Wheeping Scythes

Structure

Faith and Zeal are the keys to being able to lead in the Weeping Scythes, Margaret is the most devout and zealous of all. Usually fighting in Lances ranging from 7-49 Knights. The more gifts of Nurgle they have, the more authority they possess. Should someone eventually curry more favour than Queen Margaret, she will almost certainly arrange for an accident to occur to them. The Harvesters are run by a clergy of 7 priests that answer to Margaret alone., They guide the Harvesters and lead all sacrificial and summoning rituals personally. The priests of Nurgle each in turn have 7 lesser priests whose responsibilities include leading sermons, taking conversions and directing the cult's military endeavours. Finally, the lesser priests each have 7 monks, who lead squadrons of the cults, tend to the garden, acquire the dead body and souls and direct the rest of the general busywork.

Recruitment

Anyone can join the Scythes, as long as their devotion to Nurgle is strong enough. It has actually caused their ranks to swell much faster then anyone anticipated, growing several times their starting number of 17. Now with 77 Knights at her beck and call, Margaret continues to preach and conquer, swelling her ranks. They only deal with the most devout members of the Dark Mechanicus, meaning repairs generally take a while and rely on a couple of stolen ships for transport.

Culture

The Weeping Scythes can be defined in three ways. One, they are fanatically devoted to Nurgle. Two, they harbour deep, personal grudges over seen slights. And Three, a nigh unstoppable desire to see through whatever goal they have in mind. They don’t care about the code, they don’t care about keeping allies, they don’t even care about the devotees that flock to their banner. All that matters is they enable the Garden of Nurgle to grow and that they crush anyone who dares to doubt them.

History

House Chirus of Hive Whimper was never the most popular house on Estival. They had a sordid history of unreliability and failing to achieve their objectives on campaigns, winding up with them being left on near-permanent planetary garrison duty. The lady of the house, Lady Margaret had her bitterness and despair slowly grow and consume her, being considered a deeply dour face in the meetings of the heads of the houses. When the crown prince discovered the Chaos Gods and pledged he would deliver House Kankar to them, he knew he needed allies from the other smaller houses of Estival. Finding a sympathetic ear in House Chirus, whose knights were all tired of the disdain they received from the other houses. Margaret herself seemed very keen in the philosophy and religion of Nurgle, pledging her entire house to him. The house’s growing devotion to Nurgle would prove a double-edged sword for Prince Bonet’s rebels, as while they proved to be able to tank far, far more damage than normal for even an Imperial Knight, they would eventually sacrifice their entire hive in a disturbing ritual to Nurgle. The loss of the ability to reinforce their troops and repair their knights proved instrumental in Bonet’s defeat. After using a bit of archeotech to teleport the knights away, Margaret took those loyal to Nurgle into a roving warband called the Weeping Scythes. Targeting other Knight houses of both Imperial and Chaos varieties in order to conscript and recruit their members, eventually, Margaret would accumulate many followers, both consisting of Knights and regular cults called the Harvesters that follow her forces, offering infantry support and directly tending to the Plaguefather’s garden, offering the corpses of the dead to fuel the expansion of daemonic flora.

"We will fertilise Grandfather's garden with those that have wronged us!"

First Contact:
M42
Homeworld:
Estival
Dedication:
Infernal, Nurgle
Size Grade:
Tertiary
High Queen:
Margaret Chirus
Colours:
Browns and Greens