Ivan Zelezhonov and the Red Cossacks

By author Art Vandelay

The Sixth Primarch: Ivan Zelezhonov

Name:
Ivan Yurievich Zelezhonov, Vozhd of All-Rodiniya, Defender of the People.

Appearance:
Short by Primarch standards, with an athletic muscular body, fair skin, short brown hair, brown eyes, and a Stalin mustache. Outside of battle, he wears plain clothing.

Talents and Personality:
Ivan Zelezhonov is a plainspoken, straightforward individual. He is a talented soldier, and a competent statesman. His flaws include intense ,istrust of those outside his direct control, and (from the Emperor's point of view) being fanatically religious. He also despises psykers intensely. Ivan generally dislikes luxury and ornateness, preferring plainer and more humble settings and things.

Homeworld:
Arstotzka, on the outer edge of the habitable zone of its star, in the northwestern Outer Arm. The terrain of the planet is primarily forest and steppeland, dotted with large lakes and lacking in mountains. Arstotzka was once a part of the legendary Empire of Rodiniya, but that empire was smashed long ago by the Chaotic hordes of Qzan, who exacted rapacious tribute upon formerly Rodiniyan worlds, including Arstotzka, and its neighbors. Virtually all the subject rulers under Qzan had fallen to some sort of Chaos corruption, including those of Arstotzka. These rulers used psykers as a sort of aristocracy due to their ability to connect with their Chaotic overlords. After Zelezhonov took power, the psyker aristocracy was wiped out, leaving the worlds of Rodiniya devoid of psykers.

Since Zelezhonov took power, Arstotzka has developed substantial industrial capabilities, as well as becoming the centre of the Empire of Rodiniya. It is also the principal base of the VI Legion, the Red Cossacks.

Psychic potential:
No psychic abilities of note.

Background:
Ivan Zelezhonov crashed on the planet of Arstotzka. He was found a few days later in a forest clearing by a peasant who had seen a shooting star crash to the earth. The peasant and his wife, Yuri and Anna Zelezhonov, took the baby in and raised him as their own. Ivan was not content with the life of a peasant, and joined the army, rising quickly through the ranks due to his charisma and skill.

Word of Ivan Zelezhonov's career reached the ears of the king of Arstotzka, the corrupted and tyrannical Fyodor III. Upon hearing of this potential threat to his power, Fyodor ordered that he be thrown into prison. However, Ivan escaped to the steppelands, where Fyodor's writ did not run, and began plotting to overthrow Fyodor and purge the land of the evil he represented.

Ivan took refuge with the ruler of a great Cossack host, Stepan Borodin. After some telling, Borodin pledged to support Ivan's crusade against Fyodor. One by one, Ivan persuaded other Cossack hosts to join him. Within a few years he could count hundreds of thousands of Cossack horsemen among his followers, and he soon marched forth against Fyodor. Tens of thousands of peasants and regular Arstotzkan soldiers joined Ivan's army. Meanwhile, Fyodor was gathering his psyker lords to serve as knights.

The two armies met outside the capital city of Pereyaslav. Ivan and around three quarters of the Cossacks arrived first, meeting Fyodor and his knights in a whirlwind cavalry battle. Both sides, but especially Ivan's forces, were somewhat depleted by the time Ivan's infantry arrived. They performed admirably, holding the line against multiple charges from Fyodor's knights. All forces were exhausted when the other quarter of the Cossacks arrived, and crashed into the rear of Ivan's army.

Borodin and the other Cossack leaders had become jealous of the authority and respect Ivan had come to command, perceiving him as having stolen their followers, and consequently attacked Ivan's army rather than Fyodor's. Fyodor's troops, encouraged by this unexpected defection, rallied and attacked one more time. Ivan's exhausted army nearly collapsed, but Ivan was able to rally his troops to weather these charges. The Cossacks soon withdrew in confusion, while Fyodor's knights broke on the infantry like water on rocks. The Cossacks discovered Borodin's treachery, killed him, and returned to the battle, proving their loyalty by annihilating the remains of Fyodor's army.

After this great victory, Ivan was greeted by the people of Pereyaslav as a liberator and was acclaimed as the new King of Arstotzka. He declined to be king, taking instead the more populist title of Vozhd. Ivan's first act as king was to order the killing of all "witch-lords" who had served King Fyodor (that is, psykers). He also launched a rapid industrialisation program, going from feudal levels and rudimentary gunpowder to massive manufactora building tanks and machine guns within mere decades. Some of his scientists even rediscovered an ancient method of interstellar travel known as Warp-skimming. While much slower than normal Warp travel, it had the advantage of avoiding most of the perils of the Warp. Starships could 'skim' the shallows of the Immaterium, close to the anchoring influence of the Materium and its laws of reality. Impressed with this discovery, Ivan ordered a fleet built equipped with such technology.

Ivan's next step was to destroy the Chaotic den of Qzan once and for all. Using his newly built void fleet, he transported himself and his army to Qzan. There, he bombarded the planet from orbit until it was a pile of slag, shooting down any ships attempting to escape. He then sent out his forces to liberate the worlds once subject to Qzan, killing their ruling classes and installing new men, for which the Arstotzkans were greeted as liberators. After many of these worlds had been conquered, Ivan declared the restoration of the ancient Empire of Rodiniya, with himself as Vozhd.

Years after Ivan had unified the worlds of Rodiniya, the Emperor of Mankind appeared with a fleet. Ivan was initially highly suspicious of him, at first believing him to be a demonic entity, and only reluctantly agreed to meet with him after his forces were routed in the initial battles. Ivan eventually agreed to join the Imperium and the Great Crusade, on condition that Rodiniya remain intact. He also received command of the VI Legion, which he renamed the Red Cossacks. Nevertheless, he never really trusted the Emperor, and his decision to join the Imperium had more to do with the force of super-warriors he received than with anything else.

The VI Legion: the Red Cossacks

Name:
The Red Cossacks. Before Ivan Zelezhonov was found, they were called the Lightning Warriors.

Insignia and Appearance:
Red armour, yellow Russian cross and sickle.

Gene-seed Status:
Unremarkable, with an average rejection rate and no major defects.

Legionary Assets:
—200,000 Astartes in the Velikaya Voyska, as well as the company of Space Marines that every Rodiniyan planet is required to maintain for defence.

—The Gloriana-class flagship Kalashnikov. All other starships in the Legion's war-fleet are Rodiniyan-made.

—The Legion's biggest asset by far is the vast realm of Rodiniya, which is constantly expanding wherever it can. Rodiniya's vast populations and industrial production allow the Red Cossacks to draw upon a larger resource base than most other Legions, including plenty of mechanised equipment and millions of auxilia troops.

Legion Organisation:
—A squad is of 10 Space Marines, led by a Brother-Corporal.

—A company is of 100 Space Marines, led by a Brother-Sergeant.

—A Great Company is of 1,000 Space Marines, led by a Brother-Lieutenant.

—A brigade is of 10,000 Space Marines, led by a Brother-Captain. This is the largest permanent subdivision, under the Legion's Velikaya Voyska.

Special units:

The Defence Companies—Every inhabited planet in the Empire of Rodiniya is required to maintain a company, called a Defence Company, as part as part of its defence forces. There are five-hundred of these planets. Together the Defence Companies stand 50,000 strong.

The better Astartes from each Defence Company are selected to join the Velikaya Voyska (Great Host), the mobile force which constitutes the Legion's effective offensive strength. The Great Host is commanded by Zelezhonov himself, assisted by specially handpicked Great Captains.

Expertise and Combat Doctrine:
Fundamentally, the basic combat philosophy of the Red Cossacks is to bury the enemy with superior firepower. In land offensives, barrages of rocket, artillery, and laser fire are launched to destroy enemy fortifications and entrenched positions, followed by tanks, Astartes and auxilia to destroy the enemy troops. On defence, they throw up bunkers, barbed wire, and trenches, and fortifications to defend their positions, raining down bullets and artillery fire on advancing enemy troops.

Differences between the Red Cossacks and other Imperial factions in space combat can be traced to the use of Warp-skimming rather than normal, Navigator-assisted Warp jumps. Warp-skimming drives require more energy than regular Warp Drives, which leaves little power available for energy weapons or Void Shields. As a result, Red Cossack starships tend to use rockets, boarding parties, and ramming, and are heavily armoured to compensate for lack of Void Shields in motion. However, their ships are still equipped with both Void Shields and energy weapons, making them quite hefty targets when not in motion.

Legion Weaknesses:
—Slow-moving strategically, due to building up infrastructure before moving on, as well as reliance on Warp-skimming.

—No Librarians due to Zelezhonov's hatred of psykers.

—Meaningful cooperation with non-Rodiniyan forces is difficult, due to reliance on Warp-skimming and mistrust of foreigners.

—Weaker at close-quarters combat due to focus on ranged warfare.

—At a disadvantage when ammunition stocks cannot be replenished.

Beliefs and Practices:
The members of this Legion are highly religious, except for a falling number of Terran-born Space Marines. The Rodiniyans are devout worshippers of Khristun, King of Kings and God of Gods, and the pantheon of gods around him, and the Red Cossacks are no exception. However, they are forced to conceal their worship of Khristun under various false pretences in the anti-theist Imperium. The teachings of Khristun include the unification of mankind (under his banner if possible), and so the Red Cossacks will incorporate worlds peacefully when they have the option, leaving behind agents to develop the infrastructure and (secretly) spread the worship of Khristun.

The teachings of Khristun are pertinent, since most of Zelezhenov's views are based on these. In the religion of the Arstotzkan pantheon, Khristun is the chief god and ruler of all other gods. Just as there is one supreme ruler in the heavens, so there should be one in the material realm, thus supporting unification under one ruler. However, just as Khristun is beneficent towards his followers, so should the temporal ruler be beneficent to his subjects. Khristun teaches that humans have the same essential worth regardless of birth circumstances, thus causing his followers to favour meritocratic organisation and oppose concentrations of unearned wealth and power. While not originally part of Khristun's teachings, strong anti-psyker beliefs have become popular among his followers, due to many centuries of rule by repressive psyker aristocracies. People's souls are rewarded or punished after death by Khristun, in accordance with the person's faith and deeds in life. Conversion of unbelievers is a high priority, childbearing is also highly encouraged. Xenos, being deemed to lack souls, are no different in Khristunian teaching from dogs or snakes: use them for labour, kill them, eat them, whatever, it is no great moral question.

Recruitment and Discipline:
Space Marines are recruited from all the inhabited worlds of Rodiniya. Originally around two-hundred when Imperium contacted them, this tally is now substantially larger, in the range of five-hundred. The Space Marines-to-be are either offered up by their families or from orphanages. Recruits are then put through a series of trials at the fortress of the planet they were recruited on, those who fail are kept as support staff. Astartes are trained in statecraft as well as warfare, as the ruler of every Rodiniyan planet is selected from the local Defence Company.

Most infractions are punished harshly. For example, if a watchman falls asleep on duty and there is no enemy attack, he is flogged. If he falls asleep and there is an enemy attack, the watchman is executed. Insubordination is punished with floggings the first two offences, the third instance results in execution. Other offences follow similar patterns, flogging for the first and perhaps second offence, execution on the second or third.

Characters of Interest:
Great Captain Mikhail Nevsky—A Great Captain in the Velikaya Voyska. He rose to prominence during the Qzan campaign and conquest of Rodiniya, for the speed with which he liberated worlds and the ferocity with which he crushed his enemies. Fiercely loyal to Rodiniya, fanatically religious, and intensely distrustful of foreigners, he is the embodiment of everything about the Red Cossacks that could land them in deep trouble with the Imperium.

Great Captain Tikhon Susanin—Another Great Captain in the Velikaya Voyska. He originated as a Cossack during the revolt against King Fyodor. It was he who killed the traitor Borodin and led the Cossacks back onto the field of battle, turning the tide in favour of Zelezhonov. As a reward Susanin was raised to a high rank in Zelezhonov's new government, a high commander of Arstotzka's armies in their wars of expansion. After contact with the Imperium, Susanin was made a Space Marine and a Great Captain. He is significantly less religious and suspicious of foreigners than most other Rodiniyans, and as such can act as a moderating influence on Zelezhonov in a way few others can.

Battle-cry:
"Slava Vozhdyu!"

"Slava Rodiniye!"

"Uraaaa!"

Legionary History:
Prior to reunification with their Primarch, the Lightning Warriors were primarily used as shock troops, and ill-disciplined ones at that. During the conquest of the industrial world of Moloria, there were several recorded incidents of Lightning Warriors massacring civilians unprovoked, attacking enemy positions without orders, and wreaking such disorder that the planet's considerable industrial capacity was severely devastated. Zelezhonov reorganised his new Legion under a decimal system, dispensing with the complex ad hoc structures that the Legion had developed prior to this, where some units or leaders would command far more troops than their theoretical equals, and politicking and infighting was rife.

Zelezhonov appointed two Great Captains to clean up the mess of the newly rechristened Red Cossacks: Mikhail Nevsky and Tikhon Susanin, both trusted members of his inner circle on Arstotzka. Between the reorganisation and the influx of new recruits from Rodiniya, the character of the old Lightning Warriors was just about wiped clean, replaced by a plodding, disciplined, fanatically religious, force designed to overwhelm enemies with sheer firepower.

During the conquest of the Groska system, the contrast between the Lightning Warriors and the Red Cossacks was apparent. Of the three inhabited planets, Groska V surrendered without a fight, and was unharmed, and Groska III surrendered after bombings of vital military bases and orbital satellites, which were rebuilt by the Cossacks within several months. Only Groska II refused to submit and had to be invaded, which was accomplished with barely one-million casualties, including minimal numbers of civilians. Compared to the days when the Lightning Warriors slaughtered civilians almost indiscriminately, this was a great improvement.