Phantine Skyborne

The Phantine Skyborne are regiments of the Imperial Guard that act as Drop Troop Regiments. As their name indicates, the Skyborne are recruited on the world ofPhantine in the Segmentum Pacificus. Given their homeworld's peculiar topography and low population, the Phantine Skyborne count amongst the rarest regiments within the Imperial Guard and are outshone in glory and deeds by more famous regiments such as the Elysian Drop Troops and the Harakoni Warhawks.

Regimental History

The Phantine Skyborne's military history is a recent one and one that has been easily overlooked so far, as even on Phantine itself, the greater honor goes to the Phantine Air Corps and not the men and women of the Skyborne. Both formations have only come to the attention of the wider Imperium through their involvement in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, and the hard-fought victories Warmaster Macaroth was able to wrestle from the Khorne-venerating Blood Pact and its likes. As such, the Skyborne's first true military campaign recorded with any semblance of detail is the defence and subsequent purge of their on homeworld of Phantine in 771.M41.

According to a local proverb, Phantine is a world made of sky, but that has not always been the case. Trough millennia of pollution, Phantine troposphere was rendered inhabitable for humans, the toxic gases and corrosive fogs of the lower atmosphere forming a life-eating sea called "the Scald" no known equipment save perhaps Terminator or Power Armour can withstand. In order to escape certain death, Phantine's population was forced to seek refuge in height. On the tallest mountain-peaks and highest spires of their Hive cities, above the cloudline, the Phantine erected their new homes : vast sky-cities under sheltered domes, heated and powered through the chemical wealth of Phantine's soil. This relocation of the population led to profound changes in Phantine society, including its mandatory Planetary Defence Forces. By necessity, with no ground to move on, these PDF regiments became airborn units of Drop Troopers. When necessity demands of Phantine to provide fighting men and women to the Imperium, elements of the PDF-regiments are "activated" or "promoted" to the Imperial Guard and take the title of Phantine Skyborne. This has particularly been the case in the latter part of the Sabbat World Crusade and has continued ever since.

Notable Campaigns

• The Phantine Liberation (771.M41) - Left vulnerable by the great push in the Cabal System, the Imperial Sabbat Worlds Crusade was flanked by the Chaos-tainted armies of the Blood Pact. A second frontline opened, and war raged on a score of worlds, including Phantine. Lacking aerial superiority, the Blood Pact was unable to wholly conquer Phantine before the Imperium could send in reinforcements and begin the Liberation of Phantine. As a matter of honour, the Phantine Skyborn requested to fight in the frontlines to liberate their own world, but in truth they lacked the manpower to do so and the main fighting would have to be done by other, off-world regiments. Under the command of Major Fazalur, the Phantine Skyborne would participate in all great battles of this conflict, but would always be tasked with taking secondary objectives at best. While the Phantine's courage could not be doubted, the Phantine Skyborne could simply not muster very large numbers,which repeatedly led the Skyborne only to be engaged to engage "softer" targets, such as Hab-dome Gamma during the attack on the sky-city of Cirenholm, where the Blood Pact had locked up Cirenholm's population.
• Operation Larissel (771.M41) - In the wake of the liberation of Cirenholm, the Imperial commander of the war on Phantine, Lord General Barthol Van Voytz hoped to capitalise on the stealth capabilities of the famed Imperial Guard-regiment of the Tanith First and Only to directly strike at the enemy commander : a Chaos Space Marine known as Sagittar Slaith that acted at Urlock Gaur's eyes and ears in the sky-city of Ouranberg. An extensive cooperation between the 81st Phantine Skyborne and the Tanith First and Only would be required to mount "Operation Larissel", both regiments selecting their most able elements to reach their common goal. Under duress and in merely six days, the specialists of the Phantine Skyborne trained the Tanith in the use of a drop trooper's most vital piece of equipement: the Grav-Chute, before the four five-men teams were covertly dropped over Ouranberg. These five-men teams consisted of on Skyborne specialist, one Tanith squad-leader, one Tanith Sniper, one Tanith Infiltrator and one average Tanith soldier equipped with the heavy U90-pattern Autogun to deal with the terrifying Loxatl-mercenaries Slaith employed. Although one team was lost during insertion and one partially captured, the survivors of the two other teams were able to neutralise Slaith in preparation of the main Imperial assault, thus severely disrupting the Blood Pact's command structure.

Sources

• The Guns of Tanith (Novel) by Dan Abnett