vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Death Korps Guardsman - Uniform: All Krieg Guardsmen wears the standard uniform common to the regiments raised on Krieg. Its most distinctive feature is the heavy greatcoat which is manufactured on Krieg from a hard-wearing thick cloth and produced in a variety of colours. The great coat provides limited protection, but is also heavily chemically impregnated against chemical and biological attack -- an unfortunate side effect of this being the pungent smell that the garment emits. The greatcoat is completely waterproof and very warm, a trait which is particularly useful when its wearer is deployed to colder climates.The greatcoat is double-breasted and includes brass buttons, a pair of which allows the coat's front to be turned back to allow for greater mobility in combat. Uniform cut and design is almost identical throughout the entire Death Korps but colours can vary from regiment to regiment and the officer ranks tend to have slightly more ornate uniforms than the rank and file.A Death Korps Guardsman also wears the standard issue Mark IX helmet made of Plasteel, which has an adjustable cradle for fit around the head, flaring to allow a good fit for the gasmask and which is ventilated via the top spine. This ventilation has an internal filter to keep out chemical or biological agents. There are many variants of the the standard Mark IX helmet issued to specialists and officers. The shoulder plates are Plasteel construction and buckle to the greatcoat. When fully equipped, a Krieg Guardsman is completely sealed against a contaminated environment by the layers of his uniform and his respirator unit.
Death Korps Guardsman - Weapons: A Death Korps Guardsman's main weapon is his Lucius Pattern No. 98 Lasgun. This weapon is standard issue to Krieg regiments, and stockpiled in vast numbers in Krieg's armouries. The Lasgun also includes a bayonet lug which can be fitted with the standard issued 45 centimetre-long sword-bayonet.This heavy bladed, razor-sharp knife is a Watchmaster's only close combat weapon. A bayonet charge led by a Watchmaster seems to be more effective at driving the enemy away from a Death Korps regiment's fortified positions than even the use of their artillery and heavy weapons platoons. Watchmasters, like all Krieg Guardsmen, are also equipped with a single, standard issue No. 38 Frag Grenade, but additional grenades will be issued to squads before an attack against static enemy positions.
Death Korps Guardsman - Additional Equipment: All Krieg Guardsmen are issued distinctive respirator units. The entire unit can be carried inside a leather satchel, which buckles onto the webbing's shoulder straps. Krieg Guardsmen are also issued leather webbing which includes carrying straps for their backpack, respirator filter unit and regulator, four ammunition pouches for Lasgun powerpacks, additional pouches for carrying other kit, such as weapons and respirator maintenance kits, replacement filters and biological or chemical weapon antidote vials.They are also issued a leather backpack which buckles to the webbing shoulder straps. It has additional straps to attach a bedroll, which also doubles as a waterproof shelter-half, and a dry-tin canister for storing perishable materials by sealing them against the environment. Finally, as all Krieg Guardsmen are expected to dig their regiment's trenchworks, they are also issued a small entrenching tool. As trench warfare is the Death Korps' preferred method of fighting, they must constantly dig new trenches, or repair and improve their current position in the line.Each Guardsman carries an entrenching tool in a carrying case which is worn on the belt and which also has loops for carrying the bayonet when not attached to the Lasgun. Larger tools such as mattocks and shovels will be issued when needed for heavier entrenchment work.
Death Korps of Krieg - Before the Fall: Much of the early history of what was once the Hive World of Krieg in the Segmentum Tempestus is shrouded in rumour, allegory and dark myth. Its dreadful history of rebellion and treachery has been obscured and lost by the mists of time. This once-thriving Hive World was a trading and manufacturing centre that was populated by billions.Yet Krieg is now covered in a wilderness of ruined cities that span the poison-choked world. Bloated with wealth and corrupt with indolence, the former rulers of this world -- the Council of Autocrats -- was rife with petty vendetta and vice. This ruling oligarchy became increasingly insular and debauched over time.Their paranoia over an outside threat that could shatter their dictatorial rule caused them to sink vast resources into strengthening the defences of their hive cities, building private armies and further surrounding their world with an outward facing ring of steel.Worse, the Autocrats grew to resent the influence of the Imperial Administratum on "their" world and in particular the heavy tithes levied on them by the Departmento Munitorum, taking resources they protested were vital to their own defence. The citizens of Krieg were sadly ignorant of these slowly spiraling events and the terrible ruin the misrule of their leaders was about to bring down upon them.
Death Korps of Krieg - Revolt: In 433.M40, the end came for Krieg in the form of the man who served as the High Autocrat of Krieg's largest hive city, the chairman of the world's Council of Autocrats and the de facto planetary governor (a man so hated that his name has been purged from all Imperial records by an Edict of Obliteration). The High Autocrat declared planetary-wide martial law and that Krieg was now independent of the Imperium of Man. He further renounced the Emperor of Mankind as his divine master and political overlord.Krieg was then immediately devoured by a civil war which erupted suddenly and violently between the heretical Traitors who supported the High Autocrat and those citizens of Krieg who remained firm Imperial Loyalists.After the rebels' initial attacks much of Krieg quickly fell to the Heretics, save for Hive Ferrograd, which remained under Loyalist control under the command of the now-infamous Colonel Jurten of the 83rd Krieg Regiment of the Astra Militarum.In response to the revolt, Colonel Jurten moved quickly to take control of the hive city from its vacillating rulers in a military coup. With the veteran colonel at its helm, Ferrograd rapidly became the rallying point for the remaining Loyalist factions. But the situation for the Loyalists was dire; the rebel forces numbered in the millions and Ferrograd was soon cut-off and besieged.The Loyalists were on their own; the planetary defences were under the Traitors' control, and those defences were strong enough that a full-scale fleet action would be required to breach them. Colonel Jurten had been informed in no uncertain terms by the Segmentum Command that an Imperial fleet on the scale necessary to invade Krieg would not be forthcoming. His orders were to resist with all means at his disposal, to engage the enemy, to punish their treachery and emerge victorious -- whatever the cost.So faced with the horrific odds stacked against him, Colonel Jurten came to the fateful decision that Krieg would either belong to the Emperor or to no one at all. Within a secret Adeptus Mechanicus storage facility located deep below Hive Ferrograd, Colonel Jurten, with his loyal Mechanicus ally, Archmagos Greel, moved to unlock the facility and to unleash the forbidden and ancient weapons within. While outside the siege ground on, within Ferrograd's walls the defenders laboured on a desperate plan.
Death Korps of Krieg - The Purging: On the day of the Feast of the Emperor's Ascension, Jurten unleashed his long-planned counterattack using atomic weapons to enact a great cleansing of the planet's heretical population. The Traitors watched their augers helplessly as Jurten's ballistic missiles arced high into the planet's stratosphere before detonating in blooms of blinding light, and unleashing tonnes of lethal isotopes which blanketed the entire world in a deadly radioactive fallout.For days Krieg was engulfed in a sea of nuclear fire. Krieg's already tainted and marginal ecosystem collapsed, and as a result, untold billions died due to the raging fires blocking out the sun and the nuclear winter that followed. To future generations who would live with the terrible consequences of the atomic attack, Jurten's plan would come to be known as "the Purging."Krieg might have been transformed into a blasted wasteland, but the Purging had evened up the odds. The Loyalists had been well-prepared for the attack, while the Traitors suffered terribly. But the civil war dragged on, regardless. The survivors from Jurten's nuclear purge were forced to exist in underground bunkers or deep in the radioactive chem-wastes of the Hive World, as their descendants do to this day. To the Imperial authorities Krieg was a prize no longer worth saving, its fate a red mark in the ledgers of the Administratum.Krieg became a man-made Death World, trapped in the freezing grip of a radioactive nuclear winter. The bloody war of attrition continued to rage between the surviving Secessionist and Loyalist troops across a planet where every inch of ground was eventually littered with trenches, rusting razorwire and shell craters, in a deadly landscape where drifting, radioactive fallout ash shrouded the numberless bones of the unburied dead.A full accounting of those terrible centuries of civil war will never be known. Colonel Jurten finally perished, how, it is not recorded, but the descendants of those that followed him lived on, and became as fearless as they were callous. War would become all that they would ever know -- raised to fight from the cradle to the grave.The warriors that advanced great-coated and vapour-masked through the rad-wastes and blasted cities of Krieg would become known as the "Death Korps" -- existing only to endure the hellish planetary surface, in order to do their duty and to kill in the Emperor's name. The Loyalists slowly re-took their blasted world in the name of the Emperor over fifteen generations of terrible bloody attrition -- trench-by-trench and tunnel-by-tunnel -- with bayonet, brutality and when needed, atomic fire.After more than 500 standard years of the most nightmarish warfare imaginable and an incalculable price paid in Human life and suffering, Krieg belonged to the Death Korps. From this long civil conflict and the unique military and planetary culture it engendered was born the tradition of naming Astra Militarum regiments drawn from Krieg as the Death Korps. Krieg was finally returned fully to the Imperial fold in 949.M40.
Death Korps of Krieg - Spinward Front: It was never originally planned that regiments of the Death Korps would serve in the Spinward Front in the Calixis Sector, and they are only a very recent arrival. Instead, countless Death Korps regiments, comprising siege infantry, armour, and artillery, were being shipped from their homeworld of Krieg to Vraks Prime in the Scarus Sector, a world dominated by the forces of the Apostate Cardinal-Astra Xaphan.Countless millions of Krieg soldiers had already been shipped to Vraks to wage the early years of a siege campaign planned to last only a solar decade. However, due to reasons only known to the scribes of the Departmento Munitorum, many of these regiments from Krieg were diverted. Being located only a relatively short distance from Vraks, the Spinward Front received these diverted regiments, and in 816.M41, thirty Krieg regiments arrived on Kalf to receive orders.The majority deployed to Kulth, while others were dispatched to the bastions on Ashen, the Ork-dominated manufactoria of Asterion, the subterranean mines of Virbius, and the hostile duality of Janus, where the nights freeze and the days burn, to reinforce the conflicts already raging on those worlds.
Death Korps of Krieg - Regiment Recruitment and Training: Recruitment for members of the regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg is similar to many other Imperial worlds throughout the Imperium and conscription depends on varying circumstances. Though their harsh training methods, combat doctrines and regimental organisation are not in themselves unique amongst the units of the Imperial Guard, the Death Korps regiments are both unorthodox and extreme in their application.Tested, selected and relentlessly trained almost from birth for their appointed role as Imperial Guardsmen, the rates of fatality and injury during training are high amongst Death Korps recruits. To ensure that only the toughest and best make it into the new regiment, training is brutal and quickly weeds out the weak and unworthy, for fear and weakness are not tolerated.The minds and characters of the young prospective Guardsmen are purposefully broken and remade stronger, just as their bodies are trained to withstand hardship and endure suffering that would kill other men -- a task already begun by the mere fact of living a life on blighted Krieg.Amongst the wreckage of the old radiation-blasted battlefields the training regiments march, dig trenches, clear minefields and fight mock battles against other cadets. Only those that endure are judged fit enough to take their place as members of the Death Korps.For this reason the regiment is able to maintain its famous standard of discipline and selflessness in combat. Gas masks are conventionally viewed as a second skin, as soldiers are trained to permanently operate with them if required.Fear of failing the Imperium and one's comrades, and a ceaseless devotion to duty, honour and the Emperor are instilled in new recruits to make certain that they will stand their ground in combat under any situation. Mental conditioning is the key part of their training so Death Korps troops are prepared for the myriad horrors to be found on the Imperial battlefield and beyond.
Death Korps of Krieg - Regimental Combat Doctrine: During its great civil war, in order for Krieg's society to survive, it could not afford to sustain its weakest members. No sacrifice was considered too high a price to pay in the Emperor's service. This "Cult of Sacrifice" mindset continues to this day and it permeates every aspect of the Death Korps' combat doctrine and organisation. The character and tactical doctrine of the Krieg soldier was created by war.Having been raised only to fight, and having known nothing but constant battle, generations of troops came to see death in the name of the Emperor as their ultimate goal. This attitude remains even today, for Krieg guardsmen are always willing to die as a sacrifice to the God-Emperor.For Krieg commanders, battles are won by the merciless application of overwhelming force. Their combat doctrine dictates that any battle where their capacity to fight and willingness to die exceeds that of their enemy is a battle already won -- everything else is merely a matter of time and attrition.The Death Korps' faith in the God-Emperor is instilled in every soldier from an early age. These established patterns of worship serve to amplify the culture of willing sacrifice and militancy among the Krieg. The soldiers of Krieg are most famous for never flinching, even in the face of sudden death, and they see their deaths in war as a collective penance for the heresy of their ancestors so many years before. They are a dedicated trench and siege warfare force and perform best during wars of attrition.The Death Korps of Krieg regiments routinely volunteer for tours of service in the most dangerous war zones in the Imperium which means they have earned a fierce reputation across the galaxy. They excel in trench and siege warfare but have taken part in various different combat actions across many campaigns such as the Taros Campaign, the Third War for Armageddon, the Atria Wilderness Campaign and the Vorenz III Campaign to name but a few.They can be counted on over most other Imperial regiments to hold their ground and when advancing prefer a massive offensive over an extended front with a rolling barrage of artillery support. Many Krieg regiments are adept raiders of entrenched positions should a massed offensive be impractical or require the softening up of enemy positions before any such offensive can take place.The fact that the Death Korps of Krieg are known for unconditional loyalty and ruthlessness in prosecuting their wars mainly comes from the atomic purging that the 83rd Krieg Infantry under the command of Colonel Jurten inflicted on their own planet during the Krieg Civil War, an event that the Death Korps of Krieg in general and the 83rd Krieg Infantry Regiment in particular are deeply proud of.
Death Korps of Krieg - Regimental Deployment: Regiments are raised on Krieg with great frequency. The form and composition of these regiments will differ according to the edicts of the Departmento Munitorum and the strategic needs of the moment. Krieg supplies the manpower and the Departmento Munitorum organises that manpower in various different types of regiments.Infantry regiments, mechanised infantry and armoured regiments are all known, but by far the most common use of Krieg's manpower is as siege regiments. The Death Korps' philosophy of total war reaches its ultimate expression within these regiments.But what makes Death Korps of Krieg regiments distinct is not their wargear, but their mentality. Regardless of their assigned role, they retain the Death Korps' strengths of discipline, extreme endurance, expertise in trench warfare and most notably their tolerance for high attrition rates and environmentally hazardous warzones.
Death Korps of Krieg - Regiment Appearance: The Death Korps are similar to the Armageddon Steel Legion in the appearance of their uniform and equipment, but they make use of darker colors, and their masks usually have a skull motif.Of all the Militarum Regimentos of the Astra Militarum, they are the most grim and fatalistic, both in appearance and in spirit due to the 500 standard years of civil war in a nuclear wasteland that the inhabitants of their homeworld inflicted on themselves. Uniform cut and design is almost consistent throughout the entire Death Korps but colours can vary from regiment to regiment and the officer ranks tend to have slightly more ornate uniforms than the rank-and-file.Spiked helmets are famously worn by the troops of the Death Korps of Krieg; however this is in truth rarely the case in the field, but many Krieg troops maintain the tradition either with improvised spikes or, less commonly, older patterns of the spiked helmet that have survived and been passed down through families.
Death Korps of Krieg - Optional Wargear: Death Korps units prefer to use Meltaguns and Heavy Bolters as heavy weapons, but also have access to Mortars, Heavy Stubbers, Lascannons, Autocannons and Flamers.As with most Imperial Guardsmen, the Death Korps infantry's standard-issue individual weapon is the Lasgun and many also carry an additional Laspistol.The multi-purpose Combat Knife carried by all members of the Death Korps is a bayonet but also a field tool.
Death Korps of Krieg - Siege Artillery Regiments: 3rd Siege Artillery Regiment - The Death Korps 3rd, 4th and 8th Siege Artillery Regiments were assigned to the 19th Bombardment Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. They were withdrawn from Vraks along with the rest of the remaining units of the 19th Bombardment Korps in 828.M41.4th Siege Artillery Regiment8th Siege Artillery Regiment19th Siege Artillery Regiment - The Death Korps 19th, 22nd and 23rd Siege Artillery Regiments were assigned to the 21st Bombardment Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The regiments remained with the 21st Bombardment Korps throughout the fighting on Vraks Prime and were finally withdrawn when the enemy forces occupying the planet were neutralised in 830.M41.22nd Siege Artillery Regiment23rd Siege Artillery Regiment231st Siege Artillery Regiment - The Death Korps 231st Siege Artillery Regiment was assigned to the 8th Assault Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The 231st remained with the 8th Assault Korps throughout the intense fighting on Vraks until it was finally withdrawn when the enemy forces occupying the planet were neutralised in 830.M41.497th Siege Artillery Regiment - The Death Korps 497th Siege Artillery Regiment was assigned to the 11th Assault Korps, 88th Siege Army in 812.M41, during the infamous campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. The 497th remained with the 11th Assault Korps throughout the fighting on Vraks and was finally withdrawn when the enemy forces occupying the planet were neutralised in 830.M41.
Death Korps of Krieg - Mechanised Regiments: 23rd Mechanised Regiment - The Death Korps 23rd Mechanised Regiment took part in the Cleansing of Radnar Hive.
Death Korps of Krieg - Heavy Tank Companies & Regiments: 1st Heavy Tank Company - The Death Korps 1st Heavy Tank Company, known as the "Emperor's Loyal Shield," fought in the Cleansing of Radnar.13th Heavy Tank Company - The Death Korps 13th Heavy Tank Company took part in the Galan V Expedition when it was attached to the Death Korps 28th Armoured Regiment.14th Heavy Tank Regiment - The 14th Heavy Tank Regiment was attached to the 60th Line Korps of Marshal Venner during the Orphean War and was part of the Korps' Assault Brigade during the Battle of Amarah.
Death Korps of Krieg - Trivia: As with many Imperial Guard regiments, the Death Korps is based in part upon real-world militaries from Human history, similar in uniform, appearance and style to the Imperial German Army of World War I and the Wehrmacht of World War II.
Death Korps of Krieg - Sources: Codex: Astra Militarum (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), "Regiments of Distinction - Death Korps of Krieg"Codex: Astra Militarum (9th Edition), pg. 27Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex), pg. 28Codex: Imperial Guard (4th Edition), pg. 61Codex: Imperial Guard (5th Edition), pp. 21, 23, 27Epic: Swordwind CampaignImperial Armour Volume One (Second Edition) - Imperial Guard,  pp. 84, 114, 258Imperial Armour Volume Three - The Taros CampaignImperial Armour Volume Five - The Siege of Vraks - Part One, pp. 12-35, 38-41, 44-53, 66-101, 125, 128, 130-144, 181, 187-189Imperial Armour Volume Six - The Siege of Vraks - Part Two, pp. 7, 14, 18-27, 34-48, 54-56, 58-59, 61-71, 75, 77-79, 83, 85, 93-111, 114Imperial Armour Volume Seven - The Siege of Vraks - Part Three, pp. 8-11, 16-19, 21, 26-28, 40-43, 44-45, 51, 53, 83-87, 110-111, 125-136, 208Imperial Armour Volume Twelve - The Fall of Orpheus, pg. 168-170, 183, 197, 225Only War: Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 46-47Only War: Final Testament (RPG), pg. 15The Greater Good (Novel), by Sandy MitchellDead Men Walking (Novel) by Steve LyonsThird War for Armageddon Worldwide Campaign - Forces Disposition, Imperial Forces: Death Korps of Krieg
Death Korps Officer - Death Korps Officer: A Death Korps Officer is an officer in one of the Imperial Guard regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg that hail from the devastated, post-apocalyptic Death World of Krieg in the Segmentum Tempestus. Death Korps Officers, right up to the level of regimental command, typically lead and fight from the front of their units. This is not so much a conscious decision as a simple expression of the Death Korps regiments' mentality, as every Krieg Guardsman expects to fight and die for his Emperor. To this end, officers of these regiments commonly equip themselves for service at the front line with grenades, powerful sidearms and either a Chainsword or Power Sword. Members of a Death Korps Command Squad in service to an officer wear their squad insignia (a "C" for command) on their right shoulder. Officer's helmets typically bear an ornate Imperial Aquila.Unlike many other Imperial Guard regiments that draw their troops from worlds with a long-standing militarised culture (such as the Mordians or Jantines), Krieg itself has no standing aristocracy or hereditary officer class. Instead, its officers are drawn from the body of the Krieg regiments' rank and file. This means that the majority of the Death Korps' officer cadre has been promoted through the ranks through a mixture of ability, seniority and often as a result of their simple survival. Staff officers and flag officers are usually seconded from other Imperial Guard regiments or from the Imperial noble classes that provide much of the Imperial Guard's upper echelons and these positions are often retained as hereditary entitlements. Krieg officers, who are dedicated to the Death Korps' narrow doctrine of attritional warfare, are generally considered incapable of performing the political and diplomatic roles required for the staff officers or commanding officer of an Imperial Guard army command.As veterans of the Death Korps' way of war, Death Korps Officers have no regard for high casualties, which has led to morale problems where senior Krieg officers have been placed in charge of non-Krieg Imperial Guard regiments across a wider theatre of operations. It is also a noticeable feature of the Death Korps' culture that Krieg regiments do not issue medals or decorations because Krieg soldiers view such rewards as insignificant and meaningless baubles. Bravery is expected and commonplace amongst the regiments of the Death Korps, and so Krieg Guardsmen neither expect nor respect special rewards for what they consider as their duty to the Emperor.
Death Korps Officer - Uniform: For the most part, Krieg officers wear a standardised Death Korps uniform. The individuality that is displayed by the use of non-standard uniform appearance in other Imperial Guard regiments is not favoured in the Death Korps, whose indoctrination requires them to sublimate individuality to the greater purposes of the Imperial Guard and the Emperor. But the Departmento Munitorum's regulations governing the equipment of Imperial Guard regiments do require that officers distinguish themselves from the rank and file, the better to serve as figures of inspiration and authority on the battlefield. Hence, a regimental commander's uniform is usually of superior material and design, individually tailored for him or her. Their greatcoats are made of the finest grade Mukaali hide. A regimental commander will sometimes wear a breastplate that is issued to Death Riders, often polished to a gleaming shine for ceremonial duties. In practice it provides little in the way of additional protection. The officer's gorget is actually a small Conversion Field generator, worn for personal protection by high ranking officers and officials. These generators are often disguised as jewelry or other decoration. Krieg officers wear the standard Mark IX helmet, which often has further decoration added as befits an officer's rank, such as a golden Aquila crest or the winged skull Imperialis symbol of the Imperial Guard.Some officers prefer to wear the tall riding boots issued to Death Riders, which are regarded as being of higher quality and comfort than the low marching boots of the infantry. A regimental commander will sometimes retain them after serving with a Death Rider unit. A red sash is often worn for battlefield identification, and is also worn by a Krieg officer's security detachment. A Death Korps Officer's gas mask is a lightweight unit that lacks the large regulator that is standard for the common Krieg infantrymen, since it is only used for short exposures to the toxins of the battlefield. It is generally issued to Krieg staff officers who would otherwise spend the majority of their time inside sealed command bunkers.
Death Korps Officer - Insignia: The regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg reject the awarding of medals for individual bravery, as this behaviour is simply expected from Death Korps Guardsmen, and all are indoctrinated to face the direst threats without regard for their own survival. It is not in the Death Korps' ethos to recognise individual achievements, and those born into the Korps do not seek such recognition. Their training requires them to become a faceless cog in the vast war-making machine of the Imperium's military forces. Service to the Korps and the Emperor are regarded as reward enough for their sacrifices, and so Death Korps officers do not wear the campaign badges and other distinctions of service common to most Imperial Guard officers.
Death Korps Officer - Weapons: The weapons of a Death Korps Officer are carried as a matter of ritual and protocol rather than as practical accoutrements. Only in the direst of circumstances would a regiment's senior commanding officer actually be required to fight, although to have reached the esteemed rank of Colonel in the Death Korps such an officer would have already earned a wealth of frontline combat experience. Death Korps officers sometimes carry sabres, another relic of their days leading a Death Rider company. A Laspistol is usually carried as a weapon for personal defence. It is likely to be a standard issue weapon, no doubt kept in spotless condition by a regimental commander's aides, and well maintained, lacking the wear and tear of frontline service. Many officers will choose to carry other weapons as a matter of personal preference though these will be individual to the personality and circumstances of the officer.
Death Korps Quartermaster - Death Korps Quartermaster: Death Korps Quartermasters are a unique cadre of commissioned officers specific to the Astra Militarum regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg who serve as an amalgam of battlefield medic, Administratum-clerk and Ecclesiarchy preacher within the ranks of the Death Korps. They are a remnant of Krieg's war-torn history and the hard choices its population had to make in order to survive. Like other specialist ranks such as Death Korps Officers or Death Riders, Quartermasters are selected during training for their unshakable faith in the God-Emperor, their dedication to the ideals of the Death Korps as embodied by the Cult of Sacrifice and their mental aptitudes to act swiftly and decisively under duress and see an action to its logical end. To fulfil these tasks, Quartermaster recruits are given additional training in low-level tech-lore, field medicine and a far more intensive indoctrination into the tenets of the Cult of Sacrifice they are charged to embody.
Death Korps Quartermaster - History: As with many of the Korps’ specialists, the Quartermasters’ origins lie during the bloody civil war that had torn apart Krieg in the middle of the 41st Millennium, when loyalists and secessionists fought over the radioactive ruins of Krieg’s former Hive cities. In the blasted, winter-shrouded and irradiated wastes that now formed the surface, death came in multiple forms; some where obvious to the sight, an onrushing shell or a bayonet-wielding enemy, and other were far more subtle such as a torn enviro-suit or seal or the colourless and odourless clouds of toxic gases. With only very limited resources at their disposition, especially in terms of medical supplies, battlefield triage became essential to survival as a whole, the loyalists loathe to "waste" their precious supplies on soldiers with low chances of survival or which could not be readily returned to the battlefield. Wounded soldiers trapped in no man’s land or behind enemy lines were counted as fatalities unless they had the means to return to their lines on their own. It was the Quartermaster’s task to judge the severity of the soldier’s wound and if he should and would be treated. Those that were too hurt to be anything other than a liability for their unit and company would receive "the blessing of the Emperor's peace" - an honourable field execution. This explains why in stark contrast to the medical personnel of other regiments, Quartermasters are always armed, but the Quartermaster’s task does not end with the soldier’s demise.Even in death, a soldier carries valuable tools of equipment that can benefit his comrades or given to new recruits as part of their basic kit: everything useful from weapons and ammunition, to pieces of clothing such as the iconic greatcoat of the Death Korps or regimental-issued socks will be stripped form the dead Guardsman. This task often requires the Quartermaster to venture alone into no man’s land, retrieving from the dead what the living need to continue the fight. This has often led outsiders to compare the Quartermaster to scavenger or carrion-eaters - sometimes quite literally picking the dead clean. The redistribution of arms and ammunition still count amongst the Quartermaster’s principal duties as well as the ministration of emergency treatment to injured Guardsman. In the modern day Death Korps, the Quartermasters also serve as tactical observers and logistics experts, monitoring the expenditure of ammunition during the battle, calculating attrition rates or spotting enemy guns and strongpoints which they then report to the competent officer. Additionally, as an incarnation of the Death Korps Cult of Sacrifice, the Quartermasters are charged with the deliverance of final rites to those too seriously injured to fight on. Amongst the Guardsmen, it is held in general belief that the deathmask of a Quartermaster should be the last thing a dying trooper should see.
Death Korps Quartermaster - Uniform: Like all within the Death Korps, the Quartermasters are issued with the standardised uniform of the Death Korps, which includes the distinctive longcoat for which the Death Korps is famed. Trousers and boots are also the same as those issued to the average Krieg Guardsman, which helps to distinguish the Quartermaster from regular officers which often favour the more comfortable boots issued to the Death Riders where many officers have served while most Quartermasters are drawn from the infantry platoons and companies. Quartermasters wear the same Mark IX helmet as the rank and file which is left unadorned, save for the addition of a facemask worn over their rebreather mask. Representing the struggle of Krieg during the civil war, this facemask is fashioned in the form of a leering human skull as to better serve as memento mori held in such high esteem within the Cult of Sacrifice. This skeletal motif is often continued on the Quartermasters’ Carapace breastplate in order to resemble a human ribcage. Some Quartermasters choose to complete this already most sinister appearance with a black cape, worn above their armour and coat. To those soldiers ministered to by a Quartermaster, it must seem as if death itself has come to pass judgement on them. However, some Quartermasters eschew the traditional trappings of their function as to better to blend in within the ranks of common soldiers, thus avoiding to become the prime target of the enemy snipers. In order to treat battlefield injuries, a Quartermaster carries a Medi-pack.
Death Korps Quartermaster - Weapons: Being called upon to serve at the frontlines or even venture into 'no man’s land', a Quartermaster is usually well equipped to deal with unpleasant encounters. As a matter of tradition, a Quartermaster carries a sidearm, both for protection and in order to deliver the Emperor’s Peace to those under his care which are too wounded to fight on and beyond saving. This sidearm can take the form of a Bolt Pistol, although most use the far more common Laspistol. In the same order of thinking, most Quartermasters also carry a close combat weapon such as a Chainsword.
Death Korps Quartermaster - Retinue: Particularly in the wake of greater offensives, the dead are so many that a single Quartermaster could never hope to sort through all the battlefield detritus alone or tend to all the wounded. Therefore, it is not unusal to see Quartermasters followed by a retinue of utility or medical Servitors.
Death Korps Watchmaster - Death Korps Watchmaster: A Death Korps Watchmaster is the senior non-commissioned officer rank amongst the regiments of the Imperial Guard's Death Korps of Krieg. A Watchmaster is the equivalent of a non-commissioned officer with the rank of Sergeant in other Imperial Guard regiments. Within the Death Korps Death Rider squadrons, the equivalent rank is known as a Ridemaster. Watchmasters are the primary and most visible leaders for the enlisted troops of the Death Korps regiments. As veteran Guardsmen, Watchmasters are the leaders primarily responsible for executing their regiment's mission and for relentlessly training subordinate personnel so that they are prepared to execute their duties absent of fear and filled with unflinching faith in the Emperor of Mankind. Watchmaster training and education typically includes cultivation of leadership and management skills as well as service-specific combat training.Infantry platoons form the bulk of the Death Korps siege regiments' manpower. Each siege regiment consists of five companies, which are broken down into ten infantry platoons and one heavy weapons platoon. Each company is led by a Death Korps Officer with the rank of Captain who is assisted by one Veteran Watchmaster. Each platoon consists of a command squad and up to six infantry squads. These squads are each led by a Watchmaster who acts as the squad leader. The Watchmaster is assisted by an appointed senior Guardsman, usually the longest serving soldier in the squad. Like their fellow Guardsmen, Watchmasters have been indoctrinated since birth in the martial traditions of the Death Korps. They are highly proficient with all the basic weapons of the Imperial Guard and most especially with the bayonet, and favour the bayonet charge in battle. They fearlessly lead their squads across "no-man's land" to storm enemy trenches and defences. Having no fear of death himself, a Watchmaster demands and expects no less from his men.
Death Korps Watchmaster - Uniform: Like their fellow enlisted Guardsmen, a Watchmaster wears the standard uniform common to the regiments raised on the Death World of Krieg. Its most distinctive feature is the heavy greatcoat which is manufactured on Krieg from a hard-wearing thick cloth and produced in a variety of colours. The great coat provides limited protection, but is also heavily chemically impregnated against chemical and biological attack -- an unfortunate side effect of this being the pungent smell that the garment emits. The greatcoat is completely waterproof and very warm, a trait which is particularly useful when its wearer is deployed to colder climates. The greatcoat is double-breasted and includes brass buttons, a pair of which allows the coat's front to be turned back to allow for greater mobility in combat. Uniform cut and design is almost identical throughout the entire Death Korps but colours can vary from regiment to regiment and the officer ranks tend to have slightly more ornate uniforms than the rank and file.A Watchmaster also wears the standard issue Mark IX helmet made of Plasteel, which has an adjustable cradle for fit around the head, flaring to allow a good fit for the gasmask and which is ventilated via the top spine. This ventilation has an internal filter to keep out chemical or biological agents. There are many variants of the the standard Mark IX helmet issued to specialists and officers. The shoulder plates are Plasteel construction and buckle to the greatcoat. A Watchmaster's shoulder plates are embossed with his rank insignia. When fully equipped, a Krieg Guardsman is completely sealed against a contaminated environment by the layers of his uniform and his respirator unit.
Death Korps Watchmaster - Weapons: A Watchmaster's main weapon is his Lucius Pattern No. 98 Lasgun. This weapon is standard issue to Krieg regiments, and stockpiled in vast numbers in Krieg's armouries. The Lasgun also includes a bayonet lug which can be fitted with the standard issued 45 centimetre-long sword-bayonet. This heavy bladed, razor-sharp knife is a Watchmaster's only close combat weapon. A bayonet charge led by a Watchmaster seems to be more effective at driving the enemy away from a Death Korps regiment's fortified positions than even the use of their artillery and heavy weapons platoons. Watchmasters, like all Krieg Guardsmen, are also equipped with a single, standard issue No. 38 Frag Grenade, but additional grenades will be issued to squads before an attack against static enemy positions.
Death Korps Watchmaster - Additional Equipment: All Krieg Guardsmen are issued distinctive respirator units. The entire unit can be carried inside a leather satchel, which buckles onto the webbing's shoulder straps. Krieg Guardsmen are also issued leather webbing which includes carrying straps for their backpack, respirator filter unit and regulator, four ammunition pouches for Lasgun powerpacks, additional pouches for carrying other kit, such as weapons and respirator maintenance kits, replacement filters and biological or chemical weapon antidote vials. They are also issued a leather backpack which buckles to the webbing shoulder straps. It has additional straps to attach a bedroll, which also doubles as a waterproof shelter-half, and a dry-tin canister for storing perishable materials by sealing them against the environment. Finally, as all Krieg Guardsmen are expected to dig their regiment's trenchworks, they are also issued a small entrenching tool. As trench warfare is the Death Korps' preferred method of fighting, they must constantly dig new trenches, or repair and improve their current position in the line. Each Guardsman carries an entrenching tool in a carrying case which is worn on the belt and which also has loops for carrying the bayonet when not attached to the Lasgun. Larger tools such as mattocks and shovels will be issued when needed for heavier entrenchment work.
Death Oath - Death Oath: A Death Oath is one of the most severe punishments that can be meted out to a Battle-Brother of the Loyalist Space Marine Chapters by his superiors. If a Battle-Brother has been found severely wanting, he will be forced to take an oath of moment to either fulfill a superhuman task or die trying, exiled from his Chapter.Only if he manages to succeed at this suicidal task and survive will he be allowed to return to his Chapter, for he will be considered to have been absolved of his failures by the Emperor of Mankind Himself.
Death Oath - The Sagyar Mazan: The people of Chogoris are possessed of great wisdom and capable of deep compassion, but these characteristics are tempered by a fierce and uncompromising sense of justice that can lead to acts of catastrophic failure being rewarded with death, delivered by the hand of a warrior's superior. Occasionally however, this punishment might be commuted to exile by a merciful leader sympathetic of mitigating circumstances. Amongst the White Scars Chapter, those exiled from their Brotherhood are known as penitents, or the Sagyar Mazan, and it is their fate to seek out an honourable death and in so doing, wash away any stain of dishonour.
Death Oath - Notable Death Oaths: Captain Leonatos of the Blood Angels - Captain Leonatos lost the Blade Encarmine, a Chapter relic and Master-Crafted Power Sword that had once belonged to the first Chapter Master of the Blood Angels in battle against Orks. The Blood Angels' Chapter Master, Lord Commander Dante, and Chief Librarian Mephiston imposed a Death Oath on Leonatos and the remaining survivors of that fateful battle that required them to either retrieve the Blade Encarmine and bring it back to Baal in victory, or die in the trying.Captain Uriel Ventris and Sergeant Pasanius Lysane of the Ultramarines - While defending the planet of Tarsis Ultra against the Tyranids, Captain Ventris assumed command of a Deathwatch Kill-team after its leader was slain, and assisted Inquisitor Kryptman in capturing a Lictor and devising a genetic toxin from its genome with which they could kill the Tyranid Norn-Queen commanding the Hive Fleet that was assaulting that world. Ventris and his trusted companion Lysane then joined the Inquisitor and the Deathwatch Kill-team in the assault on the Norn-Queen, but in this way were considered by the Codex Astartes to have "deserted" their posts as leaders of the Ultramarines 4th Company during battle. Despite their victory, accusations of severe dereliction of duty were levelled against both Astartes by their fellows, and Chapter Master Marneus Calgar imposed on both a Death Oath to find and destroy the Daemonculaba his Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius had received disturbing visions about through the Empyrean.
Death of a Silversmith (Short Story) - Death of a Silversmith (Short Story): Death of a Silversmith is the fifth short story published in the Horus Heresy that was not originally part of an anthology novel. It was first published as part of the event exclusive Games Day Anthology 2011/12 and was later released separately as an e-book. It is also included in the Shadows of Treachery anthology novel.
Death of a Silversmith (Short Story) - Synopsis: In what should have been the pinnacle of his career, a lone Remembrancer meets an unfortunate end at the hands of the Luna Wolves. So close to the heart of the Warmaster's emerging powerbase, were the signs of Horus' fall apparent from the beginning, yet heeded by no one?
Death of Dianixis - Death of Dianixis: The Death of Dianixis was a battle fought on an unknown date in the 41st Millennium between the forces of the Imperium and the Thousand Sons Heretic Astartes forced led by the Chaos Sorcerer Ahriman on the Cemetery World of Dianixis, who sought the skull of Lepidus, a hero of the 2nd Black Crusade buried there, for the arcane information inscribed upon it.
Death of Dianixis - History: The Thousand Sons Chaos Sorcerer Ahriman had long sought the skull of Lepidus, a dead hero of the 2nd Black Crusade, for reasons that remain his own. The skull, dipped in silver and engraved with ten thousand words of detestation, lay in the polar shrine city on the Cemetery World of Dianaxis. A conspiracy to obtain the skull by guile had already failed, so Ahriman turned to more direct means.Since the end of the Scouring, countless billions have fought and died in the shadow of the Eye of Terror. For almost eight Terran millennia the remains of many of these honoured dead lay on Dianaxis. Heaps of charred bones, the serene bodies of Imperial martyrs, and the polished skulls of Space Marines all came to the mausoleum world.On the surface of Dianaxis, the plains of bones extended from shrine city to shrine city, and grew ever deeper with each passing standard year. The cities themselves were built from the skulls and bones of the most heroic Imperial dead. So sacred and revered was Dianaxis that a dozen Space Marine Chapters maintained honour guards and bastions on its surface. Star fortresses ringed its approaches, and millions of troops stood sentinel over the skulls of those who had died to hold the darkness in abeyance.Across the reaches of space, Ahriman burned worlds and sent souls shrieking into the Warp. As the murdered worlds spun into alignment with each other they created an arcane pattern in the stars with Dianaxis at its heart. As the great design locked into place, Dianaxis' sun was pulled from reality, leaving a howling wound in the sky of the mausoleum world.Blood and fire spread across the heavens. The bones of the dead howled the last thoughts of their lives, and rainbow-colored fire crawled across the ossuary towers. Daemons poured through the hole that had been the sun, tumbling onto the mausoleum world like falling stars. The Imperial defenders screamed as the children of Chaos ate their souls.Amidst the slaughter, Ahriman appeared outlined in lightning, ringed by sorcerers and Rubricae. Power rolled from the circle of sorcerers and they strode through the battle, killing the defenders and dissolving Daemons with arcane fire. Space Marine Chapter honour guards came against Ahriman, but were reduced to ashes and silent screams with a gesture.Fire Bane, the last Warlord-class Titan of the Legio Officium, strode to war from its shrine. The cry of its warhorns echoed across the damned world, and its weapons burnt a path towards Ahriman's circle. Drawing together the power of his fellow sorcerers, Ahriman forced the war machine to its knees, before pulling the core of its plasma reactor through its carapace.At last, Ahriman held the skull of Lepidus in his hand, as the battle between mortals and Daemons raged around him. Raising the skull to his eyes he found the one word he sought etched on the skull's surface. Letting the skull fall from his hand, he and his forces vanished, leaving the world of bones to the howls of Daemons and the cries of the dying.