Dead Root Legion

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The Dead Root Legion is an ever-expanding army, bolstered by a number of chaotic beings. From lowly cultists armed with rusty stubbers to massive demonic beasts with legends as outlandish as their appearance. A bulk of the legion’s forces are made up of individuals who have become possessed by the force behind the Legion, the entity known as Dead Root.

History
First Encounter

The following is an interview conducted by [INFO REDACTED] with an envoy of the Legion.

Interviewer: State your name for the record, please.

Envoy: My name is John Leman. I was the Sargent of the Seekers of the Damned.

Interviewer: You said was, past tense. Please explain your choice of vocabulary.

Envoy: My chapter had fallen on hard times while chasing leads. We had been tasked with finding and making contact with the ones known as The Legion of the Damned.

We had a run in with a detachment of crazed Dark Angels who were convinced that we were something called “The Fallen”. Afterwards, we suffered dozens of crippling defeats, that’s when we ran into Dead Root and his legion of monsters.

The past defeats had worn down our ship’s defenses, our ship was no match for his fleet’s abnormal weaponry. Their ship was covered in plants, as is it had been stranded in a forest for years. When they hit our ship, their ammunition began to grow and pierce through the hull. To escape their fire we descended onto the nearest planet. The ship began to fall apart as we pierced through the atmosphere. We quickly used our Stormravens and fled the ship before it burnt up and crashed. I thought that it was odd that the fleet stopped firing at us once we had departed the ship but it all made sense once we arrived on the planet’s surface.

Interviewer: It was a trap?

Envoy: Yes. But he had not intended on slaughtering us. What he had in store for us was much worse than death.

My Stormraven had collided with falling wreckage from our ship causing us to break formation from the rest of our fleeing forces. Three of my men died on impact, others suffered minor injuries. Once we got our bearings we set out to find the rest of our brothers. The world was similar to a harvest world, only it was twisted.

Interviewer: The warp often has that effect on things as I’m sure you are aware of.

Envoy: This was different from any other twisting hell scape or some poor soul changed into some beast. There were crop fields everywhere you could see and the sparse tree lines were made up of gnarled trees. The trees were growing at a visible rate. It felt as if the planet itself was watching us. We also thought it was strange when we noticed nothing was impeding our advance. We thought that we would at least have encountered a threat or any sentient form. There was nothing.

We found out why once we had made contact with several units who had managed to land safely. We were informed that one of our numbers had been hit by the wreckage and crashed just as we had. Someone from the unit had attempted to send a warning to any and all other units over our vox link but before we could hear the full message, the transmission was terminated. Locking on to the signals point of origin, we made our way to a massive crash sight.

Interviewer: Were there any survivors?

Envoy: I wish that they all had died. Death would have been better than what happened to them. The enemy had already found the wreck and lined up all of the survivors. That’s when I saw him. The monster commanding this band of freaks. He towered over my brothers as they were forced to their knees. His legs seemed like they were buried in the ground beneath him, even as he walked. His feet never left the soil.

He looked down at the first Astartes and extended what could pass for his hand. It was a mass of vines and brown roots. The soldier spit and barked at the monster. The monster looked less than pleased, but not surprised, and shoved his hand into the soldier’s mouth, forcing it deep until the bend of his arm met the stretched and bleeding mouth of my brother. Once the monster withdrew its arm my brother fell to the ground coughing up blood from his scarred throat. Blood began to fill his eyes and his armor buckled outward as if something was forcing its way out of his body. The others tried to move away but found that they were held in place by roots that had wrapped themselves around their ankles and forearms. Most had closed their eyes in an attempt to ignore what was happening to him.

With no warning, the body of the got to its feet and shuffled over to the twisted beings to join the  monster’s ranks.

One by one the sickening monster made its way down the line, repeating the process. It didn’t matter if they accepted the offer or not. The result was the same. We were going to join his Legion whether we wanted to or not. Once I was found, I gave in and I was sent here to deliver a message.

(There are sounds of flesh and fabric ripping and gurgling. Sounds of someone scrambling for a bolster. Two shots fired. Monstrous moans fill the room.)

Interviewer: UNHAND ME YOU BEAST!!

Demon: [demonic, gravely voice] You are in no position to make demands. I am the result of man’s greed, your race, and others that inhabit this reality have taken more then you have ever given back. You have killed planets, you have despoiled the soil of all that it is worth. I AM YOUR RECKONING! I AM THE UNRELENTING FORCE OF NATURE YOU HAVE BROUGHT UNTO YOURSELF!

But I am not without a sense of honor. [The demon places a single seed into the interviewer’s hand] I’ll let you decide when you are ready to fix things. [A warp rift opens in the room and demon is seen walking through it]

[The interviewer was then taken from the room and the seed was placed in a null vault to be studied or until it could be disposed of.]

Legion Structure
It has been documented that the legion can unwillingly assimilate living organisms into their ranks, this has made it difficult to learn the true size of the legion and has proven to be the source of the diversity found within the legion. It is not uncommon for chaos warbands to be made up of units from many different legions all working to achieve their own goals but The Dead Root Legion acts as one with all its leadership and most its forces being controlled by Dead Root itself. The following is a list of legions whose units have been found within The Legion’s Ranks; The Seekers of The Dammed, Black Legion, Death Guard, World Eaters, Space Wolves, Iron Warriors, Iron Hands and The Dark Angels.



Invasion Tactics
Where most warbands are constantly moving to avoid capture or detection The Dead Root Legion uses a system to invade, conquer and hold planets under their control. The legion has used many tactics to complete this goal but the more common and successful one is to target worlds that have a minimal population of 2.2 billion to 6.3 billion. There are several ways that the legion might invade a planet each are effective in their own way but some are more stable than others.

INVADE
Option 1. Bringing a ship into the planets orbit and showering the atmosphere with seeds and spores. The seeds will very in type depending on the planet’s soil content, temperature, sun light exposure and water content. The plants that grow from these seeds feed off whatever is most common in the planets air including radiation and other possible toxins that might be harmful to any other form of plant.

Though this option is effective and mostly goes unnoticed by the planet’s population, it may take several decades for the effects to be seen.

Option 2. If the legion believes that they might be met with resistance of the militant kind, the legion is quick to take the path of least resistance. The legion will send a single ship to scout the planet and find a hive city or a settlement with moderate infrastructure. The ship will tease the defenses to see how alert the city is, whether or not the ship is shot down is no concern, for it is all part of the plan. If the ship is fired upon, it will attempt to crash into the city. If the ship takes too much damage during this process, the ship will attempt to crash land close enough to the city to hopefully draw out the inhabitants to check the wreckage so that they could be infected with spores. Soon after, the infected will be overcome with the need to spread the spores as the host’s body becomes a breeding ground for even more spores. In most cases the host might feel compelled to through themselves into the air filtration system to spread spores throughout the city. In time the legion will have a staging ground on the planet.

CONQUEST
The Hive City will act as if nothing has changed in order to keep the infection a secret. Weapons and goods will still be produced as normal but many of the exports will be tainted with the same spores that have spread throughout the host Hive City.

Cults dedicated to Dead Root will begin to conduct meetings in secret, enacting ritual sacrifices deep within the lower levels closest to the planets soil in hopes that the blood and souls of those who have been sacrificed will breathe life back into the planet. Once the influence of the cult has spread considerably throughout the planet parament members of the cult will start exhibiting physical changes in their bodies. Their skin will start tuning green and wood like appendages will protrude from their flesh in the form of limbs and horns. The most devout members will surpass the others as their change will envelop their whole-body turning them into tree like people with flesh made of unnaturally hard wood. These individuals are said to have direct communication to Dead Root himself.

When most of the Hive Cities of the Death World have been infected the Legion, itself makes its move.

The Legions fleet creates a blockade around the planet cutting it off from the other in the system and the imperium at large, from here the clock starts ticking.

HOLD THE LINE
With the fleet in orbit the Legion makes quick work of any resistance that the un-indoctrinated might pose. Companies of Chaos Space Marines, Plague Marines and other forces are sent to subdue any who might not comply with the hostile takeover of the planet. At this stage the planet shows signs of foliage, the cults will begin to cultivate the soil with material and seeds given to them by the Legion. These seeds will take root and grow at a staggering rate, trees sprout to saplings in a matter of days. Most planets held by the Legion are surprisingly well ordered suggesting that the cults unite under a system of common rules.

Scouts have reported finding large stone pillars on every planet touch by the Legion all bearing the same words leading most to believe the Legion establishes these rules before the fleet departs the planet. The rules read as follows.

 Cull humanity in perpetual balance with nature. 

Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity. 

Unite humanity with a living new language. 

Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts. 

Avoid petty laws and useless officials. 

Balance personal rights with social duties. 

Seeking harmony with the infinite. 

Be not a cancer on this planet — Leave room for nature </li> </ul>

Known Members
Undesto He Who Walks The Rows (Great Unclean One) - A towering Monster with a body made from green tainted wood. Unlike most Unclean Ones, Undesto sports a thin frame with a sickly gourd like face obscured by a large cloth hood. The Daemon is armed with a giant sword coated with the dried blood of his enemies and a large scythe claw.

Groot (Helbrute) - Description: A bright orange Helbrute encased in thick bark with a plush tree sprouting from the top of the body. The bark, while tough, seems to be extremely flexible to not hinder the beasts movement.

Mallum The Hungry (Daemon Prince) - Description: A uncommonly malnourished Daemon with grass covered wings and mane. The Creature's skin is covered in wounds that never seem to heal, most likely self inflicted from auto-cannibalism.

Thalen The Lead (Daemon Prince) - Description: A daemon price with common proportions aside from the large pumpkin like head. Thalen has been spotted in the majority of the legions battles being supported by elite soldiers. Thalen is likely a member of The Simulacrum Sentinels being that he has been seen performing indoctrination ceremonies like the one detailed by the legions envoy.

Patch Adams (Renegade Knight) - A rusted, dirt covered knight armed with an Avenger Gatling Cannon and a Thundestrike Gauntlet. The knight looks as if it has been buried under ground for centuries with grass and wild and unkempt pumpkins growing from its canopy. The knight has been destroyed on more then one occasion but always seems to rebuild itself after every battle. In instances where the knight exploded, seeds were dispersed through the air. They were found later to be lodge into nearby buildings as well as enemies that were in the blast radius.

JubLub The Reckless (Daemon Prince) - Another pumpkin headed Daemon Prince that may or may not be a member of The Simulacrum Sentinels being that he has been seen running into combat wildly without the support of any other units. Whether this is strategy or careless abandon has yet to been seen. UPDATE: JubLub has been slain in combat and his head was given as a trophy to the ork warband responsible.

Demitan The Enforcer (Deamon Prince) - Sightings of yet another pumpkin headed Daemon Prince have been confirmed by scout teams in eye space. An uncanny monster carrying a frighteningly large sword on one freakishly strong arm while the other deprived of muscle carries an old dingy scroll. Inhabitants of worlds that have been touched by the legion have called this Deamon "The Enforcer", for he is the one who delivers the punishment on any who dares to disobey the laws put forth by the legion.

Allies

 * Bastion - Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage.


 * Krampus Claus - Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury.

Enemies

 * Wolves of Asgard
 * Legio Boros - Titan Legion

Notable Quotes
Undesto He Who Walks The Rows -♪ "The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out They crawl all over your dirty snout. Your chest caves in and your eyes pop out. Your brain turns to saurkraut. They invite their friends, and their friends too. They all come down to chew on you. And this is what it is to die, I hope you had a nice goodbye.♪" Thalen The Lead - "It is mankind's fate to return to the soil so why don't you all plant your heads in the dirt and take a deep breath?" Demitan The Enforcer  - "The law was written because humanity doesn't know what to do with their selves, so don't ask me WHY. You reap what you sow." JubLub The Reckless - " I'M NOT SCARED OF A BUNCH OF MUSHROOMS!" (Last Words)