In addition to the
Major Factions of the Xhorik Campaign of the Horus Heresy, there were numerous other fighting forces, including dozens of regiments of militia, auxilia, mercenaries, and planetary defense forces. Here are a few of note:
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| Trooper of the 317th PDF Regiment; Xhorik Prime Planetary Defense Force |
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| Trooper of the 317th PDF Regiment; Xhorik Prime Planetary Defense Force |
The 317th PDF was one of the many planetary defense force regiments raised by the governor of Xhorik Prime when the traitor forces started approaching the Xhorik System. Hastily assembled with meager training, the 317th was decimated in their first two engagements with the Death Guard 14th Great Company as the Traitors approached Bielyr. The regiment suffered over 60% casualties in the first few days of intense and chaotic combat. The remnants were disbanded and quickly integrated into other PDF regiments that had also suffered heavy losses. Despite the casaulties, the PDF regiments were able to slow the Traitor advance and provide time for reinforcements to arrive to the front.
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| Meltagunner of the 3rd Xhorik Polar Regiment, The Snow Devils |
The Xhorik Polar Regiments were tasked with defending the far northern extremes of the planet. A network of orbital shield generators that covered the northern latitudes was the primary strategic value of the region. However, the Traitor Legions were able to easily land on the planet due to treachery as the entire Federation of Unimund, the most populous region, sided with Horus. Thus, the polar regions were of limited strategic value to the Traitors as the shields only protected Kozar and the northern deserts from orbital bombardment or direct deployment from orbit, but the much larger Traitor armies were free to land in friendly territory and then advance by land against the Loyalist strongholds. Praetor Wolfgang never had sufficient Legion marines to send them to the theater, so he relied on auxilia troops to neutralize the shields. The Snow Devils were able to hold out throughout the campaign by fighting a protracted series of small battles and ambushes, relying on a series of hidden bunkers and their being better equipped for the environment than the Traitors.
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| Rifleman of the 4th Urgfurt Foot Guard, The Grave Diggers |
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| Rifleman of the 4th Urgfurt Foot Guard, The Grave Diggers |
Urgfurt is one of the heavily-industrialized states that make up the Federation of Unimund. During war, they could repurpose their chemical plants to manufacture a variety of specialty weapons, including toxic gases. The Urgfurt Foot Guard regiments typically advanced under a cloud of chemical munitions and wielded advanced models of las weaponry. During the Heresy, the Federation sided with the Traitors against their old rival Kozar, and formed the industrial heart of the Traitor position on the planet. The Grave Diggers saw heavy action during the battle for Bielyr, shelling the city and surrounding area for weeks with their artillery before it was finally cleared street by street by Death Guard infantry.
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| Desert tribesman of the Stone River Sept |
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| Desert tribesman of the Stone River Sept |
Even after the various independent nations, federations and city states of the western region of Xhorik Prime were brought into the Imperium, vast swathes of the eastern wastes were still populated by nomadic desert tribes and roaming ork warbands. When the Great Crusade moved on, a small garrison of White Scars was left on Xhorik Prime to recruit from the Stratocracy of Kozar and to subjugate the wild east. After years of fighting with the elusive and skilled desert-dwellers, the two sides had built a mutual respect for each other and started to work together to eradicate the techno-savage ork populations of the desert. Thus, when the Heresy came to Xhorik Prime, several of the nomadic Septs sided informally with the White Scars. They never allowed themselves to be marshalled into any sort of Imperial or even Planetary army, but they fought the Traitors in their own way with ambushes and raids on any who ventured too near their desert homes, forcing the Traitors to protect their eastern flank instead of being able to throw everything at the Loyalist positions in the north.
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| Commando of the Xhorik 87th Drop Regiment, The Firebirds |
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| Commando of the Xhorik 87th Drop Regiment, The Firebirds |
The Xhorik 87th was formed from the Kozar 87th Drop Troopers after that nation was brought into the Imperium and integrated into the planetary governorship of Xhorik Prime. Kozar already had a long history of using airborne drop troops to defend their small mountainous territory from orks in the east and their ancient rivals in Unimund to the south, so they were able to provide some relatively elite regiments to the Imperial armies. During the Heresy, the Loyalist Kozar army made heavy use of drop troops deployed by grav chutes to strike at vulnerable enemy positions. And even after the planet was lost to the Traitors, remnants of multiple regiments regrouped on Xhorik Secundus to lend their unique talents to Operation Downfall, a desperate attempt to re-establish a Loyalist foothold on Xhorik Prime.
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| Gunner of the Pulsar Chyron mercenary company |
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| Gunner of the Pulsar Chyron mercenary company |
The Pulsar Chyron mercenary company was formed during the chaos of the early years of the Horus Heresy. What had been previously been a logistics and interstellar shipping company gradually transformed into a mercenary outfit as they had to militarize to remain in business during the turbulence spawned by the civil war. As trade dried up and conflict spread, they soon found themselves being hired more for their armed guards and newly-fortified ships than for their logistical efficiencies. By the middle of the Heresy, their success and size had attracted the eye of Horus himself. His war machine had siphoned off millions of tons of Imperial war materiel prior to the start of the conflict and this fortune was used to hire numerous mercenary companies such as Pulsar Chyron. A large portion of their forces were committed to the Xhorik Campaign where they fought numerous orbital battles and ferried Traitor troops between planets and warzones. They also deployed troops to multiple land engagements, including the heavy fighting for the Valbaara Plateau and the bloody road to Berat.
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| Lance Corporal of the Peacekeepers civil defense force, 22nd brigade |
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| Lance Corporal of the Peacekeepers civil defense force, 22nd brigade |
The most elite level of planetary internal security, the Peacekeepers were tasked to maintain Imperial control over the Xhorik system. Although they took day-to-day direction from the planetary governor, they reported directly to the Archidux of the subsector, with a duty to assassinate the governor if he proved disloyal. Deployed primarily to crush any riots, rebellions or social unrest when local police were overwhlemed, the Peacekeepers also fought numerous engagements with pirates, smugglers, and occasionally even marauding xenos such as orks. During the Xhorik Campaign, they fought bravely against the Traitors, utilizing their Valkyries and armored transports to great effect against the lumbering armies of the Traitor auxilia. They made a name for themselves during their final stand at the Governor's Palace where they held out against an overwhelming Traitor attack for three days and nights before being butchered to the last man by World Eaters Berzerkers. After the Heresey, their duties within the Xhorik system would be taken up by the Adeptus Arbites.
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| Synther of the Umbra Blades mercenary company |
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| Synther of the Umbra Blades mercenary company |
The Umbra Blades organization predates the formation of the Imperium. Their origins are unknown to outsiders, but there are records of early encounters near the Xhorik System by the White Scars (then known as the Star Hunters) recon companies at the forefront of the Great Crusade. Later Imperial armies would do their best to eradicate the organization due to their rampant mutations (some even suggested that xenos genetics had somehow been crossed with humans) and the prevalence of psyker abilities within the group. However, the group was was able to evade capture for years, causing some to speculate that they were able to make use of some limited degree of Warp travel. This persecution by the Imperium caused the Umbra Blades to side with Horus during the Heresy, for a promise of a home in the Xhorik System under Horus' Dark Empire. Heavily armed by the Sons of Horus, they fought continually throughout the Xhorik Campaign, making use of skills honed by years of skirmishes with Imperial forces prior to the Heresy, as well as their unique gene-craft and cyber-augmentation.
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| A sample of the many fighting forces of the Xhorik Campaign during the Horus Heresy. |
