#I remembered that the soviets had neat little hats for their tankers

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Victor Draschoff, Terrified Ambush Predator

Mech walkers in games and art always fascinated me, mostly because they look cool as fuck. I decided to make a character who used a walker, specifically an Armoured Sentinel.

The character in question is one Victor Draschoff, a driver (or is it pilot?) of a walker, who fought against Tyranids on his home world of Domus. Now, Domus was almost uniquely suited to fight the Tyranids, being a forge-world, and even better, the forge-cities were placed on the mountaintops which covered in the planet. This allowed them to have height superiority on those Tyranids who did not land directly within the cities, allowing them to keep the xenos contained within the valleys, where toxic waste gathered. The planet was one of ice and snow; even if it had not begun as such, the clouds formed from the forges were so thick, the chemicals in such large quantities, that they blocked any heat from passing.

The Tyranids that could not fly, when attacking, would be forced to scramble up the mountains, easy targets for those above; even those that did fly could be stop by the guns, locking them into the valleys. Unfortunately, there were still far too many of the hungering xenos, their swarms so large that even with guns going over every inch of the walls, they had trouble stopping them. Thus, they formed the White Foxes, a group of merely fifty thousand. They would descend into the valleys, camouflaged and hidden. Once in a secure position, they would use the clawed feet of their walkers to dig into the stone, creating a hidden and secure locale. There, they would wait, for hours, sometimes even days, for the Tyranids to rush up from their own fortified positions. As soon as the last xenos went before them, they would pop out and unleash their heavy bolters upon the ass of the swarm, hellfire rounds crashing into them, horrific cries filling the air.

Victor fought hard, always prepared to die and surprised when he woke every morning, even as he slept with his autogun in his arms every night. He even took to sleeping in his walker, so that he would always be prepared and protected, it’s feet dug into the stone like a rat. His gray and white walker, covered in camouflage netting, could blend in with the stones, and was just small enough to be able to fit within errant boulders as ambush, after the walker’s clawed feet dug out enough space. Beyond that, he could not nothing but wait with bated breath, as the skittering of millions of claws made their way up the mountains. Then, after the ‘nids finally moved past, he and his squad-mates could pop up from behind them and tear them apart with their guns. Many times, far too many, they would turn and race back, as if attempting to take vengeance for their brethren, even as their bodies were torn apart. Some would manage reach the Sentinel before they could be killed. He could feel when their claws would begin to cut through the armor, digging deeper and deeper until he could feel the frigid air on his skin, as the hairs on his legs were shaved by their blades. Even now, the screeching of metal brings him back to those moments, the biting cold and the sickening fear filling him once again.

The funny thing was, even as he fought for his home, genestealer cults fought to take it, far from his reach. As they always do, they would destabilize infrastructure, bringing tension to a knife’s edge before erupting. Several cities fell to this before the enforcers realized the truth; in time, purple became an insult. Any who so much as whispered a word of complaint would vanish, or be shot by a firing line. They could take no chances against the enemies which hid within their midst.

The Domus Pattern Sentinel is armed with a Heavy Bolter equipped with Hellfire Rounds. They are designed to tear through numerous densely-packed infantry units, making them especially useful against the Tyranid infestations which have dug themselves into the valleys between the forge-city covered mountains of Domus. A unique aspect of this pattern is its clawed feet, granting it the ability to dig into rock, as well as move nearly vertically on any rocky surfaces. This pattern comes with a fully-enclosed and armoured canopy.

Now, for some fun facts about Victor! Victor named his sentinel after his wife, Svetlana. After she died, the sentinel and a sidle pict were the only things he had left of her. Svetlana, his sentinel, protected him, helped him defend his home, and reminded him of his dear wife; as such, he loves it with all his heart. Victor wears a soviet tanker-style hate, along with a thick sheepskin (but not sheep, because 40k) coat, photovisor goggles, and wool gloves. He has a notebook and a few pencils, and he enjoys sketching things; usually he sketches his wife, but sometimes he draws things from dreams, or nightmares. Other times, simply things that he sees or people that he knows. To make sure they don’t change. He sometimes calls people blatta as a curse, the word being from an ancient language that translates into purple, but was also a name for a type of beetle and cockroach. Due to his home being a forge world, the soldiers are equipped with autoguns, in a pattern that looks similar to a PPSH-41, but with a curved magazine instead of a drum.

That’s all that I have for Victor Draschoff, the tragic warrior who fought for his world, battling against insurmountable odds and a truly horrific enemy. I would wonder who won, but considering he is a Dark Heresy character, I don’t think he’s the luckiest bloke. I do hope you enjoyed reading about him, and I hope to play him some day. He is a Forge Worlder, his background is the Imperial Guard, and his role is Assassin. Have a nice day!