42nd Royal Davilarian Regiment

**This article, 42nd Royal Davilarian Regiment, was written by Kelly The Mad Irishman. It may be linked to any page without asking for the author's permission.**

## ***42nd Davilarian Royal Regiment***

Badge of the 8th Company of the 42nd Royals, Fire Bellows

42nd Royal Davilarian Trooper.

## Regimental Data

### **Nickname(s)**

Formerly the 42nd Davilarian Infantry Regiment “Traitors Bane”, also known as "42nd Royals"

### **Motto**

“Death to the Heretics! Death to the Xenos! Let the skies fall!

## Commanders

### **Acting**

Lem Wood, Lord Colonel Commissioned of The Royal 42nd

### **Notable Commanders**

Lucas Furgusson, Saint/Lady Aileen Gordon, Willie Hand The Heretic

"*A bunch of no good dirty rich boys suckling off the glory of a truly heroic regiment.*"
— Commissar Halloway of the 42nd Royals, 028.M31
The **42nd Davilarian Royal Regiment** is the successor to the 42nd Infantry Regiment “Traitors Bane”. The 42nd infantry regiment was a venerated and very successful regiment of guardsmen numbering 50,000 men that served between 864.M30 and 006.M31. They had a cold relationship with their homeworld, and upon return from a devastating battle against traitor guard early in the Horus Heresy, they were tried as heretics, and were declared loyal. The sour merchants who owned the planet provided false documentation to the courts, and in a retrial they were declared to be servants of Chaos and executed.

The 42nd Royals were raised in 021.M31 by the merchants of the planet, numbering far fewer and being armed with 2,000 heavy artillery pieces. Their first deployment ended in disaster, all of the units having fled the battle. All members were relieved of duty. Their second deployment was taken over by the Commissariat, and they saw limited success but overall failed to properly execute their missions.

Upon their return from this deployment they sat as garrison to their planet for decades until 134.M31, when they were ambushed by rebels on Davilary Secundus. They were humiliated, killed, and gutted.

## History

### The 42nd Infantry "Traitors Bane"

#### Founding and Early Success

The 42nd Davilarian Royal Regiment was founded as the 42nd Davilarian Infantry Regiment in 864.M30 following the rediscovery of Davilary Prime by the Luna Wolves. They were one of 50 regiments formed upon rediscovery, each numbering 2,000 infantrymen, and together forming the Davilarian Division. Hailing from a small planet that was inhabited by bands of roaming nomads, they belong to many different clans that pledged their sons to these godlike figures that descended and brought civilization back to the world. Each regiment was built around a different clan, at the insistence of the people, and within two years of training under the supervision of guard veterans, they were all collected by the imperial transport ship *Dignity* and brought to the front lines of the Great Crusade.

After 14 years of constant war during which 18 regiments were lost, the Davilarian Division had become an honored and venerated unit of guard who oftentimes fought alongside space marine legions against the enemies of mankind. Now numbering just 60,000 men, they were deployed to the War on Murder. Here, they met their first ever defeat. The hellish native xenos quickly cut down their numbers to just 12,000 men, and they were pulled out of the campaign for rest and recovery. Upon returning to their homeworld they met a vastly different planet than they had left. In just a few decades it had converted from a tiny nomadic society to a much larger and more centralized trade hub led by immigrants who saw it as an advantageous position for a space port.

Under the command of the leader of the 42nd Infantry the other shattered regiments were absorbed into their own, forgetting the old clan rivalries and standing as a bastion of traditionalism against the new rulers of their home planet. After two years of rehabilitation, in the year of 882.M30, they were once more deployed in the Great Crusade and served in many battles. They sired their own sons from women of conquered planets, discarding their daughters, and brought them up as soldiers. For the next 120 years these children were brought to the front line and indoctrinated into their fathers life long commitment, and their fathers before them. Eventually they became dissociated from their mercantile homeworld and even stopped returning, instead recuperating from losses at nearby imperial planets. Their numbers hovered at around 50,000 men until the Horus Heresy occurred in 006.M31.

#### Heresy and the Battle of the *Dignity*

When Horus turned against the Emperor, the *Dignity* was caught in the midst of a fleet of eight other regiments of guard who were overcome by heretic mutinies and, lacking any naval weapons capable of destroying the *Dignity*, launched boarding parties to try and take control of the ship and kill the loyalist 42nd aboard. Facing a force that outnumbered them ten fold, the 42nd took vehicles out of stowage bays and stripped them of their heavy weaponry. They used these vehicle bodies to form barricades that they manned, replacing the heavy weaponry at choke points to best cut down the traitors. They put out an SOS message calling for anyone loyal to the emperor to come to their aid, but unfortunately for them, none came.

For 6 months they fought back brutal attacks outnumbering them 2:1 every week, chaos mutinies from within their own ranks, and supply shortages. Throughout all this, their commander Lucas Furguson stood as a solid anchor into which they poured all of their aspirations and belief into. He served as a heroic figure among them, running down the lines manning fallen machine gun positions, administering aid, and even engaging in hand to hand combat. He was nearly killed in the 22nd assault when he was overwhelmed by a grenadier company, as the men of his first company dropped off one after another beside him, and he himself suffered severe injuries to his left arm from shrapnell. He only survived when the remains of the 42nd, now numbering hardly 3,000 men, spotted him amidst a horde of traitors, fighting with a chainsword in his one good arm, drenched in blood, fighting for his life. They rallied in an inspired counterattack, riding on the remaining functional vehicles through the traitors, striking out with makeshift clubs and unloading full auto las fire into them. They recovered Colonel Furgusson and drove the attack off the ship, killing thousands who surrendered in the face of the vengeful loyalist 42nd.

Two more boarding attempts followed, and after the last was repelled by an insignificant margin, the now ruined chaos force of traitorous guardsmen fled and have yet to be recorded since, presumably having been either lost to deep space or incorporated into smaller traitor warbands. The remaining 1,500 guardsmen of the 42nd sat among hundreds of thousands of dead, their own and those of the Great Enemy. The trauma of these months would be carried for the remainder of the soldier's short lives.

In 006.M31, after 9 months lost in space, the starving guardsmen were finally rescued by a passing Imperial warfleet on its way to relieve a besieged world. Seeing the sorry state of the regiment, a record of the battle of the *Dignity* was taken and the ship was repaired, restocked, and ordered back to Davilary Prime. The battle would be heralded as a superhuman feat achieved by the emperor's finest, and within the fleet the 42nd Davilarian Infantry Regiment would be forever remembered.

#### The Heretical Trials

Upon return to Davilary Prime, the battered and broken regiment found no warmth in the home planet they had long ago abandoned. The incredibly wealthy merchants believed that the bloodlines of old overshadowed their own accomplishments, and took their abandonment of the planet as the greatest insult. Immediately the 42nd was subject to a trial of heresy and torture, and the verdict reached was one of loyalty. If their story was widely publicised, they would be fully eclipsed by these relics of the nomadic people. And so, the merchants provided false evidence, bribes, and fabricated testimonies from the fleet that rescued them. A retrial was called, and the verdict quickly reached was indeed heretical.

All of the men were subject to immediate public execution. The executions lasted over two days, and were not without difficulties. Old lineages came out of the few unexploited natural lands remaining and testified for their brethren, calling for a mistrial, claiming that the merchants were corrupt and the trial was rigged. These people were brutally suppressed. Colonel Furgusson escaped his restraints, releasing fifty of his men and killing twelve guards before they were subdued with irritative gas. Before he died to the hangman's noose, he spoke his last words, which have since been used as a rallying cry for the nomad rebels who would later rise on the planet: “For the mighty fall, the weak will rule, but at what cost the galaxy may wonder. Now, the str-” his words were cut off, and interpretations vary

### The 42nd Royal Regiment

#### Founding

In 008.M31 the very lightly populated mercantile Davilary Prime offered up as a tithe to the empire the newly formed and trained 42nd Royal Regiment, consisting of 3,000 infantry and 10,000 men crewing 2,000 heavy self propelled artillery guns, as well as an abundance of war materials they bought for bargain prices from the numerous connections they have that pass through their space port. This regiment, named after the original 42nd Infantry Regiment for purposes of using their fame for propaganda, was incredibly different from its predecessor. Instead of being recruited from the rough people of the land, the infantry companies are made up of the sons of rich merchants who paid for their children to have a position in a venerable unit, the artillery crews are made up mostly of stronger hands who work in the small industrial sector of the planet, though only the comparatively wealthy could afford to put their sons or themselves through training. Finally, the captains and commanders come from the wealthiest and politicians of the planet, though the two are often interchangeable.

Throughout the Horus Heresy, the 42nd Royals saw very little combat. They garrisoned their homeworld, except on one occasion where they were deployed to Davilary Secundus to deal with a suspected cult following in a small agricultural town. Without investigating the town beforehand, the officers ordered immediate and total bombardment. For three days and nights, all 2,000 cannons rained down shells on the 8,000 poor inhabitants of the town. Following the bombardment, the infantry companies marched into the wasteland, robbing what was salvageable, killing men and children, and raping women. Over the course of the five day ordeal it is suspected that at least 5,000 were killed and many acres of land were rendered useless. No solid evidence was ever found that any cultists were present in the town. No reprimands were issued, no demotions took place, and the regiment returned to their stations.

They had a tendency to rob and steal from the local population of industrial workers, sometimes kidnapping wives and daughters, other times committing murder in broad daylight over insults exchanged in bars. Still, no punishments were pressed. This led to them becoming largely unpopular, to a point where they were hated by many of the lower populations. Eventually they became a symbol of the greed and lack of respect practiced by the upper class merchants.

#### The First Tour Of Duty

In the year 021.M31, after 13 years of free reign over civilian populations on their homeworld, the imperium finally called upon the 42nd Royals for service elsewhere in the Great Scouring. The regiment loaded into a repaired and retro-fitted *Dignity* and set off for the civilised planet of Euphus. This planet hosted a chaos cult numbering in the millions, and they were to be deployed alongside several other imperial guard regiments and a chapter of iron hands space marines. When they arrived planetside, they were shocked by the horrible conditions that they saw. In the following six months of combat their forward thrusts were tentative and they were quick to fall back and consider each move a tactical success.

Upon reaching the infested capital city of the planet, they were called up to provide precision support to a regiment of infantry that was thrusting forward alongside the chapter of iron hands space marines in an attempt to break the urban stalemate the cultists had enforced.

Despite years of training, the artillery crews and the officers of the 42nd faltered and panicked. After breaking through the first strongpoint, they assumed that the infantry would fall back, its mission accomplished, so they maintained fire on the position. The infantry, however, looking to exploit the gap, pushed forward and into the stagnant artillery fire. Heavy casualties were sustained. After radio communication had informed the artillery of its new role as aggressive support, they were ordered further into the cities outskirts to keep up with the assault.

In a miscommunication, the artillery redirected its fire from a fortified cultist held position onto a warehouse that the iron hands were engaged inside of. Shells tore through cultist and astartes with no remorse, and it took nearly six minutes for them to correct their error and focus in on the cultists again, where by this point the infantry had already broken and taken the place of, unbeknownst to the 42nd, leading to further friendly fire.

Now, the artillery was ordered to fall back and hold at the forward operating base. They were to later be court marshaled. However, when they packed up to retreat, a cultist group came across them. The estimated 1,400 cultists quickly broke the morale of the 3,000 infantry, equipped with the best an infantryman could get his hands on. Supposedly, after giving a single battle cry the 42nd’s "elite" infantry turned tail and fled, being cut down from behind. Most of the artillery was caught before it could start moving, and those that did make it out left behind many crew members. The men threw themselves at the mercy of the cultists who promptly killed them and looted their bodies, claiming their artillery and later using them against the imperial advance, to great effect.

The fleeing 42nd that made it out of the capital and back to the FOB quickly called for extraction by the *Dignity*, and such they were lifted out of the combat zone and fled the war in a very undignified way. Upon return to their planet most officers and infantrymen were honorably discharged, at a high price to their family members. This first great loss, and certainly not the last, would haunt the regiment throughout its history.

#### Second Tour of Duty and Transfer of Command

In 028.M31, the 42nd Royals were reformed with new soldiers in the same configuration and from the same sources, at the imperiums request. On the surface they appeared stronger and better outfitted for combat, having learned better drill and some basic formations- however they were still soft. None had ever seen combat, and most hadn't worked a day in their lives. Training was lax and they still lived in luxury outside of work hours.

Their Commissar was locally raised and with enough bribing, he had become complacent. He allowed violations everywhere, hardly paying attention to the doings of the regiment. Upon the *Dignity* joining up with their assigned battlefleet, they were boarded by an administrative team to survey their combat readiness. Along with them came two commissars and eight seasoned veteran guardsmen. The 42nd’s commissar was shot, and its commanding officers were beaten bloody and demoted to troopers.

The commissars and veterans announced that, on orders of the Commissariat, they would be taking full control of the regiment and beating them into proper shape. What followed was a full year of brutal training on low rations and cramped conditions within the ship as they tagged along with the fleet going from battlefield to battlefield. After this was complete they were returned to normal rations and prepared to be dropped onto their first battle as a reformed regiment.

The Hive World of Chevishe was suffering from a chaos cult within its depths, and the seemingly infected area of the underhive had been cordoned off for extermination. The 42nd’s Infantry was to infiltrate this cordone and direct artillery to help them purge a small sector of cultists to be established as a forward operating base. The infantry met little resistance at first, successfully winning two small engagements thanks to the leadership of the outsourced officers, but ground to a halt near the end when they came across a fortified industrial building housing thousands of cultists. The men hunkered down and called in artillery, however the crews did not take into account the ceiling of the hive, and shells struck high above the cultists heads. The structure wasn't built to withstand shelling, and soon an entire block of the hive came crashing down from above them.

The falling material killed or trapped all of the cultists, but it also struck a portion of the infantry and artillery crews, causing over 800 casualties to the imperials. Another regiment of guard came in and reinforced the new border, relieving the 42nd of their positions and allowing them to fall back and recuperate. The falling debris and many casualties severely hurt the high morale of the fresh troops, and they would see very sparse combat for the rest of the campaign.

They travelled with the fleet to their next target, a numerically designated agri world. A faction war had broken out, and at the request of a nearby hive world whose food stores were hurt by the lowered production, the 42nd was to be deployed to pacify the democratic faction attempting to topple the imperial approved autocracy in place.

They were assigned to guard the outskirts of the planetary capital city, and for two months they planned out their defense and marked out stakes to aid in target acquisition and ranging. They were by all means prepared, and hunkered down in preparation of the enemy onslaught. The defending battle line had been broken and now a rush of troopers from the democratic faction were about to be on the city's doorstep.

The first day they provided artillery cover for the native soldiers to fall back into defensive positions, successfully holding back the attackers for a moment. For the second and third days they hammered the enemy's camps, dealing significant logistical damage. On the fourth day, the skies screamed.

Enemy veterans descended upon the artillery positions in grav-chutes, dropping grenades on their heads as they went. Landing amid the cramped artillery pieces, they cut up crew members before the infantry could properly locate them, and once they were found, extreme close quarters combat ensued in the heat around the big guns, using their chassis as cover. Though they fought hard, after three hours of fighting the executive decision was made to surrender.

The enemy faction accepted eagerly, allowing the imperial guard regiment to retreat to orbit with their weapons, wounded, and dead. The battle was a disgrace. They watched as the imperial sponsored faction crashed and burned, and the new democratic government hammered out its loyalty to the emperor. The regiment was permitted to return to their home world for recovery, bringing an end to an eventful yet disappointing second deployment. One thing was sure though: they were now a true fighting force that could hold its own in combat. They would remain as a garrison for their home planet until the Revolution on Secundus.

#### Revolution on Secundus

The planet of Davilary Secundus was a mostly uninhabited sprawling grassland before the coming of immigrants to Davilary Prime. When these merchants began to infest their homeworld, the nomadic peoples of Prime were forced to participate in a mass exodus to Secundus. Here their society devolved into a feudal world, and they were heavily exploited by the merchants, culminating in the massacre of 5,000 civilians by the 42nd Royals during the horus heresy.

After this event, the leaders of the planet began plotting to overthrow their captors. For decades they planned and acquired weapons and materials, salvaging the uniforms and standards of the extinct 42nd Infantry, emulating their regimental colors in their home made uniforms. This continued in the shadows until 134.M31 when the Revolution began. 300,000 volunteers were armed and, using prior training in guerilla warfare, brutally slaughtered the 62nd Davilarian Royal Regiment that was stationed there for recovery from combat against orks.

Taken completely by surprise, the guardsmen tried to fight off the night raids but were overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. After taking out the only ground resistance, the rebels marched into the capital, declaring a new governing body, The Council of The People, or the CTP. They were to celebrate their heritage and fight off greedy foreigners who hoped to exploit them.

Underestimating their foe, the merchants on Davilary Prime sent just two regiments to squash this uprising, the 42nd Royals and the 27th Davilarian Royal Regimen, numbering a total of 63,000 infantry and 2,500 artillery guns, as well as 24 leman russ tanks. They landed in a muster field outside of the capital and immediately suffered from outbreaks of dysentery and cholera- the rebels had poisoned the water supply, as well as stripping the surrounding area of food.

The soldiers were alerted by civilians of a rebel force in a neighboring city, suggesting a small town as a potential rest stop. Taking these civilians' words as the truth, the two regiments dutifully marched down isolated dirt roads in the midst of forests, planning to catch the rebels unaware and squash them.

Instead, as they marched through the dense woods over narrow roads, they were ambushed several dozen times. Coming out of the trees, the native rebels released improvised explosives at artillery pieces, throwing molotov cocktails and las fire into infantry formations. Caught in the cramped roads, any organized defense was muddled by others who fled in either direction, breaking up units and sending them fleeing. In the confusion friendly fire on the part of the imperials was widespread, and ammunition loads burnt up leaving blackened shells of vehicles surrounded by torched bodies. It was a massacre on a larger level than what was ever displayed on the planet, and the rebels relished in it.

They dressed themselves in the blood soaked decorations of the dead, carving their names into their helmets, vandalizing and holding high their regimental and company standards. Captured Leman Russ’ were painted red with blood, and holy words and symbols were inscribed with metal working tools. The few prisoners who were not executed were instead stripped naked, chained in long lines, and forced to bear hecklings and beatings and humiliation at the hands of the victorious rebels who dragged them along.

After this, the merchants of the Prime planet sent more troops, but it was too late, and the war was already over. The CTP was accepted into the imperium, and soon grew to a prominent agri world, rarely if ever raising imperial guard regiments. Davilary Secundus was finally independent.

All members of the 42nd Royals were killed in the fighting. After suffering their third total obliteration, the name of the 42nd was finally laid to rest. No more legacy regiments were raised.

## Homeworld

The homeworld of all three incarnations of the 42nd is Davilary Prime, the double planet that orbits around the slightly larger Davilary Secundus. Originally it was a Feral World occupied by several million nomadic hunter-gatherers. It was rediscovered during the Great Crusade, and it developed incredibly quickly, converting within just a dozen years to a trading hub manned by rich immigrant merchants who purchased land off of the natives and built a spaceport in orbit. By the 31st millennium the natives had been pushed to a few reservations, and many had migrated to the larger and undeveloped Davilary Secundus.

By this point it had been converted from a feral world to a pleasure world where the wealthy would come to bathe in luxuries, away from the lower classes. Their greed was unrivalled, and soon their influence in the sector began to dwindle. Their wealth was found lacking, and thus they were required to offer up more and more manpower to the imperial guard. By the time the 42nd were laid to rest, the planet had offered up nearly 70 regiments, for a total of over 2,000,000 soldiers.

## Notable Campaigns

* **Great Crusade**: The original 42nd Infantry served extensively throughout the latter half of the great crusade, winning dozens of major battles over 140 years of constant war. They recovered several lost planets, participated in the extermination of the xenos on the planet of Murder during the War on Murder, though at an extreme cost. They fought green skins, smaller populations of Xenos, and more than anything else they fought human planets who refused to join the Emperor.

* **Battle of the *Dignity***: In 005.M31, faced with a fleet of traitor guardsmen, the 42nd Infantry hunkered down in their own transport and held off assault after assault. Facing a numerically larger foe, they won by an incredibly miniscule margin. Over the course of 9 months lost in space they withstood 24 assaults, lost nearly 50,000 men, and killed over 350,000 traitors. This was the last combat they saw.

* **War for Euphus**: In the year 021.M31, the newly founded 42nd Royals were deployed to their first warzone. They served as artillery support for a regiment of Guard and a Chapter of the Iron Hands Legion who were pushing into a Chaos infested city. Due to miscommunications and poor accuracy, the 42nd killed thousands of their fellow Guardsmen and dozens of the Space Marines before they were ordered to fall back. Before they could, they were ambushed by a band of cultists who broke the better armed and numerically stronger 42nd’s morale immediately. They suffered heavy casualties and fled off-world.

* **Purification of Chevishe**: In 028.M31, the first deployment of the regiment after the Commissariat had taken control, the unit were to secure a small section of a Hive city to serve as a forward operating base for another regiment to clear out the rest of the Hive. They enjoyed success early on, but upon meeting a heavily fortified building they brought forth the entire might of their artillery. The shells tore a hole in the Hive's ceiling, bringing down a residential block down upon their heads. They were pulled out of the combat zone.

* **Revolution on Davilary Secundus**: In 134.M31, the regiment returned from over a century of garrison duty to squash a revolution on Davilary Secundus. Underestimating their numbers, they and another Davilarian regiment were ambushed and totally slain. Their bodies were gutted and skinned, their vehicles seized or burned, and their banners vandalized. After this event the regiment was not reinforced and was laid to rest.

## Regimental Organisation

### Officer Ranks

* **High Lord Militant**- Colonel Equivalent, rarely if ever goes planet-side with the regiment.

* **Lieutenant Lord Militant**- Lieutenant Colonel Equivalent, usually is the highest rank of officer with any experience or expertise.

* **Major of the Army**- Battalion commander, 1,000 infantry or 250 artillery guns.

* **Captain**- Commander of an infantry company, 100 men, highest rank generally seen in combat.

* **Battery Captain**- Captain equivalent, commands 25 artillery guns.

### Non-Commissioned Officer Ranks

* **Junior Captain**- Commands a platoon of 20 men.

* **Fire Director**- Junior captain equivalent, commands 5 artillery guns.

* **Sergeant**- Commands a fire squad of 5 men.

* **Gun Captain**- Artillery crew commander.

### Line Ranks

* **Senior Guardsman**- Second in command to the Sergeant.

* **Crewman**- mans an artillery gun.

* **Trooper**- General rank and file for the infantry.

### Regimental Recruitment

All officers of the 42nd Royals are recruited on an influence-based criteria. If their families can afford to pay directly or donate equipment to the regiment, they will be put through very basic training and then awarded high positions, typically starting at Captain and Battery Captain, with the more truly intelligent and in some cases intelligent are awarded even higher positions. High Lord Militant is generally held by the planetary governors son, and often doesn't deploy with the regiment, either staying in high orbit or having his Lieutenant Lord Militant command the force and never even leaving Davilary Prime.

Non-commissioned officers are often times the product of wealthy but not affluent families, though those from the lower classes may on rare occasion ascend to these ranks. Line men are recruited from the upper class residential sectors, having to have enough money to put themselves through training and buy the uniform and weapons sold by the regiment.

The artillery crews are recruited from the industrial sectors of the planet, still often requiring a substantial fee. It is made up of prospects who have worked their lives away to join such a prestigious unit, sons of hard working families who put together all their savings to give them a good life, and those lucky bastards who stumble upon the occasional fortune off away from the major cities.

## Equipment

### Standardised Equipment

* **Hellgun**

* **Hellpistol**

* **Carapace Armor**

* **3 Frag Grenades**

* **Type 7 Entrenchment tool**

* **Short Sword**

* ***The Imperial Infantrymen's Uplifting Primer***

## Vehicles

* **Basilisk**: Special-made basilisk mobile artillery guns suited to the purposes of infantry support. They are equipped with computers that can triangulate the precise position a gun should fire at based on instructions sent from the front lines, allowing extreme accuracy extremely fast. A special "Canister Fuse Shot" was crafted for this purpose, firing like a normal shell until it arrives at a certain height above the target, at which point it detonates sending hundreds of metal balls flying at lethal speeds into the enemy below.

* **Medusa**: These mobile heavy siege guns were procured from a nearby forge world, and after some slight aesthetic modifications are deployed for indirect fire support and demolition. They were used extensively on the hive world of Chevishe.

## Regimental Appearance

### Regimental Colors

The regimental uniform of the 42nd Royals is the exact opposite of camouflage. Clean white makes up the base, with golden trimming, and the carapace armor is plated in gold. They often serve as a parade army and fare poorly in rural settings. Often times soldiers wear rings, ear rings, necklaces, and gold studded belts. Their Hellguns are also often plated with gold and Hellpistols modified with ivory handles and leather holsters.

### Regimental Badge

The badge of the 42nd Royals is a stylized imperial Aquila of gold with silver accents, the left wing bearing the name of the High Lord Militant and the right wing the name of the planetary governor. The Aquila carries in its talons a traditional flogging whip used by the upper class of Davilary to punish the natives and criminals. The badge is proudly displayed on every infantryman's left shoulder pad, and over the heart of every artilleryman.

## Notable Personnel

* **Saint/Lady Aileen Gordon**: The first and only female colonel of the regiment, Lady Aileen Gordon led bloody charges into mutant cults in the Mariposa campaign. She led the 42nd infantry regiment into battle personally on 8 different worlds during the campaign, supposedly having the most kills of all men in the regiment. She seemed untouchable, through hours of melee never receiving as much as a scratch. After conquering seven planets with her troops, she led her forces in her final charge on a numerically designated hive world filled with mutant cultists. With Bolt pistol in hand she fired until she had no ammunition left, and then drew her esteemed power sword and dove into the cultist horde. She was said to have killed nearly 300 mutants before the horde drew back and a colossal mutant stepped forth. At least twelve feet tall, he dwarfed her 5'6 stature. He brought around a massive axe of polished steel, and swung it at the colonel. She jumped onto the axe, shimmying up it until she could disembowel the giant. He stumbled back, and with his last breath, swung the axe at Gordon. It crashed into her midriff, sending her folding over onto the blood stained ground. Gasping for air, she swung around her sword wildly. She was bleeding excessively, and it was clear she wouldn't make it. Picking up a lasgun from the dust, she laid back and opened fire, killing many more mutants as she spurred her men on. She refused to be carried back to their forward operating base, until she grew to weak to resist and was carried back by her personal guard and one of the regimental commissars. She was dead upon arrival. Immediately declared a martyr, she was finally, a decade later, due to increasing insistance from all men who fought that day, declared a saint of the imperium and a loyal servant of the Emperor of mankind.
* **Willie Hand the Heretic**: Willie Hand was a Lieutenant Colonel of the 42nd Infantry regiment on the *Dignity* when the Horus Heresy broke out and they were surrounded by traitor regiments. In these troubled times Willie Hand slowly went insane. Two months into the fighting he announced his allegiance to the Chaos gods and Warmaster Horus, taking with him nearly a full battalion of 10,000 men. For the next month, the 42nd was under heavy stress, fighting heretics among themselves and from the other regiments boarding parties. Willie became infamous for his marksmanship, once hitting Colonel Furgusson square in the gut, nearly killing him. His sharpshooting was the end of many officers of the 42nd in the following month. His reign of terror was ended when an unidentified loyalist trooper charged into the mass of traitors, slaughtering anyone in his path. He, to everyone's shock, made it within ten feet of Willie. He took eight shots to the chest, gut, arms and legs, as well as a single glancing shot to the face, before plunging his bayonet into the traitors heart. He stood there, a lone pillar of faith amid traitors, slashing and stabbing. The traitors broke, fleeing from him, but before they were gone he caught a grenade in the face and collapsed to the ground. He was blown to bits and his remains were unidentifiable.

## Notable Quotes

### By:

"*Rise to expel the traitors, rise to purify the Dignity, raze those dirty bastards pitiful souls! May the emperor bless you and guide you bayonet into victory! Get Em'!* "
— Colonel Furgusson, 42nd Infantry, at the battle of the Dignity.

"*Run! Run for your lives! Every man for himself! The savages are upon us, may the emperor protect us!*"
— Lieutenant Lord Militant Thourbourne, 42nd Royals, Ambush of the Revolution on Secundus.