Primarch's Name: Kthuln
Homeworld: Ahne
Background: Fighter
Psychic Potential: Fair
Gene-seed: Stable
Talent: Berzerker
Legio II: Jaws of the Deep
Colors: Blue-Green, Sea-Grean
Battle Cry: Death and Glory!
Primarch History
When the twenty sons of the Emperor were scattered across the galaxy, the second primarch would come to land on the world of Ahne. The world of Ahne was primarily made up of primordial oceans with many islands and archipelagos but no major landmasses.
Unlike his brothers, the second primarch was not discovered and raised by humans, but instead grew up alone along the sea, nearly-feral, surviving by force of will, savage hunger, and fierce cunning. The influence of the warp on the young primarch was easily seen in his appearance with his sharp angular features, lack of hair, black eyes, thin lips, and too-wide mouth full of rows of sharp teeth.
With such an appearance and savage nature, it was not surprising that the primitive human tribesmen of the nearby islands began to revere the second primarch as a living incarnation of their shark god Kthuln. Through a combination of animal and human sacrifices the tribesmen coaxed their new found deity into communicating with them and soon the primarch adopted the role and name of the tribal shark god Kthuln.
As the living god of his people Kthuln lead them in bloody warfare against their neighbors and rivals, conquering each in turn and exulting in cannibalism, blood rites and human sacrifice as his due.
In conquering the tribal peoples Kthuln became aware of the Stone People, a feudal civilization utilizing stone fortresses and gunpowder to dominate the many less-advanced island tribes. Enraged at the assumed superiority and condescension of the Stone People and hungry for total dominance over all the people of Ahne Kthuln lead the now unified tribes to war against the Stone People.
The Stone People were far more advanced than the tribals, but the sheer number of cult warriors, Kthuln's natural cunning, and savage determination meant that the outcome was never in doubt. A decade of bloodshed, massacres, and atrocities defined the fall of the Stone People before Kthuln's horde. The conquest raised the basic understanding of Kthuln's people with better sailing vessels and gunpowder weapons but ended literacy and high culture on the surface in favor of the violent and savage practices of Kthuln worship.
With this new victory, Kthuln was once again surprised that his dominance over Ahne was not complete. A third and heretofore secret civilization dwelt beneath the seas of Ahne and had manipulated the Stone People for their own purposes - mainly for food production.
Not understanding that the Sea Dwellers were simply a technologically adept civilization of humans, Kthuln saw them as interlopers and rivals for his position as the Sea God of Ahne. Again, Kthuln swore to conquer this new foe, even in the face of his inability to reach them with his army. That is until a group of his warriors discovered the automated transport pods inside many temples of the defeated Stone People. These pods had been programmed to deliver food shipments to the Sea Dwellers' underwater habitats and return without human crews or remote control.
Ignorant of technology but recognizing opportunity Kthuln filled as many pods as could be found with his warriors and attacked the Sea Dwellers without warning. The Kthulnite invasion was horrifyingly bloody as the warriors of the would-be Shark God rampaged through pressurized habitats, battling desperate security forces armed with autoguns. Accidents and ignorance killed more than the actual fighting which carried on until the Sea Dwellers and Kthuln were at an impasse. The Sea Dwellers could not kill Kthuln or conquer the surface and Kthuln lacked the means to reinforce his depleted ranks.
So a tentative agreement was made where the Sea Dwellers recognized Kthuln as the "Great Sea God" and would pay him tribute in return for autonomy and food shipments.
Not fully victorious but satisfied for the moment, Kthuln returned to the surface to find the sky filled with great flying vessels and armored warriors conquering his capital. Before he could intervene, Kthuln was subdued by a force golden-armored giants who dragged him before their leader in chains. Gazing upon the giant, Kthuln recognized a power greater than his own but refused to submit, spitting upon the figure Kthuln defiantly declared that as the Bloody Shark God of the Sea, he would eat the Golden One's heart.
The golden giant's only response before Kthuln was engulfed in white light was, as Kthuln understood it, "Son, I am disappoint."
Kthuln woke some unknown time later in the medicae chamber of an Imperial vessel orbiting Ahne. That he knew these words and their meaning was confusing until more understanding filled his mind - his capture by Custodes and confrontation with the Emperor. His psychic and neuro-synaptic education and civilization. His failure and ignorance. The Imperial Truth.
The sheer magnitude of everything drove the Primarch to his knees. How long he lay with his face on the deck he could not say, but when he looked up he found his father, the Emperor of Mankind, waiting for him with his hand out.
The Emperor promised that Kthuln could redeem himself in service to mankind and his talents could be put to use in service to the Imperium if he would take his hand. Kthuln took his father's offer and pulled himself to his feet.
Kthuln was instructed further by Iterators before the arrival of Constantine Valdor, leader of the Custodians, who took Kthuln and the Second Legion under his tutelage as part of the 43rd Expeditionary Fleet.
While with Valdor, Kthuln learned much of warfare and renamed his legion the Jaws of the Deep as a reminder of his past.
Legion Organization
Despite the influence of the Emperor on Kthuln, he is still very much a product of his upbringing and he has passed that influence on to his Legion. Instead of 100 marine companies, the Legion is divided into 1000 strong "dynasties" named after their commanding officers at the time he took command of the legion. Each dynasty was encouraged to develop its own unique decorations and heraldry as part of the Legion's overall culture.
Combat Doctrine
The Jaws of the Deep are an assault formation and were so even before reuniting with Kthuln. The Jaws favor close-quarters combat wherever it is practical and possible, preferring chainblades of every variety over power weapons where possible. Unlike the other assault legions, the Jaws of the deep make use of very few jump packs, preferring to assault on foot or mounted in vehicles.
A special capability of the Jaws of the Deep that appeared after Kthuln's return was the ability and know-how to perform true marine invasions. All power armor and vehicles of the Second Legion are modified for full submergence in water and it is a special strategy of the legion to deploy their forces off shore, in rivers, lakes, and bogs only to emerge from the waters ant attack without warning.
This knack for amphibious warfare has been modified to serve in the void of space where the Jaws are equally well versed and known for boarding enemy vessels and taking them from within.
Legion Beliefs and Practices
Even divorced from Ahne and its populace Kthuln has introduced a number of cultural features. Armor decoration of the Jaws is universal, with each marine's power armor covered in geometric patterns and stylized representations of sea life. Helms often feature crests painted with sea scenes or to resemble feathers or teeth.
Where other chapters carry banners and flags, the Jaws instead wear sashes and loin clothes to designate their squad and dynasty affiliations.
The decorations of the second legion do not stop at their armor but extends to their bodies with extensive tattooing and ritual branding of complex tribal patterns on the body and face of each marine. Each tattoo and brand are to indicate not only rank and specialization but achievements and victories on the battlefield. Tattoos and brands are even done on the sides of the head where here is removed with a laser, leaving only a strip of hair along the top of the head, which is braided tightly along the scalp, worn in knots or held up with clips.
As the dynasties of the Jaws of the Deep go into battle, each of the astartes takes part in the War Chant, a ritual from the tribesmen of Ahne that Kthuln resurrected shortly after taking over his legion. Broadcast over all vox frequencies and from voxcasters, the astartes bellow out the rhythmic verses of the chant over and over while in their drop pods and gunships. The meaning of the words has never been shared with any outsiders, but the intent of it is clear. The effect on the enemies of Man is equally clear for many are the times that foes have lost their nerve to fight and fled before the Jaws have even taken to the field.
Recruitment and Flaws
The recruitment practices of the Jaws of the Deep is centered on gathering war orphans from conquered human worlds and prisoners or their offspring from Imperial prisons and penal colonies - though any world of sufficiently harsh condition or violent populace will do. Recruits are then subjected to intense psycho-indoctrination where the culture of the legion is driven into their minds. All through training the recruits and initiates will be assaulted with cultural assimilation methods until they no longer identify with anything but the legion's own culture.
The variety of recruitment sources continues a tradition of diversity among the Legionaries. The Terran members of the second legion when it was formed were gathered from the populace of the Yndonesic Bloc and included members of ethnic groups from the Han to Neguineans.
The gene-seed of the Jaws of the Deep is stable and not prone to mutation - though a serious tendency towards berzerker rages is noted in the Primarch and his astartes. All organs are normal and functional save the Belcher's Gland which, at some point after Kthuln took command, has become deformed. Astartes of Jaws of the Deep Legion are unable to spit poison or acid as others can, instead the deformation of the Gland has become connected to the circulatory and lymph system of the marine. Over time the space marines of the second legion develop blood and skin secretions that incredibly toxic to those outside Kthuln's bloodline, but utterly benign to those within it.
Homeworld: Ahne
Background: Fighter
Psychic Potential: Fair
Gene-seed: Stable
Talent: Berzerker
Legio II: Jaws of the Deep
Colors: Blue-Green, Sea-Grean
Battle Cry: Death and Glory!
Primarch History
When the twenty sons of the Emperor were scattered across the galaxy, the second primarch would come to land on the world of Ahne. The world of Ahne was primarily made up of primordial oceans with many islands and archipelagos but no major landmasses.
Unlike his brothers, the second primarch was not discovered and raised by humans, but instead grew up alone along the sea, nearly-feral, surviving by force of will, savage hunger, and fierce cunning. The influence of the warp on the young primarch was easily seen in his appearance with his sharp angular features, lack of hair, black eyes, thin lips, and too-wide mouth full of rows of sharp teeth.
With such an appearance and savage nature, it was not surprising that the primitive human tribesmen of the nearby islands began to revere the second primarch as a living incarnation of their shark god Kthuln. Through a combination of animal and human sacrifices the tribesmen coaxed their new found deity into communicating with them and soon the primarch adopted the role and name of the tribal shark god Kthuln.
As the living god of his people Kthuln lead them in bloody warfare against their neighbors and rivals, conquering each in turn and exulting in cannibalism, blood rites and human sacrifice as his due.
In conquering the tribal peoples Kthuln became aware of the Stone People, a feudal civilization utilizing stone fortresses and gunpowder to dominate the many less-advanced island tribes. Enraged at the assumed superiority and condescension of the Stone People and hungry for total dominance over all the people of Ahne Kthuln lead the now unified tribes to war against the Stone People.
The Stone People were far more advanced than the tribals, but the sheer number of cult warriors, Kthuln's natural cunning, and savage determination meant that the outcome was never in doubt. A decade of bloodshed, massacres, and atrocities defined the fall of the Stone People before Kthuln's horde. The conquest raised the basic understanding of Kthuln's people with better sailing vessels and gunpowder weapons but ended literacy and high culture on the surface in favor of the violent and savage practices of Kthuln worship.
With this new victory, Kthuln was once again surprised that his dominance over Ahne was not complete. A third and heretofore secret civilization dwelt beneath the seas of Ahne and had manipulated the Stone People for their own purposes - mainly for food production.
Not understanding that the Sea Dwellers were simply a technologically adept civilization of humans, Kthuln saw them as interlopers and rivals for his position as the Sea God of Ahne. Again, Kthuln swore to conquer this new foe, even in the face of his inability to reach them with his army. That is until a group of his warriors discovered the automated transport pods inside many temples of the defeated Stone People. These pods had been programmed to deliver food shipments to the Sea Dwellers' underwater habitats and return without human crews or remote control.
Ignorant of technology but recognizing opportunity Kthuln filled as many pods as could be found with his warriors and attacked the Sea Dwellers without warning. The Kthulnite invasion was horrifyingly bloody as the warriors of the would-be Shark God rampaged through pressurized habitats, battling desperate security forces armed with autoguns. Accidents and ignorance killed more than the actual fighting which carried on until the Sea Dwellers and Kthuln were at an impasse. The Sea Dwellers could not kill Kthuln or conquer the surface and Kthuln lacked the means to reinforce his depleted ranks.
So a tentative agreement was made where the Sea Dwellers recognized Kthuln as the "Great Sea God" and would pay him tribute in return for autonomy and food shipments.
Not fully victorious but satisfied for the moment, Kthuln returned to the surface to find the sky filled with great flying vessels and armored warriors conquering his capital. Before he could intervene, Kthuln was subdued by a force golden-armored giants who dragged him before their leader in chains. Gazing upon the giant, Kthuln recognized a power greater than his own but refused to submit, spitting upon the figure Kthuln defiantly declared that as the Bloody Shark God of the Sea, he would eat the Golden One's heart.
The golden giant's only response before Kthuln was engulfed in white light was, as Kthuln understood it, "Son, I am disappoint."
Kthuln woke some unknown time later in the medicae chamber of an Imperial vessel orbiting Ahne. That he knew these words and their meaning was confusing until more understanding filled his mind - his capture by Custodes and confrontation with the Emperor. His psychic and neuro-synaptic education and civilization. His failure and ignorance. The Imperial Truth.
The sheer magnitude of everything drove the Primarch to his knees. How long he lay with his face on the deck he could not say, but when he looked up he found his father, the Emperor of Mankind, waiting for him with his hand out.
The Emperor promised that Kthuln could redeem himself in service to mankind and his talents could be put to use in service to the Imperium if he would take his hand. Kthuln took his father's offer and pulled himself to his feet.
Kthuln was instructed further by Iterators before the arrival of Constantine Valdor, leader of the Custodians, who took Kthuln and the Second Legion under his tutelage as part of the 43rd Expeditionary Fleet.
While with Valdor, Kthuln learned much of warfare and renamed his legion the Jaws of the Deep as a reminder of his past.
Legion Organization
Despite the influence of the Emperor on Kthuln, he is still very much a product of his upbringing and he has passed that influence on to his Legion. Instead of 100 marine companies, the Legion is divided into 1000 strong "dynasties" named after their commanding officers at the time he took command of the legion. Each dynasty was encouraged to develop its own unique decorations and heraldry as part of the Legion's overall culture.
Combat Doctrine
The Jaws of the Deep are an assault formation and were so even before reuniting with Kthuln. The Jaws favor close-quarters combat wherever it is practical and possible, preferring chainblades of every variety over power weapons where possible. Unlike the other assault legions, the Jaws of the deep make use of very few jump packs, preferring to assault on foot or mounted in vehicles.
A special capability of the Jaws of the Deep that appeared after Kthuln's return was the ability and know-how to perform true marine invasions. All power armor and vehicles of the Second Legion are modified for full submergence in water and it is a special strategy of the legion to deploy their forces off shore, in rivers, lakes, and bogs only to emerge from the waters ant attack without warning.
This knack for amphibious warfare has been modified to serve in the void of space where the Jaws are equally well versed and known for boarding enemy vessels and taking them from within.
Legion Beliefs and Practices
Even divorced from Ahne and its populace Kthuln has introduced a number of cultural features. Armor decoration of the Jaws is universal, with each marine's power armor covered in geometric patterns and stylized representations of sea life. Helms often feature crests painted with sea scenes or to resemble feathers or teeth.
Where other chapters carry banners and flags, the Jaws instead wear sashes and loin clothes to designate their squad and dynasty affiliations.
The decorations of the second legion do not stop at their armor but extends to their bodies with extensive tattooing and ritual branding of complex tribal patterns on the body and face of each marine. Each tattoo and brand are to indicate not only rank and specialization but achievements and victories on the battlefield. Tattoos and brands are even done on the sides of the head where here is removed with a laser, leaving only a strip of hair along the top of the head, which is braided tightly along the scalp, worn in knots or held up with clips.
As the dynasties of the Jaws of the Deep go into battle, each of the astartes takes part in the War Chant, a ritual from the tribesmen of Ahne that Kthuln resurrected shortly after taking over his legion. Broadcast over all vox frequencies and from voxcasters, the astartes bellow out the rhythmic verses of the chant over and over while in their drop pods and gunships. The meaning of the words has never been shared with any outsiders, but the intent of it is clear. The effect on the enemies of Man is equally clear for many are the times that foes have lost their nerve to fight and fled before the Jaws have even taken to the field.
Recruitment and Flaws
The recruitment practices of the Jaws of the Deep is centered on gathering war orphans from conquered human worlds and prisoners or their offspring from Imperial prisons and penal colonies - though any world of sufficiently harsh condition or violent populace will do. Recruits are then subjected to intense psycho-indoctrination where the culture of the legion is driven into their minds. All through training the recruits and initiates will be assaulted with cultural assimilation methods until they no longer identify with anything but the legion's own culture.
The variety of recruitment sources continues a tradition of diversity among the Legionaries. The Terran members of the second legion when it was formed were gathered from the populace of the Yndonesic Bloc and included members of ethnic groups from the Han to Neguineans.
The gene-seed of the Jaws of the Deep is stable and not prone to mutation - though a serious tendency towards berzerker rages is noted in the Primarch and his astartes. All organs are normal and functional save the Belcher's Gland which, at some point after Kthuln took command, has become deformed. Astartes of Jaws of the Deep Legion are unable to spit poison or acid as others can, instead the deformation of the Gland has become connected to the circulatory and lymph system of the marine. Over time the space marines of the second legion develop blood and skin secretions that incredibly toxic to those outside Kthuln's bloodline, but utterly benign to those within it.
Flagship of the Second Legion, Jaws of the Deep
Gloriana-Pattern battleship "LEVIATHAN", like the Second Legion it had no preceeding name as the Primarch and Legion were united very early in the Great Crusade. Kthuln was able to oversee the final outfitting of the vessel at the Martian shipyards before it was launched and his influences are clear in LEVIATHAN's features.
An important detail to note for remembrancers and personnel outside of the Second Legion, the flagship is always denoted in all capital letters at the command of Kthuln. Perhaps it is a result of his mental conditioning and forced socialization, but it is how the primarch named the vessel and failing to heed that edict can be described as 'ill-advised'.
Gloriana-Pattern battleship "LEVIATHAN", like the Second Legion it had no preceeding name as the Primarch and Legion were united very early in the Great Crusade. Kthuln was able to oversee the final outfitting of the vessel at the Martian shipyards before it was launched and his influences are clear in LEVIATHAN's features.
An important detail to note for remembrancers and personnel outside of the Second Legion, the flagship is always denoted in all capital letters at the command of Kthuln. Perhaps it is a result of his mental conditioning and forced socialization, but it is how the primarch named the vessel and failing to heed that edict can be described as 'ill-advised'.
During Heresy
Assigned
by the Council of Terra to fight against the Gargoyles, the Jaws are engaged in
a lengthy, brutal campaign of mutual extermination. Frustrated at his inability
to bring the sons of Angelus to a decisive battle, Kthuln ordered the splitting
of the Legion into “packs” to be able to act independently, and to emulate the
shark “feeding frenzy” as multiple packs would converge on the Gargoyles fleet
once its main body is discovered.
Already
a Legion struggling with their savage nature through an institution of a rigid,
all-encompassing code of honor, the Jaws found themselves without guidance from
their Primarch as each pack operated with increased independence. Their
engagements became more brutal, more reckless, caring little for collateral
damage. In time, many Dynasties began to equate savagery with success, with some
outright reverting to barely remembered tribal beliefs from Ahne about the
Great Shark God, seeing Kthuln as an avatar of slaughter and a worthy object of
worship. Minor at first, these deviations became widespread, inviting
corruption even as the Jaws’ fleet spread out across the entire expanse of
campaign against the Gargoyles.
While
this tactic led to a number of successes in minor engagements, the main
Gargoyles force remained unassailable, and only an alliance with the enigmatic
alien Eldar allowed the Jaws to force the Fourteenth Legion to battle.
Unfortunately, just as the combined Jaws/Eldar force routed the Gargoyles, the
Council reinforcements had arrived in the form of Hellhounds, led by viciously
xenophobic Griven Kall. Incensed at Kthuln’s alliance of convenience with the
hated xenos, the Fifteenth Primarch confronted his brother aboard the LEVIATHAN. The confrontation was quick;
though Griven Kall was an accomplished warrior, Kthuln was a peerless fighter
among the Primarchs, and stopped just short of ending his brother’s life in a
moment of lucidity as he recalled the code of honor he fought so hard to
institute.
As
Kthuln brooded over his inability to keep his violent temper in check, a
delegation of his captains and commanders called for a great celebration of the
Legion’s victory over the Gargoyles. Though the celebration started as a rather
standard Legion event, it quickly became a ceremony of adoration for the Great
Shark God of Ahne. When Kthuln arrived, he was greeted not by dignified Space
Marines, but by a throng of nearly naked fanatics with bodies painted in blood
of captured Gargoyles, chanting his name as a holy sacrament. Already on the
edge, the Second Primarch recalled his days of being worshipped as a god before
his discovery in the distant seas of Ahne, the shame he felt at the hands of
the Emperor, the disrespect of Griven Kall who would spit in his face even
after a great victory. With his hands raised in benediction, Kthuln roared his
name into the feasting hall of the LEVIATHAN,
finally taking the mantle of a god he was born to be.
For
the rest of the Heresy, the Jaws of the Deep became a marauding force no longer
recognizing allegiance to either the Council of Terra or to their enemies.
After fighting off attacks from vengeful Griven Kall’s Hellhounds, the Legion
adopted a siege mentality. Anything and anyone not bearing Kthuln’s gene-seed
was to be considered an enemy, or, worse, a prey. With Griven Kall openly
declaring for Iskanderos and Gargoyles an unreliable force at best, the rebels
were content to let the Jaws of the Deep continue their rampages in the
galactic north, at least for a time being, where the Second Legion proved to be
as dangerous to the Council holdings as it once did to the rebels.
Post-Heresy
The
Jaws of the Deep did not remain a unified Legion after the end of the civil
war. Already divided into Dynasties and hunting packs, it was easy for the
Second Legion to fracture into hundreds of warbands led by enterprising
captains and lieutenants. The nature of these warbands varies – some are highly
reminiscent of the Legion prior to its corruption and maintain strict
discipline, chain of command, and recruitment practices; others might be nearly
feral, kept together only by the promise of future bloodshed.
The
Second Legion never had any interest in ruling the worlds it had conquered, and
though the cultural practices of Ahne created a link between that planet and
the Legion, the Jaws after the Fall of Terra remained a wandering Legion, or,
more accurately, a collection of warbands that paid nominal allegiance to their
mutual bloodline, but were as likely to fight each other as they were any
external enemies. To this day, there are certain areas in the galaxy where the
Remnant and even their Chaos-sworn enemies dare not go – entire sectors full of
primitive worlds where fur-clad savages battle each other to prove their worth
as potential recruits, where the space lanes are prowled by silent yet deadly
predators not interested in plunder or honor, and where only the sons of Kthuln
may hope to pass uncontested. It is wrong to think of these sectors as kingdoms
or would-be empires, as there is little to no effective government there, and
the Jaws of the Deep are merely another natural hazard (though by far the most
dangerous one) for the unwary spacefarers.
On
more than one occasion, the forces of Griven Kall attempted to venture forth
into the galactic north in order to finish the millennia-old rivalry. Each
attempt ended in failure, for the Jaws were too decentralized to give the
Hellhounds a proper decisive battle, while whittling down the rival Chaos
forces with sudden attacks and ambushes likened to feeding frenzies. Without a
home base or a central world whose capture or destruction would have an impact
on the Legion’s fighting spirit, the sons of Kthuln remain impervious to
conventional tactics of conquest.
It
is not clear when the worship of Kthuln as the Great Shark God became
intertwined with the worship of Khorne, however, most Jaws equate the two, and
see the Great Shark God as a physical avatar of the Blood God, an example of
warrior perfection unbound by morality or by dictates of lesser beings. In the
minds of the Second Legion, Kthuln and the Blood God are aspects of the same
being, and the only way to please both is to bring them blood sacrifices won in
battle.
Kthuln
himself has become simultaneously more and less than his previous incarnation.
Those wise in the ways of the Warp whisper that he is now more immaterial than
flesh, a creature of the Empyrean akin to daemon princes of the Blood God. To
say this to a warrior of the Jaws would invite death, however, for no Second
Legionnaire would ever admit that their Primarch is something as comprehensible
as a daemon. If Kthuln himself has any say on the matter, the history does not
record it, for he only appears at the head of his warriors, rising from the
oceanic depths on doomed worlds, to bring ruin and despair, never seeking to
conquer but only to destroy.
No comments:
Post a Comment