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Imperial guard background questions

Started by scotty, May 25, 2010, 04:49:10 PM

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scotty

Hey guys

I am trying to flesh out the background of the main character of my warband. I'm not going for an Inquisitor led band but one led by a gunslinger/adventurer type of guy.

Anyway I want him to be ex Imperial guard, his story is as follows, in shortened form. The main two people in this story is my character and an commissar who abuses his position. He serves in the imperial guard, with an over-zealous commisar taking an intense dislike to him. In a long campaign, his regiment is decimated in a foolish attack ordered by the said commisar. Who executed his colonel when he refused to issue the order.

My character is one of the few who survived the and made it back to friendly lines alive. The commissar did also and places the blame for the stupid attack on the dead colonel, making himself out as a hero.My character who saw the commissar give the order and executre the colonel, in a fit of drunken rage and anguish, attacks the commissar and is arrested and imprisoned to await a court marshall. He escapes and manages to get offworld in a refugee ship. However the Commissar is in pursuit of him to try and get revenge and silence any eye-witness accounts of what really happened.

My character lives on the run from the commissar, taking on bounty hunting jobs and mercenary  work when he can. He occasionally has flashbacks from the war, watching his comrades die again and again (i will work out some sort of alcohol problem or flashback one to work into games).

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The war is massive, with thousands of people, machines arriving and going, people going missing in combat etc. So with this in mind is his backstory plausible? This is only a rough outline and I hope to eventually to write it out in detail, a few chapters or so.

Would a commissar ever gain the power to pursue an agenda of his own on the side?
What is the imperiums general view to a deserter?

Any comments, suggestions or ideas will be welcome

Thanks
Scotty

phil-o-mat

#1
the imperiums general view to a deserter is: shot in the head!
maybe arcoflaggelation or something.

i tend to shot in the head.

p.s.: the story seems plausible. and i think it`s very cool!!!

Kallidor

QuoteDesertion

Any soldier who absents himself from his troop, battery, company or garrison without leave from his superior officer shall be hunted down without respite and executed in any manner necessary. (Art. 0001/01a)

If this Guardsmen was facing Court Martial and escaped the Commissar might well have persuaded his superiors that he is duty bound to hunt the scum down, it just wouldn't sit right with him since the man was under his charge yadda yadda *insert manipulative reasons here*.

Sounds plausible to me.
Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Myriad

Being a deserter is almost as dangerous as being a guardsman.  Still, the Imperium is a big place and one individual could probably slip the net fairly easily, using an assumed identity.  Being employed/used by the inquisition may even accord such a criminal some degree of protection.  All in all the background is pretty plausible, and quite characterful.

The details of the commisar feels a little less so - mostly I'm not convinced he could get excused from his military duties in order to pursue a fugitive in person, although he would no doubt have access to minions aplenty.  I also think he'd need a bit more than "he shot the colonel" to be enough of a threat to the commisar in question.
I had better point out, that some of the clubs I represent are of a military bent.

You know what you are?  A plywood shark!

Heroka Vendile

Maybe if the soldier were to be an sergeant or lieutenant, someone a court are more likely to actually listen to than a foot slogger - if there was also some kind of more important reason for the Commissar to have insisted on such a doomed attack (i.e. being in cahoots with the enemy, which I note you haven't said who they were yet).

With the regiment effectively in tatters, the commissar could have successfully petitioned to chase down the escaped soldier, as the remains of the regiment are probably being reassigned to another unit - freeing up the Commissar for reassignment himself, which he gets postponed to carry out this task.
It's all fun and games until someone shoots their own guy with a Graviton gun instead of the MASSIVE SPIDER.
The Order of Krubal
Rewards Of The Enemy

scotty

Hmm, thanks for the comments gents, it has given me a few things to think about.

As for the commissar, I intend to make him a kind of recurring villain in my characters background (with a model made eventually of course, any suggestions on how would be welcome) ;). I see the need for expanding the commissar's reason for wanting to hunt down my character. Probably something to do with the enemy they faced, thanks Heroka, but I am not sure what enemy to make them.

Moreover I need some reason for the commissar to want to hide his part in the attack, and give my character a good enough reason to try and escape.

Oh yeah I have  promoted him to a 2nd Lieutenant, just to give him the clout mentioned, and to justify the Laspistol I am going to make him use in the current game.


Thanks for the suggestions lads
If anyone has any suggestions for the enemy he faced and the relationship to the commissar, please feel free.
Scotty

Shannow

I think this model with a bit of converting would make a damn good evil commissar personally

http://www.historexagents.com/shop/hxproductdetail.php?ProductCode=S5F19

I was going to buy him, but as it would just be to have, as I have no character plans, money demands meant its ended on the 'if I won the lottery' pile:P
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Time to die.

Kaled

I'm told that model is somewhat on the small side - I had thought of buying it myself, but ended up converting a Commissar out of GW parts after being told that.

If I was going to buy a model to use as a Commissar now, I'd probably get this one;
http://www.pizarrominiaturas.com/tienda/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=3
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

Shannow

That is very very nice. Very characterful. thanks for the pointer on the other one
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Time to die.

scotty

Ouch that model is very nice Kaled. I guess I now know where i am getting my commissar from, love the pose also, suits the personality of the commissar in my charaters background.

Morcus

I've seen some great comissars based on Kal Jericho if your lucky enough to track one down.

Flinty

I feel into the same Andrea trap, buying the Russian sniper from Afghanistan, only to find that he would end up looking like a very handsome and ill-proportioned ratling. And to make it worse he is cast in one piece with only the hands separate, making it a bugger to convert into something else...

How about making the original enemy something like a renegade/revolting PDF? Your Lieutenant's regiment is assigned to the counter offensive whilst the Commissar perhaps has some evil, sneaky connection with the planetary revolt and was in cahoots with the (now extinct) govenor.

Perhaps your guy has come across some evidence on top of witnessing the Commissar's attempt to wipe out the regiment (a crude attempt to cripple the Imperial attack?) overheard incriminating comms/has a copy of the actual orders from the CO etc.  Worried that his connection with chaos/greed/quest for power will be exposed, the Commissar etc etc..
Neanderthal and Proud!