Death Cult

There have been a lot of cults in the real world that have been obsessed with death. There are even jokes that being of Irish descent means that you automatically end up inducted deeply into the biggest death cult in the world. Certainly, conversations with the Irish side of my family will inevitably become focused on recent deaths and the dead of numerous generations back.

As such, the idea of death cults have long fascinated me.

With my squat army in construction, I've been looking at the mythology of the Duardin from Warhammer Fantasy, since there's a huge amount of deliberate overlap (why develop a separate culture when you can just import most of it?).

I've been wanting to add some Ambots, as a squat version of Ogryn, since the models were released, because having big androids just feels right. Ogryn/Bullgryn units are some of the best close combat units in the current Codex, and are even better accompanied by a Ministorum Priest, who will increase their Attacks to 4 or 5 (+1 more if they charge), so I really want to have at least a couple of priests with them. The thing is, the main dwarf Ancestors who have been mentioned, at any point, in 40K, as Ancestor Spirits - Grungni, Ancestor of mining/stoicism, and his brother Grimnir, Ancestor of war, honour and protection - don't fit the bill as Spirits whose priests would essentially fulfil the same role as Cybernetica Datasmiths in the Adeptus Mechanicus.

So, i started looking at the other major Ancestor Spirits of the dwarfs in the World that Was. Valaya, Ancestor of the hearth and healing (and wife of both Grungni and Grimnir) is far more medics than robotics. Her sons Smedni, Thungni and Morgrim, the Ancestors of smithing, rune magic/language, and engineering, respectively were all possible contenders, but which one would fit?

Then 2 things happened.

I looked at the one outstanding Ancestor, Gazul, Ancestor of the Dead, who was an elementalist, who created the alphabet, and the Ancestor Cult. The shrines to Gazul are generally tended by the community rather than their priests, and tend to be simple, save the large, ogre sized statues. Priests of Gazul are more focused on fighting undead than on rituals. In 40K, aside from the actual Undead, the Necron Empires, and antedating the necrons by 10 years, the majority of robots in 40K have an organic or other, non-technological, element. For the Imperium, a synthetic cortex (or an ambul's brain); for orks, a grot or a squig; Chaos would mix organic with daemonic, while eldar use the spirits of the dead. Wouldn't it make sense, then, for priests of Gazul to accompany the androids of their Stronghold? Whether this is because they are undead, or to protect them from corruption by the undead elements of other races, is a nice little bit of mystery.

The other thing was coming across a set of ambots converted to be used as Centurions in a count-as-marines squat force, as the exo-armoured Hearthguard. With my planning to mono-dex my squats, one iconic piece of their historic range was of limited availability: those self same exo-armoured Hearthguard. Using the Vostroyan Doctrine allows me to have one suit, so one of my Company Commanders, "Grand Marshall Alberich von Niebelungen", has that, using the Kharadron Admiral. Beyond that, the nearest i have is some "Huscarls" in the form of a 5-strong Tempestus Scions squad made from Grundstock Thunderers.

And so, the idea was spawned: my League of Niebelungen have very few surviving exo-armour harnesses. The exo-armoured troops were in the thickest of the fighting, and so most suits, and their wearers, were maimed beyond recovery. Those that were saved were largely rebuilt, both squats and machines. These Draugr, literally revenants, are a squat version of the modern marine dreadnought, with the organic remains of fallen Hearthguard running monstrous constructions based on their ancestral armour. With this, the priests accompanying them would, logically, be those of Gazul, nursing the revenants so that they don't rise from the dead when they do, finally, die. When not on the battlefield, these Draugr guard the shrines of Gazul, literally the ogre sized statues of old lore.