117th Mome Raths of Vaguemyth

A Tempestor's Omnishield Helm from the Eleventy-Seventh VMR's armory.

A female Scion of the Eleventy-Seventh VMR in uniform, carrying a hotshot longlas.

## Regimental Data

### **Nickname(s)**

Eleventy-Seventh Mome Raths of Vaguemyth
VMR

### **Colours**

**Primary:** Pink
**Secondary:** Yellow / Gilded
**Tertiary:** Black & White or
White & Black
**Accents:** Neon Green

## Other information

### **Specialty**

Close Combat
Faraway Marksmenship

## Commanders

### **Notable Commanders**

Tempestor Prime John Smithian’Doh (KIA)
Commissar Wilson “Billy Club” Williamson
Tempestor Trion Atanaeon

"*Blessed is the mind too small for doubt.*"
—Commissar Groden Bevro
The **117th Mome Raths of Vaguemyth Regiment**, known more commonly as the *Eleventy-Seventh Mome Raths of Vaguemyth* or VMR, is an elite & well-equipped regiment of the Militarum Tempestus. The Mome Raths’ mimsy demeanor & frumious conduct in battle have earned them infamy in some circles of the Imperium, but renown & praise in others. Their numerous campaigns have met a mixture of failure & success, their manxome tactics having turned the tide of more than one engagement. Overall, those having served alongside the Eleventy-Seventh generally agree that its Scions are as likely to aid their allies as they are to abandon them, employing traditional battlefield strategies as well as more modern & unconventional tactics. Thus, their presence on the eve of battle is considered an omen, of what even the High Lords of Terra could not tell you.

## Regimental History

"*A good soldier obeys without question. A good officer commands without doubt.*"
—Excerpt from the Imperial Guard's "Tactica Imperium"
The history of the Eleventy-Seventh Mome Raths is storied & full of heroism, if brief; their exploits have spread throughout the Imperium & its baseline humans. From the earliest Days of Blinding, the Mome Raths have faced insurmountable odds, but emerged victorious time & time again. Having fought in some of the most grueling battles & environs, its Scions endured the harshest theatres of war, always emerging with their heads held high & their spirits unbroken. They faced enemies once thought unbeatable, & their victories became the stuff of legend. But with each triumph, the Mome Raths also suffered great loss & pain; despite this, they remain steadfast in their devotion to the Imperium, & their legacy inspires future generations of Scions as exemplars of the best humanity has to offer.

Like all Scions, the Mome Raths possess unwavering discipline; so stalwart are these Scions that the Adeptus Astartes of the Starborn Giants, infamous for their crushing conformity, call the Mome Raths worthy soldiers. Other regiments of baseline humans actively avoid any interaction with the Starborn Giants’ Chapter, whereas the Eleventy-Seventh’s history shows they served alongside the Chapter’s Harbingers of Compliance multiple times in less than a century. Recent developments have tested this devotion, however, as many Mome Raths suffer from acute pyrophobia that even concentrated treatments of mind-cleansing struggle to suppress; thus, the question has risen of whether to dissolve the regiment if its next round of recruits cannot overcome this failure in the Emperor’s eyes.

## Notable Campaigns & Events

* **Night of a Thousand Rebellions (992.999.M41)** - Among the first of the Mome Raths’ deployments, the Invasion of Istdermond sees the Scions led into battle by then-Tempestor Smithian’Doh & auxiliaries from the Starborn Giants Chapter of Adeptus Astartes. Smithian’Doh defeats a Tzeentchian Champion in a challenge: the Chosen Chaos Space Marine, wielding a cursed blade, fails to penetrate the Tempestor’s armor & pays dearly for it; Smithian smites his foe with his power fist & casts the broken corpse from the ramparts before leading his Scions into the fray not once or twice, but thrice more. Krak grenades in hand, they reduce a Chaos Rhino to rubble &, then, charge a congregation of cultists from the March of Flames, their Tempestor besting an Olympian Daemonhost in a duel. The battle draws to a close shortly after the Scions execute a Chaos Biker Champion in close combat.

* **Fog of War Found (093.M42)** - The Mome Raths make first contact with the Venomthrope known as Fog of War, from Splinter Fleet Lindwyrm. On the Felensier asteroid belt, a Commissar falls prey to the Tyranid’s spores & issues more than half a dozen summary executions before Captain Dijem Noss of the Starborn Giants ends the Commissar's delirium with a power-armored fist. The corpse of Tempestor Prime John Smithian’Doh lays among the Commissar’s unnecessary casualties, the Scion accepting his political officer’s unjust judgement with discipline & obedience. Footage from a Scion’s damaged monoscope, later acquired by the Ordo Xenos, tells of the struggle between the 8th Company’s Champion, Iv'ry Midus, & the Fog of War. The wounded Tyranid eventually flees, after injecting the Astarte with enough toxins to kill a Carnifex.

* **The Noble Incident (622.116.M42)** - Their hotlas shotguns in hand, Scions of the Eleventy-Seventh Mome Raths assist in escorting Imperial Knights to the lair of a Tyranid bio-titan. After a path is cleared to the Gordreigon in the Sicari Sub-Sector, what befell the combined detachments from House Cadmus & House Griffith remains a mystery. Many guardsmen received the blessing of the Emperor’s Peace following the event whilst more valuable assets, such as the Mome Raths, underwent mind-cleansing.

* **Fall of Morlaan (Late M41 - Early M42)** - Near the Red Scar of Segmentum Ultima resides Morlaan Tertius, once an idyllic Pleasure World and haven of luxury upheld by the resources of its neighboring Dead and Death Worlds. By the machinations of Inquisitorial Recongregators, however, the twin sins of excess and pride ensnare Morlaan's ruling elite: the noble bloodlines vie for power, each waging war against the others. In the end, their vainglory ruins Morlaan's adjacent Death World, and the Bloodbathers cult corrupts the heads of each family, gradually unifying them under the banner of Khorne. Morlaan Tertius, now an infertile War World, boldly declares independence from the Imperium. To quell this rebellion and restore Imperial Compliance, the Imperium summons Tempestus Scions of the VMR; their unyielding discipline and purity promise to end the depravity and unfettered warfare that has consumed this once-glorious world.
	+ **VMR’s Arrival (Early M42)** - Initial efforts to restore compliance seem effective, the planet’s population tired of their rulers’ incessant warmongering; Imperial Guard regiments under Castellan Jackenamos of the Chem Drakes find little resistance from much of the populous. However, what combatants she encounters fight fiercely as veterans with decades of experience on Morlaan’s war-torn surface. Athalia the Apostate leads her Bloodbather cultists to repeated victory against the Astra Militarum, though several Khornate strongholds fall when stormed by the VMR and Tempestor Trion Atanaeon. Alas, the VMR’s campaign for compliance takes an unexpected turn when a fleet of ships from the Shas’suam Sept suddenly seize orbital control of the planet. The Tau immediately attempt to secure aerial superiority over the skies of Morlaan, and the Battle for Morlaan follows.
		- **Battle for Morlaan (Early M42)** - Tau Razorshark Strike Fighters quickly find themselves swarmed by Valkyries and Vultures as Imperial Lightning Strike Fighters scramble to meet Barracudas at higher altitudes. Still, the Air Caste of Shas’suam proves its skill when several squadrons of Sun Shark Bombers and Orca Dropships slip through the Imperial defenses. Commander Doran’Cha baits the Imperials into a battle for decisive victory, but his Sun Sharks’ bombing campaign fails, and overwhelming Imperial forces close on the Sept’s infantry. As Tau Fire Warriors retreat, Stealth Teams deploy to cover their rear, but a regiment of Nightsider abhuman Guardsmen flag the enemies’ location, allowing Tempestus Scions to attack: surgical, hyperlethal lasers carve into the Stealthsuits as the Tau return fire with waves of Burst Cannon shots. Ultimately, Commander Doran’Cha is forced to deploy his Sept’s experimental R'vahna Orbital Weapons Platform to destroy the VMR’s Fortress of Redemption and demand a cease-fire. Imperial high command surrenders Morlaan to the Tau on the condition its remaining military assets can safely evacuate, including Tempestor Trion Atanaeon. Shortly after the VMR’s departure, Khornate cultists & Imperial loyalists begin a series of small rebellions against their new xenos overlords.

## Regimental Relics

### The Rumbler’s Thunderfist

The Adeptus Mechanicus elevated the power fist of then-Tempestor John Smithian’Doh into a regimental relic, following the Invasion of Istdermond. At the Battle for Blastglass Beach, Militarum Tempestus monoscopes showed Smithian’Doh leading four successful assaults: first, he felled a Chosen Chaos Space Marine Champion in a duel, casting his foe’s corpse from the ramparts; then, he slayed an Olympian Daemonhost in single combat. The Tempestor also executed a Chaos Biker Champion before his squad destroyed a Chaos Rhino with Krak Grenades. For his exemplary service, Smithian’Doh received a promotion from Tempestor to Tempestor Prime, & with this recognition came the services of Mars; a Tech-Priest reforged the Scion’s power fist into the Thunderfist, a weapon worthy of this Imperial hero.

The Adeptus Mechanicus retrofitted the Thunderfist’s wrist with electrodes & incorporated mass-drivers into its knuckles. Upon activating its power field, the relic’s electrodes hum, vibrating with power; the crash of the Thunderfist into its target unleashes arcs of red lightning & a resounding boom like thunder. Meanwhile. the Thunderfist’s machine spirit monitors its wielder’s vitals & administers combat stimms according, much like the Adeptus Astartes’ Belisarian Furnace. Attempts by any unauthorized party to use this relic triggers the release of crippling toxins, whilst metal pins inside it drive like pistons into the offender’s hand, to shatter bone & skewer muscle. The machine-spirit contained within the Rumbler’s Thunderfist is rumored to come from a particularly spiteful Wyvern; after its crew’s sudden death, the tank drove itself through a horde of cultists & detonated its remaining payload, during one of the earliest engagements on Istdermond.

Following the death of The Rumbler John Smithian’Doh, decades passed before another took up his Thunderfist. This was not for lack of petitions, but rather a matter of Imperial bureaucracy: an error in the Adeptus Mechanicus’ edict on the Thunderfist dictated that only a warrior who died in service of the Imperium was worthy of wielding this relic; thus, none could claim it, until Commissar Wilson “Billy Club” Williamson. Commissar Wilson claimed The Rumbler's Thunderfist as his own after combatting Tyranids from Splinter Fleet Lindwyrm, when a Tech-Priest called the Commissar a "coward" for ordering his men not to aid the Enginseer & instead hold their position. During his debrief, Commissar Wilson quoted an ancient Terran proverb: "A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once."

## Notable Members

"*For every battle honor, a thousand heroes die alone, unsung, & unremembered.*"
—An ancient Imperial adage
* **Tempestor Prime John Smithian’Doh** (KIA) - The Rumbler on Istdermond, Golem of Blastglass Beach, Tempestor to the Vanguard of Vaguemyth, Brontelactorpugnus (“He Who Brings the Thunderfist”)

## Regimental Appearance

"*Sorry. I prefer blondes.*"
—Commissar Ciaphas Cain to Slaaneshi Cultist Emeli Duboir
### Regimental Colours

The Mome Raths don plates of carapace armor a nude or salmon pink in color, with yellow trim. This yellow is instead gilded on the regiments' Tempestors & Tempestors Prime. Beneath their metal plating, Scions of the Eleventy-Seven wear either black fabric with white stripes or white fabric with black stripes.

### Regimental Badge

The Eleventy-Seventh Mome Raths of Vaguemyth, or VMR, bear their regiment's initials as a badge. The design starts as an M flanked by two Rs, on the left & right, & adding an inverted V over the M completes the symbol.

## Regimental Relations

"*Always, always lead from the front. Never expect a man under your command to undertake an action you're not prepared to make yourself.*"
—Commissar-General Delane Oktar
### Allies

* **Adeptus Astartes Chapters**
	+ **Starborn Giants** - Whereas the bulk of Imperial Guard officers eschew any & all interactions with these uncompromising Space Marines, the Mome Raths seem to excel under the austere Chapter. Two of the Eleventy-Seventh's most notable campaigns, on Istdermond & the Felensier asteroid belt, involved the Starborn Giants.

### Enemies

* **March of Flames (AKA the Marching Flames)** - On Istdermond, Tempestor John Smithian’Doh earned his promotion to Tempestor Prime by surviving a direct blow to the chest from the thunder hammer of a Daemonhost. The Tempestor went on to vanquish the abomination & lead his Scions to indisputable victory, capturing the former Nightgaunt Sorcerer Nurl Lrun.
* **Splinter Fleet Lindwyrm** - Being shamed by these xenos on the Felensier asteroid belt &, then, undergoing mnemonic purgation protocols after The Noble Incident has marred the Mome Raths’ reputation & psyche. Mome Raths bristle at the mere mention of this Splinter Fleet, half their memories of the Lindwyrm Tyranids still blank.