Coruscoan Militia

The Coruscoan Militia is the term used to refer to the standardized pattern of third-line formations raised in the defense of the many worlds of the Corusco Cluster. It is equivalent in function and general equipment to the wider Imperialis Militia during the Compliance campaign and later on the Planetary Defense Forces that replaced it. Owing to the very close proximity of the worlds of the Cluster however, whereas every world in the Imperium would have disparate and heterogenous PDFs, the Coruscoan Militia standard ensures that these forces maintain a set certain level of training and equipment across every world.

## History

Although the Coruscoan Militia was formed as a result of the subjugation of the Cluster by the Imperium of Man, and at the latter's behest, in order to understand how it came to be in its current form, one needs to delve much deeper into the past. When the Warp Storms of the Age of Strife suddenly isolated the far-flung worlds of mankind, many worlds had few if any major standing forces or fortification. The Cluster had survived the Cybernetic Revolt without any truly catastrophic damage, and with the Men of Iron decisively defeated, most worlds needed to considerably downsize military spending to rebuild what they had lost and to pay their outstanding debts in financing the great galactic war. Some simply happened to be largely populated by people who fancied themselves pacificists devoted to the arts or science.

The notion that lasting peace had been bought in the war against the Men of Iron was shattered in a very traumatizing fashion for many of these worlds as they suffered thousands of years of predations at the hand of Xenos, raiders, and occasionally things even more foul. Some worlds managed to fend off the aggressors, but others were savaged considerably and suffered great devastation. Whatever their individual circumstances, every world that survived without regressing into pre-technological society was forced to learn the lesson that had been ignored after the Cybernetic Revolt and militarism and martial cultures became commonplace. Every world needed to see to its own defense, and to do so with the utmost serious. Anything else would be to invite destruction.

Yet this would not be enough, as with the end of the Age of Strife, a new threat would manifest from within humanity itself. More precisely, a super-human threat. The worlds of the Cluster had, each in their own way, raised a significant military, and some of them were greatly bolstered by the technological and tactical assistance of the Mechanicum Rationalis based on Novaea IV. Yet, they were not ready for the Terran Imperium of Man's onslaught spearheaded by the Astartes of the Terra Warden, and once again, they found themselves shattered and occupied. It is this long history of a succession of bitter defeats and bloody raids and occupations that shaped the mentality of the Coruscoan Militia and its planners.

In the wake of the Imperial subjugation, the Cluster's former Terran enemies, now overlords, continued what the Novaens had began a few centuries prior, and the reconstruction of the Cluster from the lasting scars of the Age of Strife proceeded apace, with a golden age of prosperity washing over its many worlds. Though the Imperial Tithe would come and carve up a large cut of these profits, enormous amounts of it were reinvested in defense. With Elias Dammerung, the primarch of the Wardens - now Obsidian Wyrms - acting as Terra's Viceroy within the Cluster but leaving a majority of decisions to the discretion of local governors, a serie of sweeping military reforms were nonetheless enacted.

Among these was the establishment of Militia Standard. The Standard did not dictate specifically the exact details in which each world's militia needed be raised, nor the structure they ought to be organized in, but it did dictate a minimum standard of equipment and training that had to be at the very least met, and ideally but not necessarily exceeded. This minimum was carefully selected so as to ensure that the equipment could be easily manufactured, maintained and supplied by even the least technologically advanced worlds of the Cluster with only a token, initial construction of war factories, with no need for continued off-world specialized knowledge or resources. Thanks to this ease of production and maintenance, the militia would both be cheap to equip in large numbers and, in theory, be self-sufficient even in the case of a naval blockade.

It would not be until the infernal conflagration that was the Inter-Legionary Wars that the Coruscoan Militia would see its baptism in fire. Once again, the worlds of the Cluster would be threatened by superhuman Astartes. This time however, regular men and women would be awaiting them and ready and willing to make them pay a daunting price for every stronghold, every major city, and every world. It is sometimes believed that Elias foresaw the Inter-Legionary Wars, or at least had divined that some sort of inevitable conflict of galactic proportions was looming. From the very first days of the Primarch's acting as viceroy, the Coruscoan ruling classes' long-standing desire to prevent a repeat of the past was enabled and tapped into directly. One way or another, the Militia would eventually adopt the heraldries of the Silver Armada above them, which would lead to them earning the nickname of the Great Silver Host during the Inter-Legionary Wars.

## Doctrine

The Coruscoan Militia is, at its core, a purely defensive force. Though most worlds keep formations of elite infantry - and at times even mechanized infantry or armor - for offensive operations, this is often a role left to the second-line Corsucoan Velites and Equites respectively, who are specifically trained for aggressive operations. By contrast, the Militia has one job and one job only, it is to hold ground. Though they are trained to do so with little more than hastily prepared trenches if necessary, they are expected to at the very least be able to call upon prefab bunkers and mobile aegis defense lines.

As a result of the trauma wracked on the worlds of the Cluster even before the Imperial Subjugation, each and every one of them had began local fortification efforts. Some were modest, while others were utterly sprawling and reminiscent of the old Terran Great Wall of China in scale and ambition. Further bolstering these local fortification efforts was the Warden Citadel Network project overseen directly by the Primarch to create central planetary bulwarks capable of protecting major population centers and industry. Truly uncountable amounts of ferrocrete was poured, reinforced by plasteel rebar, and linked by underground tunnels, and while ferrocrete and gun were plentiful, each and every world needed men to man the bunkers.

For this purpose the Militia was born. They are trained to man their positions and keep alert and on the gun no matter what kind of hell might be unleashed upon them, be that chemical weapons, the endless droning pounding of artillery fire or air attack, or the frenzied charge of superhumans. On worlds with a permanent presence from the Wyrms, it is not uncommon for the Legionnaires of the Second to occasionally play OpFor with specially designed training weapons and to give the militia an idea of the ferocity they can expect in a way no other form of training can hope to compare. Because of this training, the Coruscoan Militia can be relied to hold positions in the face of overwhelming odds without breaking or routing where others would have. At times, they can even hold the tide of said overwhelming odds.

There is one caveat to the notion that the Coruscoan Militia is only a defensive force however. They can and have been used as a garrison force on occupied or recently liberated worlds that do not yet have local forces to defend them. In this role, they near exclusively deploy alongside large shipments of prefab bunkers and strong-points. They are trained to assemble and bring online prefab fortification very rapidly and a world that was scouted as totally undefended by an attacking force can suddenly reveal itself to feature heavy fortifications along its major settlements after the unexpected arrival of a contingent of Coruscoan Militia.

## Wargear

* **Brimstone-pattern Flak Armor** - Though Flak Armor within the Corusco Cluster is as diverse as elsewhere in the Imperium, the Brimstone-pattern, created on the planet of the same name, was adopted by many other worlds of the Cluster as a standard to emulate due to its extremely simple construction, good effectiveness, and very light weight. The Brimstone pattern centers on a simple breastplate of foamed plasteel, mechanically formed from mass cast molds. It resembles a 18th century cuirass in appearance and is complemented by a helmet of the same material and a great coat of flakweave fibers which protect the limbs from shrapnel and adverse weather alike.
* **Respirator** - Simple industrial-grade respirators fitted with commercial filters ubiquitously available throughout the Cluster are good enough to protect a Militiaman from most common toxic gases for up to 90 minutes.
* **Brimstone-pattern Autogun** - Likewise, the basic weapon most Militiamen are trained with also comes from Brimstone. It is a rugged and reliable design made from simple plasteel, but its use of caseless ammunition allows the wielder to carry large amounts of ammunition that is lighter and more compact than standard autogun ammunition. It is not uncommon for it to be replaced by a **Mars-Tellurian Mk.II Lascarbine** or a **Sumerian Mk.IX Lasfusil** where resources allow.
* **Combat Blades** - There is very little standardization in the melee weapons carried by the Coruscoan Militia as it is seen as far less important than preventing the enemy from reaching melee range in the first place. They are nonetheless equipped with a variety of bayonet-knives, machetes and sabers for self-defense.
* **2x Frag Grenades** - Standard fragmentation grenades common across the Imperium
* **2x Baffler Grenades** - Baffler grenades emit a mix of light and sounds that disorient enemies and create a short-lived cloud of smoke that is opaque to Auspex sensors. They are versatile and used in many situation, but generally to break up charges.

## Rules

***Coruscoan Militia Squad***

 Frag and Baffler Grenades

 - The Decurion may exchange their Auxilia Rifle or Combat Blade for any of the following:
¤ Boltgun for 2p
¤ Augmented Weapon for 2p
 - The entire squad may exchange their Auxilia Rifles for any of the following:
¤ Auxilia Lascarbines for 10p
¤ Laslocks for 20p
 - One Coruscoan Militia may exchange their Auxilia Rifle with one of the following:
¤ Grenade Launcher (with frag and krak) for 5p
¤ Flamer for 5p
¤ Meltagun for 10p

*Bunker Fighting*

The members of the Coruscoan Militia are trained specifically for defensive fighting while manning the Cluster’s extensive and vast network of fortifications. They can be exceptionally resilient if holding a prepared and fortified position, but suffer greatly in open fields.

*A Model with this Special Rule gains +1 to its Leadership and Cover values if it is currently taking cover inside a Fortification or Ruins. If it is out in the open, it suffers -1 Leadership instead.*