Militarum Tempestus



"Death is not failure, for even death can bring glory. Fear is not failure, for fear can be conquered. They only known failure is to ignore orders, for even a slight hesitation in following them brings an ignoble end"

- Liber Progenium, Volume 1

The Ordo Tempestus, also known as Militarum Tempestus is amongst the most rigidly codified of all Imperial organisations, for its men form the backbone of the Astra Militarum. Though the ordo is technically a sub-faction governed by the Adeptus Administratum, it enjoys a far greater amount of autonomy than the regiments that often fight alongside it. The ordo's ranks are primarily comprised of Commissars and Tempestus Scions, though they have often included specialist factions mysteriously absent from Imperial records. In every theatre of war across the galaxy, the ordo's men work alongside the incalculable might of the Astra Militarum, their elite training complementing the sheer manpower of the Imperial Guard.

If the ordo provides the rigid skeleton of discipline that holds the Astra Militarum together, it is the Commissars who are the minds of the operation. The Officio Prefectus governs and controls the regiments of Tempestus Scions and Imperial Guardsmen alike, ensuring that their military force is put to the right use in the Emperor's name. All Commissars are trusted to improvise new orders on the battlefield, a rare privilege in the rigidly controlled structure of the Imperial war machine. But it is only the most senior of their number, known as Lord Commissars, who are truly independent. They are warriors of great personal charisma, and they will often inspire the men by leading from the front rather than from behind the barrel of a bolt pistol.

The Tempestus Scions do not form the main body of the Astra Militarum, for that duty falls to the regular Imperial Guardsmen. Instead they can be likened to a knife, a thrusting point of lethal force that is applied with shocking speed into the foes's weakest point. Many a grinding war of attrition or extended campaign has been brought to a dramatic close by a strike force of Tempestus Scions. More often than not their insertion, mission completion and extraction parameters are all accomplished on the same day.

Notable Campaigns
Military campaigns documented in Imperial records are outnumbered by those lost under the weight of history. Many of these conflicts have involved the Ordo Tempestus something overtly, but more frequently under a shroud of secrecy. The records of the most glorious of these wars are relayed to each Schola Progenium as lesson on what it means to be a Tempestus warrior.
 * The Macharian Conquests (392.M41) - During seven bloody years spent purging the western reaches of the galaxy, Lord Solar Macharius unites the Astra Militarum and the Officio Prefectus in order to reconquer a thousands worlds.
 * The First War for Armageddon (444.M41) - The vital world of Armageddon is invaded by Angron and his maniacal hordes. It takes the combined might of the Astra Militarum, the Ordo Tempestus, the Space Wolves and the Grey Knights to hurl the Daemon Primarch back into the Warp. Though Armageddon is saved from utter destruction, millions of Imperial Guardsman and Tempestus Scions are killed in the process. In the war's aftermath. the Inquisition employ drastic measures to contain the knowledge of the daemonic forces involved. Dozens of Imperial Guard regiments are subjected to mass sterilisation and confined to Imperial labour camps, and in the months of shame that follow, the Space Wolves and the Grey Knights come into conflict, whilst entire planets are subjected to the ultimate sanction in order to prevent the truth spreading into the Imperium at large. Even the luminaries of Segmentum Command are not immune from the subsequent scouring -- they are executed to a man by their own Commissar advisors, who upon their return to the Officio Prefectus submit themselves for extensive mindwipe protocols. Such us the fate of those who have learned of the horrors of the Warp and survived.
 * The Sabbat Worlds Crusade (755.M41) - In the most extensive military campaign waged by the Astra Militarum since the time of Solar Macharius, the Sabbat Worlds Crusade reclaims dozens of worlds lost to the worship of the Ruinous Powers. At the forefront of the war effort was Commissar Ibram Gaunt and the light infantry regiment under his command, the Tanith First and Only.
 * The Lost Patrol (853.M41) - When an Eldar raid is repelled at great cost on the recently settled world of New Starhaven, the 47th Thetoid Dragons, having successfully engaged the Eldar command structure and survived, are given new orders to prosecute. Whist the Officio Prefectus assesses the devastated planet's orphans for new recruits, the Dragons pass through the rune-inscribed dolmens that have been uncovered behind the Lemuelian Falls. On the other side they find a series of shimmering tunnels that never seem to end. Several  harrowing days of full-alert march slide past, but the Scions proceed apace. They are finally forced to slow their march when they are assailed by capering Eldar in multicoloured costume, who bewilder them with holographic and hallucinogenic assaults before dancing in close to deal lethal blows. Eventually the Harlequins that have been tormenting the intruding Scions are forced to turn their attention to unknown events elsewhere, and lead the humourless humans in a running battle towards a rune-inscribed portal that opens out onto the surface of the planet Exsanguille. The Scions plunge through the gate, only to find themselves stranded upon a blood-covered crone world in the heart of the Eye of Terror. To their credit, the Dragons survive for a full two days before succumbing to the legions of Khorne that prowl that world.
 * The Prize Unclean (871.M41) - On the world of Orgal VI, a strange skin-plague billows through the population. Three squads of the 835th Psian Pegasi are despatched to rescue the Planetary Governor, Maas Dietral, from the plague and deliver him to the Adeptus Administratum for debrief. However, on penetrating the stained armourglass of Deitral's inner sanctum, the Pegasi find that their quarry is beset by cyclopean Daemons, his dwindling bodyguard fighting desperately to keep them at bay. The Pegasi waste no time in scouring the throne room of infestation, sending blistering volleys into each of Plaguebearers in turn and then using meltaguns to explosively evaporate the sludge-beasts that begin to rise from the palace's polluted indoor lakes. With typical efficiency, the Scions clamp a spare respmask over the governor's face and their medic begins to tend to his greivious injuries. After fitting the governor with his own grav-chute and reversing the repulsor fields, the Pegasi rocket skyward, reaching their Valkyrie transport and leaving the planet. By nightfall the Pegasi have delivered their prize to a beige-hulled spaceship of the Administratum, and depart for their next mission. However, during Deitral's extraction and interrogation, the Administratum Adepts' ship suffers a critical biohazard breach. The vessel is subject to immediate quarantine and, when the breach infests the entire ship, summary extermination by order of Sector Command.
 * Warmaster Brabastis' Triumph (931.M41)
 * The Tyger and the Bull (939.M41) - The 5th Betan Tygers scramble to defend the Ogryns of Drannon Prime from the massive Ork Waaagh! that descends upon it.
 * Stubborn Unto Death (939.M41) - On the Tau planet of Bork'an, the 196th Iotan Gryphonnes are deployed en masse. Their orders come in the form of a single short sentence from Lord Commissar Tilenus -- target the planet's academic facilities and kill as many of the Earth Caste there as possible. In the first few hours of the war, the Gryphonnes' Valkyrie borne attacks meet with great success. Earth caste teacher and student alike are gunned down in white-walled auditoriums and research facilities across the planet. However, Tau High Command cannot countenance the destruction of a whole generation of engineers and scientists and the Tau's counter-strike is terrible in its ferocity. Giant bipedal battlesuits prowl the colonnades, a number of hastily armed but deadly prototypes amongst their number. Each proves more than capable of annihilating the out-matched Scions, whose return fire does little but scorch their foes' iridium alloy armour. A flawless executed tactical withdrawal sees the Iotan Gryphonnes come within a hundred yards of their extraction point when Tilenus' repeat order chimes out across the vox-net once more. Uncomplaining, the Scions plunge back into the fight, a full half of their number giving their lives in order for their comrades to seek out any Earth caste stragglers. Unfortunately they are too late. The remainder of the Tau's robed scientists and students have already been evacuated by Manta gunships. The Tempestor Prime transmits his findings to Tilenus, but his request for extraction is denied. Over the next hour the Gryphonnes do as much damage to the Earth caste facilities as possible, concentrating fire on assembly lines and data cores even as they are hunted down and reduced to ash by chameleonic battlesuits.
 * The Second War for Armageddon (941.M41) - The selfishness and incompetence of Overlord von Strab sees the military forces of Armageddon buckle and break under the avalanche of violence that is Waaagh! Ghazghkull. Only the determination and steely charisma of Commissar Yarrick holds the Imperial armies together long enough for the Adeptus Astartes to repel the Ork invasion.
 * The Long Night (945.M41) - In the dead of night, Phrell's Schola Progenium is infiltrated and assailed by a strike force of Eldar of Craftworld Ulthwé. Only the quick thinking and tenacity of two of its brightest students, the Brothers Krassus, save a generation of recruits from pitiless execution.
 * Death on the Brawla (955.M41) - The 196th Omicroid Hydras are sent to intercept titanic Ork superkrooza Brawla. Augur reports have shown that the giant scrap-craft us heading straight for Macharia. If it continues on its projected course, it will not be able to slow down before breaching atmosphere, crashing into the scared world's surface and causing an extinction-level cataclysm in the process. The sleek drop-craft Mercurian drifts the last few thousand miles in order to evade detection before locking down in the shadow of the craft's towering finials. The Hydras drive out, their Taurox Primes forming up and gunning towards the stern of the enormous vessel. As Brawla 's engines come into view, the Scions disembark in tight formation, their mag-boots clamping to the underside of the spacefaring metal hulk with each exaggerated step. The troopers are less than a hundred feet from the engine arrays when several blinding flashes of blue-green light illuminate the entire strike force. The Scions drop into battle stances and raise their hot-shot lasguns as thirty heavily-armoured Orks appear from nowhere and clomp forward, exo-armour hissing steam. The Tempestor's plasma teams open fire, but to a man their weapons detonate in their hands, their ragged toros bleeding spheres of blood into the void. Guttural Orkish laughter rumbles across the comms-net as the Tempestus scions realise their boots are locked down tight -- according to their slate monitrons, the entire section of the ship is now crackling with a crude electromagnetic field. The ensuing firefight is terrible in its intensity. The Ork's crude weaponry takes a horrible toll on the crouching Tempestus Scions, even with the Taurox Primes hammering supporting fire into the greenskins' midst. Only a desperate vox signal from the Tempestor Prime saves them from total destruction, The drop-craft Mercurian stabs a series of pulsing, flickering lasers into the toroid copper structures on Brawla 's midsection, and a moment later the electromagnetic field rippling across the hull fizzes, spurts and shorts out. As if lifted by invisible hands, the Orks drift off the hull into space, roaring their denial and hammering the last of their ammunition into the Scions as they go. Several hit their mark, the carapace-clad bodies of Tempestus Scions spinning off after those of their foes. Despite this last desperate attack, there remain enough Scions to set several strings of melta charges across Brawla 's fuel silos. That night the people of Macharia witness a series of vast explosions as the ship detonates.
 * The Antinomican (975.M41) - Guided by a squad of Sanctioned Psykers, the 7th Epsiloid Hawks are deployed to hunt down and destroy a rogue psyker acting as a beacon for daemonic forces upon the megaship of Amphinyx.
 * The Metallophagic Plague (981.M41) - Myosan, a vital agri-world at the heart of the Diosis system, is saved from a planet-wide Necron incursion by the swift action of the 14th Alphic Dragons.
 * A Bitter Seed Planted (997.M41) - After learning of the increased Imperial tithe expected of him in the next year, the elderly Governor Mulian of Ulterior Prime dies of a heart attack. His son, a superb athlete, is soon recruited by the Schola Progenium stationed on the ice cap of Olvein Devus. Though young Mulianses -- renamed Vastus after a mythical strongman of old -- is an exceptional physical specimen, the steel in his soul is found wanting. During his third Trial of Compliance he is required to drink hot oil in order to counteract a disfiguring virus introduced into his system. He cannot bring himself to do so, and after the virus does its evil work he is ejected from the facility. Only his tremendous physique spares him from being reconstituted; he is instead denominated, mind-scrubbed and seconded to the Adeptus Mechanicus as raw material. On a cargo vessel en route to the servitorums, Vastus escapes from his bounds, garottes his guards with a lifecord and hijacks the shuttle with a stolen autogun. After freeing his fellow Schola rejects and persuading them to join him, he escapes from the space lanes into the nameless void. Six years later a regiment of Tempestus Scions from Olvein Devus is sent to cleanse the Ork-infested space hulk Mother of Terrors. It transpires that the inhabitants are not Orks after all, but a band of renegades led by the self-styled Warlord Vastus. A desperate running battle breaks out in the depths of the haunted hulk. After four days of bitter fighting, Vastus is run down by one of his old contemporaries and shot through the neck. His last act is to prime his personal corpus detonator, triggering a chain explosion that tears the hulk and takes three hundred of Olvein Devus' finest with it, The incident has never appeared in Schola Progenium records.

Forging a Killer
Tempestus Scions and Commissars are remorseless and efficient killers, but these warriors are not born that way. They are forged within the Schola Progeniums - harsh training camps based on long-established Imperial worlds. It is these ancient facilities that are responsible for taking the orphaned offspring of the Imperium and transforming them into ruthless soldiers.

One Imperium, One Vision
The Schola Progenium is designed to homogenise, break and rebuild the orphaned sons and daughters of the Imperial elite. It transforms them from frightened children into loyal warriors ready to fight and die in the name of the Emperor, or into fearsome, iron-fisted authoritarians who keep the wheels of the Adeptus Terra in motion.

In the aftermaths of the many atrocities so common in the 4lst Millennium, any newly created orphans who are of aristocratic blood are brought to the attention of the nearest Officio Prefectus officials, who are tasked with dealing with the aftershocks of a battle and salvaging anything still useful to the lmperium. Many a Commissar has marched through the corpse-strewn walkways of a planetary governor's palace to discover a forlorn son or daughter who has been hiding - safe, but alone - in some underground bunker. The Commissar, having come from a similar background, will ensure that such a child does not go to waste. Quickly and efficiently, he assigns it to a starship bound for the nearest Schola Progenium.

It is even whispered that, when it is in the Imperium's best interests, the Officio Prefectus may 'steal' a prospective new recruit. Sometimes a child - whose parents are still alive - may be judged to have shown remarkable qualities, and their presence on a backwater world may be considered an inefficient use of those skills when they could be put to better effect in an Imperial facility. The rumour has it that a Commissar will ensure that such resources are allocated more efficiently, even if the protesting parents have to be removed from the equation in order to do so.

Children arrive at the vast Schola Progeniums at a range of ages. Some come when they are as young as six Terran years, while others are as old as twelve. Most inductees are orphaned in large groups following a single planetary disaster, though occasionally individuals are thrown into larger groups if it is convenient. New recruits undergo a series of mental and physical examinations, but this is solely for the benefit of the facility. Should the cadet have been gleaned from a planet on the wrong end of a plague or spiritual rebellion, then the last thing the drill abbots would want is for that same corruption to break out within a confined, isolated complex and savage its young inmates.

Cadets are divided by age to form training groups that will ultimately - in the case of the Militarum Tempestus - form the basis of their full battle regiments, to maintain a sense of brotherhood. Group sizes can start off as large as avo hundred at any one time, though those who would not make worthy servants of the lmperium are quickly weeded out, and are not seen again by their classmates.

Whereas the Astra Militarum is made up of soldiers from a huge number of different cultures, the progena of the Schola Progenium are not permitted cultural variety. Though they may arrive there from different worlds, they are quickly recast in the same Imperial mould. As a result of this, they can be relied upon to put the orders of their superiors first and foremost before any local loyalties.

So that the Schola Progenium becomes their sole reality, cadets are taught to forget their old existence. They are stripped of their former clothing and of any belongings they may have brought with them. They are issued only with simple black uniforms and standardised equipment and training gear, which they are expected to wear and use throughout their training. Recruits are forced to abandon their birth names, and are instead provided with a new one chosen from a long list of legendary heroes of the lmperium. This is as much to remind them of the excellence to which they must aspire, as it is to remove their identity. One exception to these traditional processes is when siblings arrive - they are not deprived of their familial connections, as these have been found to encourage greater competition as well as fostering stronger internal ties in the long term.

Such uniformity is easier to accept for very young students than it is for those who have spent longer in their parent cultures - but mindscaping is always necessary to facilitate the commitment to the ways of the Schola Progenium. Sometimes, for habitual prejudices, this clarity of thought can be achieved by simple techniques, such as repetition of litanies for weeks on end. However, at some point every cadet is strapped down to an iron chair known as a Correction Throne. Needles are then inserted through the rear of the cadet's skull, and their heads are flooded with dirus, a neurochemical fluid that cleanses their synapses, wiping away old memories and paving the way for new information. It is an unfortunate, and little discussed fact that the Imperium possesses ever-dwindling stocks of dirus, and it is increasingly being diluted with more dubious substances. While cadets endure such treatment, auto-vox servo-skulls relay righteous speeches, war cries or simply inspiring quotes from Ecclesiarchical texts to properly and irrevocably infuse them with the wonder of their new creed.

Sadly, even the Schola Progenium's mindscaping techniques are not infallible. Dreams and visions from previous existences will haunt some recruits for the rest of their lives. A Scion may never fully rid himself of the nightmarish visions that linger from his home world, or the trauma of the death of his parents. As with all such matters, the Schola Progenium's methodology goes unquestioned.

However, it is always a concern when a cadet shows too strong an unwillingness to properly conform. As reward for their independence, they are often released into the training grounds only to be hunted down by their former comrades. This serves as much to bond the remaining cadets as it does to punish individuality. If a cadet publicly disobeys orders, they will meet a spectacular and very public end, courtesy of a drill abbot's great hammer. What little remains of their spine is coiled within a glass box and mounted within the dormitory to serve as a warning to others. This is not at the extreme end of remedial punishments. In the Schola Progenium facility on Brellex, the products of one incident remain forever enshrined. Due to a faulty batch of mindscaping chemicals, a whole year group rose up against the dictates of their masters. The seething abbot prime ordered the Officio Prefectus to crush the rebellion. Whilst still alive, the mutinous cadets were meshed with mortar and used to line the schola's ferrocrete walls. To this day their bones jut out of long corridors, grasping for freedom, as a warning of the consequences of insubordination.

The Cadet Forge
Schola Progenium training may be considered a drawn-out form of torture. Indeed, injured limbs or broken minds are hardly uncommon. Cadets undergo basic physical drills in heavy armour, quickly tiring them out as they scale walls or squeeze under razor wire. A cuff from the drill abbot's gauntleted hand and the sight of his great hammer is usually enough to encourage a lethargic cadet to try harder.

Military exercises with live ammunition are conducted in the harsh landscape surrounding a Schola Progenium or on nearby moons. Cadets are often expected to endure days in the wilderness with little food or instruction, and limited weaponry with which to combat whatever violent fauna roams the planet. Yet with each roaming day, cadets improve in their performance. Their speed and endurance increase, they scale walls previously thought impossible to overcome, and it becomes obvious to even a novice drill abbot that true warriors are being forged. It is a strong belief within the Schola Progenium that from the hottest of fires, the strongest bonds of brotherhood are born.

Whatever the technique, this rutelage serves to better divine what path a cadet is suited for, as well as preparing them for the brutalities of the 41st Millennium. Indeed, the training regimen within the Schola Progenium exists not just to create highly skilled combatants. Amidst the trials and challenges, the drill abbot will constantly assess and reassess as to who will make an excellent Tempestus Scion, an excellent Commissar, or who would be better suited within the Adeptus Terra. However, some Scholas use more esoteric methods of selection. For example, the abbot prime of the Schola Progenium facility on Sanctus Omega is a known reader of the Emperor's Tarot, and uses the mystical cards to steer his judgement or decide upon a cadet's path. Technically, no one role is considered more prestigious than another, though Commissars are generally held to be the most redoubtable of the Schola's trainees. Each graduate has a highly specific role within the lmperium at large, and such skills need to be discerned well in advance of the Trials of Compliance - the most important stage of a cadet's time at the Schola Progenium.

Trials of Compliance
Each Schola Progenium employs one or more challenges to separate those who will become Commissars from those who will join the Militarum Tempestus. These tests take diverse forms, but the primary purpose of all such Trials of Compliance is to highlight those cadets who are best committed to obeying orders in adversity, and test how they process those commands. Of course, a percentage of the supplicants fail in their allotted task - many end up as equerries or thralls of the Schola Progenium. Some of these disappointments may work through their sentences as menials and eventually be permitted to join the regular Astra Militarum. Ever eager to prove their worth, these few may yet become Imperial soldiers in their own right.

For potential Tempestus Scions, Trials of Compliance may involve live-fire exercises in the Hallucinarium. In endless labyrinths, cadets are constantly exposed to strange visions and false suggestions. Yet the prospective initiates are expected to follow the correct orders without hesitation, no matter how strange those orders may be, and no matter how monstrous the entities they come up against. There are timed physical tests, too, such as scaling the grand facade of the facility whilst constantly chanting that particular Schola Progenium's motto. Should the candidate's incantations slip out of sync from the metronomic tempo of the serv-skull hovering nearby, the cadet may soon have gunfire to contend with, in addition to the high walls.

For potential Commissars, the Trials of Compliance usually take even more esoteric forms. Without knowing it is a test, a cadet may be commanded to locate one of his closest colleagues - a comrade with whom he has shared the trials and tribulations of the Schola Progenium over many years - and shoot them through the head.

Such a callous execution order serves a dual purpose, as it proves that the cadet Commissar can not only follow Imperial orders, but that he or she will have no problem killing stubborn officers when in the heat of battle. However, the Schola Progenium recognises the danger posed by a highly trained candidate who shows the promise of a Commissar, but who cannot follow such an order. Prospective Commissars who fail this trial will end up being victim to the same challenge issued to another candidate, or released as quarry for a group of potential Scions.

The few brave adepts within the Adeptus Ministorum who suggest that all of this is a waste of good talent are reminded that these trials are essential to wean out the truly remorseless from those haunted by doubt. Besides, there are always thousands more orphans delivered into their hands each year - such losses are hardly of import.

Selection Day
After successful cadets have survived their various Trials of Compliance, the drill abbots will allocate them their path in an event known as Selection Day. It is then that the truly hard challenges begin.

Selection Days in the Schola Progenium mark the point at which a cadet is assigned their destiny. Cavernous ships descend into planetary orbit, ready to export progena to their new roles. From dawn to dusk, amidst the slow incantation of ancient litanies and clouds of incense, cadets are divided according to their selected path.

A good many discover that they are to head into the ranks of the Adeptus Terra. Those young women who show not only fine military skills but strong signs of faith are prepared to journey to training convents of me Adepta Sororitas, while others may join the Adeptus Arbites. The most talented warriors are chosen for me Militarum Tempestus and Officio Prefectus. Each group is assigned to a ship and consequently dispatched to the appropriate Schola Tempestus or Schola Prefectus for more advanced training.

Commissars
No matter how contradictory or outright suicidal the orders of the Administratum may seem, it is paramount that such instructions are followed when issued. There is no leniency in the fight for Humanity's survival and no allowance for second-guessing what may be at stake should these high-level stratagems be ignored. It may seem nonsensical for troops to leave hostages held within a compound behind, but if dormant Necrons lie beneath the surface, then it is better that those captives are left to die than to risk disturbing a greater foe. Likewise, orders to purge a defenceless civilian freighter may seem barbaric, but if doing so will prevent the spread of plague or heresy then such a mission is crucial. It is for good reason that Imperial citizens are told that they should never question the greater wisdom of those above them, even when it goes against their instincts.

Individuals of a particularly stem nature are required to enforce such orders and bring any local customs or shortsighted officers who obstruct them into swift compliance. It may be illegal on certain worlds to take up arms on Emperor Day, for instance, but if the Segmentum Command issues orders to mobilise for war, then an uncompromising figure is deployed to ensure that war happens. Such individuals serve as blunt political tools of the lmperium. They must be efficient and merciless, prepared to kill naysayers - even senior officers - in a heartbeat so that the orders of the Administratum are carried out. These remorseless enforcers of the Imperial Creed are known as Commissars, and they are overseen and deployed by the Officio Prefectus.

Wearing an Aquila-emblazoned peaked cap, a long leather coat with epaulets, and an instantly recognisable black uniform with red-and-gold trim, a Commissar stands apart from their subordinates as an executioner stands apart from a crowd of peasants. Marching to war often with only a bolt pistol and sword in their hands, they are a constant reminder that weaponry is no substitute for exceptional bravery, zeal and martial pride.

The strict training regimens of the Schola Progenium transform Commissars into exceptional combatants in their own right. Where they differ most from Tempestus Scions is in their role of giving orders where necessary: they possess a higher level of authority to command than even a Tempestor Prime, though they often serve alongside other Imperial officers, taking command only when they sense weakness in their charges. When acting at the head of a unit, a Commissar is required to make brutal judgment calls in order lo get the most out of his men, and each Commissar is rightly feared and respected by the forces under his control.

Groups of soldiers under a Commissar's command can take any size and hail from disparate regiments from across the galaxy. Such units will have more or less respect for Imperial authority depending on their origins and the discipline of their commanding officers. Whether such soldiers are hindered by local superstitions or are inclined to run at the sight of the more hideous of the galaxy's denizens, it is within the Commissar's authority, and his express duty, to punish such infractions - usually by summary execution in the form or a bolt pistol round through the head.

It is also a Commissar's duty to inspire the men around him, leading by example with bolt pistol flaring and sword carving through the enemy ranks. A Commissar is always willing to show what the best blood in the Imperium is capable of when his deeds will rouse the lower orders into action, often expending far more of his ammunition than those individual soldiers who follow him.

A Commissar's uncompromising code of law ensures discipline. As such, regiments to which a Commissar is assigned become far more robust and coherent formations. When soldiers falter, a Commissar ensures they do not flee. Where they are weak, a Commissar renews their strength. But where soldiers show cowardice, a Commissar will make examples of them without hesitation. Earning his men 's grudging respect, a Commissar transforms ordinary troopers into superior fighting machines.

When this iron determination and tactical autonomy are wedded to the Tempestus Scions' specialist abilities and lauded martial discipline, the resultant formations are dependable beyond all reasonable expectation. Having trained and developed in the same environment, each is aware of the other's strengths and will instinctively respond the same way in a firefight. The Scions of the Militarum Tempestus have a proud reputation for remaining steadfast in the face of death, but with a Commissar amongst their ranks they will fight to the last man.

Wargear
The wargear used by the Tempestus Scions is far superior to the rugged, utilitarian weaponry of the Astra Militarum. Specialist training and maintenance is required by the Departmento Munitorum for each piece of kit - a Schola Tempestus cadet must pass a series of tests and earn the appropriate honours before even being allowed to use a hot-shot lasgun in battlefield conditions. Each time a weapon or piece of wargear is mastered, the icon of that equipment is branded into his chest as a permanent sign of his competence. Once the full suite of weaponry and wargear has been earned, a Tempestus Scion is able to wage war for weeks at a time without resupply in a wide variety of hostile battlefield conditions.
 * Ryza Pattern Hot-Shot Lasgun - Manufactured in the finest incantoriums that the Forge World of Ryza can provide, this lasgun does not use a clip-like power pack as with those of the Imperial Guard, but instead a hyper-yield power array worn as a backpack rig. By adjusting this rig, the hotshot lasgun can be calibrated lo emit bursts of such penetrative power they can punch straight through ceramite. At its maximum capacity, the lasgun operates in the sixty megathule range and holds enough potential energy that it is warm to the touch.
 * Ryza Pattern Hot-Shot Volley Gun - Considered by many Tempestor Primes to be the ultimate weapon deployed by the Militarum Tempestus, the hot-shot volley gun is a truly fearsome firearm. Incorporating penitent-class heat sink arrays, these weapons can maintain a punishing rate of high powered fire.
 * Slate Monitron (Dextera Configuration) - The dataslate worn upon the armoured forearm gauntlet of the typical Tempestus Scion allows him instant access to his Tempestor Prime's latest command runes and war psalms. It also monitors vital signs, showing the pulse rate and health matrix of the wearer at all times so that his officer can instantly assess his condition. It was the slate monitron that led to the old Guardsman jibe that Tempestus Scions are dead inside,for upon completion of their training their hearts are rocked in an iron box mounted on their sleeve.
 * Omnishield Helm/Respmask Array - In hostile environments, a Tempestus regiment will don all-enclosing omnishield helms, their respmasks proof against everything from industrial pollution to fully ignited atmospheres. When sealed, they allow Tempestus Scions to operate even in airless vacuums for limited periods of time. The multi-spectral occulum that attaches via suction to the wearer's eye sockets allow him to see in low light and occluded conditions with relative ease.
 * Monoscope - Though it can be used to project a beam of light, the monoscope is primarily intended as a visual uploader. Panning left and right as the Tempestus Scion goes about the prosecution of war, each monoscope can be tapped into by any Tempestor or Tempestor Prime who wishes to see what his subordinate is witnessing. The act of covering up a monoscope's lens, whether accidentally or by design, is punishable by a full day's electro-whipping and a number of days without rations at the commanding officer's discretion.
 * Clarion Vox Array - The cumbersome vox arrays of the Astra Militarum are often known as 'ghost boxes: for with the white noise and interference patterns of battle raging all around it is difficult to coax more than a whisper from their speakers. Not so the clarion vox array of the Militarum Tempestus, a triumph of audio-military hardware that overrides its designated airwaves with the crystal clear and perfectly enunciated commands of the Tempestors leading each detachment.
 *  Martyr's' Gift Field Service Medi-Kit  - The Martyr's Gift medi-kit is a cut above anything issued to the Astra Militarum. Loaded with combat-stimms, auto-cauterising thermic gel and single-use disposable bionics, this medi-kit is intended to ensure that wounded Scions get back into the fight with the minimum of fuss. Long term healing is of little interest to Tempestus Scions in the heat of battle - providing a wounded warrior can be patched and propped sufficiently to complete his duty, his eventual fate matters not. The Martyr's Gift even features a belt of subcutaneous frag charges that can be used to booby-trap a terminally wounded Scion's body - thus even in death, the Tempestus Scions strike back against the enemy that slew them.

Notable Militarum Tempestus Regiments

 * 55th Alphic Hydras - The 55th Alphic Hydras are one of the most well-respected Militarum Tempestus regiments in the Irnperium. This is in part because of the number of missions that they have fought alongside the Ultramarines - to date they have made planetfall alongside the 2nd, 5th, 7th and 8th companies over their illustrious career. So close is the association between these Scions and the Space Marines that the Alphic Hydras have recently been permitted additional training grounds throughout the Ultramar system. Some within the Ordo Tempestus whisper that some of the regiment's best young Scions have even been recruited by the Adeptus Astartes. The Scions of the 55th Alphic Hydras first went to war alongside the Sons of Guilliman on the agri world of Masali, where they aided the Ultramarines in purging the planet of Orks. Tempestor Prime Vallius Delt steered his regiment through the impassable Masali poison jungles and the vine-thorn deeps, around the flanks of a vast greenskin mob which they funnelled right into the heart of an Ultramarines trap - bringing an end to the invasion with swift brutality. Chaplain Trajan of the Ultramarines 2nd Company observed that these humans fought with discipline, nobility and profound loyalty to the Ultramarines' orders, and it took little discussion for other Space Marines in the Chapter to recognise the value of the Scions. Before long the 55th Alphic Hydras were making repeated planetfalls with the Adeptus Astartes, at the Ultramarines' request. Their most recent success was a battle upon the crone world of ldzyk II, where they formed a stealth unit to ambush and disable an Eldar Wraithknight, turning the tide of battle in favour of the Ultramarines.
 * 34th Betic Centaurs - The Scions of the 34th Betic Centaurs hail from the volcanic death world of Makron V. The planet is situated in a sub-sector frequently assaulted by various piratical factions of Chaos Space Marines. The Militarum Tempestus training grounds are based alongside their old Schola Progenium facilities in order to protect the future progena from the sheer number of incursions - although some of these battles provide ample training opportunities for the future Scions. Such a brutal planet breeds particularly hardened warriors, and the Betic Centaurs have endured some of the worst fighting in the sub-sector. The 34th Betic Centaurs became famous during the Vellix Wars. On Valiar III, one of the most populous Imperial worlds in the system, a Lord of Skulls led a great wave of havoc which swept across the planet, including numerous Daemons and war machines. The behemoth had ground up thousands of souls under its tracks, and reduced whole hab-blocks to rubble. The small Astra Militarum regiment on the world had all but been wiped out, and so a vast contingent of the 34th Betic Centaurs was sent in to destroy the Chaos war machines. The Scions made planetfall behind one of the most robust fortifications on the planet as it was about to be besieged by the monstrous Daemon Engine. In stealth, the Scions awaited the Lord of Skulls' arrival and, when it finally burst behind the Imperial lines, they assaulted with a ferocious array of hot-shot weaponry, melta charges and munitions. The Daemon Engine roared its defiance, slaying scores of Scions in a wrathful counter-attack. The Tempestus soldiers' incessant and precise firepower, along with a barrage of grenades, eventually saw the Lord of Skulls reduced to a heap of smouldering slag.
 * 68th Deltic Lions - The 68th Deltic Lions are well known for their ability to endure some of most toxic worlds in the Imperium. Indeed, numerous noxious quagmires have proven to have little effect upon their bodies. Where other regiments have perished upon planets ravaged by plagues, the Deltic Lions have survived some of the most virulent contagions in the galaxy. Their renowned immunity has led to them regularly being summoned when the Inquisition's Ordo Malleus suspect the minions of the Plague God, Nurgle, are at work in a war zone. However, their resilience against disease has also made the 68th Deltic Lions objects of curiosity for Grandfather Nurgle himself, and he often sends his Daemons to investigate the Scions in h is uniquely horrifying manner. As such, the 68th Deltic Lions possess a long and glorious history of combatting Nurgle's forays into the galaxy. With a sequence of blistering strikes, they destroyed a Cult of Nurgle on Hive World Mularion before their foulness could spread to the rest of the populace. On the ringworld of Avatroid the Scions fought alongside the Space Marines of the Aurora Chapter - together, they controlled a burgeoning daemonic incursion and destroyed the infected citizens, saving the majority of Avatoid 's populace. But perhaps the 68th Deltic Lions' greatest victory came against a warband of the Purge who attacked their Schola Progenium facility in the Scams Sector. Having rushed back to the defence of their Schola's progena, the Scions utilised decoy units to lure the corpulent Space Marines into a nearby ice ravine where the deep snow and cold confounded the traitors' movement Surrounding Scions opened fire with overlapping fields of ruby-red hotshot fire and incinerated the threat. Ever since that day, a small garrison of the Deltic Lions remains attached to the Schola Progenium, vigilantly checking the skies for further visits from Nurgle's minions to ensure their Schola is safe.
 * 73rd Epsilic Eagles - The 73rd Epsilic Eagles became famous throughoul the Varinus System for their well organised defence against a series of realspace raids from the Kabal of the Dying Sun. The sinister Arch on Vorl-Xoelanth had been spearheading vicious attacks against the population of two worlds in particular: Nusius II and III. The local Astra Militarum regiments proved loo slow to keep pace with the Dark Eldar, and those who were not killed outright ended up being transformed into experiments for the Haemonculi Coven s. Segmentum command ordered the 73rd Epsilic Eagles to maintain a vigilant presence in the system, so that they might rush to the defence of the cities in which the Kabal of the Dying Sun had struck. Though the 73rd Epsilic Eagles never killed Vorl-Xoelanth, their rapid responses, expertly co-ordinated, saved thousands of Imperial citizens from being claimed as prisoners. When sightings of a Dark Eldar Raider came from the shrine slums of Nusius II, the 73rd Epsilic Eagles dropped en masse from their Valkyries, deploying via grav-chute to surround and eliminate the raiding party. T heir mag equipment enabled them to launch attacks on clutches of Kabalite Warriors, approaching from angles and heights for which the swift Dark Eldar had not planned. These sudden, unexpected blows slowed down the Dark Eldar greatly, allowing wider Imperial forces to be mustered. Together the Scions and Astra Militarum troopers were able to drive the remaining warriors of the Kabal of the Dying Sun from the planet, and the Dark Eldar raids eventually ceased in the Varinus System alt0geLher.
 * 43rd Iotan Dragons - The training regime of the 43rd Iotan Dragons is famous for simulating fights within darkened cave labyrinths, allowing the Scions to further develop the ability to fight blind. This has enabled them to fight more effectively against foes that rely upon more stealthy and insidious methods of warfare. Though they have proven their capabilities against all manner of xenos foes, from Dark Eldar to Tau, the 43rd Iotan Dragons have become specialists within the Militamm Tempestus for fighting against Tyranid outlier organisms. Indeed, the Scions' training has made them exemplary warriors against this most horrendous and insidious of foes. The 43rd Iotan Dragons first displayed their skills upon the colossal space station situated above the shrine world of Mondrax lll. Lictors and Genestealers had caused carnage among the Imperial crew of the station, and limbs and offal trailed for miles around the struclllre by the time the Militarum Tempestus arrived. lt was feared a disaster was imminent, for a similar superstructure had been overrun by Tyranids over Mondrax II, only for the station to crash into the planet, the resulting explosion killing billions. The Scions of the 43rd Iotan Dragons spent several weeks aboard Mondrax Ill's station, patiently hunting Tyranids with its dark confines, lighting up the corridors with their hot-shot lasguns and flamers, searing xenos carapaces and outstretched claws until every last Tyranid had vanished from their Tempestor Prime's slate monitron.
 * 55th Kappic Eagles - The deeds of the 55th Kappic Eagles are legendary among the forces of the Militarum Tempestus. Tempestor Prime Magnus Krassus, whose brother is also renowned throughout the Ordo Tempestus, is a formidable soldier and an inspiration to thousands of new progena. Under Krassus' leadership, the 55th Kappic Eagles have won countless victories on behalf of the Ordo Tempestus. Few regiments of the Militarum Tempestus have achieved greater honours in war, and their deeds typify the obedience, excellence, and efficiency for which they are known. It was the 55th Kappic Eagles who boarded the Ork scrapship Scarfist and destroyed it, saving the Valtlax System. The 55th Kappic Eagles aided the Space Wolves of Erik Morkai's Great Company against Word Bearers upon Fellbrek III. These elite Militarum Tempestus soldiers were responsible for crippling the Crimson Slaughter strike force upon the Ybrekian Ice Worlds, and led the destruction of a traitor filled hive city upon the Vorrul Shrine World. When the legendary Ordo Tempestus relics, the Barbed Gauntlets of Avitus, had been stolen by Eldar from Craftworld Altansar, the Scions of the 55th Kappic Eagles were summoned to retrieve them. With vengeful purpose, the Eagles smashed through wave upon wave of Guardians in order to reclaim them.
 * 133rd Lambdan Lions - For over two millennia, the progena that form the many regiments of Lambdan Lions have served as auxiliaries to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Their Schola Progenium facility and Militarum Tempestus training facilities are based on the two moons that orbit the forge world of Mezoa. Ancient pacts mean that the Ordo Tempestus has assigned the Lambdan Lions to fight missions on behalf of the ruling priesthood of Mezoa, in order to reclaim lost knowledge of Imperial advancements or arcane technologies. In exchange, the Scions benefit from all manner of esoteric augmentations, which are fitted to their vehicles or built into their armour and weaponry, as well as a basic understanding of Lingua-technis - some thing rare for Scions. Though they have little interaction with the Cult Mechanicus itself - for Scions care only for their orders - the 133rd Lambdan Lions' missions continually aid the Adeptus Mechanicus in its search for further knowledge, so they indirectly work to the glory of the Omnissiah. Unusually for a Militarum Tempestus regiment, the Lambdan Lions will engage in long expeditionary campaigns across worlds that harbour artefacts, rather than preferring missions that involve swift stealth or brutal strikes before retreating. When the situation demands it, the Lambdan Lions will also fight in the shadow of the Collegia Titanica or alongside Skitarii Legions. Mostly, however, they enact the orders of the Mezoan ruling priesthood whenever sanctioned by the Ordo Tempestus. The labyrinthine nature of lmperial bureaucracy means that the Adeptus Mechanicus occasionally issue the Lions with orders even without waiting for official sanction.
 * 22nd Thetoid Gryphonnes - Though all Militarum Tempestus warriors excel at fast trikes upon the battlefield, the 22nd Thetoid Gryphonnes are especially swift. Their Scions were all orphaned from Tallix, a world of higher gravity than is typical for the Rebandus Sub-sector. As a result their leg muscles are more powerful and they are able to race on foot across all terrain with an impressive pace no matter how much equipment they carry. ln the spirit of this, even the gravitational systems on their Taurox Primes have been altered so their vehicles sacrifice a degree of stability and durability for greater speed. Their swiftness was especially notable when the 22nd The toid Gryphonnes made a blistering strike against a Kult of Speed that besieged the desert world of Walbek II. The greenskins' buggies and bikes had been tearing across the plains, slaughtering the local PDF troops before they could muster a proper defence. The Gryphonnes set off in pursuit of Warboss Spanik, the driving force behind the brutal Ork assaults. Their Taurox Primes outran the Ork bikes until eventually they caught up with Spanik's Battlewagon. Precision strikes disabled the vehicle's engines, and Tempestor Prime The tius leapt through clouds of sand onto the Warboss' transport. Thetius executed the Warboss with rapid blasts of his hotshot weapon, th us putting an end to the Kult of Speed 's ambitions on Walbek II. While the Orks closing in on the crippled Battlewagon howled their rage, the 22nd Thetoid Gryphonnes remounted their transports and outpaced the approaching greenskins' bikes as they made their escape.

Source
[[Category:O]]
 * Codex: Militarum Tempestus (7th Edition)