White Scars
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The White Scars were one of the First Founding Legions of Space Marines in the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000. They are inspired by the real-life Mongolian army. Known and feared throughout the Imperium for their highly mobile way of war, the White Scars are considered the masters of the lightning strike and hit-and-run attacks.
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[edit] History
[edit] Jaghatai Khan
Scattered across the galaxy along with the 20 other Primarchs, the child known as Jaghatai Khan was deposited on the fertile world of Chogoris. The inhabitants of Chogoris had achieved a blackpowder level of technology as of the Great Crusade, and most of the planet was under the rule of an organized aristocracy, led by a ruler known as the Palatine.
Jaghatai was discovered by Ong Khan, the leader of a small tribe known as the Talskars, who adopted the infant into his family, foreseeing that he would become a great warrior. Jaghatai’s adoptive family was later killed by another of the tribes inhabiting the steppes, the Kurayed. Already the greatest warrior in the Talskar tribe, despite his young age, Jaghatai led many warriors in vengeance. He razed the enemy village to the ground, killing every inhabitant, and took the chieftain’s head to mount above his tent.
Following this victory, Jaghatai became Khan of the Talskars, swearing to unite the tribes of the steppes and bring an end to the internecine war. Each tribe he defeated was integrated into the Talskar tribe, utilizing his military talents and the sheer force of his personality to win himself many followers. He made military service with his army mandatory, and combined warriors of various tribes into mixed units, to break up previous associations and to create a common loyalty.
Jaghatai's abilities enabled him to wield together a coalition of tribes to battle a Chaos cult whose power was spreading throughout the continent. In the final battle, he led ten thousand warriors on horseback in a gallant charge against the cultists and their crude cannons. Despite horrendous losses, the charge smashed the enemy. The tribesmen pursued the cultists, butchering every one of them as they tried to flee. Jaghatai went on to conquer most of the continent.
Ten years later, after having united the tribes of the region known as the ‘Empty Quarter’, Jaghatai was caught in an avalanche. He was discovered by the son of the Palatine, who like many nobles had taken to the sport of capturing a tribesman and hunting him through the mountains. The exact course of events is unknown, but it was said that a single man of the hunting party returned, bearing the head of the Palatine’s son along with a message. “The people of the steppes are yours no longer.”
The enraged Palatine gathered his army and marched west, to engage the wild tribesmen in combat, but was soundly defeated in a battle that lasted a day and a night. Heavily armored, and accustomed to decisive hand to hand combat, the Palatine’s army was no match for the light cavalry and relentless bowfire of Jaghatai’s forces. The Palatine barely escaped, but was eventually killed as Jaghatai’s army flowed into the lands once held by the aristocracy, either conquering or destroying everything in their path. Jaghatai’s power now encompassed the planet’s lone continent, an empire forged in less than twenty years.
[edit] The Coming of the Emperor
Jaghatai’s campaign ended less than six months before the Emperor of Mankind came to Chogoris. Recognizing the Emperor as a man who embodied his ideal of unity, the Primarch swore his fealty to his father, and was granted leadership of the Fifth Space Marine Legion in return.
The Legion was quick to adopt the long honor scars of the Talskar tribesmen, and renamed themselves the White Scars. Many of Jaghatai’s army chose to follow their leader, becoming the first generation of Space Marines recruited from their new homeworld.
[edit] Crusade and Heresy
The lightning fast style of warfare that served Jaghatai Khan so well on the steppes of his homeworld proved to be equally effective on the many battlefields of the Great Crusade; the White Scars becoming involved in some of the bloodiest battles of the time. Khan and Russ were said to be the best of brothers and when these two Primarchs joined forces they were unstoppable.
Their legend grew with the events of the Horus Heresy, the White Scars fighting on hundreds of worlds against the traitorous forces of Chaos. It is known that much of the Legion, including its Primarch, was present during the siege of the Emperor’s Palace on Terra. It was said that he and his men fought many of the chaos marines that tried to retreat to space ports and flee.
Jaghatai fought alongside his brethren for another seventy years, eventually disappearing into a region of space known as the Maelstrom. He is believed to have been in pursuit of the Dark Eldar responsible for attacking his home world during the Great Crusade, and has not been seen since.
[edit] Homeworld
Chogoris is a fertile world that still exists in a semi-feudal state. When Jaghatai Khan departed the unified nation he created dissolved back into the feuding tribes that had existed before his arrival. This was believed by some to be the intention of the Primarch, ensuring that his Legion would have a supply of strong recruits in the future.
The White Scars Chapter is based in the palace of Quan Zhou, which is located at the peak of the highest mountain on the planet. The Stormseers of the White Scars venture down to the steppes every ten local years, observing the tribes at combat, and taking the best of the young warriors to become Space Marines.
[edit] Inspiration
Jaghatai Khan is inspired by the actual historical character of Genghis Khan (Temüjin) and some Turkic-Hunnic legends. The name Jaghatai means "white one" and "energetic one" in Mongolian and Turkish, and this name is still popular in Turkic countries. Rather than the western portrayal of the Khan as a bloodthirsty conqueror, he is more in line with how he is seen in Mongolia - a benevolent leader and master tactician.
[edit] Organization
The predominant unit of organization among the people of the steppes is the tribe, a fact reflected in the organization of the White Scars Chapter. Once a young warrior is selected from the feuding tribes of the steppes, loyalty to his tribe is replaced by loyalty to the Chapter and the Emperor.
As their Primarch did during his campaign to unite the steppes, recruits from different tribes are mixed together in squads. Each Squad becomes part of a Brotherhood, roughly equivalent to a standard Company.
The remainder of the Chapter is organized differently from most Codex Astartes chapters, due to the style of warfare favored by the Chapter.
[edit] Combat Doctrine
The method of war taught to the tribes by Jaghatai Khan has served the White Scars well in the following millennia. Their modus operandi consists of lightning fast hit and run attacks by highly mobile forces, destroying the enemy piece by piece and never allowing the enemy to force a decisive engagement. In Epic 40,000, GW games designer Gav Thorpe gave them an experimental rule allowing them to make a retreat move at any time, which would enable them to make hit-and-run attacks.
The White Scars make heavy use of attack bikes, Land Speeders, and jump pack equipped Assault Squads to harass the enemy, and hit them when they are weakest. Although preferring to keep the foe at arms length, they are fully capable of engaging in bloody assaults, and are rightly feared by the enemies of the Imperium.
Being a very mobile force, they have a higher proportion of Bike squads and Land Speeder squadrons than other Chapters. Known as the "born in a saddle" rule, that means that every White Scars marine will not take to battle on foot and must have some mechanized deployment to the battlefield, either by Jump Packs (for their Assault Marines), Bike, Rhino, Razorback, Land Raider, Thunderhawk Gunship, or Drop Pods.[1] Their combat doctrine is to deliver their forces with a single swift blow against the enemy; thus if drop pods are used in Epic Armageddon, the entire army must deploy in them in order to avoid the possibility of parts of the force arriving in reserves.
Also, the majority of heavy weapons are frowned upon, and any tank that cannot keep up with the rest of the army is avoided. For instance, they have no Devastator squads, and their Predators may not carry sponson weapons. The White Scars also do not field any Dreadnoughts, not only because of the slowness of these vehicles, but also because each Marine does not want to remain past the point of being mortally wounded to be entombed in a Dreadnought sarcophagus. White Dwarf editor Paul "Fat Bloke" Sawyer did use two dreadnoughts in a White Scars versus Chaos battle in a 1998 Warhammer 40,000 battle report, at the time when the army list was not as well-developed, but later admitted that they were out of place. A 1993 Games Workshop brochure for the Space Marines showcased a 1000 point White Scars force (Marine Commander, 10 Assault Marines with jump packs, 10 Devastators with 2 heavy bolters and 2 missile launchers, and 5 scouts). With the Scouts due past to report on a possible Genestealer infestation in the town, their Assault Marines using their jump packs to quickly move into close combat with Genestealers and buy time for the Scouts to escape. The Assault Marines did not stay in melee too long, as they quickly whirled away just as a volley of frag missiles from the Devastators exploded into the tightly packed Genestealers.
Overall, White Scars are considered powerful in assaults, but lacking units with staying power such as heavy weapons and Dreadnoughts means that their detachments are more fragile if not used at an appropriate moment.
[edit] Battlecry
"For the Khan and the Emperor!"
[edit] Appearance
White Scars power amour is predominantly white, with red trim. This has only varied slightly since the Pre-Heresy days of the Legion. The White Scars chapter symbol is a stylized red thunderbolt with a horizontal yellow bar behind it, exemplifying their style of combat and echoing the honor scars all members of this Chapter bear.
Members of the scout company are permitted to wear the thunderbolt on their shoulder pads, but an obscure piece of Chapter law states they may not have the horizontal bar, an honour only given to full Marines.
[edit] References
- Cook, Chris & Haines, Pete (2002). Index Astartes, Lightning Attack, pgs 40-47, Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-180-X.
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