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1st Caldraari Reconaissance regiment (WIP)

652 views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  Toawsty 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello!
I decided to start working on the fluff of my DIY Imperial Guard regiment. As it is still a WIP, feel free to criticize! :)

Caldraar:
Caldraar is a planet within the segmentum Obscurus, in the northern region of the Eye of Terror, it is located near Rivia, the chpater homeworld of the Witchers chapter. With the time, it has become the primary prison world of the sector, with ships delivering their cargo of prisoners everyday, while others depart with the carcasses of the dead...

Caldraar is host to a vast web of underground habitats for the prisoners, and to the enormous industrial complexes where the inhabitants of the planet toil day after day in order to produce weapons and ammunition for the countless wars fought in the name of the Imperium.

Due to Caldraar's proximity with the eye of terror, it has become sligthly corrupted by its contact over the millenia. In fact, the atmosphere of Caldraar, while looking totally normal at a first glance, can plunge even a grown man into a state of permanent depression if he looks at it too long without protection, this has the effect that the prisoners of Caldraar are often very melancholic persons, with a big tendency toward nihilism, and towards. Furthermore, many inhabitants of the planet have on various occasions reported that they suffered from permanent nightmares and difficulties to sleep, sometimes going as far as to push these persons nto suicide, by fear of seeing the creatures of their nightmares. Until shortly, no credit has been accorded to these reports, as they were simply believed to be psychotic reactions from the already half crazed prisoners. However, since the outbreak of the 13th Black Crusade, these cases of hysteria have also started to affect the leading classes of the planet, which in turn has started to give them even more nightmares in fear of the fact that the Inquisition may all judge them corrupt, and execute them...

The Caldraari Nightmares:

The Nightmares are only a recent development in Caldraar's history. In fact the creation of the first regiments was only ordered two years before Abbadon's 13th Black Crusade in 987 M41.

The creation of the first regiment was the fruit of an administrative error by some low rank Administratum adept, who managed to classify the world as a death world instead of a prison world. This misplacement error led to the fact that from now on Caldraar was expect to pay its own tithes, in material, as well as in guard regiments, therefore, 3 regiments were hastily drafted from the worst criminals that were present on the planet.

Soon after they had been embarked, sure that they would never see their homeworld, the ex-convicts were brought to their first war zone, the crucible in which they would be forged, and their strategies would become defined.

Sithu:

Sithu, once was what one would call a prosperous planet. It was richly industrialised, with its manufactoria renowned in the whole segmentum for the precision of its electronics...
But as the decades passed, the nobles of the planet grew more and more powerful, and with that power came a desire for independence. They wanted to become an independent planet, they wanted to be free of the tithes the Imperium asked from them... And what had to happen happened... In M41 988 a council of the highest nobles finally declared their independence, and promptly stopped delivering their precious electronics to the various forge worlds that needed them.
When these news came to the Munitorum Sectorial high command, its response was quick: The newly formed Caldraari 1st, 2nd, and 3d regiments along with the 65th Boronian Noble-Born were sent to bring the planet back under imperial control.

However, due the inherent differences that exist between an enormous regiment that is made of noble born and arrogant soldiers, and three other smaller ones made of ex-convicts, tensions rise very soon... These tensions led to the fact that while the 65th was dropped on the right coordinates, large portions of the Caldraari were intentionally dropped behind enemy lines.

Instead of falling int disgrace, and deserting, the stranded elements turned the situation to their advantage.
During seven long months, they used guerilla and psychological warfare in order to weaken the enemy. A popular tactic was to assault one of the various resource convoys that circulated between the hives, empty it of everything useful, and then to send it back with the heads of the guards and personnel that were on board of the convoy.
During this time, the 65th was left with the task of assaulting the hives frontally. While this proved an effective tactic at the beginning, it proved to be extremely previsible, and at the end the hives were able to repel these attacks with relative ease.
As the war went on, the Caldraari became masters in the art of fighting behind enemy lines and in the use of dirty tactics like sabotaging enemy pipelines, or contaminating the water supplies of the enemy in various ways...

These tactics proved to be extremely effective, and went on to bring their surname of "nightmares" to the Caldraari regiments, and after seven months, another council of nobles, declared the surrender of their troops, as they could not hold the line against "an army of ghosts".
When the commander of the 65th heard this, he became extremely furious, and he let some of his men sabotage the troop convoys of the Caldraari, so that they would burn completely under the effect of friction while traversing the atmosphere of the planet...

This "incident" as the commander of the 65th spoke of it, caused the death of more than 2/3 of the regiment, and while he escaped the fury of the surving soldiers, the Caldraari would from now on bear a bitter grudge against regiments issued from the nobility, and "incidents" between the Caldraari and other regiments are far from uncommon. They usually happen after an arrogant commander thought the Caldraari were only savages and that he could order an artillery strike on them, and they usually involve the death or the mutilation of said commander in an "accident" shortly afterwards.

Regiment Appearance and Character:

"Soooo... Commander... Commander Isidorius... I hear you like to kill your allies...
-This is a blatant lie, and now release me! It is unfit to treat a man of my grade like this!
-But I guess it is fit for your grade to order artillery barrages on lesser men...
-It was an accident... I swear... Y... You will be court-martialled for this, when I get out of here!
-And this will also be an accident when we will be done with you, no one saw you enter this building, my men are very trustworthy, I can assure.
-You cannot do this... Release me you traitorous convict scum!
-Oh yes I can, you'll serve as an example for the others... Are you religious Commander?
-N... No...
-Then I guess we can directly proceed to the part where your soul joins the Emperor... Greet my men from me up there.
-N... No... You can't do that... W... Wait... I have money, influence, we can make a deal I'm sure of th... AAAAAAAAAAAAH"


The regiment's uniform is black and grey, with optional helmets or berets as headwear. The sergeants and veterans of the regiment have more personalised equipmment as well as a white stripe on their helmet. In addition to the standart equipment they are issued with, every soldier is supposed to carry a fistful of earth from the planet where he fought his primary engagement. The favored fighting style of the Caldraari is close quarters combat, where they can mutilate and disfigure their enemies as much as they wish.
These close combat attacks are usually acompanied with a barrage of special issue grenades filled with hallucinogenic gases in order to bring back the worst fears of their enemies. It is in these situations that the Caldraari really embody their surname of Nightmares, slaying their enemies, while they believe that their nightmares have become real, and leaving only dismembered corpses behind... Other tactics of the Caldraari include the display of corpses of vanquished enemies, sabotage, harassment tactics and the use of enemy markings and uniforms to infiltrate enemy positions and then destroying them from behind sowing fear and distrust among the lines of the enemy.

The badge of the regiment is a skull holding a knife between its teeth.



Regiment Organisation:

After the treacherous acts on Sithu, the survivors of the three regiments, were united under the banner of the 1st Caldraari Reconaissance regiment - the Nightmares.
The apprximately 300 men and women composing the regiment are organised as follows:

1st Light Reconnaissance Force - "The Daredevils": 750 men and women. Extensive use of special issue Halucinogenic grenades
2nd Light Reconnaissance Force - "The Wildfires": 800 men and women.
1st Sapper Force - "The Molten heads": 300 men and women. Experts in demolition tactics.
1st Airborne Division - "The Death Jokers": 400 men and women. They are often referred to as the elite forces of the regiment. They are those that are called upon when an enemy needs to be finished off quickly.
1st Mechanized division - "The Amazones": 300 women. This unit only composed of women is the first of the two mechanized divisions that the Nightmares have. They usually go into combat in Salamander reconaissance vehicles, Chimeras, or Tauros vehicles, and rely on Tauros Venators for fire support.
1st propaganda force. 350 men and women. While these soldiers usually don't serve on the frontline as soldiers, they are usually deployed behind the frontline where they can infiltrate the population and stir up rebellions in order to facilitate the work of the regiment.

Regimental Wargear:
The Caldraari have been noted to be experts in the use of knives and other sharp objects, as well as flame throwers and Lascannons.
In addition to that, the soldiers are issued with a special type of grenade that emits hallucinogenic gas in order to maximise the psychological effect on their enemies. These grenades are thrown onto the enemy just before assaulting in close combat, as the enemy then becomes too terrorized to even fight back, thus enabling the Caldraari to kill them without much effort.
The Standard-issue Las-rifle is a Mark IV Mars Pattern Las-rifle, while some of the veteran and close quarters units swap them for the Merovech pattern lasguns.


I'll be adding the rest soon, stay tuned! :)
 
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