1st Valkyrian Guard

1st Valkyrian Guard Battlegroup badge.

The **1st Valykrian Guard** are one of the permanent Astra Militarum formations created from the regiments from the Elusian System. It consists of the most elite regiments created from the tithes of planets in the Elysian System. Operating in the Chaos ridden "Night Depths" in the Segmentum Ultima, they are under the direct command of the Segment's Lord Commander, and typically are deployed to spearhead purging operations.

## History

The 1st Valkyrian Guard Battle Group has existed since shortly after the Horus heresy, and is a byproduct of the culture of the Elusian System. Its first rendition included every Regiment created from the Hive Worlds of the Elsuian system, but as the population recovered from the devastation of the Horus Heresy this became to difficult to maintain, and multiple lesser Battle Groups were formed. The most elite regiments were chosen to join the 1st. This tradition has remained stable throughout the Battle Group's existence, but the exact regiments included in it have changed.

The Battle Group has become famed for its eliteness, and their minimal casualty purging missions are known across the "Night Depths" region of the Segmentum Ultima. Their idealisms of preserving civilian life wherever possible is also praised by many.

### Notable Campaigns

* **234.M38 -** The Death Guard and several Nurgle cults enter the Elusius system. With the help of several other regiments and a nearby Astartes force, they are repelled, but not before a payload of deadly diseases is discharged onto Magi, completely decimating its population.

* **999.M41 - 004.M42 -** The 1st Valkyrian Guard is deployed in its entirety alongside the Indomitus Crusade to defeat a Chaos infected system that was preventing warp travel in the area. Despite heavy losses, including the death of the previous Lord-Colonel, the system was purged.

## Combat Doctrine

The Battle Group typically spearheads purging operations, using their firepower to completely eliminate heretic and xenos forces. When able to, they prefer to take minimal casualties, both among their forces and civilians.

The general infantry members of most Valkyrian Guard Regiments are more elite than those of most other Guard Regiments, but this leads to the downside of lower numbers.

## Battle Group Equipment

Due to the range of specialities across the Battle Group's regiments there isn't a particular set of equipment across the Battle Group. However, there a few weapons and unique pieces of equipment that lots of the Regiments use.

* **Sovereign Pattern Lasgun -** Created exclusively on the Forge World of Sovereign, the Sovereign Pattern Lasgun is the most widely used Lasgun among the Battle Group's infantry. It trades rate of fire and close range manoeuvrability for greater range, power and accuracy. This rewards the elite members of the Battle Groups.
* **Sovereign Pattern Hellgun -** The Sovereign Pattern Hellgun is produced on sovereign, and is used by lots of the Heavy Infantry regiments from the Elusius System. It has a lesser range, but its power and rate of fire is greater. It also has a modification on the front that partially disperses the shot as it is fired, creating a fan-like shot. In practice this translates to a short range, high power weapon that has great effect on unprepared infantry.
* **Sovereign Pattern Long-Las -** Specially modified to be quieter and less visible, the Sovereign variant of the Long-Las is used by the Light Infantry regiments of the Elusian System. Despite the power sacrificed for their greater stealth, they are still effective at picking off lonely targets in the chaos of battle.
* **Hellblade Tank -** A modification of the Baneblade chassis, the Hellblade foregoes speed for sheer fire power, in the form of a formidable armament of las weapons. It has a turret-mounted twin-linked Lasgun, and 4 top-mounted sponson Lascannons. Its hull has several twin-linked Lasguns connected to it. Its primary front-mounted weapon is a super-heavy Hellblade Cannon, which has the primary purpose of eliminating vast swathes of enemy infantry. It is a large laser weapon which would have an impressive range, except it is modified with a shot disperser, similar to that on the Sovereign Pattern Hellgun. This means that with every shot, a superheated wave of destruction shoots ahead of the Hellblade, which melts enemy infantry and armour.
* **Angel Pattern Sentinel -** Used by the Mechanised Infantry regiments of the Elusian System, the Angel Pattern Sentinel is much smaller than the original, more akin to power armour or Tau battlesuits. It has less armour than the Sentinel, but is less resource intensive to make. It is twice the height of an ordinary human, and has large legs used for movement. Twin bolters are attached to the sides and underneath the cockpit.

## Notable Members

* **Lord-Colonel Mikeal Angelus Castiel -** Originating from one of Elusius' better off Hives, Mikeal was promoted to the Lord-Colonel of the Battle Group during the final battles of the Indomitus Crusade in the Night Depths, after the previous Lord-Colonel was killed in action. He is a brilliant tactician, but has a reputation for treating his soldiers completely disposably, and chucking them at the enemy until they submit. He was previously a Tank Commander of the Sunspears, before promotion to Colonel and then Lord-Colonel.

## Organisation

The Battle Group is led be a Lord-Colonel, who is elected from one of the Colonels of the Battle Group's 7 regiments. Directly beneath the Lord-Colonel, the other 6 Colonels are equal in rank. They help the Lord-Colonel make important decisions, but the Lord-Colonel has the final say in any decisions.

## Home System

### Elusius

The largest of the 5 planets in the Elusius System, the Hive World of Elusius has over 90,000,000,000 inhabitants spread across its many hives. Some of these hives are located on the planet's moons. This planet's culture is particularly focused on caring for others, with the upper classes of the Hive World frequently donating food and resources to the lower classes. It provides the greatest number of regiments of all planets in the Elusius System. Many of those regiments are highly elite.

### Solus

A Terra-sized ocean planet, Solus is a Hive World consisting of lots of floating hives that frequently tower into the sky. It's total population is around 50,000,000,000. It's tithes have created slightly less regiments than Elusius, although these are no less elite than the Elusian regiments.

### Magi

Magi is the same size as Solus, but its population is dramatically less, at around 5,000,000,000. This is because it was obliterated by a plague created by Nurgle. The citizens of Magi are notably strong and resilient, due to the lack of resources on the planet. This is the reason that many of the Magian regiments are siege or heavy infantry regiments.

### Iridia

Despite being much smaller than Solus and Magi, Iridia's population of roughly 25,000,000,000 is stable. This is due to the vast number of moons around it. These moons are inhabited by many airtight hives that are constantly expanding. The Iridian regiments are famously mobile and able to navigate tough terrain, as is exemplified by the 37th Iridian Light Infantry, the "Space Hoppers".

### Sovereign

The smallest of the 5 planets in the Elusius System, Sovereign is no less important than any of the larger ones, as it is a Forge World. The products of Sovereign include many weapons that are used by the regiments of the Elusius system. The few Sovereignian regiments that have been created are known for their extensive use of technology.

## Regiments

### 1st Elusian Armoured Regiment ("Sunspears")

The Sunspears are the Armoured Regiment of the Valkyrian Guard, and are known for outfitting their tanks and armoured transports almost exclusively with Lasguns. They are the primary reason for the development of the Hellblade tank. They are highly elite and on many occasions have brought redemption to corrupted worlds.

### 22nd Elusian Drop Regiment ("Light Bringers")

Another of the elite Elusian regiments, the Light Bringers are known for their sudden drop assaults, emerging from the sky in a blaze of las and plasma fire. Like most Drop Regiments, its members are particularly elite, and their aim excels that of most ordinary Imperial Guard.

### 5th Magian Heavy Infantry Regiment ("Lucky Fives")

Like most Magian regiments, the Lucky Fives are a Heavy Infantry regiment. The majority of its Guardsmen are equipped with Sovereign Pattern Hellgun, with greater power and rate of fire than an ordinary one, but its range is less.

### 37th Iridian Light Infantry Regiment ("Space Hoppers")

The Space Hoppers are known for their excellent infiltration ability, successfully navigating extremely challenging terrain frequently. Despite being relatively small, the regiment is very valuable in large conflicts, used for scouting and infiltration missions. To encourage mobility, they lack many heavy weapons, and instead use various patterns of Lasgun, and the Sovereign Pattern Long-Las, which is more discrete than the typical one, but its power is less.

### 53rd Solusian Line Infantry Regiment ("Emperor's Purgers")

The 53rd Solusian regiment is known for its high numbers, and is the largest of all the regiments in the 1st Valkyrian Guard. The sustained fire from its plethora of lasguns has been likened to an expanding sun, burning through any cover and purging heretics, granting them total absolution in death. They have a wide variety of weaponry and transports.

### 10th Sovereignian Line Infantry Regiment ("Clockworks")

One of the few Sovereignian regiments, the Clockworks aren't as numerous as the Emperor's Purgers, but due to originating from Sovereign have an unusual amount of unique weaponry. Their discipline and organised battle formations are famed.

### 14th Solusian Mechanised Infantry Regiment ("Kraken's Sentinels")

Kraken's Sentinels are a Mechanised Infantry regiment known for their heavy use of mechs, such as the Angel Pattern Sentinel. They also make use of the Hellblade tank, which is unique to the regiments from the Elusian System.

## Battle Group Appearance

### Battle Group Colours

Due to each of the Regiments in the Battle Group having different cultures, the colours of the Battle Group vary dramatically, from the white and gold of the Elusian Regiments to the pitch black and silver of the Sovereignian Regiments.

### Battle Group Badge

The badge of the Battle Group is a winged flame with a halo. It is displayed somewhere on the uniforms of each Regiment in the Battle Group.

## Relations

### Allies

* **Hawk Lords Chapter -** The 1st Valkyrian Guard have become good allies with the Hawk Lords, whose homeworld is in the same region of space as the Elusius System.

### Enemies

* **Nurgle** **-** Like all forces of the Imperium, the 1st Valkyrian Guard hates all xenos and heretics, but they bear Nurgle's followers a particular hatred after they ravaged the world of Magi with a series of diseases. The world was left dead and lifeless for almost a millennia before the poison had dissipated to a sufficient degree to allow for settlement. To this day Magi is less advanced and populated than the rest of the system.