Festerruman Sachiel
The Warmaster
THE DEATH BRIGADES
"And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword"
"And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword"
OUT-OF-CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create an elite unit for the Chaos Pact to deploy on missions
- Image Credit: Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
- Role: Serve as the protective unit for high-ranking Chaos Pact officials and officers. Serve as elite shock troopers.
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: Wolfsbane Heavy Armor
- Unit Name: The Death Brigade
- Affiliation: The Chaos Pact, Festerruman Sachiel
- Classification: Bodyguards and Shocktroopers
- Description:
The Death Brigades are considered to be the very elite of the elite within The Chaos Pact. Out of billions, these few thousand were chosen personally by the Warmaster to enact his will. They are the only ones who have been given His blessing to wear their sacred Wolfsbane Heavy Armor that has become their signature. Wielding heavy weapons and able to bear the onslaught of enemy fire, these Death Brigadiers form the tip of the spear for the most vital missions or serve as bodyguards to high officials of the Pact.
Death Brigadiers are chosen from individuals who have proven themselves multiple times on the battlefield to go above and beyond their duty. By the time they are recruited, many of them will have earned multiple Chaos Stars (the highest possible honor in the Chaos Pact). To be inducted into the Death Brigades is considered the greatest feat that a rifleman can ever reach.
Once inducted, they undergo harrowing years of training where they eat, sleep, and rest with a group of fellow soldiers that they will spend the rest of their lives with, dubbed a Wolf-pack. A member of the wolf-pack must always be aware of where another is and what they are doing. Failure of a single member results in punishment for the whole wolf pack but they are encouraged not to turn on those who have failed but instead to uplift and advise them so that they never make the mistake again. Those who engage in actions that would turn members against each other are punished by being beaten to death by their compatriots. A wolf-pack will elect its leaders who are expected to set an example for the rest to follow.
By the time their training is done an inseparable bond has been formed and they go through a final test observed over by the Warmaster himself where they are forced to go through impossible odds. He alone determines if the wolf-pack is indeed worthy of success. Even should a group come through the end victorious the Warmaster can still decide to reject them. This does not spell the end for the aspirants, instead, they are returned to the rest of the armed forces as a group. Despite their failure, these soldiers often go on to honor the Pact by forming some of its most famed units and accomplishing some of its greatest feats.
- Unit Size: Medium - Multiple Wolf-Packs with each being 50 strong.
- Unit Availability: Rare
- Unit Experience: Veteran
- Equipment:
- Armor:
- Weapons
- Rocket Launchers:
- Melee
- Combat Function: The Death Brigades serve as the tip of the spear for the Pact's most vital missions. Using their heavy armor to bear the brunt of enemy fire and deploying their heavy weapons to demolish enemy positions, they are best used in quick surgical strikes and boarding actions against impossible odds. They are not a subtle tool and always leave in their wake carnage and the overpowering stench of smoldering flesh.
The main unit of the Death Brigades is the Wolf Pack, men and women who have through training developed a kinship deeper than blood, which typically consists of fifty Death Brigadiers. Each Wolf Pack elects its leader who is granted the Chaos Pact rank of Astdevim (the Galactic equivalent of Captain). Using perfect co-ordination and teamwork the Wolf Pack subverts the Pact's doctrine of overwhelming numbers and are often forced into situations where they are outnumbered. Their main tactic in combat is using their massive firepower to suppress enemy positions before overwhelming them through a frighteningly swift shock assault.
During their missions, they often act as the first-in troops to demolish vital defensive positions to allow the rest of the army to flood through or as a desperate last reserve to prevent an enemy breakthrough. They work best when coordinating with the rank and file, able to draw away enemy fire and cover infantry advances, but are capable of acting alone when striking surgical targets behind enemy lines.
Death Brigadiers, apart from their duty as elite shock troops, also act as bodyguards for important Pact personnel and locations due to their high reliability even compared to the already drilled and disciplined typical Pact Rifleman.
- Force Abilities (Force User Units Only): N/A
- Armored: Wearing their infamous Wolfsbane Heavy Armor they can withstand all but the heaviest of enemy fire, allowing them to take risks that no other elite unit save maybe the Mandalorian shock troopers. It is a severe detriment of morale to all but the most disciplined soldiers to see their heavy blasters not even scratch a Death Brigadier's plating.
- Tactics: Though their method may appear brutish, they are anything but. Any movement that a Death Brigadier makes is perfectly coordinated and in sync with their comrades. They never leave blind spots or openings in their formation for the enemy to exploit all while exterminating their enemy with precision in the form of firepower.
- Firepower: An individual Wolf-Pack is roughly equivalent to a platoon size yet carries the firepower of a battalion that allows them to demolish virtually everything in their path. Many wield vehicular weapons that have been modified for infantry use, able to do so due to the enhanced strength granted to them by their Wolfsbane Heavy Armor. To face a Wolf-pack firepower firsthand has been described by victims to be akin to a horizontal storm deluge, albeit one where ammunition replaces raindrops.
- Replacement: the loss of a Death Brigadier echos through their Wolf-Pack. As a result of the bonds and traditions, their position within the unit will never be filled again. This has resulted in Wolf Packs gradually being whittled down and being unable to be reinforced until only a single surviving member. These lone wolfs become voluntary exiles from the Chaos Pact, leaving to search the Galaxy for a death that will truly honor the Pact and their fallen kin.
- Numbers: While multiple Wolf-Packs can be deployed at once, it is a rare occurrence with the many battles that the Pact wages that necessitate the presence of the Death Brigades.
- Rivalry: Despite the best efforts of the Warmaster, it seems that the formerly friendly competition between Wolf-Packs has escalated in recent years into a fierce rivalry to prove themselves worthy. While it hasn't gotten to the level of active sabotage it has become a risk that placing two different Wolf-Packs on the same mission will result in attempts to almost adolescent showmanship and one-upmanship that could very well endanger the mission itself.
The Death Brigades owe their origin to the Stormtroopers, troops selected out of their peers to lead the way for shock assaults. During the brutal conquest of the Chaos Pact's homeworld of Herodor, these stormtroopers became feared by their foes for their ferocity and became likened to the apex predator that prowled the irradiated surface: the Skinwolves. The stormtroopers over time honed their skills and tactics until they became an official unit under the Warmaster's leadership during the final years of conquest. It was them that was responsible for seizing many of the final rebellious bastions that stood in the Chaos Pact's way.
One such fortress was Mount Etna which had withstood nearly a decade of siege by all but the Chaos Pact's heaviest weapons. It was built into an entire mountain range that bristled with weapon emplacements and meter-thick walls. It had already claimed the lives of millions of attackers. Yet it could not withstand the fury of the Stormtroopers as the Warmaster threw every single one against its walls where they died in droves. The bodies of the stormtroopers formed ramparts and choked sally-ports tet through sheer grit and tenacity, they conquered what had been thought for hundreds of years to be unconquerable.
What was left of the Stormtroopers from that fateful battle would be reformed. The Warmaster honored their sacrifice by granting them the title of The Death Brigades and gave them their blessing to don the sacred Wolfsbane Heavy Armor.
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