Lord-Wardens' decree to call off any wars in which they might be engaged and direct all attention and resources to defending the planet. Each city-state is responsible for its own military forces, from production to training to supply. This is why the Hell Dogs do not recruit from the regular populace, since this is the recruitment pool for the PDFs and planetary army.

## Culture

The Hell Dogs live lives of near-endless conflict. Be it against the bars of their cells, their fellow inmates, or, once admitted into the Hell Dogs, the enemies of the Imperium, they are born, raised, and destined to die in combat in some form or another. As such, the Hell Dogs almost exclusively use gallows humor when speaking metaphorically or figuratively. Death is an ever-present fact of life for the warzones in which they deploy, as is the case for most other regiments of the Guard, but rather than mourn their own loss, the Hell Dogs accept their coming fates, even jovially betting on how their fellow troopers will be killed. Combat zones are somewhat affectionately known as "The Churn", referring to the often churned-up mud of their deployment zones and the way in which corpses are often ground into said mud underneath the rolling tread of tanks and transports. Hell Dogs often refer to "becoming part of the scenery", meaning to have one's corpse become part of the environment of the battlefield, either through being ground into the mud, or simply left to decorate the wall against which one might be shot. To greet one another casually or to those of equal rank, many Cyronians will declare "Woe betide", an old phrase signifying a wish that the woes of those being addressed might subside.

## Regimental Organisation

The Hell Dogs are organized like a somewhat typical infantry regiment, with a platoon consisting of 6 squads of 10 for a total of around 60 men, a company consisting of roughly 3 platoons, and a regiment consisting of however many platoons are available in their respective reserves, typically between 3 and 6. Armored regiments consist of Leman Russ squadrons, often fitted for urban combat, as well as various heavy and super heavy transports manufactured by Zaldron on a contract with Cyron, such as the Barragon Armored Personnel Carrier or its variants such as the Vorhon Cavalry Fighting Vehicle or Krast Infantry Fighting Vehicle, both of which sport varying degrees of firepower to support infantry elements in urban combat zones. The other staple of the Hell Dogs’ motor pool is the Thunderhead Superheavy Transport, an armored behemoth bristling with heavy bolters, flamers and hull-mounted turrets, as well as exterior-mounted cameras which give the troops within a visual feed of their combat zone from the safety of the transport’s interior. These transports are all primarily fitted with explosive reactive plating to deflect explosive projectiles from above and the sides, as well as front-mounted blades to move rubble which may be impeding advancing infantry and side-mounted satchels and boxes filled with ammunition for quick on-the-go rearmament in prolonged engagements. During especially long periods of fighting, the transports become mobile shelters, as heavy shelling often damages the structural integrity of buildings, not to mention traps or enemy counteroffensives. Within the transports, soldiers are warm, protected from external hazards, and have an easy method of egress should a retreat become necessary. Finally, the wide chassis of these transports allow them to block off exits and watch for approaching hostiles that would intercede during a sweep-and-clear.

### Officer Ranks

Non-commissioned officers of the Hell Dogs are made of soldiers who show skills of leadership, coordination, and loyalty to command. They are typically former inmates convicted of low-offense crimes and who are determined to make something of themselves rather than simply escaping the prisons as is the motivator for the majority of the Hell Dogs. Commissioned officers, meanwhile, are either prison guards, former law enforcement officers, or, in exceptional cases, the wealthy upper echelon of Cyron’s society seeking to earn glory and fame. The first of these three origins is the most common, as these guards already have the cohesion, martial skills, and loyalty needed to make efficient officers, as well as a knowledge of how inmates-turned-troopers will behave and conduct themselves within a combat environment. One notable privilege afforded to commissioned officers is the freedom to execute enlisted soldiers if they disobey in the field or become a threat to those around them, though not only is this an incredibly uncommon occurrence, but the threat faced by an officer, if they were to execute a trooper in the presence of their comrades, would make any man think twice.

## Regimental Recruitment & Training

Every month, recruiters from the Hell Dogs will pass through every cell block of every prison on Cyron to take in volunteers, and if there are not enough, conscripts. At any point, an inmate can sign on to join the Hell Dogs by inserting their name into the “Dead Man’s Lot”, where the inmate slots a ticket with their name on it into a cogitator unit which saves the list for the next recruitment rotation. When called upon, the recruit is permitted to collect what few personal possessions he may have, is then screened for physical, mental and spiritual aptitude, and shipped off to training facilities across the planet. Units are organized regardless of cell block, instead simply by whoever happened to step off the mag-train first and last. Training for the Hell Dogs is brutal but rewarding. Recruits are first subjected to rigorous physical examination, deprived of food, and beaten in order to break their minds and spirits. Then, they are re-educated on the ways of the Militarum, made to sing hymns and anthems and conduct random and unannounced combat drills. However, once this phase, known colloquially as "the Grinder", is finished, recruits are given a somewhat luxurious lifestyle: they are fed three meals a day, given passable living conditions and constant security to limit violence between recruits, as inter-inmate violence plagues most of Cyron’s prisons since guards simply cannot be bothered to maintain vigilance. Additionally, recruits are treated as soldiers, and given new inmate numbers to facilitate organization. Exercise drills, chapel services, weapons training and combat exercises keep recruits fresh and fit, and Hell Dog basic training lasts a grueling ten months. Once basic training is complete, which teaches recruits the essentials of infantry combat, cohesion, and tactics, troopers can enlist in specialist units such as the Siege, Armored, or Recon Corps, which perform their eponymous roles in support of infantry formations.

## Combat Doctrine

The Cyron Hell Dogs excel in confined urban and subterranean environments. In teams of five to ten, infantry sweeps each hall and room of a potentially occupied building, marking any hazards such as traps or structural weaknesses as well as enemy assets such as ammo caches, weapon emplacements, sniper lookouts, or valuable intel. If possible, troopers prioritize the highest possible floor first, moving downwards to force enemies into kill zones set up with the other half of the squad, who clear the ground floor and then watch exits and stairways for fleeing hostiles before swiftly putting them down as they run. Any who do not surrender immediately are shot, as rebels often disguise themselves as civilians or use civilians to trick Imperial forces into letting their guard down. Additionally, troopers are trained to enter a room in stacks, and if an enemy behind a door makes themselves known, grenades or bursts of las-fire are used to flush them out or neutralize any threat they may pose.

When advancing through an open area, such as a street or open road, Hell Dogs either remain inside a transport or stick close to it, known as “Clinging” for the almost huddled way troopers are trained to stay with the vehicle. Keeping constant sharp focus, they watch for any signs of movement from windows, alleys, or doorways, as any slight movement could be followed by a hail of gunfire or a launched explosive. Once a building is identified as having hostile elements within, the unit will use the transport as a mobile shelter to safely reach the nearest deployable position to the structure, at which point they will deploy as one under covering fire from the transport’s heavy weapons and advance on the target. If a trooper is wounded or killed while clearing a building, the room or section in which it occurred will be marked as a priority target, either to rescue the downed trooper or to avenge them and recover the body. If multiple troopers are downed, soldiers from the ground floor will rapidly ascend the building to reach them before continuing the sweep themselves. If need be, the building is marked as a heavy fortification and the squad will call either for a Breacher Team or for fire support to level the structure completely, regardless of whether civilians may still be inside. It is considered an acceptable risk.

## Specialist Infantry

The Hell Dogs largely consist of basic infantry formations, masses of grunts deployed to overwhelm the foe and break through defenses through attrition or hold key positions through the weight of bodies. However, two special units exist within the Hell Dogs, recruited from various types of convicts on Cyron. The first of these is the so-called “Breacher Teams”, heavily-armored infantry who, as their name implies, breach heavily-contested buildings which prove too difficult for regular infantry to take and hold. They wear bulky suits of carapace armor allowing them to shrug off light small-arms fire as would typically be used by insurgents, as well as providing resistance to explosives and shrapnel. Deploying in five-man teams, they wield heavy automatic lasguns, shotguns, and shields, and their bulk allows them to take up whole hallways to ensure no hostiles slip past and escape. Among regular infantry, they are known as Metalheads, for their imposing frames and distinctive bulky helmets.

The other, far more feared unit of the Hell Dogs are the Death Squads: vicious assault units made up of Cyron’s worst prisoners, from murderers and terrorists to seditionists and madmen. They are deployed only for the worst and most hazardous missions, not expected to survive. Their casualty rate typically rests at roughly 70%, and they are forbidden from deploying along any other Imperial forces in combat; any infraction, no matter how minor, is punishable by death, but once deployed, they are given free rein and no restrictions on conduct or tactics.

## Regimental Equipment

The Hell Dogs employ largely different equipment from other regiments. Their armor layout is similar in that it maintains protection of vital organs and arteries, but the Hell Dogs employ bulky armor plating on the shoulder of their non-dominant arm to protect them from incoming fire they would not be able to counteract in time, as well as help stabilizes their arm when aiming. They also come equipped with eyepieces which can be set to night vision or thermal imaging to detect targets obscured by darkness or smoke. Their helmets come with built-in light systems bright enough to illuminate corridors and to blind enemies and can be activated via a small button on their wrist. While a rebreather designed to accommodate the helmet eyepieces is standard-issue to keep out dust, or chemical agents, many Hell Dogs reserve these only for the latter, instead wrapping large pieces of cloth around their noses and mouths, while still leaving room for their vis-gear, which many Hell Dogs swear by. Finally, Hell Dogs wear uniforms woven from a lightweight and comfortable yet durable mesh material known as Durakol, able to resist most conventional blades as well as being fire-proof and, most importantly, remarkably comfortable. However, the downside of these uniforms is that they are difficult to remove in any capacity, meaning Hell Dogs often go a week or more without, though the ventilated nature of the material ensures they stay cool in warm environments and prevents extensive damage to the wearer’s skin.

In terms of weaponry, the Hell Dogs favor the MQ-4 Cyron-Pattern lasgun, which while manufactured on Zaldron, was patented and designed by Tech-Priests seeking asylum on Cyron from religious persecution by the Cult Mechanicus before the matter was resolved. The weapon has a robust yet slimmed-down profile when compared to other lasgun patterns, making it useful in close- to mid-range engagements. However, the weapon tends to lose accuracy at range, meaning squads often have to use inaccurate covering fire to get within an effective range. The upside to the short range however is that it packs an incredible punch for almost no felt recoil, however, it can be incredibly loud in confined spaces. While modification kits are provided to infantry units allowing them to outfit the weapon with an extended barrel, heavyweight stock, and larger power pack, these kits have proven to be unreliable and can significantly reduce the overall effectiveness of the weapon, with issues including frequent capacitor shortages, faster overheating times, and weak shots due to failures in the focusing lens within the receiver not delivering the punch required to incapacitate a target. Another weapon favored by infantry squads is the Mk.4 semi-automatic shotgun, referred to commonly as the “Mulcher” for its ability to horrifically blow apart lightly-armoured and soft targets, reducing hostiles to fleshy chunks and delivering staggering impact force thanks to the high powder content behind each shell. However, it is known to “Kick like a grox” referring to its powerful recoil. The weapon also sports a wide spread, meaning accuracy plays second fiddle when engaging a target at close range, and its semi-automatic firing system allows a trooper to spray a room with shells by firing in rapid succession in a sweeping motion, earning the weapon its other nickname of “Duster” for its ability to “sweep” a room.

While it is not commonly deployed, every platoon is equipped with a K-55 squad automatic lasgun, a power pack-fed light multi-laser capable of astonishing rates of fire, with an advanced venting system giving it the ability to fire for sustained bursts without fear of overheating. While the weapon is bulky, it comes equipped with a bipod, and the power pack can be fixed to a trooper’s backpack for ease of carry. It can also be carried via a handle above the barrel, which is not advised during prolonged use due to the risk of burning one’s hands from the heat exhaust but is employed nonetheless when on the move for widely-spread bursts of fire.

## Standard Regimental Kit

* Standard-issue MQ-4 lasgun (One per trooper, including sergeants)
* 6 Power packs
* Combat knife
* Frag grenades
* Regimental uniform
* Flak vest and shoulder pads
* Helmet with integrated eyepiece and mounted light
* Helmet-mounted rebreather mask
* Individual first-aid kit (Bandages, non-addictive painkillers, disinfectant, etc.)

## Optional Wargear

* Mk.4 Shotgun
* Breaching hammer (one per squad, often used as a makeshift melee weapon)
* Incendiary grenades (Preferred over krak grenades for eliminating enemy stockpiles)
* Breaching charge

## Vehicles

* Barragon Armored Personnel Carrier (Standard transport)
* Vorhon Cavalry Fighting Vehicle (Variant of Barragon, equipped with autocannons or heavy bolters for covering infantry)
* Krast Infantry Fighting Vehicle (Variant of Barragon, equipped with a battle cannon or similar heavy weapon for force multiplication)
* Thunderhead Superheavy Transport
* Sentinel Walker (Prefer armored variants, used for rapid assault or recon)
* Leman Russ Battle Tank (Rare, kitted for urban warfare)
* Valkyrie gunship (Reserved for close air support, rapid redeployment and evac)

## Notable Units

* A Company, 1st Battalion, 45th Infantry Regiment, “Ash Walkers”: Known for deploying heavy quantities of incendiary weapons and for their callous attitude for civilian lives, even by Imperial standards
* 88th Infantry Regiment, “Cyron Hellfighters”: Earned fame for being the first to breach the Hellmouth, held out without support for three days against constant attack once cut off
* C Company, 2nd Battalion, 551st Infantry , “Crimson Company”: Notorious for their tendency to rush the enemy and engage in hand-to-hand combat, as well as for their aggression
* 48th Mechanized, “Devastators”: Named for their use of explosives, earning them a reputation as pragmatic but undeniably effective at destroying targets.

## Notable Engagements

* **The Hellmouth War**: Hell Dog units of 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment deployed to quell insurgent activity on Sygarus report unusual patterns of activity around entrances to Hive Alpha's subterranean tunnel networks, not resembling any known groups or cells within the area. Contact is lost with all fireteams sent below street-level save for D Squad, who sustained heavy casualties but were able to return above the surface. After their reports were found not to line up with any known xenos or heretical groups or species, Deathwatch deployment was authorized by the Inquisition. Hell Dog squads were deployed as guides and escorts, and despite many soldiers never returning, Deathwatch after-action reports credit the Cyronian troopers with facilitating operations and with valiant service in the face of deadly hostile forces. Once the threat had been rooted out, being discovered to be long-dormant carnivorous humanoids awoken by surface detonations, Hell Dog squads were deployed to burn out any remaining nests and began to use the tunnel networks to launch ambushes and surprise attacks on insurgent forces. Within two years, the hive was retaken, and veterans of the conflict below the surface, thereafter dubbed "Gutter Hounds", were permitted to bear the Deathwatch's seal as a pin or armor marking for their contribution to the conflict.

* **The Hanged Man's War**: Officially known as the Scouring of Tarago, the so-called Hanged Man's War occurred in 757 of M39, when three regiments of the Hell Dogs were sent to pacify rioting occurring in many of the major cities of the Industrial World of Tarago. The rioting itself was the result of widespread changes by the planet's ruling aristocracy, who had taken on a more dictatorial and authoritarian style of leadership, resulting in mass poverty and starvation. After three years, the rioting devolved into full-scale civil war, and, no longer able to hold back the wrath of their own people, the aristocrats requested Imperial intervention. However, by the time Hell Dogs arrived in orbit, the planet had been reduced to an inhospitable wasteland of atomic ash. Unable to bear the thought of losing their debased wealth and decadence, the nobility had simply bombed the surface of the planet into oblivion, opting in their maddened logic to burn everything rather than let their people prosper. Without clear orders, Hell Dogs equipped with heavy radiation equipment deployed planetside to search for survivors. When they made contact with surviving elements of what had once been rebels, the Hell Dogs were ordered to eliminate any elements they came across, and thus began a six-year campaign of rooting out weakened, starving, defenseless rebels who had lost everything they had ever known. The campaign was so harrowing even for the Imperial troopers deployed on Tarago that mass suicide became a widespread issue, with troopers forced to kill unarmed Taragans in a barren, empty wasteland devoid of any life, deployed to ensure that the rebels could not even have their home without death. The campaign earned its grim moniker from the mysterious appearance of dozens of hanged corpses on many of the dead trees or bombed-out buildings they encountered. The origin, identity or allegiances of the corpses were never investigated or identified, leaving them to become a sort of legend passed down from trooper to trooper. Officially, these incidents were mass hallucinations caused by battle fatigue, mental strain, and general stress, but those who survived the campaign can attest to an entirely different story.

## Notable Quotes

"*We may not win tomorrow. We may not win the day after that, or even the day after that. But sooner or later, we’re gonna show these scumbag traitors why they call us Hell Dogs, ‘cause we bring hell and we go for the throat! We spend every second of every minute breathing fire. The enemy is not three meters tall, or blessed by their so-called gods. They’re a meter tall, with a short reach and scrawny arms, and you’re gonna kill ‘em all, cause that’s all you know how to do!*"
— Captain Garrus von Krast of the 88th Infantry Regiment, addressing his men before a push into the city of Savvo Secundus. They would go on to sustain a 79% casualty rate in their most grueling engagement to date. The operation resulted in an Imperial victory, and for their tenacity, the 88th were dubbed the “Cyron Hellfighters”, and their dead were immortalized as heroes of Cyron and their sentences posthumously commuted.
"*Y’know, it’s funny. Sometimes, even with how much I love this gig, with the good food, and the shelter, and being able to kill for the good of mankind, sometimes, I almost wish I was back in my cell, gettin’ woke up at o-five hundred to the guards beating the piss out of me. But then I realize that what I’ve got here is a second chance. And the God-Emperor knows how rare those are. Besides, why worry about gettin’ woke up at all when you never get any sleep? See, it’s all about finding the upsides to shitty situations.*"
— An unnamed guardsman of the Hell Dogs, from his personal diary, found on his body after he was killed by a booby trap
"*C'mon, sarge, I told him to surrender! Not my fault he was late on it, I mean he probably couldn't understand through his ears full a' shit. Teach ya to learn proper Gothic, ya inbreed!*"
— A Hell Dogs trooper, arguing with his squad leader on the subject of a dead insurgent lying with his arms outstretched.