White Scars

Corrupted White Scars Armorial with Legion Iconography.

> Warriors of Chogoris! Brothers of the Great Tribe! The star hunt calls you, do you not hear it? The battle’s red edge is your home, the respect of your kinsmen your hearth. Plunge into the enemy's breast like a blade, cut out his heart, and you will know fulfillment. Lord Tzeentch has given us strength. In return, we give him victory!
>
> Jaghatai Khan, Daemon Primarch of the White Scars

The **White Scars** are a formerly Loyalist First Founding Space Marine Legion of Heretic Astartes who are wholly dedicated to the service of the Chaos God Tzeentch, the Great Mutator, though they were originally the proud Vth Legion of the Legiones Astartes. The proud and noble White Scars were once considered the masters of the lightning strike and hit-and-run attack. Though a trusted friend to Warmaster Horus, it was Jaghatai Khan's fate to fall to the clutches of the Great Mutator.

Through both his Chief Stormseer, Targutai Yesugei, and Lorgar, primarch of the Word Bearers, The God of Change corrupted the White Scars' Primarch and imbued him with sorcerous powers that were on the same level as Magnus The Red, the primarch of the Loyalist Thousand Sons Space Marine Legion. Their betrayal was as swift as their attacks and equally devastating; bringing a tear to the eye of the sternest warrior. Though Jaghatai himself has long-since lapsed into meditation and contemplation on the mysteries of the warp, Tzeentch, and the universe, his Sorcerer-Khans still terrorize the Imperium with lightning warp strikes; each a mockery of the Emperor they used to serve.

## Legion Organization

Though the White Scars remain loyal to the Great Khan, it has been long millennia since he left Nuutsyn Ordon's Sorcerer's Tower to lead the legion. Instead, the Legion is organized into chapter-sized spell-hordes led by powerful Sorcerer-Khans or Stormseers. Of all the brotherhoods of the White Scars, the triumvirate spell-hordes of the Rampagers, Destroyers and Marauders constantly vie to be the most feared.

Each brotherhood is structured around the disposition and resources of their khan, making each one individual and unique. A few commonalities have survived the fall of the legion, such as the absence of Havoc squads and a newer one: the use of Sorcerer Dreadnoughts. Whilst the first is simply antagonistic to the flowing style of warfare taught by Jaghatai, the latter strikes a fear into the hearts of those that fear them. Entombment within the sarcophagus of these beasts allows the Sorcerer-Khans of the White Scars to be nearly unstoppable as they use their warp-derived powers to decimate their foes.

The preference for mobile warfare within the legion still echoes from the tribesmen of Chogoris, with the use of bike squads being heavily favoured. These brothers will often group in nines, the sacred number of Tzeentch, and those who embrace it are smiled upon by their Dark Lord. The White Scars are the only Traitor Legion able to field Land Speeders, though their numbers are limited by the legion's inability to produce the vehicle, instead depending on pillaging them from the battlefield.

Though there is no true ranking of the splinter-factions bar that Jaghatai is lord of all, there are positions of great power within the legion. An Astartes known only as the Voice of the Great Khan speaks in the name of Jaghatai, and effectively rules all. It is a foolish khan who refuses to follow the orders of the Voice for the wrath he can bring is almost equal to that of the primarch. The Stormseers are also a dominant force within the legion, their expertise in Tzeenchian sorcery granting them power beyond the dreams of others.

The Lord of the Hunt is a much feared brother of the White Scars. Owing alliegence to Chaos Undivided, he roams the galaxy in search of his prey, disappearing into and reappearing from the warp to take out their targets. The Imperial records on the Lord of the Hunt are confusing at best, whether it is a single man who has survived since the Heresy or if as one dies, another takes up the title, is mere postulation by scholars. The legend states that a Sorcerer-Khan walked the fields at the Siege of Terra, challenging loyalists and Chaos champions alike to single combat. The number which fell to his blade is unknown, but since that day, the coming of the Lord of the Hunt is a harbinger of death for his prey.

## Combat Doctrine

### Pre-Shattering

A bolt of lightning in clear skies, a sudden gale from an unexpected quarter - the White Scars are war's sudden and merciless onslaught. Swift action and a joy for the rush of combat and clash of blades are the hallmarks of their battles, tempered by a quiet and hidden wisdom that few took the time to uncover. The White Scars thrive in the chaotic heart of battle, anticipating its vicissitudes and flowing with them, always to be found where the foe is weakest, where they were least expected, and leaving only cold corpses in their wake. White Scar Legionaries are often organised into a fighting unit known as a Chogorian Brotherhood. Composed of a body of Legionaries mounted entirely on both warbikes and jetbikes, or in other transport vehicles, these formations were ideal for harrying campaigns or lightning strike warfare. When faced with a dug-in foe, some elements of the Brotherhood would dismount to fight on foot, moving to encircle the foe and support their brethren.

### Post-Shattering

Since their fall to the Changer of Ways, the White Scars have only furthered their mastery of mobile warfare. Appearing from all sides through sorcerous warp portals, the only warning is the thunder of engines as bikes appear on the horizon. Strikes come hard and fast, only for an eerie silence to settle as the White Scars retreat though victory could easily have been achieved. Such tactics are deemed foolish by many strategists, as they allow an unprepared foe time to dig in, but such is the brutality of the first blow that the enemy is demoralized and terror begins to spread its insidious roots. The White Scars watch in glee as the enemy force tears itself apart from within, unable to cope with the fear of a second attack that might come at any moment.

Wherever the sons of Jaghatai tread, destruction follows. Their ability to isolate the weak link in any defensive force wreaks havoc across the line. A once secure flank finds itself surrounded by the enemy, whilst a foe thinking itself under attack awakes to see no enemy but can hear the screams of men in defensive lines behind them. There have been occasions when the nobility of humanity has prevailed, and instead of falling apart, a strengthened, united community stands against the White Scars. Such insults are treated harshly, and the brave fools sometimes find themselves suffering a fate worse than death – forced induction into the legion against which they fought so bravely.

## Recruitment and Homeworld

Chogoris had been a jewel within the cosmos. Vibrant blue oceans, imposing mountains and endless grass-covered plains revealed a spartan yet undeniable beauty to any who gazed upon it. Chogoris had been the home of the White Scars for well over a century when destruction came to it. Following that defeat, through a sorcerous ritual conducted by the Legion's Stormseers, the primarch settled himself, his legion, in daemon-form and the Legion's Fortress Monastary, Quan Zhou, now known as Nuutsyn Ordon, onto the daemon world of Erlick. It is here where the primarch has lived for ten millennia, only leaving it on occasion for a hunt into the Imperium, though as the centuries progressed this became more and more of a rarity as he uses his psychic powers to reshape the daemon world itself while he meditates on the mysteries of the warp.

### Recruitment

The White Scars have ever been a small force when compared to their fellow Legions. Never numbering more than eighty thousand at their peak during the Great Crusade’s end, the V decreased to approximately seventy thousand following their purge on Chondax. After their exodus to the Eye, following the rebellion’s defeat and its ensuing death throes, the White Scars number barely a third of their former pre-Heresy strength. But the White Scars have endured, and have become the stronger for it, for their current numbers surpass the amount that had first sworn oaths of loyalty to the Arch-Traitor.

The legionnaires that oversee the arduous process of turning a human child into a transhuman monster of physical and psychic might are the Fleshweavers, alongside the Stormseers. Similar to Space Wolves's Wolf Priests, these surgeons and spiritual contaminators choose new Aspirants from the vast psyker slave population the Legion maintains, choosing only the strongest and those that can accept the primarch’s blood and the sorcerous touch of Tzeentch.

As was done when the Legion fought for the Imperium, the difficult training and traditions, including the ritual scarification that gives them their name, continue to this day, ensuring that despite the White Scars numbers unable to rise meteorically only the deadliest don the armour of legionnaire. As almost all of the Legion’s new blood are enslaved children taken in hunts or born on the Legion's warships, it is uncommon for an Aspirant to come from the few worlds the White Scars control, as warp taint and sorcery mutates the genetic structure of mortals, making compatibility with Jaghatai’s gene-seed rare.

## Gene-Seed

Even while serving the Emperor during the Great Crusade, the purity if the White Scars gene-seed was thrown into doubt. The genetics of the tribesmen of Chogoris proved as resolute and strong as the people themselves, entwining itself with the gene-seed of Jaghatai. Early in the Legion's history a small, but significant percentage were prone to physical mutation, but in the wake of the Legion falling thrall to Tzeentch, that percentage escalated wildly as most of the White Scars developed psychic powers. Mutations are numerous in a number of the brotherhoods, whilst others have managed to maintain some genetic integrity. The Marauders are renowned for the daemonic Tzeenchian chaos spawn forms many of their marines have taken; their horror almost rivaling that of the myriad creatures of the warp. The magic that is used to create new recruits for the legion only further stifle the purity of Jaghatai's legacy, the poison of Chaos flowing early into what was once a holy ritual. Even as a marine is born into the foul life of the White Scars, he wears the grotesque mutations of his gene-seed proudly as tokens of his mercurial patron's favour.

## Legion Fleet

The White Scars are known to have possessed the following vessels within their Legion fleet during the Great Crusade and Shattering:

* ***Spellstorm* (*Gloriana*-class Battleship) -** Formerly known as the Swordstorm. Flagship of the White Scars Legion during the Great Crusade and during and after the Shattering.
* ***Lance of Heaven* (*Dictatus*-class Battleship)**
* ***Bloodline* (Unknown Class)**
* ***Celestial* (Unknown Class)**
* ***Fate's Arrow* (Unknown Class)**
* ***Khamanog* (Unknown Class)**
* ***Namaan* (Unknown Class)**
* ***Qo-ama* (Unknown Class)**
* ***Qo-Fian* (Unknown Class)**
* ***Tchin-Zar* (Unknown Class)**
* ***Umaal* (Unknown Class)**
* ***Umbra Mortis* (Battle Barge) -** Flagship of the Dark Hunters Warband.
* ***Constantius* (Battle Barge)**
* ***Silent Horseman* (Battle Barge)**
* ***Jaghatai's Pride* (Battle Barge)**
* ***Soulspear* (Battle Barge)**
* ***Hawkstar* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Lord of Heavens* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Swift Horseman* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Uzan* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Warrior of the Plains* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Xo-Jia* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Ogadai* (Gothic-Class Cruiser) -** Captured by the Dark Hunters from an Imperial Navy Fleet.
* ***Temujin* (Frigate)**
* ***Amujin* (Frigate)**
* ***Kaljian* (Frigate)**
* ***Melak Karta* (Frigate)**
* ***Nomad* (Frigate)**
* ***Sickle Moon* (Frigate)**
* ***Xia Xia* (Gun-corvette)**

## Relations

### Allies:

* **Blood Ravens**:
* **Brass Bears:**

### Enemies:

* **Minotaurs**: Due to the Minotaurs worship of Khorne, their barbarism, and the fact that they snap when they first feel the presence of a psyker, the Minotaurs are one of the White Scars's most hated enemies, as entire horde-warbands of White Scars have fallen victim to their unsatable bloodthirsty rage.
* **Black Templars:**

## Legion Appearance

### Legion Colors

#### Pre-Shattering

Before their corruption, the Legionaries of the Vth Legion colored their armor in pearl white with red lacquer and gold on the trim of their battle-plate. Often times they utilized iconography based on the imagery used by the tribes of Chogoris, which usually took the form of jagged lightning bolt designs painted onto their helms and armor, echoing ritual scarification applied to their flesh beneath.

#### Post-Shattering

During the Shattering, the White Scars began to repaint parts of their armor in the colors that honor Tzeentch - Azure Blue and Gold, though the White Scars still leave parts of their armor in the original pearl white and red colors of the old Legion. The White Scars have also started to carve Chaos Runes into their armor to help channel their sorcerous powers when they are in battle. They also wear trinkets and wield Tzeenchian Daemon Weapons designed to channel their powers even further, with these being a tribute to the cursed gauntlets in which Jagathai first became touched by the power of Tzeentch.

### Legion Badge

The White Scars Legion's badge was the Talskar's lightning emblem, which echoes that of the Emperor's own lightning symbol of Unity. This symbol came to exemplify the Vth Legion's style of combat and echoes the facial honor scars all members of the Legion bear. Now, it has become synonymous with the White Scars' reputation as sorcerers whom enjoy launching lightning raids on unwary worlds from the warp. The White Scars are also known to decorate their armor with the blasphemous symbols of Tzeentch, as well as the Octed (Star of Chaos), an oft-incorporated Chaos icon used by all Traitor Legions.