The Penitent Legions
The common rank and file of the greatest fighting force that remains upon shattered Doaden.
The Bulwarks
Mightiest of the Crusade's Warriors, armed with heavy steel, their bodies swollen by strange alchemies.
Master of the Crusade
The order of Primus and other command ranking crusaders contain only the mightiest and most astute amongst the Legions.
Siege Equipment
The Penitent Crusade is ever-marching to battle, whether it be purging the wilds, or shattering a mighty redoubt.
Legions of Flame
Suffused with Azerai's purging flame, these warriors are beacons of the Crusade's might.
Agents of Azerai
The crusade are a faith-made-militant, among their ranks serve an eclectic array of unique and peculiar roles, each designated to administer to matters of Empire.
Engines of Azerai
Infernal Contraptions of Gear and Steel, mechanical might serving as avatars of mankind's deserving of rulership.
Trench Invasion
Unleash the Penitent Crusade in your Dieselpunk or Sci-Fi games with the Trench Invasion Pack. This Warband includes everything you need to assemble a 12-miniature warband, alongside a treasure-trove of extra bits to mix with the mainline fantasy crusaders.
The Penitent Crusade stand as the legendary defenders of the Holy Azerai Empire, a fervent, indomitable force comprised of career soldiers, alchemic constructs, human automata, and massive warriors crafted through dark ritual. Sworn to serve their priestly masters, they fight and die at the Empire’s command, undeterred by the horrors that have emerged in the wake of the Cataclysm.
Since its founding, the Crusade has honed its tactical might across varied battlefields and in countless campaigns, forging a reputation to rival even the Old Empire's most formidable legions. Chief among its duties is to defend the Eastern Borders, where the Empire confronts the ceaseless corruption founts forth from the Ashen Wastes, the fulcrum of the Cataclysm.
The Eternal Legions, insidious demons, and mutant creatures batter upon the walls of the Black Fortress and countless other bastions lining the Eastern border. Yet these irradiated horrors are but few amongst a horde of threats, as dark cults, eldritch creatures, and unseen terrors lurk within the Empire’s own heartlands, each bent on undermining the realm and enthralling or predating upon its denizens.
The Penitent Crusade emerged from the ashes of the Cataclysm, a force born to shield humanity in its darkest hour. According to common wisdom, the Crusade was forged to defend the scattered survivors struggling to rebuild after the apocalypse. Rising alongside the nascent Azerai Church, it became both the sword and shield of humanity’s corpus, standing against external horrors while suppressing the chaos and rebellion festering within.
Their first Crusade was through the winding warrens of the Sunlit Citadel itself, the future capital of the Azerai Empire. Rank upon rank of armoured warriors marched forth from the Old Empire’s subterranean bastions, purging the streets of dissenters, petty warlords, and the unnatural horrors that had thrived in the Years of Blackness. In their bloody wake, the newly anointed priesthood, once bureaucrats of the Old Empire, emerged to claim divine authority over mankind’s destiny.
Born as it was in the wake of the Cataclysm, that terrible event is central in the Azerai Creed's notion of Penitence. As the creed holds, the Cataclysm was the result of an absolute and terrible hubris, of grasping too far, too greedily, without taking the necessary precautions.
Rather than levelling the blame at the feet of the Old Emperor, or those scientists who toiled in the great failed experiment, the Azerai Creed holds that all mankind shares responsibility for the Cataclysm, that we grew fat upon the comforts afforded to us, sluggish of spirit and weak of conviction, and that we allowed the disaster to befall us.
It is the duty of the Azerai Creed to ensure that this lethargy never takes hold again, and that the reigns of mankind’s growth are guided by steadier, and more level minded hands. For these past sins, the followers of Azerai are taught to observe penance, to continue to strive for forgiveness of the weakness of their forebears. The creed of penance comes into sharpest focus when looking upon the ranks of the Penitent Crusade, the folk are taught that every member of the mighty army have sworn oaths of absolute penitence, pledging their very lives in service to the Azerian Ideal.
