1st Company

**1st Company**, also referred to as The Warmachines of Contempt, is the First Company of the Knights Vigilant Chapter. Formerly lead by First Marshal

Pudis Vardzkan and now led by First Marshal Serbanoiu, Knights Vigilant 1st and 3rd Companies have been crusading across the galaxy to re-conquer the planets which were lost to the Imperium during The Old Night.

The Company retains a very contemptuous outlook on the Imperium at large, believing anything the least amount of impure or potentially heretical to be insults to the God Emperor and to Mankind at large.

Pudis personally killed Crab and promoted himself to Grand Marshal. To replace him as First Marshal, Pudis chose First Captain Serb.

## History

The Company’s exact origins, like the Knights Vigilant itself, are unknown. The earliest and accessable records of the First Company date back to 364.M41, where they would push back the forces of Waaagh! Giteata and liberate multiple planets in the process. Though the Company has been active well before 364.M41, these records are either very much cryptic or are locked away under an Inquisitorial seal. What is very much interesting however is that First Company has fought many Eldar who claim to have knowledge on the old Knights Vigilant 1st Company and claim that, quote, “the Ancient 1st Company would despise The Young 1st Company.” This claim has lead many to believe that the old 1st Company, unlike the current 1st Company, had been more tolerant towards mutants and xenos alike while having a less aggressive nature to boot. But alas, this has not changed anything about the 1st Company, as former First Marshal Pudis refuses to change his ways with the claim that he and his Company have no time to honour long-forgotten ancestors.

Under Pudis' command, First Company was led with an iron fist. Each and every warrior was expected to be the greatest the Knights Vigilant had to offer at every job possible. Even if a Veteran Marine was tasked with being a Tactical Marine, he could fill the job of Tank Commander or Banner Bearer at any moment if he had to. This wasn't done out because 1st was expected to be generalists nor was it done because Pudis wanted them to be this way, but because Pudis wanted his Company to remain superior to all others at all times. And, at least according to the late Grand Marshal Crab, he had succeeded in this task. First Company Veterans could easily out-do the siege experts of 2nd and the duelists of 7th and was ever ready to replace them if they were needed to.

### Serb's Promotion to 1st Marshal

In 114.M42 Serbanoiu Eduard was promoted to the rank of 1st Marshal after the ascension of Pudis to the role of Grand Marshal. Initially the company continued as it did under Pudis command but loss of members eventually led to a decrease in performance which the new Marshal hated, and so he began to weed out the weak. He ordered a decimation, where the company Battle brothers, fought to the death, killing ¼ of the company, then brutal training. This was allowed under Pudis and eventually it brought results after 2 years. The members who survived this brutal training were exemplary Knights of the chapter and would pass on the same level of training onto future newcomers into the company. Eventually these initial veterans (sometimes referred to as the "survivors of the decimation") became few and we're in turn placed into Vexillum Domini. Ever since then a standard has been kept and in the case of it dropping, the decimation may once more commence which is why any 1st company member does his duties to the full extent. Grand Marshal Tony after his ascension ordered Serbanoiu to not do a decimation without explicit orders and authorization to which he agreed upon.

## Vexillum Domini

"Vexillum Domini, Maxima procerum, Angeli beli! Et portae inferi non itineri, Et tenuit nostras ducemus in excelsis, Ad bellum proficisceretur, Nam quod imperator ad imperium!" -Prayer of the Vexillum Domini

Vexillum Domini, a band of brothers who have known each other for as long as they remember. Warriors with few equals in melee combat and with no equal in their wrath. They joined the company upon the arrival of Gregorius Kran and were quickly recognized and reassigned in 1st Company. They made themselves noticed in the battle against the Red Corsairs in 130.M42 showing their skills getting the attention of the 1st Marshal. Upon the request of Gregorius the group of warriors are placed under a special unit that enforces loyalty and moral by all means necessary under the direct training of Gregorius and Serbanoiu. To distinguish themselves from the rest they get their helmets and the left arm and shoulder pad painted in red to show seniority. They will be seen most of the time mixed up with other company brothers giving guidance in battle.

These warriors are ruthless and know their mission well putting down any thoughts of failure and replacing it with fear if need be in whatever company they are deployed to.

### Equipment

Each weapon wielded by them is a relic, a weapon either recovered from the battlefield or made by the Forge Master. The armor itself is masterfully made with utmost care put in its creation sanctified by the holiest of priests and baptized in blood on the battlefield. Among other they are enhanced by bionics and have special battle stimuli made by Gregorious himself to further their capabilities.

**++It is important to note that Carnificibus Squad has been absorbed in the Vexillum Domini.++**

## Notable Campaigns

**Waaagh! Giteata (364.M41):** Warboss Giteata, more commonly referred as The Hungry One, would launch a full-frontal assault against the Legatis Sub-Sector within the Segmentum Obscurus in order to start his very own Ork Empire. Knights Vigilant 1st Company, who had recently promoted Pudis Vardzkan to 1st Marshal, were sent to fight the forces of Warboss Giteata. When they made planetfall upon the planet of Gvasy V, they’d learn a terrible truth about this particular Waaagh! Instead of enslaving or outright killing the humans inhabiting the Sub-Sector like any other Ork would do, Giteata and his Orks instead tore apart the flesh of the inhabitants and ate them while said inhabitants were still alive. Finding this enraging and sickening, First Marshal led his men towards the wretched and cannibalistic Greenskins and had his First Company drown the Orks in their own, wretched blood. Though the 1st Company would triumph against the wretched Orks, watching the people of the Imperium being dined upon by their enemies would scar the Astartes of 1st Company forever.

**++128.M42++KURN PRIME::KURNIAN EXPANSE::ULTIMA SEGMENTUM ++:** With progress slow in quelling an increasingly more dangerous ork tide, a small detachment of first company veteran marines enlists the succor of the relatively nearby fifth company. The communicae never arrives, however, as it is somehow intercepted by drucharii raiders. The brigands heed the request for aid, arriving clad in the colours of the fifth company, and bearing haphazard mockeries of their heraldry. Distrought, but able to capitalise on the sudden arrival of a new foe, Brother Lieutenant [ERROR::REDACTED] directs the veterans to strike at critical soft targets as they rapidly materialise on the field of battle. It is a victory for the imperium, but a pyrrhic one. The forces arrayed against this meager agriworld had wiped out over ninety per cent of the planet's population, dooming the subsequent planets within the Kurnian expanse to imminent famine. Great panic ensues within the ranks of the xenobiologians when news of the irregularity of an intercepted message reaches Holy Terra. All agree that the drucharii have become far more bold and insidious in their plots...

**The Red Wave of Omecus III 130.42M**

During a patrol around Ultima Segmentum a warp storm erupts and warps in a large chaos fleet with the power to conquer a sub sector. A distress signal from Demeter Sector calling calling for aid against a chaos invasion is intercepted by 1st Comapny. Upon arrival in the Demeter sector they see the brutal engagements with the Chaos fleets. A vox message incoming from a planet called Omecus III calls for imediat help from any Imperial force. They explain that the populace is being slaughtered and the PDF can’t hold the remaining cities from the heretic astartes. 1st company realizing that they cant wait on the rest of the chapter to arrive they decide to charge in the aid of the PDF. Upon arrival they engage with the Red Corsairs within the Hive City and manage to push them back allowing the  PDF to fortify the entry points. With the help of the supposed PDF commander they manage to make multiple strikes on the Chaos forces for weeks. But after the Red Corsairs realized where the leadership of the PDF is they set a complicate plan. The Red Corsairs send their weaker forces in large numbers of cultists to distract the main force and send their veterans straight to the recaptured city whose forces are in warzones. The veterans unchallanged managed to enter the recaptured city in a desperate attempt to destroy the leadership but they are met by the 1st company strongest warriors lead by Marshal Serbanoiu. The combat was so brutal and fast that by the end both sides met heavy loses but the chaos force of veterans was exterminated. But between the losses there was no Chaos Lord. With a large push of Armored PDF divisions they manage to send the enemy force and make them retreat from the planet. With the planet liberated and with small numbers of cultist forces stranded that can be cleared by the remaining PDF. But while the planet was saved the Sub Sector was still in danger. Planets became besieged everywhere and the Imperial Fleet was starting to get lower in numbers.

**++ 172.42M. Ultima Segmentum. Demeter Sector. Arrovin I. The Red Comet Returns++** A report comes through to the Contempt of Steel that an old enemy has emerged once more from the warp seeking conquest over the Demeter Sector. Realising that the warband was not exterminated last time, Serbanoiu takes his ship to fly directly towards the Sector employing the help of 2nd Company to defend it. Upon arriving in the Arrovin system the Marshals are surprised to see the Imperial Navy struggling against the giant fleet of heretics and the warp anomalies manifesting themselves. As they approach they receive a message to help the ground forces on Arrovin I in securing the Orbital Cannons. The battle on the ground proves itself challenging, not because of the skill the enemy holds but rather because of their ridiculous numbers. One after the other, the giant cannons start to be destroyed as the PDF struggles to stop suicidal cultists from jumping into ammo storage. The situations turns more dire when the veil between reality and the warp starts to thin out as chaos ships in orbit align themselves in a circle causing a giant red beam of lights to slowly engulf the world. It is only by luck when a frustrated commissar punches a inoperative console of the cannon that it fires a shot disturbing whatever sinister ritual was being held in orbit causing all the ships to explode into massive clouds of blood which begins to freeze in place creating a new belt around the world. The chaos forces begin a hasty retreat as the veil grows thicker and separates the warp from reality living only stragglers on the world. However this would not be the last of the Red Corsairs.

**++189.42M++** The Contempt of Steel exits the Warp with a dead navigator several sectors away from their destination into sub-sector Barila which is caught in the flames of civil war with cults and besieged by raiders left unchecked by the sector's navy. 1st company answers the calls of aid of Archduke Clement Ferzoan, acting ruler of Barila II, capital Hive World in the system besieged by a giant ork horde seeking to destroy the Imperial Knight household of Hiperion. The company drops into the battlefield but they arrive too late as only one Imperial Knight is left standing, the battle hardened veteran Christoff Benjamin. With the united force of the Archdukes forces, 1st company and the Imperial Knight the orks are slaughtered and left leaderless after a daring charge spearheaded by Christoff. In the aftermath the Knight swears an oath of loyalty to the Marshal of 1st company to take his vengeance upon the ork filth plaguing the imperium and the Archduke gifts the company a navigator and repairs for their aid allowing them to leave the world and return on their course.

Merium Campaign

## Company Combat Doctrine

With the coming of Pudis as their commander, the 1st Company's predilections for hand-to-hand bloodletting reached even greater heights, as the master-gladiator taught his warriors new weapons and new ways to kill, and what can only be described as a cult of personal combat took hold of the Legion at a fundamental level. The Chainaxe was refined under Pudis' direction, and such was the reputation it gained, that its use spread to several other Legions. But in the abstract the weapon could be seen as a symbol of the 1st Company themselves -- brutal and savage, remorseless and unsubtle, a machine with but one purpose -- to kill.

After the conclusion of the Mardia Campaign, 1st Company has come to rely on the holy dictates of the *Codex Astartes* to meet any given tactical situation. This tome contains the wisdom of thousands of Imperial warriors who have contributed to the *Codex*, and details everything from proper unit markings to how to launch full-scale planetary assaults within its pages. 1st Company does not specialise in any particular form of combat, instead proving to be the ultimate generalists -- surprisingly proficient at every task required in warfare, but not the master or greatest practitioner of any of them. For instance, the 3rd Company is far more skilled in armoured warfare than the 1st Company, while the 6th Company are second to none in the use of guerrilla, infiltration and hit-and-run tactics, and the 2nd Company are the recognised masters of siege warfare. Yet 1st Company's' generalist skill in the arts of combat would provide a potent defence against any of these Companies, and so they are often held up as the standard to which all other Knights Vigilant Astartes are compared, for better or worse.

## Auxiliary force

Pondus Sanctus, a culmination of all the other elite troops in the 1st company formed of the multiple militias send from loyal Imperial Groups and regiments numbering around 400. The larger portion of the force is made up of elite Imperial Guardsmen: Ogrin Bone' Eads, Catachans Commandos, Krieg Doomriders, Elysian Drop Troops and Karsakin Bodyguards making the large part of the force while the rest is made up of a couple Techpriest troops and Sisters of Battle. They are deployed in dozens to other companies with 1st company Veterans, their doctrine being the same as that of the company.

**Vehicles (18 vehicles):**

-2 Chimerax

-2 taurox Primes

-1 (K)Crassus Armored Transport

-3 Leman Russ's, each a different variaty (Leman Russ Punisher, Leman Russ Executioner, Leman Russ Thunderer.)

-2 Sentinals

-1 Repressor

-2 Immolators

-1 Onager Dunecrawler

-2 Sydonian Dragoons

-1 Skorpius Disintegrator

-1 Krios

**Aircrafta (11 aircrafts) :**

-3 Avengers

-3 Lightnings

-2 Valkyres

-3 Archaeopters

**Support (doesn't affect the population):**

-5 Heavy Mortars (mobile)

-3 Heavy Quad-Launcher (mobile)

-2 Galvanic Servohauler

-1 Rapier

- 1 Imperial Knight, Christoff Benjamin