Sons of Sek

"For the glory of the Anarch, whose voice drowns out all others!"

— Warcry of the Sons of Sek

The Sons of Sek are an unusually regimented and disciplined Chaos warband and Chaos Cult under the command of the Magister Anakwanar Sek, one of the Archon Urlock Gaur's closest subordinates in the defence of the Sabbat Worlds Sector from the assault of the Imperial Sabbat Worlds Crusade.

While still relatively new to the war for the Sabbat Worlds, initial reports indicated that the Sons of Sek may, in fact, be superior in combat to their cousins in Urlock Gaur's own Blood Pact.

The Sons of Sek were created not only to fight against the Imperium, but also to serve as Magister Sek's vanguard for when he eventually attempts to overthrow Gaur and assume the position of Archon over all the forces of Chaos in the Sabbat Worlds Sector.

History[]

Most, if not all, of the Sons of Sek's initial training took place on the Chaos-occupied world of Gereon, and they were first encountered by the Gereon Resistance. They later played a major role in defending that world from the Imperial liberation force.

The Sons were trained and equipped, in large part, due to the intelligence provided by the ex-Blood Pact officer Mabbon Etogaur, and the captured Imperial Lord Militant General Noches Sturm, who eventually defected to the service of Chaos in general and the Sons of Sek in particular. Sturm later repented his actions and, in lieu of being executed by Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, chose to take his own life to regain his honour.

Most of the training doctrines used by the Sons are based in Astra Militarum standard methods. Much of this information was obtained from Noches Sturm, and refined by the experience and ruthless dedication of Mabbon Etogaur. Presumably, not much was changed in the overall implementation despite Sturm's demise and Mabbon Etogaur's capture some years later.

Beliefs[]

The Sons of Sek's adherents, like their allies among the Blood Pact, possess an unusual view of Chaos theology. They do not hate the Emperor as an enemy of Chaos, but venerate him as another embodiment of the Warp.

They believe the Emperor to be simply another Warp entity like a Daemon or the Chaos Gods themselves. They see Him as a misguided prophet for Humanity who has seen the power of the Warp but who mislead His followers into believing that it should be opposed.

The Blood Pact and their allies believe that it is the holy task of their cults to spread the truth about the God-Emperor and the Warp and to bring the people of the Imperium back into the fold of worship of the powers of Chaos, because in truth they are already venerating a creature of the Warp.

For these cultists, the Emperor is already akin to the entities they worship, for He, too, is powered by the Warp and has been changed by his contact with the Immaterium. For these cultists, the Emperor is actually a symbol of what they aspire to, as they wish to become one with the Warp and be forever changed by this communion.

Thus, in their belief system, the "schism" of mistaken faith embraced by the Imperium must be healed and Humanity brought back into the embrace of Chaos. They hold that the Imperium does not need to be destroyed, but only reformed so that it understands the true nature of the Warp and its inhabitants.

In this view, the Imperial Creed has led the people of the Imperium down the wrong path for millennia, and the Blood Pact and their allies believe that they are engaged in a war to defeat its gatekeepers so they can teach Humanity the truth of the enlightenment that Chaos offers -- and that they have already been worshipping without realising it.

Structure and Organisation[]

Much like the terrible force of the Blood Pact that they were created to rival, the Sons of Sek are an extremely disciplined military unit. Based almost entirely on the model of the Astra Militarum, they are a force to be reckoned with, and have proven themselves superior in many aspects over the Blood Pact.

In addition to being of a larger, stockier build than the Blood Pact (and for that matter, compared to a baseline Human) the Sons are also equipped with higher-quality gear and weapons. All their equipment is standard issue and based on a well-founded and established logistics train, unlike the Blood Pact which relies principally on scavenged equipment and stolen gear.

The Sons are also better motivated and led, and even include an officer similar to an Imperial Commissar, known as a "Scourger," to maintain discipline and morale. This is something that even the unusually-disciplined Blood Pact lacks.

These Scourgers are also substantially more efficient than the Blood Pact's command cadre, based more on pragmatic training and instruction than the bloodthirsty "winner-takes-all" command and promotion mentality of the Blood Pact.

As noted during training sessions, the Scourgers in equal part advise and admonish, guide and rebuke, oversee and instruct their charges - a trait notable for being eerily similar to Imperial Guard training regimes as opposed to the brutish methods used by other Chaos forces.

Wargear[]

The Sons of Sek troops are dressed in ochre fatigues, with a helmet fitted with optics based on standard Astra Militarum issue equipment. They wear chain and plate mail padding over their shoulders and greaves, and wear Jackboots and leather fastenings and grips on their fatigues.

The leather is obtained from the flayed enemies of the Sons, and is described as being nut-brown in colour and braided with purple thread. Gold braid is used to distinguish officers from troopers.

In addition to this, each Helmet is fitted with a clasp in the form of a hand closing over the mouth of the wearer, which is taken from the dead enemies of the sons -- the clasps are the Hands of the defeated foe. This is done to show their loyalty to the Anarch "whose voice drowns out all others."

They are issued standard pattern Lascarbines and Lasguns, along with a Laspistol sidearm for Troopers and an Autopistol for officers, a Combat Knife as well as a Ritual Knife for the customs of the Sanguinary Worlds -- all of which are manufactured on overrun Forge Worlds or on the Space Hulk Salvation's Reach.

Notable Encounters[]

Lectica Bastion Incident, Gereon - Resistance Fighters comprised of the surviving PDF and Guard contingents on the Chaos held world of Gereon staged an assault on the Lectica Bastion (the heart of the Chaos administration) as a diversion to allow a kill-team led by Colonel Commissar Ibram Gaunt to assassinate the Traitor General Noches Sturm. Despite being caught by surprise, the Sons prove victorious in the engagement, completely exterminating the assault forces, in spite of being unable to protect their mentor.
Liberation of Gereon - The Sons were at the forefront in the attempt to deny the Imperials control of Gereon during the Liberation effort, and nearly succeed in fatally stopping the Imperial advance in the city of K'etth'drac. However, they were foiled at the last minute by a desperate Imperial counter-attack led by armour units and were forced to withdraw, whilst being able to inflict disproportionately high losses on the Imperial Guard during their staged retreat.
Salvation's Reach Assault - The Sons were the principal defenders of the Space Hulk Salvation's Reach and were quite successful at holding the line, but were ultimately foiled by the presence of three Space Marines who had accompanied the assault, from the Silver Guard, Iron Snakes and White Scars. They were, however, lured into a distraction while the Asta Militarum inflicted irreparable damage to their research facilities inside the Space Hulk, and the units stationed there were presumed lost as the Reach suffered substantial damage and destruction which was inflicted by the Imperials.

Sources[]

Anarch (Novel) by Dan Abnett, Ch. 7
Sabbat Worlds Crusade (Background Book) by Dan Abnett, pg. 94
Blood Pact (Novel) by Dan Abnett
Traitor General (Novel) by Dan Abnett
The Armour of Contempt (Novel) by Dan Abnett
Salvation's Reach (Novel) by Dan Abnett
Sabbat Crusade (Anthology) edited by Dan Abnett (Sons of Sek Image)