The Molox system was discovered by the Imperium in M37 when it was home to a fledgeling minor xenos civilization which was wiped out by an Inquisitorial force. The system is known for the unique deep purple light that it's star produces, adding to it's sinister reputation. The main planets of the system are:
Molox Prime: The agri world of Prime is covered in a single massive ocean. The world is devoted to the farming of alge and kelps to such an extent that the entire planet has a dark green color when seen from orbit. legends say that dark things lurk at the bottom of its ocean
Cornucopia: The hive world of Cornucopia was originaly a redistribution point for the Charybdis Subsector but overtime it's role expanded into processing and manufacturing those resources leading to the development of the first hives in M38. Whilst it isn't the Subsector's capital it is an important figure in the region. The planet is a hotspot for trade and commerce with hundreds of thousands of ships arriving daily which are then escorted through the extensive system of orbital mine arrays, a sure way to deter any raider foolish enough to attack the spaceport. Within the wast bazaars and markets one could find any product that his heart desires, weapons, armor, spices, drugs and if he knows the right person and knows where to look even products of xenos origin. To keep up the money coming from the both the legal commerce and its black market the arbites forces have long since been neutered by the local lords through bribery and the promotion of incompetent leadership. The planet's own guard regiment are the Cornucopian Praetorians, the guardsman are selected from the private militias of the nobility and are known for the high quality of their weapons and armor. The title of Planetary Governor is called Primus Magistrate. Dark rumors surround the nobility, saying that they renounced their faith in the Emperor and are ploting rebellion, but unless rebellion breaks out these will remain that, rumors.
Molox Secundus: The world of Secundus is a frosty planet of large snowy tundras and glaciers, the main reason for its designation stem from the Frostbite Berries, these fruits grow to the size of a person's head and are cramped with vitamins making them a prime food source for mass cultivation.
Koorland: the feral world of Koorland is notable for two things, one is it's large axcial tilt causing a 40°C seasonal variation in temperature, and the second is it's gravity which is slightly less than the Terran standard, this has led to the natives becoming far more stronger and durable than an average man. The locals are commonly conscripted into the private militias on Cornucopia and the world's two moons function as mines and prison complexes. The world is damp and is home to large amphibious and reptilian predators.
Crinos: this gas giant is home to a large number of mining colonies on its moons that extract both minerals and gases for industrial procession and water for trade with other hive worlds that are at risk of drouts.
Karalak: a civilized world of little importance Karalak supplies the Imperium with its own guard regiment the Karalak Sharpshooters. The world is for all intents and purposes ruled by the nobles on Cornucopia and the Primus, much like any other planet within the system. As a desert world Karalak relies on the Cornucopia owned mining company-clans of Crinos for water due to the large scale urbanization and population of the planet, this comes at a high price that has left the world increasingly poorer.
The Broken Cradle: It was once the homeworld of the xenos species that called the system their home. It was cracked in two by and exterminatus bomb with only the ruins of a spacestation serving as a reminder of its former inhabitants, some say that the planet is cursed and that if a spaceship goes close enough the crew can hear the screams of the long dead aliens.
Capital: Daik's Wonder (only administratum base)/ Godopert's Keep (largest settlement and main religious center)
Population: 3.5-8 Millions
Day Cycle Duration (In terran standard): 18 hours
"This entire planet is a ruin, ruined cities built on top of ruined city. A great find, but unfortunately not everything here is dead, and the things that are alive are most disturbing than the graveyard of a once prosperous world." - Naetan Draik, famous Archeotech Hunter, c. M41.100
"I can't believe those shitheads fought a war over shovels."- Adept Brianne Salazarine talking about the War for the Wonder, M41.365
History: The Easternmost planet in the Aetelian sector (in truth only a part of the sector due to administrative convenience), Melanmundo was once the home of a prosperous and highly advanced civilization. Their city, horizontally-large semi-hives, are now dead, haunted by their abandoned disgusting automata. What remains of their road and rail networks is now the migration routes of barbarians and deadly megafauna. What were once their basic amenities are now valuable archeotech, fought over by the brutal Scrap Lords.
The inhabitants tell of a catastrophe that brought the world to ruin, the details lost to time, a thousand different versions told by a thousand different tribes. Whatever sin or hubris their ancestor committed is uncertain, but now all pay by being stuck in an accursed ball of dust, covered in black clouds. When the Rogue Trader Menoel Aristopholis LXIV first set his eyes on the planet in late M35, those clouds inspired him to baptise the planet, its name meaning "Dark World" in the dialect of Gothic spoken in Aristopholis's homeworld of Lycia XI. Aristopholis would be the first imperial to visit the world, documentings its barbarous people and its deadly fauna, but in his quick survey he did not uncover the secrets of its Archeotech wealth. Unsatisfied with what appeared to be a death world of unimpressive profit potential, he moved on, continuing his exploration of the Eastern Fringe.
And for two millenia, the world was ignored by the Imperium, as there was little interest in bringing the Emperor's light to an accursed rock outside the major warp routes. This only changed as a result of convenience, for the Black Templar's Garantian Crusade suffered major losses. Wishing to replenish his numbers before moving against the emerging issue of piracy and heresy hiding in the Nostramo Sector, Marshal Godopert decided to conduct recruitment efforts in a Death World on the way to Nostromo, hoping that the savages shaped by the brutal conditions there could produce some decent aspirants.
And so in M37.890, the Garantian Crusade arrived on the Melanmondo. Godopert was satisfied with their recruitment effort, deciding to establish a Chapter Keep there, one that could be used for other Black Templar crusades in the Eastern Fringe. This event is nor particularly relevant in the long annals of the Black Templar, Godopert's Keep eclipsed by another of the same name established by the Marshal in the Nostromo Sector before being abandoned by mid-M38. It is however the most important event in Melanmondo's history, for Godopert finally brought the planet into Imperial civilization. The "Obsidians Giants" exterminated the mutant tribes, cut down the psyker-tyrants and brought fear of "Der Emperah" to the planet. From now on they fear and worship only Him, and never more would the witch or the mutant be allowed to live, lest the divine fury of the "Obsidian Giants" be invoked again. Of equal importance, Marshall Godopert was the first one to document the presence of archeo-tech on the planet, noticing that the barbarian chiefs he fought often had plasma and even more exotic weaponry.
As a result of these reports, the planetary Tithe would be established in the form of infrequent Archeotech tribute. At first those were conducted by Administratum troops raiding settlements for private archeotech, before more "formal" mechanisms for tithe collecting were introduced. Nowadays the Tithe requirements are almost entirely paid by Draik's Wonder.
Fauna, Flora and Geography: Melanmundo is an arid world for the most part, dominated by vast wastes. Climate is divided between the three seasons: "Wind Season" dominated by brutal dust storms, "Water Season" dominated by incessant acid rain (the boring kind, not the face melting kind) and the "Fire Season" dominated by incontrolable heat. The exact mechanisms that control the planet's unusual climate are unknown, but likely a result of whatever is the composition of the black clouds that dominate its skies. Across the planets tropical and equatorial zones, the ruins of eleven "semi-hive" settlements can be found, haunted by ancient automata and rogue machine spirits. Since imperial compliance, settlements near or inside these ruins have been formed, originally to meet tithe requirements.
Exceptions to the arid enviroment are some swamp areas mainly found in the Temperate regions, a result of local aquifiers. The only surface water sources are five inland seas, the remants of ancient water reservoirs. Away from the the seas or aquifiers, the populations survives by saving water from the short "Water Season" or collecting the air excess humidity through archeotech "vaporators", giant structured around which settlements have been formed.
The planet's fauna is diverse, and overwhelmingly dangerous. Notable species include the gigantic Waste Leviathan, the brutal Beaked Monsters, and the Pongolin-Bulls favored by the Bedin nomads. Also notable are the "Petiz", descended of terran canids who have evolved to survive the planet's harsh conditions and are often tamed by the locals as companions and figthing animals(offworlders sometimes approach "wild petiz", mistaking them for their tamed counterparts, to fatal results).
Outside the swamps and the litoral of the inland seas, the main floae are a variety of cactus-like plants who dominate the landscape.
Culture: Melanmondo is a harsh world that demands harsh people. As most deathworlders, the people of Melanmondo are though and close-minded. That said, Melanmondo is a world of diverse peoples, and being though and close-minded is perhaps the only thing the various culture have in common. The full extent of the planet's culture diversity is only known to the most learned of its monastics and for the few adepts who bothered/were forced to read the entire survey report made by Tithe grading commission. For the rest of the Imperium, the only information available is the division into five archetypes, based on vague sociopolitical and geographic criteria:
Scrappers: The people who live near the ruins and the ancient transport network that connects them, the "scrappers" are techno-barbarians per excellence. Using various forms of stub and autoguns, as well as las-locks and "gyroguns" (a sort of proto-bolter used as rocket launchers), the scrappers mainly live in small walled settlements and nomad fleet of ramshackled groundcards. The most technologically advanced and, paradoxically, often seen as the most savage and warlike of the peoples of Melanmundo;
Scavenger towns: Before Imperial compliance, the ruins were viewed as an accursed, only explored by the bravest of warriors. Unfortunately "only the bravest of warriors" did not scavenge enough plasma guns to fulfill the tithe and later, the demands of the archeotech market. As a result of these demands and the even greater prestige granted to archeotech, more and more people venture into the ruins, eventually forming settlements inside the former cities. Now they form their own culture, one heavily associated with the archeotech trade (at various levels of legality), resulting in great wealth and comparative cosmopolitanism due to greater contact with imperial authorities. Often viewed as decadent by the other inhabitants of the planet, the culture of the Scavenger Towns is characterized by displays of wealth and dynamics not dissimilar to hive gangs, as the various "Scavenger Lords" fight for control of the lucrative archeotech trade;
Bedins: Nomadic people from the wastes, the term was originally an exonomyn given by the scrappers around Ruin Tertia to one of the nomad groups they fought against, but it was mistakenly understood by Black Templar to be their word for "nomad". Now it is a catch-all term to the various nomadic groups who rely on Pongolin-bulls pecuary and vounos for mounts, generally organizing themselves into clans, tribes and sometimes uniting into tribal confederation. Due to a genetic quirk that made them more compatible with the VII's gene-seed, most of the Black Templar aspirants recruited on the planet came from Bedins, leading to the believe among some imperial authorities that the Bedins are purer and superior to the other peoples of Malamundo, though this has been contest by others. In contrast, Scrappers and Sand Peoples stereotype the bedins as overly-superstitious and ignorant, the former not without merit;
Sand Peoples: The inhabitants of the deep wastes, living off vaporators and the harvesting of giant cacti. The harsh ways of the deep waste and the need to preserve water has made them a rigid bunch, with rules and hierarchy tighly enforced, and their ancient techniques preserved through rigid ritualization. This aspect of their character has been translated into their religious beliefs, with Sand People being the most orthodox in their religious outlook, deeply tied to the monastic establishment and dominating the more "formal" clergy;
Bogmen: The inhabitants of the swamps. The least warlike of the planet's populations, for while the swamps are deadly (full of Bone-crabs, Crimson Spiders, poisonous plants and other dangers), they are rich in water and food sources. That does not mean they are peaceful or weak, as anyone who tries to invade their prized swamps soon finds out. The bogmen live in small villages or as semi-nomads, living off hunting, fishing and even small-scale agriculture, planting local species of tubers similar to cassava. Technologically, they used to be the most primitive with only stone and scrap-metal melee weapons. This has changed since Imperial compliance, as swamp monasteries saw fit to equip their neighbors with stub weaponry for joint protection.
Imperial Cult: The people of Melanmundo are an Emperor-fearing bunch. To them, "Der Emperah" is an stern father who punished their ancestors for their sins, and yet mercifully gives them the means to keep living, even sending His angels to free them from witches and mutants. They follow the example of the "Obsidian Giants" by killing any suspect of being a psyker or a mutant (even though the Adeptus Astra Telepathica would prefer they stop doing the former).
The proper evengelization effort was done by Missionarus Galaxia preachers who accompanied the Garantian Crusade. Among them were the Cyrusine Brothers, who followed their ancient strategy of establishing monastery as not only places of worship and reflection, but as center of faith and civilzation from where the influence of the Imperial Creed may spread. Of the twelve monasteries that were founded during the stay of the Black Templars, eight would be lost to raiders and the local fauna. Four others survived by making alliance with local factions for protection, becoming renowed as spiritual and political centers of the wastes. In the following centuries the Cyrusines were joined by the Order of the Emperor's Burning Spirit and the Maroon Monks, establishing a network of fifty monasteries across the planets. These are not simple praying communities, but the Imperium's main arm in planet, center of orthodoxy and "High Imperial" ideology deep in the wastelands, where they seek to hunt down heresy and civilize the natives.
Attempts by the Missionarus Galaxia to form a formal clergy were mixed, and mostly abandoned by the end of continuous missionary effort in M38. Across the Scrappper settlements a rough regime of "Archpriests" and "Bishops" exists, positions continuously moving as the balance of power between Scrapper Kings shifts. Meanwhile a system of "parish priests" exist some Sand People, while others have their religious authority vested in "Wisemen", lay persons who are nonetheless respected by their personal piety and religious knowledge. The planet's clergy is under the authority of a Legate sent by Aetelian Synod, though they rarely set foot on the planet, let alone interfere in its affair. Among the native clergy, the Sacratium of Godopert's Keep is rcognized as the seniormost figure, but merely the first between equals.
Outside the formal clergy, a series of mystic orders exist, seeking to become one with the Emperor and uncover His Deeper, their rituals to achive such often involving spear-dances, medidation and the comsuption of narcotics. These are particularly prevalent among Bedin, but far from uncommon among Scrappers. Even more informal are vagrant mystics that travel across the wastes and ancient roads. A remnant of pre-Imperial traditions, they often preach heavily heteredox versions of the Imperial Cult, but are generally tolerated by clerical authorities.
Planetary Defences: It's a desert hellhole full of things that want to eat you, inhabited by equally violet people with various levels of weaponry. Besides that, Godopert's Keep represents an impressive fortification with limited orbital warfare capabilities.
Imperial Guard Regiment: So far only a single regiment has been raised by the planet. The 1st Melanmundo Mounted regiment was raised from among the bedin vouno-riders of the Kumin and Pershung confederacies to serve in the Democles Gulf Crusade. It served with some distinctions and currently garissoning the Agri-World of Geomeilo III. Raising other regiments has been considered, but the general consensus among the Administratum is for the preservation of the planet's limited manpower.
Notable Landmarks: The fifty monasteries are among the planets main spiritual and political centers, particularly in the "deep waste" away from the land of the scrappers. Still, their influence is dwarfed by Godopert's Keep: established in an oasis deep in the desert, the ancient Black Templar fortress naturaly became the planet's main pilgrimage city, as many expect the "Obsidian Giants" to one day return. This has been incentived by the chapter serfs and their descents, who established the Keep into the planet's largest settlement and political center in the hope that, if a Black Templar crusade ever uses their Keep, their aspirant recruitment efforts will be more efficient.
Among the various ruins, one overshadows all importance, one archeotech marble that now singlehandely pays the tithes tithe. But to explain this find, one must explain... shovels.
The people of Melanmundo know shovels, they use shovels, their shovels are actually pretty good, but they don't make shovels. This is not totally unusual for techno-barbarian scavengers, but their mythology about shovels is... peculiar. Among scrappers from the Ruin Septima region, it was believed that shovels were spirits burn deep inside earth who dig themselves to the surfaces. Among some Bedins, there is the myth of the Valley of Wonders where, among other things, shovels grow like plants. Myths about the shovels originating from the ground are widespread, something that baffled scholars... until Naetan Draik found the truth.
Deep within Ruin Secunda, he found an unusual structure. Around it... literal mountains of shovels. Every single shovel of the planet came from there, before spreading across the world, first through the winds and floods of the Water and Wind Seasons, and then through trade. And the source of it, an automated factorium, a true marvel able to turn raw materials into industrialized goods, making shovels from a special polymer using nothing but the soil and the sand. It soon became known as Draik's Wonder.
At full efficiency, it can produce in a minute enough shovels to outfit a Krieg Siege Korps. It is generally assumed to be able to produce other stuff, with a magos allegedly discovering how to produce a flak helmet. Unfortunately, jurisdictional conflict over the Wonder became...messy, as both Smilnay and Milan sough control over it. What started as minor disputed between Scavenger gans soon evolved into a general war across the Ruin Secunda region, the War for the Wonder. Once outworld mercs who looked suspicously like skitari started showing up, Mars chose to intervened by declaring a moratorum on research of the structure "until a settlement for the jurisdiction over it be reached", with both Forge World engaged in litigation rituals to the Fabricator-General over It for the last there centuries. Since M41.200, the planets entire tithe requirement has been fulfilled by Draik's Wonder, though the Departamento Exacta is currently studying a re-grading of the planet's tithe.
Trivia:
- The Melanmundian Purple Cacti has psychodelic effects, being recently popularized as a recreative drug by Zatloczony's upper hivers. In Melanmundo, it is used by many mystic orders;
- Beaked Monsters are the worst. The Departamento Muniturm is currently studying their possible deployment as a biological weapon against Tau worlds;
- Deep within the Godopert's Keep, there is an mastercrafted Combi-Desintegration Gun, Godopert's Wratih, waiting for a Marshal to wield it.
I had this idea for "Kenshi as a 40k planet". I abandoned that, but some of it survived, notably it has beak things. Then I just went off and it got weird.
All in all, it is a very detailed planet that I like a lot. The only nitpick I do have is that conclusion to the archaotech war, both in that both Forge Worlds would get involved directly instead of fighting a proxy war, and that the Administratum seized the machine, as they probably don't have the authority to do it.
The Anointed are the most favoured Heretic Astartes warriors within the Word Bearers Traitor Legion and represent the members of an elite cult within the broader Legion. The Anointed wear fully enclosed, ancient suits of Terminator Armour and serve as Chaos Terminators on the battlefield. Each...
Could be a repeated name? I think I recall a story about two space marine chapters with the same name and colour scheme being allowed to exist due to a bureaucratic error. Only discovered after both were sent to the same world and were wiped out.
Could be a repeated name? I think I recall a story about two space marine chapters with the same name and colour scheme being allowed to exist due to a bureaucratic error. Only discovered after both were sent to the same world and were wiped out.
Problem is that it would make Lux Ferro's title of "The First Anointed" a bit awkward, given that "The Anointed" (as in Chaos Terminators formation) were created several milenniums before he was born (and as (former) Word Bearers's Dark Apostle, he would know about them, if not straight-up have several directly serving him)
All in all, it is a very detailed planet that I like a lot. The only nitpick I do have is that conclusion to the archaotech war, both in that both Forge Worlds would get involved directly instead of fighting a proxy war, and that the Administratum seized the machine, as they probably don't have the authority to do it.
The world is ruled by a series of wealthy guilds and corporations, which control every asset and person on the planet, they are driven by profit first and foremost and thus take great care to preserve the natural beauty and stellar reputation of the planet. They spend an inordinate amount of money to both maintain the planets ecology as well as the vast infrastructure needed to keep it operational. Another major cause for concern is guest safety, the planet operates a large yet hidden security force which acts to protect guests from all manner of harm known as the Xanadu Security Service which act as a combination of pdf and secret services.
Problem is that it would make Lux Ferro's title of "The First Anointed" a bit awkward, given that "The Anointed" (as in Chaos Terminators formation) were created several milenniums before he was born (and as (former) Word Bearers's Dark Apostle, he would know about them, if not straight-up have several directly serving him)
Well, seeing as he disdains traditional Word Bearer beliefs, it could be framed as Lux Ferro not seeing them as truly "Anointed", with his title as the "First" being both an insult and a recognition of that.
Drummond took a deep breath as he marched forward, the smog mired air felt good as it went to his lungs, it felt familiar, it felt like home. He had missed this he had found. His training on Rathan was an experience he'd miss for sure but the air always felt too clear, the surface far too vast and featureless, and the sun would constantly glare at him in a way that hurt his eyes and made him feel like he was being watched by some unknown threat.
But here on Kruthan? Breathing felt like home, there was always some kind of structure or high alpine mountain so the oppressive emptiness never got to him, and the glaring sun was hidden behind an ever present shield of smog which cloaked the entire world. By the Emperor he loved Kruthan. There genuinely was no place like home.
Oh yes, he was more than happy to be home. Though he wouldn't trade the training to be a volunteer for anything and was always patriotic about his duties. He couldn't deny the world itself was unpleasant compared to his lovely home and the training was brutal. It wasn't all learning to kill, any lad of the Underhives could do that, no it was everything. Wasn't just about how to aim and fire the lasgun, it was about how to maintain it, how to clean it and recognise when something was wrong. It wasn't just about learning to charge down some poor bastard with a bayonet, it was about how to do so as a group and learning to obey when their bosses ordered them to stop.
That last one took a bit of flogging to get through to people, him included, it went against a lot of what the Underhive taught them. Always be aggressive and always press the attack, that's how it worked in the underhives, but not here though. Here you gotta keep your cool, hold in your aggression, be a good lad and obey your bosses as they tell ya when and how to kill. It was tough, it was humiliating, to be disrespected like that and made to bow and scrape. But that bitch who trained them flogged it into them and they obeyed and they all hated her for it, most of them he reckoned wanted to put a bullet in her head or bend her over a table, with him being in the former camp. But Drummond knew he was a better killer cause of Rathan, he knew he was a better man at that, cause now he could serve the Emperor better than he ever could as a Hive rat.
That's what made a true man on Kruthan, serving the Emperor and the Imperium anyway you could.
Like he was now.
He was a squaddie of the Andrum Volunteer Force, a sub grouping of the Kruthan Volunteer Forces, a defence regiment tasked with guarding his home hive of Andrum and the surrounding territories. He'd been serving for a few years now, ever since his year of training on Rathan was completed, and he had to say it was fun. It was like the old gang scraps he got into with the gangs back in the underhive, only with better toys, better enemies and a noble cause.
Right now, he and his squad were off on a hunting trip, far outside the hives proper, they were hunting vermin. Amongst the high, smog choked alpine mountains which made up his homeworld, dwarfed only by the great hives which towers over all, and the utterly toxic lowlands where all the industrial run off of the hives and the wretched mutants, abominations, and techno-barbarian tribes that followed. With its literal rivers and lakes of toxic industrial run off and monsters which lurked within the rancid depths.
He had been on a few such missions during his brief career, and he had to say they were generally a pleasure, if a little lacking in challenge. The numerous techno-barbarian and mutant tribes were as hostile as they were savage. But luckily for them, they usually spent most of their time killing each other to bother the hive proper, but occasionally they had to be properly culled by the Volunteer Force to avoid their numbers swelling too high. But this time they weren't hunting the muties or ferals, no, they were culling xenos.
Apparently a century or so ago, a small and ramshackle fleet of the creatures had arrived in system and immediately beelined for his homeworld. Naturally they got destroyed in orbit by the holy defences that graced the world, most were destroyed utterly but one vessel apparently crash landed well into the wastelands between the hives. By the time they had been tracked down and those Xenos defending the wreck killed, they'd apparently spread into the wild, and had established themselves. Proving annoyingly troublesome to destroy, spawning in the most hostile of the Kruthan wastes, forming tribes that used stone and scrap metal weapons to war with the Muties and Lowlanders.
When he was briefed on them, he realised he'd seen them before, some of the gangs had them on hand as attack dogs and he heard rumours of them fighting in the odd gang war here or there. He just always assumed they were one of them weird feral mutants that occasionally popped up, the proper odd ones like them eyeless ones that dwell at the bottom or the bald ones with the odd limbs that can make you love em if you ain't careful (one of his second cousins got crucified for that, real shame on the family he was, had to wipe his family to get back their honour). He had no bloody idea how they got there or how he hadn't heard what they were before.
Orks they were apparently called.
He and his platoon had been sent to cull them.
They'd fanned out across the high mountains and valleys, divided into small hunter killer units which methodically scoured each, it was good hunting all things considered. He and his had already found a herd of the lesser breeds of Greenskin, Gretchins and Snotlings and a few spores, as well as a few clashes with the bigger ones.
"Keep yer eyes sharp lads n'lass." The sergeant said, he was a gruff fella roughly twice Drummonds age, or at least what he thought his age was. He felt around nineteen odd. There were around seven others in the squad barring himself and the sergeant, they had another fella but he went and tripped into one of the sludge rivers and was never seen again, the dozy bastard.
We all answered we'd keep an eye out. They were currently patrolling near one of the waste lakes, a small lake of industrial sludge and run off combined with very literal waste. The place was toxic to us but he knew things would lurk in there, stuff that survived just fine in the toxic waste but would die if put in clean or recycled water. Sometimes some of the less hostile lowlander tribes would make their livings on ramshackle boats travelling the rivers of sludge trading and fishing.
But everyone knew other things lived in those rivers. Mutant monsters and creatures best wiped out. He'd seen them in the underhive and he'd seen them out here. Which is why when the sludge began to ripple, everyone's guns turned to face it.
What they didn't expect was how huge and fast the thing was.
It was a massive humanoid, towering over them, a disgusting figure which stank to high hell and a maw full of crooked broken fangs with a sickly pale body wracked by mutations. It was a sludge troll, a creature of the industrial wastes, a monster which would lie in wait in the dark mire and snatch anything that came close. This one was huge, bloated, and coming right for them.
They all immediately opened fire, the sound of lasgun fire echoing around the smog filled valley, but the creature wouldn't relent. Every injury seeming to enrage the creature more and more as it continued to charge. The squad barely had time to react as it reached them, lashing out with clumsy strikes from its claws, one man went down, while another lost a limb, the rest continued to back up and kept firing shot after shot into the creature. Yet it wouldn't go down.
Then its maw opened, revealing a terrible pit of deformed teeth and a rancid almost acidic smell, before a vile red vomit was expelled from within. It sprayed out almost without warning, and it was too late to save those in its path, four men were caught in the deluge and each man would die. The moment the liquid made contact the men would scream before going silent as they were reduced to slurry. With meat and cloth and metal all melting together into an unidentifiable mass.
Eventually, the creature went down, and he personally put a dozen shots in its head for good measure. Then, the survivors of their squad gathered their wits and assessed the damage.
"What'd we do boss?" one of the two other survivors asked, a big fella by the name of Ed, good in a scrap but not the brightest. He was looking at the corpse of the beast, before the lack of answer caused him to whip around looking for an answer. So, he gave it to him.
"Mate he's dead." Drummond said, pointing to the pile of slurry that used to be the sergeant, the big fella looked dumbly at that, before turning back to the monster and giving it a jab with his bayonet for good measure.
"What'd we do now then?" he asked, looking at Drummond then to the other survivor, a lady named Bonnie. A black haired girl from the mid hive in sharp contrast to himself. Currently she looked a bit ill and remained silent. So again, Drummond answered.
"Well first, you lot are gonna keep guard while I get me a trophy" this was a big one, and he hadn't ever gotten a tooth of one of these, so he opened the creatures gaping mouth and started smacking it in the face with the butt of his rifle.
"Who made you the boss?" the surviving woman asked, finding her stomach and apparently her attitude, Drummond didn't even turn to her.
"Cause I said so, I was the one who put this thing down, I shot it in the head a dozen times see? So I'm gonna take me a trophy and once that's done, I'm gonna lead us right back to camp, cause I remember the way we went. So shut yer mouth and keep watch." Drummond answered as he smacked away at the beast, the other two mumbled for a minute before taking up positions, then with one last hard smack a tooth came unlodged and Drummond carefully picked it up before shoving it into his satchel.
"Right then, that's that, we best be going back now. We ain't in no fighting condition no we ain't, so we gonna go back to camp, report this to the big bosses, and then we're gonna pray for the boss and the others. You got that?" Drummond said as he approached the pair of them slowly, trying to emulate the demeanour of the ganger bosses he saw growing up just so he can get them to go along with it.
The two glanced at each other before nodding slowly, and they all turned the way they came.
